Let all my sins lack mercy!-O, my father! Maintain❜d the change of words with any creature, Friar. There is some strange misprision in the princes. Bene. Two of them have the very bent of honour; And if their wisdoms be misled in this, The practice of it lives in John the bastard, Whose spirits toil in frame of villainies. Leon. I know not. If they speak but truth of her, Nor fortune made such havoc of my means, Friar. Pause a while, And let my counsel sway you in this case. Your daughter, here, the princes left for dead2; And publish it, that she is dead indeed: Maintain a mourning ostentation; Leon. What shall become of this? What will this do? 2 Your daughter, here, the princes left for dead ;] In the old copies, folio and 4to, the line is thus printed :-" Your daughter here, the princess (left for dead),” which cannot be right unless we suppose the friar to call Hero a “ prinTheobald altered the line as it stands in the text, by which in fact only one letter is changed, omitting the parenthesis, and the sense entirely cleared. cess. Friar. Marry, this, well carried, shall on her behalf That what we have we prize not to the worth, And every lovely organ of her life Shall come apparell'd in more precious habit, Into the eye and prospect of his soul, Than when she liv'd indeed :-then shall he mourn, Out of all eyes, tongues, minds, and injuries. Is Yet, by mine honour, I will deal in this Leon. Being that I flow in grief, The smallest twine may lead me. Friar. "Tis well consented: presently away, For to strange sores strangely they strain the Come, lady, die to live: this wedding day, Perhaps, is but prolong'd: have patience, and endure. [Exeunt Friar, HERO, and LEONATO. Bene. Lady Beatrice, have you wept all this while? Beat. Yea, and I will weep a while longer. Bene. I will not desire that. Beat. You have no reason; I do it freely. Bene. Surely, I do believe your fair cousin is wronged. Beat. Ah, how much might the man deserve of me that would right her! Bene. Is there any way to show such friendship? Bene. May a man do it? Beat. It is a man's office, but not yours. Bene. I do love nothing in the world so well as you. Is not that strange? Beat. 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. Bene. By my sword, Beatrice, thou lovest me. Beat. Do not swear by it, and eat it3. Bene. I will swear by it, that you love me; and I will make him eat it, that says I love not you. Beat. Will you not eat your word? 3 Do not swear BY IT, and eat it.] So the folio, 1623; and what Benedick afterwards says, 66 I will swear by it, that you love me," &c., seems to warrant the insertion of " by it," though not found in the 4to. Bene. With no sauce that can be devised to it. I protest, I love thee. Beat. Why then, God forgive me! Bene. What offence, sweet Beatrice? Beat. You have stayd me in a happy hour: I was about to protest, I loved you. Bene. And do it with all thy heart. Beat. I love you with so much of my heart, that none is left to protest. Bene. Come, bid me do any thing for thee. Beat. Kill Claudio. Bene. Ha! not for the wide world. Beat. You kill me to deny it*. Bene. Tarry, sweet Beatrice. Farewell. Beat. I am gone, though I am here:-there is no love in you.-Nay, I pray you, let me go. Bene. Beatrice,― Beat. In faith, I will go. Bene. We'll be friends first. Beat. You dare easier be friends with me, than fight with mine enemy. Bene. Is Claudio thine enemy ? Beat. 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. Bene. Hear me, Beatrice Beat. Talk with a man out at a window!-a proper saying. Bene. Nay, but Beatrice You kill me to deny IT.] The folio omits "it;" which seems a proper, though not an absolutely necessary, part of what Beatrice says: it is inserted in the 4to, 1600. Shakespeare and other writers of his time, and afterwards, not unfrequently employ "deny," in the sense of refuse; and so it may be taken in the folio. Beat. Sweet Hero!-she is wronged, she is slandered, she is undone. Bene. Beat Beat. Princes, and counties! Surely, a princely testimony, a goodly count, count confect; 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. Bene. Tarry, good Beatrice. By this hand, I love thee. Beat. Use it for my love some other way than swearing by it. Bene. Think you in your soul the count Claudio hath wronged Hero? Beat. Yea, as sure as I have a thought, or a soul. Bene. 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. SCENE II. A Prison. Enter DOGBERRY, VERGES, and Sexton, in gowns; and the Watch, with CONRADE and BORACHIO. Dogb. Is our whole dissembly appeared? 3 a goodly count, count confect ;] "Count confect" is the title Beatrice gives him in contempt. We still speak of " caraway confects." She first calls him "count," and then mentions his title, " count confect; a sweet gallant, surely!" This is the reading of the 4to, 1600, and of the folio, 1623. Enter Dogberry, Verges, and Sexton,] In the course of the dialogue in |