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SCENE III.-The Inside of a Church. Enter DON PEDRO, CLAUDIO, and Attendants, with music and tapers.

Claud. Is this the monument of Leonato?
Atten. It is, my lord.

CLAUDIO reads from a scroll.
Done to death by slanderous tongues,
Was the Hero that here lies:
Death, in guerdon of her wrongs,

Gives her fame, which never dies:
So the life that died with shame,
Lives in death with glorious fame.

Hang thou there upon the tomb, [affixing it.
Praising her when I am dumb.-

Now music sound, and sing your solemn hymn.

SONG.

Pardon, goddess of the night,
Those that slew thy virgin knight;
For the which, with songs of woe,
Round about her tomb they go.
Midnight, assist our moan;
Help us to sigh and groan,
Heavily, heavily:

Graves yawn and yield your dead,
Till death be uttered,

Heavily, heavily.

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

D. Pedro. Good morrow, masters; put your torches out:

The wolves have preyed; and look, the gentle day,

Before the wheels of Phoebus, round about

Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey: Thanks to you all, and leave us; fare you well. Claud. Good morrow, masters; each his several

way.

D. Pedro. Come, let us hence, and put on other weeds;

And then to Leonato's we will go.

Claud. And Hymen now with luckier issue speeds,

Than this, for whom we rendered up this woe! [Exeunt.

SCENE IV. A Room in LEONATO's House. Enter LEONATO, ANTONIO, BENEDICK, BEATRICE, URSULA, Friar, and HERO.

Friar. Did I not tell you she was innocent? Leon. So are the Prince and Claudio, who accused her

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

Ant. Well, I am glad that all things sort so well. Bene. And so am I, being else by faith enforced 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 send for you, come hither masked: The Prince and Claudio promised by this hour To visit 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 confirmed couute

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In the estate of honourable marriage ;-
In which, good friar, I shall desire your help.
Leon. My heart is with your liking.
Friar. And my help.

Here come the Prince and Claudio.

Enter DON PEDRO and CLAUDIO, with Attendants.

D. Pedro. Good morrow to this fair assembly. Leon. Good morrow, Prince ;-good morrow, Claudio:

We here attend you. Are you yet determined To-day to marry with my brother's daughter?

Claud. I'll hold my mind, were she an Ethiope. Leon. Call her forth, brother, here's the friar ready. [Exit ANTONIO.

D. Pedro. Good morrow, Benedick: why, what's the matter,

That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm, and cloudiness?

Claud. I think he thinks upon the savage bull:
Tush, fear not, man, we 'll tip thy horns with gold,
And all Europa shall rejoice at thee;
As once Europa did at lusty Jove,
When he would play the noble beast in love.

Bene. Bull Jove, sir, had an amiable low,

And some such strange bull leaped your father's

cow,

And got a calf in that same noble feat,
Much like to you, for you have just his bleat.

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One Hero died defiled; but I do live,
And, surely as I live, I am a maid.

D. Pedro. The former Hero! Hero that is dead! Leon. She died, my lord, but whiles her slander lived.

Friar. All this amazement can I qualify;
When, after that the holy rites are ended,
I'll tell you largely of fair Hero's death:
Meantime, let wonder seem familiar,
And to the chapel let us presently.

Bene. Soft and fair, friar.-Which is Beatrice?
Beat. I answer to that name; [Unmasking.

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Are much deceived; for they did swear you did. Bene. They swore that you were almost sick for me.

Beat. They swore that you were well-nigh dead for me.

Bene. 'Tis no such matter.-Then you do not love me?

Beat. No, truly, but in friendly recompense. Leon. Come, cousin, I am sure you love the gentleman.

Claud. And I'll be sworn upon't that he loves her; For here's a paper, written in his hand, A halting sonnet of his own pure brain, Fashioned to Beatrice.

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Writ in my cousin's hand, stolen from her pocket, Containing her affection unto Benedick,

Bene. A miracle! here's our own hands against our hearts!-Come, I will have thee; but, by this light, I take thee for pity.

Beat. I would not deny you; but, by this good day, I yield upon great persuasion; and partly to save your life, for I was told you were in a consumption.

Bene. Peace, I will stop your mouth. [Kissing her.

D. Pedro. How dost thou, Benedick the married man?

Bene. I'll tell thee what, Prince; a college of wit-crackers cannot flout me out of my humour. Dost thou think I care for a satire, or an epigram? No: if a man will be beaten with brains, he shall wear nothing handsome about him. In brief, since I do purpose to marry, I will think nothing to any purpose that the world can say against it; and therefore never flout at me for what I have said against it; for man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion.-For thy part, Claudio, I did think to have beaten thee; but in that thou art like to be my kinsman, live unbruised, and love my cousin.

