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LUCIO.

Has cenfur'd him'

Already; and, as I hear, the provost hath
A warrant for his execution.

-ISAB. Alas! what poor ability's in me
To do him good?

LUCIO.

Affay the power you have.
ISAB. My power! Alas! I doubt, —
LUCIO.
And make us lofe the good we oft might win,
By fearing to attempt: Go to lord Angelo,

Our doubts are traitors,

And let him learn to know, when maidens fue, Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel,

All their petitions are as freely theirs *

As they themselves would owe them. "
ISAB. I'll fee what I can do.

LUCIO.

But, speedily.

3 Has cenfur'd him-] i. e. fentenced him. So, in Othello : to you, lord governor,

Remains the cenfure of this hellish villain." STEEVENS. We should read, I think, He has cenfured him, &c. In the Mfs. of our author's time, and frequently in the printed copy of thefe plays, he has, when intended to be contra&ed, is writtenh'as. Hence probably the mistake here.

So, in Othello, 4to. 1622:

"And it is thought abroad, that 'twixt my fheets

H'as done my office."

Again, in All's well that ends well, p. 247, folio 1623, we find H'as twice, for He has. See alfo Twelfth-Night, p. 258, edit. 1623: 66h'as been told fo," for he has been told fo.”

MALONE. All their requests are

All their petitions are as freely theirs as freely granted to them, are granted in as full and beneficial a manner, as they themselves vould with. The editor of the fecond folio arbitrarily reads as truly theirs; which has been followed in all the fubfequent copies. MALONE.

would owe them.] To owe, fignifies in this place, as ip STEEVENS,

many others, to poffefs, to have.

ISAB. I will about it ftraight;
No longer ftaying but to give the mother'
Notice of my affair. I humbly thank you:
Commend me to my brother: foon at night
I'll fend him certain word of my fuccefs.
LUCIO. I take my leave of you.
ISAB.

Good fir, adieu.

[Exeunt.

A C T II. SCENE I.

A Hall in ANGELO's Houfe.

Enter ANGELO, ESCALUS, a Justice, Provost,
Officers, and other Attendants.

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ANG. We must not make a fcare-crow of the law, Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,

6

the mother ] The abbefs, or priorefs. JOHNSON.

7 Provost,] A Provoft martial, Minfhieu explains, "Prevoй des maréfchaux: Præfectus rerum capitalium, Prætor rerum ca. pitalium." REED.

A provoft is generally the executioner of an army. So, in The Famous Hiftory of Tho. Stukely, 1605, bl. 1:

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Provost, lay irons upon him, and take him to your charge.

Again, in The Virgin Martyr, by Maffinger:

66

Thy provost, to fee execution done

On thefe bafe Chriftians in Cæfarea.

STEEVENS

A prison for military offenders is at this day, in fome places, called the Prévôt. MALONE.

The Provost here, is not a military officer, but a kind of sheriff or gaoler, fo called in foreign countries. DOUCE.

8

to fear the birds of prey,] To fear is to affright, to terrify.

So, in The Merchant of Venice:

this afpéct of mine Hath fear'd the valiant.

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STEEVENS.

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And let it keep one fhape, till custom make it
Their perch, and not their terror.

ESCAL.

Ay, but yet

Let us be keen, and rather cut a little,

Than fall, and bruise to death: ' Alas! this gentle

man,

Whom I would fave, had a most noble father. Let but your honour know, *

2

(Whom I believe to be moft ftrait in virtue,)
That, in the working of your own affections,
Had time coher'd with place, or place with wifhing,
Or that the refolute acting of your blood

Could have attain'd the effect of your own purpose.
Whether you had not fometime in your life
Err'd in this point which now you cenfure him, '
And pull'd the law upon you.

Than fall, and bruife to death:] I fhould rather read fell, i. e. trike down. So, in Timon of Athens:

All fave thee,

I fell with curfes.

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WARBURTON.

Fall is the old reading, and the true one. the fame verb active in The Comedy of Errors:

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as eafy may'ft thou fall

A drop of water,

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A. c. let fall. So, in As you Like it:

the executioner

Shakspeare has used

Falls not the axe upon the humbled neck. Than fall, and bruife to death:] i. e. fall the axe ; the criminal fall, &c. MALONE.

