Chapter VII: Act V: SCENE I. Before LEONATO’S house

_Enter_ LEONATO _and_ ANTONIO.

_Ant._ If you go on thus, you will kill yourself; And ’tis not wisdom thus to second grief Against yourself.

_Leon._ I pray thee, cease thy counsel, Which falls into mine ears as profitless As water in a sieve: give not me counsel; 5 Nor let no comforter delight mine ear But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine. Bring me a father that so loved his child, Whose joy of her is overwhelm’d like mine, And bid him speak of patience; 10 Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine, And let it answer every strain for strain, As thus for thus, and such a grief for such, In every lineament, branch, shape, and form: If such a one will smile, and stroke his beard, 15 Bid sorrow wag, cry ‘hem!’ when he should groan, Patch grief with proverbs, make misfortune drunk With candle-wasters; bring him yet to me, And I of him will gather patience. But there is no such man: for, brother, men 20 Can counsel and speak comfort to that grief Which they themselves not feel; but, tasting it, Their counsel turns to passion, which before Would give preceptial medicine to rage, Fetter strong madness in a silken thread, 25 Charm ache with air, and agony with words: No, no; ’tis all men’s office to speak patience To those that wring under the load of sorrow, But no man’s virtue nor sufficiency, To be so moral when he shall endure 30 The like himself. Therefore give me no counsel: My griefs cry louder than advertisement.

_Ant._ Therein do men from children nothing differ.

_Leon._ I pray thee, peace. I will be flesh and blood; For there was never yet philosopher 35 That could endure the toothache patiently, However they have writ the style of gods, And made a push at chance and sufferance.

_Ant._ Yet bend not all the harm upon yourself; Make those that do offend you suffer too. 40

_Leon._ There thou speak’st reason: nay, I will do so. My soul doth tell me Hero is belied; And that shall Claudio know; so shall the prince, And all of them that thus dishonour her.

_Ant._ Here comes the prince and Claudio hastily. 45

_Enter_ DON PEDRO _and_ CLAUDIO.

_D. Pedro._ Good den, good den.

_Claud._ Good day to both of you.

_Leon._ Hear you, my lords,—

_D. Pedro._ We have some haste, Leonato.

_Leon._ Some haste, my lord! well, fare you well, my lord: Are you so hasty now? well, all is one.

_D. Pedro._ Nay, do not quarrel with us, good old man. 50

_Ant._ If he could right himself with quarrelling, Some of us would lie low.

_Claud._ Who wrongs him?

_Leon._ Marry, thou dost wrong me; thou dissembler, thou:— Nay, never lay thy hand upon thy sword: I fear thee not.

_Claud._ Marry, beshrew my hand, 55 If it should give your age such cause of fear: In faith, my hand meant nothing to my sword.

_Leon._ Tush, tush, man; never fleer and jest at me: I speak not like a dotard nor a fool, As, under privilege of age, to brag 60 What I have done being young, or what would do, Were I not old. Know, Claudio, to thy head, Thou hast so wrong’d mine innocent child and me, That I am forced to lay my reverence by, And, with grey hairs and bruise of many days, 65 Do challenge thee to trial of a man. I say thou hast belied mine innocent child; Thy slander hath gone through and through her heart, And she lies buried with her ancestors; O, in a tomb where never scandal slept, 70 Save this of hers, framed by thy villany!

_Claud._ My villany?

_Leon._ Thine, Claudio; thine, I say.

_D. Pedro._ You say not right, old man.

_Leon._ My lord, my lord, I’ll prove it on his body, if he dare,

Despite his nice fence and his active practice, 75 His May of youth and bloom of lustihood.

_Claud._ Away! I will not have to do with you.

_Leon._ Canst thou so daff me? Thou hast kill’d my child: If thou kill’st me, boy, thou shalt kill a man.

_Ant._ He shall kill two of us, and men indeed: 80 But that’s no matter; let him kill one first; Win me and wear me; let him answer me. Come, follow me, boy; come, sir boy, come, follow me: Sir boy, I’ll whip you from your foining fence; Nay, as I am a gentleman, I will. 85

_Leon._ Brother,—

_Ant._ Content yourself. God knows I loved my niece; And she is dead, slander’d to death by villains, That dare as well answer a man indeed As I dare take a serpent by the tongue: 90 Boys, apes, braggarts, Jacks, milksops!

_Leon._ Brother Antony,—

_Ant._ Hold you content. What, man! I know them, yea, And what they weigh, even to the utmost scruple,— Scambling, out-facing, fashion-monging boys, That lie, and cog, and flout, deprave, and slander, 95 Go antiquely, and show outward hideousness, And speak off half a dozen dangerous words, How they might hurt their enemies, if they durst; And this is all.

_Leon._ But, brother Antony,—

_Ant._ Come, ’tis no matter: 100 Do not you meddle; let me deal in this.

_D. Pedro._ Gentlemen both, we will not wake your patience. My heart is sorry for your daughter’s death: But, on my honour, she was charged with nothing But what was true, and very full of proof. 105

_Leon._ My lord, my lord,—

_D. Pedro._ I will not hear you.

_Leon._ No? Come, brother; away! I will be heard.

