Bora. Sir, I fay to you, we are none.

To. Cl. Well, ftand afide; 'fore God they are both in a tale; have you writ down that they are none.

Sexton. Mafter Town-clerk, you go not the way to examine, you must call the watch that are their accufers.

To. Cl. Yea marry, that's the defteft way, let the Watch come forth; mafters, I charge you in the Prince's name accuse these men.

Enter Watchmen.

1 Watch. This man said, Sir, that Don John the Prince's brother was a villain.

To. Cl. Write down, Prince John a villain; why, this is flat perjury, to call a Prince's brother villain.

Bora. Mafter Town-clerk!

To. Cl. Pray thee, fellow, peace; I do not like thy look, I promife thee.

Sexton. What heard you him fay else?

2 Watch. Marry, that he had receiv'd a thousand ducats of Don John, for accufing the Lady Hero wrongfully. To. Cl. Flat burglary as ever was committed.

Dogb. Yea, by th' Mafs, that it is.

Sexton. What elfe, fellow?

I Watch. And that Count Claudio did mean, upon his words, to difgrace Hero before the whole affembly, and not marry her.

To. Cl. O villain! thou wilt be condemn'd into everlafting redemption for this. Sexton. What elfe ?

2 Watch. This is all.

Sexton. And this is more, mafters, than you can deny. Prince John is this morning fecretly ftol'n away: Hero was in this manner accus'd, in this very manner refus'd, ard upon the grief of this fuddenly dy'd. Mafter Conftable, let thefe men be bound and brought to Leonato; I will go before, and fhew him their examination. [Exit. Dogb. Come, let them be opinion'd.

Conr. Let us be in the hands of Coxcomb.

Dogb. God's my life, where's the Sexton ? let him write down the Prince's officer Coxcomb: come, bind them;

thou naughty varlet!

Conr. Away! you are an afs, you are an afs.

Dogb. Doft thou not fufpect my place? doft thou not fufpect my years? O that he were here to writ me down an afs! but, masters, remember that I am an afs, though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an als; no, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as fhall be prov'd upon thee by good witness; I am a wife fellow, and which is more, an officer; and which is more, an houfhoulder; and which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any 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 handfome about him; bring him away; O that I had been writ down an afs! [Exeunt.

ACT V.

Before Leonato's House.

SCENE I.

Enter Leonato and Antonio, Ant. you go on thus, you will kill your felf, And 'tis not wisdom thus to fecond grief

Against your self.

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

But fuch a one whose wrongs do fuite with mine;
Bring me a father that fo lov'd his child,
Whofe joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine,
And bid him fpeak to me of patience;
Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine,
And let it answer every ftrain for ftrain :
As thus for thus, and fuch a grief for fuch,
In every lineament, branch, fhape and form;
If fuch a one will fmile and firoke his beard,
And forrow waive, cry hem, when he should groan,
Patch grief with proverbs, make misfortune drunk
With candle wafters; 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 counfel turns to paffion, which before

Q3

Would

Would give preceptial medicine to rage,
Fetter ftrong madness in a filken thread,
Charm ach with air, and agony with words.
No, no, 'tis all mens 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 fhall endure

The like himself; therefore give me no counsel,
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,

And made a pifh at chance and fufferance.

Ant. Yet bend not all the harm upon yourself. Make those that do offend you suffer too.

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

And that fhall Claudio know, fo fhall the Prince,

And all of them that thus difhonour her.

SCENE II. Enter Don Pedro and Claudio.
Ant. Here comes the Prince and Claudio hastily.

Pedro. Good den, good den.

Claud. Good day to both of you.

Leon. Hear you, my Lords?

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 lye low.

Claud. Who wrongeth him?

Leon. Marry, thou doft wrong me, thou diffembler thou! Nay, never lay thy hand upon thy fword,

I fear thee not.

Claud. Marry, befhrew my hand,

If it fhould give your age fuch caufe of fear;
In faith, my hand meant nothing to my fword.

Leon.

Leon. Tush, tufh, man, neyer fleer and jeft 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 bruise of many days
Do challenge thee to tryal of a man ;

I fay, thou haft bely'd my innocent child,

Thy flander hath gone through and through her heart,
And the lyes bury'd with her ancestors,
O, in a tomb where never fcandal flept,
Save this of hers, fram'd by thy villainy!
Claud. My villainy?

I'll

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

prove it on his body if he dare;

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

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;
But that's no matter, let him kill one firft;
Win me and wear me, let him answer me;
Come, follow me, boy, come, 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 your felf; God knows I lov'd
And the 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.
Boys, apes, jacks, braggarts, milkfops!

Leon. Brother Anthony!

my neice..

Ant. Hold you content? what, man? I know them, yea, And what they weigh, even to the utmost scruple:

Scambling, out-facing, fashion-mongring boys,

That

That lie, and cog, and flout, deprave and flander,
Go antickly, and fhow an outward hideousness,
And speak 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 rack your patience. 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 fome of us will fmart for it.

[Exeunt ambo.

SCENE III. Enter Benedick.

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

Bene. Good day, my Lord.

Pedro. Welcome, Signior; you are almost come to part almost a fray.

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

Pedro. Leonato and his brother; what think'ft thou? had we fought, I doubt we fhould 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 fcabbard; fhall I draw it?

Pedro. Doft thou wear thy wit by thy fide?

Claud. Never any did fo, though very many have been befide their wit, I will bid thee draw, as we do the mintrels; draw to pleasure us.

Pedro. As I am an honest man he looks pale: art thou fick or angry?

Claud