D. PEDRO. Come, let us hence, and put on other weeds;

And then to Leonato's we will go.

CLAUD. And, Hymen, now with luckier iffue fpeed's,

Than this, for whom we render'd up this woe!

[Exeunt,

Enter LEONATO, ANTONIO, BENEDICK, BEATRICE, URSULA, Friar, and HERO.

FRIAR. Did I not tell you she was innocent? LEON. So are the prince and Claudio, who accus'd her,

Upon the error that you heard debated;
But Margaret was in fome fault for this;
Although against her will, as it appears
In the true courfe of all the question.

ANT. Well, I am glad that all things fort fo well.

BENE. And fo am I, being elfe by faith enforc'd To call young Claudio to a reckoning for it.

8 And, Hymen, now with luckier issue speed's,

Than this, for whom we render'd up this woe!] The old copy has-peeds. STEEVENS.

Claudio could not know, without being a prophet, that this new propofed match fhould have any luckier event than that defigned with Hero. Certainly, therefore, this should be a wish in Claudio; and, to this end, the poet might have wrote, Speed's; i. e. speed us: and fo it becomes a prayer to Hymen. THIRLBY.

The contraction introduced is fo extremely harfh, that I doubt whether it was intended by the author. However I have followed former editors in adopting it. MALONE.

LEON. Well, daughter, and you gentlewomen all, Withdraw into a chamber by yourselves; And, when I fend for you, come hither mafk'd: The prince and Claudio promis'd by this hour To vifit me:-You know your office, brother; You must be father to your brother's daughter, And give her to young Claudio. [Exeunt Ladies

ANT. Which I will do with confirm'd counte

nance.

BENE. Friar, I must entreat your pains, I think.
FRIAR. To do what, fignior?

BENE. To bind me, or undo me, one of them.—
Signior Leonato, truth it is, good fignior,
Your niece regards me with an eye of favour.
LEON. That eye my daughter lent her; 'Tis
most true.

BENE. And I do with an eye of love requite her.
LEON. The fight whereof, I think, you had from

me,

From Claudio, and the prince; But what's your will?
BENE. Your answer, fir, is enigmatical:
But, for my will, my will is, your good will
May ftand with ours, this day to be conjoin'd
In the ftate of honourable marriage ; —
In which, good friar, I fhall defire your help.
LEON. My heart is with your liking.
FRIAR.

And my help. Here comes the prince, and Claudio.

9 In the state of honourable marriage;] Marriage, in this inftance, is ufed as a trifyllable. So, in The Taming of the Shrew, Act III. fc. ii:

" "Twere good, methinks, to fteal our marriage."

STEEVENS.

Enter Don PEDRO and CLAUDIO, with Attendants.

D. PEDRO. Good morrow to this fair affembly.
LEON. Good morrow, prince; good morrow,
Claudio;

We here attend you; Are you yet determin'd
To-day to marry with my brother's daughter?
CLAUD. I'll hold my mind, were fhe an Ethiop.
LEON. Call her forth, brother, here's the friar
[Exit ANTONIO.

ready.

D. PEDRO. Good morrow, Benedick: Why, what's the matter,

That you have fuch a February face,

So full of froft, of ftorm, and cloudiness?

CLAUD. I think, he thinks upon the favage bull:1— Tufh, fear not, man, we'll tip thy horns with gold, And all Europa fhall rejoice at thee;'

As once Europa did at lufty Jove,

When he would play the noble beaft in love.

BENE. Bull Jove, fir, had an amiable low; And fome fuch strange bull leap'd your father's cow, And got a calf in that fame noble feat, Much like to you, for you have just his bleat.

Re-enter ANTONIO, with the Ladies mafk'd.

CLAUD. For this I owe you: here come other reckonings.

Which is the lady I muft feize upon?

2

a the favage bull:] Still alluding to the paffage quoted in a former fcene from Kyd's Hieronymo. STEEVENS.

3 And all Europa hall, &c.] I have no doubt but that our author wrote

And all our Europe, &c.

So, in King Richard II:

"As were our England in reverfion his." STEEVENS,

ANT. This fame is fhe, and I do give you her. CLAUD. Why, then she's mine: Sweet, let me fee your face.

LEON. No, that you fhall not, till you take her hand

Before this friar, and swear to marry her.

CLAUD. Give me your hand before this holy friar ;

I am your husband, if you like of me.

HERO. And when I liv'd, I was your other wife:

[Unmasking. And when you lov'd, you were my other husband. CLAUD. Another Hero?

HERO.

Nothing certainer:

One Hero died defil'd; but I do live,

And, furely as I live, I am a maid.

D. PEDRO. The former Hero! Hero that is dead!
LEON. She died, my lord, but whiles her flander
liv'd.

FRIAR. All this amazement can I qualify;
When, after that the holy rites are ended,
I'll tell you largely of fair Hero's death:
Mean time, let wonder feem familiar,
And to the chapel let us presently.

BENE. Soft and fair, friar.—Which is Beatrice?
BEAT. I answer to that name; [Unmasking] What
will?

is your

4 Ant. This fame, &c.] This fpeech is in the old copies given to Leonato. Mr. Theobald firft affigned it to the right owner. Leonato has in a former part of this fcene told Antonio,—that he "must be father to his brother's daughter, and give her to young Claudio." MALONE.

BEAT.

No, no more than reafon."

BENE. Why, then your uncle, and the prince, and Claudio,

Have been deceived; for they fwore you did."
BEAT. Do not you love me?

BENE.

No, no more than reason."

BEAT. Why, then my coufin, Margaret, and

Urfula,

Are much deceiv'd; for they did fwear, you did. BENE. They fwore that you were almost fick for

me.

BEAT. They fwore that you were well-nigh dead

for me.

BENE. 'Tis no fuch matter:-Then, you do not love me?

BEAT. No, truly, but in friendly recompence. you love the gen

LEON. Come, coufin, I am fure

tleman.

CLAUD. And I'll be fworn upon't, that he loves

her;

For here's a paper, written in his hand,
A halting fonnet of his own pure brain,
Fashion'd to Beatrice.

HERO.

And here's another,

No, no more than reafon.] The old copies, injurioufly to metre, read-Why, no, &c. It should feem that the compofitor's eye had caught the here unneceffary adverb from the following speech. STEEVENS.

6

for they fore you did.] For, which both the fenfe and metre require, was inferted by Sir Thomas Hanmer. So, below: Are much deceiv'd; for they did fwear you did." MALONE. No, no more than reafon.] Here again the metre, in the old copies, is overloaded by reading-Troth, no, no more, &c.

STEEVENS.