Leo.

Come, friar Francis, be brief; only to the plain form of marriage, and you shall recount their particular duties afterwards.

Fri.

You come hither, my lord, to marry this lady?

Cla.

No.

Leo.

To be marry'd to her, friar; you come to marry her.

Fri.

Lady, you come hither to be marry'd to this count?

Her.

I do.

Fri.

If either of you know any inward impediment why you should not be conjoyned, I charge you, on your souls, to utter it.

Cla.

Know you any, Hero?

Her.

None, my lord.

Fri.

Know you any, count?

Leo.

I dare make his answer, none.

Cla.

O, what men dare do! what men may do! what men daily do! not knowing what they do. ^note

Ben.

How now! interjections? Why then, some be of laughing, as, ha, ha, ha!

Cla.
Stand thee by, friar:—Father, by your leave,
Will you with free and unconstrained soul
Give me this maid your daughter?

Leo.
As freely, son, as God did give her me.

Cla.
And what have I to give you back, whose worth
May counterpoise this rich and precious gift?

D. Pe.
Nothing, unless you render her again.

Cla.
Sweet prince, you learn me noble thankfulness:—
There, Leonato, take her back again;
Give not this rotten orange to your friend;
She's but the sign and semblance of her honour:—
Behold, how like a maid she blushes here:
O, what authority and shew of truth
Can cunning sin cover itself withal!
Comes not that blood, as modest evidence
To witness simple virtue? Would you not swear,
All you that see her, that she were a maid,
By these exterior shews? But she is none:

She knows the heat of a luxurious bed:
Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty.

Leo.
What do you mean, my lord?

Cla.
Not to be marry'd;
Not knit ^note my soul to an approved wanton.

Leo.
Dear, dear my lord, if you in your own proof
Have vanquish'd the resistance of her youth,
And made defeat of her virginity,—

Cla.
I know what you would say; If I have known her,
You will say, she did embrace me as a husband,
And so extenuate the forehand sin:
No, Leonato,
I never tempted her with word too large;
But, as a brother to his sister, shew'd
Bashful sincerity, and comely love.

Her.
And seem'd I ever otherwise to you?

Cla.
Out on thy seeming ^note!14Q0172 I will write against it:
You seem to me as Dian in her orb;
As chast as is the bud ere it be blown;
But you are more intemperate in your blood
Than Venus, or those pamper'd animals
That rage in savage sensuality.

Her.
Is my lord well, that he doth speak so wide?

Leo.
Sweet prince, why speak not you?

D. Pe.
What should I speak?
I stand dishonour'd, that have gone about
To link my dear friend to a common stale.

Leo.
Are these things spoken, or do I but dream?

D. Jo.
Sir, they are spoken, and these things are true.

Ben.
This looks not like a nuptial.

Her.
True, o God!

Cla.
Leonato, Stand I here?

Is this the prince? Is this the prince's brother?
Is this face Hero's? Are our eyes our own?

Leo.
All this is so; But what of this, my lord?

Cla.
Let me but move one question to your daughter;
And, by that fatherly and kindly power
That you have in her, bid her answer truly.

Leo.
I charge thee do so, ^note as thou art my child.

Her.
O God defend me! how am I beset!—
What kind of catechising call you this?

Cla.
To make ^note you answer truly to your name.

Her.
Is it not Hero? Who can blot that name
With any just reproach?

Cla.
Marry, that can Hero;
Hero itself ^note can blot out Hero's virtue.
What man was he talk'd with you yesternight
Out at your window, betwixt twelve and one?
Now, if you are a maid, answer to this.

Her.
I talk'd with no man at that hour, my lord.

D. Pe.
Why, then are you ^note no maiden.—Leonato,
I am sorry you must hear; Upon mine honour,
Myself, my brother, and this grieved count,
Did see her, hear her, at that hour last night,
Talk with a ruffian at her chamber-window;
Who hath, indeed, most like a liberal villain,
Confess'd the vile encounters they have had
A thousand times in secret.

D. Jo.
Fie, fie!—they are
Not to be nam'd, my lord, not to be spoke of; ^note
There is not chastity enough in language,
Without offence, to utter them:—Thus, pretty lady,
I am sorry for thy much misgovernment.

Cla.
O Hero! what a Hero had'st thou been,

If half thy outward graces had been plac'd
About thy thoughts, and counsels of thy heart!
But, fare thee well, most foul, most fair! farewel,
Thou pure impiety, and impious purity!
For thee I'll lock up all the gates of love;
And on my eyelids shall conjecture hang,
To turn all beauty into thoughts of harm,
And never shall it more be gracious.

Leo.
Hath no man's dagger here a point for me? [Hero swoons.

Bea.
Why, how now, cousin? wherefore sink you down?

