Dog. Dost thou not suspect my place? dost thou not suspect my years? -Oh, that he were here to write me down an ass!-but, masters, remember that I am an ass; though it be not written down, yet forgot not that I am an ass.—No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness. I am a wise fellow; and, which is more, an officer; and, which is more, a house 52 holder; and, which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any in Messina; and one that knows the iaw, go to; and a rich fellow enough, go to; and a fellow that hath had losses; and one that hath two gowns, and everything handsome about him. Bring him away.-Oh, that I had been writ down an ass! [Exeunt. SCENE 1.-Before LEONATO's house. ACT V. Enter LEONATO and ANTONIO. Leon. But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine. Patch grief with proverbs; make misfortune drunk But there is no such man: for, brother, men 'Let them be in band.' In the Folio, this and the next speech appear as one, printed thus:- Sex. Let them be in the hands of Coxcombe.' But Dogberry's words, "Let him write downthe prince's officer, coxcomb," show it to have been uttered by one of the delinquents. The Folio gives the prefixes in this scene very confusedly. 51. Suspect. For 'respect.' 52. Piety. For 'perfidy,' or, perhaps, for 'infamy;' or even, perhaps, for 'impiety.' 1. Cry "Sorrow, wag!" and hem, when he should groan. This line is printed in the Folio-' And sorrow, wagge, crie hem, when he should grone.' Numerous alterations have been proposed. but Johnson's, which is a mere transposition of the words "cry" and "and," appears to us the most probable correction; therefore we give it in our text. 2. Candle-wasters. This expression has been variously explained here. Some suppose it to mean rakes and revellers, who sit up all night carousing; others show it to have been used by Ben Jonson and writers of that time, for bookworms, consumers Can counsel and speak comfort to that grief To be so moral when he shall endure 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 Leon. There thou speak'st reason: nay, I will do so. My soul doth tell me Hero is belied; 4. Charm ache with air "To charm" is here and elsewhere used for 'to subdue as by a charm or spell.' 5. Wring. Shakespeare sometimes uses this verb to express feeling an acute pang, to writhe under grief; in "Cymbeline,” iii. 6, we find, "He wrings at some distress." 6. Sufficiency. Used for ability,' 'capacity,' 'efficiency,' 'competent power,' 'sufficient strength.' 7. My griefs cry louder than advertisement. My griefs outclamour your admonitions. 8. Made a push at chance and sufferance. "Push!" was an old way of writing the interjection 'pish!' or 'pshaw!' "Chance" is here used for 'mischance;' as "sufferance" is (and elsewhere) for 'suffering.' And that shall Claudio know; so shall the prince, And all of them that thus dishonour her. Ant. Here come the prince and Claudio hastily. Enter DON PEDRO and CLAUDIO. Good day to both of you. 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. Ant. Content yourself. Heaven knows I lov'd my niece; And she is dead, slander'd to death by villains, D. Pedro. Nay, do not quarrel with us, good That dare as well answer a man, indeed, old man. Claud. Marry, beshrew my hand,1o If it should give your age such cause of fear : I speak not like a dotard nor a fool, I say thou hast belied mine innocent child: Thy slander hath gone through and through her heart, And she lies buried with her ancestors,- Save this of hers, fram'd by thy villainy ! I'll kill'd my child: Thou hast As I dare take a serpent by the tongue; 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,― 15 Scambling, out-facing, fashion-mong'ring boys, Leon. But, brother Antony,- Come, 'tis no matter: My heart is sorry for your daughter's death : Leon. I will not hear you. No ?- Note 62, Act i., "Merry Wives" and Note 27, Act i., of the present play. 15. Scambling. Scrambling, turbulent, contentious. 16. Cog. Deceive, delude. See Note 7, Act iii., "Merry Wives." 17. Go anticly, and show outward hideousness. Dress up like swaggering buffoons, and put on exterior formidableness. 18. Wake your patience. Rouse, stir, or excite your patience, and convert it into wrath. Shakespeare has a similar expression in "Coriolanus," iii. 1:-"Awake your dangerous lenity." Claud. We had like to have had our two noses snapped off with two old men without teeth.19 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 to seek you both. Claud. We have been up and down to seek thee; for we are high-proof 20 melancholy, and would fain have it beaten away. Wilt thou use thy wit? Bene. It is in my scabbard: shall I draw it? 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.21 D. Pedro. As I am an honest man, he looks pale.-Art 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. Claud. Nay, then, give him another staff: this last was broke cross.22 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,23 Bene. Shall I speak a word in your ear? Claud. Heaven bless me from a challenge! Bene. 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,24 or I will protest your 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. 19. Two old men without teeth. This heartless speech of Claudio's, relative to the father and uncle of the woman he had once loved, and whom he supposes to be dead in consequence of his own severity, gives the crowning touch of unfeelingness to his base character, as analysed in Note 5, Act iv. 20. High-proof. We take this to be inversely applied to "melancholy," in punning allusion to the phrase, 'spirits above proof.' Shakespeare elsewhere uses the word "proof" for 'tested or tried strength.' 21. As we do the minstrels; draw, to pleasure us. As we bid the minstrels draw their bows, to give us pleasure. Mercutio calls his sword his "fiddlestick," in connection with the word "minstrels," "Romeo and Juliet," iii. 1. 