3

O, 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 fmirched thus, and mired with infamy,
I might have faid, No part of it is mine,
This flame derives itself from unknown loins?
But mine, and mine I lov'd, and mine I prais'd,
And mine that I was proud on; mine fo much,

Again, in Daniel's Verfes on Montaigne:

66

extracts of men,

"Though in a troubled frame confus'dly set.”

Again, in this play:

"Whofe fpirits toil in frame of villainies." STEEVENS.

It feems to me, that by frugal nature's frame, Leonato alludes to the particular formation of himself, or of Hero's mother, rather than to the universal system of things. Frame means here framing, as it does where Benedick fays of John, that

"His fpirits toil in frame of villainies."

Thus Richard fays of Prince Edward, that he was.
Fram'd in the prodigality of nature."

And, in All's well that ends well, the King fays to Bertram :
"Frank nature, rather curious than in hafte,

"Hath well compos'd thee."

But Leonato, diffatisfied with his own frame, was wont to complain of the frugality of nature. M. MASON.

The meaning, I think, is, Grieved I at nature's being fo frugal as to have framed for me only one child? MALONE.

3 Who fmirched thus, &c.] Thus the quarto, 1600. The folio readsfmeared." To fmirch is to daub, to fully. So, in King Henry V:

"Our gaynefs and our gilt are all befmirch'd." &c. STEEVENS.

4 But mine, and mine I lov'd, and mine I prais'd,

And mine that I was proud on; ] The fenfe requires that we fhould read, as in these three places. The reafoning of the speaker ftands thus Had this been my adopted child, her fhame would not have rebounded on me. But this child was mine, as mine I lov'd her, praised her, was proud of her: confequently, as I claimed the glory, I muft needs be fubject to the shame, &c. WARBURTON.

Even of this fmall alteration there is no need. The fpeaker utters his emotion abruptly. But mine, and mine that I lov'd, &c.' by an ellipfis frequent, perhaps too frequent, both in verfe and profe. JOHNSON.

That I myself was to myself not mine,
Valuing of her; why, fhe-O, fhe is fallen
Into a pit of ink! that the wide fea

Hath drops too few to wash her clean again
And falt too little, which may feafon give
To her foul tainted flefh !'

BENE.

Sir, fir, be patient:
For my part, I am fo attir'd in wonder,
I know not what to say.

BEAT. O, on my foul, my cousin is belied! BENE. Lady, were you her bedfellow last night? BEAT. No, truly, not; although, 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, fpeaking of her foulnefs, Wafh'd it with tears? Hence from her; let her die. FRIAR. Hear me a little ;

For I have only been filent fo long,

1

And given way unto this courfe of fortune,
By noting of the lady: I have mark'd
A thousand blufhing apparitions ftart
Into her face; a thousand innocent fhames
In angel whiteness bear away those blushes;

2

the wide fea

Hath drops too few to wash her clean again; ] The fame thought is repeated in Macbeth:

3

"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood

"Clean from my hand?"

which may feafon give

STEEVENS.

To her foul tainted flesh!] The fame metaphor from the kitchen ccurs in Twelfth Night:

all this to feafon

A brother's dead love." STEEVENS.

And in her eye there hath appear'd a fire,
To burn the errors that these princes hold
Against her maiden truth: ---- Call me a fool;
Truft not my reading, nor my obfervations,
Which with experimental feal doth warrant
The tenour of
5 truft not my age,
book;
my
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 fhe hath left,
Is, that fhe 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
in proper

nakedness?

FRIAR. Lady, what man is he you are accus'd of? HERO. They know, that do accuse me; I know

4 To burn the errors ] The fame idea occurs in Romeo and Juliet:

Transparent hereticks be burnt for liars."

of my book; ] i. e. of what I have read.

STEEVENS.
MALONE.

6 Friar. what man is he you are accus'd of? ] The friar had juft before boafted his great skill in fishing out the truth. And, indeed, he appears by this queftion to be no fool. He was by, all the while at the accufation, and heard no name 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, she, would never have obferved that the man's name was not mentioned; and fo, on this question, have betrayed herself by naming the perfon fhe was confcious of an affair with. The Friar obferved this, and fo concluded, that were she guilty, fhe would probably fall into the trap he laid for her. I only take notice of this to fhow how admirably well Shakspeare knew how to fuftain his characters. WARBURTON.

-

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 unineet, or that I yesternight

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

FRIÁR. There is fome ftrange mifprifion in the princes.

BENE. Two of them have the very bent of ho

And if their wifdoms be mifled in this,

The practice of it lives in John the bastard,
Whose spirits toil in frame of villainies.

LEON. I know not; If they speak but truth of her, Thefe hands fhall tear her; if they wrong her honour,

The proudeft of them fhall well hear of it.

Time hath not yet fo dried this blood of mine,
Nor age fo eat up my invention,

Nor fortune made fuch havock of my means,
Nor my bad life reft me so much of friends,
fo
But they fhall find, awak'd in such a kind,
Both ftrength of limb, and policy of mind,
Ability in means, and choice of friends,
To quit me of them throughly.

FRIAR.

Paufe a while,

And let my counsel fway you in this case.
Your daughter here the princes left for dead;

6

bent of honour; ] Bent is ufed by our author for the utmoft degree of any paffion, or mental quality. In this play before, Benedick fays of Béatrice, her affection has its full bent. The expreffion is derived from archery; the bow has its bent, when it is drawn as far as it can be. JOHNSON.

7 Your daughter here the princes left for dead; ] In former copics Your daughter here the princess (left for dead ;) But how comes Hero to Atart up a princefs here? We have ne

8

Let her awhile be fecretly kept in,
And publish it, that fhe is dead indeed:
Maintain a mourning oftentation;
And on your family's old monument
Hang mournful epitaphs, and do all rites
That appertain unto a burial.

LEON. What fhall become of this? What will this do?

FRIAR. Marry, this, well carried, fhall on her

behalf

Change flander to remorse; that is fome good:
But not for that, dream I on this ftrange course.
But on this travail look for greater birth.
She dying, as it must be so maintain'd,
Upon the inftant that fhe was accus'd,
Shall be lamented, pitied and excus'd,
Of every hearer: For it fo falls out,

That what we have we prize not to the worth,
Whiles we enjoy it; but being lack'd and loft,
Why, then we rack the value; then we find
The virtue, that poffeffion would not show us
Whiles it was ours:-So will it fare with Claudio:
When he fhall hear fhe died upon his words,

2

intimation of her father being a prince; and this is the firft and only time fhe is complimented with this dignity. The remotion of a single letter, and of the parenthesis, will bring her to her own rank, and the place to its true meaning:

Your daughter here the princes left for dead;

i. c. Don Pedro, prince of Arragon; and his bastard brother, who is likewife called a prince. THEOBALD.

8

oftentation; Show, appearance. JOHNSON.

9 - we rack the value;] i. e. we exaggerate the value. The allufion is to rack-rents. The fame kind of thought occurs in Antony and Cleopatra:

"What our contempts do often hurl from us,

"We with it ours again." STEEVENS.

died upon his words, ] i. e. died by them. So, in A

Midfummer Night's Dream:

"To die upon the hand I love fo well." STEEVENS.