Claud. Let me know the point,

Ifab. Oh, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake,
Left thou a fev'rous life fhould'st entertain,
And fix or seven Winters more respect

Than a perpetual Honour. Dar'st thou die?
The fenfe of death is moft in apprehenfion;
And the poor Beetle, that we tread upon,
In corp'ral fufferance finds a pang as great,
As when a Giant dies.

Claud. Why give you me this shame?
Think you, I can a refolution fetch
From flow'ry tenderness? if I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,

And hug it in mine arms.

Ifab. There fpake my brother; there my father's

grave

Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die :
Thou art too noble to conferve a life

In base appliances. This outward-fainted Deputy,
Whofe fettled vifage and delib'rate word

Nips youth i'th' head; and follies doth emmew,
As faulcon doth the fowl; is yet a devil:
His filth within being caft, he would appear
A pond as deep as hell.

I

Claud. The Princely Angelo?

Ifab. Oh, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,

8

The

The damned'ft body to invest and cover
In Princely guards. Doft thou think, Claudio,
If I would yield him my virginity,

Thou might'ft be freed?

Claud. Oh, heav'ns! it cannot be.

Ifab. Yes, he would giv't thee * for this rank offence, So to offend him ftill. This night's the time

That I fhould do what I abhor to name,

Or else thou dy't to-morrow.
Claud. Thou shalt not do't.

Ifab. Oh, were it but my life,

I'd throw it down for your

As frankly as a pin.

deliverance

Claud. Thanks, dearest Ifabel.

Ifab. Be ready, Claudio, for your death to morrow.
Claud. Yes. Has he affections in him,

That thus can make him bite the law by th' nose,
When he would force it? 2 fure, it is no fin;

Or of the deadly feven it is the least.

Ifab. Which is the leaft?

3

Claud. If it were damnable, he being fo wife, Why would he for the momentary trick

Be perdurably fin'd? oh Isabel!

Ifab. What fays my brother?
Claud. Death's a fearful thing.

Ifab.

The damned ft body to invest and preceding words of, This out

Ifab. And fhamed life a hateful.

Claud. Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;
To lye in cold obstruction, and to rot;
This fenfible warm motion to become
A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit +
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling regions of thick-ribb'd ice;
To be imprifon'd in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence round about
The pendant world; or to be worse than worst
Of thofe, that lawless and uncertain thoughts
Imagine howling; 'tis too horrible!

The weariest and most loathed worldly life,
That age, ach, penury, and imprisonment
Can lay on nature, is a paradife

To what we fear of death.

Ifab. Alas! alas!

Claud. Sweet fifter, let me live; What fin you do to fave a brother's life, Nature difpenfes with the deed fo far, That it becomes a virtue.

Ifab. Oh, you beast!

of Claudio. When Isabella firft tells him of Angelo's propofal he anfwers with honeft indignation, agreeably to his fettled principles, thou shalt not do't. But the love of life being permitted to operate, scon furnishes him with fophiftical arguments, he believes it cannot be very dangerous to the foul, fince Angelo, who is fo wife, will venture it.

4-delighted fpirit.] i, e. the fpirit accustomed here to eafe and delights. This was properly urged as an aggravation to the fharpnefs of the torments spoken of. The Oxford Editor not apprehending this, alters it to dilated. As if, because the spirit in the body is faid to be imprisoned, it was crowded together likewife;

and fo, by death, not only fet free, but expanded too; which, if true, would make it the less fenfible of pain. WARBURTON.

This reading may perhaps ftand, but many attempts have been made to correct it. The most plaufible is that which fubftitutes the benighted fpirit, alluding to the darkness always fuppofed in the place of future punishment.

Perhaps we may read the delinquent Spirit. a word easily changed to delighted by a bad copier, or unskiltul reader.

lawless and uncertain thoughts.] Conjecture fent out to wander without any certain direction, and ranging through all poffibilities of pain.

Oh,

Oh, faithlefs coward! oh, difhoneft wretch !
Wilt thou be made a man, out of my vice?
Is't not a kind of inceft, 5 to take life

From thine own fifter's fhame? what fhould I think?
Heav'n grant, my mother plaid my father fair!
For fuch a warped flip of wilderness

Ne'er iffu'd from his blood. Take my defiance,
Die, perish! might my only bending down
Reprieve thee from thy fate, it fhould proceed,
I'll pray a thousand prayers for thy death;
No word to fave thee.

Claud. Nay, hear me, Isabel.
Ifab. Oh, fie, fie, fie!

Thy fin's not accidental, but a trade;
Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd;
'Tis beft, that thou dy'ft quickly.
Claud. Oh hear me, Isabel.

SCENE III.

To them, Enter Duke and Provost.

Duke. Vouchfafe a word, young fifter; but one word. Ifab. What is your will?

Duke. Might you difpenfe with your leifure, I would by and by have some speech with you; the fatisfaction I would require, is likewife your own benefit.

Ifab. I have no fuperfluous leifure; my stay must be ftolen out of other affairs; but I will attend you a while.

Duke. [To Claudio afide.] Son, I have over-heard what hath paft between you and your Sifter. Angelo had never the purpose to corrupt her; only he hath

5 Is't not a kind of inceft,-] In Ijabella's declamation there is fomething har fh, and fomething forced and far-fetched. But her indignation cannot be thought violent when we confider her not VOL. I.

only as a virgin but as a nun.

•-but a trade.] A cuftom; a practice; an established habit. So we fay of a man much addicted to any thing, he makes a trade of it.

Y

made

made an affay of her virtue, to practise his judgment with the difpofition of natures. She, having the truth of honour in her, hath made him that gracious denial, which he is moft glad to receive: I am Confeffor to Angelo, and I know this to be true; therefore prepare yourself to death. Do not fatisfy your refolution with hopes that are fallible; to-morrow you must die; go to your knees, and make ready.

6

Claud. Let me afk my fifter pardon. I am so out of love with life, that I will fue to be rid of it.

Duke. Hold you there;

with you.

farewel.

Prov. What's your Will, father?

[Exit Claud. Provost, a word

Duke. That now you are come, you will be gone. Leave me a while with the maid: my mind promifes with my habit, no lois fhall touch her by my company.

Prov. In good time.

[Exit Prov.

Duke. The hand, that hath made you fair, hath made you good; the goodness, that is cheap in beauty, makes beauty brief in goodnefs; but grace, being the foul of your complexion, fhall keep the body of it ever fair. The affault, that Angelo hath made on you,

6 Do not fatisfie your refolution with hopes that are fallible;] A condemned man, whom his confeffor had brought to bear death with decency and refolution, began anew to entertain hopes of life. This occafioned the advice in the words above. But how did thefe hopes fatisfie his refolution? or what harm was there, if they did? We muft certainly

read, Do not FALSIFIE your refolution with hopes that are fallible. And then it becomes a reasonable admonition. For hopes

to the world, would naturally elude or weaken the virtue of that refolution, which was raised only on motives of religion. And this his confeffor had reason to warn him of. The term falfifie is taken from fencing, and bignifies the pretending to aim a ftroke in order to draw the adverfary off his guard. So Fairfax.

Now ftrikes be out, and now he FALSIFIETH.

WARBURTON.

7 Hold you there.] Continue

of life, by drawing him back in- in that refolution.