Than whom no mortal more magnificent. This wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy, And wear his colours like a tumbler's hoop! Well, I will love, write, sigh, pray, sue, and groan : The character of Biron drawn by Rosaline and that which Biron gives of Boyet are equally happy. The observations on the use and abuse of study, and on the power of beauty to quicken cellent. The scene which has the greatest dramatic effect is that in which Biron, the king, Longaville, and Dumain, successively detect each other and are detected in their breach of their vow and in their profession of attachment to their several mistresses, in which they suppose themselves to be overheard by no one. The reconciliation between these lovers and their sweethearts is also very good, and the penance which Rosaline imposes on Biron, before he can expect to gain her consent to marry him, full of propriety and beauty. "Rosaline. Oft have I heard of you, my lord Biron, To weed this wormwood from your faithful brain; And therewithal to win me, if you please, (Without the which I am not to be won) You shall this twelvemonth term from day to day Visit the speechless sick, and still converse With groaning wretches; and your task shall be, T' enforce the pained impotent to smile. 4 Biron. To move wild laughter in the throat of death? It cannot be it is impossible: Mirth cannot move a soul in agony. Rosaline. Why, that's the way to choke a gibing spirit, Whose influence is begot of that loose grace, A jest's prosperity lies in the ear Of him that hears it; never in the tongue Of him that makes it: then, if sickly ears, Deaf'd with the clamours of their own dear groans, Biron. A twelvemonth? Well, befall what will befall, I'll jest a twelvemonth in an hospital." The famous cuckoo-song closes the play: but we shall add no more criticisms: "the words Mercury Me roury are harsh after the songs of Apollo." MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. THIS admirable comedy used to be frequently acted till of late years. Mr. Garrick's Benedick was one of his most celebrated characters; and Mrs. Jordan, we have understood, played Beatrice very delightfully. The serious part is still the most prominent here, as in other instances that we have noticed. Hero is the principal figure in the piece, and leaves an indelible impression on the mind by her beauty, her tenderness, and the hard trial of her love. The passage in which Claudio first makes a confession of his affection towards her, conveys as pleasing an image of the entrance of love into a youthful bosom as can well be imagined. "Oh, my lord, When you went onward with this ended action, I look'd upon her with a soldier's eye, Than to drive liking to the name of love; In the scene at the altar, when Claudio, urged on by the villain Don John, brings the charge of incontinence against her, and as it were divorces her in the very marriage-ceremony, her appeals to her own conscious innocence and honour are made with the most affecting simplicity. "Claudio. No, Leonato, I never tempted her with word too large, Bashful sincerity, and comely love. Hero. And seem'd I ever otherwise to you? Claudio. Out on thy seeming, I will write against it: You seem to me as Dian in her orb, As chaste as is the bud ere it be blown ; But you are more intemperate in your blood That rage in savage sensuality. Hero. Is my lord well, that he doth speak so wide? Hero. True! O God!" The justification of Hero in the end, and her |