would be a man for my sake! But manhood is melted into courtesy, 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 Sexton3, in gowns; and the Dogb. Is our whole dissembly appeared? Dogb. Marry, that am I and my partner3. ? But manhood is melted into courtesy,] In the old copies "courtesy" is in the plural, but "manhood," "valour," and "compliment," are in the singular. The change is made in the corr. fo. 1632. Enter Dogberry, Verges, and Sexton,] In the course of the dialogue in this scene, both in the 4to. and folio, the names of the actors Kemp (in one place misprinted Keeper) and Cowley are placed opposite what is given to Dogberry and Verges; thus affording clear evidence that they originally played the parts of the constable and his "compartner." Kemp must have quitted the association to which Shakespeare belonged not long after this play was acted; as, by Henslowe's Diary, it appears that he belonged to the company of Lord Nottingham's players in March, 1602. Sexton.] He is called "town clerk" in the old stage-directions, probably because, being able to read and write, he acted as clerk for the town, or for such of the inhabitants as had not his accomplishments. 5 Marry, that am I and my partner.] The name of "Andrew" is placed before this speech, but it clearly belongs to Dogberry, performed by Kemp. We know of no actor of the Christian, or surname of Andrew in the company of the Lord Chamberlain's players. Andrew Cane or Kane was a popular comic performer anterior to the publication of the folio, 1623; but he could not have had the part of Dogberry so early, even if he filled it afterwards. VOL. II. F Verg. Nay, that's certain: we have the exhibition to examine. Sexton. But which are the offenders that are to be examined? let them come before master constable. Dogb. Yea, marry, let them come before me. name, friend? Bora. Borachio. -What is your Dogb. Pray write down Borachio.-Yours, sirrah? Con. I am a gentleman, sir, and my name is Conrade. Dogb. Write down master gentleman Conrade.-Masters, do you serve God? Con. Bora. Yea, sir, we hope. Dogb. Write down-that they hope they serve God:-and write God first; for God defend but God should go before such villains"!-Masters, it is proved already that you are little better than false knaves, and it will go near to be thought so shortly. How answer you for yourselves? Con. Marry, sir, we say we are none. Dogb. A marvellous witty fellow, I assure you; but I will go about with him.-Come you hither, sirrah; a word in your ear, sir: I say to you, it is thought you are false knaves. Bora. Sir, I say to you, we are none. Dogb. Well, stand aside.-'Fore God, they are both in a tale. Have you writ down, that they are none? Sexton. Master constable, you go not the way to examine: you must call forth the watch that are their accusers. Dogb. Yea, marry, that's the eftest way':-Let the watch come forth.-Masters, I charge you, in the prince's name, accuse these men. 1 Watch. This man said, sir, 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. Master constable, Dogb. Pray thee, fellow, peace: I do not like thy look, I promise thee. Sexton. What heard you him say else ? 6 before such villains!] The part of Dogberry's speech which precedes these words, and the answer of Conrade and Borachio, which produced Dogberry's speech, are omitted in the folio, 1623, in consequence, perhaps, as Blackstone suggests, of the stat. 3 Jac. I. c. 21, against the profane employment of the name of the Creator. Possibly it was a player's interpolation. that's the EFTEST way:] i. e. The quickest or readiest way. 2 Watch. Marry, that he had received a thousand ducats of Don John, for accusing the lady Hero wrongfully. Dogb. Flat burglary as ever was committed. Verg. Yea, by the mass, that it is. Sexton. What else, fellow? 1 Watch. And that count Claudio did mean, upon his words, to disgrace Hero before the whole assembly, and not marry her. Dogb. O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this. Sexton. What else? 2 Watch. This is all. Sexton. And this is more, masters, than you can deny. Prince John is this morning secretly stolen away: Hero was in this manner accused, in this very manner refused, and, upon the grief of this, suddenly died. Master constable, let these men be bound, and brought to Leonato's: I will go before, and show him their examination. Dogb. Come, let them be opinioned. [Exit. Dogb. God's my life! where's the sexton ? let him write down the prince's officer, coxcomb.-Come, bind them.--Thou naughty varlet! Con. Away! you are an ass; you are an ass. Dogb. Dost thou not suspect my place? Dost thou not suspect my years ?-O, that he were here to write me down an ass!-but, masters, remember, that I am an ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass.-No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness. I am a wise fellow; and, which is more, an officer; and, which is more, a 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; Off, coxcomb!] The old copies here seem to have coupled two separate speeches. "Let them be in the hands of coxcomb" is the original reading, and Sexton the mistaken prefix; but Verges, probably, was interrupted, after he had said "Let them be in the hands-" by the exclamation of Conrade, "Off, coxcomb!" to the watchman who was endeavouring to pinion him. What immediately succeeds supports this lection, which was introduced by Theobald, and has since been invariably followed. Conrade's next speech, "Away! you are an ass; you are an ass," both in the 4to. and folio, is erroneously assigned to Cowley, the actor of the part of Verges. The corr. fo. 1632 affords no useful information to elucidate this part of the scene. and a fellow that hath had losses; and one that hath two gowns, and every thing handsome about him. away. O, that I had been writ down an ass! Bring him [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. Before LEONATO's House. Enter LEONATO and ANTONIO. Ant. If you go on thus, you will kill yourself; And 'tis not wisdom thus to second grief Against yourself. Leon. I pray thee, cease thy counsel, Which falls into mine ears as profitless As water in a sieve. Give not me counsel; But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine: 9 - and a fellow that hath had LOSSES ;] It is not very evident how Dogberry was to prove that he was "a rich fellow enough" by having had losses, unless he meant that he had been able to sustain them. The corr. fo. 1632 has "leases," or leasses, for “losses;" but we are unwilling to disturb the old, and almost proverbial, text by substituting what is questionable. And bid him speak TO ME of patience;] To me is from the corr. fo. 1632, and as the line wants two syllables, we may feel pretty sure that these small words supplied the deficiency, either as the MS. reached the printer, or as the old corrector had heard the passage recited. 2 CALL sorrow JOY;] Such are the words in the corr. fo. 1632, and we give them place in the text more willingly, because not only are they in exact accordance with the rest of the sentence, but because no body (with the exception perhaps of Heath, who proposed "And sorrowing, cry hem," &c.) has offered even a plausible solution of the difficulty. The old reading, "And sorrow, wag!" cannot be what Shakespeare wrote. And I of him will gather patience. But there is no such man; for, brother, men To be so moral when he shall endure The like himself. Therefore, give me no counsel: Ant. Therein do men from children nothing differ. That could endure the tooth-ache patiently, Leon. There thou speak'st reason: nay, I will do so. And that shall Claudio know; so shall the prince, Enter Don PEDRO and CLAUDIO. Ant. Here comes the prince, and Claudio, hastily. Claud. Leon. Hear you, my lords,- Good day to both of you. We have some haste, Leonato. Leon. Some haste, my lord!-well, fare you well, my lord: Are you so hasty now ?-well, all is one. D. Pedro. Nay, do not quarrel with us, good old man. 3 And made a PUSH! at chance and sufferance.] So the old copies, and so the interjection (which Gifford altered to pish, in Massinger's "Old Law," A. ii. sc. 1) was constantly spelt. Many instances in proof of it might be collected from our old dramatists. It is used in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Maids' Tragedy," A. iii. sc. 1 (Dyce's edit. i. 363); in Chapman's "Gentleman Usher;" and repeatedly in Middleton's plays. See Dyce's Middleton's Works, i. 29, ii. 24, iv. 259, and v. 45. |