_Ant._ And shall, or some of us will smart for it.

[_Exeunt Leonato and Antonio._

_D. Pedro._ See, see; here comes the man we went to seek. 110

_Enter_ BENEDICK.

_Claud._ Now, signior, what news?

_Bene._ Good day, my lord.

_D. Pedro._ Welcome, signior: you are almost come to part almost a fray.

_Claud._ We had like to have had our two noses snapped 115 off with two old men without teeth.

_D. Pedro._ Leonato and his brother. What thinkest thou? Had we fought, I doubt we should have been too young for them.

_Bene._ In a false quarrel there is no true valour. I came 120 to seek you both.

_Claud._ We have been up and down to seek thee; for we are high-proof melancholy, and would fain have it beaten away. Wilt thou use thy wit?

_Bene._ It is in my scabbard: shall I draw it? 125

_D. Pedro._ Dost thou wear thy wit by thy side?

_Claud._ Never any did so, though very many have been beside their wit. I will bid thee draw, as we do the minstrels; draw, to pleasure us.

_D. Pedro._ As I am an honest man, he looks pale. Art 130 thou sick, or angry?

_Claud._ What, courage, man! What though care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care.

_Bene._ Sir, I shall meet your wit in the career, an you charge it against me. I pray you choose another subject. 135

_Claud._ Nay, then, give him another staff: this last was broke cross.

_D. Pedro._ By this light, he changes more and more: I think he be angry indeed.

_Claud._ If he be, he knows how to turn his girdle. 140

_Bene._ Shall I speak a word in your ear?

_Claud._ God bless me from a challenge!

_Bene._ [_Aside to Claudio_] You are a villain; I jest not: I will make it good how you dare, with what you dare, and when you dare. Do me right, or I will protest your 145 cowardice. You have killed a sweet lady, and her death shall fall heavy on you. Let me hear from you.

_Claud._ Well, I will meet you, so I may have good cheer.

_D. Pedro._ What, a feast, a feast?

_Claud._ I’ faith, I thank him; he hath bid me to a calf’s-head 150 and a capon; the which if I do not carve most curiously, say my knife’s naught. Shall I not find a woodcock too?

_Bene._ Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes easily.

_D.Pedro._ I’ll tell thee how Beatrice praised thy wit 155 the other day. I said, thou hadst a fine wit: ‘True,’ said she, ‘a fine little one.’ ‘No,’ said I, ‘a great wit:’ ‘Right,’ says she, ‘a great gross one.’ ‘Nay,’ said I, ‘a good wit:’ ‘Just,’ said she, ‘it hurts nobody.’ ‘Nay,’ said I, ‘the gentleman is wise:’ ‘Certain,’ said she, ‘a wise gentleman.’ 160 ‘Nay,’ said I, ‘he hath the tongues:’ ‘That I believe,’ said she, ‘for he swore a thing to me on Monday night, which he forswore on Tuesday morning; there’s a double tongue; there’s two tongues.’ Thus did she, an hour together, trans-shape thy particular virtues: yet at last she 165 concluded with a sigh, thou wast the properest man in Italy.

_Claud._ For the which she wept heartily, and said she cared not.

_D. Pedro._ Yea, that she did; but yet, for all that, an if she did not hate him deadly, she would love him dearly: 170 the old man’s daughter told us all.

_Claud._ All, all; and, moreover, God saw him when he was hid in the garden.

_D. Pedro._ But when shall we set the savage bull’s horns on the sensible Benedick’s head? 175

_Claud._ Yea, and text underneath, ‘Here dwells Benedick the married man’?

_Bene._ Fare you well, boy: you know my mind. I will leave you now to your gossip-like humour: you break jests as braggarts do their blades, which, God be thanked, 180 hurt not. My lord, for your many courtesies I thank you: I must discontinue your company: your brother the bastard is fled from Messina: you have among you killed a sweet and innocent lady. For my Lord Lackbeard there, he and I shall meet: and till then peace be with him. [_Exit._ 185

_D. Pedro._ He is in earnest.

_Claud._ In most profound earnest; and, I’ll warrant you, for the love of Beatrice.

_D. Pedro._ And hath challenged thee.

_Claud._ Most sincerely. 190

_D. Pedro._ What a pretty thing man is when he goes in his doublet and hose, and leaves off his wit!

_Claud._ He is then a giant to an ape: but then is an ape a doctor to such a man.

_D. Pedro._ But, soft you, let me be: pluck up, my heart, 195 and be sad. Did he not say, my brother was fled?

_Enter_ DOGBERRY, VERGES, _and the_ Watch, _with_ CONRADE _and_ BORACHIO.

_Dog._ Come, you, sir: if justice cannot tame you, she shall ne’er weigh more reasons in her balance: nay, an you be a cursing hypocrite once, you must be looked to.

_D. Pedro._ How now? two of my brother’s men bound! 200 Borachio one!

_Claud._ Hearken after their offence, my lord.

_D. Pedro._ Officers, what offence have these men done?

_Dog._ Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they 205 are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things; and, to conclude, they are lying knaves.

_D. Pedro._ First, I ask thee what they have done; thirdly, I ask thee what’s their offence; sixth and lastly, why 210 they are committed; and, to conclude, what you lay to their charge.

