BENE. Shall I speak a word in your ear? BENE. You are a villain;-I jest not:-I will make it good how you dare, with what you dare, and when you dare:-Do me right, or I will protest your cowardice. You have killed a sweet lady, and her death shall fall heavy on you: Let me hear from you. CLAUD. Well, I will meet you, so I may have good cheer. D. PEDRO. What, a feast? a feast? 4 CLAUD. I'faith, I thank him; he hath bid me to a calf's-head and a capon; the which if I do not carve most curiously, say, my knife's naught.Shall I not find a woodcock too? BENE. Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes easily. D. PEDRO. I'll tell thee how Beatrice praised thy of threatening, bidding them turne the buckles of their girdles behind them." STEEVENS. 66 Again, in Knavery in all Trades, or the Coffee-House, 1664, sign. E: Nay, if the gentleman be angry, let him turn the buckles of his girdle behind him." REED. Large belts were worn with the buckle before, but for wrestling the buckle was turned behind, to give the adversary a fairer grasp at the girdle. To turn the buckle behind, therefore, was a challenge. HOLT WHITE. 3 Do me right,] This phrase occurs in Justice Silence's song in King Henry IV. Part II. Act V. Sc. III. and was the usual form of challenge to pledge a bumper toast in a bumper. See note on the foregoing passage. STEEVENS. 4-bid-] i. e. invited. So, in Titus Andronicus, Act I. Sc. II.: "I am not bid to wait upon this bride." REED. 5 Shall I not find a wOODCOCK too?] A woodcock, being supposed to have no brains, was a proverbial term for a foolish fellow. See The London Prodigal, 1605, and other comedies. MALONE. A woodcock, means one caught in a springe; alluding to the plot against Benedick. So, in Hamlet, Sc. ult. 66 Why, as a woodcock to my own springe, Osrick.” Again, in Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV. Sc. III. Biron saysfour woodcocks in a dish." DOUCE. wit the other day: I said, thou hadst a fine wit; True, says she, a fine little one: No, said I, a great wit; Right, says she, a great gross one: Nay, said. I, a good wit; Just, said she, it hurts no body: Nay, said I, the gentleman is wise; Certain, said she, a wise gentleman: Nay, said I, he hath the tongues: That I believe, said she, for he swore a thing to me on Monday night, which he forswore on Tuesday morning; there's a double tongue; there's two tongues. Thus did she, an hour together, trans-shape thy particular virtues; yet, at last, she concluded with a sigh, thou wast the properest man in Italy. CLAUD. For the which she wept heartily, and said she cared not. D. PEDRO. Yea, that she did; but yet, for all that, an if she did not hate him deadly, she would love him dearly: the old man's daughter told us all. CLAUD. All, all; and moreover, God saw him when he was hid in the garden. D. PEDRO. But when shall we set the savage bull's horns on the sensible Benedick's head? CLAUD. Yea, and text underneath, Here dwells Benedick the married man? BENE. Fare you well, boy; you know my mind; I will leave you now to your gossip-like humour: you break jests as braggarts do their blades, which, God be thanked, hurt not.-My lord, for your many courtesies I thank you: I must discontinue your company: your brother, the bastard, is fled from Messina: you have, among you, killed a sweet 6-a wise gentleman :] This jest depending on the colloquial use of words is now obscure; perhaps we should read-a wise gentleman, or, a man wise enough to be a coward. Perhaps wise gentleman was in that age used ironically, and always stood for silly fellow. JOHNSON. We still ludicrously call a man deficient in understandinga wise-acre. STEEVENS. and innocent lady: For my lord Lack-beard, there, he and I shall meet; and till then, peace be with him. [Exit BENEDICK. D. PEDRO. He is in earnest. D. PEDRO. And hath challenged thee? I'll D. PEDRO What a pretty thing man is, when he goes in his doublet and hose, and leaves off his wit?! CLAUD. He is then a giant to an ape: but then is an ape a doctor to such a man. 7 What a pretty thing man is, when he goes in his doublet and hose, and leaves off his wit!] It was esteemed a mark of levity and want of becoming gravity, at that time, to go in the doublet and hose, and leave off the cloak, to which this wellturned expression alludes. The thought is, that love makes a man as ridiculous, and exposes him as naked as being in the doublet and hose without a cloak. WARBURTON. I doubt much concerning this interpretation, yet am by no means confident that my own is right. I believe, however, these words refer to what Don Pedro had said just before-" And hath challenged thee?"