{"id":30,"date":"2019-05-08T14:21:49","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T14:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seethingbrains.com\/muchado2019\/?page_id=30"},"modified":"2021-03-15T19:24:36","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T19:24:36","slug":"act-3-scene-3","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.seethingbrains.com\/muchado2019\/act-3-scene-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Act 3, Scene 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A street.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Enter DOGBERRY and VERGES with the Watch]\n\n\n\n

Dogberry. <\/strong>Are you good men and true?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verges.\u00a0<\/strong>Yea, or else it were pity but they should suffer\u00a0
salvation, body and soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry. <\/strong>Nay, that were a punishment too good for them, if 
they should have any allegiance in them, being 
chosen for the prince’s watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verges. <\/strong>Well, give them their charge, neighbour Dogberry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>First, who think you the most desertless man to be
constable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Watchman. <\/strong>Hugh Otecake, sir, or George Seacole; for they can 
write and read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>Come hither, neighbour Seacole. God hath blessed\u00a0
you with a good name: to be a well-favoured man is
the gift of fortune; but to write and read comes by nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Watchman. <\/strong>Both which, master constable,\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>You have: I knew it would be your answer. Well,\u00a0
for your favour, sir, why, give God thanks, and make\u00a0
no boast of it; and for your writing and reading,
let that appear when there is no need of such\u00a0
vanity. You are thought here to be the most\u00a0
senseless and fit man for the constable of the\u00a0
watch; therefore bear you the lantern. This is your\u00a0
charge: you shall comprehend all vagrom men; you are
to bid any man stand, in the prince’s name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Watchman. <\/strong>How if a’ will not stand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>Why, then, take no note of him, but let him go; and\u00a0
presently call the rest of the watch together and\u00a0
thank God you are rid of a knave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verges. <\/strong>If he will not stand when he is bidden, he is none 
of the prince’s subjects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>True, and they are to meddle with none but the\u00a0
prince’s subjects. You shall also make no noise in\u00a0
the streets; for, for the watch to babble and to
talk is most tolerable and not to be endured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watchman. <\/strong>We will rather sleep than talk: we know what 
belongs to a watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>Why, you speak like an ancient and most quiet\u00a0
watchman; for I cannot see how sleeping should
offend: only, have a care that your bills be not\u00a0
stolen. Well, you are to call at all the\u00a0
ale-houses, and bid those that are drunk get them to bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watchman. <\/strong>How if they will not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>Why, then, let them alone till they are sober: if
they make you not then the better answer, you may\u00a0
say they are not the men you took them for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watchman. <\/strong>Well, sir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>If you meet a thief, you may suspect him, by virtue\u00a0
of your office, to be no true man; and, for such
kind of men, the less you meddle or make with them,\u00a0
why the more is for your honesty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watchman. <\/strong>If we know him to be a thief, shall we not lay 
hands on him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>Truly, by your office, you may; but I think they
that touch pitch will be defiled: the most peaceable\u00a0
way for you, if you do take a thief, is to let him\u00a0
show himself what he is and steal out of your company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verges. <\/strong>You have been always called a merciful man, partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>Truly, I would not hang a dog by my will, much more
a man who hath any honesty in him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verges. <\/strong>If you hear a child cry in the night, you must call 
to the nurse and bid her still it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watchman. <\/strong>How if the nurse be asleep and will not hear us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>Why, then, depart in peace, and let the child wake
her with crying; for the ewe that will not hear her\u00a0
lamb when it baes will never answer a calf when he bleats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verges. <\/strong>‘Tis very true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>This is the end of the charge:\u2014you, constable, are\u00a0
to present the prince’s own person: if you meet the
prince in the night, you may stay him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verges. <\/strong>Nay, by’r our lady, that I think a’ cannot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>Five shillings to one on’t, with any man that knows\u00a0
the statutes, he may stay him: marry, not without\u00a0
the prince be willing; for, indeed, the watch ought
to offend no man; and it is an offence to stay a\u00a0
man against his will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verges. <\/strong>By’r lady, I think it be so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>Ha, ha, ha! Well, masters, good night: an there be\u00a0
any matter of weight chances, call up me: keep your
fellows’ counsels and your own; and good night.\u00a0
Come, neighbour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watchman. <\/strong>Well, masters, we hear our charge: let us go sit here 
upon the church-bench till two, and then all to bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dogberry.\u00a0<\/strong>One word more, honest neighbours. I pray you watch
about Signior Leonato’s door; for the wedding being\u00a0
there to-morrow, there is a great coil to-night.\u00a0
Adieu: be vigitant, I beseech you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Exeunt DOGBERRY and VERGES]\n\n\n\n

