Would all themselves laugh mortal. ?

Lucio. [Afide.] Oh, to him, to him, Wench; he will relent;

He's coming: I perceive't.

Pro. [To Lucio.] Pray heav'n, fhe win him! Ifab. We cannot weigh our brother with yourself Great men may jeft with Saints; 'tis wit in them; But, in the lefs, foul profanation.

Lucio. [Afide.] Thou'rt right, girl; more o' that. Ifab. That in the captain's but a cholerick word, Which in the foldier is flat blafphemy.

Lucio. [Afide.] Art advis'd o' that? more on't.
Ang. Why do you put these sayings upon me?
Ifab. Because authority, tho' it err like others,
Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself,

That fkins the vice o' th' top. Go to your bofom;
Knock there, and afk your heart what it doth know
That's like my brother's fault; if it confefs
A natural guiltinefs, fuch as is his,

Let it not found a thought upon your tongue
Against my brother's life.

3 who, with our Spleens,
Would all themselves laugh
mortal.] Mr. Theobald fays the
meaning of this is, that if they
were endowed with our Spleens
and perishable organs, they would
laugh themfelves out of immortali-
ty: Which amounts to this, that
at they were mortal they would
not be immortal. Shakespear
meant no fuch nonfenfe.
Spleens, he meant that peculiar
turn of the human mind, that al-
ways inclines it to a fpiteful, un-
feafonable mirth. Had the angels
that, fays Shakespear, they would
laugh themselves out of their im-
Imortality, by indulging a paffion
which does not deferve that pre-
rogative. The ancients thought,

By

that immoderate laughter was
caufed by the bignefs of the f, leen.
WARBURTON.

4 In former Editions:
We cannot weigh our Brother

with ourfelt.] Why not? Tho' this fhould be the Reading of all the Copies, 'tis as plain as Light, it is not the Authour's meaning. Ifabella would fay, there is fo great a Difproportion in Quality betwixt Lord Angelo and her Brother, that their Actions can bear no Comparifon, or Equality, together but her Brother's Crimes would be aggravated, Angelo's Frailties extenuated, from the Difference of their Degrees and State of Life. WARBURTON.

Ang.

Ang. [Afide.] She speaks, and 'tis such fenfe,

That my fenfe breeds with it." [To Ifab.] Fare you

well.

Ifab. Gentle, my lord, turn back.

Ang. I will bethink me.

Come again to-morrow.

Ifab. Hark, how I'll bribe you: good my lord, turn back.

Ang. How? bribe me?

Ifab. Ay, with fuch gifts, that heav'n fhall fhare with you.

Lucio. You had marr'd all else.

[Afide. Ifab Not with fond fhekels of the tefted gold, Or ftones, whofe rates are either rich, or poor, As fancy values them; but with true prayers, That fhall be up at heav'n, and enter there, Ere fun-rife; prayers from preferved fouls, 7 From fafting maids, whofe minds are dedicate To nothing temporal.

Ang. Well; come to-morrow.

Lucio. Go to; 'tis well; [fide to Ifabel.] away. Ifab. Heav'n keep your Honour safe!

Ang. Amen:

For I am that way going to temptation,
Where prayers cross.

8

[Afide.

Ifab.

5 That my fenfe breeds with it.] Thus all the folios. Some later Editor has changed breeds to bleeds, and Dr. Warburton blames poor Mr. Theobald for recalling the old word, which yet is certainly right. My fenfe breeds with her fenfe, that is, new thoughts are stirring in my mind, new conceptions are hatched in my imagination. So we say to brood over thought.

6

tefied gold.] i. e. attefted, or marked with the

ftandard ftamp. WARBURTON. Rather copelled, brought to the teft, refined.

7 - preferved fouls.] i. e. preferved from the corruption of the world. The metaphor is taken from fruits preferved in fugar. WARBURTON. I am that way going to temptation,

Where prayers cross.] Which way Angelo is going to temptation, we begin to perceive, but how prayers crofs that way,

or

Ifab. At what hour to morrow

Shall I attend your lordship?

Ang. At any time 'forenoon.

Ifab. Save your Honour! [Exe. Lucio and label.

Ang.

From thee; even from thy virtue.

What's this? what's this? is this her fault, or mine?
The tempter, or the tempted, who fins moft?
Not fhe.Nor doth fhe tempt.-But it is I,
That, lying by the violet in the fun,

Do, as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous feafon. Can it be,
That modefty may more betray our fenfe,
Than woman's lightnefs? having wafte ground
enough,

Shall we defire to raze the fanctuary,

And pitch our evils there? oh, fie, fie, fie!
What doft thou? or what art thou, Angelo?

Doft thou defire her foully, for those things
That make her good? oh, let her brother live:
Thieves for their robbery have authority,

When judges steal themselves. What? do I love her,
That I defire to hear her speak again,

And feast upon her eyes? what is't I dream on?
Oh, cunning enemy, that, to catch a Saint,
With Saints doft bait thy hook? Moft dangerous
Is that temptation, that doft goad us on

To fin in loving virtue. Ne'er could the ftrumpet,
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once ftir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. Ever 'till this very Now,
When men were fond, I fmil'd, and wonder'd how."

SCENE IX.

Changes to a Prifon.

[Exit.

Enter Duke habited like a Friar, and Provoft.

Duke. HAIL to you, Provoft! fo, I think, you are.

Prov. I am the Provoft; what's your will, good Friar?

Duke. Bound by my charity, and my blest Order, I come to vifit the afflicted fpirits

Here in the prison; do me the common right

To let me fee them, and to make me know

The nature of their crimes; that I may minister

To them accordingly.

Prov. I would do more than that, if more were

needful.

Ifmild, and wonder'd how.] As a day muft now intervene between this conference of Isabella with Angelo, and the next, the 5

at might more properly end here, and here, in my opinion, it was ended by the poet.

Enter

Enter Juliet.

Look, here comes one; a gentlewoman of mine
Who falling in the flaws of her own youth,*
Hath blifter'd her report: She is with child;
And, he that got it, fentenc'd; a young man
More fit to do another fuch offence,
Than die for this.

Duke. When must he die?

Prov. As I do think, to-morrow.
I have provided for you; ftay a while,
And you fhall be conducted.

[To Juliet.

Duke. Repent you, fair one, of the fin you carry? Juliet. I do; and bear the fhame most patiently. Duke. I'll teach you, how you fhall arraign your conscience,

And try your penitence, if it be found,

Or hollowly put on.

Juliet. I'll gladly learn.

Duke. Love you the man that wrong'd you? Juliet. Yes, as I love the woman that wrong'd him. Duke. So then, it feems, your moft offenceful act Was mutually committed.

Juliet. Mutually.

Duke. Then was your fin of heavier kind than his. Juliet. I do confefs it, and repent it, father.

Duke. 'Tis meet fo, daughter; but repent you not, As that the fin hath brought you to this fhame, Which forrow's always tow'ids ourselves, not heav'n; Shewing, we'd not feek heav'n, as we love it,

But as we ftand in fear.

Juliet. I do repent me, as it is an evil;

Who falling in the flaws of her own youth, Hath blitter'd her report :] Who doth not fee that the integrity of the metaphor requires

we should read FLAMES of her own youth. WARBURTON.

Who does not fee that upon fuh principles there is no end of correction.

And