TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
This is Volume 2 (1863) of the nine-volume Cambridge edition of Shakespeare. Volume 1 is available from Project Gutenberg as EBook #23041. [Transcriber's Endnote].
THE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
THE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
EDITED BY WILLIAM GEORGE CLARK, M.A. FELLOW AND TUTOR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, AND PUBLIC ORATOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE; and WILLIAM ALDIS WRIGHT, M.A. LIBRARIAN OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
VOLUME II.
Cambridge and London: MACMILLAN AND CO. 1863.
CAMBRIDGE:
PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
CONTENTS.
PREFACE.
The five plays contained in this volume are here printed in the order in which they occur in the Folios.
1. Much Ado About Nothing. The first edition of this play is a Quarto, of which the title is as follows:
Much adoe about | Nothing. | As it hath been sundrie times publikely | acted by the right honourable, the Lord | Chamberlaine his seruants. | Written by William Shakespeare. | London | Printed by V. S. for Andrew Wise, and | William Aspley. | 1600.
The First Folio edition of this play was obviously printed from a copy of the Quarto belonging to the library of the theatre, and corrected for the purposes of the stage. Some stage directions of interest occur first in the Folio, but as regards the text, where the Folio differs from the Quarto it differs almost always for the worse. The alterations are due however to accident not design.
‘Davenant’s version,’ to which reference is made in the notes, is his play ‘The Law against Lovers.’
2. Love’s Labour’s Lost was published for the first time in Quarto, with the following title:
A | Pleasant | Conceited Comedie | called, | Loues labors lost. | As it was presented before her Highnes | this last Christmas. | Newly corrected and augmented | By W. Shakespere. | Imprinted at London by W. W. | for Cutbert Burby. | 1598.
The Folio edition is a reprint of this Quarto, differing only in its being divided into Acts, and, as usual, inferior in accuracy. The second Quarto (Q2) is reprinted from the First Folio.
It bears the following title:
Loues Labours lost. | A wittie and | pleasant | comedie, | As it was Acted by his Maiesties Seruants at | the Blacke-Friers and the Globe. | Written | By William Shakespeare. | London, | Printed by W. S. for John Smethwicke, and are to be | sold at his Shop in Saint Dunstones Church-yard vnder the Diall. | 1631.
3. A Midsummer-Night’s Dream. Of this play also the first edition is a Quarto, bearing the following title:
A | Midsommer nights | dreame. | As it hath beene sundry times pub|lickcly acted, by the Right honoura|ble, the Lord Chamberlaine his | seruants. | Written by William Shakespeare. | Imprinted at London, for Thomas Fisher, and are to | be soulde at his shoppe, at the Signe of the White Hart, | in Fleetestreete. 1600.
The copy of this Quarto in the Capell collection was formerly in the possession of Theobald, and bears this note in his handwriting: “Collated with the other Old Quarto with the same Title, printed by James Roberts in 1600, L. T.” The results of the collation are recorded in the margin. We have called this Q1.
In the same year another edition appeared, also in Quarto, with this title:
A | Midsommer nights | dreame. | As it hath beene sundry times pub|likely acted, by the Right Honoura|ble, the Lord Chamberlaine his | seruants. | Written by William Shakespeare. | Printed by Iames Roberts, 1600.
On comparing these two Quartos we find that they correspond page for page, though not line for line, except in the first five pages of sheet G. The printer’s errors in Fisher’s edition are corrected in that issued by Roberts, and from this circumstance, coupled with the facts that in the Roberts Quarto the ‘Exits’ are more frequently marked, and that it was not entered at Stationers’ Hall, as Fisher’s edition was, we infer that the Roberts Quarto was a pirated reprint of Fisher’s, probably for the use of the players. This may account for its having been followed by the First Folio. Fisher’s edition, though carelessly printed, contains on the whole the best readings, and may have been taken from the author’s manuscript.
The First Folio edition was printed from Roberts’s Quarto, which we have quoted as Q2.
