Much Ado About Nothing (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) Page 15

  Don Pedro. Runs not this speech like iron through your blood?

  Claudio. I have drunk poison whiles he uttered it.

  Don Pedro. But did my brother set thee on to this?

  224 well suited well dressed out

  226 bound arraigned

  227 cunning intelligent

  Borachio. Yea, and paid me richly for the practice of it.

  Don Pedro. He is composed and framed of treachery, And fled he is upon this villainy.

  Claudio. Sweet Hero, now thy image doth appear

  In the rare semblance that I loved it first.

  Dogberry. Come, bring away the plaintiffs. By this time our sexton hath reformed Signior Leonato of the matter. And, masters, do not forget to specify, when time and place shall serve, that I am an ass.

  Verges. Here, here comes Master Signior Leonato, and the sexton too.

  Enter Leonato, his brother [Antonio], and the

  Sexton.

  Leonato. Which is the villain? Let me see his eyes, That, when I note another man like him, I may avoid him. Which of these is he?

  Borachio. If you would know your wronger, look on me.

  Leonato. Art thou the slave that with thy breath hast killed

  Mine innocent child?

  Borachio. Yea, even I alone.

  Leonato. No, not so, villain! Thou beliest thyself. Here stand a pair of honorable men; A third is fled, that had a hand in it. I thank you, princes, for my daughter's death. Record it with your high and worthy deeds. 'Twas bravely done, if you bethink you of it.

  Claudio. I know not how to pray your patience;deg Yet I must speak. Choose your revenge yourself; Impose me to what penance your inventiondeg Can lay upon my sin. Yet sinned I not But in mistaking.

  272 pray your patience ask your forgiveness

  274 invention imagination

  Don Pedro. By my soul, nor I; And yet, to satisfy this good old man, I would bend under any heavy weight That he'll enjoin me to.

  Leonato. I cannot bid you bid my daughter live; That were impossible; but I pray you both, Possessdeg the people in Messina here How innocent she died; and if your love Can labor aught in sad invention, Hang her an epitaph upon her tomb, And sing it to her bones, sing it tonight. Tomorrow morning come you to my house; And since you could not be my son-in-law, Be yet my nephew. My brother hath a daughter, Almost the copy of my child that's dead, And she alone is heir to both of us. Give her the rightdeg you should have giv'n her cousin, And so dies my revenge.

  Claudio. O noble sir! Your overkindness doth wring tears from me. I do embrace your offer; and dispose For henceforth of poor Claudio.

  Leonato. Tomorrow then I will expect your coming; Tonight I take my leave. This naughty man Shall face to face be brought to Margaret, Who I believe was packeddeg in all this wrong, Hired to it by your brother.

  Borachio. No, by my soul, she was not; Nor knew not what she did when she spoke to me; But always hath been just and virtuous In anything that I do know by her.

  282 Possess inform

  292 right (Hero had a right to claim Claudio as her husband; probably there is also a pun on "rite")

  300 packed combined, i.e., an accomplice

  Dogberry. Moreover, sir, which indeed is not under white and black,deg this plaintiff here, the offender, did call me ass. I beseech you let it be rememb'red in his punishment. And also the watch heard them talk of one Deformed; they say he wears a keydeg in his ear, and a lock hanging by it, and borrows money in God's name, the which he hath used so long and never paid that now men grow hard-hearted and will lend nothing for God's sake. Pray you examine him upon that point.

  Leonato. I thank thee for thy care and honest pains.

  Dogberry. Your worship speaks like a most thankful and reverent youth, and I praise God for you.

  Leonato. There's for thy pains. [Gives money.]

  Dogberry. God save the foundation!deg

  Leonato. Go, I dischargedeg thee of thy prisoner, and I thank thee.

  Dogberry. I leave an arrant knave with your worship, which I beseech your worship to correct yourself, for the example of others. God keep your worship! I wish your worship well. God restore you to health! I humbly give you leave to depart; and if a merry meeting may be wished, God prohibit it! Come, neighbor. [Exeunt Dogberry and Verges.]

  Leonato. Until tomorrow morning, lords, farewell.

  Antonio. Farewell, my lords. We look for you tomorrow.

  Don Pedro. We will not fail.

