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Isab. I have ta'en a due and wary note upon't;
With whispering and most guilty diligence,
In action all of precept, he did show me
The way twice o'er.

Duke. But shall you on your knowledge find this way?

Duke.
Are there no other tokens
Between you 'greed, concerning her observance?
Isab. No, none, but only a repair i'the dark;
And that I have possess'd him, my most stay
Can be but brief; for I have made him know,
I have a servant comes with me along,
That stays upon me; whose persuasion is,
I come about my brother.
"Tis well born up.

1 The duke's vice may be explained by what he says himself, Act. i. Sc. 4.

2

Duke.

I have not yet made known to Mariana
A word of this :--What, ho! within! come forth!
Re-enter MARIANA.

twas my fault to give the people scope.' Angelo's vice requires no explanation. "How may likeness, made in crimes, Mocking, practice on the times.' The old copies read making. The emendation is Mr. Malone's. The sense of this obscure passage appears to be:- How may persons assuming the likeness or semblance of virtue, while they are in fact guilty of the grossest crimes, impose with this counterfeit sanctity upon the world, in order to draw to themselves by the flimsiest pretensions the most solid advantages; such as pleasure, honour, reputation, &c.'

I pray you, be acquainted with this maid;
She comes to do you good.

Isab.
I do desire the like.
Duke. Do you persuade yourself that I respect

you?

Mari. Good friar, I know you do; and have

found it.

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3 It does not appear certain to whom this beautiful little song rightly belongs. It is found with an additional stanza in Fletcher's Bloody Brother. Mr. Malone prints it as Shakspeare's, Mr. Boswell thinks Fletcher has the best claim to it; Mr. Webster that Shakspeare may have written the first stanza, and Fletcher the se

Will't please you walk aside? [Exeunt MARIANA and ISABELLA. Duke. O place and greatness, millions of false

eyes

Are stuck upon thee! volumes of report
Run with these false and most contrarious quests
Upon thy doings? thousand 'scapes of wit
Make thee the father of their idle dream,
And rack thee in their fancies!-Welcome !-How
agreed?

Re-enter MARIANA and ISABELLA.
Isab. She'll take the enterprise upon her, father,
If you advise it.
Duke.
It is not my consent,
But
my entreaty too.
Isab.

Little have you to say,
When you depart from him, but, soft and low,
Remember now my brother.

Muri.
Fear me not.
Duke. Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all:
He is your husband on a pre-contract:
To bring you thus together, 'tis no sin;
Sith that the justice of your title to him
Doth flourish the deceit. Come, let us go;
Our corn's to reap, for yet our tilth's12 to sow.

[Exeunt

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Clo. If the man be a bachelor, sir, I can: buti he be a married man, he is his wife's head, and can never cut off a woman's head.

cond. It may indeed be the property of some unknow or forgotten author. Be this as it may, the reader wi be pleased to have the second stanza.

'Hide, oh hide those hills of snow Which thy frozen bosom bears, On whose tops the pinks that glow Are of those that April wears. But first set my poor heart free, Bound in those icy chains by thee.' 4 Though the music soothed my sorrows, it had tendency to produce light merriment. 5 Circummurd, walled round.

6 Planched, planked, wooden.

7 i. e. informed. Thus Shylock says

"I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose. 8 Stays, waits. 9 Quests, inquisitions, inquirie 10 'Scapes, sallies, sportive wiles.

11 i. e. ornament, embellish an action that wou otherwise seem ugly.

12 Tilth here means land prepared for sowing. T old copy reads tithe; the emendation is Warburton

Prov. Come, sir, leave me your snatches, and yield me a direct answer. To-morrow morning are to die Claudio and Barnardine: Here is in our prison a common executioner, who in his office lacks a helper: if you will take it on you to assist him, it shall redeem you from your gyves; if not, you shall have your full time of imprisonment, and your deliverance with an unpitied whipping; for you have been a notorious bawd.

Clo. Sir, I have been an unlawful bawd, time out of mind; but yet I will be content to be a lawful hangman. I would be glad to receive some instruction from my fellow partner.

Prou. What ho, Abhorson! Where's Abhorson,

there?

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When it lies starkly" in the traveller's bones:
He will not wake.
Prov.

Who can do good on him? Well, go, prepare yourself. But hark, what noise? [Knocking within.

