Dogb. One word, Sir ; our Watch have, indeed, comprehended two auspicious persons; and we would have them this morning examin'd before your Worship. Leon. Take their examination yourself, and bring

I am now in great haste, as may appear unto you.

Dogb. It shall be suffigance.
Leon. Drink some wine ere you go : fare

fare you well.

it me ;

.

Enter a Messenger.
Mif. My lord, they stay for you to give your
daughter to her husband.
Leon. I'll wait upon them. I am ready.

[Exeunt Leonato. Dogb. Go, good Partner, go get you to Francis Seacoale, bid him bring his pen and inkhorn to the jail; we are now to examine those men.

Verg. And we must do it wisely. Dogb. We will spare for no wit, I warrant; here's That (touching his forehead) shall drive some of them to a non-come. Only get the learned writer to set down our excommunication, and meet me at the Jail.

[Exeunt.

A CT IV.

S CE N E I.

A CHURCH.

Enter D. Pedro, D. John, Leonato, Friar, Claudio,

Benedick, Hero, and Beatrice.

LEON ATO.

C Com

marry her.

OME, friar Francis, be brief, only to the plain

form of marriage, and you shall recount their particular duties afterwards.

Friar. You come hither, my Lord, to marry this lady?

Cloud. No.
Leon. To be marry'd to her, Friar. You come to

Friar. Lady, you come hither to be marry'd to this Count.

Hero. I do.

Friar. If either of you know any inward impediment why you should not be conjoin'd, I charge you on your souls to utter it.

Claud. Know you any, Hero?
Hero. None, my Lord.
Friar. Know you any, Count ?
Leon. I dare make his answer, none.
Claud. O what men dare do !' what men may do!

what
Men daily do! not knowing what they do!

Bene. How now ! Interjections ? why, then some be of laughing, as, ha, ha, he!

Claud. Stand thee by, friar : father, by your leave, Will you with free and unconstrained soul

5 Some be of laughing.) This is a quotation from the Accidence.

Give me this maid your daughter ?

Leon. As freely, son, as God did give her me. Claud. And what have I to give you back, whose

worth
May counterpoise this rich and precious gift?

Pedro. Nothing, unless you render her again.
Claud. Sweet Prince, you learn me noble thankful-

ness :
There, Leonato, take her back again ;
Give not this rotten orange to your friend.
She's but the sign and semblance of her honour :
Behold, how like a maid she blushes here !
O, what authority and shew of truch
Can cunning fin cover itself withal !
Comes not that blood, as modest evidence,
To witness simple virtue ? would you not swear,
All you that see her, that she were a maid,
By these exterior shews ? but she is none :
She knows the heat of a luxurious bed';
Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty.

Leon. What do you mean, my Lord ?

Claud. Not to be marry'd,
Not to knit my soul to an approved Wanton.

Leon. Dear my Lord, if you in your own approof
Have vanquish'd the resistance of her youth,
And made defeat of her virginity
Claud. I know what you would say. If I have

known her,

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luxurious bed;] Thatsume, the firn Editors might heis, lafcivious. Luxury is the con fitate at ; tho' it is a very proper feffor's term for unlawful plea- one, and a Word elsewhere used sures of the sex.

by our Author. Besides, in the 7 Dear my Lord, if you in your Passage under Examination, this

oun Proof ] I am surprizd, Word comes in a'most necessathe Poetical Editors did not ob- rily, as Cluudio had said in the line ferve the Lameness of this Verse. immediately preceding ; It evidently wants a Syllable in Not knit my Soul to an apthe last Foot, which I have re. proved Wanton. ford by a Word, which, I pre.

THEOBALD.

You'll

You'll say, she did embrace me as a husband,
And to extenuate the forehand Gin.
No, Leonato,
I never tempted her with word too larges;
But, as a brother to his fifter, shew'd
Bashful sincerity, and comely love.

Hero. And seem'd I ever otherwise to you?

Claud. Out on thy Seeming! I will write against it':
You seem to me as Dian in her orb,
As chaste as is the bud 'ere it be blown :
But you are more intemperate in your blood
Than Venus, or those pamper'd animals
That rage in favage fenfuality.

Hero. Is my Lord well, that he doth speak fo wide ?
Leon. Sweet Prince, why speak not you?

Pedro. What should I speak ?
I stand dishonour'd, that have gone about
To link my dear friend to a common Stale.

Leon. Are these things spoken, or do I but dream ;
John. Sir, they are spoken, and these things are true.
Bene. This looks not like a Nuptial.
Hero. True ! O God!

Claud. Leonato, ftand I here?
Is this the Prince? Is this the Prince's Brother?
Is this face Hero's? are our eyes our own;

Leon. All this is so; but what of this, my lord ?
Claud. Let me but more one question to your

daughter,
And, by that fatherly and kindly power
That you have in her, bid her answer truly.

2

9

word 100 large ;) So he As to fulfiribe to any thing is uses large joft's in this play, for to allow it, so to write again lantious, not restrained within is to dif low or deny. due bounds.

chaste as the bud] Be. - I will write against it:] fore the air has tafted its sweetWhat? a libel ? nonsense. We ness. should read, I will RATE cgainst

kindly poruer} That it, i. e. rail or revile.

js, natural power. Kind is naWARBURTON. ture.

Leon.

Leon. I charge thee do so, as thou art my child. .

Hiro. O God defend me, how am I befet! What kind of catechizing call you this?

Claud. To make you answer truly to your name.

Hero. Is it not Hero? who can blot that nanie
With any just reproach?

Claud. Marry, that can Hero;
Hero herself can blot out Hero's virtue.
What man was be talk’d with you yesternight
Out at your window betwixt twelve and one?
Now, if you are a maid, answer to this.

Hero. Í talk'd with no man at that hour, my Lord.

Pedro. Why, then you are no maiden. Lcoza:o,
I am sorry, you must hear; upon mine Honour,
Myself, my Brother, and this grieved Count
Did see her, hear her, at that hour last night,
Talk with a ruffian at her chamber window;
Who hath, indeed, most like a liberal villain 3,
Confess’d the vile encounters they have had
A thousand times in secret.

John. Fie, fie, they are not to be nam’d, my Lord.
Not to be spoken of;
There is not chastity enough in language,
Without offence, to utter them; thus, pretty lady,
I am sorry for thy much misgovernment.

Claud. O Hero! what a Hero hadst thou been 4,
If half thy outward graces had been plac'd
About the thoughts and counsels of thy heart?
But fare thee well, most foul, moft fair! farewel,
Thou pure impiety, and impious purity!
For thee I'll lock up all the gates of love,
And on my eyelids Thall Conjecture hang,
To turn all beauty into thoughts of harm;

liberal villain) Li- iliibcral. beral here, as in many places of + I am afraid here is intended these plays, means, frank beyond a poor concuit upon the word. bonefly or decency. Free of tongue, Hiro. Dr.Warburton unnecessarily reads

And

3