Leon. A victory is twice itself, when the achiever brings home full numbers. I find here, that Don Pedro hath bestowed much honour on a young Florentine, called Claudio. Mess. Much deserved on his part, and equally remembered by Don Pedro: He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age; doing, in the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion: he hath, indeed, better bettered expectation, than yon must expect of me to tell you how. Leon. He hath an uncle here in Messina will be very much glad of it.at s uit #o' Mess. I have already delivered him letters, and there appears much joy in him; even so much, that joy could not show itself modest enough, without a badge of bitterness.pos Leon. Did he break out into tears a Mess. In great measuret. oT Leon. A kind overflow of kindness: There are no faces truer than those that are so washed. How much better is it to weep at joy, than to joy at weeping'?blom sårg.) S61) Beat! I pray you, is signior Montanto returned from the wars, or no? * Kind. † Abundance. Mess. I know none of that name, lady; there was none such in the army of any sort. Leon.. What is he that you ask for, niece? Hero. My cousin means signior Benedick of Padua., Za Mess. O, he is returned; and as pleasant as ever he was. Beat. He set up his bills here in Messina, and challenged Cupid at the flight and my uncle's fool, reading the challenge, subscribed for Cupid, and challenged him at the birdbolt. I pray you, how many hath he killed and eaten in these wars? But how many hath he killed? for, indeed, I promised to eat all of his killing. 958 Hata my Leon, Faith, niece, yon tax signior Benedick too much; but he'll be meets with you, I doubt it not. ¿Mess. He hath done good service, lady, in these wars. Beat. You had musty victual, and he hath holp to eat it: he is a very valiant trencherman, he hath an excellent stomach. G Mess. And a good soldier too, lady. Reat. And a good soldier to a lady ;—But what is he to a lord? 891 Mess. A lord to a lord, a man to a man; stuffed with all honourable virtues. Beat. It is so, indeed; he is no less than a stuffed man: but for the stuffing,Well, we are all mortal. 7 Leon. You must not, sir, mistake my niece: there is a kind of merry war betwixt signior Benedick and her: they never meet, but there is a skirmish of wit between them. Beat. Alas, he gets nothing by that. In our last conflict, four of his five wits went * At long lengths, A cuckold. my heart that I had not a hard heart; for, truly, I love none. halting off, and now is the whole man go- Mess. Is it possible? Beat. A dear happiness to women; they would else have been troubled with a perniCombos acious suitor. I thank God, and my cold blood, I am of your humour for that; I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me. Beat. Very easily possible: he wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat, it ever changes with the next block *. Mess. I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books. Beat. No: an he were, I would burn my study. But, I pray you, who is his companion? Is there no young squarer t now, that will make a voyage with him to the devil? Mess. He is most in the company of the right noble Claudio." Beat. O Lord! he will hang upon him like a disease: he is sooner caught than the pestilence, and the taker runs presently mad. God help the noble Claudio! if he have caught the Benedick, it will cost him a thousand pound ere he be cured. Bene. God keep your ladyship still in that mind! so some gentleman or other shall'scape a predestinate scratched face. Beat. Scratching could not make it worse, an 'twere such a face as yours were. Bene. Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher. Beát. A bird of my tongue, is better than a beast of yours. Bene. I would, my horse had the speed of your tongue; and so good a continuer: But keep your way o'God's name; I have done. Beat. You always end with a jade's trick; I know you of old. -D. Pedro. This is the sum of all: Leonato,signior Claudio, and signior Benedick,—my Mess. I will hold friends with you, lady.dear friend Leonato hath invited you all. I Beat. Do, good friend. Leon. You will never run mad, niece. D. Pedro. Good signior Leonato, you are come to meet your trouble: the fashion of the world is to avoid cost, and you encounter it. Leon. Never came trouble to my house in the likeness of your grace: for trouble being gone, comfort should remain; but, when you depart from me, sorrow abides, and happiness takes his leave. D. Pedro. You embrace your charge too willingly. I think, this is your daughter. Leon. Her mother hath many times told me so. Behe. Were you in doubt, sir, that you asked her? Leon. Signior Benedick, nó; for then were you a child.. D. Pedro. You have it full, Benedick: we may guess by this what you are, being a man. Truly, the lady fathers herself:-Be happy, lady! for you are like an honourable father. Bene. If signior Leonato be her father, she would not have his head on her shoulders, for all Messina, as like him as she is. Beat. I wonder, that you will still be talk'ing, signior Benedick; nobody marks you. Bene. What, my dear lady Disdain! are you yet living? Beat. Is it possible, disdain should die, while she hath such meet food to feed it, as signior Benedick? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come in her presence. tell him, we shall stay here at the least a month; and he heartily prays, some occasion may detain us longer: I dare swear he is no hypocrite, but prays from his heart. Leon. If you swear, my lord, you shall not be forsworn.