4. The Merchant of Venice. Two Quarto editions of this play were published in the same year; (1) that generally known as the ‘Roberts Quarto,’ our Q1, bearing the following title-page:
The | excellent [History of the Mer|chant of Venice.| With the extreme cruelty of Shylocke | the Iew towards the saide Merchant, in cut|ting a iust pound of his flesh. And the obtaining | of Portia, by the choyse of | three Caskets.| Written by W. Shakespeare. | Printed by J. Roberts, 1600.
and (2) that known as the ‘Heyes Quarto,’ which we have called Q2, whose title-page is as follows:
The most excellent | Historie of the Merchant | of Venice. | With the extreame crueltie of Shylocke the Iewe | towards the sayd Merchant, in cutting a iust pound | of his flesh: and the obtayning of Portia| by the choyse of three | chests. | As it hath beene diuers times acted by the Lord | Chamberlaine his Servants.| Written by William Shakespeare. At London, | Printed by I. R. for Thomas Heyes, | and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard, at the | signe of the Greene Dragon. | 1600. |
Different opinions have been entertained as to the respective priority of these two editions. Johnson and Capell both speak of the Heyes Quarto as the first. On the other hand, in the title-page of the Roberts Quarto, now at Devonshire House, J. P. Kemble, to whom the whole collection of Dramas belonged, has written ‘First edition.’ ‘Collated and perfect, J. P. K. 1798.’ And on the opposite page he has copied the following ‘entry on the Stationers’ Registers.’ ‘July 22, 1598. (James Roberts) A booke of the Merchaunt of Venyse, otherwise called the Jewe of Venyse. Provided that it be not printed by the said James Roberts or any other whatsoever without leave first had from the ryght honourable, the Lord Chamberlen—39. b.’ This shows that he had examined the question. He possessed moreover a copy of the Heyes Quarto, also collated by him and found perfect.
Mr Bolton Corney in Notes and Queries (2nd ser. Vol. x. p. 21), has shown that there is at least a strong probability in favour of the precedence of the Roberts Quarto. We have therefore decided to call the Roberts Quarto Q1, and the Heyes Q2.
In a critical point of view the question is of little or no consequence. After a minute comparison of the two, we have come to the conclusion that neither was printed from the other. We are indebted sometimes to one and sometimes to the other for the true reading, where it is very improbable that the printer should have hit upon the correction. For example, Act ii. Sc. 8, line 39, the Roberts Quarto, sig. E. 1. recto, has ‘Slubber not business...’ while the Heyes Quarto, sig. D. 4. recto, has ‘Slumber....’ On the other hand, Act iii. Sc. 1, line 6, the Heyes Quarto, sig. F. 2. recto, has ‘gossip report,’ the true reading, while the Roberts Quarto, sig. F. 2. verso, has ‘gossips report.’ Other instances might be brought to prove that neither edition is printed from the other. But there is reason to think that they were printed from the same MS. Their agreement in spelling and punctuation and in manifest errors is too close to admit of any other hypothesis. We incline to believe that this common MS. was a transcript made from the author’s. It is certain, for instance, that the MS. had ‘veiling an Indian beauty’ (Act iii. Sc. 2, line 99), and it is equally certain that ‘beauty’ was not the word Shakespeare meant. Other examples of common errors derived from the MS. will be found in our footnotes, and our readers may investigate the question for themselves.
Q1 seems to have been printed by a more accurate printer or ‘overseen’ by a more accurate corrector than Q2, and therefore cœteris paribus we have preferred the authority of Q1.
The First Folio text is a reprint of the Heyes Quarto, which had doubtless belonged to the theatre library, and, as in other cases, had had some stage directions inserted.
The third Quarto, Q3, is also reprinted from Q2. It was published with the following title-page:
The most excellent | Historie of the Merchant | of Venice. | With the extreame crueltie of Shylocke | the Iewe towards the said Merchant, in | cutting a just pound of his flesh: and the obtaining of Portia by the choice | of three Chests. | As it hath beene divers times acted by the | Lord Chamberlaine his Servants. | Written by William Shakespeare. | London, | Printed by M.P. for Laurence Hayes, and are to be sold | at his Shop on Fleetbridge. 1637.
