_Claud._ O, my lord, When you went onward on this ended action, 255 I look’d upon her with a soldier’s eye, That liked, but had a rougher task in hand Than to drive liking to the name of love: But now I am return’d and that war-thoughts Have left their places vacant, in their rooms 260 Come thronging soft and delicate desires, All prompting me how fair young Hero is, Saying, I liked her ere I went to wars. _D. Pedro._ Thou wilt be like a lover presently, And tire the hearer with a book of words. 265 If thou dost love fair Hero, cherish it; And I will break with her and with her father, And thou shalt have her. Was’t not to this end That thou began’st to twist so fine a story? _Claud._ How sweetly you do minister to love, 270 That know love’s grief by his complexion! But lest my liking might too sudden seem, I would have salved it with a longer treatise. _D. Pedro._ What need the bridge much broader than the flood? The fairest grant is the necessity. 275 Look, what will serve is fit: ’tis once, thou lovest, And I will fit thee with the remedy. I know we shall have revelling to-night: I will assume thy part in some disguise, And tell fair Hero I am Claudio; 280 And in her bosom I’ll unclasp my heart, And take her hearing prisoner with the force And strong encounter of my amorous tale: Then after to her father will I break; And the conclusion is, she shall be thine. 285 In practice let us put it presently. [_Exeunt._ ~~~~~ Linenotes: _Much Ado About Nothing_, I, 1. SCENE I. Before L.’s house] Capell. A court before L.’s house. Pope. Enter...] See note (I). 1, 8: _Peter_] Q Ff. _Pedro_ Rowe. 8: _numbers_] _number_ F4. 35: _bird-bolt_] Theobald. _but-bolt_ Id. conj. _burbolt_ Q Ff. 37: _promised_] _promise_ F4. 39: _be_] om. F3 F4. _meet_] _met_ Capell. 40: _these_] Q F1. _those_ F2 F3 F4. 41: Beat.] Mes. F2. _victual_] Capell. _vittaile_ Q. _victuall_ F1 F2 F3. _victuals_ F4. _eat_] F3 F4. _eate_ Q F2. _ease_ F1. 42: _he is_] Q. _he’s_ Ff. 50: _stuffing,—well,_] Theobald (Davenant’s version). _stuffing well,_ Q Ff. 57: _warm_] _from harm_ Warburton. 58: _wealth_] _wearth_ Hanmer. 65, 161, 170 and passim. _an_] Theobald. _and_ Q Ff. _if_ Pope. 73: _Benedick_] _Benedict_ Q F1. 74: _a’_] _a_ Q1. _he_ F1. _it_ F2 F3 F4. 77: _never_] Q. _ne’re_ Ff. 79: Enter ... Don John] Enter ... John the Bastard. Q Ff. 80: SCENE II. Pope. 80, 81: _you are...trouble:_] Ff. _are you...trouble:_ Q. _are you...trouble?_ Collier. 87: _too_] Q F1. _more_ F2 F3 F4. _most_ Rowe. 90: _sir_] Q. om. Ff. 92: _we_] _you_ Rowe (ed. 2). 110: _pernicious_] _pertinacious_ Grey conj. 116: _were_] om. Collier MS. 120: _i’_] Capell. _a_ Q Ff. _o’_ Warburton.