2

(As I fubfcribe not that,' nor any other,
But in the lofs of question,) that you, his fifter,
Finding yourself defir'd of fuch a perfon,
Whofe credit with the judge, or own great place,
Could fetch your brother from the manacles
Of the all-binding law; and that there were
No earthly mean to fave him, but that either
You must lay down the treasures of your body
To this fuppofed, or elfe let him fuffer;
What would you do?

lfab. As much for my poor brother, as myself:
That is, were I under the terms of death,
The impreffion of keen whips I'd wear as rubies,
And ftrip myself to death, as to a bed

That longing I have been fick for, ere I'd yield
My body up to fhame.

Arg. Then muft your brother die.
Ifab. And 'twere the cheaper way

Better it were, a brother dy'd at once,*

1 (As I subscribe not that,-] To fubfcribe means, to agree to. Milton ufes the word in the fame fenfe. STEEVENS.

2 But in the loss of question,)] The loss of question I do not well understand, and fhould rather read,

But in the tofs of question.

In the agitation, in the difcuffion of the question. To tofs an argument is a common phrase. JOHNSON.

But by lofs of queftion. This expreffion I believe means, but in idle Suppofition, or converfation that tends to nothing, which may therefore, in our author's language, be call'd the lofs of question. Quef tion, in Shakespeare, often bears this meaning. STEEVENS.

3 Of the all-binding law ;·

-all building law,

-]The old editions read,

from which the editors have made all-holding; yet Mr. Theobald has binding in one of his copies. JOHNSON.

-a brother died at once,] Perhaps we should read,

Better it were, a brother died for once,

Than that a fifter, by redeeming him,

Should die for ever.

JOHNSON.

Than that a fifter, by redeeming him,

Should die for ever.

Ang. Were not you then as cruel as the fentence, Which you have flander'd fo?

Ifab. Ignominy in ranfom, and free pardon, Are of two houses: lawful mercy, fure,

Is nothing kin to foul redemption.

Ang. You feem'd of late to make the law a tyrant; And rather prov'd the sliding of your brother A merriment, than a vice.

Ifab. O pardon me, my lord; it oft falls out, To have what we would have, we speak not what we

mean :

I fomething do excufe the thing I hate,
For his advantage that I dearly love.
Ang. We are all frail.

Ifab. Elfe let my brother die,
If not a feodary, but only he,s
Owe, and fucceed by weakness.
Ang. Nay, women are frail too.

Ifab. Ay, as the glaffes where they view themfelves;

If not a feodary, but only be, &c.] This is fo obfcure, but the allufion fo fine, that it deferves to be explained. A ferdary was one that in the times of vaffallage held lands of the chief lord, under the tenure of paying rent and fervice: which tenures were called feuda amongst the Goths. Now, fays Angelo, "we are all "frail; yes, replies Ifabella; if all mankind were not feodaries, "who owe what they are to this tenure of imbecillity, and who "fucceed each other by the fame tenure, as well as my brother, I "would give him up." The comparing mankind, lying under the weight of original fin, to a feodary, who owes fuit and fe vice to his lord, is, I think, not ill imagined. WARBURTON. Shakespeare has the fame allufion in Cymbeline.

-fenfelefs bauble,

Art thou a feodarie for this act?" STEEVENS.

• Owe, and fucceed-] To owe is, in this place, to own, to bold, to have poffeffion. JOHNSON.

Which

Which are as easy broke, as they make forms." Women!-Help heaven! men their creation mar, In profiting by them. Nay, call us ten times frail; For we are as foft as our complexions are,

And credulous to falfe prints."

Ang. I think it well:

And from this teftimony of your own fex,
(Since, I fuppofe, we are made to be no ftronger,
Than faults may shake our frames) let me be bold.
I do arrest your words: Be that you are,

That is, a woman; if you be more, you're none:
If you be one (as you are well exprefs'd
By all external warrants) fhew it now,
By putting on the deftin❜d livery.
Ifab. I have no tongue but one.

Gentle my lord,

Let me intreat you, fpeak the former language,'
Ang. Plainly conceive, I love you,

Ifab. My brother did love Juliet ;

And you tell me, that he fhall die for it.

Ang. He fhall not, Isabel, if you give me love.
Ifab. I know your virtue hath a licence in't,"

7

-glaffes

Which are as eafy broke, as they make forms.]

Would it not be better to read,

them for examples. JOHNSON.

JOHNSON.

In imitating them, in taking

9 And credulous to falfe prints.] i. e. take any impreffion.

WARBURTON.

-Speak the former language.] We fhould read formal,

which he here ufes for plain, direct.

WARBURTON.

Ifabella anfwers to his circumlocutory courtship, that the has but one tongue, she does not understand this new phrase, and defires him to talk his former language, that is, to talk as he talked before. JOHNSON.

I know your virtue bath a licence in't,] Alluding to the licences given by minifters to their fpies, to go into all fufpected compapies, and join in the language of malecontents. WARBURTON.

Which feems a little fouler than it is,

To pluck on others.

Ang. Believe me, on mine honour, My words exprefs my purpose.

Ifab. Ha! little honour to be much believ'd, And most pernicious purpofe !-Seeming, feeming! 3

I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for't:
Sign me a prefent pardon for my brother,

Or, with an out-ftretch'd throat, I'll tell the world
Aloud, what man thou art.

Ang. Who will believe thee, Ifabel?

My unfoil'd name, the austereness of my life,
* My vouch against you, and my place i' the state,
Will so your accufation over-weigh,

That you fhall ftifle in your own report,
And smell of calumny. I have begun ;
And now I give my fenfual race the rein,
Fit thy confent to my fharp appetite,
Lay by all nicety, and prolixious blushes,
That banish what they fue for: redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will;

Or else he must not only die the death,"

But thy unkindness shall his death draw out

3

-Seeming, feeming !—] Hypocrify, hypocrify; counterfeit virtue. JOHNSON.

4 My vouch against you,] The calling his denial of her charge his vouch, has fomething fine. Vouch is the testimony one man bears for another. So that, by this, he infinuates his authority was fo great, that his denial would have the fame credit that a vouch or teftimony has in ordinary cafes. WARBURTON. I believe this beauty is merely imaginary, and that vouch against means no more than denial. JOHNSON.

5

die the death,] This feems to be a folemn phrafe for death inflicted by law. So in Midfummer Night's Dream.

It is a phrafe taken from fcripture, as is obferved in a note on the Midfummer-Night's Dream. STEEVENS.

Το

To lingering fufferance. Answer me to-morrow;
Or, by the affection that now guides me most,
I'll prove a tyrant to him. As for you,

Say what you can; my falfe o'erweighs your true.

[Exit. Ifab. To whom should I complain? Did I tell this, Who would believe me? O moft perilous mouths, That bear in them one and the self-same tongue, Either of condemnation or approof! Bidding the law make courtly to their will; Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite, To follow, as it draws! I'll to my brother. Tho' he hath fallen by prompture of the blood, Yet hath he in him 7 fuch a mind of honour, That had he twenty heads to tender down On twenty bloody blocks, he'd yield them up, Before his fifter fhould her body stoop To fuch abhorr'd pollution.

6

Then, Ifabel, live chafte; and, brother, die;
More than our brother is our chastity.

I'll tell him yet of Angelo's requeft;

And fit his mind to death, for his foul's reft. [Exit.

1

-prompture] Suggestion, temptation, instigation.

JOHNSON, -fuch a mind of bonour,] This, in Shakespeare's language may mean, fuch an honourable mind, as he uses elsewhere wind of love, for loving mind. STEEVENS.

ACT