The so-called Fourth Quarto differs from Q3 only in having a new title-page. We might have suppressed ‘Q4’ altogether, but having made the collation we allow the record to stand. The title-page of Q4 is as follows:
The most excellent | Historie | of the | Merchant of Venice: | With the extreame cruelty of Shylocke | the Jew towards the said Merchant, in cutting a | just pound of his flesh; and the obtaining | of Portia by the choyce of three Chests. | As it hath beene diverse times acted by the | Lord Chamberlaine his Servants. | Written by William Shakespeare. | London: | Printed for William Leake, and are to be solde at his shop at the | signe of the Crown in Fleetstreet, between the two | Temple Gates. 1652.
The ‘Lansdowne version,’ which we have quoted in the notes, is the adaptation of The Merchant of Venice, published by Lord Lansdowne in 1701 under the title of The Jew of Venice.
5. As You Like It was printed for the first time in the First Folio; at least if any previous edition was ever published, no copy of it is known to be extant. This alone, of all the plays contained in the present volume, is divided into scenes in the Folio. In this play an unusual number of certain and probable emendations are due to the Second Folio.
The ‘De Quincey (or ‘Quincy’) MS.’ is an annotated copy of the Fourth Folio, quoted by Mr Grant White and Mr Halliwell.
In addition to those mentioned in the preface to the first volume, to whom we beg here to repeat our acknowledgments, we have to thank the Countess of Ellesmere and the Duke of Devonshire for the liberality with which they have thrown open to us the treasures of their libraries. We have to thank the Duke of Devonshire also for the interest which he has taken in our work and the help he has been kind enough to render in person. And on the same score we owe a debt of gratitude to Dr Kingsley, Mr Howard Staunton, Mr H. J. Roby, and Professor Craik, whose excellent volume The English of Shakespeare is too well known to need any commendation from us.
One act of kindness deserves an especial record. Dr Leo of Berlin, who had himself prepared an edition of Coriolanus, was meditating a complete edition of Shakespeare on the plan we have adopted, but gave up the scheme when he found we had anticipated him. Reading in the preface to our first volume an expression of regret that there was no index to Mr Sidney Walker’s Shakespeare Criticisms, Dr Leo copied out and sent us an index which he had made for his own use. It has been of the greatest service to us, and we here beg to thank him most cordially for his generous aid.
W. G. C.
W. A. W.
Mr Glover’s removal from Cambridge having compelled him to relinquish his part as Editor, Mr Wright, who was already engaged on the Glossary, has taken his place. This arrangement will, it is hoped, continue to the end.
W. G. C.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ[1].
Don Pedro, prince of Arragon.
Don John, his bastard brother.
Claudio, a young lord of Florence.
Benedick, a young lord of Padua.
Leonato, governor of Messina.
Antonio, his brother.
Balthasar, attendant on Don Pedro.
Conrade, follower of Don John.
Borachio, ” ” ”
Friar Francis.
Dogberry, a constable.
Verges, a headborough.
A Sexton.
A Boy.
Hero, daughter to Leonato[2].
Beatrice, niece to Leonato.
Margaret, gentlewoman attending on Hero.
Ursula, ” ” ”
Messengers, Watch, Attendants, &c.
Scene—Messina.
FOOTNOTES:
1: Dramatis Personæ.] First given by Rowe.
2: See [note (i)].
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
ACT I.
[000] Scene I. Before Leonato’s house.
MAAN I. 1 Enter Leonato, Hero, and Beatrice, with a Messenger.
[001] Leon. I learn in this letter that Don Peter of Arragon comes this night to Messina.
Mess. He is very near by this: he was not three leagues off when I left him.
005 Leon. How many gentlemen have you lost in this action?
Mess. But few of any sort, and none of name.
Leon. A victory is twice itself when the achiever brings [008] home full numbers. I find here that Don Peter hath bestowed much honour on a young Florentine called Claudio.
