Sing no more ditties, fing no ma
Of dumps fo dull and heavy;
The frauds of men were ever so,
Since fummer was first leafy:
Then figh not fo, &c.

Pedro. By my troth, a good Song.

Balth. And an ill finger, my lord.

Pedro. Ha, no; no, faith; thou fing'ft well enough for a shift.

Bene. [afide.] If he had been a dog, that fhould have howl'd thus, they would have hang'd him; and, I pray God, his bad voice bode no mischief! I had as lief have heard the night-raven, come what plague could have come after it.

Pedro. Yea, marry, doft thou hear, Balthazar? I pray thee get us fome excellent mufick; for to morrow night we would have it at the lady Hero's chamber-window.

Balth. The best I can, my lord. [Exit Balthazar. Pedro. Do fo: farewel. Come hither, Leonato ; what was it you told me of to day, that your Niece Beatrice was in love with Signior Benedick?

Claud. O, ay;

-ftalk on, ftalk on, the fowl fits. [afide to Pedro.] I did never think that lady would have loved any man.

Leon. No, nor I neither; but most wonderful, that she should fo doat on Signior Benedick, whom the hath in all outward behaviours feem'd ever to abhor.

Bene. Is't poffible, fits the wind in that corner? [Afide. Leon. By my troth, my lord, I cannot tell what to think of it; but that fhe loves him with an inraged affection, it is paft the infinite of thought.

5 but that he loves him with an inraged affection, it is paft the INFINITE of thought.] It is impoffible to make Senfe and Grammar of this fpeech. And the reafon is, that the two beginnings of two different fentences

Pedro.

are jumbled together and made one. For-but that he loves him with an inraged affection,is only part of a sentence which fhould conclude thus,-is moft certain. But a new idea ftriking the speaker, he leaves this fen

tence

Pedro. May be, fhe doth but counterfeit.
Claud. Faith, like enough.

Leon. O God! counterfeit? there was never counterfeit of paffion came fo near the life of paffion, as fhe difcovers it.

Pedro. Why, what effects of paffion fhews fhe? Claud. Bait the hook well, this fifh will bite. [Afide. Leon. What effects, my lord? fhe will fit you, you heard my daughter tell you how.

Claud. She did, indeed.

Pedro. How, how, I pray you? you amaze me: I would have thought, her fpirit had been invincible against all affaults of affection.

Leon. I would have fworn, it had, my lord; efpecially against Benedick.

Bene. [Afide.] I should think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow fpeaks it; knavery cannot, fure, hide himself in fuch reverence.

Claud. He hath ta'en th' infection, hold it up. [Afide. Pedro. Hath fhe made her affection known to Benedick?

tence unfinished, and turns to another, It is paft the infinite of thought which is likewife left unfinished; for it fhould conclude thus- -to say how great that affection is. Thefe broken disjointed fentences are ufual in converfation. However there is one word wrong, which yet perplexes the fenfe, and that is INFINITE. Human thought cannot furely be called infinite with any kind of figurative propriety. I fuppofe the true reading was DEFINITE. This makes the paffage intelligible. It is paft the DEFINITE of thoughti. e. it cannot be defined or conceived how great that affection is. Shake Spear ufes the word again in the fame fenfe in Cymbeline.

3

For Idiots, in this cafe of favour, would

Be wifely DEFINITE.i. e. could tell how to pronounce or determine in the cafe. WARB.

Here are difficulties raised only to fhew how easily they can be removed. The plain fenfe is, I know not what to think otherwife, but that she loves_him with an enraged affection: It (this af fection) is paft the infinite of thought. Here are no abrupt ftops, or imperfect sentences. Infinite may well enough ftand; it is ufed by more careful writers for indefinite: And the speaker only means, that thought, though in itfelf unbounded, cannot reach or estimate the degree of her paffion.

Leon.

Leon. No, and fwears fhe never will; that's her

torment.

Claud. 'Tis true, indeed, fo your daughter fays: fhall I, fays fhe, that have fo oft encounter'd him with fcorn, write to him that I love him?

Leon. This fays the now, when fhe is beginning to write to him; for fhe'll be up twenty times a night, and there fhe will fit in her fmock, 'till fhe have writ a fheet of paper-my daughter tells us all.

