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MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

HISTORICAL NOTICE

OF

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

The primary source of the fable of this play is to be traced to a story in the Ecatommithi of Giraldi Cinthio, which was repeated in the tragic histories of Belleforest; but Shakspeare's immediate original was the play of Promos and Cassandra of George Whetstone, published in 1578. This story,' says Mr. Steevens, which, in the hands of Whetstone, produced little more than barren insipidity, under the culture of Shakspeare, became fertile of entertainment. The old play of Promos and Cassandra exhibits an almost complete embryo of Measure for Measure; yet the hints on which it is formed are so slight, that it is nearly as impossible to detect them, as it is to point out in the acorn the future ramifications of the oak.'

Doctor Johnson, speaking of this play, says, 'I cannot but suspect that some other had new-modelled the novel of Cinthio, or written a story, which in some particulars resembled it, and that Cinthio was not the author whom Shakspeare immediately followed. The emperor in Cinthio is named Maximine: the duke, in Shakspeare's enumeration of the persons of the drama, is called Vincentio. This appears a very slight remark; but since the duke has no name in the play, nor is ever mentioned but by his title, why should he be called Vincentio among the persons, but because

SHAK.

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the name was copied from the story, and placed superfluously at the head of the list by the mere habit of transcription? It is therefore likely that there was then a story of Vincentio, duke of Vienna, different from that of Maximine, emperor of the Romans.

'Of this play, the light or comic part is very natural and pleasing; but the grave scenes, if a few passages be excepted, have more labor than elegance. The plot is rather intricate than artful. The time of the action is indefinite some time, we know not how much, must have elapsed between the recess of the duke and the imprisonment of Claudio; for he must have learned the story of Mariana in his disguise, or he delegated his power to a man already known to be corrupted. The unities of action and place are sufficiently preserved.'

ARGUMENT.

Vincentio, duke of Vienna, anxious to reform the laxity of public morals, which too great remissness on the part of his government had introduced, invests Angelo, an officer renowned for rigid justice, with unlimited authority during his pretended absence; and, having assumed the habit of a friar, is enabled in this disguise to view attentively the proceedings of his deputy. A young lady of the city, named Juliet, proves pregnant by her betrothed lover, who, according to an old penal enactment, is sentenced by the severe governor to lose his head. Isabella, the sister of the culprit, intercedes for the life of her brother with Angelo, who becomes deeply enamored, and proposes her dishonor as the price of his compliance with her petition. The virtuous maiden spurns at the proffered terms, and flies to Claudio, to whom she relates the perfidy of the governor, exhorting him to submit to his fate with fortitude; but the fear of death overpowers his resolution, and he implores his sister to yield to the solicitations of the deputy; which request she rejects with abhorrence. In the mean time the disguised duke has become acquainted with Mariana, a lady formerly affianced to Angelo, who is persuaded to keep a private assignation with her husband, which Isabella has feigned to make in her own name, to secure the safety of her brother. The inhuman tyrant, supposing that he has now perpetrated his object, and dreading the vengeance of the injured Claudio, sends orders to the prison for his immediate execution. The duke now pretends to return from his travels, and Angelo is publicly convicted of murder and seduction both by Isabella and his master; and is about to suffer the punishment of his crimes, when the entreaties of his deserted wife, and the unexpected appearance of Claudio, who had been rescued from death by the interposition of the disguised duke, preserve him from the fate which he has so justly merited.

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