010 Mess. Much deserved on his part, and equally remembered by Don Pedro: he hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age; doing, in the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion: he hath indeed better bettered expectation than you must expect of me to tell you how.
015 Leon. He hath an uncle here in Messina will be very much glad of it.
Mess. I have already delivered him letters, and there appears much joy in him; even so much, that joy could not show itself modest enough without a badge of bitterness.
020 Leon. Did he break out into tears?
Mess. In great measure.
Leon. A kind overflow of kindness: there are no faces truer than those that are so washed. How much better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping!
025 Beat. I pray you, is Signior Mountanto returned from the wars or no?
Mess. I know none of that name, lady: there was none such in the army of any sort.
Leon. What is he that you ask for, niece?
030 Hero. My cousin means Signior Benedick of Padua.
Mess. O, he’s returned; and as pleasant as ever he was.
Beat. He set up his bills here in Messina and challenged Cupid at the flight; and my uncle’s fool, reading the challenge, subscribed for Cupid, and challenged him at the [035] bird-bolt. I pray you, how many hath he killed and eaten in these wars? But how many hath he killed? for, indeed, [037] I promised to eat all of his killing.
Leon. Faith, niece, you tax Signior Benedick too much; [039] but he’ll be meet with you, I doubt it not.
[040] Mess. He hath done good service, lady, in these wars.
[041] Beat. You had musty victual, and he hath help to eat [042] it: he is a very valiant trencher-man; he hath an excellent stomach.
Mess. And a good soldier too, lady.
045 Beat. And a good soldier to a lady: but what is he to a lord?
Mess. A lord to a lord, a man to a man; stuffed with all honourable virtues.
Beat. It is so, indeed; he is no less than a stuffed [050] man: but for the stuffing,—well, we are all mortal.
Leon. You must not, sir, mistake my niece. There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her: they never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit between them.
Beat. Alas, he gets nothing by that! In our last conflict 055 four of his five wits went halting off, and now is the whole man governed with one: so that if he have wit enough [057] to keep himself warm, let him bear it for a difference between [058] himself and his horse; for it is all the wealth that he hath left, to be known a reasonable creature. Who is his companion 060 now? He hath every month a new sworn brother.
Mess. Is’t possible?
Beat. Very easily possible: he wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat; it ever changes with the next block.
Mess. I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books.
[065] Beat. No; an he were, I would burn my study. But, pray you, who is his companion? Is there no young squarer now that will make a voyage with him to the devil?
Mess. He is most in the company of the right noble Claudio.
070 Beat. O Lord, he will hang upon him like a disease: he is sooner caught than the pestilence, and the taker runs presently mad. God help the noble Claudio! if he have [073] caught the Benedick, it will cost him a thousand pound ere [074] a’ be cured.
075 Mess. I will hold friends with you, lady.
Beat. Do, good friend.
[077] Leon. You will never run mad, niece.
Beat. No, not till a hot January.
[079] Mess. Don Pedro is approached.
Enter Don Pedro, Don John, Claudio, Benedick, and Balthasar.
[080] D. Pedro. Good Signior Leonato, you are come to meet your trouble: the fashion of the world is to avoid cost, and [081] you encounter it.
Leon. Never came trouble to my house in the likeness of your Grace: for trouble being gone, comfort should 085 remain; but when you depart from me, sorrow abides, and happiness takes his leave.
[087] D. Pedro. You embrace your charge too willingly. I think this is your daughter.
Leon. Her mother hath many times told me so.
[090] Bene. Were you in doubt, sir, that you asked her?
Leon. Signior Benedick, no; for then were you a child.
[092] D. Pedro. You have it full, Benedick: we may guess by this what you are, being a man. Truly, the lady fathers herself. Be happy, lady; for you are like an honourable 095 father.
Bene. If Signior Leonato be her father, she would not have his head on her shoulders for all Messina, as like him as she is.
