This is thy office;° Bear thee well in it and leave us alone.

Margaret. I’ll make her come, I warrant you, presently. [Exit. ]

Hero. Now, Ursula, when Beatrice doth come, As we do trace° this alley up and down, Our talk must only be of Benedick. When I do name him, let it be thy part To praise him more than ever man did merit. My talk to thee must be how Benedick Is sick in love with Beatrice. Of this matter Is little Cupid’s crafty° arrow made, That only° wounds by hearsay.

3.1.3 Proposing with talking to

10-11 Made proud... bred it (an Elizabethan audience of c.1600 would be reminded of the Earl of Essex)

12 office duty

16 trace walk

Enter Beatrice.

Now begin;

For look where Beatrice like a lapwing runs Close by the ground, to hear our conference.

Ursula. The pleasant‘st angling is to see the fish Cut with her golden oars the silver stream And greedily devour the treacherous bait; So angle we for Beatrice, who even now Is couched in the woodbine coverture.° Fear you not my part of the dialogue.

Hero. Then go we near her, that her ear lose nothing Of the false sweet bait that we lay for it.

[They approach the bower.]

No, truly, Ursula, she is too disdainful. I know her spirits are as coy° and wild As haggards’ of the rock.

Ursula. But are you sure That Benedick loves Beatrice so entirely?

Hero. So says the Prince, and my new-trothed lord.

Ursula. And did they bid you tell her of it, madam?

Hero. They did entreat me to acquaint her of it; But I persuaded them, if they loved Benedick, To wish him wrestle with affection And never to let Beatrice know of it.

Ursula. Why did you so? Doth not the gentleman

22 crafty skillfully wrought

23 only solely

30 woodbine coverture honeysuckle thicket

35 coy disdainful

36 haggards wild and intractable hawks

Deserve as full as fortunate a bed As ever Beatrice shall couch upon?

Hero. O god of love! I know he doth deserve As much as may be yielded to a man; But Nature never framed a woman’s heart Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice. Disdain and Scorn ride sparkling in her eyes, Misprizing° what they look on; and her wit Values itself so highly that to her All matter else seems weak. She cannot love, Nor take no shape nor project° of affection, She is so self-endeared.

Ursula. Sure I think so; And therefore certainly it were not good She knew his love, lest she’ll make sport at it.

Hero. Why, you speak truth. I never yet saw man, How wise, how noble, young, how rarely featured, But she would spell him backward. If fair-faced, She would swear the gentleman should be her sister; ‘ If black,° why, Nature, drawing of an antic,° Made a foul blot; if tall, a lance ill-headed; If low, an agate very vilely cut;° If speaking, why, a vane blown with all winds; If silent, why, a block moved with none. So turns she every man the wrong side out And never gives to truth and virtue that Which simpleness and merit purchaseth.

Ursula. Sure, sure, such carping is not commendable.

Hero. No, not to be so odd, and from all fashions,° As Beatrice is, cannot be commendable. But who dare tell her so? If I should speak, She would mock me into air; O, she would laugh me Out of myself, press me to death with wit! Therefore let Benedick, like covered fire, Consume away in sighs, waste inwardly. It were a better death than die with mocks, Which is as bad as die with tickling.

52 Misprizing despising

55 project notion

63 black dark-complex-ioned

63 antic grotesque figure

65 agate very vilely cut poorly done miniature

72 from all fashions contrary

Ursula.Yet tell her of it. Hear what she will say. Hero. No; rather I will go to Benedick

And counsel him to fight against his passion. And truly, I’ll devise some honest° slanders To stain my cousin with. One doth not know How much an ill word may empoison liking.

Ursula. O, do not do your cousin such a wrong! She cannot be so much without true judgment (Having so swift and excellent a wit As she is prized to have) as to refuse So rare a gentleman as Signior Benedick.

Hero. He is the only man of Italy, Always excepted my dear Claudio.

Ursula. I pray you be not angry with me, madam, Speaking my fancy. Signior Benedick, For shape, for bearing, argument, and valor, Goes foremost in report through Italy.

Hero. Indeed he hath an excellent good name.

Ursula. His excellence did earn it ere he had it. When are you married, madam?

Hero. Why, everyday tomorrow !° Come, go in. I’ll show thee some attires, and have thy counsel Which is the best to furnish° me tomorrow.

[They walk away.]

Ursula. She’s limed,° I warrant you! We have caught her, madam.

Hero. If it prove so, then loving goes by haps ;° Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.

[Exeunt Hero and Ursula.]

84 honest appropriate

101 everyday tomorrow i.e., tomorrow I shall be married forever

103 furnish dress

104 limed caught (as a bird is caught in birdlime, a sticky substance smeared on branches) 105 haps chance

Beatrice. [Coming forward] What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true?

Stand I condemned for pride and scorn so much?

Contempt, farewell! And maiden pride, adieu! No glory lives behind the back of such.

And, Benedick, love on; I will requite thee, Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand.

If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee To bind our loves up in a holy band;

For others say thou dost deserve, and I Believe it better than reportingly.° Exit.

[Scene 2. Leonato’s house.]

Enter Prince [Don Pedro], Claudio, Benedick,
and Leonato.

Don Pedro. I do but stay till your marriage be consummate, and then go I toward Aragon.

Claudio. I’ll bring you thither, my lord, if you’ll vouchsafe° me.

Don Pedro. Nay, that would be as great a soil in the new gloss of your marriage as to show a child his new coat and forbid him to wear it. I will only be bold with Benedick for his company; for, from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, he is all mirth. He hath twice or thrice cut Cupid’s bow- string,° and the little hangman dare not shoot at him.