Heaven give your spirits comfort! [Exit CLAUDIO.
By and by:-

I hope it is some pardon, or reprieve,
For the most gentle Claudio.-Welcome, father.
Enter Duke.

Duke. The best and wholesome spirits of the
night

Envelope you, good Provost! Who call'd here of late?

Prov. None, since the curfew rung.
Duke.
Prov. No.
Duke.

Not Isabel?

They will then, ere't be long. Prov. What comfort is for Claudio? Duke. There's some in hope.

power

Prov. It is a bitter deputy. Even with the stroke and line of his great justice, Duke. Not so, not so; his life is parallel'd That in himself, which he spurs on his He doth with holy abstinence subdue With that which he corrects, then were he tyrannous; To qualify in others: were he meal'di But this being so, he's just.-Now are they come.— [Knocking within.-Provost goes out. This is a gentle provost: Seldom when11 How now? What noise? That spirit's possess'd The steeled gaoler is the friend of men.wounds the unsisting12 postern with these with haste,

Clo. Painting, sir, I have heard say, is a mystery; and your whores, sir, being members of my occupation, using painting, do prove my occupation a mys-That tery: but what mystery there should be in hanging, if I should be hang'd, I cannot imagine.

Abhor. Sir, it is a mystery.

Clo. Procf.

Abhor. Every true man's apparel fits your thief: If it be too little for your thief, your true man thinks it big enough; if it be too big for your thief, your thief thinks it little enough: so every true man's apparel fits thief. your

Re-enter Provost.

Prov. Are you agreed?

Clo. Sir, I will serve him; for I do find, your hangman is a more penitent trade than your bawd: be foth oftener ask forgiveness.

your

Proe. You, sirrah, provide your block and ate, to-morrow four o'clock. Abhor. Come on, bawd; I will instruct thee in my trade; follow.

strokes.

Provost returns, speaking to one at the door.
Prov. There he must stay, until the officer
Arise to let him in; he is call'd up.

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

Prov.
None, sir, none.
Duke. As near the dawning, Provost, as it is,
You shall hear more ere morning.

Happily,13

Prov. You something know; yet, I believe, there comes No countermand; no such example have we: Besides, upon the very siege of justice, Lord Angelo hath to the public ear Profess'd the contrary.

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 swerve not from smallest article of it, neither in time, matter, or other circumstance. Good-morrow; for, as I take it, it is almost day.

Cia. I do desire to learn, sir; and, I hope, if you have occasion to use me for your own turn, you shall find me yare ; for, truly, sir, for your kind-the ness, I owe you a good turn.

Prov. Call hither Barnardine and Claudio:
[Exeunt Clown and ABHORSON.
One has my pity; not a jot the other,
Being a murderer, though he were my brother.
Enter CLAUDIO.

Look, here's the warrant, Claudio, for thy death;
Tis now dead midnight, and by eight to-morrow
Thou must be made immortal. Where's Barnar-
dine?

1 ì. e. fetters.

4 i. e. honest.

2 i. e. a whipping that none shall pity. 3 Farour is countenance. 5 Warburton says, 'this proves the thief's trade a mystery, not the hangman's,' and therefore supposes that a speech in which the hangman proved his trade a mystery is lost, part of this last speech being in the ed editions given to the clown. But Heath observes, The argument of the hangman is exactly similar to that of the clown. As the latter puts in his claim to the whores as members of his occupation, and in virtue of their painting would enroll his own fraternity in the mystery of painters; so the former equally lays claim to the thieves as members of his occupation, and in their right endeavours to rank his brethren the hangmen un. der the mystery of fiuers of apparel, or tailors." 6 i. e. ready. 7 i. e. strongly.

Prov. I shall obey him.

[Exit Messenger. Duke. This is his pardon; purchas'd by such sin. [Aside.

For which the pardoner himself is in:
Hence hath offence his quick celerity,
When it is borne in high authority:
When vice makes mercy, mercy's so extended,

8 Stroke is here put for the stroke of a pen, or a line. 9 To qualify is to temper, to moderate. 10 Meal'd appears to mean here sprinkled, o'erdusted, defiled; I cannot think that in this instance it has any relation to the verb to mell, meddle or mix with.