-Let me bid you welcome, my lord: being reconciled to the prince your brother, I owe you all duty. D. John. I thank you: 1 am not of many words, but I thank you. Leon. Please it your grace lead on ? D. Pedro. Your hand, Leonato; we will go together. [Exeunt all but BENEDICK and CLAUDIO. Claud. Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of signior Leonato ? Bene. I noted her not; but I looked on her. Claud. Is she not a modest young lady? Bene. Do you question me, as an honest man should do, for my simple true judgment; or would you have me speak after my custom,, as being a professed tyrant to their sex? Claud. No, I pray thee, speak in sober judgment. Bene. Why, i'faith,methinks she is too low for a high praise, too brown for a fair praise, and too little for a great praise; only this commendation I can afford her; that were she other than she is, she were unhandsome; and being no other but as she is, I do not like her. Claud. Thou thinkest, I am in sport; I pray thee, tell me truly how thou likest her. Bene. Would you buy her, that you inquire after her? Claud. Can the world buy such a jewel? Bene. Yea, and a case to put it into. But speak you this with a sad brow or do you play the flouting Jack; to tell us Cupid is a • Mould for a hat. † Quarrelsome fellow. * Trust. håre-finder, and Vulcan aŭ rare carpen. ter? Come, in what key shall a man take you, to go song? Cu. In mine eye, she is the sweetest Jady that ever looked on. can see yet without spectacles, and and I see no such matter: there's her cousin, an she were not possessed with a fury, exceeds her as much in beauty, as the first of May doth the last of December. But I hope, you have no intent to turn husband; have you? Claud. I would scarce trust myself, though I had sworn the contrary, if Hero would be my wife. Bene. Is it come to this, i'faith? Hath not the world one man, but he will wear his cap with suspicion? Shall I never see a bachelor of threescore again? Go to, i'faith; an thou wilt needs thrust thy neck into a yoke, wear the print of it, and sigh away Sundays. Look, Don Pedro is returned to seek you, not sw dead Re-enter Don PEDRO. D. Pedro. What secret hath held you here, that you followed not to Leonato's? Bene. I would, your grace would constrain me to tell. iob, vent D. Pedro. I charge thee on thy allegiance. Bene. You hear, Count Claudio: I can be secret as a dumb man, I would have you think so; but on my allegiance, mark you this, on my allegiance :—He is in love. With who?-now that is your grace's part, Mark, how short his Leonato's short daughter is With Hero, of Claud. If this were so, so were it uttered. Bene. Like the old tale, my lord: it is not so, Hor 'twas not so; but, indeed, God, forbid it should be so Claud. If my passion, change not shortly, God forbid it should be otherwise. ofss D. Pedro. Amen, if you love her; for the lady is very well worthy o ym bad I'l Claud. You speak this to fetch me in, my lord. bas mas Hall od sm to smil D. Pedro. By my troth, I speak my thought. als Claud. And, in faith, my lord, I spoke mine. Bene. And, by my two faiths and troths, my lord, I spoke mine.se Idol ( Claud, That I love her, I feel. -210 vino D. Pedro. That she is worthy, I know. Bene. That I neither feel how she should know how she should be worthy, of ise the opinion that fire cannot melt out me; I will die in it at the stake. D. Pedro. Thou wast ever an heretic in the could but in the force of his will. Bene. Claud. And never beauty. his maintain part, here. That a woman conceived the, • The tune sounded to call off the dogs. a famous archer. The name of nowowistal-T Hunting-horn. + Girdle. Trimmed. ་་་ ་ཏཱ་ House. But now I am return'd, and that war thoughts SCENE III. Another Room in Leonato's D. Pedro.Thou wilt be like a lover presently, And tire the hearer with a book of words;,, If thou dost 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'st to twist so fine a story? Claud. How sweetly do you minister to love, The fairest grant is the necessity: [lov'st; t Leon. How now, brother? Where is my cousin, your son? Hath he provided this music? Ant. He is very busy about it. But, brother, I can tell you strange news that you yet dreamed not of. Leon. Are they good? Ant. As the event stamps them; but they have a good cover, they show well outward. The prince and Count Claudio, walking in a thick-pleached alley in my orchard, were thus much overheard by a man of mine; The prince discovered to Claudio, that he loved 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 instantly break with you of it. Leon. Hath the fellow any wit, that told you this? Enter Don JoHN and CONRADE. Con. What the gonjeret, my lord! why are you thus out of measure sad? D. John. There is no measure in the occasion that breeds it, therefore the sadness is without limit. Con. You should hear reason. D. John. And when I have heard it, what blessing bringeth it? Con. If not a présent remedy, yet a patient sufferance. D. John. I wonder, that thou being (as 'thou say'st thou art) born under Saturn, goest about to apply a moral medicine to a mortifying mischief. I cannot hide what I am: I must be sad when I have cause, and smile at no man's jests; eat when I have stomach, and wait for no man's leisure; sleep when I am drowsy, and tend to no man's business; laugh when I am merry, and claw no man' in his humour! Con. Yea, but you must not make the full show of this till you may do it without controlment. You have of late stood out against your brother, and he hath ta'en you newly into his grace; where it is impossible you should take true root, but by the fair weather that you make yourself: it is needful that you frame the season for your own harvest. D. John. I had rather be a canker | in