D. Jo.
Come, let us go: these things, come thus to light,
Smother her spirits up. [Exeunt D. Pedro, D. John, and Claudio.

Ben.
How doth the lady?

Bea.
Dead, I think;—Help, uncle;—
Hero, why, Hero;—Uncle,—Signior Benedick,—
Friar,—

Leo.
O fate, take not away thy heavy hand!
Death is the fairest cover for her shame,
That may be wish'd for.

Bea.
How now, cousin Hero?

Fri.
Have comfort, lady.

Leo.
Dost thou look up?

Fri.
Yea; Wherefore should she not?

Leo.
Wherefore? Why, doth not every earthly thing
Cry shame upon her? Could she here deny
The story that is printed in her blood?—
Do not live, Hero; do not ope thine eyes:
For did I think thou would'st not quickly dye,
Thought I thy spirits were stronger than thy shames,
Myself would, on the rear-ward ^note of reproaches,

Strike at thy life.—Griev'd I, I had but one?14Q0173
Chid I for that at frugal nature's frame?
O, ^note one too much by thee! Why had I one?
Why ever wast thou lovely in my eyes?
Why had I not, with charitable hand,
Took up a beggar's issue at my gates;
Who smeared thus ^note, and mir'd with infamy,
I might have said, No part of it is mine,
This shame derives itself from unknown loins?
But mine, and mine I lov'd, and mine I prais'd,
And mine that I was proud on; mine so much,
That I myself was to myself not mine,
Valuing of her; why she, o, she, is fallen
Into a pit of ink! that the wide sea
Hath drops too few to wash her clean again;
And salt too little, which may season give
To her foul tainted flesh!

Ben.
Sir, sir, be patient:
For my part, I am so attir'd in wonder,
I know not what to say.

Bea.
O, on my soul, my cousin is bely'd!

Ben.
Lady, were you her bedfellow last night?

Bea.
No, truly, not; although, until last night,
I have this twelvemonth been her bedfellow.

Leo.
Confirm'd, confirm'd! O, that is stronger made,
Which was before bar'd up with ribs of iron!
Would the two princes ^note lye? and Claudio lye?
Who lov'd her so, that, speaking of her foulness,
Wash'd it with tears? Hence from her; let her dye.

Fri.
Hear me a little;
For I have only been silent so long,
And given way unto this course of fortune,

By noting of the lady: I have mark'd
A thousand blushing apparitions
To start into her face; a thousand innocent shames
In angel whiteness bear away ^note those blushes;
And in her eye there hath appear'd a fire,
To burn the errors that these princes hold
Against her maiden truth: Call me a fool;
Trust not my reading, nor my observation, ^note
Which with experimental seal doth warrant
The tenour of my book; trust not my age,
My reverence, calling, nor divinity,
If this sweet lady lye not guiltless here
Under some biting error.

Leo.
Friar, it cannot be:
Thou seest ^note, that all the grace, that she hath left,
Is, that she will not add to her damnation
A sin of perjury; she not denies it:
Why seek'st thou then to cover with excuse
That which appears in proper nakedness?

Fri.
Lady, what man is he you are accus'd of?

Her.
They know, that do accuse me; I know none:
If I know more of any man alive,
Than that which maiden modesty doth warrant,
Let all my sins lack mercy!—O my father,
Prove you that any man with me convers'd
At hours unmeet, or that I yesternight
Maintain'd the change of words with any creature,
Refuse me, hate me, torture me to death.

Fri.
There is some strange misprision in the princes. ^note

Ben.
Two of them have the very bent of honour;
And if their wisdoms be misled in this,
The practise of it lives in John the bastard,

Whose spirits toil in frame of villanies.

Leo.
I know not; If they speak but truth of her,
These hands shall tear her; if they wrong her honour,
The proudest of them shall well hear of it.
Time hath not yet so dry'd this blood of mine,
Nor age so eat up my invention,
Nor fortune made such havock of my means,
Nor my bad life reft me so much of friends,
But they shall find,14Q0174 awak'd in such a kind,
Both strength of limb, and policy of mind,
Ability in means, and choice of friends,
To quit me of them throughly.

Fri.
Pause a while,
And let my counsel sway you in this case.
Your daughter here the princes left ^note for dead;
Let her a while be secretly kept in,
And publish it, that she is dead indeed;
Maintain a mourning ostentation;
And on your family's old monument
Hang mournful epitaphs, and do all rites
That appertain unto a burial.

Leo.
What shall become of this? What will this do?

