ACT IV, SCENE I. A church.
[Enter DON PEDRO, DON JOHN, LEONATO, FRIAR FRANCIS, CLAUDIO,
BENEDICK, HERO, BEATRICE, and Attendants]
LEONATO:
- Come, Friar Francis, be brief; only to the plain
- form of marriage, and you shall recount their
- particular duties afterwards.
FRIAR FRANCIS:
- You come hither, my lord, to marry this lady.
LEONATO:
- To be married to her: friar, you come to marry her.
FRIAR FRANCIS:
- Lady, you come hither to be married to this count.
FRIAR FRANCIS:
- If either of you know any inward impediment why you
- should not be conjoined, charge you, on your souls,
- to utter it.
CLAUDIO:
- Know you any, Hero?
FRIAR FRANCIS:
- Know you any, count?
LEONATO:
- I dare make his answer, none.
CLAUDIO:
- O, what men dare do! what men may do! what men daily
- do, not knowing what they do!
BENEDICK:
- How now! interjections? Why, then, some be of
- laughing, as, ah, ha, he!
CLAUDIO:
- Stand thee by, friar. Father, by your leave:
- Will you with free and unconstrained soul
- Give me this maid, your daughter?
LEONATO:
- As freely, son, as God did give her me.
CLAUDIO:
- And what have I to give you back, whose worth
- May counterpoise this rich and precious gift?
DON PEDRO:
- Nothing, unless you render her again.
CLAUDIO:
- Sweet prince, you learn me noble thankfulness.
- There, Leonato, take her back again:
- Give not this rotten orange to your friend;
- She's but the sign and semblance of her honour.
- Behold how like a maid she blushes here!
- O, what authority and show of truth
- Can cunning sin cover itself withal!
- Comes not that blood as modest evidence
- To witness simple virtue? Would you not swear,
- All you that see her, that she were a maid,
- By these exterior shows? But she is none:
- She knows the heat of a luxurious bed;
- Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty.
LEONATO:
- What do you mean, my lord?
CLAUDIO:
- Not to be married,
- Not to knit my soul to an approved wanton.
LEONATO:
- Dear my lord, if you, in your own proof,
- Have vanquish'd the resistance of her youth,
- And made defeat of her virginity,--
CLAUDIO:
- I know what you would say: if I have known her,
- You will say she did embrace me as a husband,
- And so extenuate the 'forehand sin:
- No, Leonato,
- I never tempted her with word too large;
- But, as a brother to his sister, show'd
- Bashful sincerity and comely love.
HERO:
- And seem'd I ever otherwise to you?
CLAUDIO:
- Out on thee! Seeming! I will write against it:
- You seem to me as Dian in her orb,
- As chaste as is the bud ere it be blown;
- But you are more intemperate in your blood
- Than Venus, or those pamper'd animals
- That rage in savage sensuality.
HERO:
- Is my lord well, that he doth speak so wide?
LEONATO:
- Sweet prince, why speak not you?
DON PEDRO:
- What should I speak?
- I stand dishonour'd, that have gone about
- To link my dear friend to a common stale.
LEONATO:
- Are these things spoken, or do I but dream?
DON JOHN:
- Sir, they are spoken, and these things are true.
BENEDICK:
- This looks not like a nuptial.
CLAUDIO:
- Leonato, stand I here?
- Is this the prince? is this the prince's brother?
- Is this face Hero's? are our eyes our own?
LEONATO:
- All this is so: but what of this, my lord?
CLAUDIO:
- Let me but move one question to your daughter;
- And, by that fatherly and kindly power
- That you have in her, bid her answer truly.
LEONATO:
- I charge thee do so, as thou art my child.
HERO:
- O, God defend me! how am I beset!
- What kind of catechising call you this?
CLAUDIO:
- To make you answer truly to your name.
HERO:
- Is it not Hero? Who can blot that name
- With any just reproach?
CLAUDIO:
- Marry, that can Hero;
- Hero itself can blot out Hero's virtue.
- What man was he talk'd with you yesternight
- Out at your window betwixt twelve and one?
- Now, if you are a maid, answer to this.
HERO:
- I talk'd with no man at that hour, my lord.
DON PEDRO:
- Why, then are you no maiden. Leonato,
- I am sorry you must hear: upon mine honour,
- Myself, my brother and this grieved count
- Did see her, hear her, at that hour last night
- Talk with a ruffian at her chamber-window
- Who hath indeed, most like a liberal villain,
- Confess'd the vile encounters they have had
- A thousand times in secret.
DON JOHN:
- Fie, fie! they are not to be named, my lord,
- Not to be spoke of;
- There is not chastity enough in language
- Without offence to utter them. Thus, pretty lady,
- I am sorry for thy much misgovernment.
