ference: 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 her to Count Claudio. D. John. Come, come, let us thither: this may prove food to my displeasure. That young 70 start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow: if I can cross him any way, I bless myself every way. You are both sure, and will assist me? 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. 80 ACT SECOND SCENE I A hall in Leonato's house. Enter Leonato, Antonio, Hero, Beatrice, and others. Leon. Was not Count John here at supper? Beat. How tartly that gentleman looks! I Hero. He is of a very melancholy disposition. 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 eld- 10 est son, evermore tattling. 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 woman in the world, if a' could get her good-will. Leon. By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get 10. “my lady's eldest son”; a young heir (in general).-C. H. H. thee a husband, if thou be so shrewd of thy 20 tongue. Ant. In faith, she 's too curst. Beat. Too curst is more than curst: I shall lessen God's 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 Beat. Just, if he send me no husband; for the Beat. What should I do with him? dress him in Leon. Well, then, go you into hell? devil meet me, like an old cuckold, with horns shows me where the bachelors sit, and there Ant. [To Hero] Well, niece, I trust you will be Beat. Yes, faith; it is my cousin's duty to make 60 Beat. Not till God make men of some other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a piece of valiant dust? to make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl? No, uncle, I'll none: Adam's sons are my brethren; and, truly, I hold it a sin to match in my kindred. Leon. Daughter, remember what I told you: if 70 the prince do solicit you in that kind, you know your answer. Beat. The fault will be in the music, cousin, if you be not wooed in good time: if the prince be too important, tell him there is measure in every thing, and so dance out the answer. For, hear me, Hero: wooing, wedding, and repenting, 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 80 wedding, mannerly-modest, as a measure, full of state and ancientry; and then comes repentance, and, with his bad legs, falls into the cinque pace faster and faster, till he sink Leon. Cousin, you apprehend passing shrewdly. Leon. The revelers are entering, brother: make [All put on their masks. 90 good room. 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 D. Pedro. With me in your company? D. Pedro. And when please you to say so? D. Pedro. My visor is Philemon's roof; within Hero. Why, then, your visor should be thatched. 100 [Drawing her aside. 100. "the lute should be like the case"; that is, God forbid that your face should be like your mask.-H. N. H. 102. "within the house is Jove"; alluding to the fable of Baucis and Philemon in Ovid, who describes the old couple as living in a thatched cottage: "Stipulis et cannâ tecta palustri"; which Golding renders: "The roofe thereof was thatched all with straw and fennish reede." Jaques, in As You Like It, again alludes to it: "O knowledge ill-inhabited, worse than Jove in a thatched-house."-H. N. H. |