  Claudio. Tonight I'll mourn with Hero. [Exeunt Don Pedro and Claudio.]

  305-06 not under white and black not in the official record

  309 key ring (but perhaps Dogberry merely assumes that if a man wears a lock in his hair he must wear a key too)

  319 the foundation (as if Leonato were a charitable institution)

  320 discharge relieve

  Leonato. [To the Watch] Bring you these fellows on. We'll talk with Margaret,

  How her acquaintance grew with this lewddeg fellow.

  Exeunt [separately].

  [Scene 2. Leonato's garden.]

  Enter Benedick and Margaret [meeting].

  Benedick. Pray thee, sweet Mistress Margaret, deserve well at my hands by helping me to the speech of Beatrice.

  Margaret. Will you then write me a sonnet in praise of my beauty?

  Benedick. In so high a style,deg Margaret, that no man living shall come over it; for in most comely truth thou deservest it.

  Margaret. To have no man come over me!deg Why, shall I always keep belowstairs?'

  Benedick. Thy wit is as quick as the greyhound's mouth; it catches.

  Margaret. And yours as blunt as the fencer's foils, which hit but hurt not.

  Benedick. A most manly wit, Margaret; it will not hurt a woman. And so, I pray thee call Beatrice. I give thee the bucklers.deg

  Margaret. Give us the swords; we have bucklers of our own.

  Benedick. If you use them, Margaret, you must put in the pikesdeg with a vice;deg and they are dangerous weapons for maids.

  333 lewd low

  5.2.6 style (pun on "stile," a set of steps for passing over a fence)

  9 come over me (the beginning of an interchange of sexual innuendoes)

  10 keep belowstairs dwell in the servants quarters

  16-17 I give thee the bucklers I yield

  Margaret. Well, I will call Beatrice to you, who I think hath legs. Exit Margaret.

  Benedick. And therefore will come. [Sings] The god of love, That sits above And knows me, and knows me, How pitiful I deserve--

  I mean in singing; but in loving, Leander the good swimmer, Troilusdeg the first employer of panders, and a whole book full of these quondam carpetmongers, deg whose names yet run smoothly in the even road of a blank verse--why, they were never so truly turned over and over as my poor self in love. Marry, I cannot show it in rhyme. I have tried. I can find out no rhyme to "lady" but "baby," an innocent rhyme; for "scorn," "horn," a hard rhyme; for "school," "fool," a babbling rhyme. Very omi 40 nous endings. No, I was not born under a rhyming planet, nor I cannot woo in festival terms.

  Enter Beatrice.

  Sweet Beatrice, wouldst thou come when I called thee?

  Beatrice. Yea, signior, and depart when you bid me.

  Benedick. O, stay but till then!

  Beatrice. "Then" is spoken. Fare you well now. And yet, ere I go, let me go with that I came, which is, with knowing what hath passed between you and Claudio.

  Benedick. Only foul words; and thereupon I will kiss thee.

  21 pikes spikes in the center of bucklers

  21 vice screw

  30-31 Leander ... Troilus (legendary lovers; Leander nightly swam the Hellespont to visit Hero, Troilus was aided in his love for Cressida by Pan-dams)

  32-33 quondam carpetmongers ancient boudoir knights

  Beatrice. Foul words is but foul wind, and foul wind is but foul breath, and foul breath is noisome. Therefore I will depart unkissed.

  Benedick. Thou hast
frighted the word out of his right sense, so forcible is thy wit. But I must tell thee plainly, Claudio undergoes my challenge; and either I must shortly hear from him or I will subscribe himdeg a coward. And I pray thee now tell me, for which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?

  Beatrice. For them all together, which maintained so politic a statedeg of evil that they will not admit any good part to intermingle with them. But for which of my good parts did you first suffer love for me?

  Benedick. Suffer love! A good epithet. I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will.

  Beatrice. In spite of your heart, I think. Alas, poor heart! If you spite it for my sake, I will spite it for yours, for I will never love that which my friend hates.

  Benedick. Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably.

  Beatrice. It appears not in this confession. There's not one wise man among twenty that will praise himself.

