I have known my husband; yet my husband knows | That's seal'd in approbation? - You, lord Escalus, not, That ever he knew me. Lucio. He was drunk then, my lord; it can be no better. Duke. For the benefit of silence, would thou wert so too. Lucio. Well, my lord. Duke. This is no witness for lord Angelo. She, that accuses him of fornication, In self-same manner doth accuse my husband; With all the effect of love. Ang. Charges she more han me? Mari. Not that I know. No? you say, your husband. Mari. Why, just, my lord, and that is Angelo, Who thinks, he knows, that he ne'er knew my body, But knows, he thinks, that he knows Isabel's. Ang. This is a strange abuse:-Let's see thy face. This is that face, thou cruel Angelo, And did supply thee at thy garden-house, In her imagin'd person. Duke. Know you this woman? Lucio. Carnally, she says. Duke. Lucio. Enough, my lord. Sirrah, no more. Ang. My lord, I must confess, I know this woman; And, five years since, there was some speech of marriage Betwixt myself and her; which was broke off, In levity: since which time of five years, I never spake with her, saw her, nor heard from her, Mari. Noble prince, Sit with my cousin; lend him your kind pains F. Peter. Would he were here, my lord; for he Hath set the women on to this complaint: Duke. Go, do it instantly. Escal. My lord, we'll do it thoroughly. - [Exit. DUKE.] Signior Lucio, did not you say, you knew that friar Lodowick to be a dishonest person ? Lucio. Cucullus non facit monachum: honest in nothing, but in his clothes; and one that hath spoke most villainous speeches of the duke. Escal. We shall entreat you to abide here till he come, and enforce them against him: we shall find this friar a notable fellow. Lucio. As any in Vienna, on my word. Escal. Call that same Isabel here once again; [To an Attendant.] I would speak with her: Pray you, my lord, give me leave to question; you shall see how I'll handle her. Lucio. Not better than he, by her own report. Lucio. Marry, sir, I think, if you handled her privately, she would sooner confess: perchance, publickly she'll be ashamed. Re-enter Officers, with ISABELLA; the DUKE, in the Escal. I will go darkly to work with her. Lucio. That's the way; for women are light at midnight. Escal. Come on mistress: [To ISABELLA.] here's a gentlewoman denies all that you have said. Lucio. My lord, here comes the rascal I spoke of; here with the provost. Escal. In very good time: - speak not you to As there comes light from heaven, and words from him, till we call upon you. But we will know this purpose: - What! unjust? Dare no more stretch this finger of mine, than he Where I have seen corruption boil and bubble, Escal. Slander to the state! Away with him to prison. Ang. What can you vouch against him, signior Lucio? Is this the man that you did tell us of? Lucio. 'Tis he, my lord. Come hither good-man bald-pate: Do you know me? Duke. I remember you, sir, by the sound of your voice I met you at the prison, in the absence of the duke. Lucio. O did you so? And do you remember what you said of the duke? Duke. Most notedly, sir. Lucio. Do you, so, sir? And was the duke a flesh-monger, a fool, and a coward, as you then reported him to be? Duke. You must, sir, change persons with me, ere you make that my report: you, indeed, spoke 50 of him; and much more, much worse. Lucio. O thou damnable fellow! Did not I pluck thee by the nose, for thy speeches ? Duke. I protest, I love the duke, as I love myself. Ang. Hark! how the villain would close now, after his treasonable abuses. Escal. Such a fellow is not to be talk'd withal: A way with him to prison: - Where is the provost? -Away with him to prison; lay bolts enough upon him: let him speak no more: - Away with those giglots too, and with the other confederate companion. [The Provost lays hands on the DUKE. Duke. Stay, sir; stay awhile. Ang. What! resists he! Help him, Lucio. Lucio. Come, sir; come, sir; come, sir; foh, sir: Why, you bald-pated, lying rascal! you must be hooded, must you? Show your knave's visage, with a pox to you! show your sheep-biting face, and be hang'd an hour! Will't not off? [Pulls off the Friar's hood, and discovers the DUKE. Duke. Thou art the first knave, that e'er made a duke. First, provost, let me bail these gentle three: Sneak not away, sir; [to Lucio.] for the friar and you Must have a word anon: - lay hold on him. Lucio. This may prove worse than hanging. Duke. What you have spoke, I pardon; sit you down. [TO ESCALUS. We'll borrow place of him - Sir, by your leave : [TO ANGELO. Hast thou or word, or wit, or impudence, That yet can do thee office? If thou hast, Rely upon it till my tale be heard, And hold no longer out. That I, your vassal, have employ'd and pain'd Duke. And now, dear maid, be you as free to us. Re-enter