Act II, Scene III - Page 2

Much Ado About Nothing | Act II, Scene III - Page 2

CLAUDIO:: 'Tis true indeed. So your daughter says. ‘Shall I,’ says
she, ‘that have so oft encountered him with scorn, write(120)
to him that I love him?’”

LEONATO:: This says she now when she is beginning to write to
him; for she'll be up twenty times a night, and there will
she sit in her smock till she have writ a sheet of paper. My
daughter tells us all.(125)

CLAUDIO:: Now you talk of a sheet of paper, I remember a
pretty jest your daughter told us of.

LEONATO:: O, when she had writ it, and was reading it over, she
found Benedick and Beatrice between the sheet?

LEONATO:: O, she tore the letter into a thousand halfpence,
railed at herself that she should be so immodest to write
to one that she knew would flout her. ‘I measure him,’
says she, ‘by my own spirit; for I should flout him if he
writ to me. Yea, though I love him, I should.’(135)

CLAUDIO:: Then down upon her knees she falls, weeps, sobs,
beats her heart, tears her hair, prays, curses—O sweet
Benedick! God give me patience!'

LEONATO:: She doth indeed; my daughter says so. And the
ecstasy hath so much overborne her that my daughter is(140)
sometime afeard she will do a desperate outrage to herself. It
is very true.

DON PEDRO:: It were good that Benedick knew of it by some other,
if she will not discover it.

CLAUDIO:: To what end? He would make but a sport of it and torment(145)
the poor lady worse.

DON PEDRO:: An he should, it were an alms to hang him! She's an
excellent sweet lady, and, out of all suspicion, she is
virtuous.

LEONATO:: O, my lord, wisdom and blood combating in so tender
a body, we have ten proofs to one that blood hath the victory.
I am sorry for her, as I have just cause, being her uncle and
her guardian.(155)

DON PEDRO:: I would she had bestowed this dotage on me. I
would have daffed all other respects and made her half
myself. I pray you tell Benedick of it and hear what 'a will
say.

CLAUDIO:: Hero thinks surely she will die; for she says she will die
if he love her not, and she will die ere she make her love
known, and she will die, if he woo her, rather than she will
bate one breath of her accustomed crossness.

DON PEDRO:: She doth well. If she should make tender of her
love, 'tis very possible he'll scorn it; for the man, as you(165)
know all hath a contemptible spirit.

DON PEDRO:: As Hector, I assure you; and in the managing of
quarrels you may say he is wise, for either he avoids them
with great discretion, or undertakes them with a most(175)
Christianlike fear.

LEONATO:: If he do fear God, 'a must necessarily keep peace. If he
break the peace, he ought to enter into a quarrel with fear
and trembling.

DON PEDRO:: And so will he do; for the man doth fear God,(180)
howsoever it seems not in him by some large jests he will make.
Well, I am sorry for your niece. Shall we go seek Benedick
and tell him of her love?

CLAUDIO:: Never tell him, my lord. Let her wear it out with
good counsel.(185)

DON PEDRO:: Well, we will hear further of it by your daughter.
Let it cool the while. I love Benedick well, and I could
wish he would modestly examine himself to see how(190)
much he is unworthy so good a lady.

CLAUDIO:: If he do not dote on her upon this, I will never trust
my expectation.

DON PEDRO:: Let there be the same net spread for her, and that(195)
must your daughter and her gentlewomen carry. The
sport will be, when they hold one an opinion of another's
dotage, and no such matter. That's the scene that I would
see, which will be merely a dumb show. Let us send her
to call him in to dinner.(200)

Exeunt [Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato.]

BENEDICK:: This can be no trick. The conference was sadly
borne; they have the truth of this from Hero; they seem
to pity the lady. It seems her affections have their full
bent. Love me? Why, it must be requited. I hear how I am
censured. They say I will bear myself proudly if I perceive(205)
the love come from her. They say too that she will
rather die than give any sign of affection. I did never
think to marry. I must not seem proud. Happy are they
that hear their detractions and can put them to mending.
They say the lady is fair—'tis a truth, I can bear them witness;(210)
and virtuous—'tis so, I cannot reprove it; and wise,
but for loving me—by my troth, it is no addition to her
wit, nor no great argument of her folly, for I will be horribly
in love with her. I may chance have some odd quirks
and remnants of wit broken on me because I have railed(215)
so long against marriage. But doth not the appetite alter?
A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure
in his age. Shall quips and sentences and these paper
bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his
humour? No, the world must be peopled. When I said
I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I(220)
were married. Here comes Beatrice. By this day! she's a
fair lady: I do spy some marks of love in her.

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