I would have falv'd it with a longer treatife. Pedro. What need the bridge much broader than the flood?

5. The fairest grant is the neceffity;

Look, what will ferve, is fit; 'tis once, thou lov❜st
And I will fit thee with the remedy.

I know, we shall have revelling to-night;
I will affume thy part in fome difguife,
And tell fair Hero I am Claudio;

And in her bofom I'll unclafp my heart,
And take her hearing prifoner with the force
And ftrong encounter of my amorous tale:
Then, after, to her father will I break;
And the conclufion is, the fhall be thine;
In practice let us put it presently.

Re-enter Leonato and Antonio.

[Exeunt.

Leon. How now, Brother, where is my Coufin your fon? hath he provided this mufick?

Ant. He is very bufy about it; but, brother, I can tell you news that you yet dream'd not of. Leon. Are they good?

Ant. As the event ftamps them, but they have a good cover; they fhow well outward. The Prince and Count Claudio, walking in a thick-pleached alley in my orchard, were thus over-heard by a man of mine The Prince discover'd to Claudio, that he lov'd my neice your daughter, and meant to acknowledge it this night in a dance; and if he found her accordant, he meant to take the present time by the top, and instantly break with you of it.

Leon. Hath the fellow any wit, that told you this? Ant. A good harp fellow; I will fend for him, and question him yourself.

5 The fairest grant is the neceffity: i. e. no one can have a better reafon for granting a ra

queft than the neceffity of its being granted. WARBURTON.

Leon:

Leon, No, no, we will hold it as a dream, 'till it appear itself. But I will acquaint my daughter withal, that she may be the better prepared for anfwer, if peradventure this be true; go you and tell her of it. [Several cross the Stage here.] Coufin, you know what you have to do.-O, I cry you mercy, friend, go you with me and I will ufe your fkill. Good Coufin, have a care this bufy time. [Exeunt.

Conr.

Changes to an Apartment in Leonato's House,

Enter Don John and Conrade.

HAT the good-jer, my lord, why are you thus out of measure fad?

WH

John. There is no measure in the occafion that breeds it, therefore the fadnefs is without limit.

Conr. You fhould hear reason.

John. And when I have heard it, what Bleffing bringeth it?

Conr. If not a prefent remedy, yet a patient fufferance.

John. I wonder, that thou (being, as thou fay'st thou art, born under Saturn) goeft about to apply a moral medicine to a mortifying mischief: I cannot hide what I am : * I must be fad when I have cause, and fimile at no man's jefts; eat when I have ftomach, and wait for no man's leifure; fleep when I am drowsy, and tend on no man's bufinefs; laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in his humour ".

I cannot hide what I am:] This is one of our author's natural touches. An envious and unfocial mind, too proud to give pleasure, and too fullen to receive it, always en

Conr.

deavours to hide its malignity from the world and from itself, under the plainnefs of fimple honefty, or the dignity of haughty independence.

-claw no man in his bumour.]

1

Conr. Yea, but you must not make the full show of this, 'till you may do it without controlement; you have of late ftood out against your brother, and he hath ta'en you newly into his grace, where it is impoffible you should take root, but by the fair weather that you make yourself; it is needful that you frame the season for your own harvest.

John. I had rather be a canker in a hedge, than a rofe in his grace; and it better fits my blood to be disdain'd of all, than to fashion a carriage to rob love from any in this (though I cannot be faid to be a flattering honeft man) it must not be deny'd but I am a plain-dealing villain; I am trusted with a muzzel, and infranchised with a clog, therefore I have decreed not to fing in my cage: if I had my mouth, I would bite; if I had my liberty, I would do my liking: in the mean time let me be that I am, and seek not to alter me.

Conr. Can you make no ufe of your discontent? John. I will make all use of it, for I ufe it only. Who comes here? what news, Borachio?

Enter Borachio.

Bora. I came yonder from a great fupper; the

mour.] To claw is to flatter, fo the pope's claw backs, in bifhop Jewel, are the pope's flatterers. The fenfe is the fame in the proverb, Mulus mulum fcabit. 7I had rather be a canker in a bedge, than a rofe in his grace; A canker is the canker rofe, dogrofe, cynofbatus, or hip. The fenfe is, I would rather live in obfcurity the wild life of nature, than owe dignity or estimation to my brother. He ftill continues his with of gloomy independence. But what is the meaning of the ex

preffion, a rofe in his grace? if
he was a rofe of himself, his bro-
ther's grace or favour could not
degrade him. I once read thus,
I had rather be a canker in a
bedge, than a rfe in his garden;
that is, I had rather be what na-
ture makes me, however mean,
than owe any exaltation or im- -
provement to my brother's kind-
nefs or cultivation. But a lefs
change will be fufficient: I think
it fhould be read, I had rather
be a canker in a hedge, than a rofe
by his grace.

Prince,

Prince, your brother, is royally entertain'd by Leonato, and I can give you intelligence of an intended marriage.

John. Will it ferve for any model to build mifchief on? what is he for a fool, that betroths himself to unquietness?

Bora. Marry, it is your brother's right hand.
John. Who, the moft exquifite Claudio?

Bora. Even hé.

John. A proper Squire! and who, and who? which way looks he?

Bora. Marry, on Hero, the daughter and heir of Leonato.

John. A very forward March chick! How come you to know this?

Bora. Being entertain'd for a perfumer, as I was fmoaking a mufty room, comes me the Prince and Claudio hand in hand in fad conference. I whipt behind the Arras, and there heard it agreed upon, that the Prince fhould woo Hero for himself; and having obtained her, give her to Count Claudio.

John. Come, come, let us thither, this may prove food to my difpleasure. That young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow; if I can crofs him any way, I bless myfelf every way; you are both fure, and will affift me.

Conr. To the death, my lord.

John. Let us to the great fupper; their Cheer is the greater, that I am fubdu'd, 'would the cook were of my mind! -Shall we go prove what's to be

done?

Bora. We'll wait upon your lordship.

[Exeunt.

АСТ

ACT II.

SCENE I.

A Hall in Leonato's Houfe.

Enter Leonato, Antonio, Hero, Beatrice, Margaret,

WA

and Urfula.

LEON ATO.

AS not Count John here at Supper?
Ant. I faw him not.

Beat. How tartly that gentleman looks! I never can fee him, but I am heart-burn'd an hour after. Hero. He is of a very melancholy disposition.

Beat. He were an excellent man, that were made juft in the mid-way between him and Benedick; the one is too like an image, and fays nothing: and the other too like my lady's eldeft fon, evermore tatling.

Leon. Then half Signior Benedick's tongue in Count John's mouth, and half Count John's melancholy in Signior Benedick's face

Beat. With a good Leg, and a good foot, Uncle, and mony enough in his purfe, fuch a man would win any woman in the world, if he could get her good will.

Leon. By my troth, Niece, thou wilt never get thee a husband, if thou be fo fhrewd of thy tongue. Ant. In faith, she's too curft.

Beat. Too curft is more than curft; I fhall leffen God's fending that way; for it is faid, God fends a curft Cow fhort horns; but to a Cow too curft he fends none.

8

heart-burn'd an hour after] The pain commonly called the heart-burn, proceeds

from an acid humour in the ftomach, and is therfore properly enough imputed to tart looks.

Leon.