Be yet my nephew; my brother hath a daughter, And fhe alone is heir to both of us; Give her the right you fhould have given her coufin, Claud. O Noble Sir? Your over-kindness doth wring tears from me. For henceforth of poor Claudio. Leon. To-morrow then I will expect your coming, Who, I believe, was pack'd in all this wrong, Bora. No, by my foul, fhe was not; Nor knew not what she did, when she spoke to me. In any thing that I do know by her. Dogb. Moreover, Sir, which indeed is not under white and black, this plaintiff here, the offender, did call me afs. I beseech you, let it be remember'd in his punishment; "and alfo the watch heard them talk of one. Deformed. They fay he wears a key in his car, and a lock hanging by it; and borrows money in God's name, the "which he hath us'd fo long, and never paid, that now "men grow hard-hearted, and will lend nothing for "God's fake." Pray you, examine him upon that point. Leon. I thank thee for thy care and honeft pains. Dogb. Your Worship fpeaks like a moft thankful and reverend youth; and I praife God for you. Leon. There's for thy pains. Dogb. God fave the foundation! Leon. Go, I discharge thee of thy prifoner; and I thank thee. Dogb. I leave an errant knave with your Worship, which I beseech your Worship to correct yourself, for the example of others. God keep your Worship; I wish your Worship well. God reftore you to health: I humbly give you leave to depart; and if a merry meeting may be with'd, God prohibit it. Come, neighbour. F 2 [Exeunt. Leon. Leon. Until to-morrow morning, Lords, farewell. Claud. To-night I'll mourn with Hero. you to-morrow. Leon. Bring you these fellows on; we'll talk with Margaret, How her acquaintance grew with this lewd fellow. [Exeunt feverally. SCENE VI. Changes to Leonato's boufe. Enter Benedick and Margaret. Bene. Pray thee, fweet Mistress Margaret, deferve well at my hands, by helping me to the speech of Beatrice. Marg. Will you then write me a fonnet in praise of my beauty? Bene. In fo high a style, Margaret, that no man living. fhall come over it; for, in moft comely truth, thou deferveft it. Marg. To have no man come over me? why shall I always keep above stairs? Bene. Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's mouth; it catches. Marg. And yours as blunt as the fencer's foils, which hit, but hurt not. Bene. A most manly wit, Margaret, it will not hurt a woman; and fo, I pray thee, call Beatrice; I give thee the bucklers. Marg. Give us the fwords; we have bucklers of our own. Bene. If you use them, Margaret, you must put in the pikes with a vice, and they are dangerous weapons for maids. Marg. Well, I will call Beatrice to you, who, I think, hath legs. [Exit Margaret. Bene. And therefore will come. [Sings.] The God of love that fits above, and knows me, and knows me, how pitiful I deferve,— I mean, in finging; but in loving, Leander the good swimmer, Troilus the first employer of pandars, and a whole book full of these quon dam dam carpet-mongers, whose names yet run fmoothly in the even road of a blank verfe; why, they were never fo truly turn'd over and over, as my poor felf, in love; marry, I cannot fhew it in rhyme; I have try'd; I can find out no rhyme to lady but baby, an innocent's rhyme; for fcorn, horn, a hard rhyme; for fchool, fool, a babbling rhyme; very ominous endings; no, I was not born under a rhyming planet, for I cannot woo in feftival terms. SCENE VII. Enter Beatrice. Sweet Beatrice, would'ft thou come when I call thee? Beat. Yea, Signior, and depart when you bid me. Bene. O, ftay but till then. Beat. Then, is fpoken; fare you well now; and yet ere I go, let me go with that I came for; which is, with knowing what hath pafs'd between you and Claudio. Bene. Only foul words; and thereupon I will kifs thee. Beat. Foul words are but foul wind, and foul wind is but foul breath, and foul breath is noifome; therefore I will depart unkifs'd. Bene. Thou haft frighted the word out of its right fenfe, fo forcible is thy wit; but, I muft tell thee plainly, Claudio undergoes my challenge; and either I muft fhortly hear from him, or I will fubfcribe him a coward; and I pray thee, now tell me, for which of my bad parts didit thou firft fall in love with me? Beat. For them all together; which maintain'd fo politie a state of evil, that they will not admit any good part to intermingle with them. But for which of my good parts did you firft fuffer love for me? Bene. Suffer love! a good epithet: I do fuffer love, indeed, for I love thee against my will. Beat. In fpight of your heart, I think; alas! poor heart, if you fpight it for my fake, I will fpight it for yours; for I will never love that which my friend hates. Bene. Thou and I are too wife to woo peaceably. Beat. It appears not in this confeffion; there's not one wife man among twenty that will praise himself. Bene. "An old, an old inftance, Beatrice, that liv'd in the time of good neighbours;" if a man do not ere&t F 3 erect in this age his own tomb ere he dies, he no longer in monuments, than the bells ring, widow weeps. Beat. And how long is that, think you? shall live and the Bene. Queftion?- why, an hour in clamour, and a quarter in rheum; therefore it is most expedient for the wife, if Don Worm (his confcience) find no impediment to the contrary, to be the trumpet of his own virtues, as I am to myself. So much for praising myself; who, I myself will bear witnefs, is praife worthy. And now tell me, how doth your coufin? Beat. Very ill. Bene. And how do you? Beat. Very ill too. Bene. Serve God, love me, and mend; there will I leave you too, for here comes one in haste. Enter Urfula. Urf. Madam, you must come to your uncle; yonder's old coil at home; it is proved my Lady Hero hath been falfely accus'd; the Prince and Claudio mightily abus'd; and Don John is the author of all, who is fled and gone, Will you come presently? Beat. Will you go hear this news, Signior? Bene. I will live in thy eyes, die in thy lap, and be bury'd in thy heart; and, moreover, I will go with thee to thy uncle. SCENE VIII. Changes to a church. [Exeunt. Enter Don Pedro, Claudio, and attendants with tapers. Claud. Is this the monument of Leonato? Attend. It is, my Lord. EPITAPH. Done to death by flanderous tongues Was the Hero that here lies: Claud. Claud. Now, mufic, found, and fing the folemn hymn. SONG. Pardon, goddefs of the night, Graves, yarn, and yield your dead, Heavily, heavily. Claud. Now unto thy bones good night! Yearly will I do this rite. Pedro. Good morrow, Masters, put your torches out; The wolves have prey'd; and, look, the gentle day, Before the wheels of Phoebus, round about Dapples the drowsy eat with spots of grey: Thanks to you all, and leave us; fare you well. Claud. Good morrow. Mafters; each his feveral way. Pedro. Come, let us hence, and put on other weeds; And then to Leonato's we will go. Claud. And Hymen now with luckier iffue fpeed 's, Than this for whom we render'd up this woe! [Exeunt. SCENE IX. Changes to Leonato's house. Enter Leonato, Benedick, Margaret, Urfula, Antonio, Friar. Did I not tell you fhe was innocent? Leon. So are the Prince and Claudio, who accus'd her, Ant. Well; I am glad that all things fort fo well. Το |