_Claud._ Rightly reasoned, and in his own division; and, by my troth, there’s one meaning well suited.

_D. Pedro._ Who have you offended, masters, that you are 215 thus bound to your answer? this learned constable is too cunning to be understood: what’s your offence?

_Bora._ Sweet prince, let me go no farther to mine answer: do you hear me, and let this count kill me. I have deceived even your very eyes: what your wisdoms could 220 not discover, these shallow fools have brought to light; who, in the night, overheard me confessing to this man, how Don John your brother incensed me to slander the Lady Hero; how you were brought into the orchard, and saw me court Margaret in Hero’s garments: how you disgraced 225 her, when you should marry her: my villany they have upon record; which I had rather seal with my death than repeat over to my shame. The lady is dead upon mine and my master’s false accusation; and, briefly, I desire nothing but the reward of a villain. 230

_D. Pedro._ Runs not this speech like iron through your blood?

_Claud._ I have drunk poison whiles he utter’d it.

_D. Pedro._ But did my brother set thee on to this?

_Bora._ Yea, and paid me richly for the practice of it.

_D. Pedro._ He is composed and framed of treachery: 235 And fled he is upon this villany.

_Claud._ Sweet Hero! now thy image doth appear In the rare semblance that I loved it first.

_Dog._ Come, bring away the plaintiffs: by this time our sexton hath reformed Signior Leonato of the matter: and, 240 masters, do not forget to specify, when time and place shall serve, that I am an ass.

_Verg._ Here, here comes master Signior Leonato, and the sexton too.

_Re-enter_ LEONATO _and_ ANTONIO, _with the_ Sexton.

_Leon._ Which is the villain? let me see his eyes, 245 That, when I note another man like him, I may avoid him: which of these is he?

_Bora._ If you would know your wronger, look on me.

_Leon._ Art thou the slave that with thy breath hast kill’d Mine innocent child?

_Bora._ Yea, even I alone. 250

_Leon._ No, not so, villain; thou beliest thyself: Here stand a pair of honourable men; A third is fled, that had a hand in it. I thank you, princes, for my daughter’s death: Record it with your high and worthy deeds: 255 ’Twas bravely done, if you bethink you of it.

_Claud._ I know not how to pray your patience; Yet I must speak. Choose your revenge yourself; Impose me to what penance your invention Can lay upon my sin: yet sinn’d I not 260 But in mistaking.

_D. Pedro._ By my soul, nor I: And yet, to satisfy this good old man, I would bend under any heavy weight That he’ll enjoin me to.

_Leon._ I cannot bid you bid my daughter live; 265 That were impossible: but, I pray you both, Possess the people in Messina here How innocent she died; and if your love Can labour ought in sad invention, Hang her an epitaph upon her tomb, 270 And sing it to her bones, sing it to-night: To-morrow morning come you to my house; And since you could not be my son-in-law, Be yet my nephew: my brother hath a daughter, Almost the copy of my child that’s dead, 275 And she alone is heir to both of us: Give her the right you should have given her cousin, And so dies my revenge.

_Claud._ O noble sir, Your over-kindness doth wring tears from me! I do embrace your offer; and dispose 280 For henceforth of poor Claudio.

_Leon._ To-morrow, then, I will expect your coming; To-night I take my leave. This naughty man Shall face to face be brought to Margaret, Who I believe was pack’d in all this wrong, 285 Hired to it by your brother.

_Bora._ No, by my soul, she was not; Nor knew not what she did when she spoke to me; But always hath been just and virtuous In any thing that I do know by her.

_Dog._ Moreover, sir, which indeed is not under white 290 and black, this plaintiff here, the offender, did call me ass: I beseech you, let it be remembered in his punishment. And also, the watch heard them talk of one Deformed: they say he wears a key in his ear, and a lock hanging by it; and borrows money in God’s name, the 295 which he hath used so long and never paid, that now men grow hard-hearted, and will lend nothing for God’s sake: pray you, examine him upon that point.

_Leon._ I thank thee for thy care and honest pains.

_Dog._ Your worship speaks like a most thankful and 300 reverend youth; and I praise God for you.

_Leon._ There’s for thy pains.

_Dog._ God save the foundation!

_Leon._ Go, I discharge thee of thy prisoner, and I thank thee. 305

_Dog._ I leave an arrant 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 restore you to health! I humbly give you leave to depart; and if a merry meeting may be wished, God 310 prohibit it! Come, neighbour.

[_Exeunt Dogberry and Verges._

_Leon._ Until to-morrow morning, lords, farewell.

_Ant._ Farewell, my lords: we look for you to-morrow.

_D. Pedro._ We will not fail.

_Claud._ To-night I’ll mourn with Hero.

_Leon._ [_To the Watch_] Bring you these fellows on. We’ll talk with Margaret, 315 How her acquaintance grew with this lewd fellow.

