Give notice to such men of sort and suit,

[Exit.

As are to meet him.

Escal.

I shall, sir: fare you well.
Ang. Good night.-

This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnant',
And dull to all proceedings. A deflower'd maid,

And by an eminent body, that enforc'd

The law against it!-But that her tender shame
Will not proclaim against her maiden loss,

How might she tongue me! Yet reason dares her no3,
For my authority bears such a credent bulk,

That no particular scandal once can touch,

But it confounds the breather. He should have liv'd,
Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous sense,
Might in the times to come have ta'en revenge,
By so receiving a dishonour'd life

With ransom of such shame. Would yet he had liv'd!
Alack! when once our grace we have forgot,

Nothing goes right: we would, and we would not. [Exit.

SCENE V.

Fields without the Town.

Enter DUKE, in his own habit, and Friar PETER.

Duke. These letters at fit time deliver me. The provost knows our purpose, and our plot. The matter being afoot, keep your instruction, And hold you ever to our special drift,

[Giving letters.

Though sometimes you do blench' from this to that,

1

makes me UNPREGNANT,] Steevens remarks that in the first scene the Duke says that Escalus is "pregnant," i. e. ready in the forms of law. "Unpregnant," therefore, in the instance before us, is unready, unprepared.

'Yet reason dares her No,] We reprint this sentence precisely as it stands in the folios, which may be said to be sufficiently intelligible, although the construction is somewhat forced. As Mr. W. W. Williams remarks, to print "Yet her reason dares not" is easier and clearer; but we hesitate, especially without authority, to make such changes in the text as to alter the place of "her," and to print "no" not. In the next line we adopt the emendation of the corr. fo. 1632, viz. “such" for of, nearly all commentators agreeing that of is a corruption. As to " tongue me," see Dyce's Middleton, i. p. 497.

3

- you do BLENCH] To "blench" is to start from, to fly off. See Vol. iii. p. 27, Vol. iv. pp. 482. 512, &c.

As cause doth minister. Go, call at Flavius' house',
And tell him where I stay: give the like notice
Unto Valentius, Rowland, and to Crassus,

And bid them bring the trumpets to the gate;

But send me Flavius first.

F. Peter.

It shall be speeded well.

[Exit Friar.

Enter VARRIUS.

Duke. I thank thee, Varrius; thou hast made good haste. Come, we will walk: there's other of our friends

Will greet us here anon, my gentle Varrius.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

Street near the City Gate.

Enter ISABELLA and MARIANA.

Isab. To speak so indirectly I am loath:
I would say the truth; but to accuse him so,
That is your part; yet I'm advis'd to do it,
He says, to 'vailful purpose'.

Mari.

Be rul'd by him.

Isab. Besides, he tells me, that, if peradventure
He speak against me on the adverse side,

I should not think it strange; for 'tis a physic,
That's bitter to sweet end.

Mari. I would, friar Peter—
Isab.

Oh, peace! the friar is come.

Go, call at FLAVIUS' house,] Misprinted "Flavia's house" in the old copies : two lines lower "Valentius" has been called Valentinus by modern editors. "Unto," for to is from the corr. fo. 1632: this short scene is nevertheless struck out with a pen in that volume. How its absence was to be supplied we are not informed, and the instructions to Friar Peter seem almost necessary to the intelligibility of what follows in A. v.

He says, to 'VAILFUL purpose.] Such is the emendation in the corr. fo. 1632 for "to vail full purpose” of the old editions: it confirms the change speculatively made by Theobald, and is entirely supported by what Isabella immediately afterwards remarks,

VOL. I.

" 'tis a physic,

Enter Friar PETER.

F. Peter. Come; I have found you out a stand most fit, Where you may have such vantage on the duke,

He shall not pass you. Twice have the trumpets sounded: The generous and gravest citizens

Have hent the gates, and very near upon

The duke is ent❜ring: therefore hence, away.

[Exeunt.

ACT V. SCENE I.

A public Place near the City Gate.

MARIANA, (veil'd,) ISABELLA, and PETER, at a distance. Enter at several doors, DUKE, VARRIUS, Lords; ANGELO, ESCALUS, LUCIO, Provost, Officers, and Citizens.

Duke. My very worthy cousin, fairly met:

Our old and faithful friend, we are glad to see you.

Ang. and Escal. Happy return be to your royal grace!

Duke. Many and hearty thankings to you both.

We have made inquiry of you; and we hear
Such goodness of your justice, that our soul
Cannot but yield you forth to public thanks,
Forerunning more requital.

Ang.