11 This is absurdly printed Seldom, when, &c. in all the late editions. Seldom-when (ie, rarely, not often) is the steeled gaoler the friend of men. Thus in old phraseology we have seldom-time, any-then, &c. The comma between seldom and when is not in the old copy, but an arbitrary addition of some editor..

unlisting, i e. unheeding, which is intelligible. But I 12 The old copies read thus.-Monck Mason proposed, prefer Sir W. Blackstone's suggestion, that unsisting may signify never at rest,' always opening.

13 Hapily, haply, perhaps the old orthography of the word.

14 i. e. seat.

That for the fault's love, is the offender friended.—say, it was the desire of the penitent to be so bared Now, sir, what news? before his death: You know, the course is common. If any thing fall to you upon this, more than thanks and good fortune, by the saint whom I profess, I will plead against it with my life. Prov. Pardon me, good father; it is against my

Prov. I told you: Lord Angelo, be-like, thinking me remiss in mine office, awakens me with this unwonted putting on: methinks, strangely; for he hath not used it before.

Duke. Pray you, let's hear.

Prov. [Reads.] Whatever you may hear to the contrary, let Claudio be executed by four of the clock; and, in the afternoon, Barnardine; for my better satisfaction, let me have Claudio's head sent me by five. Let this be duly performed; 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 your peril. What say you to this, sir?

oath.

Duke. Were you sworn to the duke, or to the deputy?

Prov. To him, and to his substitutes.

Duke. You will think you have made no offence, if the duke avouch the justice of your dealing? Prov. But what likelihood is in that?

Duke. Not a resemblance, but a certainty. Yet since I see you fearful, that neither my coat, inDuke. What is that Barnardine, who is to be ex-tegrity, nor my persuasion, can with ease attempt ecuted in the afternoon? you, I will go further than I meant, to pluck all fears out of you. Look you, sir, here is the hand and seal of the duke. You know the character, I doubt not; and the signet is not strange to you. Prov. I know them both.

Prov. A Bohemian born; but here nursed up and bred; one that is a prisoner nine years old.2

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

Prov. His friends still 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. Most manifest, and not denied by himself. Duke. Hath he borne himself penitently in prison? How seems he to be touched?

Prov. A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully, but as a drunken sleep: careless, reckless, and fearless of what's past, present, or to come; insensible of mortality, and desperately mortal.' Duke. He wants advice.

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

I

Duke. More of him anon. There is written in your brow, Provost, honesty and constancy: if 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 sentenced him: To make you understand this in a manifested effect, I crave but four days' respite; for the which you are to do me both a present and a dangerous courtesy.

Prov. Pray, sir, in what?
Duke. In the delaying death.

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

smallest.

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

Prov. Angelo hath seen them both, and will discover the favour. 5

Duke. O, death's a great disguiser: and you may add to it. Shave the head, and tie the beard; and

1 Putting on is spur, incitement. 2 i. e. nine years in prison.

3 Perhaps we should read mortally desperate. we have harmonious charmingly for charmingly monious, in the Tempest.

4 i. e. in confidence of my sagacity. 5 Countenance.

Duke. The contents of this is the return of the duke; you shall anon overread it at your pleasure; where you shall find, within these two days he will be here. This is a thing that Angelo knows not: for he this very day receives letters of strange tenor; perchance, of the duke's death; perchance, entering into some monastery; but, by chance, nothing of what is writ. Look, the unfolding star calls up the shepherd. Put not yourself into amazement, how these things should be: all difficulties are but easy when they are known. Call your executioner, and off with Barnardine's head: I will give him a present shrift, and advise him for a better place. Yet you are amazed; but this shall absolutely resolve you. Come away; it is almost clear dawn. [Excunt.

SCENE III. Another Room in the same.

Clown.

Enter

Clo. I am as well acquainted here, as I was in our house of profession: one would think it were mistress Overdone's own house, for here be many of her old customers. First, here's young master Rash;10 he's in for a commodity of brown paper and old ginger, ninescore and seventeen pounds; of which he made five marks, ready money:11 marry, then, ginger was not much in request, for the old

women were all dead. Then is there here one mas ter Caper, at the suit of master Three-pile the mercer, for some four suits of peach-colour'd satin, which now peaches him a beggar. Then have we here young Dizy, and young master Deep-vow, and master Copper-spur, and master Starve-lackey the rapier and dagger man, and young Drop-heir that kill'd lusty Pudding, and master Forthright the tilter, and brave master Shoe-tie the great traveller, and wild Half-can that stabb'd Pots, and, I think, forty more; all great doers in our trade, and are now for the Lord's sake.12

Enter ABHORSON.

