Urs.

Urs. The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish
Cut with her golden oars the silver stream,
And greedily devour the treacherous bait:
So angle we for Beatrice; who even now
Is couched in the woodbine coverture.
Fear you not my part of the dialogue. 6

Hero. Then go we near her, that her ear lose nothing
Of the false sweet bait that we lay for it. -
No, truly, Ursula, she is too disdainful;
I know, her spirits are as coy and wild
As haggards of the rock. 7

But are you sure
That Benedick loves Beatrice so entirely?

Hero. So says the prince, and my new-trothed lord.
Urs. And did they bid you tell her of it, madam ?

Hero. They did intreat me to acquaint her of it;
But I persuaded them, if they lov'd Benedick,
To wish him 8 wrestle with affection,
And never to let Beatrice know of it.

Urs. Why did you so? Doth not the gentleman
Deserve as full, 9 as fortunate a bed,
As ever Beatrice shall couch upon ?

Hero. O god of love! I know, he doth deserve
As much as may be yielded to a man;
But nature never fram'd a woman's heart
Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice:
Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes,
Misprising 10 what they look on; and her wit
Values itself so highly, that to her
All matter else seems weak. 11 She cannot love,
Nor take no shape nor project of affection,
She is so self-endeared.

6 Seid unbesorgt wegen meines Antheils an dem verabredeten Zwiegespräch. 7) haggard of the rock = der weibliche wilde Falke, der für sich allein auf Felsen

nistet. In Latham's Book of Falconry heisst es von ihm: she keeps in subjection the most part of all the fowl that fly, insomuch that the tassel gentle, her natural and chiefest companion, dares not come near that coast where she uses, nor sit by the place where she standeth. Such is the greatness of her spirit, she will not admit

of any society, until such time as nature worketh. 8) to wish = Jemandem Etwas anempfehlen, Jemandem Etwas als Wunsch ausdrücken. 9) full ist dem Sinne nach mit fortunate zu verbinden: ein so reichbeglücktes Ehebett,

wie nur je Beatrice es haben wird. -- So full-fortuned Cæsar in Antony and

Cleopatra (A. 4, Sc. 13). 10) to misprise = geringschätzen, verkehrt schätzen. 11) Dass alles Andere geistig schwach erscheint im Verhältniss zu ihr und ihrem Geiste.

Urs.

Sure, I think so;
And therefore, certainly, it were not good
She knew his love, lest she make sport at it.

Hero. Why, you speak truth. I never yet saw man,
How wise, how noble, young, how rarely featur’d,
But she would spell him backward: 12 if fair-fac’d,
She would swear the gentleman should be her sister: 13
If black, why, nature, drawing of an antick,
Made a foul blot: 14 if tall, a lance ill-headed :
If low, an agate very vilely cut: 15
If speaking, why, a vane blown with all winds:
If silent, why, a block moved with none.
So turns she every man the wrong side out,
And never gives to truth and virtue that
Which simpleness and merit purchaseth.

Urs. Sure, sure, such carping is not commendable.

Hero. No; not 16 to be so odd, and from all fashions,
As Beatrice is, cannot be commendable.
But who dare tell her so? If I should speak,
She would mock me into air: O! she would laugh me
Out of myself, press me to death with wit. 17
Therefore let Benedick, like cover'd fire,
Consume away in sighs, waste inwardly:
It were a better death than die 18 with mocks,
Which is as bad as die with tickling. 19

12) to spell backward eigentlich = ein Wort von rückwärts buchstabiren, dann = das

Gegentheil von dem, was er ist, aus Jemandem herausdeuten. 13) insofern ein so feiner, weisser Teint uomännlich ist und eher für ein Weib geeignet

erscheint. 14) Ein dunkelfarbiger Mann, im Gegensatze zu dem vorhergehenden fair-faced, wird von

Beatrice in komischer Hyperbel umgedeutet zu einem Dintenfleck, den die Natur aus

Urs. Yet tell her of it: bear what she will say.

Hero. No; rather I will go to Benedick,
And counsel him to fight against his passion.
And, truly, I 'll devise some honest slanders 20
To stain my cousin with. One doth not know,
How much an ill word may empoison liking. .

Urs. 0! do not do your cousin such a wrong.
She cannot be so much without true judgment,
(Having so swift and excellent a wit,
As she is priz'd to have) as to refuse
So ráre a gentleman as signior Benedick.

Hero. He is the only 21 man of Italy,
Always excepted my dear Claudio.

Urs. I pray you, be not angry with me, madam,
Speaking my fancy: signior Benedick,
For shape, for bearing, argument, 22 and valour,
Goes foremost in report through Italy.

