Act 3 Scene 3
Near Leonato’s house, a Police Chief called
Dogberry and his deputy, Verges, are appointing a constable to take control of the Watch. Dogberry gives very muddled instructions to his men, saying ‘for the watch to babble and talk, is most tolerable and not to be endured.’ He tells them to watch Signor Leonato’s house because it’s busy, due to the wedding.
Dogberry leaves and the Watchmen settle into position. A drunken Borachio enters with Conrad, bragging about how much money he’s earned by deceiving Don Pedro and Claudio: ‘chiefly, by my villainy, which did confirm any slander that Don John had made’. The Watch overhear everything, they arrest the villains and take them away: ‘we have here recovered the most dangerous piece of lechery, that ever was known in the commonwealth.’