Abhor. Sirrah, bring Barnardine hither.

Clo. Master Barnardine! you must rise and be hang'd, master Barnardine!

10 This enumeration of the inhabitants of the prison, affords a very striking view of the practices predomi nant in Shakspeare's age. Besides those whose follies are common to all times, we have four fighting men and a traveller. It is not unlikely that the originals of the As pictures were then known. Rash was a silken stuff forhar-merly worn in coats: all the names are characteristic.

6 Shave the head and tie the beard-the course is common.' This probably alludes to a practice among Roman Catholics of desiring to receive the tonsure of the monks before they died.

7 What is writ; we should read here writ;' the Duke pointing to the letter in his hand. 8 So Milton in Comus:

The star that bids the shepherd fold Now the top of heaven doth hold.'

9 i. . convince you.

11 It was the practice of money lenders in Shakspeare's time, as well as more recently, to make advances partly in goods and partly in cash. The goods were to be resold generally at an enormous loss upon the cost price, and of these commodities it appears that broten paper and ginger often formed a part.

12 It appears from Davies's Epigrams, 1611, that this was the language in which prisoners who were confined for debt addressed passengers ;

'Good gentle writers, for the Lord's sake, for the
Lord's sake,

Like Ludgate prisoners, lo, I, begging, make
My mone.'

Abhor. What, ho, Barnardine! Barnar. [Within.] A pox o' your throats! Who makes that noise there? What are you?

Cle. Your friends, sir; the hangman: You must be so good, sir, to rise and be put to death. Barnar. [Within.] Away, you rogue, away; I am sleepy.

too.

Abhor. Tell him, he must awake, and that quickly

Clo. Pray, master Barnardine, awake till you are executed, and sleep afterwards.

Abhor. Go in to him, and fetch him out.

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Quick, despatch,

[Exit Provost.

And send the head to Angelo.
Now will I write letters to Angelo,-
The provost he shall bear them,-whose contents
Shall witness to him I am near at home;
And that by great injunctions, I am bound
To enter publicly: him I'll desire
To meet me at the consecrated fount,
A league below the city; and from thence,

Clo. He is coming, sir, he is coming; I hear his By cold gradation and weal-balanced form,
straw rustle.

Enter BARNARDINE.

Abhor. Is the axe upon the block, sirrah?
Clo. Very ready, sir.

Barnar. How now, Abhorson? what's the news with you?

Abhor. Truly, sir, I would desire you to clap into your prayers; for, look you, the warrant's come. Barnar. You rogue, I have been drinking all night, I am not fitted for't.

Clo. O, the better, sir; for he that drinks all night, and is hanged betimes in the morning, may sleep the sounder all the next day.

Enter Duke.

Abhor. Look you, sir, here comes your ghostly father; Do we jest now, think you?

Duke. Sir, induced by my charity, and hearing how hastily you are to depart, I am come to advise you, comfort you, and pray with you.

Barnar. Friar, not I; I have been drinking hard all night, and I will have more time to prepare me, or they shall beat out my brains with billets: I will not consent to die this day, that's certain.

Duke. O, sir, you must: and therefore, I beseech

you,

Look forward on the journey you shall go.

We shall proceed with Angelo.

Re-enter Provost.

Prov. Here is the head; I'll carry it myself. Duke. Convenient is it: Make a swift return; For I would commune with you of such things, That want no ear but yours. Prov. I'll make all speed. [Exit.

Isab. [Within] Peace, ho, be here!
Duke. The tongue of Isabel;-She's come to
know,

If yet her brother's pardon be come hither;
But I will keep her ignorant of her good,
To make her heavenly comforts of despair,
When it is least expected.

Enter ISABELLA.

Isah. Ho, by your leave.

Duke. Good morning to you fair and gracious daughter.

Isab. The better given me by so holy a man. Hath yet the deputy sent my brother's pardon? Duke. He hath releas'd him, Isabel, from the world;

His head is off, and sent to Angelo
Isab. Nay, but it is not so.
Duke.

It is no other:

Barnar, I swear, I will not die to-day for any Show your wisdom, daughter, in your close patience.

man's persuasion.

