Bafhful fincerity, and comely love. Hero. And feem'd I ever otherwise to you? Claud. Out on thy Seeming! I will write against it; You seem to me as Dian in her orb, As chafte as is the bud ere it be blown: blood Hero. Is my Lord well, that he doth speak fo wide? I ftand difhonour'd, that have gone about Leon. Are these things fpoken, or do I but dream? Hero. True! O God! Claud. Leonato, stand I here? Is this the Prince? Is this the Prince's Brother? Leon. All this is fo; but what of this, my lord? Claud. Let me but move one question to your daughter, And, by that fatherly and kindly power That you have in her, bid her anfwer truly. Leon. I charge thee do so, as thou art my child. What kind of catechizing call you this? Claud. To make you answer truly to your name. Hero. Is it not Hero? who can blot that name With any juft reproach? Claud. Marry, that can Hero; Hero her felf can blot out Hero's virtue. I I will write against it;] What? a libel? nonsense. We should read, I will RATE against it, i. e. rail or revile. Now, Now, if you are a maid, answer to this. Hero. I talk'd with no man at that hour, my Lord. Pedro. Why, then you are no maiden. Leonato, I am forry, you must hear; upon mine Honour, My felf, my Brother, and this grieved Count Did fee her, hear her, at that hour last night Talk with a ruffian at her chamber-window; Who hath, indeed, like an illiberal villain, Confefs'd the vile encounters they have had A thousand times in fecret. John. Fie, fie, they are not to be nam'd, my Lord, Not to be spoken of; There is not chastity enough in language, Without offence, to utter them: thus, pretty lady, Claud. O Hero! what a Hero hadft thou been, Leon. Hath no man's dagger here a point for me? Beat. Why, how now, Coufin, wherefore fink you down? John. Come, let us go; these things, come thus to light, Smother her fpirits up. [Exeunt D. Pedro, D. John and Claud, Bene. How doth the lady? Beat. Dead, I think, help, uncle. 2 moft like a LIBERAL villain,] We fhould read, like an ILLIBERAL villain. VOL. II. Herol Hero! why, Hero! uncle! Signior Benedick! friar! Beat. How now, coufin Hero? Leon. Doft thou look up? Friar. Yea, wherefore fhould fhe not? Cry fhame upon her? could fhe here deny Do not live, Hero, do not ope thine eyes: 3 Griev'd I, I had but one? Chid I for That at frugal nature's FRAME? I've one too much by thee.] The meaning of the fecond line according to the prefent reading, is this, Chid I at frugal nature that the fent me a girl and not a boy? But this is not what he chid nature for; if he himself may be believed, it was because fhe had given him but one: and in that he owns he did foolishly, for he now finds he had one too much. He called her frugal, therefore, in giving him but one child. (For to call her fo because fhe chofe to lend a girl, rather than a boy, would be ridiculous) So that we must certainly read, Chid I for this at frugal-nature's 'FRAINE, i. e. refraine, or keeping back her further favours, flopping her hand, as wè fay, when he had given him one. But the Oxford Editor has, in his ufual way, improved this amendment, by fubftituting hand for *fraine. This fhame derives it felf from unknown loins: Hath drops too few to wash her clean again; Bene. Sir, Sir, be patient; For my part, I am fo attir'd in wonder, Beat. O, on my foul, my coufin is bely'd. Leon. Confirm'd, confirm'd! O, That is ftronger made, Which was before barr'd up with ribs of iron. Friar. Hear me a little, For I have only been filent fo long, And given way unto this courfe of fortune, By noting of the lady. I have mark'd. A thousand blufhing apparitions To start into her face; a thousand innocent fhames And in her eye there hath appear'd a fire, AND mine I prais'd, 4 But mine, AND mine I lov'd, AND mine that I was proud on ] The fenfe requires that we should read, As in thefe three places. The reafoning of the speaker stands thus, Had this been my adopted child, this fhame would not have rebounded on me. But this child was mine, As mine I loved her, praised her, was proud of her: confequently, as I claimed the glory I must needs be subjected to the shame, &c. Against Against her maiden truth. Call me a fool, Leon. Friar, it cannot be; Thou feeft, that all the grace, that she hath left, Why feek'st thou then to cover with excuse 5 Friar. Lady, what man is he you are accus'd of? Hero. They know, that do accufe me; I know none: If I know more of any man alive, Than that which maiden modesty doth warrant, father, Prove you that any man with me convers'd Maintain'd the change of words with any creature, Friar. There is fome ftrange misprifion in the 5 Friar. Lady, what man is he you are accus'd of?] The friar had just before boasted his great skill in fifhing out the truth. And indeed, he appears, by this question, to be no fool. He was by, all the while at the accufation, and heard no names mentioned. Why then should he ask her what man fhe was accufed of? But in this lay the fubtilty of his examination. For had Hero been guilty, it was very probable that, in that hurry and confufion of fpirits, into which the terrible infult of her lover had thrown her, fhe would never have obferved that the man's name was not mentioned; and fo, on this queftion, have betrayed herself by naming the perfon fhe was confcious of an affair with. The friar obferved this, and fo concluded, that were fhe -I guilty fhe would probably fall into the trap he laid for her. only take notice of this to fhew how admirably well Shakespear knew how to fuftain his characters, Bene |