fhall be proved upon thee by good witness: I am a wife fellow; and, which is more, an officer; and, which is more, an houfholder; and, which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any is in Meffina; and one that knows the law; go to, and a rich fellow enough; go to, and a fellow that hath had loffes; and one that hath two gowns, and every thing handsome about him :-Bring him away. O, that I had been writ down, an afs ! [Exeunt.

ACT V. SCENE I.

Before LEONATO's Houfe. Enter LEONATO and ANTONIC.

Antonio.

IF you go on thus, you will kill yourself;
And 'tis not wisdom, thus to second grief
Againft yourself.

Leon. I pray thee, cease thy counsel,
Which falls into mine ears as profitless
As water in a fieve: give not me counsel;
Nor let no comforter delight mine ear,

But fuch a one whofe wrongs do fuit with mine.
Bring me a father, that so lov'd his child,
Whofe joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine,
And bid him fpeak of patience;

Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine,
And let it answer every ftrain for ftrain;
As thus for thus, and such a grief for such,
In every lineament, branch, shape, and form:
If fuch a one will fmile, and ftroke his beard,

And, forrow wag! cry; hem, when he should groan ;*
Patch grief with proverbs; make misfortune drunk
With candle-waifters; bring him yet to me,
And I of him will gather patience.

But there is no fuch man: For, brother, men
Can counfel, and give comfort to that grief
Which they themselves not feel; but, tafting it,
Their counsel turns to paffion, which before
Would give preceptial medicine to rage;
Fetter ftrong madnefs in a filken thread;

*If fuch an one will fmile, and ftroke his beard,
Cry, forrow, wag! and hem when he thould groan.

VOL. II.

A a

JOHNS.

Charm ach with air, and agony with words:
No, no; 'tis all men's office to fpeak patience
To thofe that wring under the load of forrow;
But no man's virtue, nor fufficiency,

To be fo moral, when he fshall endure

The like himself: therefore give me no counfel;
My griefs cry louder than advertisement.

Ant. Therein do men from children nothing differ. Leon. I pray thee, peace; I will be flesh and blood; For there was never yet philofopher,

That could endure the tooth-ach patiently;
However they have writ the ftyle of gods,[5]
And made a pish at chance and sufferance.
Ant. Yet bend not all the harm upon yourself :
Make those, that do offend you, fuffer too.

Leon. There thou speak'ft reafon nay, I will do so : My foul doth tell me, Hero is bely'd;

And that fhall Claudio know, fo fhall the prince;
And all of them that thus dishonour her.

Enter Don PEDRO aad CLAUDIO.

Ant. Here comes the prince, and Claudio, haftily.
Pedro. Good den, good den.

Claud. Good-day to both of

Leon. Hear you, my lords,

you.

Pedro. We have fome hafte, Leonato.

Leon. Some hafte, my lord !-Well, fare you well, my lord:

Are you fo hafty now?-well, all is one.

Pedro. Nay, do not quarrel with us, good old man. Ant. If he could right himself with quarrelling, Some of us would lie low.

Claud. Who wrongs him?

Leon. Marry, thou doft wrong me; thou diffembler, thou!

Nay, never lay thy hand upon thy sword,

I fear thee not.

Claud. Marry, befhrew my hand,

If it should give your age fuch cause of fear;
In faith, my hand meant nothing to my sword.

[5] This alludes to the extravagant titles the Stoics gave their wife men. 'Sapiens ille cum Diis ex pare vivit.' Senec. Ep. 59. 'Jupiter quo antecedit virum bonum? diutius bonus eft. Sapiens nihilo fe minoris æftimat.-Deus non vincit fapientem felicitate.' 'Ep. 73. WARB.

Leon. Tush, tush, man, never fleer and jest at me ;
I fpeak not like a dotard nor a fool;
As, under privilege of age, to brag

What I have done, being young, or what would do,
Were I not old: Know, Claudio, to thy head,
Thou haft fo wrong'd my innocent child, and me,
That I am forc'd to lay my reverence by ;
And, with grey hairs, and bruife of many days,
Do challenge thee to trial of a man.

I say, thou haft bely'd mine innocent child,
Thy flander hath gone through and through her heart,
And the lies bury'd with her ancestors:

O, in a tomb where fcandal never flept,
Save this of her's, fram'd by thy villany.
Claud. My villany?

Leon. Thine, Claudio! thine I say.
Pedro. You fay not right, old man.
Leon. My lord, my lord,

I'll prove it on his body, if he dare;

Defpight his nice fence, and his active practice,
His May of youth, and bloom of luftihood.

Claud. Away, I will not have to do with you. Leon. Canft thou fo daffe me? Thou haft kill'd my child;

If thou kill'ft me, boy, thou fhalt kill a man.

Ant. He fhall kill two of us, and men indeed :[6] But that's no matter; let him kill one first ;Win me and wear me,-let him answer me :— Come, follow me, boy; come, fir boy, follow me ; Sir boy, I'll whip you from your foining fence; Nay, as I am a gentleman, I will.

