ACT THE FIFTH. SCENE I. The Court, before LEONATO's House. Enter LEONATO and ANTONIO. Ant. If you go on thus, you will kill yourself; Leon. I pray thee, cease thy counsel; No, no; 'tis all men's office to speak patience To be so moral, when he shall endure The like himself: therefore give me no counsel. That could endure the tooth-ache patiently; Leon. There thou speak'st reason: nay, I will do so; My soul doth tell me, Hero is belied; And that shall Claudio know, so shall the prince, And all of them, that thus dishonour her. Ant. Here comes the prince, and Claudio, hastily. Enter DON PEDRO and CLAUDIO. Pedro. Good den, good den. Claud. Good day to both of you. Leon. Hear you, my lords Pedro. We have some haste, Leonato. Leon. Some haste, my lord !—well, fare you well, my lord: Are you so hasty now?-well, all is one. Pedro. Nay, do not quarrel with us, good old man. Ant. If he could right himself with quarrelling, Some of us would lie low. Claud. Who wrongs him? Leon. Marry, thou dost wrong me, thou dissembler, thou! Nay, never lay thy hand upon thy sword, I fear thee not. Claud. Marry, beshrew my hand, If it should give your age such cause of fear! Leon. Tush, tush, man, never fleer and jest at me! I speak not like a dotard, nor a fool, As, under privilege of age, to brag What I have done being young, or what would do, And, with grey hairs, and bruise of many days, I say, thou hast belied my innocent child. Pedro. You say not right, old man. Leon. My lord, my lord, I'll prove it on his body, if he dare; Despite his nice fence, and his active practice, G Ant. Let him answer me: Come, follow me, boy; come, boy, follow me; Leon. Brother Ant. Boys, apes, braggarts, jacks, milksops! That dare as well answer a man, indeed, As I dare take a serpent by the tongue! Leon. Brother Anthony- Ant. Hold your content; What, man! I know them, yea, And what they weigh, even to the utmost scruple; Leon. But, brother Anthony Ant. Come, 'tis no matter; Do not you meddle, let me deal in this. Pedro. Gentlemen both, we will not wake your pa tience. My heart is sorry for your daughter's death; Leon. My lord, my lord Pedro. I will not hear you. Brother, away; I will be heard! Ant. And shall, Or some of us will smart for it. Pedro. See, see, [Exeunt LEONATO and ANTONIO. Here comes the man, we went to seek! Enter BENEDick. Claud. Now, Signior, What news? Bened. Good day, my lord. Pedro. Welcome, Signior! You are almost come to part almost a fray. Claud. We had like to have had our two noses snapped off, with two old men without teeth. Pedro. Leonato and his brother: What think'st thou? Had we fought, I doubt, we should have been too young for them. Bened. In a false quarrel, there is no true valour. I came to seek you both. Claud. We have been up and down to seek thee; for we are high proof melancholy, and would fain have it beaten away: Wilt thou use thy wit? Bened. It is in my scabbard; shall I draw it! Pedro. As I am an honest man, he looks pale!— Art thou sick, or angry? Claud. What! courage, man! What, though care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care. Bened. Sir, I shall meet your wit in the career, if you charge it against me; I pray you, chuse another subject. Pedro. By this light, he changes more and more! I think, he be angry, indeed! Claud. If he be, he knows how to turn his girdle. Bened. You are a villain! I jest not-I will make it good, how you dare, with what you dare, and when you dare:-Do me right, or I will protest your cowardice. You have killed a sweet lady, and her death shall fall heavy on you! Let me hear from you. Claud. Well, I will meet you, so I may have good cheer. Pedro. What, a feast, a feast! Claud. I'faith, I thank him, he hath bid me to a calve's head; the which, if I do not carve most curiously, say my knife's naught. Bened. Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes easily. Pedro. But when shall we set the savage bull's horns on the sensible Benedick's head? Claud. Yea, and text underneath,-Here dwells Benedick, the married man? Bened. Fare you well, boy! you know my mindI will leave you now to your gossip-like humour: you break jests, as braggarts do their blades, which, Heaven be thanked, hurt not!-My lord, for your many courtesies, I thank you-I must discontinue your company: your brother, the bastard, is fled from Messina; you have, among you, killed a sweet and innocent lady: For my Lord Lackbeard there, he and I shall meet, and till then, peace be with him!Let me hear from you. Pedro. He is in earnest. [Exit. Claud. In most profound earnest; and, I'll warrant you, for the love of Beatrice! Pedro. And hath challenged thee? Claud. Most sincerely! Pedro. What a pretty thing man is, when he goes in his doublet and hose, and leaves off his wit!—Did he not say, my brother was fled? Enter DOGBERRY, VERGES, CONRADE, BORACHIO, SEACOAL, OATCAKE, and the Watch. Dogb. Come you, sir! if justice cannot tame you, she shall ne'er weigh more reasons in her balance :nay, and you be a cursing hypocrite once, you must be looked to. Pedro. How now, two of my brother's men bound! Borachio one! Claud. Hearken after their offence, my lord. Pedro. Officers, what offence have these men done ? Dogb. Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders: sixth and lastly, they have |