22. Broke cross. This speech, and the previous one, allude figuratively to tilting. To "meet in the career" meant 'to encounter at full gallop:' and it was reckoned a great disgrace to have the lance broken across the body of the opponent, instead of by a thrust with the point. 23. Turn his girdle. This was a phrase used familiarly to express giving a challenge to fight. It arose from the practice of wearing the sword at the back; so that, to bring it round ready for use, the belt or girdle had to be turned or shifted. The belt D. Pedro. What! a feast? a feast? Claud. I'faith, I thank him; he hath bid 25 me to a calf's head and a capon; the which if I do not carve most curiously, say my knife's naught.-Shall I not find a woodcock too ?26 Bene. Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes easily. D. Pedro. I'll tell thee how Beatrice praised thy wit the other day. I said, thou hadst a fine wit: "True," says 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." 27 Nay," said I, "he hath the tongues : "28 "That I believe," said she, "for he swore a thing to me on Monday night, which he forswore on Tuesday; there's a double tongue; there's two tongues." Thus did she, an hour together, trans-shape thy particular virtues: yet at last she concluded with a sigh, thou wast the properest 30 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:- the old man's daughter told us all. Claud. All, all; and, moreover, Heaven 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? 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, Heaven be thanked, hurt not.—My lord, for your many courtesies I thank you: I must discontinue your company: your brother, the bastard, is fled was fastened in front by a buckle, which, in wrestling, used to be turned behind, to give the adversary a fairer grasp at the girdle; and thus the phrase, as a challenge, had a double origin. 24. Do me right. An expression used in duelling and in drinking in the former it was equivalent to the more modern 'give me satisfaction;' in the latter it meant 'pledge me,' 'drink foot to foot with me.' 25. Bid. Used for 'invited.' 26. A woodcock. This bird being supposed to have no brains, its name became used for a simpleton, one easily caught; and Claudio alludes to Benedick's having been snared by the plot laid for him. 27. A wise gentleman. Probably an ironical term then in use for a pretender to wisdom; as now, a wiseacre. 28. Hath the tongues. Can speak various languages. See Note 3, Act iv., "Two Gentlemen of Verona." 29. Double. Used for 'deceitful,' 'deluding.' In this sense it is used when conjoined with 'dealer' or 'dealing:' in contradistinction to plain, single (in the sense of pure, uncorrupt, simple, as 'single-minded'), direct, straightforward, honest, 30. Properest. Handsomest, comeliest. VOL. I. 33 D. Pedro. And hath challenged thee? Claud. Most sincerely. D. Pedro. Whom have you offended, masters, that you are thus bound to your answer? this learned constable is too cunning to be understood: 39 what's your offence? Bora. Sweet prince, let me go no farther to Claud. In most profound earnest; and, I'll mine answer: do you hear me, and let this count warrant you, for the love of Beatrice. kill me. I have deceived even your very eyes: what your wisdoms could 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 D. Pedro. What a pretty thing man is when he goes in his doublet and hose,31 and leaves off his wit! | Claud. He is then a giant to an ape: but then | orchard, and saw me court Margaret in Hero's is an ape a doctor to such a man.32 D. Pedro. But, soft you, let me be: pluck up, my heart, and be sad! 33 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? Borachio, one? Claud. Hearken after their offence,36 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 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 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.38 37 31. In his doublet and hose. This phrase seems to have been equivalent to 'stripping to fight,' or preparing for combat. In the "Merry Wives," iii. 1, Page says to Sir Hugh-"And youthful still, in your doublet and hose, this raw, rheumatic day?" 32. A doctor to such a man. "Doctor" is here used for 'a wise man;' from the Latin doctus, 'learned,' 'instructed.' The sense of the whole passage seems to be :-'When a man dresses himself ridiculously, and divests himself of his intelligence, he is an ape of a large size; but, then, an ape is an intelligent being compared with such a man.' was a 33. Pluck up, my heart, and be sad! "Pluck up" phrase of the time, applied to the heart or spirits, meaning be aroused,' 'be alert.' Here Don Pedro seems to say-' Cease light talking; let me think seriously.' 34 Weigh more reasons in her balance. A pun on "reasons." and 'raisins; which Shakespeare has again elsewhere. The figure of Justice with her scales conveying to the constable the idea of a grocer weighing out plums, is excellently in keeping. garments; how you disgraced her, when you should marry her: my villainy 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, 1 desire nothing but the reward of a villain. 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 compos'd and fram'd of treachery :: And fled he is upon this villainy. Claud. Sweet Hero! now thy image doth appear In the rare semblance that I lov'd it first. Dog. Come, bring away the plaintiffs: by this time our sexton hath reformed" Signior Leonato of the matter: and, masters, do not forget to specify, when the time and place shall serve, that I 35. Once. Used here for 'once for all,' 'once and always.' 36. Hearken after their offence. Shakespeare sometimes uses the word "hearken" in a different sense from merely that of 'hear,' or 'listen.' In this passage it seems to mean 'inquire after,'' endeavour to obtain the knowledge of.' 37. Division. A technical expression for the parts into which an oration is divided. 38. One meaning well suited. 'One meaning provided with several suits of apparel;' in allusion to the way in which Don Pedro has humoured Dogberry's mode of dressing up the same question in various forms. |