Leon. Brother,

Ant. Content yourself: God knows, I lov'd my niece; And she is dead, flander'd to death by villains, That dare as well anfwer a man, indeed,

As I dare take a ferpent by the tongue :

[6] This brother Anthony is the truest picture imaginable of human nar ture. He had affumed the character of a lage to comfort his brother, overwhelmed with grief for his only daughter's affront and dishonour; and had feverely reproved him for not commanding his paffion better on fo trying an occafion. Yet, immediately after this, no fooner does he begin to fufpect that his age and valour are flighted, but he falls into the moft inteinperate fit of rage himself and all that Leonato can do or fay is not of power to pacify him. This is copying nature with a penetration and exactness of judgment peculiar to Shakespeare. As to the expreffion too, of his paffion, nothing can be more highly painted. WARB.

Boys, apes, braggarts, jacks, milkfops !-
Leon. Brother Anthony,-

Ant. Hold you content: What, man? I know them, yea,

And what they weigh, even to the utmoft fcruple :
Scambling, out-facing, fafhion-mong'ring boys,
That lic, and cog, and flout, deprave and flander,
Go antickly, and fhow outward hideousness,
And fpeak off half a dozen dangerous words,
How they might hurt their enemies, if they durft ;
And this is all.

Leon. But, brother Anthony,

Ant. Come, 'tis no matter;

Do not you meddle, let me deal in this.

Pedro. Gentlemen both, we will not wake your pa tience.

My heart is forry for your daughter's death;
But, on my honour, fhe was charg'd with nothing
But what was true, and very full of proof.
Leon. My lord, my lord,-

Pedro. I will not hear you.

Leon. No! Come, brother, away :—I will be heard. Ant. And fhall, or some of us will smart for it.

Enter BENEDICK.

[Exe.ambo.

Pedro. See, fee, here comes the man we went to feek. Claud. Now, fignior, what news?

Bene. Good day, my lord.

Pedro. Welcome, fignior: you are almost come to part almoft a fray.

Claud. We had like to have had our two noses snapt off with two old men without teeth.

Pedro. Leonato and his brother: what think'ft thou? bad we fought, I doubt, we should have been too young for them.

Bene. In a falfe quarrel there is no true valour : I came to feek you both.

Claud. We have been up and down to feek thee; for we are high-proof melancholy, and would fain have it beaten away: wilt thou ufe thy wit?

Bene. It is in my scabbard; fhall I draw it?
Pedro. Doft thou wear thy wit by thy fide?

Claud. Never any did so, though very many have been

befide their wit.-I will bid thee draw, as we do the minftrels; draw, to pleasure us.

Pedro. As I am an honeft man, he looks pale :—Art thou fick, or angry?

Claud. What! courage, man! What though care kill'd a cat, thou haft mettle enough in thee to kill_care. Bene. Sir, I fhall meet your wit in the career, if you charge it against me :-I pray you, choose another fubject.

Claud. Nay, then give him another ftaff; this laft was broke crofs.[7]

Pedro. By this light; he changes more and more; I think, he be angry, indeed.

Claud. If he be, he knows how to turn his girdle.
Bene. Shall I speak a word in your ear?

Claud. God bless me from a challenge!

Bene. You are a villain ;—I jeft not;-I will make it good how you dare, with what you dare, and when you dare-do me right, or I will proteft your cowardice. You have kill'd a fweet lady, and her death fhall fall heavy on you :-let me hear from you.

Glaud. Well, I will meet you, fo I may have good cheer. Pedro. What, a feaft? a feaft?

Claud. I'faith, I thank him; he hath bid me to a calf's-head and a capon; the which if I do not carve moft curiously, fay my knife's naught. Shall I not find a woodcock too?

Bene. Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes eafily.

Pedro. I'll tell thee, how Beatrice prais'd thy wit the other day I said, thou hadst a fine wit; True, said she, a fine little one; No, faid I, a great wit; Fuft, faid fhe, a great grofs one; Nay, faid I, a good wit; Just, faid fhe, it hurts nobody; Nay, faid I, the gentleman is wife; Certain, faid fhe, a wife gentleman ;[8] Nay, said I, he hath the tongues; That I believe, faid the, for he favore a thing to me on Monday night, which he forefwore on Tuesday morning; there's a double tongue, there's two tongues. Thus did fhe, an hour together, tranfhape thy particular virtues; yet, at laft, fhe concluded with a figh, thou waft the propereft man in Italy.

Allufion to tilting. See note, As You Like It, act 3, fc. 10. WARB: This jeft depending on the colloquial ufe of words is now obfcure; perhaps we should read, a wife gentle man,' or 'a man wife enough to be a coward. Perhaps wife gentleman' was in that age used ironically, and always flood for filly fellow.' JOHNS.