Speeches (Lines) for Ursula
in "Much Ado about Nothing"
Total: 19

1

II,1,498

Balthasar. No more words: the clerk is answered.

Ursula. I know you well enough; you are Signior Antonio.

2

II,1,500

Antonio. At a word, I am not.

Ursula. I know you by the waggling of your head.

3

II,1,502

Antonio. To tell you true, I counterfeit him.

Ursula. You could never do him so ill-well, unless you were
the very man. Here's his dry hand up and down: you
are he, you are he.

4

II,1,506

Antonio. At a word, I am not.

Ursula. Come, come, do you think I do not know you by your
excellent wit? can virtue hide itself? Go to,
mum, you are he: graces will appear, and there's an
end.

5

III,1,1101

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.

Ursula. The pleasant'st angling is to see the fish
Cut with her golden oars the silver stream,
And greedily devour the treacherous bait:
So angle we for Beatrice; who even now
Is couched in the woodbine coverture.
Fear you not my part of the dialogue.

6

III,1,1113

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.

Ursula. But are you sure
That Benedick loves Beatrice so entirely?

7

III,1,1116

Hero. So says the prince and my new-trothed lord.

Ursula. And did they bid you tell her of it, madam?

8

III,1,1121

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.

Ursula. Why did you so? Doth not the gentleman
Deserve as full as fortunate a bed
As ever Beatrice shall couch upon?

9

III,1,1134

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.

Ursula. Sure, I think so;
And therefore certainly it were not good
She knew his love, lest she make sport at it.

10

III,1,1149

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.

Ursula. Sure, sure, such carping is not commendable.

11

III,1,1159

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.

Ursula. Yet tell her of it: hear what she will say.

12

III,1,1165

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.

Ursula. O, do not do your cousin such a wrong.
She cannot be so much without true judgment—
Having so swift and excellent a wit
As she is prized to have—as to refuse
So rare a gentleman as Signior Benedick.

13

III,1,1172

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

Ursula. I pray you, be not angry with me, madam,
Speaking my fancy: Signior Benedick,
For shape, for bearing, argument and valour,
Goes foremost in report through Italy.

14

III,1,1177

Hero. Indeed, he hath an excellent good name.

Ursula. His excellence did earn it, ere he had it.
When are you married, madam?

15

III,1,1182

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.

Ursula. She's limed, I warrant you: we have caught her, madam.

16

III,4,1492

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

Ursula. I will, lady.

17

III,4,1494

Hero. And bid her come hither.

Ursula. Well.

18

III,4,1575

(stage directions). [Re-enter URSULA]

Ursula. Madam, withdraw: the prince, the count, Signior
Benedick, Don John, and all the gallants of the
town, are come to fetch you to church.

19

V,2,2496

(stage directions). [Enter URSULA]

Ursula. Madam, you must come to your uncle. Yonder's old
coil at home: it is proved my Lady Hero hath been
falsely accused, the prince and Claudio mightily
abused; and Don John is the author of all, who is
fed and gone. Will you come presently?