ACT I SCENE I	Before LEONATO'S house.
	Enter LEONATO, HERO, and BEATRICE, with a Messenger
LEONATO	I learn in this letter that Don Peter of Arragon
	comes this night to Messina.
Messenger	He is very near by this: he was not three leagues off
	when I left him.	5
LEONATO	How many gentlemen have you lost in this action?
Messenger	But few of any sort, and none of name.
LEONATO	A victory is twice itself when the achiever brings
	home full numbers. I find here that Don Peter hath
	bestowed much honour on a young Florentine called Claudio.	10
Messenger	Much deserved on his part and equally remembered by
	Don Pedro: he hath borne himself beyond the
	promise of his age, doing, in the figure of a lamb,
	the feats of a lion: he hath indeed better
	bettered expectation than you must expect of me to	15
	tell you how.
LEONATO	He hath an uncle here in Messina will be very much
	glad of it.
Messenger	I have already delivered him letters, and there
	appears much joy in him; even so much that joy could	20
	not show itself modest enough without a badge of
	bitterness.
LEONATO	Did he break out into tears?
Messenger	In great measure.
LEONATO	A kind overflow of kindness: there are no faces	25
	truer than those that are so washed. How much
	better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping!
BEATRICE	I pray you, is Signior Mountanto returned from the
	wars or no?
Messenger	I know none of that name, lady: there was none such	30
	in the army of any sort.
LEONATO	What is he that you ask for, niece?
HERO	My cousin means Signior Benedick of Padua.
Messenger	O, he's returned; and as pleasant as ever he was.
BEATRICE	He set up his bills here in Messina and challenged	35
	Cupid at the flight; and my uncle's fool, reading
	the challenge, subscribed for Cupid, and challenged
	him at the bird-bolt. I pray you, how many hath he
	killed and eaten in these wars? But how many hath
	he killed? for indeed I promised to eat all of his killing.	40
LEONATO	Faith, niece, you tax Signior Benedick too much;
	but he'll be meet with you, I doubt it not.
Messenger	He hath done good service, lady, in these wars.
BEATRICE	You had musty victual, and he hath holp to eat it:
	he is a very valiant trencherman; he hath an	45
	excellent stomach.
Messenger	And a good soldier too, lady.
BEATRICE	And a good soldier to a lady: but what is he to a lord?
Messenger	A lord to a lord, a man to a man; stuffed with all
	honourable virtues.	50
BEATRICE	It is so, indeed; he is no less than a stuffed man:
	but for the stuffing,--well, we are all mortal.
LEONATO	You must not, sir, mistake my niece. There is a
	kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her:
	they never meet but there's a skirmish of wit	55
	between them.
BEATRICE	Alas! he gets nothing by that. In our last
	conflict four of his five wits went halting off, and
	now is the whole man governed with one: so that if
	he have wit enough to keep himself warm, let him	60
	bear it for a difference between himself and his
	horse; for it is all the wealth that he hath left,
	to be known a reasonable creature. Who is his
	companion now? He hath every month a new sworn brother.
Messenger	Is't possible?	65
BEATRICE	Very easily possible: he wears his faith but as
	the fashion of his hat; it ever changes with the
	next block.
Messenger	I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books.
BEATRICE	No; an he were, I would burn my study. But, I pray	70
	you, who is his companion? Is there no young
	squarer now that will make a voyage with him to the devil?
Messenger	He is most in the company of the right noble Claudio.
BEATRICE	O Lord, he will hang upon him like a disease: he
	is sooner caught than the pestilence, and the taker	75
	runs presently mad. God help the noble Claudio! if
	he have caught the Benedick, it will cost him a
	thousand pound ere a' be cured.
Messenger	I will hold friends with you, lady.
BEATRICE	Do, good friend.	80
LEONATO	You will never run mad, niece.
BEATRICE	No, not till a hot January.
Messenger	Don Pedro is approached.
	Enter DON PEDRO, DON JOHN, CLAUDIO, BENEDICK, and BALTHASAR
DON PEDRO	Good Signior Leonato, you are come to meet your
	trouble: the fashion of the world is to avoid	85
	cost, and you encounter it.
LEONATO	Never came trouble to my house in the likeness of
	your grace: for trouble being gone, comfort should
	remain; but when you depart from me, sorrow abides
	and happiness takes his leave.	90
DON PEDRO	You embrace your charge too willingly. I think this
	is your daughter.
LEONATO	Her mother hath many times told me so.
BENEDICK	Were you in doubt, sir, that you asked her?
LEONATO	Signior Benedick, no; for then were you a child.	95
DON PEDRO	You have it full, Benedick: we may guess by this
	what you are, being a man. Truly, the lady fathers
	herself. Be happy, lady; for you are like an
	honourable father.
