will I leave you too, for here comes one in haste. Enter Ursula. your uncle: Urs. Madam, you must come to 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: 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. SCENE III-The inside of a church. Enter Don Pedro, Claudio, and attendants, with music and tapers. Claud. Is this the monument of Leonato? Claud. [Reads from a scroll.] Done to death by slanderous tongues, Gives her fame which never dies: Ant. Well, I am glad that all things sort so well. Bene. And so am 1, being else by faith enforc'd To call young Claudio to a reckoning for it. Withdraw into a chamber by yourselves; Leon. Well, daughter, and you gentlewomen all, And when I send for you, come hither mask'd: The prince and Claudio promis'd by this hour To visit me :-You know your office, brother; You must be father to your brother's daughter, And give her to young Claudio. [Exeunt Ladies. 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.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, 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 Hang thou there upon the tomb, [Affixing it. In the estate of honourable marriage ; Praising her when I am dumb. Now, music, sound, and sing your solemn hymn. D. Pedro. Come, let us hence, and put on other weeds: And then to Leonato's we will go. Claud. And, Hymen, now with luckier issue speeds, Than this, for whom we render'd up this wo! [Exeunt. SCENE IV-A room in Leonato's house. Enter Leonato, Antonio, Benedick, Beatrice, Ursula, Friar, and Hero. Friar. Did I not tell you she was innocent? Leon. So are the prince and Claudio, who accus'd her, Upon the error that you heard debated: In which, good friar, I shall desire your help. Enter Don Pedro and Claudio, with attendants. We here attend you; are you yet determin'd That you have such a February face, 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; 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, Re-enter Antonio, with the Ladies mask'd. Claud: For this I owe you: here come other reckonings. 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. 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: [Unmasking. And when you loved, you were my other husband. Claud. Another Hero? D. Pedro. The former Hero! Hero that is dead! Leon. She died, my lord, but whiles her stander liv'd. Friar. All this amazement can I qualify; Bene. Do not you love me? Have been deceived; for they swore you did. Bene. Are much deceiv'd; for they did swear you did. Bene. I'll tell thee what, prince; a college of witcrackers cannot flout me out of my humour: dost thou think, I care for a satire, or an epigram; No:| if a man will be beaten with brains, he shall wear nothing handsome about him: In brief, since I do propose to marry, I will think nothing to any purpose that the world can say against it; and thereCore never flout at me for what I have said against (1) Because. it: for man is a giddy thing, and this is my conch ion-For thy part, Canck, 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 boped, thou wouldst have denied Beatrice, that I might have cudgelied thee out of thy single life, to make thee a docbie dealer: which, out of question, thot wit 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 nighten our hearts, and our wives' bee's. Leon. We'll have dancing afterwards. Bene. First, o' my word; therefore, play, music.-Prince, thou art sad: get thee a wide, get thee a wife: there is no staff more reverend than one tipped with horn. This play may be justly said to contain two of the most sprightly characters that Shakspeare ever drew. The wit, the humourist, the gentleman, and the soldier, are combined in Benedick. It is to be lamented, indeed, that the first and most splendid of these distinctions, is disgraced by unneces sary profaneness; for the goodness of his heart is hardly sufficient to atone for the license of his tongue. The too sarcastic levity, which flashes out in the conversation of Beatrice, may be excused on account of the steadiness and friendship so apparent in her behaviour, when she urges her lover to risk his life by a challenge to Claudio. In the conduct of the fable, however, there is an imper. fection similar to that which Dr. Johnson has pointed out in The Merry Wives of Windsor-the second contrivance is less ingenious than the first :or, to speak more plainly, the same incident is become stale by repetition. I wish some other method had been found to entrap Beatrice, than that very one which before had been successfully practised on Benedick. Much Ado About Nothing (as I understand from one of Mr. Vertue's MSS.) formerly passed under the title of Benedick and Beatrix. Heming the player received, on the 20th of May, 1613, the sum of forty pounds, and twenty pounds more as his majesty's gratuity, for exhibiting six plays at Hampton Court, among which was this comedy. STEEVENS. ACT I. SCENE I-Athens. A room in the palace of Theseus. Enter Theseus, Hippolyta, Philostrate, and attendants. Theseus. Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour Long withering out a young man's revenue. Four nights will quickly dream away the time; Go, Philostrate, The. Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments; Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth; Turn melancholy forth to funerals, The pale companion is not for our pomp.[Exit Philostrate. Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword, And won thy love, doing thee injuries; But I will wed thee in another key, With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling. Enter Egeus, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius. Ege. Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke! The. Thanks, good Egeus: what's the news with thee? Ege. Full of vexation come I, with complaint Against my child, my daughter Hermia.Stand forth, Demetrius;-My noble lord, This man hath my consent to marry her:Stand forth, Lysander;-and, my gracious duke, This hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child: The thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes, (1) Shows. (2) Baubles. And interchang'd love-tokens with my child: I beg the ancient privilege of Athens; The. What say you, Hermia? be advis'd, fair maid: The. Her. I would my father look'd but with my eyes. The. Rather your eyes must with his judgment look. Her. I do entreat your grace to pardon me. The. Either to die the death, or to abjure Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires, Know of your youth, examine well your blood, Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice, |