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Lucio. Lechery?

Claud. Call it fo.

Prov: Away, fir; you must go.

Claud. One word, good friend :-Lucio, a word with you.

Lucio. A hundred, if they'll do you any good.Is lechery fo look'd after ?

Claud. Thus ftands it with me,-Upon a true contract,

"I got poffeffion of Julietta's bed;

You know the lady; fhe is fast my wife,

Save that we do the denunciation lack

Of outward order: this we came not to,
Only for propagation of a dower

Remaining in the coffer of her friends;

From whom we thought it meet to hide our love,
Till time had made them for us.

But it chances,

The stealth of our moft mutual entertainment,

With character too grofs, is writ on Juliet.
Lucio. With child, perhaps?

Claud. Unhappily, even so.

And the new deputy now for the duke,—
Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness 7;
Or whether that the body public be

A horse whereon the governor doth ride,
Who, newly in the feat, that it may know

• I got poffeffion of Julietta's bed, &c.] This fpeech is furely too indelicate to be fpoken concerning Juliet, before her face, for fhe appears to be brought in with the reft, tho' fhe has nothing to fay. The Clown points her out as they enter; and yet, from Claudio's telling Lucio, that he knows the lady, &c. one would think she was not meant to have made her perfonal appearance on the scene. STEEVENS.

7-the fault and glimpse of newness;] Fault and glimpse have fo little relation to each other, that both can scarcely be right: we may read flash for fault: or, perhaps we may read,

Whether it be the fault or glimpse ·

That is, whether it be the feeming enormity of the action, or the glare of new authority.. Yet the fame fenfe follows in the next lines. JOHNSON.

He

He can command, let's it ftraight feel the fpur:
Whether the tyranny be in his place,

Or in his eminence that fills it up,

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I ftagger in : But this new governor
Awakes me all the enrolled penalties,

Which have, like unfcour'd armour, hung by the wall,

So long, that nineteen zodiacks have gone round, And none of them been worn; and, for a name, Now puts the drowfy and neglected act

Freshly on me :-'tis, furely, for a name.

Lucio. I warrant, it is: and thy head ftands fo tickle' on thy fhoulders, that a milk-maid, if the be in love, may figh it off. Send after the duke, and appeal to him.

Claud. I have done fo, but he's not to be found.
I pr'ythee, Lucio, do me this kind fervice :
This day my fifter fhould the cloifter enter,
And there receive her approbation:

Acquaint her with the danger of my state;
Implore her, in my voice, that the make friends
To the ftrict deputy; bid herself affay him;

-like unfcour'd armour.
r.] So in Troilus and Creffida:

“Like rufty mail in monumental mockery." STEEVENS. 9 So long that nineteen zodiacks have gone round,] The duke in the fcene immediately following fays,

Which for these fourteen years we have let flip.

The author could not fo difagree with himself. 'Tis neceffary to make the two accounts correfpond. THEOBALD.

fo tickle.] i. e. ticklish. This word is frequently used by our old dramatic authors. So in The true Tragedy of Marius and Scilla,

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"Have ftood on tickle terms.”

Again, in The Widow's Tears, by Chapman, 1612:

66

upon as tickle a pin as the needle of a dial."

Again, in The Spanish Tragedy, 1610;

"Now ftands our fortune on a tickle point.”

Again, in Byron's Tragedy, 1608 :

66

all his fways

" And tickle aptness to exceed his bounds." STEEVENS.

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I have great hope in that: for in her youth
There is a prone and fpeechlefs dialect*,

Such as moves men; befide, the hath profperous art
When she will play with reason and difcourfe,
And well the can perfuade,

Lucio. I pray, he may as well for the encouragement of the like, which elfe would ftand under griev ous impofition; as for the enjoying of thy life, who I would be forry fhould be thus foolishly loft at a game of tick-tack. I'll to her,

Claud. I thank you, good friend Lucio,
Lucio. Within two hours,

Claud, Come, officer, away.

[Exeunt.

2-prone and fpeechlefs dialect,] I can fcarcely tell what fignification to give to the word prone. Its primitive and tranflated fenfes are well known. The authour may, by a prone dialect, mean a dialect which men are prone to regard, or a dialect natural and unforced, as thofe actions feem to which we are prone. Either of thefe interpretations are fufficiently ftrained; but such distor tion of words is not uncommon in our author. For the fake of an easier fenfe, we may read :

Pr thus:

In her youth

There is a pow'r, and speechless dialect,

Such as moves men.

