HERO. God give me joy to wear it, for my heart is exceeding heavy!

MARG. Twill be heavier foon, by the weight of

HERO. Fie upon thee! art not ashamed?

MARG. Of what, lady? offpeaking honourably? Is not marriage honourable in a beggar? Is not your lord honourable without marriage? I think, you would have me fay, faving your reverence,a hufband: an bad thinking do not wreft true speaking, I'll offend no body: Is there any harm in

the heavier for a husband? None, I think, an it be the right hufband, and the right wife; otherwise 'tis light, and not heavy: Afk my lady Beatrice. elfe, here fhe comes.

Enter BEATRICE.

HERO. Good morrow, coz.

BEAT. Good morrow, fweet Hero.

HERO. Why, how now! do you speak in the fick tune?

BEAT. I am out of all other tune, methinks. MARG. Clap us into-Light o' love; that goes without a burden; do you fing it, and I'll dance it.

3 'Twill be heavier foon, by the weight of a man. and Creffida:

]So, in Troilus

the heavier for a whore." STEEVENS.

4 Light o'love;] This tune is alluded to in Fletcher's Two Noble Kinfmen. The gaoler's daughter, fpeaking of a horse, says : "He gallops to the tune of Light o'love."

It is mentioned again in The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

"Beft fing it to the tune of Light o'love."

Again,

And in The Noble Gentleman of Beaumont and Fletcher. in A Gorgious Gallery of gallant Inventions, &c. 4to. 1578: “The lover exhorteth his lady to be conftant to the tune of

"Attend go play thee

"Not Light of love, lady," &c. STEEVENS.

if

BEAT. Yea, Light o' love, with your heels!-then your hufband have flables enough, you'll fee he fhall lack no barns. S

MARG. O illegitimate conftruction! I fcorn that with my heels.

BEAT. 'Tis almoft five o'clock, coufin; 'tis time you were ready. By my troth I am exceeding ill:hey ho!

MARG. For a hawk, a horfe, or a hufband? 6
BEAT. For the letter that begins them all, H.'

This is the name of an old dance tune which has occurred already in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. I have lately recovered it from an ancient MS, and it is as follows:

年

SIR J. HAWKINS.

no barns.] A quibble between barns, repofitories of corn,

and bairns, the old word for children. JOHNSON. So, in The Winter's Tale:

6

Mercy on us, a barn! a very pretty barn!"

hey ho!

STEEVENS.

Marg. For a hawk, a horfe, or a husband?] Heigh ho for a husband, or the willing maid's wants made known, is the title of an old ballad in the Pepyfian Colledion, in Magdalen College, Cambrigde. MALONE.

7 For the letter that begins them all, H.] This is a poor jeft, fomewhat obfcured, and not worth the trouble of elucidation. Margaret afks Beatrice for what he cries, hey ho; Beatrice anfwers, for an H, that is for an ache, or pain. JOHNSON.

MARG. Well, an you be not turn'd Turk, there's no more failing by the ftar.

BEAT. What means the fool, trow?

MARG. Nothing 1; but God fend every one their heart's defire!

HERO. Thefe gloves the count fent me, they are an excellent perfume.

BEAT. I am stuff'd, coufin, I cannot smell. MARG. A maid, and ftuff'd! there's goodly catching of cold.

BEAT. O, God help me! God help me! how long have you profefs'd apprehenfion?

MARG. Ever fince you left it: Doth not my wit become me rarely?

BEAT. It is not feen enough, you should wear it in your cap. By my troth, I am fick.

Heywood, among his Epigrams, published in 1566, has one ou the letter H:

"His worst among letters in the cross-row;

For if thou find him either in thine elbow,
"In thine arm, or leg, in any degree;
"In thine head, or teeth, or toe, or knee;
"Into what place foever H may pike him,
"Wherever thou find ache thou shalt not like him."

STEEVENS.

turn'd Turk,] i. e. taken captive by love, and turned a renegado to his religion. Warburton.

This interpretation is fomewhat far-fetched, yet, perhaps, it is right. JOHNSON.

