Such as moves men; befide, fhe hath profperous art Lucio, I pray, the may; as well for the encouragement of the like, which elfe would ftand under griev, ous impofition; as for the enjoying of thy life, who I would be forry fhould be thus foolishly loft at a game of tick-tack. I'll to her. Claud. I thank you, good friend Lucio. Lucio. Within two hours, Claud. Come, officer, away. [Exeunt, of these interpretations are fufficiently strained; but such distor tion of words is not uncommon in our author. For the fake of an easier fenfe, we may read: Or thus: In her youth There is a pow'r, and speechless dialect, Such as moves men, There is a prompt and fpeechless dialect. JOHNSON. Prone, perhaps, may stand for humble, as a prone pofture is a pofture of fupplication. So in the Opportunity, by Shirley, 1640: "You have proftrate language.' The fame thought occurs in the Winter's Tale: "The filence often of pure innocence "Perfuades, when fpeaking fails." Sir W. Davenant, in his alteration of the play, changes prone to fweet. I mention fome of his variations to fhew that what appear difficulties to us, were difficulties to him, who living nearer the time of Shakspeare might be supposed to have undertood his language more intimately. STEEVENS. Prone, is ufed here for prompt. So, in our author's Rape of Lucrece, 1594: "O that prone luft fhould stain fo pure a bed!" MALONE. 5 Under grievous impofition:] I once thought it fhould be inqui fition, but the prefent reading is probably right. The crime would be under grievous penalties impofed. JOHNSON. 5 loft at a game of tick-tack.] Tick-tack is a game at tables. Jour au tric-trac is used in French, in a wanton sense, MALONE. The fame phrafe in Lucio's wanton fenfè occurs in Lufty Juventus. STEEVENS. SCENE SCENE- IV. A Monaftery, Enter Duke and Friar Thomas. Duke. No; holy father; throw away that thought; Believe not that the dribbling dart of love Can pierce a compleat bofom: why I defire thee To give me fecret harbour, hath a purpose More grave and wrinkled than the aims and ends. Of burning youth. Fri. May your grace speak of it? Duke. My holy fir, none better knows than you How I have ever lov'd the life remov'd'; And held in idle price to haunt affemblies, Where youth, and coft, and witlefs bravery keeps.. I have delivered to lord Angelo (A man of stricture and firm abftinence") 4 Believe not, that the dribbling dart of love Think not that a breaft 'compleatly armed can be pierced by the • A man of stricture and firm abftinence.] Stri&ure makes no fenfe in this place. We should read, A man of strict ure and firm abftinence. i. e. a man of the exacteft conduct, and practifed in the fubdual of bis paffious. Ure an old word for ufe, practice: fo enur'd, habituated to. WARBURTON. Stricture may eafily be used for frictness; ure is indeed an old word, but, I think, always applied to things, never to perfons. JOHNSON. Sir W. Davenant in his alteration of this play, reads, firi mefs. Ure is fometimes applied to perfons as well as to things. So in the Old Interlude of Tom Tyler and his Wife, 1661: "So fhall I be sure "To keep him in ure.” The fame word occurs in Promos and Cassandra, 1578: STEEVENS. My abfolute power and place here in Vienna, Duke. We have ftrict ftatutes and most biting laws, (The needful bits and curbs for head-ftrong fteeds") Which for these fourteen years we have let fleep'; Even The needful bits and curbs for head-ftrong fteeds.] In the copies, There is no matter of analogy or confonance in the metaphors here: and, though the copies agree, I do not think, the author would have talked of bits and curbs for weeds. On the other hand, nothing can be more proper, than to compare perfons of unbridled licentioufnefs to head-strong feeds: and, in this view, bridling the paffions has been a phrase adopted by our best poets. THEOBALD. 8 Which for thefe nineteen years we have let fleep ;] In former editions, Which for thefe fourteen years we have let flip. For fourteen I have made no fcruple to replace nineteen. The reason will be obvious to him who recollects what the Duke [Claudio] has faid in a foregoing fcene. I have altered the odd phrafe of letting the laws flip: for how does it fort with the comparison that follows, of a lion in his cave that went not out to prey? But letting the laws fleep, adds a particular propriety to the thing reprefented, and accords exactly too with the fimile. It is the metaphor too, that our author feems fond of ufing upon this occafion, in feveral other paffages of this play: The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept; And, fo again : but this new governor Awakes me all the enrolled penalties; and for a name, Now puts the drowsy and neglected act Freshly on me. THEOBALD. I once thought that the words let flip (which is the reading of the old copy, and I believe, right) related to the line immediately preceding-the needful bits and curbs, which we have fuffered for fo many years to hang lonfe. But it is clear from a paffage in Twelfth Night that thefe words fhould be referred to laws, which for these nineteen years we have fuffered to pass un noticed Even like an o'er-grown lion in a cave, That goes not out to prey: Now, as fond fathers Becomes more mock'd', than fear'd: fo our decrees, Fri. It rested in your grace To unloose this ty'd-up juftice, when you pleas'd: And it in you more dreadful would have feem'd, Than in Lord Angelo. noticed-unobferved;" for fo the fame phrafe is ufed by Sir Andrew Aguecheek: "Let him let the matter flip, and I'll give him my horfe grey Capulet." Again in Marlow's Doctor Fauftus 1631: "Shall I let flip fo great an injury." Again in A Mad World my Mafters, by Middleton, 1640: "Well, things muft lip and fleep-I will diffemble." Again, in The Spanish Tragedy, 1605: "My fimplicity may make them think "That ignorantly I will let all flip." The two readings which Mr. Theobald has introduced into the text, he might have found in an alteration of this play, published in 1700, by Charles Gildon, under the title of Meafure for Meafure, or Beauty the beft Advocate: "We have ftrict ftatutes and sharp penal laws, "Which I have fuffer'd nineteen years to fleep." And he might have supported the latter by the following paffage in Hamlet: How ftand I then, "That have a father kill'd, a mother stain❜d, Theobald's correction is misplaced. If any correction is really neceffary, it should have been made where Claudio, in a foregoing fcene, fays nineteen years. I am difpofed to take the Duke's words. WHALLEY. The author of THE REMARKS has made a fimilar obfervation on this paffage. EDITOR. 9 Becomes more mock'd than fear'd: -] Becomes was added by Mr. Pope to restore fenfe to the paffage, fome fuch word having been left out. STEEVENS. Duke. Duke. I do fear, too dreadful : Sith 'twas my fault to give the people scope, father, Therefore, indeed, my I have on Angelo impos'd the office; Who may in the ambush of my name, ftrike home, To do it flander: And to behold his fway, * Sith.] i. e. fince. STEEVENS. To do it it flander.] The text flood; Sir Thomas Hanmer has very well corrected it thus, Yet perhaps lefs alteration might have produced the true reading, So doing flandered. And yet my nature never fuffer flander by doing any open acts of feverity, JOHNSON, The old text ftood, To do in flander. in the fight Hanmer's emendation is in my opinion best. So in Hen. IV. P. 1: "Do me no flander, Douglas, I dare fight." STEEVENS. The words in the preceding line-ambush and strike, fhew that fight is the true reading. MALONE, 3 -- in perfon bear,] Mr. Pope reads, Perhaps a word was dropped at the end of the line, which originally flood thus, How I may formally in perfon bear me, Like a true friar. So in the Tempefi: fome good instructions give "How I may bear me here." Sir W. Davenant reads, in his alteration of the "play: |