CLAUDIO:
- O Hero, what a Hero hadst thou been,
- If half thy outward graces had been placed
- About thy thoughts and counsels of thy heart!
- But fare thee well, most foul, most fair! farewell,
- Thou pure impiety and impious purity!
- For thee I'll lock up all the gates of love,
- And on my eyelids shall conjecture hang,
- To turn all beauty into thoughts of harm,
- And never shall it more be gracious.
LEONATO:
- Hath no man's dagger here a point for me?
-
[HERO swoons]
BEATRICE:
- Why, how now, cousin! wherefore sink you down?
BENEDICK:
- How doth the lady?
BEATRICE:
- Dead, I think. Help, uncle!
- Hero! why, Hero! Uncle! Signior Benedick! Friar!
LEONATO:
- O Fate! take not away thy heavy hand.
- Death is the fairest cover for her shame
- That may be wish'd for.
BEATRICE:
- How now, cousin Hero!
FRIAR FRANCIS:
- Have comfort, lady.
LEONATO:
- Dost thou look up?
FRIAR FRANCIS:
- Yea, wherefore should she not?
LEONATO:
- Wherefore! Why, doth not every earthly thing
- Cry shame upon her? Could she here deny
- The story that is printed in her blood?
- Do not live, Hero; do not ope thine eyes:
- For, did I think thou wouldst not quickly die,
- Thought I thy spirits were stronger than thy shames,
- Myself would, on the rearward of reproaches,
- Strike at thy life. Grieved I, I had but one?
- Chid I for that at frugal nature's frame?
- O, one too much by thee! Why had I one?
- Why ever wast thou lovely in my eyes?
- Why had I not with charitable hand
- Took up a beggar's issue at my gates,
- Who smirch'd thus and mired with infamy,
- I might have said 'No part of it is mine;
- This shame derives itself from unknown loins'?
- But mine and mine I loved and mine I praised
- And mine that I was proud on, mine so much
- That I myself was to myself not mine,
- Valuing of her,--why, she, O, she is fallen
- Into a pit of ink, that the wide sea
- Hath drops too few to wash her clean again
- And salt too little which may season give
- To her foul-tainted flesh!
BENEDICK:
- Sir, sir, be patient.
- For my part, I am so attired in wonder,
- I know not what to say.
BEATRICE:
- O, on my soul, my cousin is belied!
BENEDICK:
- Lady, were you her bedfellow last night?
BEATRICE:
- No, truly not; although, until last night,
- I have this twelvemonth been her bedfellow.
LEONATO:
- Confirm'd, confirm'd! O, that is stronger made
- Which was before barr'd up with ribs of iron!
- Would the two princes lie, and Claudio lie,
- Who loved her so, that, speaking of her foulness,
- Wash'd it with tears? Hence from her! let her die.
FRIAR FRANCIS:
- Hear me a little;
- For I have only been silent so long
- And given way unto this course of fortune.
- ...
- By noting of the lady I have mark'd
- A thousand blushing apparitions
- To start into her face, a thousand innocent shames
- In angel whiteness beat away those blushes;
- 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;
- Trust not my reading nor my observations,
- Which with experimental seal doth warrant
- The tenor of my book; trust not my age,
- My reverence, calling, nor divinity,
- If this sweet lady lie not guiltless here
- Under some biting error.
LEONATO:
- Friar, it cannot be.
- Thou seest that all the grace that she hath left
- Is that she will not add to her damnation
- A sin of perjury; she not denies it:
- Why seek'st thou then to cover with excuse
- That which appears in proper nakedness?
FRIAR FRANCIS:
- Lady, what man is he you are accused of?
HERO:
- They know that do accuse me; I know none:
- If I know more of any man alive
- Than that which maiden modesty doth warrant,
- Let all my sins lack mercy! O my father,
- Prove you that any man with me conversed
- 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 FRANCIS:
- There is some strange misprision in the princes.
BENEDICK:
- Two of them have the very bent of honour;
- And if their wisdoms be misled in this,
- The practise of it lives in John the bastard,
- Whose spirits toil in frame of villanies.
LEONATO:
- I know not. If they speak but truth of her,
- These hands shall tear her; if they wrong her honour,
- The proudest of them shall well hear of it.
- Time hath not yet so dried this blood of mine,
- Nor age so eat up my invention,
- Nor fortune made such havoc of my means,
- Nor my bad life reft me so much of friends,
- But they shall find, awaked in such a kind,
- Both strength of limb and policy of mind,
- Ability in means and choice of friends,
- To quit me of them throughly.
FRIAR FRANCIS:
- Pause awhile,
- And let my counsel sway you in this case.
- Your daughter here the princes left for dead:
- Let her awhile be secretly kept in,
- And publish it that she is dead indeed;
- Maintain a mourning ostentation
- And on your family's old monument
- Hang mournful epitaphs and do all rites
- That appertain unto a burial.