[Enter BORACHIO and CONRADE]\n\n\n\n

Borachio. <\/strong>What Conrade!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watchman. <\/strong>[Aside]<\/em> Peace! stir not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borachio. <\/strong>Conrade, I say!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conrade. <\/strong>Here, man; I am at thy elbow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borachio.\u00a0<\/strong>Mass, and my elbow itched; I thought there would a
scab follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conrade. <\/strong>I will owe thee an answer for that: and now forward 
with thy tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borachio.\u00a0<\/strong>Stand thee close, then, under this pent-house, for\u00a0
it drizzles rain; and I will, like a true drunkard,
utter all to thee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watchman. <\/strong>[Aside]<\/em> Some treason, masters: yet stand close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borachio. <\/strong>Therefore know I have earned of Don John a thousand ducats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conrade. <\/strong>Is it possible that any villany should be so dear?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borachio.\u00a0<\/strong>Thou shouldst rather ask if it were possible any
villany should be so rich; for when rich villains\u00a0
have need of poor ones, poor ones may make what\u00a0
price they will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conrade. <\/strong>I wonder at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borachio.\u00a0<\/strong>That shows thou art unconfirmed. Thou knowest that
the fashion of a doublet, or a hat, or a cloak, is\u00a0
nothing to a man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conrade. <\/strong>Yes, it is apparel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borachio. <\/strong>I mean, the fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conrade.\u00a0<\/strong>Yes, the fashion is the fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borachio. <\/strong>Tush! I may as well say the fool’s the fool. But 
seest thou not what a deformed thief this fashion 
is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watchman.\u00a0<\/strong>[Aside]<\/em>\u00a0I know that Deformed; a’ has been a vile\u00a0
thief this seven year; a’ goes up and down like a
gentleman: I remember his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borachio. <\/strong>Didst thou not hear somebody?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conrade. <\/strong>No; ’twas the vane on the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borachio.\u00a0<\/strong>Seest thou not, I say, what a deformed thief this\u00a0
fashion is? how giddily a’ turns about all the hot
bloods between fourteen and five-and-thirty?\u00a0
sometimes fashioning them like Pharaoh’s soldiers\u00a0
in the reeky painting, sometime like god Bel’s\u00a0
priests in the old church-window, sometime like the\u00a0
shaven Hercules in the smirched worm-eaten tapestry,
where his codpiece seems as massy as his club?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conrade.\u00a0<\/strong>All this I see; and I see that the fashion wears\u00a0
out more apparel than the man. But art not thou\u00a0
thyself giddy with the fashion too, that thou hast\u00a0
shifted out of thy tale into telling me of the fashion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borachio.\u00a0<\/strong>Not so, neither: but know that I have to-night\u00a0
wooed Margaret, the Lady Hero’s gentlewoman, by the\u00a0
name of Hero: she leans me out at her mistress’\u00a0
chamber-window, bids me a thousand times good\u00a0
night,\u2014I tell this tale vilely:\u2014I should first
tell thee how the prince, Claudio and my master,\u00a0
planted and placed and possessed by my master Don\u00a0
John, saw afar off in the orchard this amiable encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conrade. <\/strong>And thought they Margaret was Hero?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borachio.\u00a0<\/strong>Two of them did, the prince and Claudio; but the
devil my master knew she was Margaret; and partly\u00a0
by his oaths, which first possessed them, partly by\u00a0
the dark night, which did deceive them, but chiefly\u00a0
by my villany, which did confirm any slander that\u00a0
Don John had made, away went Claudio enraged; swore
he would meet her, as he was appointed, next morning\u00a0
at the temple, and there, before the whole\u00a0
congregation, shame her with what he saw o’er night\u00a0
and send her home again without a husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Watchman.\u00a0<\/strong>We charge you, in the prince’s name, stand!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Watchman. <\/strong>Call up the right master constable. We have here 
recovered the most dangerous piece of lechery that 
ever was known in the commonwealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Watchman.\u00a0<\/strong>And one Deformed is one of them: I know him; a’\u00a0
wears a lock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conrade. <\/strong>Masters, masters,\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Watchman. <\/strong>You’ll be made bring Deformed forth, I warrant you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conrade. <\/strong>Masters,\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Watchman. <\/strong>Never speak: we charge you let us obey you to go with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borachio.\u00a0<\/strong>We are like to prove a goodly commodity, being taken
up of these men’s bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conrade. <\/strong>A commodity in question, I warrant you. Come, we’ll obey you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Exeunt]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A street. [Enter DOGBERRY and VERGES with the Watch] Dogberry. Are you good men and true? Verges.\u00a0Yea, or else it were pity but they should suffer\u00a0salvation, body and soul. Dogberry. Nay, that were a punishment too good for them, if they should have any allegiance in them, being chosen for the prince’s watch. Verges. Well, give them their charge, neighbour […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PaXq7d-u","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seethingbrains.com\/muchado2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seethingbrains.com\/muchado2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seethingbrains.com\/muchado2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seethingbrains.com\/muchado2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seethingbrains.com\/muchado2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.seethingbrains.com\/muchado2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72,"href":"https:\/\/www.seethingbrains.com\/muchado2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30\/revisions\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seethingbrains.com\/muchado2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}