Ant. He shall kill two of us, and men indeed : 80 But that's no matter; let him kill one first; Win me and wear me; let him answer me. Come, follow me, boy; come, sir boy, come, follow me: Sir boy, I'll whip you from your foining fence; Leon. Brother, Ant. Content yourself. God knows I loved And she is dead, slander'd to death by villains, As I dare take a serpent by the tongue : Leon. Ant. Hold you content. them, yea, Brother Antony, What, man! I know And what they weigh, even to the utmost scruple,- And speak off half a dozen dangerous words, How they might hurt their enemies, if they durst; Leon. But, brother Antony, Ant. 90 Come, 'tis no matter: 100 Do not you meddle; let me deal in this. D. Pedro. Gentlemen both, we will not wake your patience. My heart is sorry for your daughter's death: But, on my honour, she was charged with nothing But what was true and very full of proof. 84. foining, thrashing. 94. Scambling, scrambling. ib. out-facing, brazen-faced. ib. fashion-monging, fashion mongering, foppish. 95. cog, cheat. ib. flout, mock. 96. anticly, like an antic, fantastically. Leon. My lord, my lord, D. Pedro. I will not hear you. Leon. No? Come, brother; away! I will be heard. Ant. And shall, or some of us will smart for it. [Exeunt Leonato and Antonio. D. Pedro. See, see; here comes the man we went to seek. Enter BENEDICK. Claud. Now, signior, what news? D. Pedro. Welcome, signior: you are almost come to part almost a fray. Claud. We had like to have had our two noses snapped off with two old men without teeth. D. Pedro. Leonato and his brother. thinkest thou? What Had we fought, I doubt we should have been too young for them. Bene. In a false quarrel there is no true valour. 120 I came to seek you both. Claud. We have been up and down to seek thee; for we are high-proof melancholy and would fain have it beaten away. Wilt thou use thy wit? Bene. It is in my scabbard: shall I draw it? D. Pedro. Dost thou wear thy wit by thy side? Claud. Never any did so, though very many have been beside their wit. I will bid thee draw, as we do the minstrels; draw, to pleasure us. D. Pedro. As I am an honest man, he looks pale. Art thou sick, or angry? Claud. What, courage, man! 123. high-proof melancholy, melancholy to the highest degree. What though 130 129. as we do the minstrels, i.e. as we bid them draw their bows across their instruments. care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care. Bene. Sir, I shall meet your wit in the career, an you charge it against me. I pray you choose another subject. Claud. Nay, then, give him another staff: this last was broke cross. D. Pedro. By this light, he changes more and 140 more I think he be angry indeed. Claud. If he be, he knows how to turn his girdle. Bene. Shall I speak a word in your ear? Claud. God bless me from a challenge! Bene. [Aside to Claudio] You are a villain; I jest not I will make it good how you dare, with what you dare, and when you dare. Do me right, or I will protest your cowardice. You have killed a sweet lady, and her death shall fall heavy on you. 150 Let me hear from you. Claud. Well, I will meet you, so I may have good cheer. D. Pedro. What, a feast, a feast? Claud. I' faith, I thank him; he hath bid me to a calf's head and a capon; the which if I do not carve most curiously, say my knife's naught. Shall I not find a woodcock too? 133. care killed a cat; care will kill a cat' was a proverb, cats having nine lives and being hence difficult to kill. 135. meet in the career, tilt against, meet with a countercharge (a technical phrase of the tournament). 138. staff, lance. 139. broke cross, broken across the opponent's body. This was considered disgraceful; hence Claudio's taunt. 142. turn his girdle, give a challenge. To turn the girdle so that the clasp was at the rear instead of in front, was part of the preparation for a wrestling match; hence the figure. 156. capon; used contemptuously. Possibly a pun on (fool's) 'cap on.' 158. woodcock, i.e. a fool. Bene. Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes easily. D. Pedro. I'll tell thee how Beatrice praised 160 thy wit the other day. I said, thou hadst a fine wit: True,' said she, 'a fine little one.' 'No,' said I, 'a great wit:' 'Right,' says she, 'a great gross one.' 'Nay,' said I, 'a good wit:' 'Just,' said she, it hurts nobody.' 'Nay,' said I, 'the gentleman is wise:''Certain,' said she, 'a wise gentleman.' 'Nay,' said I, 'he hath the tongues :' 'That I believe,' said she, 'for he swore a thing to me on Monday night, which he forswore on Tuesday morning; there's a double tongue; 170 there's two tongues.' Thus did she, an hour together, trans-shape thy particular virtues: yet at last she concluded with a sigh, thou wast the properest man in Italy. Claud. For the which she wept heartily and said she cared not. D. Pedro. Yea, that she did; but yet, for all that, an if she did not hate him deadly, she would love him dearly: the old man's daughter told us all. Claud. All, all; and, moreover, God saw him when he was hid in the garden. D. Pedro. But when shall we set the savage bull's horns on the sensible Benedick's head? Claud. Yea, and text underneath, 'Here dwells Benedick the married man'? Bene. Fare you well, boy: you know my mind. I will leave you now to your gossip-like humour: you break jests as braggarts do their blades, which, God be thanked, hurt not. 166. a wise gentleman,' one with more discretion than valour. 186. Benedick the married man; cf. i. 1. 269. 189. break jests as braggarts 180 My lord, for your 190 do their blades, fling them recklessly out. The braggarts 'break' their blades in the figurative sense suggested by the 'breaking' of jests. many courtesies I thank you: I must discontinue your company: your brother the bastard is fled from Messina: you have among you killed a sweet and innocent lady. For my Lord Lackbeard there, he and I shall meet; and, till then, peace be with him. [Exit. D. Pedro. He is in earnest. Claud. In most profound earnest; and, I'll warrant you, for the love of Beatrice. D. Pedro. And hath challenged thee. D. Pedro. What a pretty thing man is when he goes in his doublet and hose and leaves off his wit! Claud. He is then a giant to an ape; but then is an ape a doctor to such a man. D. Pedro. But, soft my heart, and be sad. was fled? you, let me be: pluck up, Enter DOGBERRY, VERGES, and the Watch, with 200 Dog. Come you, sir: if justice cannot tame you, 210 she shall ne'er weigh more reasons in her balance: nay, an you be a cursing hypocrite once, you must be looked to. D. Pedro. How now? two of my brother's men bound! Borachio one! Claud. Hearken after their offence, my lord. D. Pedro. Officers, what offence have these men done? 202. when he goes in his doublet and hose and leaves off his wit, i.e. puts off his proper apparel of good sense (compared to the cloak usually worn over the doublet and hose). There is a sub-allusion to the custom of taking off the cloak before fighting a duel. 208. sad, serious. |