—and that the meaning is, 'What a pretty thing a man is, when he is silly enough to throw off his cloak, and go in his doublet and hose, to fight for a woman?' In The Merry Wives of Windsor, when Sir Hugh is going to engage with Dr. Caius, he walks about in his doublet and hose: " Page. And youthful still in your doublet and hose, this raw rheumatick day!” "There is reasons and causes for it," says Sir Hugh, alluding to the duel he was going to fight.-So, in The Roaring Girl, when Moll Cutpurse, in man's apparel, is going to fight; the stage direction is, she puts off her cloak and draws.-I am aware that there was a particular species of single combat called rapier and cloak; but I suppose, nevertheless, that when the small sword came into common use, the cloak was generally laid aside in duels, as tending to embarrass the combatants. MALONne. Perhaps the whole meaning of the passage is this:-' What an inconsistent fool is man, when he covers his body with clothes, and at the same time divests himself of his understanding!' STEEVENS. These words are probably meant to express what Rosalind, in As You Like It, terms the "careless desolation" of a lover. BOSWELL D. PEDRO. But, soft you, let be; pluck up, my heart, and be sad! Did he not say, my brother was fled ? Enter DOGBERRY, VERGES, and the Watch, with CONRADE and BORACHIO'. DOGB. Come, you, sir; if justice cannot tame you, she shall ne'er weigh more reasons in her balance: nay, an you be a cursing hypocrite once, you must be looked to. D. PEDRO. How now, two of my brother's men bound! Borachio, one! CLAUD. Hearken after their offence, my lord! 8 But, soft you, LET BE;] The quarto and the first folio read corruptly-"let me be," which the editor of the second folio, in order to obtain some sense, converted to—“ let me see." I was once idle enough to suppose that copy was of some authority; but a minute examination of it has shewn me that all the alterations made in it were merely arbitrary, and generally very injudicious. Let be were without doubt the author's words. The same expression occurs again in Antony and Cleopatra, Act IV. Sc. IV. : "What's this for? Ah, let be, let be." MALONE. If let be is the true reading, it must mean, let things remain as they are. I have heard the phrase used by Dr. Johnson himself. Mr. Henley observes, that the same expression occurs in St. Matt. xxvii. 49.-I have since met with it in an ancient metrical romance, MS. entitled the Sowdon of Babyloyne, &c.: 66 Speke we now of sir Laban, "And let Charles and Gy be." So, in Henry VIII. Act I. Sc. I. : STEEVENS. Again, in the Winter's Tale, Act V. Sc. III. Leontes says, "Let be, let be." REED. 9 -pluck up, my heart, and be sad!] i. e. rouse thyself, my heart, and be prepared for serious consequences! STEEVENS. Enter Dogberry, &c.] In the old copies and all former editions, the entrance of Dogberry and his companions takes place before Claudio's speech, beginning "he is a giant;" but I think it is an obvious error. MALONE. 2 - ne'er weigh more REASONS in her balance :] A quibble between reasons and raisins. RITSON. D. PEDRO. Officers, what offence have these men done? DOGB. Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things and, to conclude, they are lying knaves. D. PEDRO. First, I ask thee what they have done; thirdly, I ask thee what's their offence; sixth and lastly, why they are committed; and, to conclude, what you lay to their charge. CLAUD. Rightly reasoned, and in his own division; and, by my troth, there's one meaning well suited 2. D. PEDRO. Who have you offended, masters, that you are thus bound to your answer? this learned constable is too cunning to be understood: What's your offence? BORA. Sweet prince, let me go no further to mine answer; do you hear me, and let this count kill me. I have deceived even your very eyes: what your wisdoms could not discover, these shallow fools have brought to light; who, in the night, overheard me confessing to this man, how Don John your brother incensed me to slander the lady Hero; how you were brought into the orchard, and saw me court Margaret in Hero's garments; how 3 2-one meaning well suited.] That is, one meaning is put into many different dresses; the Prince having asked the same question in four modes of speech. JOHNSON. 3 INCENSED me to slander, &c.] Instigated me. Minsheu's Dict in v. So, also, in The Winter's Tale : and in She had, and would incense me, "To murder her I married." many other passages. MALONE. See The word is used in the same sense in Richard III. and Henry VIII. M. MASON. |