STEEVENS.

or rather, let

Let but your honour know,] To know is here to examine, to take cognisance. So, in A Midsummer Night's Dream:

JOHNSON.

Therefore, fair Hermia, queftion your defires; "Know of your youth, examine well your blood. 3 Err'd in this point, which now you cenfure him, ] Some word feems to be wanting to make this line fenfe. Perhaps, we fhould read:

Err'd in this point which now you cenfure him for. STEEVENS. The fenfe undoubtedly requires, «——— which now you cenfure him for," but the text certainly appears as the poet left it. I have elsewhere fhewn that he frequently uses thefe elliptical expreffions.

MALONE.

ANG. Tis one thing to be tempted, Efcalus,
Another thing to fall. I not deny,
The jury, paffing on the prifoner's life,
May, in the fworn twelve, have a thief or two
Guiltier than him they try: What's open made to
juftice,

That juftice feizes. * What know the laws.
That thieves do pass on thieves?' 'Tis very preg-

nant,

The jewel that we find, we stoop and take it,
Because we fee it; but what we do not fee,
We tread upon, and never think of it.
You may not fo extenuate his offence,

7

For I have had fuch faults; but rather tell me,
When I, that cenfure him, do so offend,
Let mine own judgement pattern out my death,
And nothing come in partial. Sir, he muft die.
ESCAL. Be it as your wisdom will.

ANG.

Where is the provost?

4 That juftice feizes.] For the fake of metre, I think we should read,-feizes on; or, perhaps, we should regulate the paffage thus:

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Guiltier than him they try: What's open made

To juftice, juftice feizes.

What know the laws,

What know, &c. STEEVENS.

That thieves do pals on thieves?] How can the adminiftrators of the laws take cognizance of what I have juft mentioned? How can they know, whether the jurymen who decide on the life or death of thieves be themselves as criminal as those whom they try? To pass on is a forenfick term. MALONE.

So, in King Lear, Ad. III. fc. vii:

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Though well we may not pass upon his life." See my note on this paffage. STEEVENS.

6 'Tis very pregnant,] "Iis plain that we must a& with bad as with good; we punish the faults, as we take the advantages that lic in our way, and what we do not fee we cannot note.

-

JOHNSON.

7 For I have had ] That is, becaufe, by reason that I have had fuch faults. JOHNSON.

PROV. Here, if it like your honour.

See that Claudio

ANG.
Be executed by nine to-morrow morning:
Bring him his confeffor, let him be prepar'd;
For that's the utmost of his pilgrimage.

[Exit Provoft. ESCAL. Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all!

Some rise by fin, and some by virtue fall:
Some run from brakes of vice, and answer none;
And fome condemned for a fault alone.

8

8 Some rife, &c.] This line is in the firft folio printed in Italics as a quotation. All the folios read in the next line :

Some run from brakes of ice, and answer none.

JOHNSON.

The old reading is, perhaps, the true one, and may mean, fome run away from danger, and flay to answer none of their faults, whilft others are condemned only on account of a single frailty.

If this be the true reading, it fhould be printed:

Some run from breaks [i. e. fractures] of ice, &c. Since I fuggefted this, I have found reafon to change my opinion. A brake anciently meant not only a fharp bit, a fnaffle, but alfo the engine with which farriers confined the legs of fuch unruly horfes as would not otherwife fubmit themselves to be fhod, or to have a cruel operation performed on them. This, in fome places, is ftill called a fmith's brake. In this laft fenfe, Ben Jonfon uses the word in his Underwoods:

"And not think he had eat a flake,

Or were fet up in a brake.

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And, for the former fenfe, fee The Silent Woman, A& IV. Again, for the latter fenfe, Buffy d'Ambois, by Chapman:

Or, like a ftrumpet, learn to fet my face

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legs.

He is fallen into some brake, fome wench has tied him by the

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A ftale, to catch this courtier in a brake. ;

I offer thefe quotations, which may prove of ufe to fome more fortunate conje&urer; but am able myself to them to fuit the paffage before us.

derive very little from

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