Imagine howling; 'tis too horrible!
The wearieft and moft loathed worldly life,
That age, ach, penury, imprisonment

Can lay on nature, is a paradife

To what we fear of death.

Ifab. Alas! alas!

Claud. Sweet fifter, let me live; What fin you do to fave a brother's life, Nature difpenfes with the deed so far, That it becomes a virtue..

Ifab. Oh, you beast !

Oh, faithlefs coward! oh, difhoneft wretch !
Wilt thou be made a man, out of my vice?

Is't not a kind of inceft, (5) to take life

From thine own fifter's fhame ? what fhould I think ??
Heav'n grant, my mother plaid my father fair!
For fuch a warped flip of wilderness

Ne'er iffu'd from his blood. Take my defiance,
Die, perifh might my only bending down
Reprieve thee from thy fate, it fhould proceed..
I'll gray a thousand prayers for thy death;
No word to fave thee.

Claud. Nay, hear me, Isabel.

Ifab. Oh, fie, fie, fie!

Thy fin's not accidental, but a tradė;
Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd
"Tis beft, that thou dy't quickly.
Claud. Oh hear me, Ifabel.

To them, Enter Duke and Provoft..

Duke Vouchsafe a word, young fifter;
Ifab. What is your will?

but one

[word

(5) Is't not a kind ofi noeft,] In Ifabella's declamation there is fomething harsh, and fomething forced and far-fetched. But her indignation cannot be thought violent when we confider her not only as a virgin but as a nun.

but a trade ;] A cuftom; a practice; an established ha Mt. So we fay of a man much addicted to any thing, be makes a trade of it.

C. 5

Dukes.

Duke Might you difpenfe with your leifure, I would by and by have fome fpeech with you; the fatisfaction I would require, is likewife your own benefit.

Ifab. I have no fuperfluous leifure; my ftay muft be ftolen out of other affairs; but I will attend you a while.

Duke. To Claudio afide.] Son, I have-overheard: what hath paft between you and your Sifter. Angelo had never the purpose to corrupt her; only he hath made an affay of her virtue, to practife his judgment with the difpofition of natures. She, having the truth of honour in her, hath made him that gracious denial, which he is moft glad to receive: I am Confeffor to Angelo, and I know this to be true; therefore prepare yourself to death. Do not fatisfy your refolution with hopes that are fallible; (6) to morrow you muft die; go to your knees, and make ready.

Claud Let me afk my fifter pardon. I am so out of love with life, that I will fue to be rid of it.

[Exit Claud.. Duke. Hold you there; (7) farewell. Provost, a word. with you.

Prov What's your Will, father P

Duke. that now you are come, you will be gone. Leave me a while with the maid my mind promises with my habit, no lofs fhall touch her by my compa

ny..

(6) Do not fatishe your resilution with hopes that are fallible ;] A condemned man, whom his confeffor had brought to bear death with decency and refolution,, began anew to entertain hopes of life. This occafioned the advice in the words above. But how did thefe hopes fatisfe his refolution or what harm was there, if they did? We muft cera nly read, Do not: FALSIFIE your refolution with hopes that are fallible. And then it becomes a reasonable admonition. For hopes of life, by drawing him back into the world, would naturally elude or weaken the virtue of that refolution, which was raifed only on motives of religion. And this, his confeffor had reason to warn him of. The term falfife is taken from fencing, and fignifies the pretending to aim a ftroke in order to draw the adverfary off his guard. So Fairfax.

Nos flrikes be out, and now be FALSIFIETH.

(7) Hoid you there ;] Continue in that resolution.

WARBURTON.

Prov. In good time. [Exit Prov. Duke. The hand, that hath made you fair, hath made you good; the goodness, that is cheap in beauty, makes beauty brief in goodnefs; but grace, being the foul of your complexion, fhall keep the body of it ever fair. The affault, that Angelo bath made on you, fortune hath convey'd to my understanding; and but that frailty hath examples for his falling, I fhould wonder at Angelo. How will you do to content this Substitute, and to fave your brother?

fab. I am now going to refolve him. I had rather my brother die by the law, than my fon fhould be unlawfully born. But, oh, how much is the good Dukedeceiv'd in Angelo ? if ever he return, and I can fpeak to him, I will open my lips in vain, or difcover his Go

vernment.

Duke That fhall not be much amifs; yet as the matter now ftands, he will avoid your accufation. He made tryal of you only.-Therefore faften your ear on my advifings. To the love I have in doing good,. a remedy prefents itfelf. I do make myself believe, that you may moft uprightly do a poor wronged lady a merited benefit;, redeem your brother from the angry law; do no ftain to your own gracious perfon; and much pleafe the abfent Duke, if, peradventure, he fhall ever return to have hearing of this bufinefs.

