And forrow wage; cry, hem! when he should groan,
Patch grief with proverbs, make misfortune drunk
With candle-wafters, bring him yet to me,
And I of him will gather patience.

But there is no fuch man; for, brother, men
Can counfel, and give comfort to that grief
Which they themselves not feel; but taiting it,
Their counsel turns to paffion, which before
Would give preceptial medicine to rage;
Fetter ftrong madness in a filken thread,
Charm ach with air, and agony with words.
No, no; 'tis all mens office to speak patience (23)

i. e. if such a one will combat with, strive against forrow, &c. Nor is this word infrequent with our Author in these figui fications.

So in his Lear,

To wage, against th' enmity of th' air,
Neceffity's ftrong pinch.

So in Othello,

Neglecting an attempt of eafe and gain,
To wake and wage a danger profitlefs.
And in the First Part of Henry IV.

I fear the power of Percy is too weak
To wage an inftant trial with the King.
(23) No, no, 'tis alt mens office to Speak patience
To thofe that wring under the load of forrow;
But no man's virtue nor fufficiency,

To be fo moral when he fhall endure

The like himself:] Patience under misfortunes easier advifed, than maintained, is one of the topics of Shakespeare, for which Mr Gildon told us, he had met with no parallels among the Ancients: and this obfervation is particularly directed to the paffage now before us. A man of fo much

reading muft certainly be betrayed by his memory in this point: for I have long ago obferved no lefs than fire paffages, all which feem to be a very reasonable foundation for our Author's fentiments on this subject.

Facile omnes, quum valemus, recta confilia agrotis damus;
Tu fi hic fis, aliter fentias.

Ελαφρὸν ὅσις πημάτων ἔξω πόδα

Εχει, παραινεῖν, ναθετεῖν τε τοὺς κακῶς

Terent.

To thofe that wring under the load of forrow;
But no man's virtue nor fufficiency,

To be fo moral when he fhall endure

The like himself: therefore give me no counsel,
My griefs cry louder than advertisement.

Ant. Therein do men from children nothing differ. Leon. I pray thee, peace; I will be flesh and blood; For there was never yet philofopher...

That could endure the tooth-ach patiently;
However they have writ the ftyle of gods,
And made a pish at chance and sufferance.
Ant. Yet bend not all the harm upon yourself;
Make thofe that do offend you fuffer too.

Leon. There thou speakest reafon; nay, I will do
My foul doth tell me, Hero is belied;
[fo.
And that shall Claudio know, fo fhall the Prince,
And all of them that thus difhonour her.

Enter Don PEDRO and CLAUDIO.

Ant. Here comes the Prince and Claudio haftily. Pedro. Good den, good den.

Claud. Good-day to both of you.

Leon. Hear you, my Lords?

Pedro. We have fome hafte Leonato.

Leon. Some hafte, my Lord! Well, fare you well, Are you fo hafty now? Well, all is one. [my Lord? Pedro. Nay, do not quarrel with us, good old

man.

Ant. If he could right himfelf with quarrelling, Some of us would ly low.

Claud. Who wrongs him?

Leen. Marry, thou doft wrong me, thou diffembler, Nay, never lay thy hand upon thy fword, [thou: I fear thee not.

Claud. Marry, befhrew my hand,

If it fhould give your age fuch cause of fear;
In faith, my hand meant nothing to my sword.
Leon. Tufh, tuth, man, never fleer and jelt at me;
I speak not like a dotard nor a fool;

As, under privilege of age, to brag

What I have done being young, or what would do,
Were I not old: know, Claudio, to thy head,
Thou haft fo wronged my innocent child and me,
That I am forced to lay my reverence by,,
And with grey hairs, and bruife of many days,
Do challenge thee to trial of a man;

[heart,

I fay, thou haft belied mine innocent child,
Thy flander hath gone through and through her
And the lyes buried with her ancestors;
O, in a tomb where never Scandal slept,
Save this of her's, framed by thy villainy!
Claud. My villainy?

Leon. Thine, Claudio; thine, I fay.
Pedro. You fay not fight, old man.
Leon. My Lord, my Lord,

I'll prove it on his body, if he dare;
Defpight his nice fence and his active practice,
His May of youth, and bloom of lustyhood.
Claud. Away, I will not have to do with you.
(24) Leon. Canft thou fo daffe me? thou haft
killed my child;

If thou killest me, boy, thou shalt kill a man.

(24) Conft thou fo daffe me] This is a country word, Mr Pope tells us, fignifying daunt. It may be fo; but that is not the expofition here. To deffe and deffe, are fynonimous terms, that mean, to put off; which is the very fenfe re

Ant. He fhall kill two of us, and men indeed; But that's no matter, let him kill one first: Win me and wear me; let him anfwer me. Come, follow me, boy; come, boy, follow me; Sir boy, I'll whip you from your foining fence; Nay, as I am a gentleman I will.

Leon. Brother,

[niece;

Ant. Content yourfelf; God knows I loved my And the is dead, flandered to death by villains, That dare as well anfwer a man, indeed, As I dare take a ferpent by the tongue. Boys, apes, braggarts, jacks, milkfops! Leon. Brother Anthony,

[them, yea,

Ant. Hold you content; what, man? I know And what they weigh, even to the utmost fcruple: Scambling, out-facing, fafhion-mongring boys, That lie, and cog, and flout, deprave and flander, Go antickly, and fhow an outward hideousness, And fpeak off half a dozen dangerous words, (25) How they might hurt their enemies, if they durft; And this is all.

quired here, and what Leonato would reply, upon Claudio's faying he would have nothing to do with him. So Hotspur, in the First Part of Henry IV.

-Where is his fon,

The nimble-footed, mad-cap Prince of Wales,
And his comrades, that daft the world afide,
And bid it país?-

i. e. put it afide; neglected all confiderations of the world. Doffe is too perpetual in our Author, to need any quotations in proof of it.

(25) Ani. Speak of half a dozen cangerous words,] These editors are perfons of unmatchable indolence, that can't afford to add a fingle letter to retrieve common fenfe. To speak off, as I have reformed the text, is to throw out boldly, with an oftentation of bravery, &c. So in Iwelfth Night,

A terrible oath, with a fwaggering accent fharply - twang'd off.

Leon. But, brother Anthony,

Ant. Come, 'tis no matter;

Do not you meddle, let me deal in this. [patience.
Pedra. Gentlemen both, we will not wake your
My heart is forry for your daughter's death;"
But, on my honour, the was charged with nothing
But what was true, and very full of proof.
Leon. My Lord, my Lord-

Pedro. I will not hear you.

Leon. No! Come, brother, away; I will be heard.
Ant. And fhall, or fome of us will smart for it.

Enter BENEDICK.

[Exe. ambo.

Pedro. See, fee, here comes the man we went to feek.

Claud. Now, Signior, what news?

Bene. Good day, my Lord.

Pedro. Welcome, Signior; you are almost come to part almost a fray.

Claud. We had like to have had our two noses fnapt off, with two old men without teeth.

Pedro. Leonato and his brother; what thinkeft thou? had we fought, I doubt we should have been too young for them.

Bene. In a falfe quarrel there is no true valour. I came to feek you both.

Claud. We have been up and down to feek thee; for we are high proof melancholy, and would fain have it beaten away: wilt thou ufe thy wit?

Bene. It is in my fcabbard; fhall I draw it? Pedro. Doft thou wear thy wit by thy fide? Claud. Never any did fo, though very many have been befide their wit. I will bid thee draw, as we do the minstrels; draw, to pleasure us.