Sing no more ditties, fing no mo
Of dumps fo dull and heavy;
The frauds of men were ever so,
Since fummer was first leafy :
Then figh not fo, &c.

Pedro. By my troth, a good Song.
Balth. And an ill finger, my lord.

Pedro. Ha, no; no, faith; thou fing'ft well enough for a fhift.

Bene. [afide.] If he had been a dog, that should have howl'd thus, they would have hang'd him; and, I pray God, his bad voice bode no mifchief! I had as lief have heard the night-raven, come what plague could have come after it.

Pedro. Yea, marry, doft thou hear, Balthazar? I pray thee get us fome excellent mufick; for to morrow night we would have it at the lady Hero's chamber-window.

Balth. The best I can, my lord. [Exit Balthazar. Pedro. Do fo: farewel. Come hither, Leonato ; what was it you told me of to day, that your Niece Beatrice was in love with Signior Benedick?.

Claud. O, ay ;

ftalk on, ftalk on, the fowl fits. [afide to Pedro.] I did never think that lady would have loved any man.

Leon. No, nor I neither; but most wonderful, that she should so doat on Signior Benedick, whom the hath in all outward behaviours feem'd ever to abhor.

Bene. It's poffible, fits the wind in that corner? Afide. Leon. By my troth, my lord, I cannot tell what to think of it; but that fhe loves him with an inraged affection, it is paft the infinite of thought.

5 but that he loves him with an inraged affection, it is paft the INFINITE of thought.] It is impoffible to make Senfe and Grammar of this fpeech. And the reafon is, that the two begin-nings of two different fentences

Pedro.

are jumbled together and made one. For-but that he loves him with an inraged affection,is only part of a sentence which fhould conclude thus,-is most certain. But a new idea ftriking the fpeaker, he leaves this fen

tence

Pedro. May be, fhe doth but counterfeit.

Claud. Faith, like enough.

Leon. O God! counterfeit there was never coun⚫ terfeit of paffion came fo near the life of paffion, as fhe difcovers it.

Pedro. Why, what effects of paffion fhews she?

Claud. Bait the hook well, this fifh will bite. [Afide. Leon. What effects, my lord? fhe will fit you, you heard my daughter tell you how.

Claud. She did, indeed.

Pedro. How, how, I pray you? you amaze me: I would have thought, her fpirit had been invincible against all affaults of affection.

Leon. I would have fworn, it had, my lord; efpecially against Benedick.

Bene. [Afide.] I fhould think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow fpeaks it; knavery cannot, fure, hide himself in fuch reverence.

Claud. He hath ta'en th' infection, hold it up. [Afide. Pedro. Hath she made her affection known to Benedick?

tence unfinished, and turns to another, It is past the infinite of thought-which is likewife left unfieifhed; for it should conclude thus- to say how great that affection is. These broken disjointed fentences are ufual in converfation. However there is one word wrong, which yet perplexes the fenfe, and that is INFINITE. Human thought cannot surely be called infinite with any kind of figurative propriety. I fuppofe the true reading was DEFINITE. This makes the paffage intelligible. It is paft the DEFINITE of thoughti. e. it cannot be defined or conceived how great that affection is. Shake Speare ufes the word again in the fame fenfe in Cymbeline.

4

For Idiots, in this cafe of favour, would

Be wifely DEFINITE.— i. e. could tell how to pronounce or determine in the case. WARE.

Here are difficulties raifed only to fhew how eafily they can be removed. The plain fenfe is, 1 know not what to think otherwife, but that she loves him with an enraged offection: It (this affection) is paft the infinite of thought. Here are no abrupt ftops, or imperfect fentences. Infinite may well enough ftand; it is used by more careful writers for indefinite: And the speaker only means, that thought, though in itself unbounded, cannot reach or estimate the degree of her paffion.

Leon.

Leon. No, and fwears fhe never will; that's her

torment.

Claud. 'Tis true, indeed, fo your daughter fays: fhall I, fays he, that have. fo oft encounter'd him with fcorn, write to him that I love him?'

Leon. This fays fhe now, when the is beginning to write to him; for fhe'll be up twenty times a night, and there she will fit in her fmock, 'till fhe have writ a fheet of paper-my daughter tells us all.

Claud. Now you talk of a fheet of paper, I remember a pretty jeft your daughter told us of.