Beat. I wonder that you will still be talking, Signior 100 Benedick: nobody marks you.
Bene. What, my dear Lady Disdain! are you yet living?
Beat. Is it possible disdain should die while she hath such meet food to feed it, as Signior Benedick? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come in her presence.
105 Bene. Then is courtesy a turncoat. But it is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted: and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart; for, truly, I love none.
Beat. A dear happiness to women: they would else have [110] been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank God and my cold blood, I am of your humour for that: I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.
Bene. God keep your ladyship still in that mind! so some gentleman or other shall ’scape a predestinate scratched face.
115 Beat. Scratching could not make it worse, an ’twere such [116] a face as yours were.
Bene. Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher.
Beat. A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours.
Bene. I would my horse had the speed of your tongue, [120] and so good a continuer. But keep your way, i’ God’s name; I have done.
Beat. You always end with a jade’s trick: I know you of old.
[124] D. Pedro. That is the sum of all, Leonato. Signior 125 Claudio and Signior Benedick, my dear friend Leonato [126] hath invited you all. I tell him we shall stay here at the least a month; and he heartily prays some occasion may detain us longer. I dare swear he is no hypocrite, but prays from his heart.
130 Leon. If you swear, my lord, you shall not be forsworn. [131] [To Don John] Let me bid you welcome, my lord: being reconciled to the prince your brother, I owe you all duty.
D. John. I thank you: I am not of many words, but I thank you.
135 Leon. Please it your Grace lead on?
[136] D. Pedro. Your hand, Leonato; we will go together. [Exeunt all except Benedick and Claudio.
[137] Claud. Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of Signior Leonato?
Bene. I noted her not; but I looked on her.
140 Claud. Is she not a modest young lady?
Bene. Do you question me, as an honest man should do, for my simple true judgement; or would you have me speak [143] after my custom, as being a professed tyrant to their sex?
[144] Claud. No; I pray thee speak in sober judgement.
[145] Bene. Why, i’faith, methinks she’s too low for a high praise, too brown for a fair praise, and too little for a great praise: only this commendation I can afford her, that were she other than she is, she were unhandsome; and being no other but as she is, I do not like her.
150 Claud. Thou thinkest I am in sport: I pray thee tell me truly how thou likest her.
Bene. Would you buy her, that you inquire after her?
Claud. Can the world buy such a jewel?
[154] Bene. Yea, and a case to put it into. But speak you this 155 with a sad brow? or do you play the flouting Jack, to tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder, and Vulcan a rare carpenter? Come, in what key shall a man take you, to go in the song?
[158] Claud. In mine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on.
160 Bene. I can see yet without spectacles, and I see no such matter: there’s her cousin, an she were not possessed [162] with a fury, exceeds her as much in beauty as the first of May doth the last of December. But I hope you have no intent to turn husband, have you?
165 Claud. I would scarce trust myself, though I had sworn the contrary, if Hero would be my wife.
[167] Bene. Is’t come to this? In faith, hath not the world one man but he will wear his cap with suspicion? Shall I never see a bachelor of threescore again? Go to, i’faith; 170 an thou wilt needs thrust thy neck into a yoke, wear the print of it, and sigh away Sundays. Look; Don Pedro is [172] returned to seek you.
Re-enter Don Pedro.
[173] D. Pedro. What secret hath held you here, that you [174] followed not to Leonato’s?
175 Bene. I would your Grace would constrain me to tell.
D. Pedro. I charge thee on thy allegiance.
[177] Bene. You hear, Count Claudio: I can be secret as a dumb man; I would have you think so; but, on my allegiance, mark you this, on my allegiance. He is in love. [180] With who? now that is your Grace’s part. Mark how [181] short his answer is;—With Hero, Leonato’s short daughter.
[182] Claud. If this were so, so were it uttered.
Bene. Like the old tale, my lord: ‘it is not so, nor ’twas not so, but, indeed, God forbid it should be so.’
185 Claud. If my passion change not shortly, God forbid it should be otherwise.
D. Pedro. Amen, if you love her; for the lady is very well worthy.
Claud. You speak this to fetch me in, my lord.