[_Exeunt, severally._

~~~~~ Linenotes: _Much Ado About Nothing_, V. 1.

SCENE I. Before L.’s house] Pope.

6: _comforter_] Q. _comfort_ F1. _comfort els_ F2. _comfort else_ F3 F4.

7: _do_] _doe_ Q. _doth_ Ff.

10: _speak_] _speak to me_ Hanmer.

16: _Bid sorrow wag, cry ‘hem!’_] Capell. _And sorrow, wagge, crie hem_ Q F1 F2. _And hallow, wag, cry hem_ F3. _And hollow, wag, cry hem_ F4. _And sorrow wage; cry, hem_ Theobald. _And sorrow waive, cry hem_ Hanmer. _And, sorrow wag! cry; hem_ Johnson. _And sorrow gagge; cry hem_ Tyrwhitt conj. _And sorrowing, cry hem_ Heath conj. _Cry, sorrow, wag! and hem_ Steevens (Johnson conj.). _In sorrow wag; cry hem_ Malone. _And sorry wag, cry hem_ Steevens conj. _And, sorrow waggery, hem_ Ritson conj. _And sorrow-wagg’d cry hem_ Becket conj. _And_—_sorrow wag!_—_cry hem_ Dyce. _Call sorrow joy, cry hem_ Collier MS. _Say, sorrow, wag; cry hem_ S. Walker conj. _And sorrow’s wag, cry hem_ Grant White. _And sorrow away! cry hem_ Halliwell conj. _At sorrow wink, cry hem_ Anon. conj.

18: _candle-wasters_] _caudle-waters_ Jackson conj.

_yet_] _you_ Collier MS.

21: _speak_] Q F1 F2. _give_ F3 F4.

38: _push_] Q Ff. _pish_ Rowe (ed. 2).

45: SCENE II. Pope.

52: _wrongs him_] _wrongeth him_ Hanmer. _wrongs him, sir?_ Capell.

53: _Marry, thou_] _marry, Thou, thou_ Steevens. _who? Marry thou_ S. Walker conj.

63: _mine_] Q. _my_ Ff.

67: _mine_] _my_ Pope.

78: _daff_] _doffe_ Warburton.

83: _come, sir boy, come, follow me_] Q Ff. _come boy, follow me_ Pope. _come sir boy, follow me_ Capell.

91: _braggarts, Jacks_] _Jacks, braggarts_ Hanmer.

94: _monging_] Q F1. _mongring_ F2 F3 F4.

96: _and_] om. Spedding conj.

_outward_] _an outward_ Rowe.

97: _off_] Theobald, _of_ Q Ff.

102: _wake_] _rack_ Hanmer. _wrack_ Warburton. _waste_ Talbot conj.

_patience_] _passions_ Anon. conj.

105: _what_] om. F2 F3 F4.

106–109: Printed as three lines ending _No!...shall,...it._ by Hanmer.

107: Enter Benedick. Ff.

108: _No?_] Capell. _No_ Q F1. _No!_ F2 F3 F4.

_Come_] om. Steevens.

109: Enter Ben. Q.

[Exeunt...] Exeunt ambo. Q Ff (after the preceding line).

110: _we_] _he_ F3 F4.

114: _almost_] om. Rowe (ed. 2).

115: _like_] _likt_ Q F1.

120: _a_] om. F3 F4.

143: [Aside to Claudio] Edd. See note (XXIII).

149: _a feast, a feast?_] Q F1. _a feast?_ F2 F3 F4.

150: _I’ faith_] _Ay, faith,_ Capell conj.

_a calf’s-head_] Malone. _a calves head_ Q F1 F2. _calves
heads_ F3 F4.

151: _a capon_] _a cap-on_ Capell. _capers_ Collier MS.

156: _True_] _Right_ Rowe (ed. 2).

_said_] Q. _saies_ F1 F2 F3 _says_ F4.

157: _Right_] _Just_ Rowe (ed. 2).

158: _says she_] _said she_ Pope.

159: _said she_] _says she_ Steevens.

160, 161: _a wise gentleman_] _a wise gentle man_ Johnson conj.

164: _there’s_] _theirs_ Q.

169: _an_] Hanmer. _and_ Q Ff.

172: _God_] _who_ Collier MS.

174: _savage_] Q F1 F2. _salvage_ F3 F4.

175: _on_] _one_ Q.

184: _lady. For_] _lady: for_ Q F1 F2 F3. _lady, for_ F4. _lady for_ Rowe.

185: [Exit.] Rowe.

189: _thee._] _thee?_ Pope.

193: SCENE IV. Pope.

195: _let me be_] Q F1. _let me see_ F2 F3 F4. _let be_ Capell.

_let me be: pluck_] _let me pluck_ Malone conj.

197: SCENE IV. Hanmer.

Enter...] Hanmer. Enter Constables, C. and B. Q (after 192). Enter Constable, C. and B. Ff (after 192).

198: _weigh more_] _more weigh_ S. Walker conj.

_an_] _if_ Pope.

211: _you lay_] _lay you_ F4.

215: _Who_] Q F1. _Whom_ F2 F3 F4.

222: _overheard_] _heard_ F4.

232: _whiles_] _while_ Rowe.

234: _Yea, and...of it_] _Yea; And...on’t_ S. Walker conj.

_and_] om. Pope.

_richly_] _rich_ F2 F3 F4.

235: _and framed_] om. F3 F4.

240: _reformed_] _informed_ F3 F4.

245: SCENE V. Pope.

Re-enter...] Capell. Enter Leonato. Q Ff. Enter L. and Sexton. Theobald.

249: _Art thou_] Q. _Art thou thou_ F1. _Art thou, art thou_ F2 F3 F4.

259: _Impose_] _Expose_ Hanmer.

_me to_] _to me_ Capell conj.

264: _to_] _too_ F3 F4.

265: _I cannot bid you bid my daughter live_] Q F1. _I cannot bid you daughter live_ F2. _I cannot bid your daughter live_ F3. _You cannot bid my daughter live_ F4. _You cannot bid my daughter live again_ Rowe. _I cannot bid you cause my daughter live_ Collier MS.

285: _pack’d_] _packt_ Q Ff. _pact_ Collier.

306: _arrant_] _errant_ F4.

