For ending thee no fooner: Thou haft nor youth, nor age;
But, as it were, an after-dinner's fleep,
Dreaming on both 3: for all thy blefied youth +
Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms

Of palfied elds; and when thou art old, and rich,
Thou haft neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty",
To make thy riches pleafant. What's yet in this,
That bears the name of life? Yet in this life

3

Thou haft nor youth, nor age;

But, as it were, an after-dinner's fleep,

Dreaming on both :] This is exquifitely imagined. When we are young, we bufy ourfelves in forming fchemes for fucceeding time, and mifs the gratifications that are before us; when we are old, we amufe thel anguor of age with the recollection of youthful pleasures or performances; fo that our life, of which no part is filled with the bufinefs of the prefent time, refembles our dreams after dinner, when the events of the morning are mingled with the defigns of the evening. JOHNSON. 4 for all thy bleed youth

Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms

Of palfied eld; and when thou art old and rich,

Thou haft neither beat, &c.] Shakspeare declares that man hath neither youth ner age; for in youth, which is the happieft time, or which might be the happiest, he commonly wants means to obtain what he could enjoy; he is dependent on palfied eld: muft beg alms from the coffers of hoary avarice; and being very niggardly fupplied, becomes as aged, looks, like an old man, on happiness which is beyond his reach. And, when he is old and rich, when he has wealth enough for the purchafe of all that formerly excited his defires, he has no longer the powers of enjoyment;

bas neither beat, affetion, limb, nor beauty,

To make his riches pleasant. JOHNSON.

The fentiment contained in thefe lines, which Dr. Johnson has explained with his ufual precifion, occurs again in the forged letter that Edmund delivers to his father, as written by Edgar; K. Leer, A& I. fc. ii. This policy, and reverence of age, makes the world bitter to the best of our times; keeps our fortunes from us till our oldness cannot relish them."-Dr. Johnfon would read blafted youth; but the words above, printed in Italicks, fupport, I think, the reading of the old copy, bleed youth," and fhew that any emendation is unneceflary. MALONE.

5 Of palfied eld;] Eld is generally used for old age, decrepitude. It is here put for old people, perfons worn out with years. STEEVENS.

Thou hast neither beat, affection, limb, nor beauty,] By "heat" and "affection" the poet meant to exprefs appetite, and by limb" and beauty," ftrength. EDWARDS.

Lie hid more thousand deaths: yet death we fear,
That makes thefe odds all even.

Claud. I humbly thank you.

To fue to live, I find, I feek to die;

And, feeking death, find life: Let it come on.

Enter ISABELLA.

Ijab. What, ho! Peace here; grace and good company! Prov. Who's there? come in the with deferves a wel

come.

Duke. Dear fir, ere long I'll vifit you again.

Claud. Moft holy fir, I thank you.

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

fifter.

Duke. Provoft, a word with you.

Prov. As many as you pleafe.

Duke. Bring me to hear them fpeak, where I may be Conceal'd.

[Exeunt Duke and Provost.

Claud. Now, fifter, what's the comfort?
Ifab. Why,

As all comforts are; moft good, moft good, in deed':
Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven,

Intends

7- more thousand deaths :] The meaning is not only a thoufand deaths, but a thousand deaths besides what have been mentioned."

Bring me to bear them freak, where I may le]
Bring them to bear me fpeak, &c.

JOHNSON. The old copy reads=

The editor of the "Yet hear them."

The emendation was fuggefted by Mr. Steevens
Lecond folio, after the word Conceal'd, has added,
But the alterations made in that copy do not deferve the fmalleft credit.
There are undoubted proofs that they were merely arbitrary; and in
general they are alfo extremely injudicious. MALONE.

9 As all comforts are; most good, most good, in deed:] If this reading be right, Ifabella muft mean that he brings fomething better than werds of comfort, fhe brings an affurance of deeds. This is harsh and conftrained, but I know not what better to offer. JOHNSON.

I believe in deed, as explained by Dr. Johnfon, is the true reading. So in Macbeth:

"We're yet but young in deed." STEEVENS.

I would point the lines thus:

Claud. Now, fifter, what's the comfort?

Ijab. Why, as all comforts are, moft good. Indeed lord Angelo, &c.

Intends you for his fwift embaffador,

1

Where you shall be an everlasting 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 devilish 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,
Though all the world's vaftidity 2 you had,
To a determin'd scope 3.

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.

