Pedro. Well, as time shall try; in time the favage bull doth bear the yoke.

Bene. The favage bull may; but if ever the fenfible Benedick bear it, pluck off the bull's horns, and fet them in my forehead, and let me be vilely painted, and in fuch great letters as they write, Here is good horse to hire, let them fignify under my fign, Here you may fee Benedick the marry'd man.

Glaud. If this should ever happen, thou would'st be horn-mad.

Pedro. Nay, if Cupid hath not spent all his quiver in Venice *, thou wilt quake for this shortly. Bene. I look for an earthquake too then.

Pedro. Well, you will temporife with the hours; in the mean time, good Signior Benedick, repair to Leonato's, commend me to him, and tell him I will not fail him at fupper; for indeed he hath made great preparation.

Bene. I have almost matter enough in me for fuch an embaffage, and fo I commit you

Glaud. To the tuition of God: From my house, if I had it,

Pedro. The fixth of July, your loving friend, Be nedick.

Bene. Nay, mock not, mock not; the body of your discourse is fometime guarded with fragments, and the guards are but flightly beasted on neither: ere you flout old ends any further, examine your confcience, and fo I leave you. [Exit.

Claud. My Liege, your Highness now may do me

good.

Pedro. My love is thine to teach, teach it but how, And thou shalt see how apt it is to learn Any hard leffon that may do thee good.

* Befides that Venice is as remarkable for freedoms in amorous intrigues as Cyprus was of old, there may be a farther conjecture why this expreffion is here ufed. The italians give to each of their prin. cipal cities a particular di@inguishing title, as, Roma la fanta, Napoli la gentile. Genova la Juperba, &c. and among the reft it is, Venetia la ricca, Venice the wealthy. A farcafm therefore feems to be here implied, that money governs love,

Claud.

Glaud. Hath Leonato any fon, my Lord?
Pedro. No child but Hero, she's his only heir:
Doft thou affect her, Claudio ?

Claud. O my Lord,

When you went onward on this ended action,
I look'd upon her with a foldier's eye;
That lik'd, but had a rougher task in hand
Than to drive liking to the name of love;
But now I am return'd, and that war-thoughts
Have left their places vacant, in their rooms
Come thronging foft and delicate defires,
All prompting me how fair young Hero is;
Saying, I lik'd her ere I went to wars.

Pedro. Thou wilt be like a lover presently,
And tire the hearer with a book of words :
If thou doft love fair Hero, cherish it,
And I will break with her and with her father,
And thou shalt have her: was't not to this end
That thou began'st to twist so fine a story?

Claud. How fweetly do you minister to love,
That know love's grief by his complexion !
But left my liking might too fudden feem,
I would have falv'd it with a longer treatife.

Pedro. What need the bridge much broader than

the flood?

The fairest grant is the neceffity;
Look, what will serve, is fit; 'tis once, thou lov''t;
And I will fit thee with the remedy.
I know, we shall have revelling to-night;
I will assume thy part in fome disguise,
And tell fair Hero I am Claudio;
And in her bofom I'll unclasp my heart,
And take her hearing prifoner with the force
And strong encounter of my amorous tale :
Then, after, to her father will I break;

2

And the conclufion is, she shall be thine.

In practice let us put it presently.

[Excunt

Re-enter Leonato and Antonio.

Leon. How now, brother, where is my cousin your

fon? hath he provided this mufic ?

Ant

Ant. He is very bufy about it; but, brother, I can tell you news that you yet dream'd not of.

Leon. Are they good?

Ant. As the event stamps them, but they have a good cover; they show well outward. The Prince and Count Claudio, walking in a thick-pleached alley in my orchard, were thus overheard by a man of mine : The Prince difcover'd to Claudio, that he lov'd my niece your daughter, and meant to acknowledge it this night in a dance; and if he found her accordant, he meant to take the present time by the top, and instant-ly break with you of it.

Leon. Hath the fellow any wit that told you this? Ant. A good sharp fellow; I will fend for him, and question him yourself.

