Pedro. May be, fhe doth but counterfeit. Leon. O God! counterfeit there was never coun terfeit of paffion came fo near the life of paffion, as fhe difcovers it. Pedro. Why, what effects of paffion fhews fhe? Claud. Bait the hook well, this fifh will bite. [Afide. Leon. What effects, my lord? fhe will fit you, you heard my daughter tell you how. Claud. She did, indeed. Pedro. How, how, I pray you? you amaze me: I would have thought, her fpirit had been invincible against all affaults of affection. Leon. I would have fworn, it had, my lord; efpecially against Benedick. Bene. [Afide.] I fhould think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow fpeaks it; knavery cannot, fure, hide himfelf in fuch reverence. Claud. He hath ta'en th' infection, hold it up. [ Afide. Pedro. Hath fhe made her affection known to Benedick? tence unfinished, and turns to another, It is past the infinite of thought-which is likewife left unfinished; for it should conclude thus- to say how great that affection is. Thefe broken disjointed fentences are usual in converfation. However there is one word wrong, which yet perplexes the fenfe, and that is INFINITE, Human thought cannot furely be called infinite with any kind of figurative propriety. I fuppofe the true reading was DEFINITE. This makes the paffage intelligible. It is poft the DEFINITE of thought. -i. e. it cannot be defined or conceived how great that affection is. Shake Speare ufes the word again in the fame fenfe in Cymbeline. For Idiots, in this cafe of favour, would Be wifely DEFINITE. i. e. could tell how to pronounce or determine in the cafe. WARB. Here are difficulties raifed only to fhew how eafily they can be removed. The plain sense is, I know not what to think otherwife, but that he loves him, with an enraged affection: It (this affection) is paft the infinite of thought. Here are no abrupt flops, or imperfect fentences. Infinite may well enough ftand; it is ufed by more careful writers for indefinite: And the speaker only means, that thought, though in itself unbounded, cannot reach or estimate the degree of her paflion. Leon. Leon. No, and fwears he never will; that's her torment. Claud. 'Tis true, indeed, fo your daughter fays: fhall I, fays fhe, that have fo oft encounter'd him with fcorn, write to him that I love him? Leon. This fays fhe now, when the is beginning to write to him; for fhe'll be up twenty times a night, and there fhe will fit in her fmock, 'till fhe have writ a fheet of paper-my daughter tells us all. Claud. Now you talk of a fheet of paper, I remember a pretty jeft your daughter told us of. Leon. Oh, when fhe had writ it, and was reading it over, fhe found Benedick and Beatrice between the sheet. Claud. That Leon. O, he tore the letter into a thousand halfpence; rail'd at herself, that she should be fo immodeft, to write to one that, fhe knew, would flout her: I measure him, fays fhe, by my own Spirit, for, I fhould flout him if he writ to me; yea, though I love him, I fhould. Claud. Then down upon her knees the falls, weeps, fobs, beats her heart, tears her hair, prays, curfes; O fweet Benedick! God give me patience! Leon. She doth, indeed, my daughter fays fo; and the ecstacy hath fo much overborne her, that my daughter is fometime afraid, fhe will do desperate outrage to herself; it is very true. 6 O, fhe tore the Letter into a thoufand half-pence;] . e. into a thousand Pieces of the fame bigness. This is farther explain ed by a Paffage in As you like it. -There were none principal; they were all like one another as half-pence are. In both places the Poet alludes VOL. III. to the old filver Penny, which had a Creafe running Cross-Wife over it, fo that it might be broke into two or four equal pieces, half-pence, or farthings. THEOBALD. How the quotation explains the paffage, to which it is applied, I cannot discover. P Pedro. Pedro. It were good that Benedick knew of it by fome other, if fhe will not discover it. Claud. To what end? he would but make a sport of it, and torment the poor lady worse. Pedro. If he fhould, it were an Alms to hang him; fhe's an excellent fweet lady, and (out of all fufpicion) fhe is virtuous. Claud. And fhe is exceeding wife. Pedro. In every thing, but in loving Benedick. Leon. O my lord, wifdom and blood combating in fo tender a body, we have ten proofs to one that blood hath the victory; I am forry for her, as I have just cause, being her