Ifab. Let me hear you fpeak further. I have fpirit: to do any thing, that appears not foul in the truth of my spirit.

Duke. Virtue is bold, and Goodnefs never fearful have you not heard fpeak of Mariana, the fifter of Frederick, the great foldier who mifcarried at fea?

Ifab. I have heard of the lady, and good words went with her name.

Duke. Her fhould this Angelo, have marry'd; was affianc'd to her by oath, and the nuptial appointed; between which time of the contract, and limit of the folemnity, her brother Frederick was wreckt at sea,. having in that perifh'd veffel the dowry of his fifter.. But mark, how heavily this befel to the poor gentlewoman; there she loft a noble and renowned brother,

in

in his love toward her ever most kind and natural ; with him the portion, the finew of her fortune, her marriage-dowry; with both, her combinate husband, this well feeming Angelo.

lab. Can this be fo? did Angelo fo leave her?

Duke. Left her in tears, and dry'd not one of them with his comfort; fwallow'd his vows whole, pretending, in her, difcoveries of dishonour, in few, beftow'd her on her own lamentation, which the yet wears for his fake; and he, a marble to her tears, is washed with them, but relents not.

Ifab. What a merit were it in death to take this poor maid from the world! what corruption in this life, that it will let this man live! but how out of this can the avail?

Duke. It is a rupture that you may easily heal; and the cure of it not only faves your brother, but keeps. you from difhonour in doing it.

fab. Shew me how, good father.

Duke This fore-nam'd maid hath yet in her the continuance of her firft affection; his unjuft unkindness, (that in all reafon should have quenched her love,) hath, like an impediment in the current, made it more vio lent and unruly. Go you to Angel, anfwer his re-.. quiring with a plaufible obedience; agree with his demands to the point; only refer yourself to this advan tage (8) firft, that your ftay with him may not be long; that the time may have all fhadow and filence in

it ;

and the place answer to convenience. This being granted, in courfe now follows all. We fhall advife. this wronged maid to ftead up your appointment, go in your place; if the encounter acknowledge itfelf here-. after, it may compel him to her recompence; and here by this is your brother fayed, your Honour untainted, the poor Mariana advantaged, and the corrupt Deputy fcaled. (9) The maid will I frame, and make

fit

・(8) Only refer yourself to this advantage;] This is fearcely, to be reconciled with any established mode of fpeech. We may read, Only referve yourself to, or only referve to yourself this advantage. (9)- -the corrupt Deputy fcaled.] To fcale the Deputy may be, to reach bim notwithstanding the elevation of his place; or it may

fit for his attempt. If you

think well to carry this as you may, the doubleness of the benefit defends the deceit from reproof. What think you of it?

fab. The image of it gives me content already, and, I trust, it will grow to a moft profperous perfection.

Duke. It lies much in your holding up. Hafte you fpeedily to Angelo. ;. if for this night he intreat you to his bed, give him promife of fatisfaction. I will prefently to St. Luke's; there at the moated Grange refides this dejected Mariana; at that place call upon me, and dispatch with Angelo, that it may be quickly.

Ifab. I thank you for this comfort. Fare you well,. good father. [Exeunt Jeverally,

Re-enter Duke as a Friar, Elbow, Clown, and Officers:

Elb.

NA

AY, if there be no remedy for it, but thatyou will needs buy and fell men and women like beafts, we fhall have all the world drink brown. and white baftard (1)

Duke. Oh, heaven's ! what stuff is here?.

Clown. 'Twas never merry world fince of two ufuries (2) the merrieft was put down, and the worfer al

be, to ftrip bim and difcower bis nakedness, though armed and con. cealed by the investments of authority.

(1)baftard.] A kind of fweet wine then much in vogue. From the Italian, Baftardo.. WARBURTON

(2) fince of two ufuries, &c.] Here a fatire on ufury turns abruptly to a fatire on the perfon of the ufurer, without any kind of preparation. We may be affured then, that a line or two, at leaft, have been loft. The fabject of which we may eafily difcover, a comparifon between the two ufurers; as, before, between the two ufuries. So that for the future the paffage fhould be read with afterisks thus by order of law, *** a furr'd gown, &c. WARBURTON..

Sir Thomas Hanmer, corrected this with lefe pomp, then fince of two Ufurers the merrieft was put down, and the worfer allowed, by order of law, a furr'd gown, &c. His punctuation is right, but the alteration, fmall as it is, appears more than was wanted. Ufury, may be used by an eafy licence for the Profeffors of Ufury.

low'd