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; and a fellow that hath had losses; and one that hath two gowns, and every thing handsome about him :-Bring him away. O, that I had been writ down-an ass. [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;
Nor let no comforter delight mine ear,

But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine.
Bring me a father, that so lov'd his child,
Whose joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine,

And bid him speak of patience;

Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine,

And let it answer every strain for strain;
As thus for thus, and such a grief for such,
In every lineament, branch, shape, and form:
If such a one will smile, and stroke his beard:
Cry-sorrow, wag! and hem, when he should
groan1;

Patch grief with proverbs; make misfortune drunk
With candle-wasters 2; bring him yet to me,
And I of him will gather patience.

But there is no such man: For, brother, men
Can counsel, and speak comfort to that grief
Which they themselves not feel; but, tasting it,
Their counsel turns to passion, which before
Would give preceptial medicine to rage,
Fetter strong madness in a silken thread,
Charm ach with air, and agony with words:
No, no; 'tis all men's office to speak patience
To those that wring under the load of sorrow:
But no man's virtue, nor sufficiency,

To be so moral, when he shall endure

The like himself: therefore give me no counsel:
My griefs cry louder than advertisement 3.

Ant. Therein do men from children nothing differ. Leon. I pray thee, peace: I will be flesh and blood;

For there was never yet philosopher,

That could endure the tooth-ach patiently;

1 The folio reads, And sorrow, wagge, cry hem,' &c. The emendation and arrangement of this line is by Dr. Johnson, who thus explains the passage. If he will smile, and cry sorrow be gone! and hem instead of groaning.' Steevens proposed to read, And, sorry wag, cry hem,' &c, which is very plausible, but he abandoned his own reading in favour of Johnson's.

2 Candle wusters. A contemptuous term for book-worms or hard students, used by Ben Jonson in Cynthia's Revels, and others. The meaning here appears to be If such a one will patch (i. e. mend or remedy) grief with proverbs,-make misfortune drunk (i. e. insensible) with the productions of the lamp,' &c. 3 That is, than admonition, than moral instruction.'

However they have writ the style of gods,
And made a push at chance and sufferance.
Ant. Yet bend not all the harm upon yourself;
Make those, that do offend you, suffer too.

Leon. There thou speak'st reason: nay, I will do so:

My soul doth tell me, Hero is belied,

And that shall Claudio know, so shall the prince, And all of them, that thus dishonour her.

Enter DON PEDRO and CLAUDIO.

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

Claud.

Good day to both of you.

Leon. Hear you, my lords,—

D. Pedro.

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.

Ant. If he could right himself with quarreling, Some of us would lie low.

Claud.

Who wrongs him?

Leon. Marry, thou dost wrong me; thou dissem

bler, thou;

Nay, never lay thy hand upon thy sword,

I fear thee not.

Claud.

Marry, beshrew my hand,

If it should give your age such cause of fear:

In faith, my

hand meant nothing to my sword. Leon. Tush, tush, man, never fleer and jest at me: I speak not like a dotard, nor a fool;

As, under privilege of age, to brag

4 Push is the reading of the old copy, which Pope altered to pish without any seeming necessity. To make a push at any thing is to contend against it or defy it.

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

I say, thou hast belied mine innocent child;
Thy slander hath gone through and through her heart,
And she lies buried with her ancestors:

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

Leon.

Thine, Claudio; thine I say.

D. Pedro. You say not right, old man.
Leon.

My lord, my lord,
I'll prove it on his body, if he dare;
Despite his nice fence, and his active practice 5,
His May of youth, and bloom of lustyhood.

Claud. Away, I will not have to do with you. Leon. Canst thou so daffo me? Thou hast kill'd my child;

If thou kill'st me, boy, thou shalt kill a man.

Ant. He shall kill two of us, and men indeed: But that's no matter; let him kill one first;Win me and wear me,-let him answer me,— Come, follow me, boy; come, boy, follow me7: Sir boy, I'll whip you from your foining fence; Nay, as I am a gentleman, I will.

Leon. Brother,

Ant. Content yourself: God knows, I lov'd my niece;

5 Skill in fencing.

6 This is only a corrupt form of doff, to do off or put off.

7 The folio reads:

8 Thrusting.

-Come, sir boy, come follow me.

And she is dead, slander'd to death by villains;
That dare as well answer a man, indeed,
As I dare take a serpent by the tongue;
Boys, apes, braggarts, jacks, milksops!-

Leon.

Brother Antony,

Ant. Hold you content; What, man! I know them, yea,

And what they weigh, even to the utmost scruple: Scambling, out-facing, fashion-mong'ring boys, That lie, and cog, and flout, deprave and slander, Go antickly, and show outward hideousness 10, And speak off half a dozen dangerous words, How they might hurt their enemies, if they durst, And this is all.

Leon. But, brother Antony,

Ant.

Come, 'tis no matter; Do not you meddle, let me deal in this.

D. Pedro. Gentlemen both, we will not wake 11 your patience.

My heart is sorry for your daughter's death;

But, on my honour, she was charg'd with nothing But what was true, and very full of proof.

Leon. My lord, my lord,

· D. Pedro.

Leon.

I will not hear you.

No?

And shall,

Come, brother, away :-I will be heard ;—

Ant.

Or some of us will smart for it.

[Exeunt LEONATO and ANTONIO.

9 Scambling appears to have been much the same as scrambling; shifting or shuffling. 'Griffe graffe,' says Cotgrave, 'by hook or by crook, squimble squamble, scamblingly, catch that catch may. We have skimble skamble stuff" in K. Henry IV. Part I. 10 i. e. what in King Henry V. Act iii. Sc. 6, is called- a horrid suit of the camp.'

11 i. e. rouse, stir up, convert your patience into anger, by remaining longer in your presence.