There is a prompt and Speechless dialect. JOHNSON. Prone, perhaps, may ftand for bumble, as a prone pofture is a pofture of fupplication.

So in the Opportunity, by Shirley, 1640;

You have proftrate language."

The fame thought occurs in the Winter's Tale:

The filence often of pure innocence

"Perfuades, when fpeaking fails."

Sir W, Davenant, in his alteration of the play, changes prone to fweet. I mention fome of his variations to fhew that what appear difficulties to us, were difficulties to him, who living nearer the time of Shakespeare might be supposed to have understood his language more intimately, STEEVENS,

3 Under grievous impofition:] I once thought it should be inquition, but the prefent reading is probably right. The crime would be under grievous penalties impofed. JOHNSON,

SCENE

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SCENE IV.

A Monaftery.

Enter Duke and Friar Thomas.

Duke. No; holy father; throw away that thought;

Believe not that the dribbling dart of love

Can pierce a compleat bofom: why I defire thee To give me fecret harbour, hath a purpose

More grave and wrinkled than the aims and ends Of burning youth.

Fri. May your grace fpeak of it?

Duke. My holy fir, none better knows than you How I have ever lov'd the life remov'd';

And held in idle price to haunt affemblies,

Where youth, and coft, and witlefs bravery keeps. I have deliver'd to lord Angelo

(A man of stricture, and firm abftinence 6)

4 Believe not, that the dribbling dart of love

Can pierce a compleat bofom:~

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Think not that a breast compleatly armed can be pierced by the dart of love that comes fluttering without force. JOHNson.

5 -the life remov'd.] i. e. a life of retirement, a life removed from the bustle of the world. STEEVENS.

A man of stricture and firm abftinence,] Stricture makes no fenfe in this place. We fhould read,

A man of strict ure and firm abftinence,

i.e. a man of the exacteft conduct, and practifed in the fubdual of his paffions. Ure an old word for ufe, practice: fo enur'd, habituated to. WARBURTON,

Stricture may eafily be used for fritnefs; are is indeed an old word, but, I think, always applied to things, never to persons. JOHNSON.

Sir W. Davenant in his alteration of this play, reads, frict nefs. Ure is fometimes applied to perfons as well as to things. So in the Old Interlude of Tom Tyler and his Wife, 1598:

"So fhall I be fure

"To keep him in ure.”

The fame word occurs in Promos and Caffandra, 1578:

"The crafty man oft

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in are." STEEVENS.

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My

My abfolute power and place here in Vienna,
And he supposes me travell'd to Poland;
For fo I have ftrew'd it in the common ear,
And fo it is receiv'd: Now, pious fir,
You will demand of me, why I do this?
Fri. Gladly, my lord.

Duke. We have ftrict ftatutes, and moft biting

laws,

(The needful bits and curbs for head-strong steeds '). Which for thefe nineteen years we have let fleep;

Even

The needful bits and curbs for head-ftrong fteeds,] In the copies,
The needful bits and curbs for head ftrong weeds.

There is no matter of analogy or confonance in the metaphors here: and, though the copies agree, I do not think, the author would have talked of bits and curbs for weeds. On the other hand, nothing can be more proper, than to compare perfons of unbridled licentioufnefs to head-strong feeds: and, in this view, bridling the paffions has been a phrase adopted by our best poets. THEOBALD. 8 Which for thefe nineteen years we have let fleep;] In former editions,

Which for thefe fourteen years we have let flip. For fourteen I have made no fcruple to replace nineteen. The reafon will be obvious to him who recollects what the Duke has faid in a foregoing fcene. I have altered the odd phrase of letting the laws flip: for how does it fort with the comparison that follows, of a lion in his cave that went not out to prey? But letting the laws Лleep, adds a particular propriety to the thing re prefented, and accords exactly too with the fimile. It is the metaphor too, that our author feems fond of using upon this occa fion, in feveral other paffages of this play:

The law hath not been dead, tho' it hath slept ;
'Tis
is now awake.

And fo, again:

-but this new governor

Awakes me all th' enrolled penalties;

and for a name,

Now puts the drowsy and neglected a&t

Frefbly on me. THEOBALD.

I once thought that the words let flip (which is the reading of the old copy, and, I believe right) related to the line immediately preceding - the needful bits and curbs, which we have fuffered for fo many years to hang loofe. But it is clear from a pasfage in Twelfth Night that thefe words fhould be referred to "which for thefe nineteen years we have fuffered to pass unnoticed

laws,

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