Leon. How many Gentlemen haue you lost in this action? 10, 13. Leon.] Leona. Q. 10 involving such strange misconceptions respecting the heroine in particular, has been the overlooking or disregarding that close affinity which the dramatist has established between the two characters, rendering them, as far as the difference of sex will permit, so nearly each other's counterpart, that any argument that shall prove odiousness in the one [CAMPBELL declared Beatrice an 'odious woman.'-ED.] must of inevitable necessity demonstrate it in the other. Consequent on these, is the third and most important error of all in estimating the predominant spirit of this drama. Its critics have overlooked entirely the art with which the dramatist has contrived and used the incidents of the piece in such a manner as to bring out, by distinct and natural gradations, the profound seriousness which lies beneath all the superficial levity seen, at first, in the true hero and heroine,—until the very pair, who have given the most decidedly comic character to the outset of the play, are found on the point of giving it the most tragic turn towards its close.-LLOYD (ap. Singer, ed. ii): The characteristic incident of the play is much ado, arising from misconception of an overheard conference, and ending in nothing at all. This theme, with the forms of incident, and of mental tendency that give it effect, is varied in the play with endless, or, rather, with exhaustive diversity.-HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS (Memoranda, 59): Charles the First, in his copy of the Second Folio preserved at Windsor Castle, writes against the title of [the present play], 'Benedik and Betrice,' not perhaps meaning a new title, but merely that these were the leading, and probably his favourite characters.-ULRICI (ii, 105): The much ado about nothing is obviously not conceived merely in an external sense; it rather denotes the internal contradiction into which all human existence falls, when wholly engrossed with individual, special, and accidental interests and relations; in other words, when man,—treating important matters with playful levity,-recklessly follows his momentary impulses, feelings, and caprices, without asking whether they are justifiable, and whether his resolves are based upon safe foundations. This serious ethical maxim Shakespeare has carefully concealed under the mask of comedy, under the gay picture which represents human life itself as a 'much ado about nothing.'-OECHELHÄUSER (ii, 337) The title of this play can be brought into logical connection with its contents only by forced casuistry. As in the case of Twelfth Night, As You Like It, etc., the title of the present play is merely one of those humourous devices faintly tinged with the reflex irony with which Shakespeare was wont to bring his lighter wares to market. Lessing's view that the title should disclose as little as possible of the contents, has been here even exceeded.-R. G. WHITE (ed. i, p. 226): We call this play Much Ado about Nothing; but it seems clear to me that Shakespeare and his contemporaries called it Much Ado about Noting; a pun being intended between 'nothing' and 'noting,' which were then pronounced alike, and upon which pun depends by far the more important significance of the title. [The orthoëpical discussion, which follows, with ELLIS's review of it, will be found more appropriately in the Commentary on II, iii, 60. White's conclusion, here given from his second edition, is as follows:-] The play is made up of much ado about noting, that is, watching, observing. All the personages are constantly engaged in noting or watching each other. Hero's sufferings come from noting,-by her uncle's servant, by Meff. But few of any fort, and none of name. 12 Claudio, and by Don Pedro; her release and her happiness by the noting of the watch; and Benedick and Beatrice are brought together by secretly noting what their friends plot that they should note; and yet the principal serious incident, the accusation of Hero, about which there is so much ado, rests upon nothing. 3. Innogen] THEOBALD: I have ventured to expunge [this name]; there being no mention of her through the play, no one speech addressed to her, nor one syllable spoken to her. Neither is there any one passage, from which we have any reason to determine that Hero's mother was living. It seems as if the poet had in his first plan designed such a character; which, on a survey of it, he found would be superfluous, and therefore he left it out. [DYCE and WHITE acquiesce in this explanation of Theobald's, wherefrom I beg leave to dissent. We must remember that we cannot see a group on the stage as clearly as Shakespeare saw it in his mind's eye. And in the Elizabethan theatres, where there were no play-bills with their list of actors, every member of a group, especially of an introductory group, must be accounted for, and give a reason for his or her appearance. A far easier explanation than Theobald's is, I think, to suppose that Shakespeare, in remodelling an old play, perhaps even retaining the first manuscript page of it, carelessly suffered the old stage-direction to remain and merely omitted to erase the name of a character which did not enter his plan. A sin of omission is here more conceivable than a sin of commission. COLLIER, however, thinks it is clear that the mother of Hero made her appearance before the audience.' But how was the