I am

to be disdain'd of all, than to fashion a carriage to rob love from any: in this, though I cannot be said to be a flattering honeft man, it must not be denied but I am a plain - dealing villain. trufted with a muzzle, and enfranchised with a clog; therefore I have decreed not to fing in my cage: If I had my mouth, I would bite; if I had my liberty, I would do my liking: in the mean time, let me be that I am, and feek not to alter me.

CON. Can you make no use of make no use of your discontent? D. JOHN. I make all use of it, for I use it only, Who comes here? What news, Borachio?

Enter BORACHIO.

BORA. I came yonder from a great fupper; the prince, your brother, is royally entertain'd by

fhould be read, I had rather be a canker in a hedge, than a rose by his grace. JOHNSON.

The canker is a term often fubftituted for the canker-rofe. Hey wood, in his Love's Miftrefs, 1636, calls it the canker-flower."

Again, in Shakspeare's 54th Sonnet :

"The canker blooms have full as deep a die

As the perfumed tin&ure of the rofe."

I think no change is neceffary. The fenfe is, I had rather be a neglected dog-rofe in a hedge, than a garden-flower of the fame fpecies, if it profited by his culture. STEEVENS.

The latter words are intended as an answer to what Conrade has just said "he hath ta'en you newly into his grace, where it is impoffible you should take true root," &c. In Macbeth we have a kindred expreffion:

"I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
To make thee full of growing."

Again, in K. Henry VI. P. III.

"I'll plant Plantagenet, root him up who dares.”

counsellor.

MALONE.

for I use it only. ] i. c. for I make nothing else my STEEVENS.

Leonato; and I can give you intelligence of an intended marriage.

D. JOHN. Will it ferve for any model to build mifchief on? What is he for a fool, that betroths himfelf to unquietness?

BORA. Marry, it is your brother's right hand. D. JOHN. Who? the moft exquifite Claudio? BORA. Even he.

D. JOHN. A proper fquire! And who, and who? which way looks he?

BORA. Marry, on Hero, the daughter and heir of Leonato.

D. JOHN. A very forward March-chick! How came you to this?

BORA. Being entertain'd for a perfumer, as I was fmoking a mufty room, comes me the prince and Claudio, hand in hand, in fad conference: 7 I whipt me behind the arras; and there heard it agreed upon, that the prince fhould woo Hero for himfelf, and having obtained her, give her to count Claudio.

D. JOHN. Come, come, let us thither; this may prove food to my displeasure: that young ftart-up hath all the glory of my overthrow; if I can cross him any way, I blefs myfelf every way: You are both fure, 8 and will affift me?

CON. To the death, my lord,

D. JOHN. Let us to the great fupper; their cheer is the greater, that I am fubdued: 'Would the cook

7 in fad conference:] Sad in this, as in future instances, fignifies ferious. So, in The Winter's Tale: "My father, and the gentlemen, are in fad talk." STEEVENS.

were of my mind! Shall we go prove what's to be done?

BORA. We'll wait upon your lordship. [Exeunt.

A Hall in LEONATO's Houfe.

Enter LEONATO, ANTONIO, HERO, BEATRICE, and
Others.

LEON. Was not count John here at fupper?
ANT. I faw him not.

BEAT. How tartly that gentleman looks! I never can fee him, but I am heart-burn'd an hour after.9 HERO. He is of a very melancholy difpofition.

BEAT. He were an excellent man, that were made juft in the mid-way between him and Benedick: the one is too like an image, and fays nothing; and the other, too like my lady's eldest son, evermore tattling.

LEON. Then half fignior Benedick's tongue in count John's mouth, and half count John's melancholy in fignior Benedick's face,

BEAT. With a good leg, and a good foot, uncle, and money enough in his purse, such a man would win any woman in the world, if he could get her

good will.

LEON. By my troth, niece, thou wilt never get thee a husband, if thou be fo fhrewd of thy tongue. ANT. In faith, fhe is too curft.

9

heart-burn'd an hour after. ] The pain commonly called the heart-burn, proceeds from an acid humour in the ftomach, and is therefore properly enough imputed to tart looks. JOHNSON.

BEAT. Too curft is more than curft: I fhall leffen God's fending that way: for it is faid, God fends a curft cow fhort horns; but to a cow too curft he fends

none.

LEON. SO, by being too curft, God will fend you no horns.

BEAT. Juft, if he fend me no hufband; for the which bleffing, I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening: Lord! I could not endure a husband with a beard on his face; I had rather lie in the wollen. "

2

LEON. You may light upon a husband, that hath no beard.

BEAT. What fhould I do with him? drefs him in my apparel, and make him my waiting-gentlewoman? He that hath a beard, is more than a youth? and he that hath no beard, is lefs than a man: and he that is more than a youth, is not for me; and he that is less than a man, I am not for him: Therefore I will even take fix-pence in earnest of the bear-herd, and lead his apes into hell.

LEO. Well then, go you into hell! 3

BEAT. NO; but to the gate: and there will the devil meet me, like an old cuckold, with horns on his head, and fay, Get you to heaven, Beatrice, get you to heaven; here's no place for you maids: fo

2

in the woollen. ] I fuppofe fhe means - between blankets, without fheets. STEEVENS.

3 Well them, &c.] Of the two next fpeeches Dr. Warburton fays, All this impious nonfenfe thrown to the bottom, is the players', and foifted in without rhyme or reafon. He therefore puts them in the margin. They do not deferve indeed fo honourable a place; yet I am afraid they are too much in the manner of our author, who is fometimes trying to purchase merriment at too dear a rate. JOHNSON.

I have restored the lines omitted. STEEVENS,

deliver I up my apes, and away.to Saint Peter for the heavens; he fhows me where the bachelors fit, and there live we as merry as the day is long.

ANT. Well, niece, [To HERO] I trust, you will be ruled by your father.

BEAT, Yes, faith; it is my cousin's duty to make courtesy, and fay, Father, as it pleafe you :-but yet for all that, coufin, let him be a handsome fellow, or else make another courtesy, and say, Father, as it please me.

LEON. Well, niece, I hope to fee you one day fitted with a husband.

BEAT. Not till God make inen of fome other metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be over-mafter'd with a piece of valiant dụft? to make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl? No, uncle, I'll none: Adam's fons are my brethren; and truly, I hold it a fin to match in my kindred.

LEON. Daughter, remember, what I told you: if the prince do folicit you in that kind, you know your answer.

BEAT. The fault will be in the mufick, coufin, if you be not woo'd in good time: if the prince be too important, tell him, there is measure in every thing,' and fo dance out the anfwer. For hear me, Hero;

if the prince be too important, ] Important here, and in many other places, is importunate. JOHNSON. So, in King Lear, A& IV. fc. iv:

66

great France

My mourning, and important tears hath pitied." STEEVENS. there is meafure in every thing,] A measure in old language, befide its ordinary meaning, fignified alfo a dance. MALONE. So, in King Richard II:

"My legs can keep no measure in delight,

"When my poor heart no measure keeps in grief." STEEvens.