Duke. But hear you.

Barnar. Not a word; if you have any thing to say to me, come to my ward; for thence will not to-day.

Enter Provost.

I

[Exit.

Duke. Unfit to live, or die: O, gravel heart!After him, fellows; bring him to the block.

[Exeunt ABHORSON and Clown. Prov. Now, sir, how do you find the prisoner? Duke. A creature unprepar'd, unmeet for death; And, to transport' him in the mind he is, Were damnable.

Prov.

Here in the prison, father,

There died this morning of a cruel fever
One Ragozine, a most notorious pirate,

A man of Claudio's years; his beard and head,
Just of his colour: What if we do omit

This reprobate, till he were well inclined;
And satisfy the deputy with the visage
Of Ragozine, more like to Claudio?

Duke. O, 'tis an accident that heaven provides!
Despatch it presently; the hour draws on
Prefix'd by Angelo; See, this be done,
And sent according to command; whiles I
Persuade this rude wretch willingly to die.
Prov. This shall be done, good father, presently.
But Barnardine must die this afternoon:
And how shall we continue Claudio,

To save me from the danger that might come,
If he were known alive?

Duke. Let this be done :-Put them in secret holds,
Both Barnardine and Claudio; Ere twice
The sun hath made his journal greeting to

Isab. O, I will to him, and pluck out his eyes. Duke. You shall not be admitted to his sight. Isab. Unhappy Claudio! Wretched Isabel! Injurious world! Most damned Angelo!

Duke. This nor hurts him, nor profits you a jot:
Forbear it therefore; give your cause to heaven.
Mark what I say, which you shall find
By every syllable a faithful verity:
The duke comes home to-morrow;-nay, dry your
eyes;

One of our convent and his confessor,
Gives me this instance: Already he hath carried
Notice to Escalus and Angelo;

Who do prepare to meet him at the gates,
There to give up their power. If you can, pace
your wisdom

In that good path that I would wish to go;
And you shall have your bosom3 on this wretch,
Grace of the duke, revenges to your heart,
And general honour.

Isab.
I am directed by you.
Duke. This letter then to friar Peter give;
'Tis that he sent me of the duke's return:
Say, by this token, I desire his company
At Mariana's house to-night. Her cause and
I'll perfect him withal; and he shall bring you
Before the duke; and to the head of Angelo
Accuse him home, and home. For my poor self,
I am combined by a sacred vow,

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1 i. e. to remove him from one world to another. The Friar, where is the Provost ?

French trepas affords a kindred sense.

2 The under generation, the antipodes.

3 Your bosom, is your heart's desire, your wish.

4 Shakspeare uses combine for to bind by a pact or

Good even!

agreement, so he calls Angelo the combinate husband of Mariana.

5 i. e. Go.

Duke. Not within, sir. Lucio. O, pretty Isabella, I am pale at mine heart, to see thine eyes so red: thou must be patient: I am fain to dine and sup with water and bran; I dare not for my head fill my belly; one fruitful meal would set me to't: But they say the duke will be here to-morrow. By my troth, Isabel, I lov'd thy brother: if the old fantastical duke of dark corners had been at home, he had lived. [Exit ISABELLA. Duke. Sir, the duke is marvellous little beholden to your reports; but the best is he lives not in them.1 Lucio. Friar, thou knowest not the duke so well as I do: he's a better woodman2 than thou takest him for.

Duke. Well, you'll answer this one day. Fare ye well.

Lucio. Nay, tarry; I'll go along with thee; I can tell thee pretty tales of the duke.

Duke. You have told me too many of him already, sir, if they be true; if not true, none were enough. Lucio. I was once before him for getting a wench with child.

Duke. Did you such a thing?

Lucio. Yes, marry, did I; but was fain to forswear it; they would else have married me to the rotten meddlar.

Duke. Sir, your company is fairer than honest: Rest you well.

Lucio. By my troth, I'll go with thee to the lane's end: If bawdy talk: offend you, we'll have very little of it: Nay, friar I am a kind of burr, I shall stick. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. A Room in Angelo's House. Enter ANGELO and ESCALUS.

Escal. Every letter he hath writ hath disvouch'd' other.

Ang. In most uneven and distracted manner. His actions show much like to madness: pray heaven, his wisdom be not tainted! And why meet him at the gates, and redeliver our authorities there? Escal. I guess not.

