Ant. Therein do men from children nothing differ. Leon. I pray thee, peace: I will be flesh and blood; For there was never yet philosopher,

That could endure the tooth-ach patiently;
However they have writ the style of gods,
And made a pish at chance and sufferance.9

Ant. Yet bend not all the harm upon yourself;

Make those, that do offend you, suffer too.

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.

Enter Don PEDRO and CLAUDIO.

Ant. Here comes the prince, and Claudio, hastily.
D.Pedro. Good den, good den.

Claud. Good day to both of you.

Leon. Hear you, my lords,

D.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.

D.Pedro. Nay, do not quarrel with us, good old man. Ant. If he could right himself with quarreling,

Some of us would lie low.

Claud. Who wrongs him?

Leon. Marry,

Thou, 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:

In faith, my hand meant nothing to my sword.

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,

[8] This alludes to the extravagant titles the Stoics gave their wise men Sapiens ille cum Diis ex pare vivit. Senec. Ep. 59. Jupiter quo antecedit virum bonum? diutius bonus est. Sapiens nihilo se minoris estimat.-Deus non vincit sapientem felicitate. Ep. 73. WARBURTON.

Shakspeare might have used this expression, without any acquaintance with the hyperboles of stoicism. By the style of gods, he meant an exalted language; such as we may suppose would be written by beings superior to hu man calamities, and therefore regarding them with neglect and coldness. STE [9] Alluding to their famous apathy. WARBURTON.

Were I not old: Know, Claudio, to thy head,
Thou hast so wrong'd mine innocent child and me,
That I am forc'd to lay my reverence by ;

And, with grey hairs, and bruise of many days,
Do challenge thee to trial of a man.

I say, thou hast belied mine innocent child;

Thy slander hath gone through and through her heart, And she lies buried with her ancestors :

O in a tomb where never scandal slept,

Save this of her's, fram'd by thy villainy.
Claud. My villainy!

Leon. Thine, Claudio; thine I say.
D.Pedro. You say not right, old man.
Leon. My lord, my lord,

I'll prove it on his body, if he dare ;

1

Despight his nice fence, and his active practice, 1
His May of youth, and bloom of lustyhood.

Claud. Away, I will not have to do with you. Leon.Canst thou so daff me? Thou hast kill'd my child; If thou kill'st me, boy, thou shalt kill a man.

Ant. He shall kill two of us, and men indeed :2 But that's no matter; let him kill one first :Win me and wear me,-let him answer me,Come, follow me, boy; come, boy, follow me ; Sir boy, I'll whip you from your foining fence ;3 Nay, as I am a gentleman, I will.

Leon. Brother,

Ant. Content yourself: God knows, I lov'd my niece; And she is dead, slander'd to death by villains ;

That dare as well answer a man, indeed,

As I dare take a serpent by the tongue :
Boys, apes, braggarts, jacks, milksops!-
Leon. Brother Antony,-

Ant. Hold you content; What, man! I know them, yea, And what they weigh. even to the utmost scruple :

DOUCE.

[1] i.e. defence, or skill in the science of fencing, or defence. [2] This brother Antony is the truest picture imaginable of human nature. He had assumed the character of a sage to comfort his brother, overwhelmed with grief for his only daughter's affront and dishonour; and had severely reproved him for not commanding his passion better on so trying an occa sion. Yet, immediately after this, no sooner does he begin to suspect that his age and valour are slighted, but he falls into the most intemperate fit of rage simself; and all he can do or say is not of power to pacify him. This is copying nature with a penetration and exactness of judgment peculiar to Shakspeare. As to the expression, too, of his passion, nothing can be more highly painted. WARB.

[3] Foining is a term in fencing, and means thrusting.

DOUCE,

Scambling, out-facing, fashion-mong'ring boys,
That lie, and cog, and flout, deprave and slander,
Go antickly, and show outward hideousness,
And speak off half a dozen dangerous words,
How they might hurt their enemies, if they durst,
And this is all.

Leon. But, brother Antony,—

Ant. Come, 'tis no matter;

Do not you meddle, let me deal in this.