Fri.
Marry, this, well carry'd, shall on her behalf
Change slander to remorse; that is some good:
But not for that dream I on this strange course,
But on this travail look for greater birth.
She dying, as it must be so maintain'd,
Upon the instant that she was accus'd,
Shall be lamented, pity'd, and excus'd,
Of every hearer: For it so falls out,
That what we have we prize not to the worth,
Whiles we enjoy it; but being lack'd, and lost,

Why, then we rack the ^note value; then we find
The virtue, that possession would not give us
Whiles it was ours:—So will it fare with Claudio:
When he shall hear she dy'd upon his words,
The idea of her life shall sweetly creep
Into his study of imagination;
And every lovely organ of her life
Shall come apparel'd in more precious habit,
More moving-delicate, and full of life,
Into the eye and prospect of his soul,
Than when she liv'd indeed: then shall he mourn,
(If ever love had interest in his liver)
And wish he had not so accused her;
No, though he thought his accusation true.
Let this be so, and doubt not but success
Will fashion the event in better shape
Than I can lay it down in likelihood.
But if all aim but this be level'd false,
The supposition of the lady's death
Will quench the wonder of her infamy:
And, if it sort not well, you may conceal her
(As best befits her wounded reputation)
In some reclusive ^note and religious life,
Out of all eyes, tongues, minds, and injuries.

Ben.
Signior Leonato, let the friar advise you.
And though, you know, my inwardness and love
Is very much unto the prince and Claudio,
Yet, by mine honour, I will deal in this
As secretly, and justly, as your soul
Should with your body.

Leo.
Being that, alas!
I flow in grief, the smallest twine may lead me.

Fri.
'Tis well consented; presently away;
  For to strange sores strangely they strain the cure.—
Come, lady, dye to live: this wedding-day,
  Perhaps, is but prolong'd; have patience, and endure. [Exeunt Friar, Hero, and Leonato.

Ben.

Lady Beatrice, have you wept all this while?

Bea.

Yea, and I will weep a while longer.

Ben.

I will not desire that.

Bea.

You have no reason, I do it freely.

Ben.

Surely, I do believe your fair cousin is wronged.

Bea.

Ah, how much might the man deserve of me, that would right her!

Ben.

Is there any way to shew such friendship?

Bea.

A very even way, but no such friend.

Ben.

May a man do it?

Bea.

It is a man's office, but not yours.

Ben.

I do love nothing in the world so well as you; Is not that strange?

Bea.

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 lye not; I confess nothing, nor I deny nothing:—I am sorry for my cousin.

Ben.

By my sword, Beatrice, thou lov'st me.

Bea.

Do not swear by it ^note, and eat it.

Ben.

I will swear by it, that you love me; and I will make him eat it, that says, I love not you.

Bea.

Will you not eat your word?

Ben.

With no sauce that can be devised to it: I protest, I love thee.

Bea.

Why then, God forgive me!

Ben.

What offence, sweet Beatrice?

Bea.

You have stayed me in a happy hour; I was

about to protest, I loved you.

Ben.

And do it with all thy heart.

Bea.

I love you with so much of my heart, that none is left to protest.

Ben.

Come, bid me do any thing for thee.

Bea.

Kill Claudio.

Ben.

Ha! not for the wide world.

Bea.

You kill me to deny it: ^note Farewel.

Ben.

Tarry, sweet Beatrice.

Bea.

I am gone, though I am here:—There is no love in you:—Nay, I pray you, let me go.

Ben.

Beatrice,—

Bea.

In faith, I will go.

Ben.

We'll be friends first.

Bea.

You dare easier be friends with me, than fight with mine enemy.

Ben.

Is Claudio thine enemy?

Bea.

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 publick accusation, uncover'd slander, unmitigated rancour,—O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the market-place.

Ben.

Hear me, Beatrice:

Bea.

Talk with a man out at a window?—a proper saying!

Ben.

Nay but, Beatrice;

Bea.

Sweet Hero!—she is wrong'd, she is slandered, she is undone.

Ben.

Beat ^note—

Bea.

Princes, and counts! ^note Surely, a princely testimony;14Q0175

a goodly count-confect ^note; 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 court'sies, valour into compliment; and men are only turned into tongue ^note, and trim ones too: he is now as valiant as Hercules, that only tells a lye, and swears it:—I cannot be a man with wishing, therefore I will dye a woman with grieving.

Ben.

Tarry, sweet Beatrice: By this hand, I love thee.

Bea.

Use it for my love some other way than swearing by it.

Ben.

Think you in your soul, the count Claudio hath wrong'd Hero?

Bea.

Yea, as sure as I have a thought, or a soul.

Ben.

Enough, I am engag'd, I will challenge him; I will kiss your hand, and so leave you ^note: By this hand, Claudio shall render me a dear ^note account: As you hear of me, so think of me. Go, comfort your cousin: I must say, she is dead; and so, farewel.