Duke. By heaven, fond wretch,9 thou know'ft not what thou fpeak'ft;

Or elfe thou art fuborn'd against his honour,

In hateful practice: Firft, his integrity

Stands without blemish :-next, it imports no reason,
That with fuch vehemency he fhould purfue
Faults proper to himfelf: if he had fo offended,
He would have weigh'd thy brother by himself,
And not have cut him off: Some one hath fet you on;
Confefs the truth, and fay by whofe advice
Thou cam'ft here to complain.

Ifab.

And is this all?

Then, oh, you blessed ministers above,

Keep me in patience; and, with ripen'd time,
Unfold the evil which is here wrapt up

In countenance !3Heaven fhield your grace from woe,
As I, thus wrong'd, hence unbelieved go!

Duke. I know, you'd fain be gone :-An officer!
To prifon with her :-Shall we thus permit
A blafting and a fcandalous breath to fall

On him fo near us? This needs must be a practice.4
Who knew of your intent, and coming hither?
Ifab. One that I would were here, friar Lodowick.
Duke. A ghoftly father, belike,-Who knows that Lodo-

wick?

Lucio. My lord, I know him; 'tis a medling friar;

A a 2

O! that it were as likely, as 'tis true!

Likely I have never found for feemly. JOHNSON.

I do

Though I concur in Dr. Johnfon's explanation, I cannot help obferving that likely is used by Shakspeare himself for feemly. The meaning, I think, is: O that it had as much of the appearance, as it has of the reality, of truth! MALONE.

9 Fond wretch is foolish wretch. STEEVENS.

2. Practice was used by the old writers for any unlawful or infidious stratagem. JOHNSON.

3 i. e. in partial favour. WARBURTON.

Countenance, in my opinion, does not mean partial favour, as Warburton fuppofes, but falfe appearance, bypocrify. Ifabella does not mean to accufe the Duke of partiality; but alludes to the fanctified demeanour of Angelo, which, as the fuppofes, prevented the Duke from believing her ftory.

M. MASON. 4 Practice, in Shakspeare, very often means fhameful artifice, unjustifiable ftratagem. STEEVENS.

I do not like the man: had he been lay, my lord,
For certain words he fpake against your grace
In your retirement, I had fwing'd him foundly.

Duke. Words against me? This' a good friar, belike!
And to fet on this wretched woman here

Against our fubftitute !-Let this friar be found.
Lucio. But yeternight, my lord, fhe and that friar
I faw them at the prifon : a fawcy friar,

A very fcurvy fellow.

F. Peter.

Bleffed be your royal grace!

I have stood by, my lord, and I have heard
Your royal ear abus'd: First, hath this woman
Moft wrongfully accufed your substitute;
Who is as free from touch or foil with her,
As the from one ungot.

Duke.

We did believe no lefs.

Know you that friar Lodowick, that she speaks of?
F. Peter. I know him for a man divine and holy;
Not fcurvy, nor a temporary medler,

As he's reported by this gentleman;

And, on my truft, a man that never yet

Did, as he vouches, mifreport your grace.

Lucio. My lord, moft villainoufly; believe it.

F. Peter. Well, he in time may come to clear himself; But at this inftant he is fick, my lord,

Of a strange fever: Upon his mere request,6

(Being come to knowledge that there was complaint Intended 'gainst lord Angelo,) came I hither,

To

5 It is hard to know what is meant by a temporary medler. In its usual fenfe, as opposed to perpetual, it cannot be ufed here. It may ftand for temporal: the fense will then be, I know him for a holy man, one that meddles not with fecular affairs. It may mean temporifing: I know him to be a boly man, one who would not temporife, or take the opportunity of your absence to defame you. Or we may read :

Not fcurvy, nor a tamperer and medler :

not one who would have tampered with this woman to make her a false evidence against your deputy. JOHNSON.

Peter here refers to what Lucio had before affirmed concerning Friar Lodowick. Hence it is evident that the phrase "temporary medler," was intended to fignify one who introduced himself, as often as he could find opportunity, into other men's concerns. See the context. HENLEY. 6-bis mere request,] i. e. his abfalute request. STEVENS.

To fpeak, as from his mouth, what he doth know
Is true, and falfe; and what he with his oath,

And all probation, will make

up full clear,

Whenfoever he's convented." First, for this woman; (To juftify this worthy nobleman,

So vulgarly and perfonally accus'd,)

Her fhall you hear difproved to your eyes,
Till the herself confefs it.

Duke.

Good friar, let's hear it.

[ISABELLA is carried off, guarded; and MARIANA
comes forward.

Do you not fmile at this, lord Angelo?-
O heaven! the vanity of wretched fools!-
Give us fome feats.-Come, coufin Angelo;
In this I'll be impartial; be you judge

Of your own caufe."-Is this the witnefs, friar?
First, let her fhow her face; and, after, speak.

A a 3

Mari.

