As ever Beatrice fhall couch upon?

Hero. O God of love! I know, he doth deferve
As much as may be yielded to a man:
But nature never fram'd a woman's heart
Of prouder ftuff than that of Beatrice :
Difdain and fcorn ride sparkling in her eyes,
Mifprifing 5 what they look on; and her wit
Values itfelf fo highly, that to her

All matter elfe feems weak: fhe cannot love,
Nor take no fhape nor project of affection,
She is fo felf-endeared.

Urf.

Sure, I think fo ;

And therefore, certainly, it were not good
She knew his love, left she make fport at it.

Hero. Why, you fpeak truth: I never yet faw man,
How wife, how noble, young, how rarely featur'd,
But fhe would fpell him backward : if fair-faced,
She'd fwear, the gentleman fhould be her fifter;
If black, why, nature, drawing of an antick,
Made a foul blot : if tall, a lance ill-headed;
If low, an agate very vilely cut: 8

STEEVENS.

If

5 Mifprifing-] Defpifing, contemning. JOHNSON. To mifprife is to undervalue, or take in a wrong light. 6 Alluding to the practice of witches in uttering prayers. 7 The antick was a buffoon character in the old English farces, with a blacked face, and a patch-work habit. What I would obferve from hence is, that the name of antick or antique, given to this character, fhows that the people had fome traditional ideas of its being borrowed from the ancient mimes, who are thus defcribed by Apuleius: "mimi centunculo, fuligine faciem obducti." WARBURTON.

I believe what is here faid of the old English farces, is faid at random.. Dr. Warburton was thinking, I imagine, of the modern Harlequin. I have met with no proof that the face of the antick or Vice of the old English comedy was blackened. By the word black in the text, is only meant, as I conceive, fwarthy, or bark brown. MALONE.

A black man means a man with a dark or thick beard, not a swarthy or dark-brown complexion, as Mr. Malone conceives. DOUCE.

When Hero fays, that nature drawing of an antick, made a foul blot," the only alludes to a drop of ink that may cafually fall out of a pen, and fpoil a grotefque drawing. STEEVENS. .

8 But why an agate, if low? For what likeness between a little man and an agate? The ancients, indeed, used this stone to cut upon; but very exquifitely. I make no qucftion but the poet wrote:

If fpeaking, why, a vane blown with all winds;
If filent, why, a block moved with none.
So turns the every man the wrong fide out;
And never gives to truth and virtue, that
Which fimplenefs and merit purchaseth.

Urf. Sure, fure, fuch carping is not commendable.
Hero. No not to be fo odd, and from all fashions,
As Beatrice is, cannot be commendable :

But who dare tell her fo? If I should speak,
'She'd mock me into air; O, fhe would laugh me
Out of myself, prefs me to death with wit.9
Therefore let Benedick, like cover'd fire,
Confume away in fighs, wafte inwardly :
It were a better death than die with mocks ;
Which is as bad as die with tickling.

Urf. Yet tell her of it; hear what she will say.
Hero. No; rather I will go to Benedick,
And counfel him to fight againft his paffion:
And, truly, I'll devife fome honeft flanders
To ftain my coufin with: One doth not know,
How much an ill word may impoifon liking.
Urf. O, do not do your coufin fuch a wrong.
She cannot be fo much without true judgement,
(Having fo fwift and excellent a wit,2
As fhe is priz'd to have,) as to refuse
So rare a gentleman as fignior Benedick.

-an aglet very vilely cut :

-Hero.

An aglet was a tag of thofe points, formerly fo much in fashion. Thefe tags were either of gold, filver, or brafs, according to the quality of the wearer; and were commonly in the shape of little images; or at leaft had a head cut at the extremity. The French call them, aiguillettes. Mezeray, fpeaking of Henry IIId's forrow for the death of the princess of Conti, fays, "—portant meme fur les aiguillettes des petites tetes de mort." And as a tall man is before compared to a lance ill-beaded; fo, by the fame figure, a little man is very aptly liken'd to an aglet ill-cut. WARBURTON.

9 The allufion is an ancient punishment of our law, called peine fort et dure, which was formerly inflicted on thofe perfons, who, being indicted, refufed to plead. In confequence of their filence, they were preffed to death by an heavy weight laid upon their stomach. This punishment the good fenfe and humanity of the legislature have within thefe few years abolished. MALONE.

Swift means ready. STEEVENS.

Hero. He is the only man of Italy, Always excepted my dear Claudio.

Urf. I pray you, be not angry with me, madam,
Speaking my fancy; fignior Benedick,

For fhape, for bearing, argument, and valour,
Goes foremost in report through Italy.

Hero. Indeed, he hath an excellent good name.
Urf. His excellence did earn it, ere he had it.
When are you married, madam?

Hero. Why, every day ;-to-morrow: Come, go in ; I'll fhow thee fome attires; and have thy counsel, Which is the best to furnifh me to-morrow.