Claud. Now you talk of a fheet of talk of a fheet of paper, I remember a pretty jeft your daughter told us of.

Leon. Oh, when he had writ it, and was reading it over, fhe found Benedick and Beatrice between the sheet.

Claud. ThatLeon: O, fhe tore the letter into a thousand halfpence; rail'd at herself, that she should be fo immodeft, to write to one that, fhe knew, wou'd flout her: I measure him, fays fhe, by my own Spirit, for, I fhould flout him if he writ to me; yea, though I love him, I fhould.

Claud. Then down upon her knees fhe falls, weeps, fobs, beats her heart, tears her hair, prays, curfes; O fweet Benedick! God give me patience!

Leon. She doth, indeed, my daughter fays fo; and the ecftacy hath fo much overborne her, that my daughter is fometime afraid, fhe will do defperate outrage to herself; it is very true.

60, he tore the Letter into a the fand half-pence; i. e. into a thousand Pieces of the fame bignefs. This is farther explained by a Paffage in As you like it.

There were nine principal ; they were all like one another as half-pence are.

In both places the Poet alludes

VOL. III.

to the old filver Penny which had a Creafe running refs-wife over it, fo that it might be broke into two or four equal pieces, half-penee, or farthings.

THEOBALD. How the quotation explains the paffage, to which it is applied, I cannot discover.

P

Pedro.

Pedro. It were good that Benedick knew of it fome other, if fhe will not discover it.

Claud. To what end? he would but make a fport of it, and torment the poor lady worse.

Pedro. If he fhould, it were an Alms to hang him; fhe's an excellent fweet lady, and (out of all fufpicion) fhe is virtuous.

Claud. And fhe is exceeding wife.

Pedro. In every thing, but in loving Benedick.

Leon. O my lord, wifdom and blood combating in fo tender a body, we have ten proofs to one, that blood hath the victory; I am forry for her, as I have just caufe, being her uncle and her guardian.

Pedro. I would, fhe had bestow'd this dotage on me; I would have dafft all other respects, and made her half myself. I pray you, tell Benedick of it; and hear what he will fay..

Leon. Were it good, think you ?

Claud. Hero thinks, furely fhe will die; for fhe fays, fhe will die if he love her not, and fhe will die ere the make her love known; and fhe will die if he woo her, rather than she will bate one breath of her accuftom'd crofinefs.

Pedro. She doth well; if fhe fhould make tender of her love, 'tis very poffible, he'll fcorn it; for the man, as you know all, hath a contemptible spirit. 7

Claud. He is a very proper man.

Pedro. He hath, indeed, a good outward happiness. Claud. 'Fore God, and, in my mind, very wife. Pedro. He doth, indeed, fhew fome sparks that are like wit,

Leon. And I take him to be valiant.

Pedro. As Heator, I affure you; and in the managing of quarrels you may fay he is wife; for either

7 Contemptible Spirit] That is, a temper inclined to fcorn and contempt. It has been before remarked, that our authour ufes

his verbal adjectives with great licence. There is therefore no need of changing the word with Sir T. Hanmer to contemptuous.

he

he avoids them with great difcretion, or undertakes them with a chriftian-like fear.

Leon. If he do fear God, he must neceffarily keep peace; if he break the peace, he ought to enter into a quarrel with fear and trembling.

Pedro. And fo will he do, for the man doth fear God, how foever it seems not in him, by fome large jests he will make. Well, I am forry for your Niece: fhall we go feek 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 impoffible, fhe may wear her heart out firft.

;

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 modeftly examine himself, to see how much he is unworthy to have fo 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 truft my expectation.

[Afide. Pedro. Let there be the fame net fpread for her, and that must your daughter and her gentlewomen carry. The sport will be, when they hold an opinion of one another's dotage, and no fuch matter; that's the Scene that I would fee, which will be meerly a Dumb Show; let us fend her to call him to dinner. [Afide.] [Exeunt.

SCENE X.

Benedick advances from the Arbour.

Bene. This can be no trick, the conference was fadly borne. They have the truth of this from Hero; they seem to pity the lady; it seems, her affections have the full bent. Love me! why, it must be requited. I hear, how I am cenfur'd; they fay, I will