311: [Exeunt D. and V.] Edd. Exeunt D., V. and Watch. Capell. Exeunt. Ff (after line 312). om. Q.

315: [To the Watch.] Edd. ~~~~~

SCENE II. LEONATO’S _garden_.

_Enter_ BENEDICK _and_ MARGARET, _meeting_.

_Bene._ Pray thee, sweet Mistress Margaret, deserve well at my hands by helping me to the speech of Beatrice.

_Marg._ Will you, then, write me a sonnet in praise of my beauty?

_Bene._ In so high a style, Margaret, that no man living 5 shall come over it; for, in most comely truth, thou deservest it.

_Marg._ To have no man come over me! why, shall I always keep below stairs?

_Bene._ Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound’s mouth; 10 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 so, I pray thee, call Beatrice: I give thee the 15 bucklers.

_Marg._ Give us the swords; 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 20 hath legs.

_Bene._ And therefore will come. [_Exit Margaret._

[_Sings_] The god of love,
That sits above,
And knows me, and knows me, 25
How pitiful I deserve,—

I mean in singing; but in loving, Leander the good swimmer, Troilus the first employer of panders, and a whole bookful of these quondam carpet-mongers, whose names yet run smoothly in the even road of a blank verse, why, 30 they were never so truly turned over and over as my poor self in love. Marry, I cannot show it in rhyme; I have tried: I can find out no rhyme to ‘lady’ but ‘baby,’ an innocent rhyme; for ‘scorn,’ ‘horn,’ a hard rhyme; for ‘school,’ ‘fool,’ a babbling rhyme; very ominous endings: 35 no, I was not born under a rhyming planet, nor I cannot woo in festival terms.

_Enter_ BEATRICE.

Sweet Beatrice, wouldst thou come when I called thee?

_Beat._ Yea, signior, and depart when you bid me.

_Bene._ O, stay but till then! 40

_Beat._ ‘Then’ is spoken; fare you well now: and yet, ere I go, let me go with that I came; which is, with knowing what hath passed between you and Claudio.

_Bene._ Only foul words; and thereupon I will kiss thee.

_Beat._ Foul words is but foul wind, and foul wind is but 45 foul breath, and foul breath is noisome; therefore I will depart unkissed.

_Bene._ Thou hast frighted the word out of his right sense, so forcible is thy wit. But I must tell thee plainly, Claudio undergoes my challenge; and either I must shortly 50 hear from him, or I will subscribe him a coward. And, I pray thee now, tell me for which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?

_Beat._ For them all together; which maintained so politic a state of evil, that they will not admit any good part to 55 intermingle with them. But for which of my good parts did you first suffer love for me?

_Bene._ Suffer love,—a good epithet! I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will.

_Beat._ In spite of your heart, I think; alas, poor heart! 60 If you spite it for my sake, I will spite it for yours; for I will never love that which my friend hates.

_Bene._ Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably.

_Beat._ It appears not in this confession: there’s not one wise man among twenty that will praise himself. 65

_Bene._ An old, an old instance, Beatrice, that lived in the time of good neighbours. If a man do not erect in this age his own tomb ere he dies, he shall live no longer in monument than the bell rings and the widow weeps.

_Beat._ And how long is that, think you? 70

_Bene._ Question: why, an hour in clamour, and a quarter in rheum: therefore is it most expedient for the wise, if Don Worm, his conscience, 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 witness, 75 is praiseworthy: and now tell me, how doth your cousin?

_Beat._ Very ill.

_Bene._ And how do you?

_Beat._ Very ill too.

_Bene._ Serve God, love me, and mend. There will I 80 leave you too, for here comes one in haste.

_Enter_ URSULA.

_Urs._ Madam, you must come to your uncle. Yonder’s old coil at home: it is proved my Lady Hero hath been falsely accused, the prince and Claudio mightily abused; and Don John is the author of all, who is fled and gone. 85 Will you come presently?

_Beat._ Will you go hear this news, signior?

_Bene._ I will live in thy heart, die in thy lap, and be buried in thy eyes; and moreover I will go with thee to thy uncle’s. [_Exeunt._ 90