Claud. I had well hoped thou wouldst have denied Beatrice, that I might have cudgelled thee out of thy single life, to make thee a double dealer; which, out of question, thou wilt be, if my cousin do not look exceeding narrowly to thee.

Bene. Come, come, we are friends:-let's have a dance ere we are married, that we may lighten our own hearts and our wives' heels.

Leon. We'll have dancing afterwards. Bene. First, o' my word; therefore play, music. -Prince, thou art sad; get thee a wife, get thee a wife: there is no staff more reverend than one tipped with horn.

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. My lord, your brother John is ta'en in flight, And brought with arméd men back to Messina. Bene. Think not on him till to-morrow; I'll devise thee brave punishments for him.-Strike up, pipers. [Dance.-Exeunt.

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NOTES

"Joy could not shew itself modest enough, without a badge of bitterness."-Act I., Scene 1.

In Shakspere's time, badges were worn on the arm by the servants of noblemen; he therefore uses the term to signify a mark or token in general. As in "MACBETH,” (act ii.):—

"Their hands and faces were all badged with blood."

In reference to the passage above cited, Warburton judiciously observes, that "of all the transports of joy, that which is attended with tears is least offensive; because, carrying with it this mark of pain, it allays the envy that usually attends another's happiness. This Shakspere finely calls a modest joy; such a one as did not insult the observer by an indication of happiness unmixed with pain."

"Is Signior Montanto returned from the wars?"

Act I., Scene 1. The large two-handed sword was called, in Spanish, "Montante." The term is applied in ridicule to Benedick, as an imputed boaster. Montanto was one of the ancient terms in the fencing-school.

"He set up his bills."-Act I., Scene 1.

It was formerly the custom for professional fencers to post up bills, or placards, containing a general challenge.

"Challenged Cupid at the flight."-Act I., Scene 1. "Flights," says Mr. Gifford, were long and feathered arrows, that went directly to the mark; "rovers" were arrows shot compass-wise, or with a certain degree of elevation; these were the all-dreaded war weapons of the English; "butt-shafts," as the name sufficiently intimates, were the strong unbarbed arrows used in the field exercises and amusements of the day.

"At the bird-bolt."-Act I., Scene 1.

Short, thick arrows, without points, were called birdbolts; they had a flat surface at the extremity, and are said to be still used in some places for killing rooks. Only such comparatively-harmless weapons were entrusted to fools; hence the challenge mentioned in the text, and hence, also, the phrase "a fool's bolt is soon shot. The point of this satirical passage is not very obvious; but the meaning of Beatrice probably is, that Benedick having committed a gross act of folly in his conceited defiance of Cupid, her uncle's fool justly thought himself the gentleman's equal, and challenged him in return to contend with a more appropriate weapon.

"Four of his five wits went halting off."-Act I., Scene 1. Wit was formerly the general term for intellectual power. "The wits," says Johnson, "seem to have been reckoned five, by analogy to the five senses, or the five inlets of ideas."

"The lady fathers herself."-Act I., Scene 1. Resembles her father. The phrase, Steevens tells us, is still common in some parts of the country.

"To tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder, and Vulcan a rare carpenter."-Act I., Scene 1.

The meaning of this passage probably is, "do you mean to amuse or mislead us, with improbable stories?"

"Hath not the world one man but he will wear his cap with suspicion ?"-Act I., Scene 1.

The cap alluded to, is the nightcap. Iago says, in the same sense, "I fear Cassio with my nightcap, too."

"Like the old tale, my lord, 'It is not so, nor 't was not so; but, indeed, God forbid it should be so.""-Act I., Scene 1.

The interesting "old tale" here referred to, was brought to light by Mr. Blakeway, who states that he had often heard it related in his childhood; and supposes it may still be extant in some old collection to which Shakspere referred. The legend runs briefly thus:-A certain noble damsel, called Lady Mary in the story, retires with her two brothers to a country seat of the family. Here they are visited by the neighbouring gentry, among whom Mr. Fox, a bachelor, makes himself especially agreeable to his young friends. He had often pressed the young lady to favour him with a visit at his house; and one day, her brothers being absent, she sets out alone for the purpose. No answer being made to her repeated applications at the door, she at last goes in. Over the portal of the hall she finds written, "Be bold, be bold, but not too bold." At the top of the staircase, and again over the entrance to a gallery, the same advice and caution are repeated. At length she arrives at a chamber, over which the inscription assumes a more threatening character-" Be bold, be bold, but not too bold, lest that your heart's blood should run cold." Although terrified, she yet ventures to open the door, and finds the room occupied with skeletons, tubs of blood, &c. Retreating down stairs in haste, she happens to cast a glance out of a window, whence she sees the mysterious owner of the house advancing with his drawn sword in one hand, and with the other dragging a young lady by her hair. Lady Mary has just time to slip under the staircase, when Fox enters with his victim; the unhappy creature seizes the bannister with one of her hands, which has on it a rich bracelet: the hand is immediately severed from the arm by the sword of the murderer, and falls into the lap of Lady Mary; who immediately seeks her own house, and happily arrives unmolested, bearing with her the severed and jewelled hand of the victim.