  Benedick. An old, an old instance,deg Beatrice, that lived in the time of good neighbors. If a man do not erect in this age his own tomb ere he dies, he shall live no longer in monument than the bell rings and the widow weeps.

  Beatrice. And how long is that, think you?

  Benedick. Question: why, an hour in clamor and a quarter in rheum;deg therefore is it most expedient for the wise, if Don Worm, his conscience, find no impediment to the contrary, to be the trumpet of his own virtues, as I am to myself. So much for praising myself, who, I myself will bear witness, is praiseworthy. And now tell me, how doth your cousin?

  58-59 subscribe him write him down

  63 politic a state well-ordered a community

  75 instance example

  82 rheum tears

  Beatrice. Very ill.

  Benedick. And how do you?

  Beatrice. Very ill too.

  Benedick. Serve God, love me, and mend. There will I leave you too, for here comes one in haste.

  Enter Ursula.

  Ursula. Madam, you must come to your uncle. Yon-der's old coildeg at home. It is proved my Lady Hero hath been falsely accused, the Prince and Claudio mightily abused, and Don John is the author of all, who is fled and gone. Will you come presently?

  Beatrice. Will you go hear this news, signior?

  Benedick. I will live in thy heart, die in thy lap, and be buried in thy eyes; and moreover, I will go with thee to thy uncle's. Exit [with Beatrice and Ursula].

  [Scene 3. A church.]

  Enter Claudio, Prince [Don Pedro, Lord,] and

  three or four with tapers [followed by Musicians].

  Claudio. Is this the monument of Leonato?

  Lord. It is, my lord.

  [Claudio reads from a scroll.]

  95 old coil plenty of confusion

  Epitaph.

  Done to death by slanderous tongues

  Was the Hero that here lies;

  Death, in guerdondeg of her wrongs,

  Gives her fame which never dies.

  So the life that died with shame

  Lives in death with glorious fame.

  [Hangs up the scroll.]

  Hang thou there upon the tomb,

  Praising her when I am dumb.

  Claudio. Now, music, sound, and sing your solemn hymn.

  Song.

  Pardon, goddess of the night,deg

  Those that slew thy virgin knight;

  For the which, with songs of woe,

  Round about her tomb they go.

  Midnight, assist our moan;

  Help us to sigh and groan,

  Heavily, heavily.

  Graves, yawn and yield your dead,

  Till death be uttered,

  Heavily, heavily.

  Claudio. Now unto thy bones good night! Yearly will I do this rite.

  Don Pedro. Good morrow, masters; put your torches out.

  The wolves have preyed, and look, the gentle day,

  Before the wheels of Phoebus,deg round about Dapples the drowsy east with spots of gray.

  Thanks to you all, and leave us. Fare you well.

  Claudio. Good morrow, masters; each his several way.

  5.3.5 guerdon reward

  12 goddess of the night Diana, goddess of the moon and of chastity

  26 wheels of Phoebus wheels of the sun god's chariot

  Don Pedro. Come, let us hence and put on other weeds,deg

  And then to Leonato's we will go.

  Claudio. And Hymendeg now with luckier issue speedsdeg Than this for whom we rend'red up this woe.

  Exeunt.

  [Scene 4. Leonato's house.]

  Enter Leonato, Benedick, [Beatrice,] Margaret,

  Ursula, Old Man [Antonio], Friar [Francis],

  Hero.

  Friar. Did I not tell you she was innocent?

  Leonato. So are the Prince and Claudio, who accused her

  Upon the error that you heard debated.

  But Margaret was in some fault for this,

  Although against her will, as it appears

  In the true course of all the question.deg

  Antonio. Well, I am glad that all things sortsdeg so well.

  Benedick. And so am I, being else by faith enforced To call young Claudio to a reckoning for it.

  Leonato. Well, daughter, and you gentlewomen all, Withdraw into a chamber by yourselves, And when I send for you, come hither masked. The Prince and Claudio promised by this hour To visit me. You know your office, brother; You must be father to your brother's daughter, And give her to young Claudio. Exeunt Ladies.

  Antonio. Which I will do with confirmeddeg countenance.

  30 weeds apparel

  32 Hymen god of marriage

  32 speeds succeeds

  5.4.6 question investigation

  7 sorts turn out

  17 confirmed steady

  Benedick. Friar, I must entreat your pains, I think.