a hedge, than a rose in his grace; and it better fits my blood to be disdained of all, than to fashion a carriage to rob love from any: in this, though I cannot be said to be a flatter ing honest man, it must not be denied that I am a plain-dealing villain." I am trusted with a muzzle, and enfranchised with a clog; therefore I have decreed not to sing 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 alter me. Con. Can you make no use of your discontent? Gog D. John, I make all use of it, for I use it only. Who comes here? What news, Borachio? Enter BORACHIO. Bora. I came yonder from a great supper; Ant. A good sharp fellow: I will send for the prince, your brother, is royally entertained him, and question him yourself. of Leonato; and I can give you intelligence Leon. No, no; we will hold it as a dream, till it appear itself:-but I will acquaint my daughter withal, that she may be the better prepared for an answer, if peradventure this be true. Go you, and tell her of it. [Several persons cross the stage.] Cousins, you know what you have to do.-O, I cry you mercy, friend; you go with me, and I will use your skill:Good cousins have a care this busy time. * Once for all. шrn T an intended marriage. D. John. Will it serve for any model to build mischief on? What is he for a fool, that betroths himself to unquietness? Bora. Marry, it is your brother's right hand. D. John. Who? the most exquisite Claudio? D. John. A proper squire! And who, and [Exeunt, who which way looks he? The venereal disease. Flatter. 206) otin 08 90. Dog-rose..she set Bora. Marry, on Hero, the daughter and heir of Leonato. D. John, A very forward March chick! How came you to this? may prove food to my displeasure: that young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow; if I can cross him any way, I bless myself every way: You are both sure, and will asCon. To the death, my lord. Bora. Being entertained for a perfumer, assist me? I was smoking a musty room, comes me the prince and Claudio, hand in hand, in sad* D. John. Let us to the great supper; their conference: I whipt me behind the arras; cheer is the greater, that I am subdued: and there heard it agreed upon, that the prince 'Would the cook were of my mind!-Shall we should woo Hero for himself, and having ob-go prove what's to be done? tained her, give her to count Claudio. D. John. Come, come, let us thither; this Bora. We'll wait upon your lordship. [Exeunt. SCENE I. A Hall in Leonato's House. Enter LEONATO, ANTONIO, HERO, BEATRICE, and others. Leon. Was not count John here at supper? Ant. I saw him not. Leo. Well then, go you into hell? Beat. No; but to the gate; and there will the devil meet me, like an old cuckold, with Beatrice, get you to heaven; here's no horns on his head, and say, Get you to heaven, place for you maids so deliver I up my apes, and away to Saint Peter for the heavens; he shows, me where the bachelors sit, Hero. He is of a very melancholy disposi-and there live we as merry as the day is long, Beat. How tartly that gentleman looks! I never can see him, but I am heart-burned an hour after. tion. Beat. He were an excellent man, that were made just in the mid-way between him and Benedick: the one is too like an image, and says nothing; and the other, too like my la dy's eldest son, evermore tattling. 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 purse, such 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 husband, if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue. Ant, In faith, she is too curst. Beat. Too curst is more than curst: I shall lessen God's sending that way: for it is said, God sends a curst cow short horns; but to a cow too curst he sends none. Leon. So, by being too curst, God will send you no horns. Beat. Just, if he send me no husband; for the which blessing, 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 the 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 less than a man: and he that is more than a youth, is not for me; and he that is less than a man, I am not for him. Therefore I will even take sixpence in earnest of the bear-herd, and lead his apes into hell. Serious. Ant. Well, niece, [To HERO.] I trust, you will be ruled by your father. Beat. Yes, faith; it is any cousin's duty to make courtesy, and say, Father, as it please you but yet for all that, cousin, let him be a handsome fellow, or else make another courtesy, and say, Father, as it please me. Leon. Well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband. other metal than earth. Would it not grieve Beat. Not till God make men of some valiant dust? to make an account of her life a woman to be over-mastered with a piece of to a clod of wayward marl? No, uncle, I'll none: Adam's sons are my brethren; and truly, I hold it a sin to match in my kindred, Leon. Daughter, remember, what I told you: if the prince do solicit you in that kind, you know your answer. Beat. The fault will be in the music, cousin, if you be not woo'd in good time: if the prince be too important t, tell him, there is measure in every thing, and so dance out the answer. For hear me, Hero; Wooing, wedding, and repenting, is as a Scotch jig, a measure, and a cinque-pace; the first suit is hot and hasty, like a Scotch jig, and full as fantastical; the wedding, mannerly-modest, as a measure full of state and ancientry; and then comes repentance, and, with his bad legs, falls into the cinque-pace faster and faster, till he sink into his grave. Leon Cousin, you, apprehend passing shrewdly. Beat. I have a good eye, uncle, I can see a church by day-light. Leon. The revellers are entering; brother, make good room. Adroft Importunate.> |