Bene.

SCENE changes to Leonato's House.

Enter Benedick, and Margaret.

PRAY

RAY thee, fweet Mitress Margaret, deferve well at my hands, by helping me to the Speech of Beatrice.

Marg. Will you then write me a fonnet in praise of my_beauty?

Bene. In fo high a file, Margaret that no man living fhall come over it; for, in most comely truth, thou deferveft it.

(20) Marg. To have no Man come over me? why, fhall I always keep above stairs?

Bene. Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's mouth, if

catches.

J

Marg. And yours as blunt as the fencer's foils, which hit, but hurt not.

Bene. A mot manly wit, Margaret, it will not hurt a woman; and fo, I pray thee, call Beatrice; I give thee the bucklers.

Marg. Give us the fwords; we have bucklers of our

own.

Bene. If you ufe them, Margaret, you must put in the pikes with a vice, and they are dangerous weapons for maids.

Marg. Well, I will call Batrice to you, who, I think, hath legs. [Exit Margaret. Bene. And therefore will come. [Sings] The Goa of love, that fits above, and knows me, and knows me, bow pitiful I deferue, I mean, in finging; but

(20) To have no Man come over me? why, fhall I always keep below Stairs Thus all the printed Copies, bat, fure, erroneously for all the Jeff, that can lie in the Paffage, is deftroy'd by it. Any Man might come over her, litterally speaking, if the always kept below Stairs. By the Correction I have venter'd to make, Margaret, as I prefume, muft mean, What! fhall I always keep above Stairs? i. e. Shall I for ever continue a Chambermaid?

in loving, Leander the good fwimmer, Troilus the firt employer of pandars, and a whole book full of thefe quondam carpet-mongers, whofe names yet run fmoothly in the even road of a blank verfe; why, they were never fo truly turn'd over and over, as my poor felf, in love; marry, I cannot fhew it in rhime; I have ry'd; I can find out no rhime to lady but baby, an innocent's rhime; for fcorn, born, a hard rhime; for Jchool, feel, a babling rhime; very ominous endings; no, I was not born under a rhiming planet, for I cannot woo in feftival terms.

Enter Beatrice.

Sweet Beatrice, would't thou come when I call thee ? Beat. Yea, Signior, and depart when you bid me. Bene. O, ftay but 'till then.

Beat. Then, is fpoken; fare you well now; and yet ere I go, let me go with that I came for, which is, with knowing what hath paft between, you and Claudio.

Bene. Only foul words, and thereupon I will kifs thee. Beat. Foul words are but foul wind, and foul wind is but foul breath, and foul breath is noifome; therefore I will depart unkift.

Bene, Thou haft frighted the word out of its right fenfe, fo forcible is thy wit; but, I must tell thee plainly, Claudio undergoes my challenge; and either I must shortly hear from him, or I will fubfcribe him a coward; and, I pray thce, now tell me, for which of my bad parts didit thou firth fall in love with me?

Beat. For them all together; which maintain'd fo politick a state of evil, that they will not admit any good part to intermingle with them: but for which of my good parts did you firft fuffer love for me?

Bene. Suffer love! a good epithet; I do fuffer love, indeed, for I love thee against my will.

Beat. In fpight of your heart, I think; alas! poor heart, if you fight it for my fake, I will fpight it for yours; for I will never love that, which my friend kates,

Bene

Bene. Thou and I are too wife to woo peaceably. Beat. It appears not in this confeffion; there's not one wife man among twenty that will praise himself.

Bene. An old, an old inftance, Beatrice, that liv'd in the time of good neighbours; if a man do not crec in this age his own tomb ere he dies, he fhall live no longer in monuments, than the bells ring, and the widow weeps.

Beat. And how long is that, think you?

Bene. Question-why, an hour in clamour, and a quarter in rheum; therefore it is moft expedient for the wife, if Don worm (his confcience) find no impediment to the contrary, to be the trumpet of his own virtues, as I am to myself; fo much for praifing myfelf; who, I myfelf will bear witnefs, is praife-worthy; and now tell me, how doth your Coufin ?

Beat. Very ill.

Bene. And how do you ?

Beat. Very ill too.

Bene. Serve God, love me, and mend; there will I leave you too, for here comes one in hafte.

Enter Ufula.

Urf. Madam, you must come to your uncle; yonder's old coil at home; it is proved, my lady Here hath been falfely accus'd; the Prince and Claudio mightily abus'd; and Don John is the author of all, who is fled and gone: will you come prefently?

Beat. Will you go hear this news, Signior? Bene. I will live in thy eyes, die in thy lap, and be bury'd in thy heart; and moreover I will go with thee to thy uncle.

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to a CHURCH.

Enter Don Pedro, Claudio, and Attendants with tapers. Claud. S this the monument of Leonato?

Atten. It is,

EPITA PH.

Done to death by flanderous tongues
Was the Hero, that here lies:
Death, in guerdon of her wrongs,
Gives her fame which never dies.
So the life, that dy'd with shame,
Lives in death with glorious fame.
Hang thou there upon the tomb,
Praifing her when I am dumb.

Claud. Now mufick found, and fing your folemn

hymn.

Claud. Now unto thy bones good night! Yearly will do this Rite.

Pedra. Good-morrow, mafers, put your torches out; The wolves have prey'd; and, look, the gentle day, Before the wheels of Phabus, round about

Dapples the drowly ealt with fpots of grey: Thanks to you all, and leave us; fare you well. Claud. Good-mórrów, mafters; each his feveral way. Pedro. Come let us hence, and put on other weeds ; And then to Leonato's we will go.

Claud

Claud. And Hymen now with luckier iffue fpeed's, (21) Than this, for whom we render'd up this woe! [Exeunt.

SCENE changes to Leonato's House.

Enter Leonato, Benedick, Margaret, Urfula, Antonio, Friar, and Hero.

Friar.

ID I not tell you, fhe was innocent ?

D"

Leon. So are the Prince and Claudio, who
accus'd her,

Upon the error that you heard debated.
But Margaret was in fome fault for this;
Although against her will, as it appears,
In the true courfe of all the question.

Ant. Well; I am glad, that all things fort fo well.
Bene. And fo am I, being elfe by faith enforc'd
To call young Claudio to a reckoning for it.

Leon. Well, Daughter, and you gentlewomen all,
Withdraw into a chamber by yourselves,
And when I fend for you, come hither mask'd:
The Prince and Claudio promis'd by this hour
To vifit me; you know your office; brother,
You must be father to your brother's daughter,
And give her to young Claudio.

[Exeunt Ladies

Ant. Which I will do with confirm'd countenance.
Bene. Friar, I must intreat your pains, I think.
Friar. To do what, Signior?

Bene. To bind me, or undo me, one of them;

Signior Leonato, truth it is, good Signior,

Your Niece regards me with an eye of favour.

(21) And Hymen now with luskier fue speeds,

Than this, for whom we render'd up this Woe.] Claudio could not know, without being a Prophet, that this new propos'd Match fhould have any luckier Event than That defign'd with Hero. Certainly, therefore, this fhould be a Wish in Claudio; and, to this End, the Poet might have wrote, feeds; i. e, speed' and fo it becomes a Prayer to Hymen.

D 5

us:

Dr. Thirlby.

Leon.