[116] Leon. We’ll have dancing afterward.
[117] Bene. First, of my word; therefore play, music. Prince, [118] thou art sad; get thee a wife, get thee a wife: there is no staff more reverend than one tipped with horn.
Enter a Messenger.
120 Mess. My lord, your brother John is ta’en in flight,
And brought with armed men back to Messina.
[122] Bene. Think not on him till to-morrow: I’ll devise thee brave punishments for him. Strike up, pipers. [Dance. [Exeunt.
NOTES.
MAAN [TOC]
Note I.
[Dramatis Personæ.] Rowe and Pope included in the list of Dramatis Personæ, ‘Innogen, wife to Leonato.’ At the beginning of the first scene the Quarto and the Folios have, ‘Enter Leonato Governour of Messina, Innogen his wife, &c.’ and at the beginning of Act ii. Sc. i, ‘Enter Leonato, his brother, his wife, &c.’ But as no reference is made to such a character throughout the play, Theobald was doubtless right in striking the name out. The author probably, as Theobald observed, had designed such a character in his first sketch, and afterwards saw reason to omit it. It is impossible to conceive that Hero’s mother should have been present during the scenes in which the happiness and honour of her daughter were at issue, without taking a part, or being once referred to.