LEONATO:
- What shall become of this? what will this do?
FRIAR FRANCIS:
- Marry, this well carried shall on her behalf
- Change slander to remorse; that is some good:
- But not for that dream I on this strange course,
- But on this travail look for greater birth.
- She dying, as it must so be maintain'd,
- Upon the instant that she was accused,
- Shall be lamented, pitied and excused
- Of every hearer: for it so falls out
- That what we have we prize not to the worth
- Whiles we enjoy it, but being lack'd and lost,
- Why, then we rack the value, then we find
- The virtue that possession would not show us
- Whiles it was ours. So will it fare with Claudio:
- When he shall hear she died upon his words,
- The idea of her life shall sweetly creep
- Into his study of imagination,
- And every lovely organ of her life
- Shall come apparell'd in more precious habit,
- More moving-delicate and full of life,
- Into the eye and prospect of his soul,
- Than when she lived indeed; then shall he mourn,
- If ever love had interest in his liver,
- And wish he had not so accused her,
- No, though he thought his accusation true.
- Let this be so, and doubt not but success
- Will fashion the event in better shape
- Than I can lay it down in likelihood.
- But if all aim but this be levell'd false,
- The supposition of the lady's death
- Will quench the wonder of her infamy:
- And if it sort not well, you may conceal her,
- As best befits her wounded reputation,
- In some reclusive and religious life,
- Out of all eyes, tongues, minds and injuries.
BENEDICK:
- Signior Leonato, let the friar advise you:
- And though you know my inwardness and love
- Is very much unto the prince and Claudio,
- Yet, by mine honour, I will deal in this
- As secretly and justly as your soul
- Should with your body.
LEONATO:
- Being that I flow in grief,
- The smallest twine may lead me.
BENEDICK:
- Lady Beatrice, have you wept all this while?
BEATRICE:
- Yea, and I will weep a while longer.
BENEDICK:
- I will not desire that.
BEATRICE:
- You have no reason; I do it freely.
BENEDICK:
- Surely I do believe your fair cousin is wronged.
BEATRICE:
- Ah, how much might the man deserve of me that would right her!
BENEDICK:
- Is there any way to show such friendship?
BEATRICE:
- A very even way, but no such friend.
BENEDICK:
- May a man do it?
BEATRICE:
- It is a man's office, but not yours.
BENEDICK:
- I do love nothing in the world so well as you: is
- not that strange?
BEATRICE:
- As strange as the thing I know not. It were as
- possible for me to say I loved nothing so well as
- you: but believe me not; and yet I lie not; I
- confess nothing, nor I deny nothing. I am sorry for my cousin.
BENEDICK:
- By my sword, Beatrice, thou lovest me.
BEATRICE:
- Do not swear, and eat it.
BENEDICK:
- I will swear by it that you love me; and I will make
- him eat it that says I love not you.
BEATRICE:
- Will you not eat your word?
BENEDICK:
- With no sauce that can be devised to it. I protest
- I love thee.
BEATRICE:
- Why, then, God forgive me!
BENEDICK:
- What offence, sweet Beatrice?
BEATRICE:
- You have stayed me in a happy hour: I was about to
- protest I loved you.
BENEDICK:
- And do it with all thy heart.
BEATRICE:
- I love you with so much of my heart that none is
- left to protest.
BENEDICK:
- Come, bid me do any thing for thee.
BENEDICK:
- Ha! not for the wide world.
BEATRICE:
- You kill me to deny it. Farewell.
BENEDICK:
- Tarry, sweet Beatrice.
BEATRICE:
- I am gone, though I am here: there is no love in
- you: nay, I pray you, let me go.
BEATRICE:
- In faith, I will go.
BENEDICK:
- We'll be friends first.
BEATRICE:
- You dare easier be friends with me than fight with mine enemy.
BENEDICK:
- Is Claudio thine enemy?
BEATRICE:
- Is he not approved in the height a villain, that
- hath slandered, scorned, dishonoured my kinswoman? O
- that I were a man! What, bear her in hand until they
- come to take hands; and then, with public
- accusation, uncovered slander, unmitigated rancour,
- --O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart
- in the market-place.
BENEDICK:
- Hear me, Beatrice,--
BEATRICE:
- Talk with a man out at a window! A proper saying!
BENEDICK:
- Nay, but, Beatrice,--
BEATRICE:
- Sweet Hero! She is wronged, she is slandered, she is undone.
