Claud. Hath Leonato any fon, my Lord? Pedro. No child but Hero, fhe's his only heir: Doft thou affect her, Claudio?

Claud. O my Lord,

When you went onward on this ended action,
I look'd upon her with a soldier's eye;
That lik'd, but had a rougher task in hand
Than to drive liking to the name of love;
But now I am return'd, and that war-thoughts
Have left their places vacant; in their rooms
Come thronging foft and delicate defires,
All prompting me how fair young Hero is;
Saying, I lik'd her ere I went to wars.

Pedro. Thou wilt be like a lover presently
And tire the hearer with a book of words :
If thou doft love fair Hero, cherish it,

And I will break with her: and with her father,
And thou shalt have her: was 't not to this end
That thou began'ft to twist fo fine a story?
Claud. How fweetly do you minister to love,
That know love's grief by his complexion!
But left my liking might too fudden feem,
I would have falv'd it with a longer treatise.
Pedro. What need the bridge much broader than the
flood?

The faireft grant is the neceffity;

Look, what will ferve, is fit; 'tis once, thou lov'ft;
And I will fit thee with the remedy.

I know, we shall have revelling to-night;
I will affume thy part in fome disguise,
And tell fair Hero I am Claudio;
And in her bofom I'll unclasp my heart,
And take her hearing prifoner with the force
And ftrong encounter of my amorous tale :
Then, after, to her father will I break;
And the conclufion is, fhe fhall be thine.
In practice let us put it presently.

Re-enter Leonato and Antonio.

[Exeunt.

Leon. How now, brother, where is my coufin your fon? hath he provided this music?

Ant. He is very bufy about it; but, brother, I can tell you news that you yet dream'd not of.

Leon. Are they good?

Ant. As the event ftamps them, but they have a good cover; they fhow well outward. The Prince and Count Claudio, walking in a thick-pleached alley in my orchard, were thus overheard by a man of mine : The Prince difcover'd to Claudio, that he lov'd my niece your daughter, and meant to acknowledge it this night in a dance; and if he found her accordant, he meant to take the present time by the top, and inftantly break with you of it.

Leon. Hath the fellow any wit that told you this? Ant. A good fharp fellow; I will fend for him, and question him yourself.

Leon. No, no; we will hold it as a dream, till it appear itfelf: but I will acquaint my daughter withal, that fhe may be the better prepared for anfwer, if peradventure this be true; go you and tell her of it. Coufins, you know what you have to do. [Several cross the ftage here] O, I cry you mercy, friend, go you with me, and I will ufe your skill; good coufin, have a care this bufy time. [Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

Changes to an apartment in Leonato's house..
Enter Don John and Conrade.

Conr. What the good-jer, my Lord, why are you thus out of meafure fad ?··

John. There is no measure in the occafion that breeds it, therefore the fadness is without limit.

Conr. You fhould hear reafon.

John. And when I have heard it, what bleffing bringeth it?

Conr. If not a prefent remedy, yet a patient fuffe

rance.

John. I wonder, that thou (being, as thou fay'st thou art, born under Saturn) goeft about to apply a moral medicine to a mortifying mifchief. I cannot hide what I am : I must be fad when I have caufe, and smile at no man's jefts; eat when I have ftomach, and wait

for no man's leisure; fleep when I am drowfy, and tend on no man's bufinefs; laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in his humour.

Conr. Yea, but you must not make the full show of this, till you may do it without controlement. You have of late stood out against your brother, and he hath ta'en you newly into his grace, where it is impoffible you fhould take root, but by the fair weather that you make yourself; it is needful that you frame the feason for your own harvest.

John. I had rather be a canker in a hedge, than a rofe in his grace; and it better fits my blood to be disdain'd of all, than to fashion a carriage to rob love from any in this (though I cannot be faid to be a flattering honeft man) it must not be deny'd but I am a plain-dealing villain; I am trufted with a muzzel, and infranchised with a clog, therefore I have decreed not to fing in my cage: if I had my mouth, I would bite; if I had my liberty, I would do my liking: in the mean time let me be that I am, and seek not to al

ter me.