~~~~~ Linenotes: _Much Ado About Nothing_, V. 2.

SCENE II.] Capell. SCENE VI. Pope.

Leonato’s garden.] Reed. L.’s house. Pope. See note (XXIV).

8, 9: _me! why, shall...stairs?_] _me, why shal...staires._ Q. _me, why, shall...staires?_ Ff.

9: _keep below_] _keep above_ Theobald. _keep men below_ Steevens conj. _keep them below_ Singer conj.

23: [Sings.] Pope.

23–26: Printed as prose in Q Ff, as verse by Capell.

29: _names_] Q F3 F4. _name_ F1 F2.

31: _over and over_] Q F1. _over_ F2 F3 F4.

32: _it in_] Q F3 F4. _it_ F1 F2.

33: _baby_] _babie_ Q F1. _badie_ F2 F3. _bady_ F4. _baudy_ Rowe.

34: _innocent_] Q F1. _innocents_ F2 F3 F4. _innocent’s_ Rowe.

36: _nor_] Q. _for_ Ff.

37: Enter Beatrice] Ff. Enter B. Q (after line 38).

38: SCENE VII. Pope.

_called_] _call_ Rowe.

42: _came_] _came_ for Pope. See note (XXVI).

48: _his_] _its_ Rowe.

54: _all together_] _altogether_ Hanmer.

_maintained_] _maintain_ Capell conj.

57: _first_] om. Rowe.

64: _this_] _that_ Hanmer.

69: _monument_] Q. _monuments_ Ff.

_bell rings_] Q. _bells ring_ Ff.

71: _Question:_] _Question_, Q Ff. _Question?_ Pope. om. Hanmer.

72: _rheum_] _thewme_ F3. _thewm_ F4.

_is it_] _it is_ F4.

74: _myself. So_] _myself so_ Q Ff.

81: Enter U.] Q. Enter U. Ff (after line 79).

88: _in thy lap_] _on thy lip_ Brae conj.

90: _uncle’s_] _uncle_ Rowe. ~~~~~

SCENE III. _A church._

_Enter_ DON PEDRO, CLAUDIO, _and three or four with tapers_.

_Claud._ Is this the monument of Leonato?

_A Lord._ It is, my lord.

_Claud._ [_Reading out of a scroll_]

Done to death by slanderous tongues Was the Hero that here lies: Death, in guerdon of her wrongs, 5 Gives her fame which never dies. So the life that died with shame Lives in death with glorious fame.

Hang thou there upon the tomb, Praising her when I am dumb. 10

Now, music, sound, and sing your solemn hymn.

SONG.

Pardon, goddess of the night,
Those that slew thy virgin knight;
For the which, with songs of woe,
Round about her tomb they go. 15
Midnight, assist our moan;
Help us to sigh and groan,
Heavily, heavily:
Graves, yawn, and yield your dead,
Till death be uttered, 20
Heavily, heavily.

_Claud._ Now, unto thy bones good night! Yearly will I do this rite.

_D. Pedro._ Good morrow, masters; put your torches out: The wolves have prey’d; and look, the gentle day, 25 Before the wheels of Phœbus, round about Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey. Thanks to you all, and leave us: fare you well.

_Claud._ Good morrow, masters: each his several way.

_D. Pedro._ Come, let us hence, and put on other weeds; 30 And then to Leonato’s we will go.

