As he's reported by this gentleman;
And, on my trust, a man that never yet
Did, as he vouches, mifreport your grace.

Lucio. My lord, moft villainously; believe it.
Peter. Well, he in time may come to clear himself;
But at this inftant he is fick, my lord,

Of a strange fever. Upon his mere request,
(Being come to knowledge that there was complaint
Intended 'gainst lord Angelo) came I hither

To fpeak, as from his mouth, what he doth know
Is true, and falfe; and what he with his oath
By all probation, will make up full clear,
Whenever he's convented. First, for this woman;
To juftify this worthy nobleman,

8

So vulgarly and perfonally accus'd,

Her fhall you hear difproved to her eyes,
Till fhe herself confefs it.

Duke. Good friar, let's hear it.

Do you not fmile at this, lord Angelo?—
O heaven! the vanity of wretched fools!-
Give us fome feats.-Come, coufin Angelo,'

In

7 Whenever he's conven'd.-] The firft folio reads, convented, and this is right for to convene fignifies to affemble; but convent, to cite, or fummons. Yet, because convented hurts the measure, the Oxford editor flicks to conven'd, tho' it be nonsense, and fignifies, Whenever he is affembled together. But thus it will be, when the author is thinking of one thing and his critic of another. The poet was attentive to his fenfe, and the editor, quite throughout his performance, to nothing but the meafure; which Shakespeare having entirely neglected, like all the dramatic writers of that age, he has fpruced him up with all the exactness of a modern measurer of fyllables. This being here taken notice of once for all, fhall, for the future, be forgot, as if it had never been. WARBURTON.

So vulgarly-] Meaning either fo grofly, with fuch indecency of invective, or by fo mean and inadequate witneffes. JOHNSON.

-Come, coufin Angelo,

In this I will be partial; &c.)

In former editions,

-Come

In this I will be partial: be you judge

Of your own cause. Is this the witness, friar?

[Ifabella is carried off, guarded.

Enter Mariana veil'd.

First let her fhew her face; and, after, speak.
Mari. Pardon, my lord; I will not fhew my face,
Until my husband bid me.

Duke. What, are you marry'd?

Mari. No, my lord.

Duke. Are you a maid?

Mari. No, my lord.

Duke. A widow then?

Mari. Neither, my lord.

Duke. Why, are you nothing then?

Neither maid, widow, nor wife.

Lucio. My lord, she may be a punk: for many

them

Are neither maid, widow, nor wife.

of

Duke. Silence that fellow: I would, he had fome caufe

To prattle for himself,

Lucio. Well, my lord.

Mari. My lord, I do confefs, I ne'er was marry'd; And, I confess, befides, I am no maid;

-Come, coufin Angelo,

In this I'll be impartial; be you judge

Of your own caufe.

Surely this Duke had odd notions of impartiality; to commit the decifion of a caufe to the perfon accufed. He talks much more rationally in the character of the Friar.

-The duke's unjust,

Thus to retort your manifest appeal;

And put your trial in the villain's mouth,

Whom here you come t' accufe.—

I think, there needs no ftronger authority to convince, that the

poet must have wrote, as I have corrected,

In this I will be partial;

THEOBALD.

I have known my husband; yet my husband knows

not,

That ever he knew me.

Lucio. He was drunk then, my lord; it can be no better.

Duke. For the benefit of filence, would thou wert fo too.

Lucio. Well, my lord.

Duke. This is no witnefs for lord Angelo.
Mari. Now I come to't, my lord:

She, that accufes him of fornication,
In felf fame manner doth accufe my husband
And charges him, my lord, with such a time,
When I'll depose I had him in mine arms,
With all the effect of love.

Ang. Charges fhe more than me?

Mari. Not that I know.

Duke. No you say your husband. [To Mariana. Mari. Why, juft, my lord, and that is Angelo; Who thinks, he knows, that he ne'er knew my body; But knows, he thinks, that he knows Ifabel's.

