To pluck on others.

Ang.

Believe me, on mine honour

My words express my purpose.

Isab. Ha! little honour to be much believ'd,

And most pernicious purpose!-Seeming, seeming!—

I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for't:

Sign me a present pardon for my brother,

Or with an outstretch'd throat I'll tell the world
Aloud what man thou art.

Ang.

Who will believe thee, Isabel?

My unsoil'd name, the austereness of my life,

May vouch against you'; and my place i' the state,
Will so your accusation overweigh, »

That you shall stifle in your own report,
And smell of calumny. I have begun,
And now I give my sensual race the rein:
Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite;
Lay by all nicety, and prolixious blushes,

That banish what they sue for; redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will,

Or else he must not only die the death,

But thy unkindness shall his death draw out

To lingering sufferance. Answer me to-morrow,
Or, by the affection that now guides me most,

I'll prove a tyrant to him. As for you,

Say what you can, my false o'erweighs your true.

Isab. To whom should I complain'? Did I tell this,

Who would believe me? Oh perilous mouths!
That bear in them one and the self-same tongue,
Either of condemnation or approof,

Bidding the law make court'sy to their will,
Hooking both right and wrong to th' appetite,
To follow as it draws. I'll to my brother:

Though he hath fallen by prompture of the blood,
Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour,

That had he twenty heads to tender down

[Exit..

4 MAY vouch against you ;] "May" "for My is a slight change made in the corr. fo. 1632, and the sense seems to show that so the poet wrote. First (says Angelo) my unsoil'd name and austerity of life" may vouch against you ;" and, then, my place in the state will overbalance the weight of your accusation.

To whom SHOULD I complain?] So the folio of 1623, and all the others. Why Malone and Steevens altered "should" to shall is no where stated: they did precisely the reverse in a former scene of this play, A. ii. sc. 1, and perhaps it was only an oversight in both places.

On twenty bloody blocks, he'd yield them up,
Before his sister should her body stoop

To such abhorr'd pollution.

Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die:
More than our brother is our chastity.

I'll tell him yet of Angelo's request,

And fit his mind to death, for his soul's rest.

[Exit.

ACT III. SCENE I.

A Room in the Prison.

Enter DUKE, as a Friar, CLAUDIO, and Provost.

Duke. So then, you hope of pardon from lord Angelo ?
Claud. The miserable have

No other medicine, but only hope.

I have hope to live, and am prepar'd to die.

Duke. Be absolute for death; either death, or life,
Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life:-
If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing

That none but fools would keep: a breath thou art,
Servile to all the skyey influences,

That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st,
Hourly afflict. Merely, thou art death's fool;
For him thou labour'st by thy flight to shun,

And yet run'st toward him still: thou art not noble ;
For all th' accommodations that thou bear'st,

Are nurs'd by baseness: thou art by no means valiant;
For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork

Of a poor worm: thy best of rest is sleep,

And that thou oft provok'st, yet grossly fear'st

Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself;
For thou exist'st on many a thousand grains

That issue out of dust: happy thou art not;
For what thou hast not, still thou striv'st to get,

And what thou hast forget'st. Thou art not certain;

For thy complexion shifts to strange effects,

After the moon: if thou art rich, thou'rt poor;

For, like an ass, whose back with ingots bows,
Thou bear'st thy heavy riches but a journey,
And death unloads thee: friend hast thou none;
For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire',
The mere effusion of thy proper loins,

Do curse the gout, serpigo', and the rheum,

For ending thee no sooner: thou hast nor youth, nor age,
But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep,

Dreaming on both; for all thy blessed youth'
Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms

Of palsied eld: and when thou art old and rich,
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty,
To make thy riches pleasant. What's yet in this,
That bears the name of life? Yet in this life

Lie hid more thousand deaths, yet death we fear,
That makes these odds all even.

Claud.

I humbly thank you.

To sue to live, I find, I seek to die,

And, seeking death, find life: let it come on.

Isab. [Without.] What, ho! Peace here; grace and good company!

Prov. Who's there? come in: the wish deserves a welcome.

Enter ISABELLA '.

Duke. Dear sir, ere long I'll visit you again.

Claud. Most holy sir, I thank you.

Isab. My business is a word or two with Claudio.

Prov. And very welcome.-Look, signior; here's your

sister.

Duke. Provost, a word with you.

Prov. As many as you please.

Duke. Bring me to hear them speak, where I may be
conceal'd'.
[Exeunt DUKE and Provost.

which do call thee SIRE,] The old folios of 1623, 1632, 1664, and 1685 have fire for "sire," a misprint from taking the long for f. The Earl of Ellesmere's folio of 1623 gives the true reading in old MS.