Conr. Can you make no use of your discontent? John. I will make all ufe of it, for I ufe it only. Who comes here? What news, Borachio?

Enter Borachio.

Bora. I came yonder from a great fupper; the Prince, your brother, is royally entertain'd by Leonato, and I can give you intelligence of an intended marriage.

John. Will it ferve for any model to build mischief on? what is he for a fool, that betrothes himself to unquietness?

Bora. Marry, it is your brother's right hand.

John. Who, the most exquifite Claudio?

Bora. Even he.

John. A proper Squire! and who, and who? which way looks he?

Bora. Marry, on Hero, the daughter and heir of Leonato.

John. A very forward March chick! How come you to this?

Bora. Being entertain'd for a perfumer, as I was fmoking a mufty room, comes me the Prince and Claudio hand in hand in fad conference. I whipt behind the arras, and there heard it agreed upon, that the Prince should woo Hero for himself; and having obtain'd her, give her to Count Claudio.

:

John. Come, come, let us thither; this may prove food to my difpleasure that young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow. If I can crofs him any way, I bless myself every way; you are both sure, and will affift me.

Conr. To the death, my Lord.

my

John. Let us to the great fupper; their cheer is the greater that I am fubdu'd; would the cook were of mind !-Shall we go prove what's to be done? Bora. We'll wait upon your Lordship.

[Exeunt.

ACT

II.

SCENE

I.

A hall in Leonato's house.

Enter Leonato, Antonio, Hero, Beatrice, Margaret, and Urfula.

Leon.

AS not Count John here at fupper?

WAS

Ant. I faw him not.

Beat. How tartly that gentleman looks! I never can fee him, but I am heart-burn'd an hour after.

Hero. He is of a very melancholy difpofition.

Beat. He were an excellent man, that were made juft in the mid-way between him and Benedick: the one is too like an image, and fays nothing; and the other too like my lady's eldeft fon, evermore tatling.

Leon. Then half Signior Benedick's tongue in Count John's mouth, and half Count John's melancholy in Signior Benedick's face

Beat. With a good leg, and a good foot, uncle, and money enough in his purfe, fuch a man would win any woman in the world, if he could get her good-will.

Leon. By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get thee a hufband, if thou be fo fhrewd of thy tongue. Ant. In faith, she's too curs'd.

Beat. Too curs'd is more than curs'd.

I fhall leffere God's fending that way; for it is faid, God fends a curs'd cow short horns; but to a cow too curs'd, he fends none.

Leon. So, by being too curs'd, God will send you no horns.

Beat. Juft if he fend me no husband; for the which bleffing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening. Lord! I could not endure a husband with a beard on his face, I had rather lie in woollen.

Leon. You may light upon a husband that hath no beard.

Beat. What should I do with him? dress him in my apparel, and make him my waiting-gentlewoman? He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is lefs than a man; and he that is more than a youth, is not for me; and he that is lefs than a man, I am not for him: therefore I will even take fix pence in earnest of the bear-herd, and lead his apes into hell *

Ant. Well, niece, I truft, you will be rul'd by your father,

[To Hero. Beat. Yes, faith, it is my coufin's duty to make curtly, and fay, Father, as it pleafes you but yet for all that, coufin, let him be a handfome fellow, or elfe make another curtfy, and fay, Father, as it pleafes me.

Leon. Well, niece, I hope to fee you one day fitted with a husband.

Beat. Not till God make men of fome other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmafter'd with a piece of valiant duft? to make account of her life to a clod of wayward marle? No, uncle, I'll none; Adam's fons are my brethren, and, truly, I hold it a fia to match in my kindred.

Leon. Well then, go you into hell.

Beat. No, but to the gate; and there will the devil meet me, like an old cuckold, with his horns on his head, and fay, Get you to heaven, Beatrice, get you to heav'n, here's no place for you maids. So deliver I up my apes, and away to St Peter, for the heav'ns; he fhews me where the bachelors fit, and there live we as merry as the day is long.

Ant. Well, niece, &c.

VOL. II.

B