  Friar. To do what, signior?

  Benedick. To bind me, or undo me--one of them. Signior Leonato, truth it is, good signior, Your niece regards me with an eye of favor.

  Leonato. That eye my daughter lent her; 'tis most true.

  Benedick. And I do with an eye of love requite her.

  Leonato. The sight whereof I think you had from me, From Claudio, and the Prince. But what's your will?

  Benedick. Your answer, sir, is enigmatical.

  But, for my will, my will is, your good will

  May stand with ours, this day to be conjoined

  In the state of honorable marriage;

  In which, good friar, I shall desire your help.

  Leonato. My heart is with your liking.

  Friar. And my help. Here comes the Prince and Claudio.

  Enter Prince [Don Pedro] and Claudio and two

  or three other.

  Don Pedro. Good morrow to this fair assembly.

  Leonato. Good morrow, Prince; good morrow, Claudio.

  We here attend you. Are you yet determined

  Today to marry with my brother's daughter?

  Claudio. I'll hold my mind, were she an Ethiope.

  Leonato. Call her forth, brother. Here's the friar ready. [Exit Antonio.]

  Don Pedro. Good morrow, Benedick. Why, what's the matter

  That you have such a February face,

  So full of frost, of storm, and cloudiness?

  Claudio. I think he thinks upon the savage bull.deg

  Tush, fear not, man! We'll tip thy horns with gold,deg

  And all Europadeg shall rejoice at thee,

  As once Europa did at lusty Jove

  When he would play the noble beast in love.

  Benedick. Bull Jove, sir, had an amiable low,

  And some such strange bull leaped your father's cow

  And got a calf in that same noble feat

  Much like to you, for you have just his bleat.

  Enter [Leonato's] brother [Antonio], Hero,

  Beatrice, Margaret, Ursula, [the ladies wearing

  masks].

  Claudio. For this I owe you.deg Here comes other
reck'nings.

  Which is the lady I must seize upon?

  Antonio. This same is she, and I do give you her.

  Claudio. Why then, she's mine. Sweet, let me see your face.

  Leonato. No, that you shall not till you take her hand Before this friar and swear to marry her.

  Claudio. Give me your hand; before this holy friar I am your husband if you like of me.

  Hero. And when I lived I was your other wife; [unmasking]

  And when you loved you were my other husband.

  Claudio. Another Hero!

  Hero. Nothing certainer.

  One Hero died defiled; but I do live,

  And surely as I live, I am a maid.

  43 savage bull (refers to 1.1.252)

  44 tip thy horns with gold i.e., make your cuckolding something to be proud of

  45 Europa Europe (though in the next line the word designates the girl that Jupiter wooed in the guise of a bull)

  52 I owe you i.e., I will pay you back (for calling me a calf and a bastard)

  Don Pedro. The former Hero! Hero that is dead!

  Leonato. She died, my lord, but whilesdeg her slander lived.

  Friar. All this amazement can I qualify,deg When, after that the holy rites are ended, I'll tell you largelydeg of fair Hero's death. Meantime let wonder seem familiar, And to the chapel let us presently.

  Benedick. Soft and fair, friar. Which is Beatrice?

  Beatrice. [Unmasking] I answer to that name. What is your will?

  Benedick. Do not you love me?

  Beatrice. Why, no; no more than reason.

  Benedick. Why, then your uncle, and the Prince, and Claudio

  Have been deceived--they swore you did.

  Beatrice. Do not you love me?

  Benedick. Troth, no; no more than reason.

  Beatrice. Why, then my cousin, Margaret, and Ursula Are much deceived; for they did swear you did.

  Benedick. They swore that you were almost sick for me.

  Beatrice. They swore that you were well-nigh dead for me.

  Benedick. 'Tis no such matter. Then you do not love me?

  Beatrice. No, truly, but in friendly recompense.

  Leonato. Come, cousin, I am sure you love the gentleman.

  Claudio. And I'll be sworn upon't that he loves her; For here's a paper written in his hand, A haltingdeg sonnet of his own pure brain, Fashioned to Beatrice.

  66 but whiles only while

  67 qualify abate

  69 largely in detail