Urf. She's lim'd 4 I warrant you; we have caught her,

madam?

Hero. If it prove fo, then loving goes by haps:

Some Cupid kills with arrows, fome with traps.

[Exeunt HERO and URSULA

BEATRICE advances.

Beat. What fire is in mine ears? 5 Can this be true?
Stand I condemn'd for pride and scorn fo much?
Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, adieu!
No glory lives behind the back of fuch.
And, Benedick, love on, I will requite thee;
Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand;
If thou doft love, my kindness shall incite thee
To bind our loves up in a holy band :

6

For

3 This word feems here to fignify difcourfe, or, the powers of reason. ing. JOHNSON.

Argument, in the prefent inftance, certainly means converfation.

4 She is ensnared and entangled as a fparrow with birdlime.

STEEVENS.

JOHNSON. 5 Alluding to a proverbial faying of the common people, that their ears burn, when others are talking of them. WARBURTON.

The opinion whence this proverbial faying is derived, is of great antiquity, being thus mentioned by Pliny: "Moreover is not this an opinion generally received, That when our ears do glow and tingle, fome there be that in our abfence doe talke of us?" Philemon Holland's Tranflation, B. XXVIII. p. 297, and Brown's Vulgar Errors. REED.

This image is taken from falconry. She had been charged with being as wild as baggards of the rock; the therefore says, that wild as her beart is, the will tame it to the band. JOHNSON.

For others fay, thou doft deferve; and I
Believe it better than reportingly.

SCENE II

A Room in LEONATO's Houfe.

[Exit.

Enter Don PEDRO, CLAUDIO, BENEDICK, and LEONATO.

D. Pedro. I do but stay till your marriage be confummate, and then go I toward Arragon.

Claud. I'll bring you thither, my lord, if you'll vouchfafe me.

D. Pedro. Nay, that would be as great a foil in the new glofs of your marriage, as to fhow a child his new coat, and forbid him to wear it. I will only be bold with Benedick for his company; for, from the crown of his head to the fole of his foot, he is all mirth; he hath twice or thrice cut Cupid's bow-ftring, and the little hangman dare not shoot at him: he hath a heart as found as a bell, and his tongue is the clapper; for what his heart thinks, his tongue fpeaks.7

Bene. Gallants, I am not as I have been.

Leon. So fay I; methinks, you are fadder.

Claud. I hope, he be in love.

D. Pedro. Hang him, truant; there's no true drop of blood in him, to be truly touch'd with love: if he be fad, he wants money.

Bene. I have the tooth-ach.

D. Pedro. Draw it.

Bene. Hang it!

Claud. You must hang it firft, and draw it afterwards.
D. Pedro. What? figh for the tooth-ach ?

Leon. Where is but a humour, or a worm?

Bene. Well, every one can mafter a grief, but he that has it. Claud. Yet fay I, he is in love.

D. Pedro. There is no appearance of fancy in him, unless

-7. A covert allufion to the old proverb:

"As the fool thinketh

So the bell clinketh." STEEVENS

it

it be a fancy that he hath to ftrange difguifes; as, to be a Dutch-man to-day; a Frenchman to-morrow; or in the fhape of two countries at once, as, a Germán from the waist downward, all flops; and a Spaniard from the hip upward, no doublet: 2 Unless he have à fancy to this foolery, as it appears he hath, he is no fool for fancy, as you would have it appear he is.

Claud. If he be not in love with fome woman, there is no believing old figns: he brushes his hat o' mornings; What fhould that bode?

D. Pedro. Hath any man seen him at the barber's?

Claud. No, but the barber's man hath been seen with him; and the old ornament of his cheek hath already stuffed tennisballs.

Leon. Indeed, he looks younger than he did, by the lofs of a beard.

D. Pedro. Nay, he rubs himself with civet: Can you fmell him out by that?

Claud. That's as much as to fay, The fweet youth's in love.
D. Pedro. The greatest note of it is his melancholy.
Claud. And when was he wont to wash his face?

D. Pedro. Yea, or to paint himself? for the which, I hear what they fay of him.

Claud. Nay, but his jefting fpirit; which is now crept into a luteftring,3 and now govern'd by ftops.

D. Pedro. Indeed that tells a heavy tale for him: Conlude, conclude, he is in love.

Claud. Nay, but I know who loves him.

D. Pedro. That would I know too; I warrant, one that knows him not.

Claud.

8 Here is a play upon the word fancy, which Shakspeare ufes for love as well as for bumour, caprice, or affectation. JOHNSON.

9 Slops are large loose breeches, or trowfers, worn only by failors at prefent. STEEVENS.

Hence evidently the term flop-feller, for the venders of ready made cloaths. NICHOLS.

2 There can be no doubt but we should read, all doublet, which correfponds with the actual drefs of the old Spaniards. As the paffage now ftands, it is a negative description, which is in truth no defcription at all. M. MASON.

3 Love-fongs in our author's time were generally fung to the mufick of the lute.

MALONE.

I