you, Efcal. I thought, by your readiness in the office, you had continued in it fome time: You fay, feven years together?

quainted with tapfters; they will draw
master Froth, and you will hang them: Get you
gone, and let me hear no more of you.

Froth. I thank your worthip: For mine own part, I never come into any room in a taphouse, but I am drawn in.

Elb. And a half, fir.

Efcal. Alas! it hath been great pains to you! they do you wrong to put you fo oft upon 't: Are there Efcal. Well; no more of it, mafter Froth :-not men in your ward fufficient to ferve it? Farewell. Come you hither to me, master tapster; what's your name, mafter tapfter?

Chwr. Pompey.
Efcal. What elfe?

Clown. Bum, fir.

Ffcal. Troth, and your bum is the greatest thing about you; fo that, in the beaftlieft fenfe, you are Pompey the great. Pompey, you are partly a bawd, Pompey, howfoever you colour it in being tapfter; Are you not? Come, tell me true; it fhall be the better for you.

Clown. Truly, fir, I am a poor fellow that would live.

Eib. Faith, fir, few of any wit in fuch matters: as they are chofen, they are glad to chufe me for them; I do it for fome piece of money, and go through with all.

Ejcal. Look you, bring me in the names of some
fix or seven, the moft fufficient of your parish.
Elb. To your worship's houte, fir?
Ejcal. To my houfe: Fare you well.
What's a clock, think you?

Fut. Eleven, fir.

Ejcal. I pray you, home to dinner with me.
Just. I humbly thank you.

Fjal. It grieves me for the death of Claudio:

Efcal. How would you live, Pompey? by be-But there's no remedy. ing a bawd? What do you think of the trade, Pompey is it a lawful trade?

Clown. If the law will allow it, fir.

Ffcal. But the law will not allow it, Pompey; nor it fhall not be allowed in Vienna.

Clown. Does your worthip mean to geld and spay all the youth in the city?

Efcal. No, Pompey.

Clown. Truly, fir, in my poor opinion, they will to 't then: If your worthip will take order for the drabs and the knaves, you need not to fear the bawds.

Eftal. There are pretty orders beginning, I can tell you it is but heading and hanging.

Clown. If you head and hang all that offend that way but for ten year together, you'll be glad to give out a commiffion for more heads. If this law hold in Vienna ten years, I'll rent the fairest houfe in it, after three-pence a bay 2: If you live to fee this come to pass, fay, Pompey told you fo.

Efcal. Thank you, good Pompey; and in requital of your prophecy, hak you,-I advife you, let me not find you before me again upon any complaint whatfoever, no, not for dwelling where you do; if I do, Pompey, I fhall beat you to your tent, and prove a fhrewd Cæfar to you; in plain dealing, Pompey, I fhall have you whipt: fo, for this time, Pompey, fare you well.

Juft. Lord Angelo is fevere.

Ffcal. It is but needful:

Mercy is not itfelf, that oft looks fo;
Pardon is ftill the nurfe of fecond woe:
But yet,-Poor Claudio!-There's no remedy.
Come, fir.
[Excurs

Ang. Now, what's the matter, provost?
Prov. Is it your will Claudio fhall die to-morrow?
Ang. Did I not tell thee, yea? hadst thou not order ?
Why doft thou afk again?

Prov. Left I might be too rafh:
Under your good correction, I have seen,
When, after execution, judgment hath
Repented o'er his doom.

Ang. Go to; let that be mine:
Do you your office, or give up your place,

Clown. I thank your worship for your good coun-And you fhall well be spar'd.
fel; but I fhall follow it, as the fleth and fortune
fhall better determine.

Whip me? No, no; let carman whip his jade; The valiant heart's not whipt out of his trade. [Exit. Efcal. Come hither to me, mafter Elbow; come hither, mafter conftable. How long have you been in this place of conftable?

Ill. Seven year and a half, fir.

Prov. I crave your honour's pardon.-
What fhall be done, fir, with the groaning Juliet
She's very near her hour.

dag. Difpofe of her

To fome more fitting place; and that with speed.
Re-enter Servant.

Serv. Here is the fifter of the man condemn'd,
Defires access to you.