BENEDICK	If Signior Leonato be her father, she would not	100
	have his head on her shoulders for all Messina, as
	like him as she is.
BEATRICE	I wonder that you will still be talking, Signior
	Benedick: nobody marks you.
BENEDICK	What, my dear Lady Disdain! are you yet living?	105
BEATRICE	Is it possible disdain should die while she hath
	such meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick?
	Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come
	in her presence.
BENEDICK	Then is courtesy a turncoat. But it is certain I	110
	am loved of all ladies, only you excepted: and I
	would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard
	heart; for, truly, I love none.
BEATRICE	A dear happiness to women: they would else have
	been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank God	115
	and my cold blood, I am of your humour for that: I
	had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man
	swear he loves me.
BENEDICK	God keep your ladyship still in that mind! so some
	gentleman or other shall 'scape a predestinate	120
	scratched face.
BEATRICE	Scratching could not make it worse, an 'twere such
	a face as yours were.
BENEDICK	Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher.
BEATRICE	A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours.	125
BENEDICK	I would my horse had the speed of your tongue, and
	so good a continuer. But keep your way, i' God's
	name; I have done.
BEATRICE	You always end with a jade's trick: I know you of old.
DON PEDRO	That is the sum of all, Leonato. Signior Claudio	130
	and Signior Benedick, my dear friend Leonato hath
	invited you all. I tell him we shall stay here at
	the least a month; and he heartily prays some
	occasion may detain us longer. I dare swear he is no
	hypocrite, but prays from his heart.	135
LEONATO	If you swear, my lord, you shall not be forsworn.
	To DON JOHN
	Let me bid you welcome, my lord: being reconciled to
	the prince your brother, I owe you all duty.
DON JOHN	I thank you: I am not of many words, but I thank
	you.	140
LEONATO	Please it your grace lead on?
DON PEDRO	Your hand, Leonato; we will go together.
	Exeunt all except BENEDICK and CLAUDIO
CLAUDIO	Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of Signior Leonato?
BENEDICK	I noted her not; but I looked on her.
CLAUDIO	Is she not a modest young lady?	145
BENEDICK	Do you question me, as an honest man should do, for
	my simple true judgment; or would you have me speak
	after my custom, as being a professed tyrant to their sex?
CLAUDIO	No; I pray thee speak in sober judgment.
BENEDICK	Why, i' faith, methinks she's too low for a high	150
	praise, too brown for a fair praise and too little
	for a great praise: only this commendation I can
	afford her, that were she other than she is, she
	were unhandsome; and being no other but as she is, I
	do not like her.	155
CLAUDIO	Thou thinkest I am in sport: I pray thee tell me
	truly how thou likest her.
BENEDICK	Would you buy her, that you inquire after her?
CLAUDIO	Can the world buy such a jewel?
BENEDICK	Yea, and a case to put it into. But speak you this	160
	with a sad brow? or do you play the flouting Jack,
	to tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder and Vulcan a
	rare carpenter? Come, in what key shall a man take
	you, to go in the song?
CLAUDIO	In mine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever I	165
	looked on.
BENEDICK	I can see yet without spectacles and I see no such
	matter: there's her cousin, an she were not
	possessed with a fury, exceeds her as much in beauty
	as the first of May doth the last of December. But I	170
	hope you have no intent to turn husband, have you?
CLAUDIO	I would scarce trust myself, though I had sworn the
	contrary, if Hero would be my wife.
BENEDICK	Is't come to this? In faith, hath not the world
	one man but he will wear his cap with suspicion?	175
	Shall I never see a bachelor of three-score again?
	Go to, i' faith; an thou wilt needs thrust thy neck
	into a yoke, wear the print of it and sigh away
	Sundays. Look Don Pedro is returned to seek you.
	Re-enter DON PEDRO
DON PEDRO	What secret hath held you here, that you followed	180
	not to Leonato's?
BENEDICK	I would your grace would constrain me to tell.
DON PEDRO	I charge thee on thy allegiance.
BENEDICK	You hear, Count Claudio: I can be secret as a dumb
	man; I would have you think so; but, on my	185
	allegiance, mark you this, on my allegiance. He is
	in love. With who? now that is your grace's part.
	Mark how short his answer is;--With Hero, Leonato's
	short daughter.
CLAUDIO	If this were so, so were it uttered.	190
BENEDICK	Like the old tale, my lord: 'it is not so, nor
	'twas not so, but, indeed, God forbid it should be
	so.'
CLAUDIO	If my passion change not shortly, God forbid it
	should be otherwise.	195
DON PEDRO	Amen, if you love her; for the lady is very well worthy.
CLAUDIO	You speak this to fetch me in, my lord.