_Claud._ And Hymen now with luckier issue speed’s Than this for whom we render’d up this woe. [_Exeunt._

~~~~~ Linenotes: _Much Ado About Nothing_, V. 3.

SCENE III.] Capell. SCENE VIII. Pope.

2: A Lord.] Lord. Q Ff. Atten. Rowe.

3: Claud. [Reading...] Capell. Epitaph. Q Ff.

3: _by_] _with_ Capell (corrected in MS.).

9: [Affixing it. Capell.

10: _dumb_] Ff. _dead_ Q.

13: _thy_] _the_ Rowe.

_knight_] _bright_ Collier MS.

15: _they_] _we_ Collier MS.

20: _Till_] _Until_ Hanmer.

21: _Heavily, heavily_] Q. _Heavenly, heavenly_ Ff.

22: Claud.] Rowe. Lo. Q Ff.

23: _rite_] Pope. _right_ Q Ff.

29: _his several way_] _his way can tell_ Collier MS.

32: _speed’s_] Theobald (Thirlby conj.). _speeds_ Q F1 _speed_ F2 F3 F4.

33: _whom_] _which_ Hanmer. ~~~~~

SCENE IV. _A room in_ LEONATO’S _house_.

_Enter_ LEONATO, ANTONIO, BENEDICK, BEATRICE, MARGARET, URSULA, FRIAR FRANCIS, _and_ HERO.

_Friar._ Did I not tell you she was innocent?

_Leon._ So are the prince and Claudio, who accused her Upon the error that you heard debated: But Margaret was in some fault for this, Although against her will, as it appears 5 In the true course of all the question.

_Ant._ Well, I am glad that all things sort so well.

_Bene._ And so am I, being else by faith enforced To call young Claudio to a reckoning for it.

_Leon._ Well, daughter, and you gentlewomen all, 10 Withdraw into a chamber by yourselves, And when I send for you, come hither mask’d. [_Exeunt Ladies._ The prince and Claudio promised by this hour To visit me. You know your office, brother: You must be father to your brother’s daughter, 15 And give her to young Claudio.

_Ant._ Which I will do with confirm’d countenance.

_Bene._ Friar, I must entreat your pains, I think.

_Friar._ To do what, signior?

_Bene._ To bind me, or undo me; one of them. 20 Signior Leonato, truth it is, good signior, Your niece regards me with an eye of favour.

_Leon._ That eye my daughter lent her: ’tis most true.

_Bene._ And I do with an eye of love requite her.

_Leon._ The sight whereof I think you had from me, 25 From Claudio, and the prince: but what’s your will?

_Bene._ Your answer, sir, is enigmatical: But, for my will, my will is, your good will May stand with ours, this day to be conjoin’d In the state of honourable marriage: 30 In which, good friar, I shall desire your help.

_Leon._ My heart is with your liking.

_Friar._ And my help. Here comes the prince and Claudio.

_Enter_ DON PEDRO _and_ CLAUDIO, _and two or three others_.

_D. Pedro._ Good morrow to this fair assembly.

_Leon._ Good morrow, prince; good morrow, Claudio: 35 We here attend you. Are you yet determin’d To-day to marry with my brother’s daughter?

_Claud._ I’ll hold my mind, were she an Ethiope.

_Leon._ Call her forth, brother; here’s the friar ready. [_Exit Antonio._ _D. Pedro._ Good morrow, Benedick. Why, what’s the matter, 40 That you have such a February face, So full of frost, of storm, and cloudiness?

_Claud._ I think he thinks upon the savage bull. Tush, fear not, man; we’ll tip thy horns with gold, And all Europa shall rejoice at thee; 45 As once Europa did at lusty Jove, When he would play the noble beast in love.

_Bene._ Bull Jove, sir, had an amiable low; And some such strange bull leap’d your father’s cow, And got a calf in that same noble feat 50 Much like to you, for you have just his bleat.

_Claud._ For this I owe you: here comes other reckonings.

_Re-enter_ ANTONIO, _with the_ Ladies _masked_.

Which is the lady I must seize upon?

_Ant._ This same is she, and I do give you her.

_Claud._ Why, then she’s mine. Sweet, let me see your face. 55

_Leon._ No, that you shall not, till you take her hand Before this friar, and swear to marry her.

_Claud._ Give me your hand: before this holy friar, I am your husband, if you like of me.

_Hero._ And when I lived, I was your other wife: 60 [_Unmasking._ And when you loved, you were my other husband.

_Claud._ Another Hero!

_Hero._ Nothing certainer: One Hero died defiled; but I do live, And surely as I live, I am a maid.

_D. Pedro._ The former Hero! Hero that is dead! 65

_Leon._ She died, my lord, but whiles her slander lived.

_Friar._ All this amazement can I qualify; When after that the holy rites are ended, I’ll tell you largely of fair Hero’s death: Meantime let wonder seem familiar, 70 And to the chapel let us presently.

_Bene._ Soft and fair, friar. Which is Beatrice?

_Beat._ [_Unmasking_] I answer to that name. What is your will?

_Bene._ Do not you love me?

_Beat._ Why, no; no more than reason.

_Bene._ Why, then your uncle, and the prince, and Claudio 75 Have been deceived; they swore you did.

_Beat._ Do not you love me?

_Bene._ Troth, no; no more than reason.

_Beat._ Why, then my cousin, Margaret, and Ursula Are much deceived; for they did swear you did.

_Bene._ They swore that you were almost sick for me. 80

_Beat._ They swore that you were well-nigh dead for me.

_Bene._ ’Tis no such matter. Then you do not love me?

_Beat._ No, truly, but in friendly recompense.

_Leon._ Come, cousin, I am sure you love the gentleman.

_Claud._ And I’ll be sworn upon’t that he loves her; 85 For here’s a paper, written in his hand, A halting sonnet of his own pure brain, Fashion’d to Beatrice.

_Hero._ And here’s another, Writ in my cousin’s hand, stolen from her pocket, Containing her affection unto Benedick. 90

_Bene._ A miracle! here’s our own hands against our hearts. Come, I will have thee; but, by this light, I take thee for pity.

_Beat._ I would not deny you; but, by this good day, I yield upon great persuasion; and partly to save your life, 95 for I was told you were in a consumption.

_Bene._ Peace! I will stop your mouth. [_Kissing her._

_D. Pedro._ How dost thou, Benedick, the married man?

_Bene._ I’ll tell thee what, prince; a college of wit-crackers cannot flout me out of my humour. Dost thou think I care 100 for a satire or an epigram? No: if a man will be beaten with brains, a’ shall wear nothing handsome about him. In brief, since I do purpose to marry, I will think nothing to any purpose that the world can say against it; and therefore never flout at me for what I have said against it; for man 105 is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion. For thy part, Claudio, I did think to have beaten thee; but in that thou art like to be my kinsman, live unbruised, and love my cousin.

_Claud._ I had well hoped thou wouldst have denied Beatrice, that I might have cudgelled thee out of thy single life, 110 to make thee a double-dealer; which, out of question, thou wilt be, if my cousin do not look exceeding narrowly to thee.

_Bene._ Come, come, we are friends: let’s have a dance ere we are married, that we may lighten our own hearts, and our wives’ heels. 115

_Leon._ We’ll have dancing afterward.

_Bene._ First, of my word; therefore play, music. Prince, thou art sad; get thee a wife, get thee a wife: there is no staff more reverend than one tipped with horn.

_Enter a_ Messenger.

_Mess._ My lord, your brother John is ta’en in flight, 120 And brought with armed men back to Messina.

_Bene._ Think not on him till to-morrow: I’ll devise thee brave punishments for him. Strike up, pipers. [_Dance._

[_Exeunt._

~~~~~ Linenotes: _Much Ado About Nothing_, V. 4.