7 The firft folio reads, convented, and this is right: for to convene fignifies to affemble; but convent, to cite, or fummons. Yet becaufe convented hurts the meafure, the Oxford editor fticks to conven'd, though it be nonfenfe, and fignifies, Whenever he is affembled together. But thus it will be, when the author is thinking of one thing, and his critic of another. The poet was attentive to his fenfe, and the editor quite throughout his performance, to nothing but the measure; which Shakspeare having entirely neglected, like all the dramatic writers of that age, he has spruced him up with all the exactness of a modern measurer of fyllables. This being here taken notice of once for all, fhall, for the future, be forgot, as if it had never been. WARBURTON.

The foregoing account of the measure of Shakspeare, and his contem poraries, ought indeed to be forgotten, because it is untrue. To convent is no uncommon word. To convent and to convene are derived from the fame Latin verb, and have exactly the fame meaning. STEEVENS.

8 Meaning either fo grossly, with fuch indecency of invective, or by fo mean and inadequate witneffes. JOHNSON.

Vulgarly, I believe, means publickly. The vulgar are the common people. Daniel ufes vulgarly for among the common people.

STEEVENS.

Mr. Steevens's interpretation is certainly the true one.

MALONE.

9 Surely, fays Mr. Theobald, this duke had odd notions of impartiality! He reads therefore, I will be partial, and all the editors follow him: even Mr. Heath declares the obfervation unanswerable. But fee the uncertainty of criticifm! impartial was fometimes ufed in the fenfe of partial. In the old play of Swetnam, the Woman Hater, Atlanta cries out, when the judges decree against the women:

"You are impartial, and we do appeal

From you to judges more indifferent." FARMER.

Mari. Pardon, my lord; I will not fhow my face,

Until my husband bid me.

Duke.

What, are you married ?

Mari. No, my lord.

Duke.

Are you a maid ?

Mari.

No my lord.

Duke. A widow then?

Mari.

Neither, my lord.

Duke.

Why, you

Are nothing then :-Neither maid, widow, nor wife ?2 Lucio. My lord, fhe may be a punk; for many of them are neither maid, widow, nor wife.

Duke. Silence that fellow: I would, he had fome caufe To prattle for himself.

Lucio. Well, my lord.

Mari. My lord, I do confefs I ne'er was married;
And, I confefs, besides, I am no maid :

I have known my husband; yet my husband knows not,
That ever he knew me.

Lucio. He was drunk then, my lord; it can be no better.
Duke. For the benefit of filence, 'would thou wert so too.
Lucio. Well, my lord.

Duke. This is no witness for lord Angelo.
Mari. Now I come to❜t, my lord:

She, that accufes him of fornication,

In felf-fame manner doth accuse

my

husband;

And charges him, my lord, with fuch a time,
When I'll depofe I had him in mine arms,

With all the effect of love.

Ang.

Mari. Not that I know.

Charges the more than me?

Duke.
No you fay your
hulband.
Mari. Why, juft, my lord, and that is Angelo,
Who thinks, he knows, that he ne'er knew my body,
But knows, he thinks, that he knows Ifabel's.

Ang. This is a ftrange abuse : 3-Let's fee thy face.
Mari. My husband bids me; now I will unmask.

[Unveiling.

2 This is a proverbial phrase, to be found in Ray's Collection.

This

STEEVENS.

3 Abuse stands in this place for deception or puzzle. JOHNSON.

This is that face, thou cruel Angelo,

Which, once thou fwor'ft, was worth the looking on:
This is the hand, which, with a vow'd contract,

Was faft belock'd in thine: this is the body
That took away the match from Ifabel,
And did fupply thee at thy garden-house, 4
In her imagin'd perfon.

Duke.

Know you this woman?

Sirrah, no more.

Lucio. Carnally, the fays.

Duke.

Lucio. Enough, my lord.

Ang. My lord, I must confefs, I know this woman; And, five years fince, there was fome fpeech of marriage Betwixt myself and her: which was broke off,

Partly, for that her promifed proportions
Came fhort of compofition; but, in chief,
For that her reputation was difvalued

In levity: fince which time, of five years,

I never fpake with her, faw her, nor heard from her,
Upon my faith and honour.

Mari.

Noble prince,

As there comes light from heaven, and words from breath, As there is fenfe in truth, and truth in virtue,

I am affianc'd this man's wife, as ftrongly

As words could make up vows: and, my good lord,

But Tuesday night laft gone, in his garden-houfe,

He knew me as a wife: As this is true,

Let me in fafety raise me from my knees;

Or elfe for ever be confixed here,

A marble monument!

I did but fmile till now;

Ang.
Now, good my lord, give me the fcope of justice;
My patience here is touch'd: I do perceive,

These poor informal women are no more

But inftruments of fome more mightier member,

A a 4

That

4 A garden-boufe in the time of our author was usually appropriated to purposes of intrigue. MALONE.

5 Her fortune, which was promifed proportionate to mine, fell fhort of the compofition, that is, contract or bargain. JOHNSON.

• Informal fignifies out of their fenfes. STEEVENS,