J

Nor take no fhape nor project of affection,pinineT & A
She is fo felf indeared:

Urf. Sure, I think fo;

And therefore certainly it were not goodly to
She knew his love, left she make sport at it.

f

Hero. Why, you speak truth. I never yet faw man,
How wife, how noble, young, how rarely featur'd,
But she would spell him backward; if fair-fac'd,
She'd fwear, the gentleman fhould be her fifter;
"If black, why Nature, drawing of an antick,
Made a foul blot; if tall, a lance ill-headed
'If low, an Aglet very vilely cut;
If fpeaking, why, a vane blown with all winds;
If filent, why, a block moved with none.
So turns the every man the wrong fide out,
And never gives to truth and virtue That,
Which fimpleness and merit purchaseth.

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

• If black, why, Nature, ly. I make no queftion but the

र

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 habit. What I would obferve from hence is, that the name of an tick or antique, given to this character, fhews that the people had fome traditional ideas of its be ing borrowed from the ancient mimes, who are thus defcribed by Apuleius, mimi centunculo, juligine faciem obducti.

WARBURTON. If low, an Agat very wilely cuts] 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 exquifite

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poet wrote;

an Aglet very vilely cut ;.
An aglet was the tagg of those
points, formerly fo much in
fashion. These taggs were ei-
ther of gold, filver, or brafs, ac-
cording to the quality of the
wearer; and were commonly in
the fhape of little images; or at
leaft had a head cut at the extre-
mity. The French call them
aiguillettes. Mazeray, fpeaking
of Henry IIld's forrow for the
'death of the princefs of Conti,
fays,
· portant meme fur, les ai-
guillettes de petites tetes de Mort.
And as a tall man is before com-
par'd to a Launce ill-keaded; fo,
by the fame figure, a little Man
is very aptly liken'd to an Aglet
ill-cut.
WARBURTON...

As Beatrice is, cannot be commendable. CIL
But who dare tell her fo? if I fhould fpeak,
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, ni wa
Confume away in fighs, waste in wardly

It were a better death than die with mocks, ⠀⠀ved Which is as bad as 'tis to die with tickling.

not

Urf. Yet tell her of it; hear what he will fay.
Hero. No, rather I will go to Benedick,
And counsel him to fight against his paffion.
And, truly, I'li devife fome honeft handers.
To ftain my Coufin with! one doth know,
How much an ill word may impoifon liking,
Urf. O, do not do your Coufin fuch a wrong.
She cannot be so much without true judgment,
Having fo fwift and excellent a wit,

As fhe 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,

2

For fhape, for bearing, 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?

Hera. 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."

3

Urf. She's limb'd, 1 warrant you; we have caught her Madam.

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

2 Argument,] This word feems here to fignify difcourfe, or, the powers of reafoning.

3 She's limb'd: She is enfnared and entangled as a fparrow with birdlime.

Beatrice,

Beat. 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;
If thou doft love, thy kindness fhall incite thee
To bind our loves up in a holy band.

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

SCENE II.

· Leonato's Houfe.

[Exit.

Enter Don Pedro, Claudio, Benedick and Leonato.

Pedro.

I

Do but stay 'till your marriage be confummate, and then go I toward Arragon. Claud. I'll bring you thither, my lord, if you'll vouchfafe 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 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

is taken from falconry. She had been charged with being as wild as Haggards of the rock; fhe therefore fays, that, wild as her heart is, he will tame it to the hand.

found

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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 mony.

Bene. I have the tooth-ach.

Pedro. Draw it.

Bene. Hang it.

Claud. You must hang it first, 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-L, he is in love.

Pedro. There is no appearance of fancy in him, unlefs it be a fancy that he hath to ftrange difguifes,, as to be

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 feen him at the barber's?

Claud. No, but the barber's man hath been feen 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 Shakespeare ufes for love as well fancy, . Here is a play as for humour, caprice, or affec upon the word famy, which iation.

I

Pedro.

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

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 wash his face? Pedro. Yea, or to paint himself? for the which, I hear what they say of him.

Claud. Nay, but his jefting fpirit, which is now crept into a lute-ftring and now govern'd by stops

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.

1

Pedro. She fhall be buried with her Face upwards". Bene. Yet this is no charm for the tooth ach. Old Signior, walk afide with me, I have ftudy'd eight or nine wife words to speak to you, which these hobbyhorses must not hear. [Exeunt Benedick and Leonato. Pedro. For my life, to break with him about Beatrice.

-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 geneneral Rule, and by way of Dif. tinction, with her heels upward., or face downwards. I have cho

fen the first Reading, because I find it the Expreffion in Vogue in our Author's time. THEOBALD.

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

SCENE