1 Draw includes here a variety of fenfes. As it refers to the tapfter, it means, to drain, to empty; In Froth's anfwer, it imports as it refers to hang, it implies to be conveyed to execution on a hurdle.

the fame as to bring along by fome motive or power. 2 Dr. Johnfon fays, a bay of building is, in many parts of England, a common term, for the fpace between the main beams of the roof; fo that a barn crofled twice with beams is a barn of three bays. In Staffordinire, it is applied to the two open fpaces of a barn on each fide the threshing-floor. Ang.

Arg. Well, let her be admitted. [Exit Servant. No; I would tell what 'twere to be a judge,

Ang. Stay yet a while. [To Ifab.] You are wel- Why, all the fouls that were 2, were forfeit once;

I That is, pity. 2 Perhaps we ought to read are. 3 Meaning, that he would be quite another man. This alludes to the fopperies of the berril, much ufed at that time by cheats and fortunetellers to predict by. 5 Paltry. That is, knotted.

That lying by the violet in the fun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous feafon. Can it be,

That modefty may more betray our fense [nough,
Than woman's lightnefs having wafte ground e-
Shall we defire to raze the fanctuary,

Lucio. Oh, to him, to him, wench; he will relent; And pitch our evils there? Oh, fie, fie, fie!
He's coming; I perceive 't.

Enter Duke, babited like a Friar, and Provaft. Duke. Hail to you, provoft! fc, I think you are. Prov. I am the provoft: What's your will, good friar ? [order, Duke. Bound by my charity, and my blefs'd [turn back. I come to vifit the afflicted spirits

Ifab. Ay, with fuch gifts, that heaven thall fhare Here in the prifon: do me the common right Lucio. You had marr'd all elfe. [with you. Ifab. Not with fond 2 fhekels of the tefted 3 gold, Or stones, whofe rates are either rich or poor, As fancy values them: but with true prayers, That shall be up at heaven, and enter there, Ere fun-rife; prayers from preferved fouls 4, From fafting maids, whofe minds are dedicate To nothing temporal,

Dr. Warburton affigns the following meaning to this paffage: That if the angels poffeffed that peculiar turn of the human mind, which always inclines it to a spiteful, unfeasonable mirth, they would laugh themfelves out of their immortality, by indulging a paffion which does not deferve that prerogative. The ancients thought, that immoderate laughter was caufed by the bigne's of the Spleen. 2 Fond here means, valued or prized by folly. 3 That is, cupelled, brought to the fet, refined. 4 That is, preferved from the corruption of the world. 5 Dr. Johnfon thinks, that inflead of where we should read, which your prayers crofs. The meaning of the paffage will then be, The temptation under which I labour is that which thou haft unknowingly thwarted with thy prayer. Perhaps it were better to read flames. 7 That is, has disfigured her tame or reputation.

So play the foolish throngs with one that fwoons; Juliet. Yes, as I love the woman that wrong'd Come all to help him, and fo ftop the air By which he should revive: and even fo The general 6, subject to a well-wish'd king, Quit their own part, and in obfequious fondnefs Crowd to his prefence, where their untaught love Muft needs appear offence.

Duke. So then, it seems, your most offenceful Was mutually committed?

Ang. Ha Fie, thefe filthy vices! It were as good
To pardon him, that hath from nature stolen
[Exeunt. A man already made, as to remit

Their fawcy fweetness 7, that do coin heaven's image
In ftamps that are forbid: 'tis all as easy
Falfely to take away a life true made,
As to put metal in reftrained means,

Ang. When I would pray and think, I think To make a falfe one 9.

That is, repent not on this account. 2 Intention here fignifies eagerness of defire. The old folio, however, reads invention, by which the poet might mean imagination. 3 Profit, advantage. ♦ Cafe is here put for outjide, or external fhew. 5 The meaning is, Let the most wicked thing have but a virtuous pretence, and it fhall pafs for innocent. Thus if we write good angel on the devil's hern, 'tis not taken any longer to be the devil's cref. 6 This phrafe of the general, means the people or multitude fubject to a king, &c. 7 That is, faucy indulgence of the appetite. 8 The fenfe of this paffage is fimply, that murder is as easy as fornication, aud it is as improper to pardon the latter as the former.

Ijub. So.

