ACT IV. SCENE I..

A CHURCH.

Enter D. Pedro, D. John, Leonato, Friar, Claudio, Benedick, Hero, and Beatrice.

LEONATO.

OME, friar Francis, be brief, only to the plain form of marriage, and you fhall recount their particular duties afterwards.

Friar. You come hither, my Lord, to marry this lady?

1

Claud. No.

Leon. To be marry'd to her, Friar. You come to marry her.

Friar. Lady, you come hither to be marry'd to this Count.

Hero. I do.

Friar. If either of you know any inward impediment why you fhould not be conjoin'd, I charge you on your fouls to utter it.

Claud. Know you any, Hero?

Hero. None, my Lord.

Friar. Know you any, Count?

Leon. I dare make his answer, none.

Claud. O what men dare do! what men may do!

what

Men daily do not knowing what they do!

5

Bene. How now! Interjections? why, then fome be of laughing, as, ha, ha, he!

Claud. Stand thee by, friar : father, by your leave, Will you with free and unconstrained foul

5 Some be of laughing.] This is a quotation from the Accidence.

Give

Give me this maid your daughter?

Leon. As freely, fon, as God did give her me. Claud. And what have I to give you back, whose worth

May counterpoife this rich and precious gift?
Pedro. Nothing, unless you render her again.
Claud. Sweet Prince, you learn me noble thankful-
nefs :

There, Leonato, take her back again;

Give not this rotten orange to your friend.
She's but the fign and femblance of her honour;
Behold, how like a maid fhe blushes here!
O, what authority and fhew of truth
Can cunning fin cover itfelf withal!
Comes not that blood, as modeft evidence,
To witness fimple virtue? would you not swear,
All you that fee her, that fhe were a maid,
By these exterior fhews ? but fhe is none:
She knows the heat of a luxurious bed ";
Her blush is guiltiness, not modefty.

6

Leon. What do you mean, my Lord?
Claud. Not to be marry'd,

Not to knit my foul to an approved Wanton.
Leon. Dear my Lord, if you in your own approof
Have vanquish'd the refiftance of her youth,
And made defeat of her virginity

Claud. I know what you would fay. If I have
known her,

6 luxurious bed;] That is, lafcivious. Luxury is the confeffor's term for unlawful pleafures of the fex.

7 Dear my Lord, if you in your own Proof] I am furpriz'd, the Poetical Editors did not obferve the Lameness of this Verfe. It evidently wants a Syllable in the laft Foot, which I have reftor'd by a Word, which, I pre

fume, the firfl Editors might hefitate at; tho' it is a very proper one, and a Word elsewhere used by our Author. Befides, in the Paffage under Examination, this Word comes in almost neceffarily, as Claudio had faid in the line immediately preceding;

Not knit my Soul to an approved Wanton.

THEOBALD.

You'll

You'll fay, fhe did embrace me as a husband,
And fo extenuate the forehand fin.

No, Leonato,

I never tempted her with word too large;
But, as a brother to his fifter, fhew'd
Bafhful fincerity, and comely love.

Hero. And feem'd I ever otherwife to you?

Claud. Out on thy Seeming! I will write against it? : You feem to me as Dian in her orb,

As chafte as is the budere it be blown :
But you are more intemperate in your blood
Than Venus, or thofe pamper'd animals
That rage in favage fenfuality.

Hero. Is my Lord well, that he doth fpeak fo wide?
Leon. Sweet Prince, why speak not you?
Pedro. What fhould I fpeak?

I ftand difhonour'd, that have gone about
To link my dear friend to a common Stale.

Leon. Are thefe things fpoken, or do I but dream;
John. Sir, they are fpoken, and these things are true.
Bene. This looks not like a Nuptial.

Hero. True! O God!

Claud. Leonato, ftand I here?

Is this the Prince? Is this the Prince's Brother?
Is this face Hero's? are our eyes our own;

Leon. All this is fo; but what of this, my lord?
Claud. Let me but move one queflion to your

W

daughter,

2

And, by that fatherly and kindly power
That you have in her, bid her answer truly.

Leon. I charge thee do fo, as thou art my child. Hero. O God defend me, how am I befet! What kind of catechizing call you this?

Claud. To make you anfwer truly to your name. Hero. Is it not Hero? who can blot that name With any juft reproach?

Claud. Marry, that can Hero;

Hero herfelf can blot out Hero's virtue.
What man was he talk'd with you yefternight
Out at your window betwixt twelve and one?
Now, if you are a maid, answer to this.

Hero. I talk'd with no man at that hour, my Lord. Pedro. Why, then you are no maiden. Leonato, I am forry, you must hear; upon mine Honour, Myfelf, my Brother, and this grieved Count Did fee her, hear her, at that hour last night, Talk with a ruffian at her chamber window; Who hath, indeed, most like a liberal villain 3, Confefs'd the vile encounters they have had A thousand times in fecret.

John. Fie, fie, they are not to be nam'd, my Lord. Not to be fpoken of;

There is not chastity enough in language,

Without offence, to utter them: thus, pretty lady,
I am forry for thy much mifgovernment.

Claud. O Hero! what a Hero hadft thou been 4,
If half thy outward graces had been plac'd
About the thoughts and counfels of thy heart?
But fare thee well, most foul, most fair! farewel,
Thou pure impiety, and impious purity!
For thee I'll lock up all the gates of love,
And on my eyelids fhall Conjecture hang,
To turn all beauty into thoughts of harm;

3 liberal villain,] Li- illiberal.
beral here, as in many places of
thefe plays, means, frank beyond
bonefty or decency. Free of tongue.
Dr. Warburton unneceffarily reads

I am afraid here is intended a poor conceit upon the word Hero.

And

And never fhall it more be gracious.

Leon. Hath no man's dagger here a point for me? Beat. Why, how now, Coufin, wherefore fink you down?

John. Come, let us go; these things, come thus to light,

Smother her fpirits up.

[Exeunt D. Pedro, D. John and Claud.

S CENE II.

Bene. How doth the lady?

Beat. Dead, I think; help, uncle.

Hero! why, Hero! uncle! Signior Benedick! Friar ! Leon. O fate! take not away thy heavy hand; Death is the fairest cover for her fhame,

That may be wish'd for.

Beat. How now, coufin Hero?

Friar. Have comfort, Lady.

Leon. Doft thou look up?

Friar. Yea, wherefore fhould fhe not?

Leon. Wherefore? why, doth not every earthly

thing

Cry fhame upon her? could fhe here deny
The story that is printed in her blood?
Do not live, Hero, do not ope thine eyes :
For did I think, thou wouldft not quickly die,
Thought I, thy fpirits were stronger than thy fhames,
Myself would on the rereward of reproaches
Strike at thy life. Griev'd I, I had but one?
Chid 1 for That at frugal nature's frame?

5 The story that is printed in

her blood?] That is, the Story which her blufbes difcover to be true.

6 Griev'd I, I had but

one ?

I've

Chid I for That at frugal na ture's FRAME?

I've one too much by thee. -] The meaning of the second line, according to the prefent reading, is this, Chid I at frugal nature

that