Leon. Oh when he had writ it, and was reading it ower, fhe found Benedick and Beatrice between the sheet.

Claud. That

Leon. O, fhe tore the letter into a thousand halfpence; rail'd at herself, that she should be fo immodeft, to write to one that, fhe knew, would flout her: I measure him, fays fhe, by my own Spirit, for, I fhould flout him if he writ to me; yea, though I love him, I fhould.

Claud. Then down upon her knees fhe falls, weeps, fobs, beats her heart, tears her hair, prays, curses; O fweet Benedick! God give me patience!

Leon. She doth, indeed, my daughter fays fos and the ecstacy hath fo much overborne her, that my daughter is fometime afraid, fhe will do defperate outrage to herself; it is very true.

6 O, he tore the Letter into a thousand half-pence ;] i. e. into a thousand Pieces of the fame bignefs. This is farther explain ed by a Paffage in As you like it.

There were none principal; they were all like one another as half-pence are.

In both places the Poet alludes

VOL. III.

to the old filver Penny, which had a Creafe running Cross-Wife over it, fo that it might be broke into two or four equal pieces, half-pence, or farthings.

THEOBALD. How the quotation explains the paffage, to which it is applied, I cannot difcover.

P

Pedro.

Pedro. It were good that Benedick knew of it by fome other, if fhe will not discover it.

Claud. To what end? he would but make a fport of it, and torment the poor lady worse.

Pedro. If he should, it were an Alms to hang him; fhe's an excellent fweet lady, and (out of all fufpicion) fhe is virtuous.

Claud. And fhe is exceeding wife.

Pedro. In every thing, but in loving Benedick.

Leon. O my lord, wifdom and blood combating in fo tender a body, we have ten proofs to one that blood hath the victory; Iam forry for her, as I have just caufe, being her uncle and her guardian.

Pedro. I would, fhe had beftow'd this dotage on me; I would have dafft all other refpects, and made her half myfelf. I pray you tell Benedick of it; and hear what he will fay.

Leon. Were it good, think you?

Claud. Hero thinks, furely fhe will die; for fhe fays, fhe will die if he love her not, and fhe will die ere fhe make her love known; and fhe will die if he woo her, rather than fhe will bate one breath of her accuftom'd croffness.

Pedro. She doth well; if fhe fhould make tender of her love, 'tis very poffible, he'll fcorn it; for the man, as you know all, hath a contemptible fpirit 7.

Claud. He is a very proper man.

Pedro. He hath, indeed, a good outward happiness. Claud. 'Fore God, and, in my mind, very wife. Pedro. He doth, indeed, fhew fome sparks that are like wit.

Leon. And I take him to be valiant.

Pedro. As Hector, I affure you; and in the managing of quarrels you may fay he is wife; for either

7 Contemptible spirit.] That isa temper inclined to fcorn and contempt. It has been before remarked, that our author uses

his verbal adjectives with great licence. There is therefore no need of changing the word with Sir T. Hanmer to contemptuous.

he

he avoids them with great difcretion, or undertakes them with a chriftian-like fear.

Leon. If he do fear God, he muft neceffarily keep peace; if he break the peace, he ought to enter into a quarrel with fear and trembling.

Pedro. And fo will he do, for the man doth fear God, howfoever it feems not in him, by fome large jefts he will make. Well, I am forry for your Niece! fhall we go feek Benedick, and tell him of her love?

Claud. Never tell him, my lord; let her wear it out with good counfel.

Leon. Nay, that's impoffible, fhe may wear her heart out firit.

Pedro. Well, we will hear further of it by your daughter; let it cool the while. I love Benedick well; and I could with he would modeftly examine himself, to see how much he is unworthy to have fo good a lady.

Leon. My Lord, will you walk? dinner is ready. Claud. If he do not dote on her upon this, I will never truft my expectation.

[Afide. Pedro. Let there be the fame net fpread for her, and that must your daughter and her gentlewomen carry. The fport will be, when they hold an opinion of one another's dotage, and no fuch matter; that's the Scene that I would fee, which will be meerly a Dumb Show; let us fend her to call him to dinner. [Afide.] [Exeunt.

Bene. This can be no trick, the conference was fadly borne. They have the truth of this from Hero; they seem to pity the lady; it feems, her affections have the full bent. Love me! why, it must be requited. I hear; how I am cenfur'd; they fay, I will