did never think that lady would have loved any

man.

LEON. No, nor I neither; but most wonderful that she should so dote on Signior Benedick, whom she hath in all outward behaviours seemed ever to abhor.

BENE. Is 't possible? Sits the wind in that corner? LEON. By my troth, my lord, I cannot tell what to think of it, but that she loves him with an enraged affection; it is past the infinite of thought.

D. PEDRO. May be she doth but counterfeit.
CLAUD. Faith, like enough.

LEON. O God, counterfeit! There was never counterfeit of passion came so near the life of passion as she discovers it.

D. PEDRO. Why, what effects of passion shows she? CLAUD. Bait the hook well; this fish will bite. LEON. What effects, my lord? She will sit you, you heard my daughter tell you how.

CLAUD. She did, indeed.

D. PEDRO. How, how, I pray you? You amaze me: I would have thought her spirit had been invincible against all assaults of affection.

LEON. I would have sworn it had, my lord; especially against Benedick.

BENE. I should think this a gull, but that the whitebearded fellow speaks it: knavery cannot, sure, hide himself in such reverence.

CLAUD. He hath ta'en the infection: hold it up. D. PEDRO. Hath she made her affection known to Benedick?

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100

111

LEON. No; and swears she never will: that's her torment.

CLAUD. 'Tis true, indeed; so your daughter says: Shall I," says she, “that have so oft encountered him with scorn, write to him that I love him?"

LEON. This says she now when she is beginning to write to him; for she 'll be up twenty times a night; and there will she sit in her smock till she have writ a sheet of paper: my daughter tells us all.

CLAUD. Now you talk of a sheet of paper, I remember a pretty jest your daughter told us of.

LEON. O, when she had writ it, and was reading it over, she found Benedick and Beatrice between the sheet? CLAUD. That.

LEON. O, she tore the letter into a thousand halfpence; railed at herself, that she should be so immodest to write to one that she knew would flout her; "I measure him," says she," by my own spirit; for I should flout him, if he writ to me; yea, though I love him, I should.”

CLAUD. Then down upon her knees she falls, weeps, sobs, beats her heart, tears her hair, prays, curses; “O sweet Benedick! God give me patience!

LEON. She doth indeed; my daughter says so: and the ecstasy hath so much overborne her, that my daughter is sometime afeard she will do a desperate outrage to herself: it is very true.

D. PEDRO. It were good that Benedick knew of it by some other, if she will not discover it.

129 halfpence] The small silver halfpenny was often quoted as a symbol of littleness.

119

128

140

CLAUD. To what end? He would make but a sport of it, and torment the poor lady worse.

D. PEDRO. An he should, it were an alms to hang him. She's an excellent sweet lady; and, out of all suspicion, she is virtuous.

CLAUD. And she is exceeding wise.

D. PEDRO. In every thing but in loving Benedick. LEON. O, my lord, wisdom and blood combating in so tender a body, we have ten proofs to one that blood hath the victory. I am sorry for her, as I have just cause, being her uncle and her guardian.

D. PEDRO. I would she had bestowed this dotage on me: I would have daffed all other respects, and made her half myself. I pray you, tell Benedick of it, and hear what a' will say.

LEON. Were it good, think you?

CLAUD. Hero thinks surely she will die; for she says she will die, if he love her not; and she will die, ere she make her love known; and she will die, if he woo her, rather than she will bate one breath of her accustomed

crossness.

D. PEDRO. She doth well: if she should make tender of her love, 't is very possible he 'll scorn it; for the man, as you know all, hath a contemptible spirit.

CLAUD. He is a very proper man.

D. PEDRO. He hath indeed a good outward happiness. CLAUD. Before God! and in my mind, very wise.

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158

154 dotage] doting affection. Cf. line 198, infra.

168 He happiness] He chances to be of good appearance.

D. PEDRO. He doth indeed show some sparks that are like wit.

CLAUD. And I take him to be valiant.

D. PEDRO. As Hector, I assure you: and in the managing of quarrels you may say he is wise; for either he avoids them with great discretion, or undertakes them with a most Christian-like fear.

LEON. If he do fear God, a' must necessarily keep peace: if he break the peace, he ought to enter into a quarrel with fear and trembling.

D. PEDRO. And so will he do; for the man doth fear God, howsoever it seems not in him by some large jests he will make. Well, I am sorry for your niece. Shall we go seek Benedick, and tell him of her love?

CLAUD. Never tell him, my lord: let her wear it out with good counsel.

LEON. Nay, that's impossible: she may wear her heart out first.

D. PEDRO. Well, we will hear further of it by your daughter: let it cool the while. I love Benedick well; and I could wish he would modestly examine himself, to see how much he is unworthy so good a lady.

LEON. My lord, will you walk? dinner is ready. CLAUD. If he do not dote on her upon this, I will never trust my expectation.

D. PEDRO. Let there be the same net spread for her; and that must your daughter and her gentlewomen carry.

181 large] used like "broad" in the sense of licentious. Cf. IV, i, 91: "a liberal (i. e. coarse-tongued) villain."

184 wear out] efface, conquer her passion.

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179

191

The sport will be, when they hold one an opinion of another's dotage, and no such matter: that's the scene that I would see, which will be merely a dumb-show. Let us send her to call him in to dinner.

[Exeunt Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato. BENE. [Coming forward] This can be no trick: the conference was sadly borne. They have the truth of this from Hero. They seem to pity the lady: it seems her affections have their full bent. Love me! why, it must be requited. I hear how I am censured: they say I will bear myself proudly, if I perceive the love come from her; they say too that she will rather die than give any sign of affection. I did never think to marry: I must not seem proud: happy are they that hear their detractions, and can put them to mending. They say the lady is fair, 't is a truth, I can bear them witness; and virtuous, 't is so, I cannot reprove it; and wise, but for loving me, by my troth, it is no addition to her wit, nor no great argument of her folly, for I will be horribly in love with her. I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have railed so long against marriage: but doth not the appetite alter? a man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age. Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the

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200

197-198 they hold . . . matter] one is here equivalent to "each one; 'dotage" is "doting affection" and has already been so employed at line 154, supra; "and no such matter means "nothing of the kind.”

202 sadly borne] seriously carried on.

219 paper bullets] epigrams from books.