Leon. No, no, we will hold it as a dream, till it appear itself: but I will acquaint my daughter withal,. that the may be the better prepared for anfwer, if peradventure this be true; go you and tell her of it. Coufins, you know what you have to do. [Several cross the stage here.] O, I cry you mercy, friend, go you with me, and I will use your skill; good coufin, have a care this bufy time. [Exeunt.

:

Changes to an apartment in Leonato's house.

Enter Don John and Conrade.

Conr. What the good-jer, my Lord, why are you thus out of measure fad ?

John. There is no measure in the occafion that breeds it, therefore the sadness is without limit. Conr. You should hear reafon.

John. And when I have heard it, what bleffing bringeth it?

Conr. If not a present remedy, yet a patient suffe

rance.

John. I wonder, that thou (being, as thou say'st thou art, born under Saturn) goest about to apply a moral medicine to a mortifying mischief. I cannot hide what I am: I must be fad when I have cause, and smile at no man's jests; eat when I have ftomach, and wait

for

for no man's leisure; fleep when I am drowsy, and tend on no man's business; laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in his humour.

Conr. Yea, but you must not make the full show of this, till you may do it without controlement. You have of late ftood out against your brother, and he hath ta'en you newly into his grace, where it is impoffible you should take root, but by the fair weather that you make yourself; it is needful that you frame the feafon for your own harvest.

John. I had rather be a canker in a hedge, than a rose in his grace; and it better fits my blood to be difdain'd of all, than to fashion a carriage to rob love from any: in this (though I cannot be faid to be a flattering honest man) it must not be deny'd but I am a plain-dealing villain; I am trusted with a muzzel, and infranchised with a clog, therefore I have decreed not to fing in my cage: if I had my mouth, I would bite; if I had my liberty, I would do my liking: in the mean time let me be that I am, and seek not to alter me.

Conr. Can you make no use of your discontent ? John. I will make all use of it, for I use it only. Who comes here? What news, Borachio?

Enter Borachio.

Bora. I came yonder from a great fupper; the Prince, your brother, is royally entertain'd by Leonato, and I can give you intelligence of an intended marriage.

John. Will it ferve for any model to build mischief on? what is he for a fool, that betrothes himself to unquietness?

Bora. Marry, it is your brother's right hand.
John. Who, the most exquifite Claudio ?

Bora. Even he.

John. A proper Squire! and who, and who? which

way looks he?

Bora. Marry, on Hero, the daughter and heir of Leonato.

John. A very forward March chick! How come you to this?

Bora.

Bora. Being entertain'd for a perfumer, as I was

smoking a mufty room, comes me the Prince and Clau dio hand in hand in fad conference. I whipt behind the arras, and there heard it agreed upon, that the Prince should woo Hero for himself; and having obtain'd her, give her to Count Claudio.

John. Come, come, let us thither; this may prove food to my difpleasure: that young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow. If I can cross him any way, I bless myself every way; you are both fure, and will afsist me.

Conr. To the death, my Lord.

John. Let us to the great fupper; their cheer is the greater that I am fubdu'd; would the cook were of my mind! Shall we go prove what's to be done? Bora. We'll wait upon your Lordship. [Exeunt.

ACTII.

SCENE

I.

A hall in Leonato's house.

Enter Leonato, Antonio, Hero, Beatrice, Margaret,

Leon.

and Urfula.

AS not Count John here at fupper?

WAS

I faw him not.

Beat. How tartly that gentleman looks! I never can fee him, but I am heart-burn'd an hour after. Hero. He is of a very melancholy difpofition.

Beat. He were an excellent man, that were made just in the mid-way between him and Benedick: the one is too like an image, and fays nothing; and the other too like my Lady's eldest fon, evermore tatling.

Leon. Then half Signior Benedick's tongue in Count John's mouth, and half Count John's melancholy in Signior Benedick's face

Beat. With a good leg, and a good foot, uncle, and money enough in his purse, such a man would win any woman in the world, if he could get her good-will. Leon. By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get thee a husband, if thou be fo fhrewd of thy tongue. Ant. In faith, she's too curs'd.