Ang. And why should we proclaim it in an hour before his entering, that, if any crave redress of injustice, they should exhibit their petitions in the street?

Escal. He shows his reason for that: to have a despatch of complaints; and to deliver us from devices hereafter, which shall then have no power to stand against us.

you,

Ang. Well, I beseech let it be proclaim'd: Betimes i' the morn, I'll call you at your house : Give notice to such men of sort and suit,* As are to meet him. Escal.

I shall, sir: fare you well.

[Exit.

Ang. Good night.This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnant, s

And dull to all proceeding. A deflower'd maid!
And by an eminent body, that enforc'd

The law against it!-But that her tender shame
Will not proclaim against her maiden loss,
How might she tongue me? Yet reason dares
her?-no:

1 i. e. he depends not on them.

For my authority bears a credent' bulk,
That no particular scandal once can touch,
But it confounds the breather." He should have liv'd,
Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous sense,
Might in the times to come, have ta'en revenge,
By so receiving a dishonour'd life,
With ransom of such shame. 'Would yet he had

liv'd!

Alack, when once our grace we have forgot, Nothing goes right; we would and we would not. [Exit.10

SCENE V. Fields without the Town. Enter Duke in his own habit, and Friar Peter.

Duke. These letters at fit time deliver me.

[Giving letters. The Provost knows our purpose, and our plot. The matter being afoot, keep your instruction, And hold you ever to our special drift; Though sometimes you do blench from this to that, As cause doth minister. Go, call at Flavius' house, And tell him where I stay: give the like notice To Valentinus, Rowland, and to Crassus, And bid them bring the trumpets to the gates; But send me Flavius first. F. Peter.

2 A woodman was an attendant on the forester; his great employment was hunting. It is here used in a wanton sense for a hunter of a different sort of game. So, Falstaff asks his mistresses in the Merry Wives of Windsor :-

Am I a woodman? Ha!

3 Disvouched is contradicted. 4 Figure and rank.

5 Unready, unprepared; the contrary to pregnant in its sense of ready, apprehensive.

6 To dare has two significations; to terrify, as in The Maid's Tragedy;

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-those mad mischiefs

Would dare a woman.'

And to challenge or call forth, as in K. Henry IV. p. 1. 'Unless a brother should a brother dare To gentle exercise,' &c.

It shall be speeded well. [Exit. Friar.

Enter VARRIUS.

Duke. I thank thee, Varrius; thou hast made

good haste:

Come we will walk : There's other of our friends Will greet us here anon, my gentle Varrius.

[Exeunt. SCENE VI. Street near the City Gate. Enter ISABELLA and MARIANA.

Isab. To speak so indirectly, I am loath;
I would say the truth; but to accuse him so,
That is your part: Yet I'm advis'd to do it;
He says, to 'vailful12 purpose.

Mari.
Be rul'd by him.
Isab. Besides, he tells me, that, if peradventure
He speak against me on the adverse side,
I should not think it strange; for 'tis a physic,
That's bitter to sweet end.

Mari. I would, friar Peter-
Isab.

O, peace; the friar is come.
Enter Friar PETER.1

F. Peter. Come, I have found you out a stand most fit,

Where you may have such vantage on the duke, He shall not pass you; Twice have the trumpets sounded;

The generous and the gravest citizens,
Have hent's the gates, and very near upon
The Duke is ent'ring; therefore, hence, away.
[Exeunt.

ACT V.

SCENE I. A public Place near the City Gate. MARIANA (veil'd,) ISABELLA, and PETER, at a distance. Enter at opposite doors, Duke, VARRIUS, Lords; ANGELO, ESCALUS, LUCIO, Provost, Officers, and Citizens.

This passage will therefore bear two interpretations, between which the reader must choose.

7 Credent, creditable, not questionable.

8 Particular is private: a French sense of the word. 9 i. e. utterer.

10 Dr. Johnson thought the fourth Act should end bere, 'for here is properly a cessation of action, a night interof this scene and those of the next. The fifth Act, bevenes, and the place is changed between the passages out any interruption of time or place.' ginning with the following scene, would proceed with

11 To blench, to start off, to fly off.

12 Availful.

13 He is called friar Thomas in the first Act. 14 Generous, for most noble, or those of rank. Generosi, Lat.

15 i. e. seized, laid hold on.

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