fhorten'd, (for the hath been too long a talking of) the lady is difloyal. Claud. Who? Hero? John. Even the; Leonato's Hero, your Hero, every man's Hero. Claud. Difloyal? John. The word is too good to paint out her wickednefs ; I could fay, fhe were worse; think you of a worse. title, and I will fit her to it. Wonder not till further warrant: go but with me to-night, you shall see her chamber-window entered; even the night before her wedding-day: If you love her then, to-morrow wed her; but it would better fit your honour to change your mind. Claud. May this be fo? Pedro. I will not think it. John. If you dare not trust that you fee, confefs not that you know If you will follow me, I will fhew you enough; and when you have seen more, and heard more, proceed accordingly. Claud. If I fee any thing to-night why I fhould not marry her; to-morrow, in the congregation, where I fhould wed, there will I fhame her. Pedro. And, as I wooed for thee to obtain her, I will join with thee to disgrace her. John. I will disparage her no farther, till you are my witneffes. Bear it coldly but till midnight, and let the iffue fhew itself. Pedro. O day untowardly turned ! Claud. O mischief strangely thwarting! So you will fay when you have feen the fequel. [Exe.. SCENE III. The Street. Enter DOGBERRY and VERGES, with the Watch. Dogb. Are you good men and true? Verg. Yea, or elfe it were pity but they fhould fuffer falvation, body and foul. Dogb. Nay, that were a punishment too good for them, if they should have any allegiance in them, being chofen for the prince's watch. Verg. Well, give them their charge, neighbour Dogberry. Dogb. Firft, who think you the most desertless man to be conftable? I Watch. Hugh Oatcake, fir, or George Seacoal ; for they can write and read. Dogb. Come hither, neighbour Seacoal: God hath blefs'd you with a good name to be a well-favour'd man is the gift of fortune; but to write and read comes by nature. 2 Watch. Both which, master constable,— Dogb. You have; I knew it would be your anfwer. Well, for your favour, fir, why, give God thanks, and make no boast of it; and for your writing and reading, let that appear when there is no need of fuch vanity. You are thought here to be the most senseless and fit man for the conftable of the watch; therefore bear you the lantern : This is your charge; you fhall comprehend all vagrom men; you are to bid any man ftand, in the prince's name. 2 Watch. How if he will not stand? Dogb. Why then, take no note of him, but let him go; and prefently call the reft of the watch together, and thank God you are rid of a knave. Verg. If he will not ftand when he is bidden, he is none of the prince's fubjects. Dogb. True, and they are to meddle with none but the prince's fubjects.-You fhall alfo make no noife in the streets; for, for the watch to babble and talk, is most tolerable and not to be endur'd. 2 Watch. We will rather sleep than talk; we know what belongs to a watch. Dogb. Why, you speak like an ancient and most quiet watchman; for I cannot see how sleeping should offend :only, have a care that your bills be not ftolen.[8]—Well, you are to call at all the ale-houses, and bid them that are drunk get them to bed. 2 Watch. How if they will not ? Dogb. Why then, let them alone till they are sober: if they make you not then the better anfwer, you may fay, they are not the men you took them for. 2 Watch. Well, fir. Dogb. If you meet a thief, you may fufpect him, by virtue of your office, to be no true man; and, for fuch [8] A 'bill' is fill carried by the watchmen at Litchfield. It was the old weapon of the English infantry, which, fays Temple, gave the moft ghaftly and deplorable wounds. It may be called fecuris falcata. JOHNS. kind of men, the lefs you meddle or make with them, why, the more is for your honesty. 2 Watch. If we know him to be a thief, fhall we not lay hands on him? Dogb. Truly, by your office you may; but, I think, they that touch pitch will be defil'd: the moft peaceable way for you, if you do take a thief, is, to let him fhew himself what he is, and steal out of your company. Verg. You have always been call'd a merciful man, partner. Dogb. Truly, I would not hang a dog by my will; much more a man who hath any honesty in him. Verg. If you hear a child cry in the night, you must call to the nurse, and bid her still it.[9] 2 Watch. How, if the nurse be asleep, and will not hear us? Dogb. Why then, depart in peace, and let the child wake her with crying: for the ewe that will not hear her lamb when it baes, will never answer a calf when he bleats. Verg. 'Tis very true. Dogb. This is the end of the charge. You, constable, are to prefent the prince's own perfon; if you meet the prince in the night, you may ftay him. Verg. Nay, by'rlady, that, I think, he cannot. Dogb. Five fhillings to one on't, with any man that knows the ftatutes, he may ftay him: marry, not without the prince be willing: for, indeed, the watch ought to offend no man; and it is an offence to stay a man againft his will. Verg. By'rlady, I think it be fo. Dogb. Ha! ha ha! Well, masters, good night: an there be any matter of weight chances, call up me; keep your fellow's counfels and your own, and good night.Come, neighbour. [9] It is not impoffible but that part of this fcene was intended as a burlefque on The Statutes of the Streets, imprinted by Wolfe, in 1595.— Among thefe, I find the following. 66 22. No man fhall blow any horne in the night, within this citie, or whistle after the houre of nyne of the clock in the night, under paine of imprisonment."" 