audience to know that she was 'the mother of Hero' or her aunt, or her grandmother, if she neither spoke one word herself nor a single remark was made to her by others? In his Second Edition, COLLIER notes that in his copy of a corrected folio of 1632 (hereafter, as heretofore, indicated in this present edition by 'Collier's MS' or in the Text. Notes by Coll. MS') the words 'Innogen his wife' are erased, and, therefore, concludes that there is little doubt that [Innogen] neither made her appearance here, nor elsewhere.' DYCE (Notes, p. 37) thus states the case: 'One thing I hold for certain, viz. that, if [Innogen] ever did figure among the dramatis personæ, it was not as a mere dummy; there are scenes in which the mother of Hero must have spoken ;—she could not have stood on the stage without a word to say about the disgrace of her daughter, etc.'-ED.] 4. messenger] COLLIER (Notes, etc., p. 66): The MS converts this word into Gentleman, and the manner in which he joins in the conversation shows that he must have been a person superior in rank to what we now understand by a messenger. In other dramas, Shakespeare gives important parts to persons whom he calls only Messengers; and it requires no proof that in the reign of Elizabeth the Messengers who conveyed news to the court from abroad were frequently officers whose services were in part rewarded by this distinction. It was in this capacity that Raleigh seems first to have attracted the favour of the Queen. 6, 14. Don Peter] It is only in these two lines that this name is thus givenperhaps, another instance of the same oversight which allowed 'Innogen' to remain on what was, possibly, the first MS page of the play which Shakespeare remoulded, and to which, as merely introductory, he gave little heed. It is elsewhere Don Pedro, to which Rowe changed it here; he has been herein properly followed ever since.-ED. 12. sort] A needless controversy has arisen over this word.-STEEVENS, at first, Leon. A victorie is twice it felfe, when the atchieuer brings home full numbers: I finde heere, that Don Peter hath bestowed much honor on a yong Florentine,called Claudio. Meff.Much deferu'd on his part, and equally remembred by Don Pedro, he hath borne himselfe beyond the promise of his age, doing in the figure of a Lambe, the feats of a Lion, he hath indeede better bettred expectation, then you must expect of me to tell you how. 13. atchieuer] atchiuer Q. 14. numbers] number F, Rowe i. 20. bettred] bettered F ̧F 13 15 20 asserted that it meant rank, distinction, but afterward inclined to MONCK MASON'S easier explanation. The latter says (p. 49) that 'sort' (in line 36) is certainly used in the sense Steevens gives to the same word here, but that in the present line it is used in a more general sense; and "of any sort means of any kind whatsoever : -There were but few killed of any kind, and none of rank.' But DYCE (Notes, 38) adheres to Steevens's first interpretation, and pronounces Mason's 'manifestly wrong.' 'The reply of the messenger,' he says, 'is equivalent to-But few gentlemen of any rank, and none of celebrity. So, presently, [he uses the word in line 36] so, too, in Mid. N. Dream, III, ii: "none of noble sort Would so offend a virgin ;" and in Jonson's Every Man in his Humour,—Works, i, 24, ed. Gifford: “A gentleman of your sort, parts ;" and in A Warning for Faire Women, 1599: “The Queene Allowes this bountie to all commers. much more To gentlemen of your sort." STAUNTON thinks that the meaning is 'questionable,' 'but every one acquainted with our early literature is aware that "sort" was commonly used-[as in line 36] to imply stamp, degree, quality, etc. Thus, in Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour, II, vi: "Look you, sir, you presume to be a gentleman of sort." Again in Ram Alley, IV, i: "Her husband is a gentleman of sort. Serjeant. A gentleman of sort! why, what care I?"-R. G. WHITE (ed. i) denies that 'sort' unless used absolutely, without qualification of degree or merit, as we sometimes use "character" to mean good character, can be thus arbitrarily raised from its inferior and general sense to one higher and particular;' and he further asserts that no instance of such use has been quoted' and that 'throughout Shakespeare's works and those of his contemporaries it is used to mean class and condition, of all sorts.' This assertion of White is certainly dogmatic and possibly hasty. He forgot one instance in Shakespeare where 'sort' means rank, which he himself quoted in his Shakespeare's Scholar (p. 179); in Meas. for Meas. (IV, iv, 19) Angelo, in speaking of the noblemen who are to meet the Duke, says to Escalus, 'give notice to such men of sort and suit as are to meet him.' It is almost equally evident, I think, that here, and in line 36, 'sort' means rank. The fact is, that this word, like many others, has various shades of meaning, ranging from class to rank; the particular shade must be determined by the context according to the insight of the reader. -ED. 20. better bettred] That is, 'he hath bettered expectation better than you must expect,' etc.-Ed. Leo. He hath an Vnckle heere in Meffina, wil be very much glad of it. Meff. I haue alreadie deliuered him letters, and there appeares much ioy in him, euen fo much, that ioy could not shew it selfe modest enough, without a badg of bitternesse. Leo. Did he breake out into teares ? Leo. A kinde ouerflow of kindneffe, there are no faces truer, then those that are fo wafh'd, how much better is it to weepe at ioy, then to ioy at weeping? 