BEATRICE:
- Princes and counties! Surely, a princely testimony,
- a goodly count, Count Comfect; a sweet gallant,
- surely! O that I were a man for his sake! or that I
- had any friend would be a man for my sake! But
- manhood is melted into courtesies, valour into
- compliment, and men are only turned into tongue, and
- trim ones too: he is now as valiant as Hercules
- that only tells a lie and swears it. I cannot be a
- man with wishing, therefore I will die a woman with grieving.
BENEDICK:
- Tarry, good Beatrice. By this hand, I love thee.
BEATRICE:
- Use it for my love some other way than swearing by it.
BENEDICK:
- Think you in your soul the Count Claudio hath wronged Hero?
BEATRICE:
- Yea, as sure as I have a thought or a soul.
BENEDICK:
- Enough, I am engaged; I will challenge him. I will
- kiss your hand, and so I leave you. By this hand,
- Claudio shall render me a dear account. As you
- hear of me, so think of me. Go, comfort your
- cousin: I must say she is dead: and so, farewell.
-
[Exeunt]
ACT IV, SCENE II. A prison.
[Enter DOGBERRY, VERGES, and Sexton, in gowns; and the Watch, with CONRADE and BORACHIO]
DOGBERRY:
- Is our whole dissembly appeared?
VERGES:
- O, a stool and a cushion for the sexton.
Sexton:
- Which be the malefactors?
DOGBERRY:
- Marry, that am I and my partner.
VERGES:
- Nay, that's certain; we have the exhibition to examine.
Sexton:
- But which are the offenders that are to be
- examined? let them come before master constable.
DOGBERRY:
- Yea, marry, let them come before me. What is your
- name, friend?
DOGBERRY:
- Pray, write down, Borachio. Yours, sirrah?
CONRADE:
- I am a gentleman, sir, and my name is Conrade.
DOGBERRY:
- Write down, master gentleman Conrade. Masters, do
- you serve God?
CONRADE and BORACHIO:
- Yea, sir, we hope.
DOGBERRY:
- Write down, that they hope they serve God: and
- write God first; for God defend but God should go
- before such villains! Masters, it is proved already
- that you are little better than false knaves; and it
- will go near to be thought so shortly. How answer
- you for yourselves?
CONRADE:
- Marry, sir, we say we are none.
DOGBERRY:
- A marvellous witty fellow, I assure you: but I
- will go about with him. Come you hither, sirrah; a
- word in your ear: sir, I say to you, it is thought
- you are false knaves.
BORACHIO:
- Sir, I say to you we are none.
DOGBERRY:
- Well, stand aside. 'Fore God, they are both in a
- tale. Have you writ down, that they are none?
Sexton:
- Master constable, you go not the way to examine:
- you must call forth the watch that are their accusers.
DOGBERRY:
- Yea, marry, that's the eftest way. Let the watch
- come forth. Masters, I charge you, in the prince's
- name, accuse these men.
First Watchman:
- This man said, sir, that Don John, the prince's
- brother, was a villain.
DOGBERRY:
- Write down Prince John a villain. Why, this is flat
- perjury, to call a prince's brother villain.
BORACHIO:
- Master constable,--
DOGBERRY:
- Pray thee, fellow, peace: I do not like thy look,
- I promise thee.
Sexton:
- What heard you him say else?
Second Watchman:
- Marry, that he had received a thousand ducats of
- Don John for accusing the Lady Hero wrongfully.
DOGBERRY:
- Flat burglary as ever was committed.
VERGES:
- Yea, by mass, that it is.
Sexton:
- What else, fellow?
First Watchman:
- And that Count Claudio did mean, upon his words, to
- disgrace Hero before the whole assembly. and not marry her.
DOGBERRY:
- O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting
- redemption for this.
Sexton:
- And this is more, masters, than you can deny.
- Prince John is this morning secretly stolen away;
- Hero was in this manner accused, in this very manner
- refused, and upon the grief of this suddenly died.
- Master constable, let these men be bound, and
- brought to Leonato's: I will go before and show
- him their examination.
-
[Exit]
DOGBERRY:
- Come, let them be opinioned.
VERGES:
- Let them be in the hands--
DOGBERRY:
- God's my life, where's the sexton? let him write
- down the prince's officer coxcomb. Come, bind them.
- Thou naughty varlet!
CONRADE:
- Away! you are an ass, you are an ass.
DOGBERRY:
- Dost thou not suspect my place? dost thou not
- suspect my years? O that he were here to write me
- down an ass! But, masters, remember that I am an
- ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not
- that I am an ass. No, thou villain, thou art full of
- piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness.
- I am a wise fellow, and, which is more, an officer,
- and, which is more, a householder, and, which is
- more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any is in
- Messina, and one that knows the law, go to; and a
- rich fellow enough, go to; and a fellow that hath
- had losses, and one that hath two gowns and every
- thing handsome about him. Bring him away. O that
- I had been writ down an ass!
-
[Exeunt]