ANGELO, MARIANA, PETER, and Provost. I do, my lord. Duke. For this new-married man, approaching here, Whose salt imagination yet hath wrong'd Your well defended honour, you must pardon For Mariana's sake: but as he adjudg'd your brother, (Being criminal, in double violation We do condemn thee to the very block Look, if it please you, on this man condemn'd. As if my brother liv'd: I partly think, A due sincerity govern'd his deeds, Till he did look on me; since it is so, Let him not die: My brother had but justice. His act did not o'ertake his bad intent; And must be buried but as an intent That perish'd by the way: thoughts are no subjects; Mari. Merely, my lord. One all of luxury, an ass, a madman; That you extol me thus? Lucio. 'Faith, my lord, I spoke it but according to the trick: If you will hang me for it, you may, but I had rather it would please you, I might be whipp'd. Duke. Whipp'd first, sir, and hang'd after, — Proclaim it, provost, round about the city; If any woman's wrong'd by this lewd fellow, (As I have heard him swear himself, there's one Duke. Your suit's unprofitable; stand up, I say. - Whom he begot with child,) let her appear, I have bethought me of another fault: Provost, how came it, Claudio was beheaded At an unusual hour? And he shall marry her: the nuptial finish'd, Lucio. I beseech your highness, do not marry me to a whore! Your highness said even now, I made you a duke; good my lord, do not recompense me, in making me a cuckold. Duke. Upon mine honour, thou shalt marry her Lucio. Marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing te death, whipping, and hanging. Duke. Slandering a prince deserves it. She, Claudio, that you wrong'd, look you restore. - SCENE I. - Before Leonato's House. Enter LEONATO, HERO, BEATRICE, and others, with a Messenger. Leon. I learn in this letter, that Don Pedro of Arragon comes this night to Messina. Mess. He is very near by this; he was not three leagues off when I left him. Leon. How many gentlemen have you lost in this action? Mess. But few of any sort, and none of name. Leon. A victory is twice itself, when the achiever brings home full numbers. I find here, that Don Pedro hath bestowed much honour on a young Florentine, called Claudio. Mess. Much deserved on his part, and equally remembered by Don Pedro: He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age; doing, in the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion: he hath, indeed, better bettered expectation, than you must expect of me to tell you how. Leon. He hath an uncle here in Messina will be very much glad of it. Mess. I have already delivered him letters, and there appears much joy in him; even so much, that joy could not show itself modest enough, without a badge of bitterness.; Leon. Did he break out into tears? Leon. A kind overflow of kindness: There are no faces truer than those that are so washed. How Beat. I pray you, is signior Montanto returned from the wars, or no? Mess. I know none of that name, lady; there was none such in the army of any sort. Leon. What is he that you ask for, niece? Mess. O, he is returned, and as pleasant as ever he was. Beat. He set up his bills here in Messina, and challenged Cupid at the flight: and my uncle's fool, reading the challenge, subscribed for Cupid, and challenged him at the bird-bolt. - I pray you, how many hath he killed and eaten in these wars? But how many hath he killed? for, indeed, I promised to eat all of his killing. Leon. Faith, niece, you tax signior Benedick too much; but he'll be meet with you, I doubt it not. Mess. He hath done good service, lady, in these wars. Beat. You had musty victual, and he hath holp to eat it: he is a very valiant trencher-man, be hath an excellent stomach. Mess. And a good soldier too, lady. Beat. And a good soldier to a lady; - But what is he to a lord? Mess. A lord to a lord, a man to a man; stuffed with all honourable virtues. Beat. It is so, indeed: he is no less than stutied man: but for the stuffing, - Well, we are ail mortal. Leon. You must not, sir, mistake my niece: there is a kind of merry war betwixt signior Benedick and her: they never meet, but there is a skirmish of wit between them. Beat. Alas, he gets nothing by that. In our last conflict, four of his five wits went halting off, and now is the old man governed with one: so that if he have wit enough to keep himself warm, let him bear it for a difference between himself and his horse; for it is all the wealth that he hath left, to be known a reasonable creature. Who is his companion now? He hath every month a new sworn brother. Mess. Is it possible? Beat. Very easily possible: he wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat, it ever changes with the next block. Mess. I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books. Beat. No: an he were, I would burn my study. But, I pray you, who is his companion? Is there no young squarer now, that will make a voyage with him to the devil ? Mess. He is most in the company of the right noble Claudio. Beat. O Lord! he will hang upon him like a disease: he is sooner caught than the pestilence, and the taker runs presently mad. God help the noble Claudio! if he have caught the Benedick, it will cost him a thousand pound ere he be cured. Mess. I will hold friends with you, lady. Beat. Do, good friend. Leon. You will never run mad, niece. Enter Don PEDRO, attended by BALTHAZAR and others, Don JOHN, CLAUDIO, and BENEDICK. D. Pedro. Good signior Leonato, you are come to meet your trouble: the fashion of the world is to avoid cost, and you encounter it. Leon. Never came trouble to my house in the likeness of your grace; for trouble being gone, comfort should remain; but when you depart from me, sorrow abides, and happiness takes his leave. D. Pedro. You embrace your charge too willingly. I think, this is your daughter. Leon. Her mother hath many times told me so. Bene. Were you in doubt, sir, that you asked her? Leon. Signior Benedick, no; for then were you a child. D. Pedro. You have it full, Benedick: we may guess by this what you are, being a man. Truly, the lady fathers herself: - Be happy, lady! for you are like an honourable father. Bene. If signior Leonato be her father, she would not have his head on her shoulders, for all Messina, as like him as she is. Beat. I wonder that you will still be talking, signior Benedick; no body marks you. Bene. What, my dear lady Disdain! are you yet living. Beat. Is it possible, disdain should die, while she hath such meet food to feed it, as signior Benedick? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come in her presence. Bene. Then is courtesy a turn-coat: But it is certain, I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted : and I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart: for, truly, I love none. Beat. A dear happiness to women; they would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank God, and my cold blood, I am of your humour for that; I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow, than a man swear he loves me. Bene. God keep your ladyship still in that mind! so some gentleman or other shall 'scape a predestinate scratched face. Beat. Scratching could not make it worse, an 'twere such a face as yours were. Bene. Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher. Beat. A bird of my tongue, is better than a beast of yours. Bene. I would, my horse had the speed of your tongue; and so good a continuer: But keep your way o' God's name; I have done. Beat. You always end with a jade's trick; 1 know you of old. D. Pedro. This is the sum of all: Leonato, signior Claudio, and signior Benedick, - my dear friend Leonato hath invited you all. I tell him, we shall stay here at the least a month; and he heartily prays some occasion may detain us longer: I dare swear he is no hypocrite, but prays from his heart. Leon. If you swear, my lord, you shall not be forsworn. - Let me bid you welcome, my lord: being reconciled to the prince your brother, I owe you all duty. D. John. I thank you: I am not of many words, but I thank you. Leon. Please it your grace lead on ? D. Pedro. Your hand, Leonato; we will go together. [Exeunt all but BENEDICK and CLAUDIO. Claud. Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of signior Leonato? Bene. I noted her not: but I looked on her. Bene. Do you question me as an honest man should do, for my simple true judgment; or would you have me speak after my custom, as being a professed tyrant to their sex? Claud. No, I pray thee, speak in sober judgment. Bene. Why, i'faith, methinks she is too low for a high praise, too brown for a fair praise, and too little for a great praise: only this commendation I can afford her; that were she other than she is, she were unhandsome; and being no other but as she is, I do not like her. Cland. Thou thinkest I am in sport; I pray thee, tell me truly how thou likest her. Bene. Would you buy her, that you inquire after her? Claud. Can the world buy such a jewel? Bene. Yea, and a case to put it into. But speak you this with a sad brow? or do you play the flouting Jack; to tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder, and Vulcan a rare carpenter? Come, in what key shall a man take you, to go in the song? Claud. In mine eye, she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on. Bene. I can see yet without spectacles, and I see no such matter: there's her cousin, an she were not possessed with a fury, exceeds her as much in beauty, as the first of May doth the last of December. But I hope, you have no intent to turn husband: have you? |