23. No man fhall ufe to goe with vifoures, or dif guifed by night, under like pain of imprisonment.". "24. Made that night-walkers, and evifdroppers, like punishment."- "25. No hammar. man, as a fmith, a pewterer, a founder, and all artificers making great found, fhall not worke after the houre of nyne at the night,&c."-"30. No man fhall, after the houre of nyne at night, keepe any rule, whereby any fuch fuddaine out-cry be made in the ftill of the night, as making any affray, or beating his wyfe or fervant, or finging, or revyling in his houfe, to the difturbaunce of his neighbours, under payne of iii s. iiiid, &c." STEEV. 2 Watch. Well, mafters, we hear our charge: let us go fit here upon the church-bench till two, and then all to bed. Dogb. One word more, honeft neighbours. I pray you, watch about fignior Leonato's door; for the wedding being there to-morrow, there is a great coil to-night. Adieu, be vigilant, I beseech you. [Exeunt DOGBERRY and VERGES.. Enter BORACHIO and CONRADE. Bora. What! Conrade, Watch. Peace, ftir not. [Afide.. Bora. Conrade, I fay! Conr. Here, man, I am at thy elbow. Bora. Mafs, and my elbow itch'd; I thought there would a fcab follow. Conr. I will owe thee an answer for that; and now forward with thy tale. Bora. Stand thee close then under this pent-house, for it drizzles rain; and I will, like a true drunkard, utter all to thee. Watch. [Afide. Some treason, masters; yet stand Bora. Therefore know, I have earned of Don Joh thousand ducats. a Conr. Is it poffible that any villany fhould be fo dear? Bora. Thou fhouldft rather afk, if it were poffible any villany should be fo rich: for when rich villains have need of poor ones, poor ones may make what price they will. Conr. I wonder at it. Bora. That fhews, thou art unconfirm'd : Thou knoweft, that the fashion of a doublet, or a hat, or a cloak, is nothing to a man. Conr. Yes, it is apparel. Bora. I mean, the fathion. Conr. Yes, the fashion is the fashion. Bora. Tufh! I may as well fay, the fool's the fool. But fee'ft thou not, what a deformed thief this fashion is ? Watch. I know that Deformed; he has been a vile thief these seven years; he goes up and down like a gentleman: I remember his name. Bora. Didft thou not hear fome body? Conr. No; 'twas the vane on the house. Bora. Seeft thou not, I fay, what a deformed thief this fashion is ? how giddily he turns about all the hot bloods,, between fourteen and five-and-thirty? fometimes, fashioning them like Pharaoh's foldiers in the reechy painting; fometimes, like god Bel's priefts in the old church window; fometime, like the fhaven Hercules[1] in the fmirch'd worm-eaten tapestry, where his cod-piece feems as maffy as his club? Conr. All this I fee; and fee, that the fashion wears out more apparel than the man: But art not thou thyfelf giddy with the fashion too, that thou haft shifted out of thy tale into telling me of the fashion? Bora. Not fo neither: but know, that I have to-night wooed Margaret, the lady Hero's gentlewoman, by the name of Hero; fhe leans me out at her miftrefs's chamber-window, bids me a thousand times good night—I tell this tale vilely :-I should first tell thee, how the prince, *Claudio, and my mafter, planted and placed, and poffeffed by my master Don John, saw afar off in the orchard this amiable encounter. Conr. And thought they, Margaret was Hero? Bora. Two of them did, the prince and Claudio; but the devil my mafter knew fhe was Margaret; and partly by his oaths, which firft poffefs'd them, partly by the dark night, which did deceive them, but chiefly by my villany, which did confirm any flander that Don John had made, away went Claudio enraged; fwore he would meet her, as he was appointed, next morning at the tem [1] By the 'fhaven Hercules' is meant Sampfon, the usual subject of old tapeftry. In this ridicule on the fashion, the poet has not unartfully given a ftroke at the barbarous workmanship of the common tapestry hangings, then fo much in ufe. The fame kind of raillery, Cervantes has employed on the like occafion, when he brings his knight and 'fquire to an inn, where they found the ftory of Dido and Eneas reprefented in bad tapestry. On Sancho's feeing the tears fall from the eyes of the forfaken queen as big as walnuts, he hopes that when their achievements became the general fubject for thefe fort of works, that fortune will fend them a better artift.What authorifed the poet to give this name to Sampfon was the folly of certain chriftian mythologifts, who pretend that the Grecian Hercules was the Jewish Sampfon. The retenue of our author is to be commended: The fober audience of that time would have been offended with the mention of a venerable name on fo light an occafion. Shakespeare is indeed fometimes licentious in thefe matters: but, to do him juftice, he generally feems to have a fenfe of religion, and to be under its influence. What Pedro fays of Benedick, in this comedy, may be well enough applied to him: "The man doth fear God, however it seems not to be in him, by some large jefts he will make." WARB. I believe that Shakespeare knew nothing of thefe chriftian mythologifts, and by the fhaven Hercules' meant only "Hercules when fhaved to make him look like a woman,' while he remained in the fervice of Omphale, his Lydian miftrefs. Had the fhaven Hercules' been meant to reprefent Sampfon, he would probably have been equipped with a jaw-bone inftead of a club. STEEV. |