D.Pedro. Gentlemen both, we will not wake your pa

My heart is sorry for your daughter's death;

But, on my honour, she was charg'd with nothing
But what was true, and very full of proof.

Leon. My lord, my lord,

D.Pedro. I will not hear you.

Leon. No?

[tience.

Or some of us will smart for it. [Exe. LEON. and ANT.

Enter BENEDICK.

D.Ped. See, see; here comes the man we went to seek. Claud. Now, signior! what news!

Bene. Good day, my lord.

D.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.

D.Pedro. Leonato and his brother: What think'st thou ? had we fought, I doubt, we should have been too young for them.

Bene. 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?

Bene. It is in my scabbard; Shall I draw it?
D.Pedro. Dost thou wear thy wit by thy side?

Claud. Never any did so, though very many have been beside their wit.-I will bid thee draw, as we do the minstrels; draw, to pleasure us.

D.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.

Bene. Sir, I shall meet your wit in the career, an you charge it against me. I pray you, choose another subject. Claud. Nay, then give him another staff; this last

was broke cross.

D.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.5
Bene. Shall I speak a word in your ear?

Claud. God bless me from a challenge!

Bene. 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. D.Pedro. What, a feast? a feast?

Claud. I'faith, I thank him; he hath bid me to a calf's head and a capon; the which if I do not carve most curiously, say, my knife's naught.-Shall I not find a woodcock too?

Bene. Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes easily.

D.Ped. I'll tell thee how Beatrice praised thy wit the other day I said, thou hadst a fine wit; True, says she, a fine little one: No, said I, a great wit; Right, says she, a great gross one: Nay, said I, a, good wit; Just, said she, it hurts nobody; Nay, said I, the gentleman is wise; Certain, said she, a wise gentleman :6 Nay, said I, he hath the tongues; That I believe, said she, for he swore a thing to me on Monday night, which he forswore on Tuesday morning; There's a double tongue; there's tavo tongues. Thus did she, an hour together, transshape thy particular virtues; yet, at last, she concluded with a sigh, thou wast the properest man in Italy.

Claud. For the which she wept heartily, and said, she cared not.

D.Pedro. Yea, that she did; but yet, for all that, an if she did not hate him deadly, she would love him dearły: the old man's daughter told us all.

[4] An allusion to tilting. See note, As you like it, Act III. sc. iv. WARB We have a proverbial speech, "If he be angry, let him turn the buckle of his girdle. But I do not know its original or meaning. JOHNSON Large belts were worn with the buckle before, but for wrestling the buckle was turned behind, to give the adversary a fairer grasp at the girdie. To turn the buckle behind, therefore, was a challenge. HOLT WHITE.·

[6] Perhaps wise gentleman was in that age used ironically, and stood for silly fellow. We still call a man deficient in understanding, a wise-acre. STE

Claud. All, all; and moreover, God saw him when he was hid in the garden.

D.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?

Bene. Fare you well, boy; you know my mind; I will leave you now to your gossip-like humour: you break jests as braggarts do their blades, which, God 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 Lack-beard there, he and I shall meet; and till then, peace be with him. [Exit BENEDICK.

D.Pedro. He is in earnest.

Claud. In most profound earnest; and, I'll warrant you, for the love of Beatrice.

D.Pedro. And hath challenged thee?
Claud. Most sincerely.

D.Pedro. What a pretty thing man is, when he goes in his doublet and hose, and leaves off his wit!

Enter DOGBERRY, VERGES, and the Watch, with CONRADE and BORACHIO.

Claud. He is then a giant to an ape: but then is an ape a doctor to such a man.

D.Pedro. But, soft you, let be; pluck up, my heart, and be sad! Did he not say, my brother was fled?

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. D.Pedro. How now, two of my brother's men bound! Borachio, one!

Claud. Hearken after their offence, my lord!

D. 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 belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things: and, to conclude, they are lying knaves.

D.Pedro. First, I ask thee what they have done ; thirdly, I ask thee what's their offence; sixth and lastly, why they are committed; and, to conclude, what you lay to their charge?