Pedro. But, foft you, let me fee, pluck up my heart and be fad; did he not fay, my brother was filed?

Dogb. Come you, Sir, if juftice cannot tame you. fhe fhall ne'er weigh more reafons in her balance; nay, an you be a curfing hypocrite once, you must be look'd

to.

Pedro. How now, two of my brother's men bound? Borachio, one?

Claud. Hearken after their offence, my lord.

Pedro. Officers, what offence have these men done? Dogb. Marry, Sir, they have cominitted falfe report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; fecondarily, they are flanders; fixth and laftly, they have bely'd a lady; thirdly, they have verify'd unjust things; and to conclude, they are lying knaves.

Pedro. First, I afk thee what they have done; thirdly, I afk thee what's their offence; fixth and laftly, why they are committed; and to conclude, what you lay to their charge?

Claud. Rightly reafon'd, and in his own divifion ; and, by my troth, there's one meaning well fuited.

Pedro. Whom have you offended, mafters, that you are thus bound to your answer? This learned constable is too cunning to be understood. What's your offence?

Dora. Sveet Prince, let me go no further to mine anfwer do you hear me, and let this Count kill me: I have deceiv'd even your very eyes; what your wifdoms could not discover, thefe fhallow fools have brought to light, who in the night overheard me confeffing to this man, how Don John your brother incens'd me to flander the lady Hero; how you were brought into the orchard, and faw me court Margaret in Hero's garments; how you difgrac'd her, when you fhould marry her; my villany they have upon record, which I had rather feal with my death, than repeat over to my fhame; the lady is dead upon mine and my mafter's falfe accufation; and briefly, I define nothing but the reward of a villain. Pedro. Runs not this fpeech like iron through your

blood?

Claud. I have drunk poison while he utter'd it.

Pedra,

Pedro. But did my brother fet thee on to this? Bora. Yea, and paid me richly for the practice of it. Pedro. He is compos'd and fram'd of treachery; And fled he is upon this villany.

Claud. Sweet Hero! now thy image doth appear In the rare femblance that I lov'd it first.

Dogb. Come, bring away the plaintiffs; by this time our Sexton hath reform'd Signior Leonato of the matter; and mafters, do not forget to fpecify, when time and place fhall ferve, that I am an ass.

Verg. Here, here comes mafter Signior Leonato, and the Sexton too.

Enter Leonato, and Sexton.

Leon. Which is the villain? let me fee his eyes; That when I note another man like him,

I may avoid him; which of thefe is he?

Bora. If you would know your wronger, look on me. Leon Art thou, art thou the slave, that with thy breath Has kill'd mine innocent child?

Bora. Yea, even I alone.

Leon. No, not fo, villain; thou bely'st thyself; Here ftand a pair of honourable men,

A third is fed, that had a hand in it:

I thank you, Princes, for my daughter's death;
Record it with your high and worthy deeds;
'Twas bravely done, if you bethink you of it.

Claud. I know not how to pray your patience,
Yet I must speak: chufe your revenge yourself,
Impofe me to what penance your invention
Can lay upon my fin; yet finn'd I not,
But in miftaking.

Pedro. By my foul, nor I;

And yet to fatisfy this good old man,

I would bend under any heavy weight,

That he'll enjoin me to.

Leon. You cannot bid my daughter live again,
That were impoffible; but, I pray you both,
Poffefs the people in Meina here

How innocent she dy'd; and if your love
D 2

Can

Can labour ought in fad invention,
Hang her an Epitaph upon her tomb,
And fing it to her bones, fing it to-night:
To-morrow morning come you to my house,
And fince could not be
you

my

fon-in-law,

Be yet my nephew; my brother hath a daughter,
Almoft the copy of my child that's dead,

And the alone is heir to both of us ;

Give her the Right you fhould have given her Coufin, And fo dies my revenge.

Claud. O noble Sir!

Your over-kindness doth wring tears from me:
I do embrace your offer; and dispose

For henceforth of poor Claudio.

Leon. To-morrow then I will expect your coming, To-night I take my leave. This naughty man Shall face to face be brought to Margaret, Who, I believe, was pack'd in all this wrong, Hir'd to it by your brother.