Ang. This is a ftrange abufe.-Let's fee thy face. Mari. My husband bids me; now I will unmask. [Unveiling.

This is that face, thou cruel Angelo,

Which, once thou fwor'ft, was worth the looking on: This is the hand, which, with a vow'd contract,

Was faft belock'd in thine: this is the body,

That took away the match from Ifabel,

And did supply thee, at thy garden-house,

In her imagin'd perfon.

Duke. Know you this woman?

2 This is a firange abuse Abuse stands in this place for deception, or puzzle. So in Macbeth,

This firange and felf abuse,

means, this frange deception of himself. JOHNSON.

Lucio. Carnally, the fays.
Duke. Sirrah, no more.
Lucio. Enough, my lord.

Ang. My lord, I must confefs, I know this woman; And, five years fince, there was fome fpeech of mar riage

Betwixt myself and her: which was broke off,
Partly, for that her promised proportions
Came fhort of compofition; but, in chief,
For that her reputation was disvalu'd
In levity fince which time, of five years,

I never spake with her, faw her, nor heard from her,
Upon my faith and honour.

Mari. Noble prince,

As there comes light from heaven, and words from breath,

As there is fenfe in truth, and truth in virtue,

I am affianc'd this man's wife, as strongly

As words could make up vows: and, my good lord, But Tuesday night laft gone, in his garden-house, He knew me as a wife. As this is true,

Let me in fafety raise me from my knees

Or else for ever be confixed here,

A marble monument!

Ang. I did but fmile 'till now.

Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justice, My patience here is touch'd: I do perceive,

* Thefe poor informal women are no more

ber promifed proportions

Came fhort of compofition;]

But

Her fortune, which was promised proportionate to mine, fell short of the compofition, that is, contract or bargain. JOHNSON.

4 Thefe poor informal women -] i. e. women who have ill concerted their story. Formal fignifies frequently, in our authour, a thing put into form or method: fo informal, out of method, ill concerted. How eafy is it to fay, that Shakespeare might better have wrote informing, i. e. accufing. But he who (as the Oxford VOL. II.

editor)

But inftruments of fome more mightier member,
That fets them on. Let me have way, my lord,
To find this practice out.

Duke. Ay, with my heart;

And punish them unto your height of pleasure.
Thou foolish friar, and thou pernicious woman,
Compact with her that's gone! think'ft thou, thý
oaths,

Tho' they would fwear down each particular faint,
Were teftimonies 'gainst his worth and credit,
That's feal'd in approbation?

You, lord Efcalus, Sit with my coufin; lend him your kind pains To find out this abuse, whence 'tis deriv'd.There is another friar, that fet them on; Let him be sent for.

editor) thinks he did write fo, knows nothing of the character of his ftile. WARBURTON.

I once believed informal had no other or deeper fignification than informing, accufing. The scope of juftice, is the full extent; but think, upon farther enquiry, that informal fignifies incompetent, not qualified to give teftimony. Of this ufe there are precedents to be found, though I cannot now recover them. JOHNSON. Informal fignifies out of their fenfes. In the Comedy of Errors, we meet with thefe lines:

I will not let him ftir,

"Till I have us'd the approved means I have,

"With whole fome fyrups, drugs, and holy prayers, To make of him a formal man again."

The

Formal, in this paffage, evidently fignifies in bis fenfes. lines are spoken of Antipholis of Syracufe, who is behaving like a madman. Again, in Antony and Cleopatra,

"Thou shouldft come like a fury crown'd with snakes, "Not like a formal man." STEEVENS.

5 That's feal'd in approbation ?] When any thing fubject to counterfeits is tried by the proper officers and approved, a flamp or feal is put upon it, as among us on plate, weights, and measures. So the Duke fays, that Angelo's faith has been tried, approved, and feal'd in teftimony of that approbation, and, like other things fo fealed, is no more to be called in queftion. JoHNSON.

Peter.