Urf. Why did you fo? doth not the Gentleman Deferve as full, as fortunate a bed,

As ever Beatrice shall 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 scorn ride fparkling in her eyes,
(8) Mif-prizing what they look on; and her wit
Values itself so highly, that to her

All matter elfe feems weak; the cannot love,
Nor take no shape nor project of affection,
She is fo felf-indeared.

Urf. Sure, Ithink fo;:

And therefore certainly it were not good

She knew his love, left she make sport at it.

Hero. Why, you speak truth. I never yet faw man, How wife, how noble, young, how rarely featur'd, But he would fpell him backward; if fair-fac'd, She'd fwear, the gentleman should be her fifter; (9) If black, why Nature, drawing of an antick, Made a foul blot; if tall, a lance ill-headed; (1)If low, an Aglet very vilely cut;

If

(8) Mifprizing.] Defpifing; contemning. (9) If black, why Nature, drawing of an antick, Made a foul blot ;] The antick was a buffoon character in the old English farces, with a blacked face, and a patch-work babit. What I would obferve from hence is, that the name of antick or antique, given to this character, fhews that the people had some traditional ideas of its being borrowed from the ancient mimes, who are thus described by Apuleius, mimi centunculo, fuligine faciem obdu&i.

WARBURTON.

(1) If low, an Agat very vilely cut;] But why an agat, if low? For what likeness between a little man and an agat? The ancients, indeed, ufed this ftone to cut upon; but very exqui-:fitely. I make no queftion but the poet wrote;

an Aglet very vilely cut; An aglet was the tagg of those points, formerly fo much in fashion. Thefe taggs were either of gold, filver, or brafs, acoording to the quality of the wearer; and were commonly in the fhape of little images; or at leaft had a head cut at the extremity. The French call them aiguillettes. Maxeray, fpeaking of Henry IIId's forrow for the death of the princefs of Conti, fays,-portant meme fur les aiguillettes de

ES

petites

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

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

But who dare tell her fo? if I fhould speak,
She'd mock me into air; O, fhe would laugh me
Out of myself, prefs me to death with wit.
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 'tis to die with tickling.
Urf. Yet tell her of it; hear what he will fay.
Hero. No, rather I will go to Benedick,
And counsel 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 judgment,
Having fo fwift and excellent a wit,

As the is priz'd to have, as to refuse
So rare a gentleman as Benedick.
Hero. He is the only man in Italy,
Always excepted my dear Claudio.
Urf. I pray you, be not angry with
me, Madam,
Speaking my fancy; Signior Benedick,

For fhape, for bearing, (2), 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 marry'd, Madam ?

petites tetes de Mort. And as a tall man is before compar'd to a Lance ill beaded; fo, by the fame figure, a little Man is very aptly liken'd to an Aglet ill-cut. WARBURTON.

(2) Argument-] This word feems here to fignify difcourse, or, the powers of reafoning.

Hero.

Hero. Why, every day-to-morrow-Come, go in. I'll fhew thee fome attires, and have thy counfel Which is the best to furnish me to-morrow.

Urf (3) She's lim'd, I warrant you:

caught her, Madam.

we have

Hero. If it prove fo, then loving goes by haps; Some Cupids kill with arrows, fome with traps. [Exeunt. Beatrice, advancing.

Beat (4) What fire is in my ears? can this be true?
Stand I condemn'd for Pride and Scorn fo much?
Contempt, farewel! 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 (5);
If thou doft love, thy kindness fhall incite thee
To bind our loves up in a holy band..

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

SCENE II.

Leonato's Houfe.

[Exit.

Enter Don Pedro, Claudio, Benedick and Leonato.

"Pedro. I do but ftay 'till your marriage be confummate, and then go I toward Arragon.

25

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

me.

Pedro. Nay, That would be as great a foil in the new glofs of your marriage, as to fhew 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 She is enfnared and entangled, as a fparrow

(3) She's lim'd.]

with birdlime.

(4) What fire is in my ears?-1 Alluding to a proverbial faying of the common people, that their ears burn when others are talking of them. WARBURTON.

(5) Taming my wild beart to thy loving band;] This image is taken from falconry. She had been charged with being as wild as Haggards of the rock; the therefore fays, that, wild as her heart is, the will tame it to the band.

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 fhoot 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.

Bene. Gallants, I am not as I have been.
Leon. So fay I; methinks, you are fadder.
Claud. I hope he is in love.

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.

Pedro. Draw. it.

Bene. Hang it.

Claud. You must hang it firft, and draw it afterwards.

Pedro. What? figh for the tooth-ach!

Leon. Which 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.

Pedro. (6) There is no appearance of fancy in him, unless it be a fancy that he hath to ftrange difguifes, as to be a Dutch man to day, a French man to morrow; or in the fhape of two countries at once, a German from the wafte downward, all flops; and a Spaniard from the hip upward, no doublet: Unless he have a fancy to this foolery, as it appears he hath, he is no fool for fancy, as you would have it to 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?

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 ftuft tennis balls.

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

(6) There is no appearance of fancy, &c.] Here is a play upon the word fancy, which Shakespeare uses for love as well as for bumour, caprice, or affectation.

Pedro.

Pedro. Nay, he rubs himself with civet; can you fmell him out by that?

T

Claud. That's as much as to fay, the sweet youth's in love.

Pedro. The greatest note of it is his melancholy. Claud. And when was he wont to wafh his face? 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 lute-ftring and now govern'd by ftops

Pedro. Indeed, that tells a heavy tale for him. Conclude he is in love.

Claud. Nay, but I know who loves him.

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

Claud. Yes, and his ill conditions, and in despight of all, dies for him.

Pedro. She fhall be buried with her Face upwards (7). Bene. Yet this is no charm for the tooth-ach. Old Signior, walk afide with me, I have study'd eight or nine wife words to fpeak to you, which these hobbyhorfes muft not hear. [Exeunt Benedick and Leonato. Pedro. For my life, to break with him about Bea

trice.

Claud. 'Tis even fo. Hero and Margaret have by this time play'd their parts with Beatrice; and then the two bears will not bite. one another, when they meet.

(7) She shall be buried with her Face upwards.] Thus the whole Set of Editions: But what is there any ways particular in This? Are not all Men and Women buried fo? Sure, the Poet means in Oppofition to the general Rule, and by way of Dif tinction, with her beels upwards, or face downwards. I have chofen the first Reading, because I find it the Expreffion in Vogue in our Author's time.

THEOBALD.

This emendation, which appears to me very specious, is rejected by Dr. Warburton. The meaning feems to be, that the, who acted upon principles contrary to others, fhould be buried with the fame contrariety.

SCENE