Bora. No, by my foul, fhe was not;

Nor knew not what she did, when the spoke to me,
But always hath been juft and virtuous,
In any thing that I do know by her.

Dogb. Moreover, Sir, which indeed is not under white and black, this plaintiff here, the offender, did call me afs: I beseech you, let it be remembered in his punishment; and alfo (26) the watch heard them talk

of

(26) The Watch beard them talk of one Deformed; they fay be wears key in his ear, and a lock banging by it, and borrows money in God's name, &c.] There could not be a more agreeable ridicule upon the fashion, than the Constable's defcant upon his own blunder. One of the most fantastical modes of that time was the indulging a favourite lock of hair, and suffering it to grow much longer than all its fellows; which they always brought before, (as we do the knots of a tye-wig,) ty'd with ribbands or jewels. King Charles the 1ft wore one of these favourite locks, as his hiftorians take notice, and as his pictures by Vandike prove And whoever has been converfant with the faces of that painter, must have obferv'd a great many drawn in that fashion. In Lord CLARENDON's Hiftory compleated, (a book in Octavo) being a collection of heads engrav'd from the paintings of Vandike, we may Jee this mode in the prints of the Duke of Buckingham, Earl of Dorfet,

H

Lord

of one Deformed: they fay, he wears a key in his ear, and a lock hanging by it; and borrows money in God's name, the which he hath us'd fo long, and never paid, that now men grow hard-hearted, and will lend nothing for God's fake. Pray you, examine him upon that point. Leon. I thank thee for thy care and honeft pains. Dogb. Your Worship speaks like a moft thankful and reverend youth; and I praise God for you. Leon. There's for thy pains.

Dogb. God fave the foundation!

Leon. Go, I difcharge thee of thy prifoner; and I thank thee.

Dogb. I leave an errant knave with your Worship, which, I beseech your Worship, to correct yourself, for the example of others. God keep your Worship; I with your Worfhip well: God reftore you to health; I humbly give you leave to depart; and if a merry meeting may be wifh'd, God prohibit it. Come, neighbour. [Exeunt. Leon. Until to-morrow morning, Lords, farewel. Ant. Farewel, my Lords; we look for you to-morrow. Pedro. We will not fail.

Claud. To-night I'll mourn with Hero.

Leon. Bring you these fellows on, we'll talk with Margaret,

How her acquaintance grew with this lewd fellow. [Exeunt feverally.

Lord Goring, &c. all great Courtiers.-As to the key in the ear, and the lock hanging by it, there may be a joke in the ambiguity of the terms. But whether we think, that Shakespeare meant to ridicule the fashion in the abftracted fenfe; or whether he fneer'd at the Courtiers, the parents of it, we shall find the description equally fatirical. The key in the ear might be fuppos'd literally: For they wore rings, lockets, and ribbands in a hole made in the ear; and fometimes, rings one within another: but it might be likewife allegorically understood, to fignify, the great readiness the Courtiers had in giving ear to, or going into new follies or fafhions. As for borrowing money and never paying, that is an old Common Place againff the court and followers of fashions, Mr. Warburton.

1.

SCENE changes to Leonato's House,

Enter Benedick and Margaret.

Bene. PRAY

ORAY thee, fweet miftrefs Margaret, deferve they, well at my hands, by helping me to the speech of Beatrice.

Marg. Will you then write me a fonnet in praife of my beauty?

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

(27) Marg. To have no man come over me? why, fhall I always keep above ftairs?

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

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

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

Marg. Well, I will call Beatrice to you, who, I think, hath legs. [Exit Margaret. Bene. And therefore will come. [Sings.] The God of love, that fits above, and knows me, and knows me, bow pitiful I deferve,-I mean, in finging; but in loving, Leander, the good fwimmer, Troilus the firft employer of pandars, and a whole book full of these quondam

(27) To have no man come over me? why, fhall I always keep below Bairs?] Thus all the printed copies, but, fure, erroneously: for all the jeft, that can lie in the paffage, is deftroy'd by it? Any man might come over her, literally fpeaking, if fhe always kept below ftairs. By the correction I have ventur'd to make, Margaret, as I prefume, must mean, What! fhall I always keep above ftairs? i, e. Shall I for ever continue a Chambermaid?

carpet.