Hero. Indeed, he hath an excellent good name.

Urs. His excellence did earn it, ere he had it. — ..
When are you married, madam ?

Hero. Why, every day; – to-morrow. Come, go in:
I'll show thee some attires, and have thy counsel.
Which is the best to furnish me to-morrow. 23

Urs. [Aside.] She's lim'd, 24 I warrant you: we have caught her, madam.

Hero. [Aside.] If it prove so, then loving goes by haps: Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps. [Exeunt Hero and URSULA,

Beat. [Advancing.) What fire is in mine ears ? 25 Can this be true ? Stand I condemn'd for pride and scorn so much ? Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, adieu! No glory lives behind the back of such. 26 · And, Benedick, love on: I will requite thee,

Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand. 27
If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee
To bind our loves up in a holy band;
For others say thou dost deserve, and I
Believe it better than reportingly.

[Exit.

SCENE II.

A Room in LEONATO's House. Enter Don PEDRO, CLAUDIO, BENEDICK, and LEONATO. D. Pedro. I do but stay till your marriage be consummate, and then go I' toward Arragon.

Claud. I'll bring you thither, my lord, if you 'll vouchsafe me.

D. Pedro. Nay; that would be as great a soil in the new gloss of your marriage, as to show 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 sole of his foot, he is all mirth: he hath twice or thrice cut Cupid's bow-string, and the little hangman 2 dare not shoot at him. He hath a heart as sound as a bell, and his tongue is the clapper; for what his heart thinks, his tongue speaks. 3

Bene. Gallants, I am not as I have been.
Leon. So say I: methinks, you are sadder.
Claud. I hope, he be in love.

D. Pedro. Hang him, truant! there's no true drop of blood in him, to be truly touch'd with love. If he be sad, he wants money.

Bene. I have the tooth-ache.
D. Pedro. Draw it.
Bene. Hang it!
Claud. You must hang it first, and draw it afterwards. 4
D. Pedro. What! sigh for the tooth-ache ?

27) Es ist an einen wilden Falken zu denken, der so zahm wird, dass er auf die Hand

des Falkoniers niedersteigt. Vgl. oben Anm. 7. 1) So Q. und Fol. – Manche Hgg. setzen mit den späteren Folioausgg. dafür I go. 3 hangman, das zu Sh.'s Zeit von jeder Art von Hinrichtung und Tödtung, nicht bloss

vom Härgen gebraucht wird, heisst Cupido, der mit seinen Pfeilen die Herzen trifft,
auch in Sidney's Arcadia: Millions of years this old drivel Cupid lives –
Till now at length that Jove him office gives - In this our world ur hangman
for to be || of all those fools that will have all they see. - Indess steht hangman

auch sonst als Schimpfwort = Schurke, und so vielleicht auch hier. 3) Steevens citirt dazu das Sprichwort: As the fool thinketh || So the bell clinketh. *) Auf Benedick's Hang it! das er als Verwünschung ausstösst, sagt Claudio, der das

Wort im eigentlichen Sinne fasst, er müsse den Zahn erst hängen, d. h. einen Faden um ihn schlingen, und dann erst herausziehen. -- Zugleich liegt darin eine Anspielung auf die Stufenfolge der Execution, wie in K. John (A. 2, Sc. 2) hanged, drawn, and quartered. - it bezieht sich auf tooth in tooth-ache.

Leon. Where is but a humour, or a worm ? :
Bene. Well, every one can 6 master a grief, but he that bas it.
Claud. Yet say I, he is in love.

D. Pedro. There is no appearance of fancy in him, unless it be a fancy 7 that he hath to strange disguises; as, to be a Dutchman to-day, a Frenchman to-morrow, 8 or in the shape of two countries at once; as a German from the waist downward, all slops, 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, 9 as you would have it appear he is.

Claud. If he be not in love with some woman, there is no believing old signs. He brushes his hat o' mornings; what should that bode?

D. Pedro. Hath any man seen him at the barber's ?

Claud. No, but the barber's man hath been seen with him, and the old ornament of his cheek hath already stuffed tennis-balls. 10

Leon. Indeed, he looks younger than he did, by the loss of a beard.

D. Pedro. Nay, he rubs himself with civet: can you smell 11 him out by that?

Claud. That 's as much as to say, the sweet youth 's in love.
D. Pedro. The greatest note of it is his melancholy..
Claud. And when was he wont to wash his face?

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

Claud. Nay, but his jesting spirit, which is now crept into a lutestring, and now governed by stops. 12

D. Pedro. Indeed, that tells a heavy tale for him. Conclude, conclude, he is in love.