190 D. Pedro. By my troth, I speak my thought.
Claud. And, in faith, my lord, I spoke mine.
Bene. And, by my two faiths and troths, my lord, I [193] spoke mine.
Claud. That I love her, I feel.
195 D. Pedro. That she is worthy, I know.
Bene. That I neither feel how she should be loved, nor know how she should be worthy, is the opinion that fire cannot melt out of me: I will die in it at the stake.
D. Pedro. Thou wast ever an obstinate heretic in the 200 despite of beauty.
Claud. And never could maintain his part but in the force of his will.
Bene. That a woman conceived me, I thank her; that she brought me up, I likewise give her most humble thanks: [205] but that I will have a recheat winded in my forehead, or hang my bugle in an invisible baldrick, all women shall pardon me. Because I will not do them the wrong to mistrust any, I will do myself the right to trust none; and the fine is, for the which I may go the finer, I will live a bachelor.
210 D. Pedro. I shall see thee, ere I die, look pale with love.
Bene. With anger, with sickness, or with hunger, my lord; not with love: prove that ever I lose more blood with love than I will get again with drinking, pick out mine eyes with a ballad-maker’s pen, and hang me up at the door of 215 a brothel-house for the sign of blind Cupid.
D. Pedro. Well, if ever thou dost fall from this faith, thou wilt prove a notable argument.
Bene. If I do, hang me in a bottle like a cat, and shoot [219] at me; and he that hits me, let him be clapped on the 220 shoulder, and called Adam.
D. Pedro. Well, as time shall try: ‘In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke.’
Bene. The savage bull may; but if ever the sensible Benedick bear it, pluck off the bull’s horns, and set them 225 in my forehead: and let me be vilely painted; and in such great letters as they write ‘Here is good horse to hire,’ let them signify under my sign ‘Here you may see Benedick the married man.’
Claud. If this should ever happen, thou wouldst be 230 horn-mad.
D. Pedro. Nay, if Cupid have not spent all his quiver in Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly.
Bene. I look for an earthquake too, then.
D. Pedro. Well, you will temporize with the hours. In 235 the meantime, good Signior Benedick, repair to Leonato’s: commend me to him, and tell him I will not fail him at supper; for indeed he hath made great preparation.
Bene. I have almost matter enough in me for such an embassage; and so I commit you—
240 Claud. To the tuition of God: From my house, if I had it,—
D. Pedro. The sixth of July: Your loving friend, Benedick.
Bene. Nay, mock not, mock not. The body of your discourse 245 is sometime guarded with fragments, and the guards are but slightly basted on neither: ere you flout old ends any further, examine your conscience: and so I leave you. [Exit.
[248] Claud. My liege, your highness now may do me good.
[249] D. Pedro. My love is thine to teach: teach it but how,
250 And thou shalt see how apt it is to learn
Any hard lesson that may do thee good.
Claud. Hath Leonato any son, my lord?
D. Pedro. No child but Hero; she’s his only heir.
Dost thou affect her, Claudio?
Claud.
O, my lord,
255 When you went onward on this ended action,
I look’d upon her with a soldier’s eye,
That liked, 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
260 Have left their places vacant, in their rooms
Come thronging soft and delicate desires,
All prompting me how fair young Hero is,
Saying, I liked her ere I went to wars.
D. Pedro. Thou wilt be like a lover presently,
265 And tire the hearer with a book of words.
If thou dost love fair Hero, cherish it;
[267] And I will break with her and with her father,
[268] And thou shalt have her. Was’t not to this end
[269] That thou began’st to twist so fine a story?
[270] Claud. How sweetly you do minister to love,
That know love’s grief by his complexion!
But lest my liking might too sudden seem,
I would have salved it with a longer treatise.
D. Pedro. What need the bridge much broader than the flood?
[275] The fairest grant is the necessity.
Look, what will serve is fit: ’tis once, thou lovest,
And I will fit thee with the remedy.
