Act 1: Scene 1

HERO

My cousin means Signior Benedick of Padua.

Act 2: Scene 1

HERO

He is of a very melancholy disposition.

HERO

So you walk softly and look sweetly and say nothing,
I am yours for the walk; and especially when I walk away.

HERO

I may say so, when I please.

HERO

When I like your favour; for God defend the lute
should be like the case!

HERO

Why, then, your visor should be thatched.

HERO

I will do any modest office, my lord, to help my
cousin to a good husband.

Act 3: Scene 1

HERO

Good Margaret, run thee to the parlor;
There shalt thou find my cousin Beatrice
Proposing with the prince and Claudio:
Whisper her ear and tell her, I and Ursula
Walk in the orchard and our whole discourse
Is all of her; say that thou overheard’st us;
And bid her steal into the pleached bower,
Where honeysuckles, ripen’d by the sun,
Forbid the sun to enter, like favourites,
Made proud by princes, that advance their pride
Against that power that bred it: there will she hide her,
To listen our purpose. This is thy office;
Bear thee well in it and leave us alone.

HERO

Now, Ursula, when Beatrice doth come,
As we do trace this alley up and down,
Our talk must only be of Benedick.
When I do name him, let it be thy part
To praise him more than ever man did merit:
My talk to thee must be how Benedick
Is sick in love with Beatrice. Of this matter
Is little Cupid’s crafty arrow made,
That only wounds by hearsay.
[Enter BEATRICE, behind]
Now begin;
For look where Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs
Close by the ground, to hear our conference.

HERO

Then go we near her, that her ear lose nothing
Of the false sweet bait that we lay for it.
[Approaching the bower]
No, truly, Ursula, she is too disdainful;
I know her spirits are as coy and wild
As haggerds of the rock.

HERO

So says the prince and my new-trothed lord.

HERO

They did entreat me to acquaint her of it;
But I persuaded them, if they loved Benedick,
To wish him wrestle with affection,
And never to let Beatrice know of it.

HERO

O god of love! I know he doth deserve
As much as may be yielded to a man:
But Nature never framed a woman’s heart
Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice;
Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes,
Misprising what they look on, and her wit
Values itself so highly that to her
All matter else seems weak: she cannot love,
Nor take no shape nor project of affection,
She is so self-endeared.

HERO

Why, you speak truth. I never yet saw man,
How wise, how noble, young, how rarely featured,
But she would spell him backward: if fair-faced,
She would swear the gentleman should be her sister;
If black, why, Nature, drawing of an antique,
Made a foul blot; if tall, a lance ill-headed;
If low, an agate very vilely cut;
If speaking, why, a vane blown with all winds;
If silent, why, a block moved with none.
So turns she every man the wrong side out
And never gives to truth and virtue that
Which simpleness and merit purchaseth.

HERO

No, not to be so odd and from all fashions
As Beatrice is, cannot be commendable:
But who dare tell her so? If I should speak,
She would mock me into air; O, she would laugh me
Out of myself, press me to death with wit.
Therefore let Benedick, like cover’d fire,
Consume away in sighs, waste inwardly:
It were a better death than die with mocks,
Which is as bad as die with tickling.

HERO

No; rather I will go to Benedick
And counsel him to fight against his passion.
And, truly, I’ll devise some honest slanders
To stain my cousin with: one doth not know
How much an ill word may empoison liking.

HERO

He is the only man of Italy.
Always excepted my dear Claudio.

HERO

Indeed, he hath an excellent good name.

HERO

Why, every day, to-morrow. Come, go in:
I’ll show thee some attires, and have thy counsel
Which is the best to furnish me to-morrow.

HERO

If it proves so, then loving goes by haps:
Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.

Act 3: Scene 4

HERO

Good Ursula, wake my cousin Beatrice, and desire
her to rise.

HERO

And bid her come hither.

HERO

No, pray thee, good Meg, I’ll wear this.

HERO

My cousin’s a fool, and thou art another: I’ll wear
none but this.

HERO

O, that exceeds, they say.

HERO

God give me joy to wear it! for my heart is
exceeding heavy.

HERO

Fie upon thee! art not ashamed?

HERO

Good morrow, coz.

HERO

Why how now? do you speak in the sick tune?

HERO

These gloves the count sent me; they are an
excellent perfume.

HERO

There thou prickest her with a thistle.

HERO

Help to dress me, good coz, good Meg, good Ursula.

Act 4: Scene 1

HERO

I do.

HERO

None, my lord.

HERO

And seem’d I ever otherwise to you?

HERO

Is my lord well, that he doth speak so wide?

HERO

True! O God!

HERO

O, God defend me! how am I beset!
What kind of catechising call you this?

HERO

Is it not Hero? Who can blot that name
With any just reproach?

HERO

I talk’d with no man at that hour, my lord.

HERO

They know that do accuse me; I know none:
If I know more of any man alive
Than that which maiden modesty doth warrant,
Let all my sins lack mercy! O my father,
Prove you that any man with me conversed
At hours unmeet, or that I yesternight
Maintain’d the change of words with any creature,
Refuse me, hate me, torture me to death!

Act 5: Scene 4

HERO

And when I lived, I was your other wife:
[Unmasking]
And when you loved, you were my other husband.

HERO

Nothing certainer:
One Hero died defiled, but I do live,
And surely as I live, I am a maid.

HERO

And here’s another
Writ in my cousin’s hand, stolen from her pocket,
Containing her affection unto Benedick.