SCENE IV.] SCENE IX. Pope.

...Margaret] om. Reed (1793).

7: _sort_] _sorts_ Q.

10: _you_] Q F1. _yong_ F2. _young_ F3 F4.

12: [Exeunt Ladies.] Q Ff (after line 16). Capell (after line 17). Dyce (after line 14).

23: Leon.] Q F1. Old. F2 F3 F4. Ant. Rowe.

30: _In the_] Q F1. _I’th_ F2 F3 F4.

_state_] _estate_ Johnson.

31: _friar,_] om. F3 F4.

33: _Here...Claudio_] Q. omitted in Ff.

34: SCENE X. Pope.

and...others] and...other. Q. with attendants. Ff.

45: _all Europa_] Q F1 F2. _so all Europe_ F3 F4. _all our Europe_ Steevens conj.

50: _And got_] Q F3 F4. _A got_ F1 F2.

52: SCENE XI. Pope.

_comes_] Q Ff. _come_ Rowe.

Re-enter...] Enter brother, Hero, Beatrice, Margaret, Ursula. Q Ff.

54: This line is given to _Leonato_ in Q Ff, to _Antonio_ first by Theobald.

58: _hand: before......friar,_] Pope. _hand before...friar,_ Q Ff.

60: [Unmasking.] Rowe.

63: _defiled_] Q. om. Ff. _belied_ Collier MS.

69: _you_] _thee_ F3 F4.

74: _Why, no_] _Why_ F3 F4. _No_ Steevens.

75, 76: Printed as Prose in Ff.

76: _they swore_] Q Ff. _for they did swear_ Hanmer. _for they swore_ Capell.

77: _Troth_] om. Steevens.

79: _did swear_] _swore_ Collier MS.

80: _that_] Q. om. Ff.

81: _that_] Q. om. Ff.

82: _such_] Q. om. Ff.

94: _not_] _yet_ Theobald, _now_ Hanmer.

96: _I was told_] Q F1 F2 _as I told_ F3 F4 _as I was told_ Rowe.

97: Given to Leonato in Q Ff, corrected by Theobald.

[Kissing her.] Theobald.

99: _wit-crackers_] _witte-crackers_ Q F1 F2. _witty-crackers_ F3 F4.

102: _a’_] _a_ Q Ff, Collier. _he_ Rowe.

103: _purpose_] _propose_ Reed (1803).

105: _what_] Q F3 F4. om. F1 F2.

112: _do_] _no_ F4.

116: _afterward_] Q F2. _afterwards_ F2 F3 F4.

117: _play,_] Pope. _play_ Q Ff.

118: _there is no_] _No_ S. Walker conj., making a verse.

122: _thee_] _the,_ F4. ~~~~~

NOTES.

NOTE I.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. Rowe and Pope included in the list of Dramatis Personæ, ‘Innogen, wife to Leonato.’ At the beginning of the first scene the Quarto and the Folios have, ‘Enter Leonato Governour of Messina, Innogen his wife, &c.’ and at the beginning of Act II. Sc. I, ‘Enter Leonato, his brother, his wife, &c.’ But as no reference is made to such a character throughout the play, Theobald was doubtless right in striking the name out. The author probably, as Theobald observed, had designed such a character in his first sketch, and afterwards saw reason to omit it. It is impossible to conceive that Hero’s mother should have been present during the scenes in which the happiness and honour of her daughter were at issue, without taking a part, or being once referred to.

NOTE II.

I. 1. 124. The punctuation which we have adopted seems to be the only one which will make sense of this passage without altering the text. We must suppose that, during the ‘skirmish of wit’ between Benedick and Beatrice, from line 96 to 123, Don Pedro and Leonato have been talking apart and making arrangements for the visit of the Prince and his friends, the one pressing his hospitable offers and the other, according to the manners of the time, making a show of reluctance to accept them.

NOTE III.

I. 1. 182, 183. Johnson was not satisfied with his own conjecture, and supposed something to be omitted relating to Hero’s consent or to Claudio’s marriage; ‘something which Claudio and Pedro concur in wishing.’

NOTE IV.

I. 2. 1. We take this opportunity of reminding the reader that when no authority is given for the place of the scene, we generally follow the words of Capell. He, however, more frequently expands than alters the directions given by Pope. At the beginning of the next scene he puts, unnecessarily, ‘Another room in Leonato’s house.’ The stage was left vacant for an instant, but there is nothing to indicate a change of place.

NOTE V.

II. 1. 1. Mr Spedding, in _The Gentleman’s Magazine_, June 1850, proposed to rearrange the Acts thus:

Act II. to begin at what is now Act I. Sc. 2, Act III. . . . . . . . . . . . . Act II. Sc. 3, Act IV. . . . . . . . . . . . . Act III. Sc. 4,