I know we shall have revelling to-night:
I will assume thy part in some disguise,
280 And tell fair Hero I am Claudio;
And in her bosom I’ll unclasp my heart,
[282] And take her hearing prisoner with the force
And strong encounter of my amorous tale:
Then after to her father will I break;
285 And the conclusion is, she shall be thine.
[286] In practice let us put it presently. [Exeunt.
[000] Scene II. A room in Leonato’s house.
MAAN I. 2 Enter Leonato and Antonio, meeting.
Leon. How now, brother! Where is my cousin, your son? hath he provided this music?
Ant. He is very busy about it. But, brother, I can tell [004] you strange news, that you yet dreamt not of.
005 Leon. Are they good?
[006] Ant. As the event stamps them: but they have a good cover; they show well outward. The prince and Count [008] Claudio, walking in a thick-pleached alley in mine orchard, [009] were thus much overheard by a man of mine: the prince 010 discovered to Claudio that he loved my niece your daughter, and meant to acknowledge it this night in a dance; [012] and if he found her accordant, he meant to take the present time by the top, and instantly break with you of it.
Leon. Hath the fellow any wit that told you this?
015 Ant. A good sharp fellow: I will send for him; and question him yourself.
Leon. No, no; we will hold it as a dream till it appear [018] itself: but I will acquaint my daughter withal, that she may [019] be the better prepared for an answer, if peradventure this be [020] true. Go you and tell her of it. [Enter attendants.] Cousins, you know what you have to do. O, I cry you mercy, friend; go you with me, and I will use your skill. Good [023] cousin, have a care this busy time. [Exeunt.
[000] Scene III. The same.
MAAN I. 3 Enter Don John and Conrade.
[001] Con. What the good-year, my lord! why are you thus out of measure sad?
D. John. There is no measure in the occasion that [004] breeds; therefore the sadness is without limit.
005 Con. You should hear reason.
D. John. And when I have heard it, what blessing [007] brings it?
[008] Con. If not a present remedy, at least a patient sufferance.
D. John. I wonder that thou, being (as thou sayest thou [010] art) born under Saturn, goest about to apply a moral medicine to a mortifying mischief. I cannot hide what I am: I must be sad when I have cause, and smile at no man’s jests; eat when I have stomach, and wait for no man’s leisure; sleep when I am drowsy, and tend on no man’s business; 015 laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in his humour.
[016] Con. Yea, but you must not make the full show of this [017] till you may do it without controlment. You have of late stood out against your brother, and he hath ta’en you newly [019] into his grace; where it is impossible you should take true 020 root but by the fair weather that you make yourself: it is needful that you frame the season for your own harvest.
D. John. I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose [023] in his grace; and it better fits my blood to be disdained of all than to fashion a carriage to rob love from any: in this, 025 though I cannot be said to be a flattering honest man, it must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain. I am [027] trusted with a muzzle, and enfranchised with a clog; therefore I have decreed not to sing in my cage. If I had my mouth, I would bite; if I had my liberty, I would do my 030 liking: in the meantime let me be that I am, and seek not to alter me.
Con. Can you make no use of your discontent?
[033] D. John. I make all use of it, for I use it only. Who comes here?
Enter Borachio.
035 What news, Borachio?
[036] Bora. I came yonder from a great supper: the prince your brother is royally entertained by Leonato; and I can give you intelligence of an intended marriage.
D. John. Will it serve for any model to build mischief 040 on? What is he for a fool that betroths himself to unquietness?
Bora. Marry, it is your brother’s right hand.
D. John. Who? the most exquisite Claudio?
Bora. Even he.
045 D. John. A proper squire! And who, and who? which way looks he?
[047] Bora. Marry, on Hero, the daughter and heir of Leonato.
[048] D. John. A very forward March-chick! How came you [049] to this?
050 Bora. Being entertained for a perfumer, as I was smoking a musty room, comes me the prince and Claudio, [052] hand in hand, in sad conference: I whipt me behind the arras; and there heard it agreed upon, that the prince should woo Hero for himself, and having obtained her, give 055 her to Count Claudio.