You make my bonds still greater. Duke. Oh! your desert speaks loud; and I should wrong it, To lock it in the wards of covert bosom, When it deserves with characters of brass A forted residence 'gainst the tooth of time, And razure of oblivion. Give me your hand', And let the subject see, to make them know

• Have HENT the gates,] i. e. Have taken possession of the gates. The word "bent" is derived from the Saxon hentan, to catch or lay hold of: Shakespeare has it again in "The Winter's Tale,"—" And merrily hent the stile-a." Vol. iii. p. 68. Hint (see this Vol. p. 21) has the same etymology, as Horne Tooke justly observed. "Hent" was in use down to the time of Spenser and Shakespeare, but not much afterwards.

Give Me your hand,] "Give we your hand," in the first folio, the m and w having been again confounded.

That outward courtesies would fain proclaim
Favours that keep within.-Come, Escalus;
You must walk by us on our other hand,

And good supporters are you.

Friar PETER and ISABELLA come forward'.

F. Peter. Now is your time.

him.

Speak loud, and kneel before

Isab. Justice, oh royal duke! Vail your regard'

Upon a wrong'd, I would fain have said, a maid.
Oh worthy prince! dishonour not your eye
By throwing it on any other object,

Till you have heard me in my true complaint,

And given me justice, justice, justice, justice!

[Kneeling.

Duke. Relate your wrongs: in what? by whom? Be

brief.

Here is lord Angelo shall give you justice:

Reveal yourself to him.

Isab

Oh, worthy duke!

You bid me seek redemption of the devil.

Hear me yourself; for that which I must speak
Must either punish me, not being believ'd,

[Rising.

Or wring redress from you. Hear me, oh, hear me, here!

[Kneeling again.

Ang. My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm:
She hath been a suitor to me for her brother,
Cut off by course of justice.

Isab.
By course of justice! [Rising'.
Ang. And she will speak most bitterly, and strange'.
Isab. Most strange, but yet most truly, will I speak.

• Friar Peter and Isabella come forward.] The old copies say, "Enter Peter and Isabella;" but they have been standing behind with Mariana, whose time for coming forward has not yet arrived.

• VAIL your regard] To "vail" is to lower, to abase. See Vol. ii. pp. 268. 525; Vol. iv. p. 591, &c.

1 Rising.] All the stage-directions in this part of the scene are from the margin of the corr. fo. 1632: they are valuable as they show the manner in which the scene was conducted of old. Isabella first knelt to prefer her suit; then rose to accuse Angelo; again knelt to procure audience, and subsequently rose again to protest indignantly against Angelo's "course of justice."

2

most bitterly, and strange.] Both here and in the next line the old corrector of the folio, 1632, alters the adjective to the adverb. As we may doubt whether Shakespeare so wrote, we decline to insert the change.

That Angelo's forsworn, is it not strange?
That Angelo's a murderer, is't not strange ?
That Angelo is an adulterous thief,

A hypocrite, a virgin-violator,
Is it not strange, and strange?
Duke.

Nay, it is ten times strange'.

Isab. It is not truer he is Angelo,

Than this is all as true as it is strange:

Nay, it is ten times true; for truth is truth
To th' end of reckoning.

Duke.

Away with her.-Poor soul!

She speaks this in th' infirmity of sense.

Isab. Oh prince, I conjure thee, as thou believ'st There is another comfort than this world,

That thou neglect me not, with that opinion

That I am touch'd with madness: make not impossible
That which but seems unlike. "Tis not impossible,

But one, the wicked'st caitiff on the ground,

May seem as shy, as grave, as just, as absolute,
As Angelo; even so may Angelo,

In all his dressings, characts, titles, forms,
Be an arch-villain. Believe it, royal prince:
If he be less, he's nothing; but he's more,
Had I more name for badness.

Duke..

By mine honesty,

If she be mad, as I believe no other,

Her madness hath the oddest frame of sense,
Such a dependency of thing on thing,

As e'er I heard in madness.

Isab.

Oh, gracious duke!

Harp not on that; nor do not banish reason
For incredulity'; but let your reason serve

To make the truth appear, where it seems hid,
And hide the false seems true".

Duke.

Many that are not mad,

Have, sure, more lack of reason.-What would you say?

Nay, IT is ten times strange.] So the folios. Malone and Steevens omit "it is" without warrant, and without notice.

4

CHARACTS,] i. e. Characters, marks, or inscriptions.

• For INCREDULITY;] i. e. Because it appears incredible: this emendation is from the corr. fo. 1632, the text having always hitherto been inequality, doubtless a word misread by the old compositor.

AND hide the false seems true.] Theobald and Monck Mason would read "Not hide the false seems true," but no change is really required.