Ang. And his offence is fo, as it appears
Accounted to the law upon that pain 3.
Ifab. True.

Ang. Admit no other way to fave his life,
(As I fubfcribe 4 not that, nor any other,
But in the loss of queftion) that you, his fifter,
Finding your elf defir'd of fuch a perfon,
Whofe credit with the judge, or own great place,
Could fetch your brother from the manacles
Of the all-binding law; and that there were
No earthly mean to fave him, but that either
You must lay down the treasures of your body
To this fuppofed, or elfe let him fuffer;
What would you do?

Ifab. As much for my poor brother, as myself:
That is, Were I under the terms of death,
The impreffion of keen whips I'd wear as rubies,
And ftrip myself to death, as to a bed

That longing I have been fick for, ere I'd yield
My body up to fshame.

Ang. Then muft your brother die.
Ifab. And 'twere the cheaper way:
Better it were, a brother dy'd at once,
Than that a fifter, by redeeming him,
Should die for ever.

Ang. Were not you then as cruel as the fentence
That you have flander'd fo?

Ifab. Ignominy in ranfom, and free pardon,
Are of two houfes: lawful mercy
Is nothing kin to foul redemption.

Ang. You feem'd of late to make the law a tyrant;
And rather prov'd the fliding of your brother
A merriment than a vice.

Ifab. O pardon me, my lord; it oft falls out,
To have what we would have, we fpeak not what

we mean:

I fomething do excufe the thing I hate,
For his advantage that I dearly love.

And from this teftimony of your own sex,
(Since, I fuppofe, we are made to be no stronger,
Then faults may shake our frames) let me be bold,→
I do arreft your words: Be that you are,
That is, a woman; if you be more, you're none;
If you be one (as you are well exprefs'd
By all external warrants) fhew it now,
By putting on the deftin'd livery.

Ifab. I have no tongue but one: gentle, my lord,
Let me intreat you, fpeak the former language.
Ang. Plainly conceive, I love you.
Ifab. My brother did love Juliet ;

And you tell me, that he fhall die for it.

Ang. He fhall not, Ifabel, if you give me love.
Ifab. I know your virtue hath a licence in 't,
Which feems a little fouler than it is,
To pluck on others.

Ang. Believe me, on mine honour,
My words express my purpose.

Ifab. Ha! little honour to be much believ'd,
And moft pernicious purpofe!-Seeming, feem-

ing 10

I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for 't:
Sign me a prefent pardon for my brother,
Or, with an out-stretch'd throat, I'll tell the world
Aloud, what man thou art.

Ang. Who will believe thee, Ifabel?
My unfoil'd name, the auftereness of my life,
My vouch against you, and my place i' the ftate,
Will fo your accufation over-weigh,
That you fhall ftifle in your own report,
And smell of calumny. I have beguh;
And now I give my fenfual race the rein;
Fit thy confent to my sharp appetite;
Lay by all nicety, and prolixious blushes,
That banish what they fue for; redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will;

Or elfe he must not only die the death,
But thy unkindness fhall his death draw out
To lingering fufferance: answer me to-morrow,

I Meaning, the faults of mine anfwer are the faults which I am to anfwer for. 2 That is, a beauty covered as with a fhield. Thefe mafks probably mean, the mafks of the audience. 3 Pain here means fenalty, punishment. 4 To fubfcribe, here fignifies, to agree to. 5 Dr. Warburton obferves, this paffage is fo obfcure, but the allufion fo fine, that it deferves to be explained. A feodary was one who in the times of vaffalage held lands of the chief lord, under the tenure of paying rent and fervice: which tenures were call'd feuda amongst the Goths. Now, fays Angelo, "we are all frail." "Yes, replies Ifabella; if all mankind were not feodaries, who owe what they are to this tenure of imbecility, and who fucceed each other by the fame tenure, as well as my brother, I would give him up." The comparing mankind, lying under the weight original fin, to a feodary, who owes fuit and fervice to his lord, is, I think, not ill imagined. 6 To owe, in this place, fignifies to own, to have poffeffion. 7 Perhaps we should read, take forms. 9 That is, in imitating them. 9 That is, take any impreffion. 10 That is, Hypocrify, hypocrify. 11 Vouch is the teftimony one

man bears for another.

Or,