D. 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 bless myself [059] every way. You are both sure, and will assist me?
060 Con. To the death, my lord.
D. John. Let us to the great supper: their cheer is the greater that I am subdued. Would the cook were of my mind! Shall we go prove what’s to be done?
Bora. We’ll wait upon your lordship. [Exeunt.
[000] ACT II.
Scene I. A hall in Leonato’s house.
MAAN II. 1 Enter Leonato, Antonio, Hero, Beatrice, and others.
Leon. Was not Count John here at supper?
Ant. I saw him not.
Beat. How tartly that gentleman looks! I never can see him but I am heart-burned an hour after.
005 Hero. He is of a very melancholy disposition.
Beat. He were an excellent man that were made just in the midway between him and Benedick: the one is too like an image and says nothing, and the other too like my lady’s eldest son, evermore tattling.
010 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 [015] woman in the world, if a’ could get her good-will.
Leon. By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get thee a husband, if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue.
Ant. In faith, she’s too curst.
Beat. Too curst is more than curst: I shall lessen God’s 020 sending that way; for it is said, ‘God sends a curst cow short horns;’ but to a cow too curst he sends none.
Leon. So, by being too curst, God will send you no horns.
Beat. Just, if he send me no husband; for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and 025 evening. Lord, I could not endure a husband with a beard [026] on his face: I had rather lie in the woollen.
[027] Leon. You may light on a husband that hath no beard.
Beat. What should I do with him? dress him in my apparel, and make him my waiting-gentlewoman? He that 030 hath a beard is more than a youth; and he that hath no beard is less than a man: and he that is more than a youth is not for me; and he that is less than a man, I am not for him: therefore I will even take sixpence in earnest of the [034] bear-ward, and lead his apes into hell.
[035] Leon. Well, then, go you into hell?
Beat. No, but to the gate; and there will the devil meet [037] me, like an old cuckold, with horns on his head, and say ‘Get you to heaven, Beatrice, get you to heaven; here’s no place for you maids:’ so deliver I up my apes, and away [040] to Saint Peter for the heavens; he shows me where the bachelors sit, and there live we as merry as the day is long.
Ant. [To Hero] Well, niece, I trust you will be ruled by your father.
[044] Beat. Yes, faith; it is my cousin’s duty to make courtesy, and say, ‘Father, as it please you.’ But yet for all [045] that, cousin, let him be a handsome fellow, or else make [047] another courtesy, and say, ‘Father, as it please me.’
Leon. Well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband.
050 Beat. Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered [052] with a piece of valiant dust? to make an account of her life [053] to a clod of wayward marl? No, uncle, I’ll none: Adam’s [054] sons are my brethren; and, truly, I hold it a sin to match 055 in my kindred.
Leon. Daughter, remember what I told you: if the prince do solicit you in that kind, you know your answer.
Beat. The fault will be in the music, cousin, if you be [059] not wooed in good time: if the prince be too important, tell 060 him there is measure in every thing, and so dance out the [061] answer. For, hear me, Hero: wooing, wedding, and repenting, [062] is as a Scotch jig, a measure, and a cinque pace: the first suit is hot and hasty, like a Scotch jig, and full as fantastical; the wedding, mannerly-modest, as a measure, [065] full of state and ancientry; and then comes repentance, and, with his bad legs, falls into the cinque pace faster and [067] faster, till he sink into his grave.
Leon. Cousin, you apprehend passing shrewdly.
Beat. I have a good eye, uncle; I can see a church by 070 daylight.
Leon. The revellers are entering, brother: make good [072] room. [All put on their masks.
[073] Enter Don Pedro, Claudio, Benedick, Balthasar, Don John, Borachio, Margaret, Ursula, and others, masked.
D. Pedro. Lady, will you walk about with your friend?
Hero. So you walk softly, and look sweetly, and say 075 nothing, I am yours for the walk; and especially when I walk away.