Ford.
Stand not amaz’d; here is no remedy.
In love, the heavens themselves do guide the state;
Money buys lands, and wives are sold by fate.
Fal. I am glad, though you have ta’en a special stand to strike at me, that your arrow hath glanc’d.
Page.
Well, what remedy? Fenton, heaven give thee joy!
What cannot be eschew’d must be embrac’d.
Fal.
When night-dogs run, all sorts of deer are chas’d.
Mrs. Page.
Well, I will muse no further. Master Fenton,
Heaven give you many, many merry days!
Good husband, let us every one go home,
And laugh this sport o’er by a country fire—
Sir John and all.
Ford.
Let it be so. Sir John,
To Master [Brook] you yet shall hold your word,
For he to-night shall lie with Mistress Ford.
Exeunt.
¶
William Shakespeare
MUCH ADO
ABOUT NOTHING
( 1598–1599 )
Quarto, 1600; First Folio, 1623.
ado
¶
Act I
Act II
Act III
Sc. I Sc. II Sc. III Sc. IV Sc. V
Act IV
Sc. I Sc. II
Act V
[Dramatis Personae
Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon
Don John, his bastard brother
Claudio, a young lord of Florence
Benedick, a young lord of Padua
Leonato, governor of Messina
Antonio, his brother
Balthasar, attendant on Don Pedro
Conrade,
Borachio, followers of Don John
Friar Francis
Dogberry, a constable
Verges, a headborough
Sexton
Boy
–––––
Hero, daughter to Leonato
Beatrice, niece to Leonato
Margaret,
Ursula, gentlewomen attending on Hero
–––––
Messengers, Watch, Lord, Attendants, etc.
Scene: Messina]
ACT I
[Scene I]
Enter Leonato, governor of Messina, Hero his daughter, and Beatrice his niece, with a Messenger.
Leon. I learn in this letter that Don [Pedro] of Arragon comes this night to Messina.
Mess. He is very near by this, he was not three leagues off when I left him.
Leon. How many gentlemen have you lost in this action?
Mess. But few of any sort, and none of name.
Leon. A victory is twice itself when the achiever brings home full numbers. I find here that Don [Pedro] hath bestow’d much honor on a young Florentine call’d Claudio.
Mess. Much deserv’d on his part, and equally rememb’red by Don Pedro. He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age, doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion. He hath indeed better bett’red expectation than you must expect of me to tell you how.
Leon. He hath an uncle here in Messina will be very much glad of it.
Mess. I have already deliver’d
