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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:
But you are more intemperate in your
Than Venus, or those pamper'd animals
That rage in favage fenfuality.

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Hero. Is my Lord well, that he doth speak fo wide?
Leon. Sweet Prince, why speak not you?
Pedro. What fhould I speak?

I ftand difhonour'd, that have gone about
To link my dear friend to a common Stale.

Leon. Are these things fpoken, or do I but dream?
John. Sir, they are spoken, and these things are true.
Bene. This looks not like a Nuptial.

Hero. True! O God!

Claud. Leonato, stand I here?

Is this the Prince? Is this the Prince's Brother?
Is this face Hero's? are our eyes our own?

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.
Hero. O God defend me, how am I befet!

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.
What man was he talk'd with you yesternight
Out at your window betwixt twelve and one?

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,
I am forry for thy much mifgovernment.

Claud. O Hero! what a Hero hadft thou been,
If half thy outward graces had been plac'd
About the thoughts and counfels of thy heart?
But fare thee well, most foul, most fair! farewel
Thou pure impiety, and impious purity!
For thee I'll lock up all the gates of love,
And on my eyelids fhall Conjecture hang,
To turn all beauty into thoughts of harm;
And never fhall it more be gracious.

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,

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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!
Leon. O fate! take not away thy heavy hand;
Death is the faireft cover for her fhame,
That may be with'd for.

Beat. How now, coufin Hero?
Friar. Have comfort, Lady.

Leon. Doft thou look up?

Friar. Yea, wherefore fhould fhe not?
Leon. Wherefore? why, doth not every earthly
thing

Cry fhame upon her? could fhe here deny
The story that is printed in her blood?

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Do not live, Hero, do not ope thine eyes:
For did I think, thou wouldst not quickly die,
Thought I, thy fpirits were stronger than thy fhames,
My felf would on the rereward of reproaches
Strike at thy life. Griev'd I, I had but one?
Chid I for That at frugal nature's 'fraine?
I've one too much by thee. Why had I one?
Why ever waft thou lovely in my eyes?
Why had I not, with charitable hand,
Took up a beggar's iffue at my gates?
Who fmeered thus, and mir'd with infamy,
I might have faid, no part of it is mine;

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:
+ But mine, as mine I lov'd, as mine I prais'd,
As mine that I was proud on, mine fo much,
That I my felf was to my felf not mine,
Valuing of her; why, the, -O, fhe is fall'n
Into a pit of ink, that the wide fea

Hath drops too few to wash her clean again;
And falt too little, which may feason give
To her foul tainted flesh!

Bene. Sir, Sir, be patient;

For my part, I am fo attir'd in wonder,
I know not what to say..

Beat. O, on my foul, my coufin is bely'd.
Bene. Lady, were you her bedfellow last night?
Beat, No, truly, not; altho' until last night
I have this twelvemonth been her bedfellow.

Leon. Confirm'd, confirm'd! O, That is ftronger made,

Which was before barr'd up with ribs of iron.
Would the two Princes lie? and Claudio lie?
Who lov'd her fo, that, speaking of her foulness,
Wash'd it with tears? hence from her, let her die,

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
In angel whitenefs bear away those blushes;

And in her eye there hath appear'd a fire,
To burn the errors that these Princes hold

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.

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Against

Against her maiden truth. Call me a fool,
Truft not my reading, nor my observations,
Which with experimental feal do warrant
The tenour of my book; truft not my age,
My reverence, calling, nor divinity,
If this fweet lady lie not guiltlefs here
Under fome biting error.

Leon. Friar, it cannot be;

Thou feeft, that all the grace, that she hath left,
Is, that she will not add to her damnation
A fin of perjury; fhe not denies it:

Why feek'st thou then to cover with excuse
That, which appears in proper nakedness?

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,
Let all my fins lack mercy! O my

father,

Prove you that any man with me convers'd
At hours unmeet, or that I yesternight

Maintain'd the change of words with any creature,
Refuse me, hate me, torture me to death.

Friar. There is fome ftrange misprifion in the
Princes.

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

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