Indeed is the fame as in truth, or truly, the common beginning of fpeeches in Shakspeare's age. See Charles the First's Trial. The king and Bradshaw feldom fay any thing without this preface: "Truly, Sir." BLACKSTONE.

- an everlafting leiger:

Therefore your best appointment-] Leiger is the fame with refident. Appointment; preparation; act of fitting, or state of being fitted for any thing. So in old books, we have a knight well appointed; that is, well armed and mounted, or fitted at all points. JOHNSON.

The word appointment, on this occafion, fhould feem to comprehend confeffion, communion, and abfolution. Let him (fays Efcalus) be furnished with divines, and have all charitable preparation." The king in Hamlet, who was cut off prematurely, and without fuch preparation, is faid to be dif-appointed. Appointment, however, may be more fimply explained by the following paffage in The Antipodes, 1638:

your lodging

"Is decently appointed.” i. e. prepared, furnished. STEEVENS. 2 Though all the world's vaftidity-] The old copy has-Through. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE.

3-a refraint,

To a determin'd fcope.] A confinement of your mind to one painful idea; to ignominy, of which the remembrance can neither be fupprefled nor efcaped. JOHNSON.

Claud.

Claud. Let me know the point.

Ifab. O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake,
Left thou a feverous life fhould'st entertain,
And fix or feven 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 corporal fufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.

Claud. Why give you me this shame ?
Think you I can a refolution fetch
From flowery tenderness? If I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,

And hug it in mine arms 5.

Ifab. There fpake my brother; there my father's grave
Did utter forth a voice! Yes, thou must die :
Thou art too noble to conferve a life

In bafe appliances. This outward-fainted deputy,-
Whofe fettled visage and deliberate word

Nips youth i' the head, and follies doth emmew",
As faulcon doth the fowl 7,-is yet a devil;
His filth within being caft, he would appear

4 The poor beetle, &c.] The reafoning is, that death is no more than every being muft fuffer, though the dread of it is peculiar to man; or perhaps, that we are inconfiftent with ourselves, when we fo much dread that which we carelely inflict on other creatures, that feel the pain as acutely as we. JOHNSON.

5 ——If I must die,

I will encounter darkness as a bride,

And bug it in mine arms.] So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

I will be

"A bridegroom in my death; and run into 't,

"As to a lover's bed." MALONE.

6-follies doth emmew,] Forces follies to lie in cover, without daring to fhow themfelves. JOHNSON.

7 As faulcon doth the fowl,] In whofe prefence the follies of youth are afraid to fhow themfelves, as the fowl is afraid to flutter while the falcon hovers over it. So, in K. Henry VI. P. III:

not he that loves him beft,

"The proudest he that holds up Lancaster, "Dares ftir a ring, if Warwick shakes his bells." To enmew is a term in falconry. STEEVENS. 8-being caft,] To caft a pond is to empty it of mud. VOL. II.

F

JOHNSON.
A pond

A pond as deep as hell.

Claud. The princely Angelo??

Ifab. O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'ft body to invest and cover
In princely guards! Doft thou think, Claudio,
If I would yield him my virginity,

Thou might't be freed?

Claud. O heavens! it cannot be.

Ifab. Yes, he would give it thee, from this rank of fence',

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

Claud. Thou shalt not do't.
Ifab. O, were it but my life,
I'd throw it down for your deliverance
As frankly as a pin 2.

Claud. Thanks, dear Ifabel.

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

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

Or of the deadly feven it is the leaft 3,

9 The princely Angelo?

princely guards!] The firft folio has, in both places, prenzie, from which the other folios made princely, and every editor may make what he can. JOHNSON.

Princely guards mean no more than the ornaments of royalty, which Angelo is fuppofed to aflume during the abfence of the duke. STEEV.

guard, in old language, meant a welt or border of a garment; "becaufe (fays Minfheu) it gards and keeps the garment from tearing." Thefe borders were fometimes of lace. So, in the M. of Venice: "Give him a livery

"More guarded than his fellows." MALONE.

I from this rank offence,] I believe means, from the time of my committing this offence, you might perfift in finning with fafety. The advantages you would derive from my having fuch a fecret of his in my keeping would enfure you from further harm on account of the fame fault, however frequently repeated. STEEVENS.

2 as a pin.] So, in Hamlet:

"I do not fet my life at a pin's fee." STEEVENS. 3 Has he affections &c.] Is be actuated by paffions that impel bim to tranfgrefs the law, at the very moment that be" is enforcing it agairf

others!