Hamlet ufes the fame expreffion, and talks of his fortune's turning Turk. To turn Turk, was a common phrafe for a change of condition or opinion. So, in The Honeft Whore, by Decker, 1616:

"If you turn Turk again," &c. STEEVENS.

What means the fool, trow?] This obfolete exclamation of enquiry, is corrupted from I trow, or trow you, and occurs again in The Merry Wives of Windfor: "who's there, trow?" To trow is to imagine, to conceive. So, in Romeo and Juliet, the Nurfe fays: 'Twas no need, I trow, to bid me trudge." STELVENS.

2

MARG. Get you fome of this diftill'd Carduus Benedictus, and lay it to your heart; it is the only thing for a qualm.

HERO. There thou prick'ft her with a thistle. BEAT. Benedictus! why Benedictus? you have fome moral in this Benedictus.

MARG. Moral? no, by my troth, I have no moral meaning; I meant, plain holy-thiftle. You may think, perchance, that I think you are in love: nay, by'r lady, I am not fuch a fool to think what I lift; nor I lift not to think what I can; nor, indeed, I cannot think, if I would think my heart out of thinking, that you are in love, or that you will be in love, or that you can be in love: yet Benedick was fuch another, and now is he become a man: he swore he would never marry; and yet now, in defpite of his heart, he eats his meat without grudging: and

2

Carduus Benedi&tus, ] "Carduus Benedi&us, or bleffed thistle (fays Cogan in his Haven of Health, 1595) fo worthily named for the fingular virtues that it hath." This herbe may worthily be called Benedictus, or Omnimorbia, that is, a falve for every fore, not knowen to phyfitians of old time, but lately revealed by the fpeciall providence of Almighty God." STEEVENS.

3

fome moral] That is, fome fecret meaning, like the moral of a fable. JOHNSON.

Dr. Johnfon's explanation is certainly the true one, though it has been doubted. In The Rape of Lucrece our author uses the verb to moralize in the fame fense:

"Nor could fhe moralize his wanton fight."

i. e. investigate the latent meaning of his looks. Again, in The Taming of the Shrew: " and has left me. here behind, to expound the meaning or moral of his figns and tokens." MALONE.

Moralizations for fo they were called) are fubjoined to many of our ancient Tales, reducing them into Chriftian or moral leffons. See the Gefta Romanorum, &c. STEEVENS.

4 he eats his meat without grudging: ] I do not fee how this is a proof of Benedick's change of mind. It would afford more proof of amoroufnefs to fay, he eats not his meat without grudging ; but it is impoffible to fix the meaning of proverbial expreffious?

7

how you may be converted, I know not; but methinks, you look with your eyes as other women do.' BEAT. What pace is this that thy tongue keeps? MARG. Not a falfe gallop.

·Re-enter URSULA.

URS. Madam, withdraw; the prince, the count, fignior Benedick, Don John, the town, are come to fetch HERO. Help to drefs me,

good Urfula.

and all the gallants of you to church. good coz, good Meg, [Exeunt.

SCENE V.

Another Room in LEONATO's Houfe.

Enter LEONATO, with DOGBERRY and VERGES. LEON. What would you with me, honeft neighbour?

DOGB. Marry, fir, I would have fome confidence with you, that decerns you nearly.

LEON. Brief, I pray you; for you fee, 'tis a bufy time with me.

DOGB. Marry, this it is, fir.

VERG. Yes, in truth it is, fir.

LEON. What is it, my good friends?

perhaps, to eat meat without grudging, was the fame as, to do as others do, and the meaning is, he is content to live by eating like other mortals; and will be content, notwithstanding his boafts, like other mortals, to have a wife. JOHNSON.

Johnfon confiders this paffage too literally. The meaning of it is, that Benedick is in love, and takes kindly to it. M. MASON. The meaning, I think, is," and yet now, in fpite of his refolution to the contrary, he feeds on love, and likes his food." MALONE. 3 -you look with your eyes as other women do.] i. e. you direc your eyes toward the fame object; viz. a husband. STEEVENS.