Duke. Dear Sir, ere long I'll vifit you again.
Claud. Moft holy Sir, I thank you.

Ifab. My Bufinefs is a word, or two, with Claudio. Prov. And very welcome. Look, Signior, here's your fifter.

Duke. Provost, a word with you.

Prov. As many as you please.

Duke. Bring them to fpeak where I may be con

ceal'd,

Yet hear them.

[Exeunt Duke and Provost,

SCENE II.

Claud. Now, fifter, what's the comfort?
Ifab. Why, as all comforts are; most good in
Deed :

Lord Angelo, having affairs to heav'n,

Intends you for his fwift ambaffador;
Where you fhall be an everlafting leiger.

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

Claud. Is there no remedy?

Ifab. None, but fuch remedy, as, to fave a head, To cleave a heart in twain.

Claud. But is there any?

Ifab. Yes, brother, you may live:

There is a devilifh mercy in the judge,

If you'll implore it, that will free your life,

But fetter you 'till death.

Claud. Perpetual durance?

Ifab. Ay, juft; perpetual durance; a restraint,

Tho' all the world's vaftidity you had,

To a determin'd scope.

Claud. But in what nature?

Ifab. In fuch a one, as you, confenting to't, Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear,

And leave you naked.

VOL. I.

Claud. Let me know the point.

Ifab. Oh, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, "Left thou a fev'rous life fhould'st entertain, "And fix or seven Winters more respect

"Than a perpetual Honour. Dar'ft thou die?
"The fenfe of death is moft in apprehenfion;
"And the poor Beetle, that we tread upon,
"In corp'ral fufferance finds a pang as great,
"As when a Giant dies.

Claud. Why give you me this fhame?
Think you, I can a refolution fetch
From flow'ry tenderness? if I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms.

Ifab." There fpake my brother; there my father's

grave

"Did utter forth a voice.

Yes, thou muft die:

Thou art too noble to conferve a life

In base appliances. This outward-fainted Deputy,
Whose fettled visage and delib'rate word

Nips youth i'th' head; and follies doth emmew,

As faulcon doth the fowl; is yet a devil:

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

Claud. The Priestly Angelo?

Ifab. Oh, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'ft body to inveft and cover
In Prieftly guards. Doft thou think, Claudio,

If

7 The PRINCELY Angelo? PRINCELY guards.] The ftapid Editors miftaking guards for fatellites, (whereas it here fignifies lace) altered PRIESTLY, in both places, to PRINCELY. Where as Shakespear wrote it PRIESTLY, as appears from the words themselves,

'tis the cunning livery of bell,

The damned ft body to inveft and cover
With PRIESTLY guards.

In the first place we fee that guards here fignifies lace, as referring to livery, and as having no fenfe in the fignification of fatellites.

Now

If I would yield him my virginity,
Thou might'ft be freed?

Claud. Oh, heavens! it cannot be.

Ifab. Yes, he would (a) give thee for this rank offence,

So to offend him ftill. This night's the time
That I fhould do what I abhor to name,
Or elfe thou dy'st to-morrow.

Claud. Thou shalt not do't.
Ifab. Oh, were it but my life,
I'd throw it down for your deliverance
As frankly as a pin.

Claud. Thanks, deareft Ifabel.

Ifab. Be ready, Claudio, for your death to-morrow. Claud. Yes. Has he affections in him,

That thus can make him bite the law by th' nose, When he would force it? fure, it is no fin;

Or of the deadly feven it is the least.

Ifab. Which is the leaft?

Claud. If it were damnable, he being so wife,
Why would he for the momentary trick
Be perdurably fin'd? oh Isabel!

Ifab. What fays my

brother?

Claud. Death's a fearful thing.
Ifab. And fhamed life a hateful.

Now prieftly guards means fan&tity, which is the fenfe required. But princely guards means nothing but rich lace, which is a sense the paffage will not bear. Angelo, indeed, as Deputy, might be called the princely Angelo: but not in this place, where the immediately preceding words of, This outward fainted Deputy, demand the reading I have here restored.

8

bite the law by th' nose,

When he would force it?] i.e. inforce it. This is but a kind of bear-garden phrafe, taken from the cuftom of driving cattle, and fetting a dog upon them to catch them by the nofe, and stop them when they go aftray.

[(a) give thes for this rank offence, Oxf. Edit.-Vulg. give't thee; from this rank offence.]

Claud.

Ay, but to die, and go we know not where ;

• To lye in cold obstruction, and to rot;
This fenfible warm motion to become
• A kneaded clod; 9 and the delighted fpirit
• To bathe in fiery floods, or to refide
• In thrilling regions of thick-ribb'd ice;
• To be imprison'd in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence round about
The pendant world; or to be worse than worft
Of thofe, that lawless and incertain thoughts

• Imagine howling; 'tis too horrible!

The weariest and most loathed worldly life, That age, ach, penury, imprisonment

• Can lay on nature, is a paradise

To what we fear of death.
Ifab. Alas! alas!

Claud. Sweet fifter, let me live;
What fin
you do to fave a brother's life,
Nature difpenfes with the deed fo far,
That it becomes a virtue.

Ifa. Oh, you beast!

Oh, faithlefs coward! oh, dishonest wretch!
Wilt thou be made a man, out of my vice?

Is't not a kind of inceft, to take life

From thine own fifter's fhame? what fhould I think? Heav'n grant, my mother plaid my father fair!

9

and the delighted spirit] i. e. the fpirit accustomed here to eafe and delights. This was properly urged as an aggravation to the sharpness of the torments fpoken of. The Oxford Editor not apprehending this, alters it to dilated. As if, because the fpirit in the body is faid to be imprisoned, it was crowded toge ther likewife; and fo, by death, not only fet free, but expanded too; which, if true, would make it the lefs fenfible of pain. The wearieft, &c.] See the infamous wifh of Mecenas, recorded by Seneca, 101 Ep.

Debilem facito manu,
Debilem pede, coxa, &c.

Vita dum fupereft, bene eft, &c.

For

For fuch a warped flip of wilderness

Ne'er iffu'd from his blood. Take my defiance,
Die, perifh might my only bending down
Reprieve thee from thy fate, it fhould proceed.
I'll pray a thousand prayers for thy death;
No word to fave thee.

Claud. Nay, hear me, Ifabel.
Ifab. Oh, fie, fie, fie!

Thy fin's not accidental, but a trade;
Mercy to thee would prove it felf a bawd;
'Tis beft, that thou dy't quickly.
Claud. Oh hear me, Ifabella.

To them, Enter Duke and Provost. Duke. Vouchfafe a word, young fifter; but one word.

Ifab. What is your will?

Duke. Might you difpenfe with your leifure, I would by and by have fome fpeech with you; the fatisfaction I would require, is likewife your own benefit.

Ifab. I have no fuperfluous leifure; my stay must· be ftolen out of other affairs: but I will attend you a while.

Duke. Son, I have over-heard what hath past between you and your Sifter. your Sifter. Angelo had never the purpofe to corrupt her; only he hath made an affay of her virtue, to practise his judgment with the difpofition of natures. She, having the truth of honour in her, hath made him that gracious denial, which he is moft glad to receive: I am Confeffor to Angelo, and I know this to be true; therefore prepare your felf to death. Do not falfifie your refolution with hopes that are fallible;

2

to-morrow

2 Do not fatisfie your refolution with hopes that are fallible;} A condemned man, whom his confeffor had brought to bear

Dd3

death