BALTHASAR [sings.] Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever; One foot in sea, and one on shore, To one thing constant never. Then sigh not so, but let them go, And be you blithe and bonny, Converting all your sounds of woe Into Hey nonny, nonny. Sing no more ditties, sing no mo Of dumps so dull and heavy; The fraud of men was ever so, Since summer first was leavy. Then sigh not so, but let them go, And be you blithe and bonny, Converting all your sounds of woe Into Hey nonny, nonny. DON PEDRO. By my troth, a good song. BALTHASAR. And an ill singer, my lord. DON PEDRO. Ha, no, no, faith; thou singest well enough for a shift. BENEDICK. [Aside] And he had been a dog that should have howled thus, they would have hanged him; and I pray God his bad voice bode no mischief. I had as lief have heard the night-raven, come what plague could have come after it. DON PEDRO. Yea, marry; dost thou hear, Balthasar? I pray thee, get us some excellent music, for tomorrow night we would have it at the Lady Hero’s chamber window. BALTHASAR. The best I can, my lord. DON PEDRO. Do so: farewell. [Exeunt Balthasar and Musicians.] Come hither, Leonato: what was it you told me of today, that your niece Beatrice was in love with Signior Benedick? CLAUDIO. O! ay:—[Aside to Don Pedro] Stalk on, stalk on; the fowl sits. I did never think that lady would have loved any man. LEONATO. No, nor I neither; but most wonderful that she should so dote on Signior Benedick, whom she hath in all outward behaviours seemed ever to abhor. BENEDICK. [Aside] Is’t possible? Sits the wind in that corner? LEONATO. By my troth, my lord, I cannot tell what to think of it but that she loves him with an enraged affection: it is past the infinite of thought. DON PEDRO. Maybe she doth but counterfeit. CLAUDIO. Faith, like enough. LEONATO. O God! counterfeit! There was never counterfeit of passion came so near the life of passion as she discovers it. DON PEDRO. Why, what effects of passion shows she? CLAUDIO. [Aside] Bait the hook well: this fish will bite. LEONATO. What effects, my lord? She will sit you; [To Claudio] You heard my daughter tell you how. CLAUDIO. She did, indeed. DON PEDRO. How, how, I pray you? You amaze me: I would have thought her spirit had been invincible against all assaults of affection. LEONATO. I would have sworn it had, my lord; especially against Benedick. BENEDICK. [Aside] I should think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it: knavery cannot, sure, hide itself in such reverence. CLAUDIO. [Aside] He hath ta’en the infection: hold it up. DON PEDRO. Hath she made her affection known to Benedick? LEONATO. No; and swears she never will: that’s her torment. CLAUDIO. ’Tis true, indeed; so your daughter says: ‘Shall I,’ says she, ‘that have so oft encountered him with scorn, write to him that I love him?’