DON PEDRO	By my troth, I speak my thought.
CLAUDIO	And, in faith, my lord, I spoke mine.
BENEDICK	And, by my two faiths and troths, my lord, I spoke mine.	200
CLAUDIO	That I love her, I feel.
DON PEDRO	That she is worthy, I know.
BENEDICK	That I neither feel how she should be loved nor
	know how she should be worthy, is the opinion that
	fire cannot melt out of me: I will die in it at the stake.	205
DON PEDRO	Thou wast ever an obstinate heretic in the despite
	of beauty.
CLAUDIO	And never could maintain his part but in the force
	of his will.
BENEDICK	That a woman conceived me, I thank her; that she	210
	brought me up, I likewise give her most humble
	thanks: but that I will have a recheat winded in my
	forehead, or hang my bugle in an invisible baldrick,
	all women shall pardon me. Because I will not do
	them the wrong to mistrust any, I will do myself the	215
	right to trust none; and the fine is, for the which
	I may go the finer, I will live a bachelor.
DON PEDRO	I shall see thee, ere I die, look pale with love.
BENEDICK	With anger, with sickness, or with hunger, my lord,
	not with love: prove that ever I lose more blood	220
	with love than I will get again with drinking, pick
	out mine eyes with a ballad-maker's pen and hang me
	up at the door of a brothel-house for the sign of
	blind Cupid.
DON PEDRO	Well, if ever thou dost fall from this faith, thou	225
	wilt prove a notable argument.
BENEDICK	If I do, hang me in a bottle like a cat and shoot
	at me; and he that hits me, let him be clapped on
	the shoulder, and called Adam.
DON PEDRO	Well, as time shall try: 'In time the savage bull	230
	doth bear the yoke.'
BENEDICK	The savage bull may; but if ever the sensible
	Benedick bear it, pluck off the bull's horns and set
	them in my forehead: and let me be vilely painted,
	and in such great letters as they write 'Here is	235
	good horse to hire,' let them signify under my sign
	'Here you may see Benedick the married man.'
CLAUDIO	If this should ever happen, thou wouldst be horn-mad.
DON PEDRO	Nay, if Cupid have not spent all his quiver in
	Venice, thou wilt quake for this shortly.	240
BENEDICK	I look for an earthquake too, then.
DON PEDRO	Well, you temporize with the hours. In the
	meantime, good Signior Benedick, repair to
	Leonato's: commend me to him and tell him I will
	not fail him at supper; for indeed he hath made	245
	great preparation.
BENEDICK	I have almost matter enough in me for such an
	embassage; and so I commit you--
CLAUDIO	To the tuition of God: From my house, if I had it,--
DON PEDRO	The sixth of July: Your loving friend, Benedick.	250
BENEDICK	Nay, mock not, mock not. The body of your
	discourse is sometime guarded with fragments, and
	the guards are but slightly basted on neither: ere
	you flout old ends any further, examine your
	conscience: and so I leave you.	255
	Exit
CLAUDIO	My liege, your highness now may do me good.
DON PEDRO	My love is thine to teach: teach it but how,
	And thou shalt see how apt it is to learn
	Any hard lesson that may do thee good.
CLAUDIO	Hath Leonato any son, my lord?	260
DON PEDRO	No child but Hero; she's his only heir.
	Dost thou affect her, Claudio?
CLAUDIO	O, my lord,
	When you went onward on this ended action,
	I look'd upon her with a soldier's eye,	265
	That liked, but had a rougher task in hand
	Than to drive liking to the name of love:
	But now I am return'd and that war-thoughts
	Have left their places vacant, in their rooms
	Come thronging soft and delicate desires,	270
	All prompting me how fair young Hero is,
	Saying, I liked her ere I went to wars.
DON PEDRO	Thou wilt be like a lover presently
	And tire the hearer with a book of words.
	If thou dost love fair Hero, cherish it,	275
	And I will break with her and with her father,
	And thou shalt have her. Was't not to this end
	That thou began'st to twist so fine a story?
CLAUDIO	How sweetly you do minister to love,
	That know love's grief by his complexion!	280
	But lest my liking might too sudden seem,
	I would have salved it with a longer treatise.
DON PEDRO	What need the bridge much broader than the flood?
	The fairest grant is the necessity.
	Look, what will serve is fit: 'tis once, thou lovest,	285
	And I will fit thee with the remedy.
	I know we shall have revelling to-night:
	I will assume thy part in some disguise
	And tell fair Hero I am Claudio,
	And in her bosom I'll unclasp my heart	290
	And take her hearing prisoner with the force
	And strong encounter of my amorous tale:
	Then after to her father will I break;
	And the conclusion is, she shall be thine.
	In practise let us put it presently.	295
	Exeunt