Claud. O my lord,

When you went onward on this ended action,,
I look'd upon her with a foldier's eye,
That lik'd, but had a rougher tafk in hand
Than to drive liking to the name of love:
But now I am return'd, and that war-thoughts,
Have left their places vacant, in their rooms
Come thronging foft and delicate defires,
All prompting me how fair young Hero is,
Saying, I lik'd her ere I went to wars.

Pedro. Thou wilt be like a lover presently,.
And tire the hearer with a book of words:
If thou doft love fair Hero, cherish it;

And I will break with her and with her father,
And thou fhalt have her: Was't not to this end,
That thou began'ft to twift so fine a story?

Claud. How fweetly do you minifter to love,
That know love's grief by his complexion !
But left my liking might too fudden feem,
I would have falv'd it with a longer treatise.

Pedro. What need the bridge much broader than the
flood?

The fairest grant is the neceffity:

Look, what will ferve, is fit: 'tis once, thou lov’st ;
And I will fit thee with the remedy.

I know we shall have revelling to-night;
I will affume thy part in fome disguise,
And tell fair Hero I am Claudio;
And in her bofom I'll unclafp. my heart,

And take her hearing prifoner with the force.
And ftrong encounter of my amorous tale:
Then, after, to her father will I break;

And the conclufion is, the fhall be thine :

In practice let us put it prefently.

[Exeunts

SCENE II:

A Room in LEONATO's Houfe. Enter LEONATO, and

ANTONIO.

Leon. How now, brother? Where is my coufin, your fon? Hath he provided this mufic?

Ant. He is very bufy about it. But, brother, I can tell you news that yet you dream'd not of.

Leon. Are they good?

Ant. As the event ftamps them; but they have a good cover, they fhew well outward. The prince and count Claudio, walking in a thick-pleached alley in mine orchard, were thus overheard by a man of mine: The prince difcover'd to Claudio, that he lov'd my niece your daughter, and meant to acknowledge it this evening in a dance; and, if he found her accordant, he meant to take the prefent time by the top, and inftantly break with you of it.

Leon. Hath the fellow any wit that told you this?

Ant. A good fharp fellow; I will fend for him, and question him yourself.

Leon. No, no; we will hold it as a dream, till it appear itself-but I will acquaint my daughter withal, that the may be the better prepared for an answer, if peradventure this be true: Go you, and tell her of it. [Several fervants cross the ftage here.] Coufin, you know what you have to do.-O, I cry you mercy, friend; go you with me, and I will ufe your fkill: Good coufin, have a care this busy time. [Exeunt

SCENE III.

Another Apartment in LEONATO's Houfe. Enter Don JOHN and CONRADE.

Conr. What the good-jer, my lord! why are you thus

out of measure fad

John. There is no meafure in the occafion that breed's it; therefore the fadnefs is without limit.

Conr. You fhould hear reafon.

John. And when I have heard it, what bleffing bringeth it?

Conr. If not a prefent remedy, yet a patient fufferance. John. I wonder, that thou, being (as thou fay'ft thou art) born under Saturn, goest about to apply a moral medicine to a mortifying mischief. I cannot hide what I am [9] I must be fad when I have caufe, and smile at no man's jefts; eat when I have ftomach, and wait for

[9] This is one of our author's natural touches. An envious and unfocial mind, too proud to give pleasure, and too fullen to receive it, always endeavours to hide its malignity from the world and from itself, under the plainnefs of fimple honefty, or the dignity of haughty independence, JOHN..

no man's leifure; fleep when I am drowsy, and tend on no man's business; laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in his humour.

Conr. Yea, but you must not make the full show of this, till you may do it without controlment. You have of late ftood out against your brother, and he hath ta'en you newly into his grace; where it is impoffible you fhould take root, but by the fair weather that you make yourself: it is needful that you frame the season for your own harvest.

John. I had rather be a canker in a hedge, than a rofe in his grace; and it better fits my blood to be disdain'd of all, than to fashion a carriage to rob love from any: in this, (though I cannot be said to be a flattering honeft man) it must not be deny'd but I am a plain-dealing villain. I am trusted with a muzzle, and enfranchis'd with a clog; therefore I have decreed not to fing in my cage : If I had my mouth, I would bite; if I had my liberty, I would do my liking in the mean time, let me be that I am, and feek not to alter me.

:

Conr. Can you make no ufe of your discontent?

