Ang. I did but smile till now: Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justice; My patience here is touch'd. I do perceive, These poor informal women are no more But instruments of some more mightier member, That sets them on. Let me have way, my lord, To find this practice out.

Duke. Ay, with my heart; And punish them to your height of pleasure.Thou foolish friar, and thou pernicious woman, Compact with her that's gone, think'st thou, thy

oaths,

Though they would swear down each particular

saint,

Were testimonies against his worth and credit,
That's seal'd in approbation ?-You, lord Escalus,
Sit with my cousin : lend him your kind pains
To find out this abuse, whence 'tis deriv'd.—
There is another friar that set them on;

Let him be sent for.

And you, my noble and well-warranted cousin,
Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth,
Do with your injuries as seems you best,
In any chastisement: I for a while

Will leave you; but stir not you, till you have well
Determined upon these slanderers.

Escal. My lord, we'll do it thoroughly.-[Exit DUKE.]-Signior Lucio, did not you say, you knew that friar Lodowick to be a dishonest person?

Lucio. Cucullus non facit monachum: honest in nothing, but in his clothes; and one that hath spoke most villainous speeches of the duke.

Escal. We shall entreat you to abide here till he come, and enforce them against him. We shall find this friar a notable fellow.

Lucio. As any in Vienna, on my word.

Escal. Call that same Isabel here once again :[To an Attendant.]-I would speak with her. Pray you, my lord, give me leave to question; you shall see how I'll handle her.

Lucio. Not better than he, by her own report. Escal. Say you?

Lucio. Marry, sir, I think, if you handled her privately, she would sooner confess: perchance, publicly she'll be ashamed.

Re-enter officers, with ISABELLA: the DUKE, in a Friar's habit, and Provost.

Escal. I will go darkly to work with her. Lucio. That's the way; for women are light at midnight.

Escal. Come on, mistress.-[To ISABELLA.]— Here's a gentlewoman denies all that you have said.

Lucio. My lord, here comes the rascal 1 spoke of; here, with the provost.

Escal. In very good time :-speak not you to him, till we call upon you.

Lucio. Mum.

Escal. Come, sir. Did you set these women on to slander lord Angelo? they have confess'd you did. Duke. 'Tis false.

Escal. How! know you where you are? Duke. Respect to your great place! and let the devil

Take him hence; to the rack with him :-We'll

Stand like the forfeits in a barber's shop,
As much in mock as mark.

Escal. Slander to the state! Away with him to prison.

Ang. What can you vouch against him, signior Lucio?

Is this the man that you did tell us of?

Lucio. 'Tis he, my lord.-Come hither, goodman bald-pate? do you know me?

Duke. I remember you, sir, by the sound of your voice: I met you at the prison, in the absence of the duke.

Lucio. O! did you so? what you said of the duke? Duke. Most notedly, sir. Lucio. Do you so, sir! fleshmonger, a fool, and a reported him to be?

And do you remember

And was the duke a coward, as you then

Duke. You must, sir, change persons with me, ere you make that my report: you, indeed, spoke so of him; and much more, much worse.

Lucio. O, thou damnable fellow! Did not I pluck thee by the nose, for thy speeches?

Duke. I protest, I love the duke as I love myself. Ang. Hark how the villain would close now, after his treasonable abuses.

Escal. Such a fellow is not to be talk'd withal:Away with him to prison.-Where is the provost? -Away with him to prison. Lay bolts enough upon him, let him speak no more.-Away with those giglots too, and with the other confederate companion. [The Provost lays hand on the DUKE. Duke. Stay, sir; stay a while.

Ang. What! resists he? Help him, Lucio.

Lucio. Come, sir; come, sir; come, sir; foh! sir. Why, you bald-pated, lying rascal! you must be hooded, must you? show your knave's visage,

And hold no longer out.

Ang.

O, my dread lord! I should be guiltier than my guiltiness,

To think I can be undiscernible,

When I perceive your grace, like power divine,
Hath look'd upon my passes: Then, good prince,
No longer session hold upon my shame,

But let my trial be mine own confession :
Immediate sentence then, and sequent death,
Is all the grace I beg.

Duke.
Say, wast thou e'er contracted to this woman?
Ang. I was, my lord.

Come hither, Mariana.

Duke. Go take her hence, and marry her instantly.

Do you the office, friar; which consummate,
Return him here again.-Go with him, provost.
[Exeunt ANGELO, MARIANA, PETER, and
Provost.

Escal. My lord, I am more amaz'd at his dishonour, Than at the strangeness of it.

Duke.
Come hither, Isabel.
Your friar is now your prince: as I was then
Advertising and holy to your business,
Not changing heart with habit, I am still
Attorney'd at your service.

Isab.
O, give me pardon,
That I, your vassal, have employ'd and pain'd
Your unknown sovereignty!

Duke.

You are pardon'd, Isabel: And now, dear maid, be you as free to us. Your brother's death, I know, sits at your heart; And you may marvel, why I obscur'd myself, Labouring to save his life, and would not rather, Make rash remonstrance of my hidden power, Than let him so be lost. O, most kind maid! It was the swift celerity of his death, Which I did think with slower foot came on,

That brain'd my purpose: but, peace be with

him!

