Ver. You have been always called a merciful man, partner. Dog. Truly, I would not hang a dog by my will; much more a man who hath any honesty in him. Ver. If you hear a child cry in the night, you must call to the nurse, and bid her still it. 2 Watch. How if the nurse be asleep, and will not hear us? Dog. Why, then, depart in peace, and let the child wake her with crying: for the ewe that will not hear her lamb when it baes, will never answer a calf when he bleats. Ver. 'Tis very true. Dog. This is the end of the charge. You, constable, are to present the Prince's own person; if you meet the Prince in the night, you may stay him. Ver. Nay by 'r Lady, that, I think, he cannot. Dog. Five shillings to one on 't, with any man that knows the statutes, he may stay him: marry, not without the Prince be willing: for, indeed, the watch ought to offend no man, and it is an offence to stay a man against his will. Ver. By'r Lady, I think it be so. Dog. Ha, ha, ha! Well, masters, good night: an there be any matter of weight chances, call up me: keep your fellows' counsels and your own, and good night. — Come. neighbor. 2 Watch. Well, masters, we hear our charge: let us go sit here upon the church-bench till two, and then all to bed. Dog. One word more, honest neighbors: I pray you, watch about Signior Leonato's door; for the wedding being there to-morrow, there is a great coil to-night. Adieu; be vigitant, I beseech you. II. [Exeunt DOG. and VER. Leo. What would you with me, honest neighbor? Dog. Marry, sir; I would have some confidence with you, tha decerns you nearly. Leo. Brief, I pray you; for you see, 't is a busy time with me. Dog. Marry, this it is, sir. Ver. Yes, in truth it is, sir. Leo. What is it, my good friends? Dog. An old man, sir, and his wits are not so blunt, as, God help, I would desire they were; but, in faith, honest as the skin between his brows. DOGBERRY AND VERGES. 347 Ver. Yes, I thank God, I am as honest as any man living that is an old man, and no honester than I. Dog. Comparisons are odorous. Leo. Neighbors, you are tedious. Dog. It pleases your worship to say so, but we are the poor Duke's officers; but, truly, for mine own part, if I were as tedious as a king, I could find in my heart to bestow it all of your Worship. Leo. All thy tediousness on me! ha! Dog. Yea, and 't were a thousand pound more than 'tis: for I hear as good exclamation on your worship as of any man in the city; and though I be but a poor man, I am glad to hear it. Dog. Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons, and we would have them this morning examined before your Worship. Leo. Take their examination yourself, and bring it me. I am now in great haste, as it may appear unto you. [Exit LEONATO. Dog. It shall be suffigance. Go, good partner, go; get you to Francis Seacoal; bid him bring his pen and ink-horn to the jail; we are now to examination these men. Ver. And we must do it wisely. Dog. We will spare for no wit. I warrant you; here's that (touching his forehead) shall drive some of them to a non com; only get the learned writer to set down our excommunication, and meet me at the jail. III. Dog. Is our whole dissembly appeared? Ver. O, a stool and a cushion for the sexton! [Exeunt. Ver. Nay, that's certain; we have the exhibition to examine. But which are the offenders that are to be examined? Let them come before Master Constable. Dog. Yea, marry, let them come before me. friend? What is your name, Dog. Pray write down Borachio. Yours, sirrah? Con. I am a gentleman, sir, and my name is Conrade. Dog. Write down master gentleman Conrade. Masters, do you serve God? Con. Bor. Yea, sir, we hope. Dog. Write down that they hope they serve God: and write God first; for God defend, but God should go before such villains! Masters, it is proved already that you are little better than false knaves, and it will go near to be thought so shortly. How answer you for yourselves? Con. Marry, sir, we say we are none. Dog. A marvellous witty fellow, I assure you; but I will go about with him. Come you hither, sirrah; a word in your ear, sir. I say to you, it is thought you are false knaves. Bor. Sir, I say to you we are none. Dog. Well, stand aside. 'Fore God, they are both in a tale. Have you writ down that they are none? Sex. Master Constable, you go not the way to examine; you must call forth the watch that are their accusers. Dog. Yea, marry, that's the eftest way. Let the watch come forth. Masters, I charge you, in the Prince's name, accuse these men. 1 Watch. This man said, sir, that Don John, the Prince's brother, was a villain. Dog. Write down Prince John a villain. Why this is flat perjury to call a prince's brother, villain. Bor. Master Constable Dog. Pray thee, fellow, peace; I do not like thy look, I promise thee. Sex. What heard you him say else? 2 Watch. Marry, that he had received a thousand ducats of Don John, for accusing the Lady Hero wrongfully. Dog. Flat burglary as ever was committed. Ver. Yea, by the Mass, that it is. 1 Watch. And that Count Claudio did mean, upon his words, to disgrace Hero before the whole assembly, and not marry her. Dog. O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this. Sex. And this is more, masters, than you can deny. Prince John is this morning secretly stolen away; Hero was in this manner accused, in this very manner refused, and, upon the grief of this, suddenly died. Master Constable, let these men be bound, and brought to Leonato's; I will go before, and show him their examination. Dog. Come, let them be opinioned. Ver. Let them be in the hands. Con. Off, coxcomb! [Exit. Dog. God's my life! where's the sexton? let him write down the Prince's officer, coxcomb. Come, bind them: - thou naughty varlet! Con. Away! you are an ass, you are an ass. Dog. 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 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 everything handsome about him. Bring him away. O that I had been writ down an ass! [Exeunt. Shakespeare. THE BELLS. HE EAR the sledges with the bells - silver bells- All the heavens, seem to tinkle with a crystalline delight; Hear the mellow wedding-bells, golden bells! What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! Through the balmy air of night how they ring out their delight! What a liquid ditty floats To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats on the moon! Oh, from out the sounding cells, What a gush of euphony voluminously wells! How it swells! how it dwells On the Future! how it tells of the rapture that impels To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells! Hear the loud alarum bells-brazen bells! What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! flow they scream out their affright! Too much horrified to speak, They can only shriek, shriek, out of tune, In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire, In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire By the side of the pale-faced moon. Oh, the bells, bells, bells! How they clang, and clash, and roar! On the bosom of the palpitating air! Yet the air, it fully knows, By the twanging and the clanging, What a horror they outpour How the danger ebbs and flows; yet the ear distinctly tells In the jangling and the wrangling, How the danger sinks and swells, By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells of the bells Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells In the clamor and the clangor of the bells! Hear the tolling of the bells-iron bells! What a world of solemn thought their monody compels! In the silence of the night, How we shiver with affright At the melancholy menace of their tone! For every sound that floats From the rust within their throats is a groan. And the people-ah, the people They that dwell up in the steeple, all alone, And who tolling, tolling, tolling, in that muffled monotone, |