of Isabella, inflexible and independent of circumstance, has something very grand and elevated; yet one is disposed to ask, whether, if Claudio had been really executed, the spectator would not have gone away with no great affection for her; and, at least, we now feel that her reproaches against her miserable brother, when he clings to life like a frail and guilty being, are too harsh. There is great skill in the invention of Mariana, and without this the story could not have had anything like a satisfactory termination; yet it is never explained how the Duke had become acquainted with this secret, and being acquainted with it, how he had preserved his esteem and confidence in Angelo. His intention, as hinted at the end, to marry Isabella, is a little too commonplace; it is one of Shakespeare's hasty half-thoughts. The language of the comedy is very obscure, and the text seems to have been printed with great inaccuracy. In dramatic effect, Measure for Measure ranks high.'-HALLAM.

DRAMATIS PERSONE

VICENTIO, Duke of Vienna.

ANGELO, lord-deputy in the Duke's absence.

ESCALUS, an ancient lord, joined with Angelo in the

Lords, Gentlemen, Guards, Officers, and other Attendants.

SCENE-VIENNA.

Enter Provost, Claudio, Juliet, and Officers; Lucio, and two Gentlemen.-Act I. Sc. 3.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-An Apartment in the Duke's Palace.

Enter DUKE, ESCALUS, Lords, and Attendants. DUKE. Escalus

Escal. My lord?

Duke. Of government the properties to unfold,
Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse;
Since I am put to know, that your own science
Exceeds in that the lists of all advice

My strength can give you: then no more remains,
But that to your sufficiency, as your worth is able,
And let them work. The nature of our people,
Our city's institutions, and the terms

For common justice, you're as pregnant in

As art and practice hath enriched any

That we remember. There is our commission,

From which we would not have you warp.-Call hither,
I say, bid come before us Angelo.-

[Exit an Attendant.
What figure of us think you he will bear?
For you must know, we have with special soul
Elected him our absence to supply;

Lent him our terror, drest him with our love,
And given his deputation all the organs
Of our own power: what think you of it?
Escal. If any in Vienna be of worth
To undergo such ample grace and honour,
It is Lord Angelo.

Ang. Always obedient to your grace's will,

I come to know your pleasure.

There is a kind of character in thy life,
That, to the observer, doth thy history
Fully unfold. Thyself and thy belongings
Are not thine own so proper, as to waste
Thyself upon thy virtues, them on thee.
Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do,
Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike

As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd

But to fine issues: nor Nature never lends

The smallest scruple of her excellence

But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines

Herself the glory of a creditor,

Both thanks and use. But I do bend my speech

To one that can my part in him advertise;