Governs lord Angelo; A man whose blood
Is very fnow-broth; one who never feels
The wanton ftings and motions of the sense;
But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge
With profits of the mind, ftudy and fast.
He (to give fear to ufe and liberty,
Which have, for long, run by the hideous law,
As mice by lions) hath pick'd out an act,
Under whofe heavy fenfe your brother's life
Falls into forfeit: he arrefts him on it;
And follows close the rigour of the ftatute,
To make him an example. All hope is gone,
Unless you have the grace by your fair prayer
To foften Angelo: and that's my 'pith

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
For his execution.

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,
All their petitions are as truly theirs,

As they themselves would owe them.'
Ifab. I'll fee what I can do.
Lucio. But, fpeedily.

Ifab. I will about it strait;

No longer staying, but to give the mother 4
Notice of my affair. I humbly thank you;
Commend me to my brother: foon at night
I'll fend him certain word of my fuccefs.
Lucio. I take my leave of you.
Ifab. Good fir, adieu.

[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,
Whom I would fave, had a moft noble father;

Let but your honour know,7 (whom I believe
To be moft ftrait in virtue)

That, in the working of your own affections,
Had time coher'd with place, or place with wishing,
Or that the refolute acting of your blood

Could have attain'd the effect of your own purpose;
Whether you had not fometime in your life
Err'd in this point, which now you cenfure him,
And pull'd the law upon you.

Ang. 'Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,
Another thing to fall. I not deny,

The jury, paffing on the prifoner's life,

May in the fworn twelve have a thief or two
Guiltier than him they try. What's open made to
juftice,

That justice feizes on. What know the laws,
That thieves do pafs on thieves? ""Tis very pregnant,

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

The jewel that we find, we stoop and take it,
Because we see it; but what we do not fee,
We tread upon, and never think of it.
You may not fo extenuate his offence,

For I have had fuch faults; but rather tell me,
When I, that cenfure him, do fo offend,

Let mine own judgment pattern out my death,
And nothing come in partial. Sir, he muft die.
Enter Provoft.

Efcal. Be it, as your wifdom will.
Ang. Where is the provost?
Prov. Here, if it like your honour.

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,
"Or were fet up in a brake.”

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