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. Duhe. SCENE, A MONASTERY. N Enter Duke, and Friar Thomas. [Exeunt. O; 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 Sir, none better knows than you, And held in idle price to haunt Affemblies, (A man of ftricture and firm abftinence) Duke. We have strict Statutes and most biting Laws, (The needful bits and curbs for head-ftrong Steeds, (4) Which for thefe nineteen years we have let fleep: (5) Even (4) The needful Bits and Curbs for beadftrong Weeds :] There is no matter of Analogy or Confonance, in the Metaphors here: and tho' the Copies agree, I do not think, the Author would have talk'd of Bits and Curbs for Weeds. On the other hand, nothing can be more proper, than to compare Perfons of unbridled Licentioufeness to head-ftrong Steeds: and, in this View, bridling the Paffions has been a Phrafe adopted by our beft Poets. (5) Which for theje fourteen years we have let ip.] For fourteen I have made no Scruple to replace nineteen. The Rea fòn Even like an o'er-grown lion in a cave, That goes not out to prey: now, as fond fathers Fri. It refted in your Grace T'unloofe this ty'd up juftice, when you pleas'd: Duke. I do fear, too dreadful. Sith 'twas my fault to give the people scope, And not the punishment. Therefore, indeed, my father, Who may in th' ambush of my name ftrike home, fon will be obvious to the Reader, who fhould look back to the 3d Note upon this Play. I have, I hope, upon as good Authority, alter'd the odd Phrafe of letting the Laws flip: for, fuppofing the Expreffion might be juftified, yet 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 fleep, as I have reftored to the Text, adds a particular Propriety to the Thing reprefented, and accords exactly too with the Simile It is the Metaphor too, that our Author feems fond of ufing upon this Occafion, in feveral other Paffages of this Play.. And yet, my nature never in the fight Like a true Friar. More reafons for this action Is more to bread than stone: hence hall we fee, SCENE, A Nunnery. Enter Ifabella and Francifca. Ifab. A Nun. Are not these large enough? ND have you Nuns no further privileges Ifab. Yes, truly; I fpeak not. as defiring more; Upon the fifter-hood, the votarifts of Saint Clare. Nun. It is a man's voice: gentle. Ifabella, the key, and know his business of him; Then, if you speak, you must not fhew your face; Enter Lucio. Lucio. Hail, virgin, (if you be) as thofe cheek-roofes Proclaim you are no lefs; can you so ftead me, As bring me to the fight of Ifabella, A novice of this place, and the fair fifter To her unhappy brother Claudio? Ifab. Why her unhappy brother? let me ask The rather, for I now must make you know I am that Isabella, and his fifter. Lucio. Gentle and fair, your brother kindly greets you; Not to be weary with you, he's in prifon. Ifab. Woe me! for what? Lucio. For that, which, if myself might be his judge, He should receive his punishment in thanks; He hath got his friend with child. Ifab. Sir, make me not your ftory. Lucio. Tis true:I would not (tho''tis my familiar fin With maids to feem the lapwing, and to jeft, Tongue far from heart) play with all virgins fo. I hold you as a thing en-sky'd, and fainted; By your renouncement, an immortal Spirit; And to be talk'd with in fincerity, As with a Saint: Ifab. You do blafpheme the good, in mocking me. Lucio. Do not believe it. Fewness and truth, 'tis thus ; Your brother and his lover having embrac❜d, As thofe that feed grow full, as bloffoming time İfab. Some one with child by him?-my coufin Juliet? Ifab. Adoptedly, as fchool-maids change their names, By vain, tho' apt, affection. Lucio. She it is. Ifab. O, let him marry her! Lucio. This is the point. The Duke is very ftrangely gone from hence; The The wanton ftings and motions of the fenfe; Ijab. Doth he fo Seek for his life? Lucio. H'as cenfur'd him already; And, as I hear, the Provoft hath a warrant Ijab. Alas! what poor Ability's in me, to do him good? And made us lofe the good, we oft might win, As they themselves would owe them. Ifab. I'll fee what I can do. Ifab. I will about it ftrait; No longer flaying, but to give the mother [Exeunt. ACT |