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Imagine howling; 'tis too horrible!
The wearielt and most 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 fo far,
That it becomes a virtue..

Ifab. Oh, you

beaft!

Oh, faithlefs coward! oh, dishonest 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 N 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 pray a thoufand prayers for thy death;
No word to fave thee.

Claud. Nay, hear ine, Isabel.

Ifab. Oh, fie, fiè, fié !

*

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

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To them, Enter Duke and Provost..

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

fifter;

but onee [word.

(5) Is't not a kind ofi nceft,] In Isabella's declamation there is fomething harth, 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 Fit. So we fay of a man much addicted to any thing, be makes trade of it.

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Duke.

Duke. Might you difpenfe with your leisure, I would by and by have some speech with you; the fatisfaction I would require, is likewife your own benefit.

Ifab. I have no fuperfluous leifure; my stay must 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. Angele had never the purpose to corrupt her; only he hath made an affay of her virtue, to practise 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 must die; go to your knees, and make ready.

Claud Let me afk my fifter pardon. I am fo 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?

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

ny.

(6) Do not fatishe your refolution 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 these hopes Jatisfie his refolution ? or what harm was there, if they did? We muft certainly 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 raised only on motives of religion. And this his confeffor had reafon to warn him of. The term falfifie is taken from fencing, and fignifies the pretending to aim a ftroke in order to draw the adversary off his guard. So Fairfax.

Now ftrikes be out, and now be FALSIFIETH.

(7) Hold you there ;] Continue in that refolution.

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 goodness; but grace, being the foul of your complexion, fhall keep the body of it ever fair. The affault, that Angelo hath 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?

Ifab. 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 Duke deceiv'd in Angelo ? if ever he return, and I can speak 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 itself. 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 stain to your own gracious perfon; and much please the abfent Duke, if, peradventure, he fhall ever return to have hearing of this bufinefs.

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

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

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

Duke. Her fhould this Angela 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 fea, having in that perifh'd veffel the dowry of his fifter. But mark, how heavily this befel to the poor gentlewoman; there the 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.

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

be

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 difhonour; in few, ftow'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 dishonour 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 fhould have quenched her love,) hath, like an impediment in the current, made it more violent and unruly. Go you to Angel, anfwer his requiring with a plaufible obedience, agree with his demands to the point; only refer yourself to this advantage: (8) firft, that your ftay with him may not be long; that the time may have all fhadow and filence init; and the place anfwer to convenience. This being granted, in courfe now follows all. We shall advise this wronged maid to ftead up your appointment, go in your place; if the encounter acknowledge itself here-after, it may compel him to her recompence; and here by this is your brother faved, 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 fcarcely to be reconciled with any established mode of fpeech. We may read, Only referve yourself to, or only reserve to yourself this advantage. (9) -the corrupt Deputy fealed.] To fcale the Deputy may be, to reach him notwithstanding the elevation of bis place; or it may

bes

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?

Ifab. The image of it gives me content already, and, I truft, it will grow to a moft profperous per

fection.

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,

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

Elb.

you will needs buy and fell men and women like beafts, we fhall have all the world drink brown and white bastard (1)

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

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

be, to frip bim and discover bis nakedness, though armed and concealed by the investments of authority.

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

(1) 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 fubject of which we may easily discover, 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 lefs pomp, then fince of 1200 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. Usury. may be used by an eafy licence for the Profeffors of Ufury.

low'd

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