firrah; a word in your ear, fir; I fay to you, it is thought you are false knaves.

Bora. Sir, I fay to you, we are none.

Dogb. Well, ftand afide.'Fore God, they are both in a tale:- -Have you writ down———————that they

are none?

Sexton. Mafter conftable, you go not the way to examine; you must call the watch that are their accufers.

Dogb. Yea, marry, that's the efteft way :- -Let the watch come forth :- Masters, I charge you in the prince's name accuse these men.

Enter Watchmen.

I Watch. This man faid, fir, that Don John, the prince's brother, was a villain.

Dogb. Write down-prince John a villain :-Why this is flat perjury, to call a prince's brother-villain. Bora. Mafter conftable

Dogb. Pray thee, fellow, peace; I do not like thy look, I promise thee.

Sexton. What heard you him fay else?

2 Watch. Marry, that he had receiv'd a thousand ducats of Don John, for accufing the lady Hero wrongfully.

Dogb. Flat burglary, as ever was committed.
Verg. Yea, by the mafs, that it is.

Sexton. What elfe, fellow?

1 Watch. And that count Claudio did mean, upon his words, to disgrace Hero before the whole affembly, and not marry her.

Dogb. O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this.

Sexton. What elfe?

2 Watch.

2 Watch. This is all.

Sexton. And this is more, mafters, than you can deny. Prince John is this morning fecretly ftolen away; Hero was in this manner accus'd, in this very manner refus'd, and upon the grief of this, fuddenly dy'd.Mafter conftable, let thefe men be bound, and brought to Leonato's; I will go before, and fhew him their examination.

Dogb. Come, let them be opinion'd.
Verg. Let them be in hand.

Conr. Off, coxcomb!

Dogb. God's my life where's the fexton? let him write down-the prince's officer, coxcomb.Come, bind them: --Thou naughty varlet! Conr. Away! you are an afs, you are an afs. Dogb. Doth thou not fufpect my place? Doft thou not fufpect my years?-O, that he were here to write me down-an afs!-but, masters, remember, that I am an afs; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an afs :- -No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as fhall be proved upon thee by good witnefs: I am a wife fellow; and, which is more, an officer; and, which is more, an householder; and, which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any is in Messina; and one that knows the law, go to; and a rich fellow enough, go to; and a fellow that hath had loffes; and one that hath two gowns, and every thing handfome about him :- -Bring him away. O, that

I had been writ down-an afs!

[Exeunt

ACT

ACT V.

SCENE 1. LEONATO's houfe.

Enter LEONATO, and ANTONIO.

Antonio.

fr you go on thus, you will kill yourself; And 'tis not wifdom, thus to fecond grief Against yourself.

Leon. I pray thee; cease thy counfel,
Which falls into mine ears as profitlefs

As water in a fieve: give not me counfel;
Nor let no comforter delight mine ear,

But fuch a one whofe wrongs do fuit with mines
Bring me a father, that fo lov'd his child,
Whofe joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine,
And bid him fpeak of patience;

Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine,
And let it anfwer every ftrain for strain;
As thus for thus, and fuch a grief for fuch,
In every lincament, branch, shape, and form:
If fuch a one will fmile, and ftroke his beard;
In forrow wag! cry hem, when he should groan;
Patch grief with proverbs; make misfortune drunk
With candle-wafters; bring him yet to me,
And I of him will gather patience.

But there is no fuch man: For, brother, men
Can counfel, and give comfort to that grief
Which they themselves not feel; but tafting it,
Their counfel turns to paffion, which before
Would give preceptial medicine to rage,

Fetter

Fetter ftrong madness in a filken thread,
Charm ach with air, and agony with words:
No, no; 'tis all men's office to fpeak patience
To those that wring under the load of forrow;
But no man's virtue nor fufficiency

To be fo moral, when he fhall endure

The like hirafelf: therefore give me no counsel;
My griefs cry louder than advertisement.

Ant. Therein do men from children nothing differ, Leon. I pray thee, peace; I will be flesh and blood; For there was never yet philofopher

That could endure the tooth-ach patiently;
However they have writ the ftyle of gods,
And made a pish at chance and sufferance.
Ant. Yet bend not all the harm upon yourself;
Make thofe, that do offend, fuffer too.

Leon. There thou fpeak'ft reafon: nay, I will do

My foul doth tell me, Hero is bely'd:

[fo: And that fhall Claudio know, fo fhall the prince, And all of them that thus difhonour her.

Enter Don PEDRO, and CLAUDIO.

Ant. Here comes the prince, and Claudio, haftily,
Pedro. Good den, good den.

Claud. Good-day to both of

Leon. Hear you, my

lords

you.

Pedro. We have fome hafte, Leonato.

Leon. Some hafte, my lord ?-well, fare you well, my lord:

Are

you fo hafty now-well, all is one.

Pedro. Nay, do not quarrel with us, good old man, Ant. If he could right himself with quarrelling, Some of us would lie low,

Claud. Who wrongs him?

Leona

Leon. Marry, thou doft wrong me; thou diffembler, Nay, never lay thy hand upon thy fword,

I fear thee not.

Claud. Marry, befhrew my hand,

[thou!

If it fhould give your age fuch cause of fear :
In faith, my hand meant nothing to my fword.
Leon. Tufh, tufh, man, never fleer and jeft at me,
I fpeak not like a dotard, nor a fool;

As, under privilege of age, to brag

What I have done being young, or what would do,
Were I not old: Know, Claudio, to thy head,
Thou haft fo wrong'd my innocent child, and me,
That I am forc'd to lay my reverence by ;
And, with gray hairs, and bruise of many days,
Do challenge thee to tryal of a man.

I fay, thou haft bely'd mine innocent child,
Thy flander hath gone through and through her heart,
And the lies bury'd with her ancestors:

O! in a tomb where scandal never flept,
Save this of her's, fram'd by thy villany!
Claud. My villany?

Leon. Thine, Claudio! thine I fay.
Pedro. You fay not right, old man.
Leon. My lord, my lord,

I'll prove it on his body, if he dare;

Defpight his nice fence, and his active practice,
His May of youth, and bloom of luftyhood.
Claud Away, I will not have to do with you.
Leon. Canft thou fo daffe me? Thou hait kill'd
my child;

If thou kill'ft me, boy, thou fhalt kill a man.
Ant. He fhall kill two of us, and men indeed:
But that's no matter; let him kill one firft;-
Win me and wear me,-let him anfwer me:

Come,