Claud. If this fhould 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 temporize 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 almoft matter enough in me for fuch an embaffage, and fo I commit you

Claud. To the tuition of God; From my house, if I had it,

Pedro. The fixth of July, your loving friend, Benedick.

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

Claud.

MY

[Exit.

Y Liege, your Highness now may do me good.

Pedro. My love is thine to teach, teach it but how, And thou fhalt see how apt it is to learn

Any hard leffon that may do thee good.

Claud. Hath Leonato any fon, my lord?

Pedro. No child but Hero, fhe'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

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Have

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 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 fhalt have her: was't not to this end,
That thou began`ft 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 treatise.
Pedro. What need the bridge much broader than
the flood?

The fairest grant is the neceffity;

Look, what will ferve, is fit; 'tis once, thou lov'ft;
And I will fit thee with the remedy.

I know, we fhall have revelling to-night;
I will affume thy part in some disguise,
And tell fair Hero I am Claudio;

And in her bofom I'll unclafp my heart,
And take her hearing prisoner with the force
And ftrong encounter of my amorous tale:
Then, after, to her father will I break;
And the conclufion is, fhe fhall be thine;
In practice let us put it presently.

Re-enter Leonato and Antonio.

[Exeunt.

Leon. How now, Brother, where is my Coufin your fon? hath he provided this mufic?

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 ftamps them, but they have a good cover; they fhow well outward. The Prince and Count Claudio, walking in a thick-pleached alley

in my orchard, were thus over-heard by a man of mine: The Prince discover'd to Claudio, that he lov'd my neice 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 inftantly 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 she 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 busy time. [Exeunt.

Changes to an Apartment in Leonato's Houfe.

Enter Don John and Conrade.

Conr. W

HAT 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 fhould hear reason.

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

Conr. If not a prefent remedy, yet a patient fufferance.

John. I wonder, that thou (being, as thou fay'ft 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 jefts; eat when I have ftomach, and wait for no man's leifure; fleep when I am drow

F 5

fy,

fy, and tend on no man's bufinefs; laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in his humour.

Conr. Yea, but you must not make the full fhow of this, 'till you may do it without controulment; 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 season for your own harvest.

John. I had rather be a canker in a hedge, than a rofe 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 honeft man) it must not be deny'd but I am a plain-dealing villain; I am trufted 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 ufe of your discontent? John. I will make all use of it, for I use it only. Who comes here? what news, Borachio?

Enter Borachio.

Boar. 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 betroths himself to unquietnefs?

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.

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

Bora. Being entertain'd for a perfumer, as I was fmoaking a musty room, comes me the Prince and Claudio hand in hand in fad conference: I whipt behind the Arras, and there heard it agreed upon, that the Prince fhould woo Hero for himfelf; and having obtain'd her, give her to Count Claudio.

John. Come, come, let us thither, this may prove food to my displeasure that young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow; if I can cross him any way, I blefs myfelf every way; you are both furc, and will affift 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.

ACT II. SCENE I.

SCENE, a Hall in Leonato's Houfe. Enter Leonato, Antonio, Hero, Beatrice, Margaret and Urfula.

LEONAT O.

AS not Count John here at Supper?

WAS Ant. 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 juft 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.

F 6

Leon.