O, my most gracious lord!

I hope you will not mock me with a husband.
Duke. It is your husband mock'd you with a
husband.

Consenting to the safeguard of your honour,
I thought your marriage fit; else imputation,
For that he knew you, might reproach your life,
And choke your good to come.
For his posses-
sions,
Although by confiscation they are ours;
We do instate and widow you withal,
To buy you a better husband.

Mari.

O, my dear lord! I crave no other, nor no better man. Duke. Never crave him: we are definitive. Mari. Gentle my liege,[Kneeling. Duke. You do but lose your labour, Away with him to death.-Now, sir,—[To Lucio.] -to you.

Mari. O, my good lord!-Sweet Isabel, take my part:

Lend me your knees, and all my life to come
I'll lend you; all my life to do you service.

Duke. Against all sense you do importune her:
Should she kneel down in mercy of his fact,
Her brother's ghost his paved bed would break,
And take her hence in horror.

What's he?

I thought it was a fault, but knew it not,
Yet did repent me, after more advice;
For testimony whereof, one in the prison,
That should by private order else have died,
I have reserv'd alive.
Duke.
Prov.
His name is Barnardine.
Duke. I would thou had'st done so by Claudio.-
Go, fetch him hither: let me look upon him.
[Exit Provost
Escal. I am sorry, one so learned and so wise
As you, lord Angelo, have still appear'd,
Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood,
And lack of temper'd judgment afterward.

Ang. I am sorry that such sorrow I procure;
And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart,
That I crave death more willingly than mercy :
'Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it.

Re-enter Provost, Barnardine, CLAUDIO, and JULIET.

Duke. Which is that Barnardine? Prov. This, my lord. Duke. There was a friar told me of this man.Sirrah, thou art said to have a stubborn soul, That apprehends no further than this world, And squar'st thy life according.

demned;

Thou'rt con

But, for those earthly faults, I quit them all,
And pray thee, take this mercy to provide
For better times to come.-Friar, advise him:
I leave him to your hand.-What muffled fellow's
that?

Prov. This is another prisoner that I sav'd, That should have died when Claudio lost his head, As like almost to Claudio as himself.

[Unmuffles CLAUDIO. Duke. If he be like your brother,-[To ISABELLA.]-for his sake

Is he pardon'd; and for your lovely sake
Give me your hand, and say you will be mine,
He is my brother too. But fitter time for that.
By this lord Angelo perceives he's safe:
Methinks I see a quick'ning in his eye.-
Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well:

Look that you love your wife; her worth, worth yours.

I find an apt remission in myself,

And yet here's one in place I cannot pardon.You, sirrah,-[To Lucio.]-that knew me for a fool, a coward,

One all of luxury, an ass, a madman:
Wherein have I so deserv'd of you,
That you extol me thus?

Lucio. 'Faith, my lord, I spoke it but according to the trick. If you will hang me for it, you may; but I had rather it would please you, I might be whipp'd.

ACT I.-SCENE I.

"PUT to know"-i. e. Compelled to know. Thus, in HENRY VI.:

Had I been put to speak my mind.

LISTS of all advice"-i. e. Bounds, or limits.

"then, no more remains, But that, to your sufficiency, as your worth is able," etc. This is the reading of the old copies, which most of the critics and editors have thought unintelligible and erroneous. I take it, that the "that" refers to the commission, which the Duke must have in his hand, or before him; for, at the end of the sentence, he says to Escalus, "There is our commission," as he shortly after says to Angelo, "Take thy commission." "That" authority is all that is wanted to his full "sufficiency" to duties which his "worth" and ability fit him for. Several editors, however, insist that a line has been accidentally lost, which Theobald thus supplies:

But that to your sufficiency you add
Due diligence, as your worth is able.

Or thus, according to Tyrwhitt :

But that to your sufficiency you put A zeal as willing as your worth is able. Johnson, equally positive that the passage is corrupt, proposes to amend thus:

But that to your sufficiency, your worth is able.

Stevens-" Then," (says the Duke,)—

no more remains to say. Your sufficiency as your worth is able, And let them work.

This last is probably the best conjecture, if there be any objection (which I do not perceive) to referring "that" to the commission directly afterwards tendered by the speaker.

"the TERMS"-Blackstone explains this to mean the technical language of the courts, and adds-" An old book, called 'Les Termes de la Ley,' (written in Henry the Eighth's time,) was, in Shakespeare's day, and is now, (i. e. seventy years ago,) the accidence of young students in the law."

"-fine ISSUES"-i. e. Excellent uses, or purposes. "-thanks and USE"-" Use," in that age, signified interest of money.

"one that can my part in him advertise"-i. e "One (says Malone) who is already informed as to the duties of my office.' It rather seems to me to imply one that can of himself declare the duty he owes to me. "Advertise" was accented on the second syllable, as we learn from many examples in the older poets.

"Hold, therefore, Angelo"-With Collier and Stevens, I understand the Duke as here tendering to Angelo his commission, as he had previously given a simi