uncle and her guardian. Pedro. I would, fhe had beftow'd this dotage on me; I would have dafft all other refpects, and made her half myself. I pray you tell Benedick of it; and hear what he will fay. Leon. Were it good, think you? Claud. Hero thinks, furely fhe will die; for fhe fays, fhe will die if he love her not, and fhe will die ere the make her love known; and fhe will die if he woo her, rather than fhe will bate one breath of her accuftom'd croffness. Pedro. She doth well; if she should make tender of her love, 'tis very poffible, he'll scorn it; for the man, as you know all, hath a contemptible spirit". Claud. He is a very proper man. Pedro. He hath, indeed, a good outward happiness. Claud. 'Fore God, and, in my mind, very wife. Pedro. He doth, indeed, fhew fome sparks that are like wit. Leon. And I take him to be valiant. Pedro. As Hector, I affure you; and in the managing of quarrels you may say he is wife; for either 7 Contemptible fpirit.] That is, a temper inclined to fcorn and contempt. It has been before remarked, that our author uses his verbal adjectives with great licence. There is therefore no need of changing the word with Sir T. Hanmer to contemptuous. he he avoids them with great difcretion, or undertakes them with a chriftian-like fear. Leon. If he do fear God, he muft neceffarily keep peace; if he break the peace, he ought to enter into a quarrel with fear and trembling. Pedro. And fo will he do, for the man doth fear God, howsoever it feems not in him, by fome large jefts he will make. Well, I am forry for your Niece: fhall we go feek Benedick, and tell him of her love? Claud. Never tell him, my lord; let her wear it out with good counsel, Leon. Nay, that's impoffible, fhe may wear her heart out first. Pedro. Well, we will hear further of it by your daughter; let it cool the while. I love Benedick well; and I could wish he would modeftly examine himself, to see how much he is unworthy to have fo good a lady. Leon. My Lord, will you walk? dinner is ready. Claud. If he do not dote on her upon this, I will never trust my expectation. [Afide. Pedro. Let there be the fame net spread for her, and that must your daughter and her gentlewomen carry. The fport will be, when they hold an opinion of one another's dotage, and no fuch matter; that's the Scene that I would fee, which will be meerly a Dumb Show ; let us fend her to call him to dinner. [Afide.] [Exeunt. Benedick advances from the Arbour. Bene. This can be no trick, the conference was fadly borne.-They have the truth of this from Hero; they seem to pity the lady; it seems, her affections have the full bent. Love me! why, it must be requited. I hear, how I am cenfur'd; they fay, I will P 2 bear bear myself proudly, if I perceive the love come from her; they fay too, that he will rather die than give any fign of affection.I did never think to marry Imuft not feem proud- happy are they that hear their detractions, and can put them to mending. They fay, the lady is fair; 'tis a truth, I can bear them witnefs. And virtuous; 'tis fo, I cannot reprove it. And wife-but for loving me by my troth, it is no addition to her wit nor no great argument of her folly; for I will be horribly in love with her. I may chance to have fome odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on nie, because I have rail'd so long against marriage; but doth not the appetite alter? a man loves the meat in his youth, that he cannot endure in his age. Shall, quips and fentences, and these paper-bullets of the brain, awe a man from the career of his humour? no: the world muft be peopled. When I faid, I would die a batchelor, I did not think I fhould live 'till I were marry'd. Here comes Beatrice by this day, fhe's a fair lady; I do fpy fome marks of love in her. Enter Beatrice. Beat. Against my will, I am fent to bid you come in to dinner. Bene. Fair Beatrice, I thank you for your pains. Beat. I took no more pains for thofe thanks, than you take pains to thank me; if it had been painful, Į would not have come. Bene. You take pleasure then in the meffage. Beat. Yea, juft fo much as you may take upon a knife's point, and choak a daw withalYou have no ftomach, Signior; fare you well. [Exit. Bene. Ha! against my will I am fent to bid you come in to dinner: there's a double meaning in that. Í took no more pains for thofe thanks, than you take pains to thank me; that's as much as to lay, any pains that |