INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 'Much Ado About NOTHING' was first printed in 1600. | purposely transparent. Without Don John the plot There was no other separate edition. The variations between the text of the quarto and that of the folio are very few. The chronology of this comedy is sufficiently fixed by the circumstance of its publication in 1600, coupled with the fact that it is not mentioned by Meres in 1598. “The story is taken from Ariosto," says Pope. To Ariosto then we turn; and we are repaid for our labour by the pleasure of reading that long but by no means tedious story of Genevra, which occupies the whole of the fifth book, and part of the sixth, of the 'Orlando Furioso. "The tale is a pretty comical matter," as Harrington quaintly pronounces it. The famous town of St. Andrew's forms its scene; and here was enacted something like that piece of villainy by which the Claudio of Shakspere was deceived, and his Hero "done to death by slanderous tongues." But here the resemblance ceases. Ariosto found the incident of a lady betrayed to suspicion and danger, by the personation of her own waiting-woman, amongst the popular traditions of the south of Europe-this story has been traced to Spain—and he interwove it with the adventures of his Rinaldo as an integral part of his chivalrous romance. Spenser has told a similar story in "The Fairy Queen' (Book II., Canto IV.). The European story, which Ariosto and Spenser have thus adopted, has formed also the groundwork of one of Bandello's Italian novels. It was for Shakspere to surround the main incident with those accessories which he could nowhere borrow, and to make of it such a comedy as no other man has made-a comedy not of manners or of sentiment, but of life viewed under its profoundest aspects, whether of the grave or the ludicrous. The title of this comedy, rightly considered, is the best expositor of the idea of this comedy. It is "a representation of the contrast and contradiction between life in its real essence and the aspect which it presents to those who are engaged in its struggle." The 'Much Ado about Nothing' was acted under the name of 'Benedick and Beatrice,' even during the life of its author. These two characters absorb very much of the acting interest of the play; but they cannot be separated from the play without being liable to misconstruction. The character of Beatrice cannot be understood, except in connection with the injuries done to Hero; and except we view it, as well as the characters of all the other agents in the scene, with reference to the one leading idea, that there is a real aspect of things which is to be seen by the audience and not seen by the agents. The character of Don John, for example, and the characters of his loose confederates, are understood by the spectators; and their villainy is could not move. He is not a rival in Claudio's love, as the "wicked duke" of Ariosto: he is simply a moody, ill-conditioned, spiteful rascal; such a one as ordinarily takes to backbiting and hinting away character. Shakspere gets rid of him as soon as he can: he fires the train and disappears. He would be out of harmony with the happiness which he has suspended, but not destroyed; and so he passes from the stage, with "Think not on him till to-morrow." But his instrumentality has been of the utmost importance. It has given us that beautiful altar-scene, that would be almost too tragical if we did not know that the "Much Ado" was "about Nothing." But that maiden's sorrows, and that father's passion, are real aspects of life, however unreal be the cause of them. The instrumentality, too, of the hateful Don John has given us Dogberry and Verges. Coleridge has said, somewhat hastily we think,-"Any other less ingeniously absurd watchmen and night-constables would have answered the mere necessities of the action." Surely not. Make Dogberry in the slightest degree less self-satisfied, loquacious, full of the official stuff of which functionaries are still cut out, and the action breaks down before the rejection of Hero by her lover. For it is not the ingenious absurdity that prevents the detection of the plot against Hero; it is the absurdity which prevents the prompt disclosure of it after the detection. Truly did Don Pedro say, "This learned constable is too cunning to be understood." The wise fellow, and the rich fellow, and the fellow that hath had losses, and one that hath two gowns, and everything handsome about him, nevertheless holds his prisoners fast; and when he comes to the Prince, with “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 kuaves," though his method be not logical, his matter is all-sufficient. The passionate lover, the calm and sagacious prince, the doting father, were the dupes of a treachery, not well compact, and carried through by dangerous instruments. They make no effort to detect what would not have been very difficult of detection: they are satisfied to quarrel and to lament. Accident discovers what intelligence could not penetrate; and the treacherous slander is manifest in all its blackness to the wise Dogberry : MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. PERSONS REPRESENTED. LEONATO, Governor of Messina. Appears, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 2; sc. 5. Act IV. sc. 1. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 1. ANTONIO, brother to Leonato. Appears, Act I. se. 2. Act II. sc. 1. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 4. BALTHAZAR, servant to Don Pedro. BORACHIO, follower of Don John. CONRADE, follower of Don John. Appears, Act I. sc. 3. Act III. sc. 3. Act IV. sc. 2. Act V. sc. 1. DOGBERRY, a city officer. Appears, Act III. sc. 3; sc. 5. Act IV. sc. 2. Act V. so. 1. VERGES, a city officer. Appears Act III. sc. 3; sc. 5. Act IV. sc. 2. Act V. sc. 1. Appears, Act IV. sc. 2. Act V. sc. 1. Appears, Act IV. sc. 1. Act V. sc. 4. Appears, Act II. sc. 3. HERO, daughter to Leonato. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. Act II. sc. 1. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 4. Act IV. sc. 1. Act V. sc. 4. BEATRICE, niece to Leonato. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. Act II. sc. 1: sc. 3. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 4. Act IV. sc. 1. Act V. sc. 2; sc. 4. MARGARET, a gentlewoman attending on Hero. Appears, Act II. sc. 1. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 4. Act V. sc. 2. URSULA, a gentlewoman attending on Hero. Appears, Act II. sc. 1. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 4. Act V. sc. 2; t. 4 Messengers, Watch, and Attendants. SCENE,-MESSINA. SCENE I-Street in Messina. ACT I Enter LEONATO, HERO, BEATRICE, and others, with a Messenger. Leon. I learn in this letter, that don Pedro of Arragun comes this night to Messina. Mess. He is very near by this; he was not three leagues off when I left him. Leon. How many gentlemen have you lost in this action? Mess. But few of any sort, and none of name. Leon. A victory is twice itself when the achiever brings home full numbers. I find here, that don Pedro hath bestowed much honour on a voung Florentine, called Claudio. Mess. Much deserved on his part, and equally remembered by don Pedro: He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age; doing, in the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion: he hath, indeed, better bettered expectation than you must expect of me to tell you how. Leon. He hath an uncle here in Messina will be very much glad of it. Mess. I have already delivered him letters, and there appears much joy in him; even so much that joy could not show itself modest enough without a badge of bit terness. Leon. A kind overflow of kindness: There are no faces truer than those that are so washed. How much better is it to weep at joy, than to joy at weeping! Beat. I pray you, is signior Montanto" returned from the wars, or no? Mess. I know none of that name, lady; there was none such in the army of any sort. Leon. What is he that you ask for, niece? Hero. My cousin means signior Benedick of Padua. Mess. O, he's returned, and as pleasant as ever he was. Beat. He set up his bills here in Messina, and challenged Cupid at the flight: and my uncle's fool, reading the challenge, subscribed for Cupid, and challenged him at the bird-bolt. I pray you, how many hath he killed and eaten in these wars? But how many hath he killed? for, indeed, I promised to eat all of his killing. Leon. Faith, niece, you tax signior Benedick too much; but he 'll be meet with you, I doubt it not. Mess. He hath done good service, lady, in these wars. Beat. You had musty victual, and he hath holp to eat it he's a very valiant trencherman, he hath an excellent stomach. Mess. And a good soldier too, lady. Beat. And a good soldier to a lady:-But what is he to a lord? a Montanto. Beatrice thus nicknames Benedick, after a term of the fencing-school. Set up his bills-stuck up a notice-a placard as we now call it. He'll be meet with you-he'll be even with you. L Mess. A lord to a lord, a man to a man; stuffed" with all honourable virtues. Beat. It is so, indeed: he is no less than a stuffed man: but for the stuffing,-Well, we are all mortal. Leon. You must not, sir, mistake my niece: there is a kind of merry war betwixt signior Benedick and her: they never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them. Beat. Alas! he gets nothing by that. In our last conflict, four of his five wits went halting off, and now is the whole man governed with one: so that if he have wit enough to keep himself warm, let him bear it for a difference between himself and his horse; for it is all the wealth that he hath left, to be known a reasonable creature. Who is his companion now? He hath every month a new sworn brother. Mess. Is 't possible? Beat. Very easily possible: he wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it ever changes with the next block. Mess. I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books. Beat. No: an he were, I would burn my study. But, I pray you, who is his companion? Is there no young squarer now, that will make a voyage with him to the devil? Mess. He is most in the company of the right noble Claudio. Beat. I wonder that you will still be talking, signior Benedick; nobody marks you. Bene. What, my dear lady Disdain! are you yet living? Beat. Is it possible Disdain shout die, while she hath such meet food to feed it as siguior Benedick! Courtesy itself must convert to disdain if you come in her presence. Bene. Then is courtesy a turncoat :-But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted: and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart: for, truly, I love none. Beat. A dear happiness to women; they would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank God, and my cold blood, I am of your humour for that; I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me. Bene. God keep your ladyship still in that mind! so some gentleman or other shall 'scape a predestinate scratched face. Beat. Scratching could not make it worse, an 't were such a face as yours were. Bene. Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher. Beat. A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours. Bene. I would my horse had the speed of your tongue; and so good a continuer: But keep your way God's name; I have done. Beat. You always end with a jade's trick; I know you of old. Beat. O Lord! he will hang upon him like a dis-o' Mess. I will hold friends with you, lady. Leon. You'll ne'er run mad, niece. Enter DON PEDRO, attended by BALTHAZAR and D. Pedro. Good signior Leonato, you are come to meet your trouble: the fashion of the world is to avoid cost, and you encounter it. Leon. Never came trouble to my house in the likeness of your grace; for trouble being gone, comfort should remain; but when you depart from me sorrow abides, and happiness takes his leave. D. Pedro. You embrace your charge too willingly. Leon. Her mother hath many times told me so. D. Pedro. You have it full, Benedick: we may guess by this what you are, being a man. Truly, the lady fathers herself:-Be happy, lady! for you are like an honourable father. Bene. If signior Leonato be her father, she would not have his head on her shoulders for all Messina, as like him as she is. a Stuffed-stored, furnished. Fire wits. Shakspere here uses the term wits in the sense of intellectual powers. Johnson says, "The wits seem to have been reckoned five, by analogy to the five senses, or the five inlets of ideas." Bear it for a difference-for a distinction-as in heraldry. His faith-his belief generally; here, his confidence in a friend. • In your books. He who is in your books—or, as we sometimes say, in your good books-is he whom you think well of whom you trust. It appears tolerably obvious, then, that the phrase has a commercial origin; and that, as he who has obtained credit, huys upon trust, is in his creditor's books, so he who has obtained in any way the confidence of another is said to be in his books. Squarer quarr ller. To square is to dispute-to confront hostilely. D. Pedro. This is the sum of all: Leonato,-signior Claudio, and signior Benedick,-my dear friend Leonato hath invited you all. I tell him we shall stay here at the least a month; and he heartily prays some occasion may detain us longer: I dare swear he is no hypocrite, but prays from his heart. Leon. If you swear, my lord, you shall not be forsworn. Let me bid you welcome, my lord: being reconciled to the prince your brother, I owe you all duty. D. John. I thank you: I am not of many words, but I thank you. Leon. Please it your grace lead on? Bene. I noted her not: but I looked on her. Bene. Do you question me as an honest man should do, for my simple true judgment; or would you have me speak after my custom, as being a professed tyraut to their sex? Claud. No, I pray thee, speak in sober judgment. Bene. Why, i' faith, methinks she 's too low for a high praise, too brown for a fair praise, and too little for a great praise: only this commendation I can afford her that were she other than she is, she were unhandsome; and being no other but as she is, I do not like her. Claud. Thou thinkest I am in sport; I pray thee, tell me truly how thou likest her. Bene. Would you buy her, that you inquire after her? Claud. Can the world buy such a jewel? Bene. Yea, and a case to put it into. But speak you this with a sad brow? or do you play the flouting Jack; to tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder, and Vulcan a rare carpenter?" Come, in what key shall a man take you, to go in the song?b a Benedick is laughing at Claudio for his love of Hero, which indeed he still scarcely credits. He asks him-Spezk you this with a sad brow?i.e. are you serious in your passion? or are you flouting or mocking us,-as though you were to say that Cupid, the blind god, has the keenest sight to spy a hare, and that Vulcan, the smith, is a rare carpeater? To join in the song. |