I hope it is fome pardon, or reprieve,

For the moft gentle Claudio. Welcome, father.

Enter Duke.

Duke. The best and wholefomeft fpirits of the night Invellop you, good provoft! Who call'd here of late? Prov. None, fince the curfew rung?

Duke. Not Ifabel?

Prov. No.

Duke. They will then, ere't be long.

Prov. What comfort is for Claudio?

Duke. There's fome in hope.

Prov. It is a bitter deputy.

Duke. Not fo, not fo; his life is parallel'd
Even with the stroke and line of his great juftice;
He doth with holy abftinence fubdue

That in himself, which he fpurs on his power
To qualify in others. Were he meal'd 3

With that, which he corrects, then were he tyran

nous;

But this being fo, he's juft. Now they are come.

[Knock. Provoft goes out. This is a gentle provost; feldom, when

The fteeled goaler is the friend of men.

How now? what noife? that fpirit's poffefs'd with hafte,+

That wounds the unrefifting postern with these strokes.

Pro

Even with the froke] Stroke is here put for the ftroke of a pen or a line. JOHNSON.

2 To qualify

-] To temper, to moderate, as we fay wine

is qualified with water. JOHNSON.

-Were he meal'd] Were he sprinkled; were he defiled. A figure of the fame kind our authour uses in Macbeth,

The blood-bolter'd Banquo.

4

JOHNSON.

-that /pirit's possest with bafe,

That wounds the unrefifting pestern with thefe firokes.]

The line is irregular, and the unrefifling poftern fo ftrange an ex

H 3

preffion,

Provost returns.

Prov. There he muft ftay, until the officer Arife to let him in; he is call'd up.

Duke. Have you no countermand for Claudio yet, But he muft die to-morrow?

Prov. None, fir, none.

Duke. As near the dawning, provost, as it is, You fhall hear more ere morning.

Prov. Happily,

You fomething know; yet, I believe, there comes
No countermand; no fuch example have we :
Befides, upon the very fiege of justice,"

Lord Angelo hath to the publick ear
Profefs'd the contrary.

preffion, that want of measure, and want of fenfe, might justly raise fufpicion of an errour, yet none of the later editors feem to have fuppofed the place faulty, except fir Tho. Hanmer, who reads,

-the unrefting polerne

The three folio's have it,

-unfifting poftern,

out of which Mr. Rowe made unrefifting, and the reft followed him. Sir Thomas Hanmer feems to have fuppofed unrefifting the word in the copies, from which he plaufibly enough extracted unrefting, but he grounded his emendation on the very fyllable that wants authority. What can be made of unfisting I know not; the best that occurs to me is unfeeling. JOHNSON.

-unrefifting poftern]

I fhould think we might fafely read,

-unlist'ning postern.

The meafure requires it, and the fenfe remains uninjured.

STEEVENS,

-fiege of justice,] i. e. feat of juftice. Siege, Fr. Se

-I fetch my birth
From men of royal fiege."

STEEVENS.

Enter

Enter a Messenger.

Duke. This is his lordship's man.

Prov. And here comes Claudio's pardon.

Mess. My lord hath sent you this note, and by me this further charge, that you fwerve not from the fmalleft article of it, neither in time, matter, or other circumstance. Good morrow; for, as I take it, it is almost day.

Prov. I fhall obey him.

[Exit Messenger. Duke. This is his pardon, purchas'd by fuch fin,

For which the pardoner himself is in:
Hence hath offence his quick celerity,
When it is borne in high authority:

[Afide.

When vice makes mercy, mercy's fo extended,
That, for the fault's love, is the offender friended.
Now, fir, what news?

Enter a Meffenger.

Duke. This is his lordship's man.

Prov. And here comes Claudio's pardon.]

The Provoft has juft declared a fixed opinion that the execution will not be countermanded, and yet, upon the first appearance of the Meffenger, he immediately gueffes that his errand is to bring Claudio's pardon. It is evident, I think, that the names of the fpeakers are misplaced. If we fuppofe the Provoft to fay,

This is his lordship's man,

it is very natural for the Duke to fubjoin,

And here comes Claudio's pardon.

The Duke might believe, upon very reasonable grounds, that Angelo had now fent the pardon. It appears that he did fo, from what he fays to himself, while the Provoft is reading the letter; This is his pardon, purchas'd by fuch fin,

Obferv. and Conject. &c. printed at Oxf. 1766.

When, immediately after the Duke had hinted his expectation of a pardon, the Provost fees the Meffenger, he fuppofes the Duke to have known fomething, and changes his mind. Either reading may ferve equally well. JOHNSON.

Prov. I told you: lord Angelo, be-like, thinking me remiss in mine office, awakens me with this unwonted putting on; methinks, ftrangely; for he hath not us'd it before.

Duke. Pray you, let's hear.

Provost reads the letter,

Whatsoever you may hear to the contrary, let Claudia be executed by four of the clock; and, in the afternoon, Barnardine: for my better fatisfaction, let me have Claudio's bead fent me by five. Let this be duly perform'd, with a thought that more depends on it than we must yet deliver, Thus fail not to do your office, as you will answer it at you peril.

What say you to this, fir?

Duke. What is that Barnardine, who is to be executed in the afternoon?

Prov. A Bohemian born; but here nurs'd up and bred one that is a prifoner nine years old.

Duke. How came it that the abfent duke had not either deliver'd him to his liberty, or executed him? I have heard, it was ever his manner to do fo.

Prov. His friends ftill wrought reprieves for him: And, indeed, his fact, till now in the government of lord Angelo, came not to an undoubtful proof. Duke. Is it now apparent?

Prov. Moft manifeft, and not deny'd by himself. Duke. Hath he born himself penitent in prifon? how feems he to be touch'd?

Prev. A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully, but as a drunken fleep; carelefs, reckless, and fearless of what's paft, prefent, or to come; insenfible of mortality, and defperately mortal.?

Duke.

7 defperately mortal.] This expreffion is obfcure. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads, mortally defperate. Mortally is in low converfation

ufed

Duke. He wants advice.

Prov. He will hear none: he hath evermore had the liberty of the prifon : give him leave to escape hence, he would not drunk many times a day, if not many days entirely drunk. We have very often awak'd him, as if to carry him to execution, and fhew'd him a seeming warrant for it; it hath not moy'd him at all.

Duke. More of him anon. There is written in your brow, Provost, honesty and conftancy if I read it not truly, my ancient skill beguiles me: but, in the boldness of my cunning, I will lay myself in hazard. Claudio, whom here you have a warrant to execute, is no greater forfeit to the law than Angelo, who hath fentenc'd him. To make you understand this in a manifefted effect, I crave but four days refpite; for the which you are to do me both a present and a dangerous courtesy.

Prov. Pray, fir, in what?

Duke. In the delaying death.

Prov. Alack! how may I do it, having the hour limited, and an exprefs command, under penalty, to deliver his head in the view of Angelo? I may make my cafe as Claudio's, to crofs this in the fmalleft.

Duke. By the vow of mine order, I warrant you, if my inftructions may be your guide. Let this Barnardine be this morning executed, and his head borne to Angelo.

Prov. Angelo hath feen them both, and will difcover the favour.

Duke. Oh, death's a great difguifer and you may

ufed in this fenfe, but I know not whether it was ever written. I am inclined to believe, that defperately mortal means defperately mifchievous. Or defperately mortal may mean a man likely to die in a desperate ftate, without reflection or repentance.

JOHNSON.

add