In a few days, Fox comes on a visit to Lady Mary and her brothers. After dinner, the company, by way of amusement, fall to relating anecdotes, &c. And now arrives the moment for the murderer's detection and punishment. Lady Mary tells him that she had dreamed she paid him a visit; and then proceeds to recount the circumstances that she had actually witnessed; mentioning the inscriptions over the various doors, and so forth; turning, however, to the culprit at each change of the narrative, she adds, "But it is not so, nor it was not so, and God forbid it should be so." When the lady arrives at the incident of the skeletons and tubs of blood, Fox takes up the burden, "It is not so," &c. After he has in this manner denied his barbarity in cutting off the hand, the lady immediately retorts upon him, "But it is so, and it was so, and here the hand I have to shew,"-producing it. On which the brothers and the male guests rise, draw their swords, and cut Fox to pieces on the spot.

"A recheat winded in my forehead."-Act I., Scene 1.

A recheat is the species of sound on the bugle by which hounds are called back. Benedick means to say, he will not wear the instrument (a horn) on his forehead, by which such an operation may be performed. "Shakspere," says Johnson, "had no mercy on the poor cuckold: his horn is an inexhaustible subject of merriment."

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"Hang me in a bottle, like a cat."-Act I., Scene 1.

It was formerly the custom to shoot at what Shylock truly calls "the harmless, necessary cat," closed up with a quantity of soot in a wooden bottle, suspended on a line. He," says Steevens, "who beat out the bottom as he ran under it, and was nimble enough to escape its contents, was regarded as the hero of this inhuman diversion." There were probably, however, various modes of pursuing this delectable sport; for Benedick adds, "and shoot at me."

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"Good lord, for alliance! Thus goes every one to the world but I, and I am sun-burned.”—Act II., Scene 1.

The former part of this extract is probably spoken in answer to Claudio, on his calling her cousin. By saying she is sun-burned, Beatrice insinuates that she has lost her beauty, and is no longer likely to find a husband.

"There's little of the melancholy element in her.”

Act II., Scene 1.

This is an allusion to the old notion of man being a compound of the four elements. In "HENRY V.," the Dauphin says of his horse, "He is pure air and fire, and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him."

"She hath often dreamed of unhappiness.”—Act II., Scene 1.

Unhappiness here means some ludicrous accident; pleasant enough to the spectators, but vexatious to the object of it.

"Hear me call Margaret, Hero; hear Margaret term me Claudio."-Act II., Scene 2.

Theobald altered the name in this passage to "Borachio," and assigns plausible reasons for the change. "Claudio," however, is the original reading; and it appears evident that, at the time of speaking, Borachio intended there should be a change of his appellation, as well as in that of Margaret; for where would be the wonder that Claudio should hear him called by his own name? It is probable that he prevailed upon Margaret (whom he expressly states to have had no ill intention towards her mistress) to take part in the plot, under the impression that she and Borachio were merely amusing themselves with a masquerade representation of the courtship of her lady and Claudio. It has also been suggested, that Claudio might very well be made to believe that the perfidious Hero received a clandestine lover, whom she called Claudio, in order to deceive her attendants, should any be within sight or hearing; and this, of course, in Claudio's estimation, would be a great aggravation of her offence.

"Her hair shall be of what colour it please God."

Act II., Scene 3. The meaning here may be, "she shall not, by dyeing her hair, give it a colour contrary to what it received from nature," this practice being common in Elizabeth's time. But we think it not improbable that Benedick means to imply, that if he can get a wife with all the excellences, bodily and mental, that he has just enumerated, he will not be fastidious about so comparatively trifling a matter as the colour of her hair.

"Enter DON PEDRO, LEONATO, CLAUDIO, and BALTHAZAR." Act II., Scene 3.

For "Balthazar," in this instance, the first folio gives "Jacke Wilson," the name of the performer. Other mistakes of the same kind occur in this play. A carelessness almost incredible characterises most of the printing of Shakspere's time, and long after.

"Stalk on, stalk on; the fowl sits."-Act II., Scene 3.

An allusion to the stalking-horse, by the assistance of which the fowler was enabled to conceal himself, and approach near enough to shoot the game.

"She tore the letter into a thousand halfpence." Act II., Scene 3. Into a thousand pieces. The word farthing was also used to signify any small particle or division. Chaucer says of his Prioress

"In hirre cuppe was no ferthing sene

Of grese, when she dronken hadde hirre draught."

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