26. badg] FF 22 25 30 32 30. kindnesse,] kindness; Pope. kindness. Warb. 22. wil] At present, instead of slurring the relative, we slur the verb, and say 'who 'll.'-ED. 23. much glad] For other examples of 'much' used adverbially, see ABBOTT, $ 51. 6 26. modest] WARBURTON: Of all the transports of joy, that which is attended with tears is least offensive; because, carrying with it this mark of pain, it allays the envy that usually attends another's happiness. This he finely calls a modest joy,' such a one as did not insult the observer, by an indication of happiness unmixed with pain.-EDWARDS (p. 160): Our honest hearted old Poet, who had nothing of the atrabilaire in his make (nay, I question whether he had ever heard the word) never dreamed of such stuff as that it was fine to think one's self insulted by the indication of happiness in another. How different are the reflections he puts in the mouth of good Leonato on this occasion in lines 30-32.-CAPELL (p. 119): Joy wore the modestest garb that joy can do, i. e. silence and tears. 26. badg] DOUCE (i, 334): In the reign of Edward the Fourth the terms livery and badge appear to have been synonymous, the former having, no doubt, been borrowed from the French and signifying a thing delivered. The badge consisted of the master's device, crest, or arms on a separate piece of cloth, or sometimes silver, in the form of a shield, fastened to the left sleeve.-W. A. Wright: A badge was a mark of service; hence appropriately used for a mark of inferiority, and as such an expression of modesty. 29. measure] STEEVENS: That is, in abundance.-W. A. WRIGHT: The Authorised version of Psalm, lxxx, 5, is 'and givest them tears to drink in great measure,' where the Prayer-Book Version has and givest them plenteousness of tears to drink.' 30. kinde] That is, natural. DYCE (Gloss.) gives what may well be the mnemonic line for this meaning; it is in the description of the painting which Lucrece recalls, of Priam's Troy in which, although there was much that was imaginary, yet it was all so natural as to seem to be reality; it was 'Conceit deceitful, so compact, so kind,' line 1423.—ED. 31. truer] JOHNSON: That is, none honester, none more sincere. 32. weeping] RANN: As some profligate heirs are supposed to do; whence the proverb: The merriest faces in mourning coaches.' 33 35 Bea. I pray you, is Signior Mountanto return'd from the warres, or no? Meff. I know none of that name, Lady, there was none such in the armie of any sort. Leon. What is he that you aske for Neece? 33. Mountanto] FfQ, Cam. Glo. Wh. ii. Montanto Pope et cet. 37. for] for, F 40. bils] F2. bills Q. 40 33. Mountanto] CAPELL (Notes, iii, 471) was the first to call attention to the use of this word, as one of the terms of the fencing-school, in Jonson's Every man in his Humour, where Bobadil says, 'I would teach [them] the special rules, as your punto, your reverso, your stoccata, your imbroccato, your passada, your montanto' (IV, v, p. 121, ed. Gifford); Vincentio Saviola does not mention it in his Practise, but Cotgrave, among other definitions of Montant, gives an vpright blow, or thrust.' This montant' occurs in Mer. Wives, II, iii, 27.-ED.-FLETCHER (p. 249) It is the prior interest which Benedick has in Beatrice's heart that makes her, in the opening scene, so eagerly inquire of the Messenger concerning Benedick's present reputation and fortune. How plainly we see her, under the ironical guise which her questionings assume, delighting to draw from her informant one commendation after another of the gentleman's valour and other eminent qualifications. 36. sort] See Notes on line 12. 40. set vp his bils] STEEVENS: In Nashe's Haue with you to Saffron-Walden, 1596, [vol. iii, p. 179, ed. Grosart,] we find: '-hee braues it indefinently [sic] in her behalfe, setting vp bills, like a Bear-ward or Fencer, what fights we shall haue, and what weapons she will meete me at.' The following account of one of these challenges is taken from an ancient MS: 'Item a challenge playde before the King's majestie [Edward VI.] at Westminster, by three maisters, Willyam Pascall, Robert Greene, and W. Browne, at seven kynde of weapons. That is to say, the axe, the pike, the rapier and target, the rapier and cloke, and with two swords, agaynst all alyens and strangers being borne without the King's dominions, of what countrie so ever he or they were, geving them warninge by theyr bills set up by the three maisters, the space of eight weeks before the sayd challenge was playde; and it was holden four severall Sundayes one after another.' It appears from the same work that all challenges 'to any maister within the realme of Englande being an Englishe man' were against the statutes of the Noble Science of Defence.' Beatrice means that Benedick published a general challenge, like a prize-fighter.-DOUCE (i, 162): The practice to which [this phrase] refers was calculated to advertise the public of any matters which concerned itself or the party whose bills were set up; and it is the more necessary to state this, because the passages which have been used in explanation might induce the reader to suppose that challenges and prize-fightings were the exclusive objects of these bills. This, however, was not the case. In Northbrooke's Treatise against dicing, dauncing, vain plaies, etc., 1579, we are |