Governs lord Angelo; A man whose blood Of bufinefs betwixt Ifab. Doth he fo Seek for his life? 9 you and your poor brother. Lucio. Has cenfur'd him already; And, as I hear, the provost hath a warrant Ifab. Alas! what poor ability's in me To do him good? Lucio. Affay the power you have. Ifab. My power! Alas! I doubt— Lucio. Our doubts are traitors; And made us lofe the good, we oft might win, By fearing to attempt. Go to lord Angelo, 8 ——give fear to use-] To intimidate ufe, that is, practices long countenanced by cuftom. JOHNSON. Unless you have the grace] That is, the acceptableness, the power of gaining favour. So when the makes her fuit, the provoft fays, Heaven give thee moving graces. JOHNSON. The inmoft part, the main of my mefiage. JOHNSON. → —cenfur'd him,—] i. e. fentenced him. STEEVENS. And And let him learn to know, when maidens fue, Men give like Gods; but when they weep and kneel, As they themselves would owe them.' Ifab. I will about it strait; No longer staying, but to give the mother 4 [Exeunt ACT II. SCENE I. ANGELO's HOUSE. Enter Angelo, Efcalus, a Justice, and Attendants. WE ANGELO. E muft not make a fcare-crow of the law Setting it up to fear the birds of prey, And let it keep one shape, till custom make it Their perch, and not their terror. Efcal. Ay, but yet Let us be keen, and rather cut a little, 3would owe them.] To owe fignifies in this place, as in many others, to poffefs, to have. STEEVENS. 5 -the mother] The abbefs, or priorefs. JOHNSON. -to fear the birds of prey,] To fear is to affright, to terrify. So in The Merchant of Venice, "-this aspect of mine "Hath fear'd the valiant.” STEEVENS. 4 Than Than fall, and bruise to death." Alas! this gentleman, Let but your honour know,7 (whom I believe That, in the working of your own affections, Could have attain'd the effect of your own purpose; Ang. 'Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus, The jury, paffing on the prifoner's life, May in the fworn twelve have a thief or two That justice feizes on. What know the laws, Than fall, and bruise to death.—] I should rather read, fell, i. ç. Atrike down. So in Timon of Athens, All, fave thee, I fell with curses. WARBURTON. Fall is the old reading, and the true one. Shakespeare has ufed the fame expreffion in the Comedy of Errors, "-as easy may'st thou fall "A drop of water. i, e. let fall. So in As you like it, "the executioner. "Falls not the axe upon the humbled neck" STEEVENS. "Let but your bonour know,-] To know is here to examine, to take cognifance. So in Midjummer-Night's Dream, Therefore, fair Hermia, queftion your defires; Know of your truth, examine well your blood. JOHNSON. 3 'tis very pregnant,[ 'Tis plain that we must act with bad as with good; we punish the faults, as we take the advantages, that lie in our way, and what we do not fee we cannot note. JOHNSON. The jewel that we find, we stoop and take it, For I have had fuch faults; but rather tell me, Let mine own judgment pattern out my death, Efcal. Be it, as your wifdom will. Ang. See, that Claudio Be executed by nine to-morrow morning. Bring him his confeffor, let him be prepar'd; For that's the utmoft of his pilgrimage.-[Exit Prov. Efcal. Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all! Some rife by fin, and some by virtue fall : 8 For I have had have had faults. JOHNSON. Some ] That is, because, by reason that I 9 Some rife, &c.] This line is in the first folio printed in Italics as a quotation. All the folios read in the next line, Some run from brakes of ice, and answer none. JOHNSON. The old reading is perhaps the true one, and may mean, fome run away from danger, and flay to answer none of their faults, whilst others are condemned only on account of a single frailty. If this be the true reading, it should be printed, Some run from breaks [i. e. fractures] of ice, &c. Since I wrote this, I have found reafon to change my opinion. A brake anciently meant not only a sharp bit, a fnaffle, but also the inclofure into which farriers put fuch unruly horfes as will not permit themselves to be fhod without confinement. This, in fome places, is called a fmith's brake. In this laft fenfe, Ben Jonfon ufes the word in his Und rwoods. "And not think he had eat a ftake, And, Some run through brakes of vice, and anfwer none; And fome condemned for a fault alone. Enter Elbow, Froth, Clown, and Officers. Elb. Come, bring them away: if these be good people in a common-weal, that do nothing but use their abuses in common houses, I know no law: bring them away. Ang. How now, fir! What's your name? and what's the matter? Elb. If it please your honour, I am the poor duke's conftable, and my name is Elbow; I do lean upon juftice, fir, and do bring in here before your good honour two notorious benefactors. Ang. Benefactors? Well, what benefactors are they? are they not malefactors? Elb. If it please your honour, I know not well what they are: but precife villains they are, that I am fure of; and void of all profanation in the world, that good chriftians ought to have. Efcal. This comes off well; here's a wife officer. Ang. Go to What quality are they of? Elbow is your name? Why doft thou not speak, Elbow? Clown. He cannot, fir; he's out at elbow. Ang. What are you, fir? And, for the former fenfe, fee the Silent Woman, act iv. Again, for the latter fenfe, Buffy d'Ambois, by Chapman. "Or, like a ftrumpet, learn to fet my face "In an eternal brake." Again, in The Opportunity, by Shirley, 1640. "He is fallen into some brake, some wench has tied him by "the legs." I offer thefe quotations, which may prove of use to some more fortunate conjecturer; but am able myself to derive very little from them to fuit the paffage before us. STEEVENS. 9 This comes off well;] This is nimbly spoken; this is volubly uttered. JOHNSON. Elb |