John. I make all use of it, for I use it only. Who. comes here ?-what news, Borachio ?

Enter BORACHIO.

Bora. I came yonder from a great fupper; the prince, your brother, is royally entertained by Leonato; and I can give you intelligence of an intended marriage.

John. Will it ferve for any model to build mifchief on? What is he, for a fool, that betroths himself to unquietnefs? Bora. Marry, it is to your brother's right hand ? John. Who? the moft exquifite Claudio ?

Bora. Even he!

John. A proper fquire! and who, and who? which way looks he?

Bora. Marry, on Hero, the daughter and heir of Leonato.

John. A very forward March-chick! How come you to know this?

Bora. Being entertained for a perfumer, as I was fmoaking a muity room, comes me the prince and Claudio, hand in hand, in fad conference : I whipt behind the arras, and there heard it agreed upon, that

the prince should woo Hero for himself, and, having obtained her, give her to count Claudio.

John. Come, come, let us thither; this may prove food to my displeasure that young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow; if I can crofs him any way, I blefs myself every way: You are both fure, and will affift me.

Conr. To the death, my lord.

John. Let us to the great fupper; their cheer is the greater that I am fubdu'd: 'Would the cook were of my mind!-Shall we go prove what's to be done? Bora. We'll wait upon your lordship.

[Exeunt.

ACT II. SCENE I.

A Hall in LEONATO's Houfe. Enter LEONATO, AnTONIO, HERO, and BEATRICE.

Leonato.

WAS not count John here at fupper? ›

Ant. I faw him not..

Beat. How tartly that gentleman looks! I never can fee him but I am heart-burn'd an hour after.[9]

Hero. He is of a very melancholy difpofition.

Beat. He were an excellent man that were made just in the mid-way between him and Benedick the one is too like an image, and fays nothing; and the other too like my lady's eldeft fon, evermore tattling.

Leon. Then half fignior Benedick's tongue in count John's mouth, and half count John's melancholy in fignior Benedick's face,

Beat. With a good leg, and a good foot, uncle, and money enough in his purfe, fuch a man would win any woman in the world,-if he could get her good-will.

Leon. By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get thee a husband, if thou be'ft fo fhrewd of thy tongue.

Ant. In faith, fhe's too curft.

Beat. Too curft is more than cürft; I fhall leffen God's

[9] The pain commonly called the 'heart-burn,' proceeds from an acid humour in the ftomach, and is therefore properly enough imputed to tart looks, JOHNS.

fending that way: for it is faid, God fends a curft cow Short horns; but to a cow too curst he sends none.

Leon. So, by being too curft, God will send you no horns.

Beat. Juft, if he send me no husband; for the which bleffing, I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening Lord! I could not endure a husband, with a beard on his face; I had rather lie in woollen.

Leon. You may light upon a husband, that hath no beard.

Beat. What should I do with him? dress him in my apparel, and make him my waiting-gentlewoman? He that hath a beard is more than a youth; and he that hath no beard is lefs than a man: and he that is more than a youth is not for me; and he that is less than a man, I am not for him: Therefore I will even take fix-pence in earneft of the bear-herd, and lead his apes into hell.

Leon. Well, then, go you into hell.

Beat. No, but to the gate; and there will the devil meet me, like an old cuckold, with horns on his head, and fay, Get you to heaven, Beatrice, get you to heaven; here's no place for you maids: fo deliver I up my apes, and away to faint Peter for the heavens; he fhews me where the bachelors fit, and there live we as merry as the day is long.

Ant. Well, niece, I truft you will be rul'd by your father. [To HERO. Beat. Yes, faith, it is my coufin's duty to make a curtfy, and fay, Father, as it please you :-but yet for all. that, coufin, let him be a handfome fellow, or else make another curtly, and fay, Father, as it please me.

Leon. Well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted: with a husband..

Beat. Not till God make men of fome other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmafter'd with a piece of valiant duft? to make account of her life to a clod of wayward marle ? No, uncle, I'll none: Adam's fons are my brethren, and, truly, I hold it a fin to match in my kindred.

Leon. Daughter, remember what I told you: if the prince do folicit you in that kind, you know your answer. Beat. The fault will be in the mufic, coufin, if you be not woo'd in good time: if the prince be too impor tant,[1] tell him, there is measure in every thing, and so [1] 'Important' here, and in many other places, is 'importunate.' JOHN.