7 SERPIGO,] The first folio has sapego, the second sarpego: the "serpigo" is a kind of tetter or leprosy, which has sometimes been misprinted fetter.

- for all thy BLESSED youth] "Boasted youth" in the corr. fo. 1632, but perhaps it only proves that some actor recited boasted, instead of "blessed."

• Enter Isabella.] According to modern editors, Isabella enters before the Provost asks, "Who's there?" and tells her to "come in."

1 Bring Me to hear THEM speak, where I may be conceal'd,] The first folio has the line,

"Bring them to hear me speak," &c.,

[which

Claud. Now, sister, what's the comfort?

Isab.

Why, as all

Comforts are; most good, most good, indeed'.

Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven,

Intends you for his swift ambassador,

Where you shall be an everlasting lieger':

Therefore, your best appointment make with speed;
To-morrow you set on.

Claud.

Is there no remedy?

Isab. None, but such remedy, as to save a head To cleave a heart in twain.

Claud.

But is there any?

Isab. Yes, brother, you may live:

There is a devilish mercy in the judge,

If you'll implore it, that will free your life,
But fetter you till death.

Claud.

Perpetual durance?

Isab. Ay, just; perpetual durance: a restraint, Though all the world's' vastidity you had,

To a determin'd scope.

Claud.

But in what nature?

Isab. In such a one as, you consenting to't, Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear,

And leave you naked.

Claud.

Let me know the point.

Isab. Oh! I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, Lest thou a feverous life shouldst entertain",

which is obviously wrong: the second folio thus corrects the error:—

"Bring them to speak, where I may be conceal'd,"

" and

but the smallest change is the best, and the mere transposition of "me "them" is all that is required. The addition of the words, "yet hear them," in the second folio, adopted by Malone, is thereby rendered unnecessary.

• Comforts are; most good, MoST GOOD, indeed.] This line is not quite syllabically correct, but the emphatic repetition of "most good" makes up the time. Hitherto the commentators have omitted the second "most good," and regulated the metre thus:

"Claud.

Now, sister, what's the comfort?

"Isab. Why, as all comforts are; most good, indeed."

This mode of printing the passage neither preserves the text nor the measure. The words, "Why, as all," complete the previous imperfect line, put into the mouth of Claudio.

3 - an everlasting LIEGER :] A "lieger" was a permanently resident ambassador at a foreign court.

• THOUGH all the world's] The old copies read, “through all,” &c.

– life SHOULDST entertain,] It is “life wouldst entertain" in the corr. fo. 1632, but perhaps the poet wrote "shouldst," and we therefore prefer the old text.

And six or seven winters more respect,
Than a perpetual honour. Dar'st thou die?
The sense of death is most in apprehension,
And the poor beetle, that we tread upon,
In corporal sufferance finds a pang, as great
As when a giant dies.

Claud.

Why give you me this shame?

Think you I can a resolution fetch

From flowery tenderness? If I must die,

I will encounter darkness as a bride,

And hug it in mine arms.

Isab. There spake my brother: there my father's grave Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die:

Thou art too noble to conserve a life

In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy,

Whose settled visage and deliberate word

Nips youth i' the head, and follies doth enmew'
As falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil;

His filth within being cast, he would appear
A pond as deep as hell.

Claud.

The priestly Angelo'?
Isab. Oh, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'st body to invest and cover

In priestly garb'! Dost thou think, Claudio?
If I would yield him my virginity,

Thou mightst be freed.

Claud.

Oh, heavens! it cannot be.

Isab. Yes, he would give't thee from this rank offence,

- and follies doth ENMEW] The old reading is emmew: the meaning is, that Angelo makes follies mew up or hide themselves, as the falcon compels the fowl to conceal itself.

7 The PRIESTLY Angelo?] The folio, 1623, has “The prenzie Angelo," which the folio, 1632, alters to princely; but the true word, both here and three lines below, must be that given in the margin of the corr. fo. 1632, viz. "The priestly Angelo," who was as severe and sanctimonious as a priest, and who, we may easily imagine, was dressed on the stage in a corresponding habit. This seems one of the best verbal emendations in the corr. fo. 1632: hitherto prenzie and princely have caused a vast deal of trouble to commentators, which, we apprehend, must now be at an end.

• In PRIESTLY GARB!] Here, according to the corr. fo. 1632, we have a double misprint in the folio, 1623-prenzie for "priestly" and guards for "garb :" we adopt both emendations, and feel confident that they are what the poet wrote. Isabella says, that to dress wickedness in a priestly habit was to invest it in the cunning livery of hell. Warburton must have credit for “priestly” in both places; but all editions and all commentators have erred as to garb, which we consider a fortunate recovery.

VOL. I.

X