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Provost returns, Speaking to one at the door.

PROV. There he must flay, until the officer Arife to let him in; he is call'd up.

DUKE. Have you no countermand for Claudio yet, But he muft die to-morrow?

PROV.

None, fir, none.

DUKE. As near the dawning, Provoft, as it is,, You fhall hear more cre morning.

PROV.

Happily,

You fomething know; yet, I believe, there comes No countermand; no fuch example have we : Befides, upon the very fiege of justice,"

Lord Angelo hath to the publick ear

Profefs'd the contrary.

fufpicion of an error; yet none of the latter editors feem to have fuppofed the place faulty, except Sir Thomas Hannier, who reads: the unrefting postern —

The three folios have it,

-unfifling poftern

out of which Mr. Rowe made unrefiling, and the reft followed him. Sir Thomas Hanmer feems to have fuppofed unrefifting the word in the copies, from which he plaufibly enough extracted unrefling; but he grounded his emendation on the very fyllable that wants authority. What can be made of unfifting I know not; the beft that occurs to me is unfeeling. JOHNSON.

Unfifting may fignify never at reft," always opening.

I fhould think we might fafely read:

-unlift'ning polern, or unfhifting poftern.

BLACKSTONE.

The measure requires it, and the fenfe remains uninjured.

Mr. M. Mafon would read unlifting, which means unregarding. I have, however, inferted Sir William Blackftone's emendation in the text.

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STEEVENS.

fiege of juftice,] i. c. feat of juice. Siége, French. So, in Othello:

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PROV. And here comes Claudio's pardon.".. MESS. My lord hath fent you this note; and by me this further charge, that you fwerve not from the fmalleft article of it, neither in time, matter, or other circumftance. Good morrow; for, as I take it, it is almoft day.

[Exit Meffenger.

PROV. I fall obey him.
DUKE. This is his pardon; purchas'd by fuch fin,

For which the pardoner himself is in:
Hence hath offence his quick celerity,
When it is borne in high authority:

[Afide.

8This is his lordships man. .] The old copy has-his lord's man. Corrected by Mr. Pope. In the MS. plays of our author's time they often wrote Lo. for Lord, and Lord, for Lordship; and these contractions were sometimes improperly followed in the printed copies. MALONE.

9 Enter Meffenger.

Duke. This is his lordship's man.

Prov. And here comes Claudio's pardon.] The Provost has juft declared a fixed opinion that the execution will not be countermanded, and yet, upon the firft appearance of the Meffenger, he immediately gueffes that his errand is to bring Claudio's pardon, It is evident, I think, that the names of the speakers are misplaced. If we fuppofe the Provost to say:

This is his lordship's man,

it is very natural for the Duke to subjoin,

And here comes Claudio's pardon.

The Duke might believe, upon very reasonable grounds, that Angelo had now fent the pardon. It appears that he did fo, from what he fays to himself, while the Provoft is reading the letter:

This is his pardon; purchas'd by such fin. TYRWHITT. When immediately after the Duke had hinted his expectation of a pardon, the Provost fees the Meflenger, he fuppofes the Duke to have known fomething, and changes his mind. Either reading may ferve equally well. JOHNSON.

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When vice makes mercy, mercy's fo extended, That for the fault's love, is the offender friended.Now, fir, what news?

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

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DUKE. Pray you, let's hear.

PROV. [Reads.] Whatfoever you may hear to the contrary, let Claudio be executed by four of the clock; and, in the afternoon, Barnardine : for my better fatiffaction, let me have Claudio's head fent me by five. Let this be duly perform'd; with a thought, that more depends on it than we must yet deliver. Thus fail not to do your office, as you will anfwer it at your peril. What say you to this, fir?

DUKE. What is that Barnardine, who is to be executed in the afternoon?

PROV. A Bohemian born; but here nurfed up and bred one that is a prifoner nine years old. '

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

PROV. His friends ftill 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?

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PROV. Moft manifeft, and not denied by himself.

-putting on: i. e. fpur, incitement. So, in Macbeth,

A& IV. fc. iii :

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one that is a prifoner nine years old.] i. e. That has been confined thefe nine years. So, in Hamlet: Ere we were days old at fea, a pirate of very warlike preparation," &c. MALONE.

DUKE. Hath he borne himfelf penitently in prifon? How feems he to be touch'd?

PROV. A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully, but as a drunken fleep; carelefs, recklefs, and fearless of what's paft, prefent, or to come; infenfible of mortality, and defperately mortal. 2 DUKE. He wants advice.

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PROV. He will hear none: he hath ever more had, the liberty of the prifon; 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 fhow'd him a feeming warrant for it: it hath not moved him at all.'

DUKE. More of him anon. There is written in your brow, Provoft, honefty and conflancy: if I read it not truly, my ancient skill beguiles me; but in the boldness of my cunning,' I will lay myfelf in hazard. Claudio, whom here you have a warrant to execute, is no greater forfeit to the law than Angelo who hath fentenced him: To make you under. defperately mortal.] This expreffion is obfcure. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads, mortally defperate. Mortally is in low conversation used in this sense, but I know not whether it was ever written.. I am inclined to believe, that defperately mortal means defperately mischievous. Or defperately mortal may mean a man likely to die in a defperate ftate, without reflection or repentance. JOHNSON. The word is often ufed by Shakspeare in the fense first affixed to it by Dr. Johnfou, which I believe to be the true one. So, in Othello: "And you, ye mortal engines," &c. MALONE.

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As our author, in The Tempest, feems to have written harmonious charmingly," inftead of harmonioully charming," he may, in the prefent inftance, have given us " defperately mortal," for "mortally defperate" i. e. defperate in the extreme. In low provincial language, mortal fick, mortal bad, - mortal poor, is phrafeology of frequent occurrence. STEEVENS.

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in the boldness of my cunning,] i. e. in confidence of my fagacity. STEVENS.

fland this in a manifefted effect, I crave but four days refpite; for the which you are to do me both a prefent and a dangerous courtefy. PROV. Pray, fir, in what?

DUKE. In the delaying death.

PROV. Alack! how may I do it? having the hour limited; and an exprefs command, under penalty, to deliver his head in the view of Angelo? I may make my cafe as Claudio's, to cross this in the smallest. DUKE. By the vow of mine order, I warrant you, if my inftructions may be your guide. Let this Barnardinę be this morning executed, and his head borne to Angelò.

PROV. Angelo hath seen them both, and will difcover the favour. 4

DUKE. O, death's a great disguiser: and you may add to it. Shave the head, and tie the beard; ' and fay, it was the defire of the penitent to be fo bared

4 the favour.] See note 3. p. 149.

STLEVENS.

—— and tie the beard ;] The Revifal recommends Mr. Simpson's emendation, DIE the beard, but the prefent reading may ftand, Perhaps it was ufual to tie up the beard before decollation. Sir T. More is faid to have been ludicrously careful about this ornament of his face. It fhould, however, be remembered, that it was also the cuftom to die beards.

So, in the old comedy of Ram-Alley,` 1611:

"What colour'd beard comes next by the window?
"A black man's, I think.

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"I think, a red; for that is moft in fashion,' Again, in The Silent Woman: "I have fitted my divine and canonist, dyed their beards and all.' Again, in The Alchemifl: "

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he had dy'd his beard, and all.' STEEVENS.

A beard tied would give a very new air to that face, which had never bèen feen but with the beard loofe, long, and fqualid. JOHNSON. to be fo bared] Thefe words relate to what has juft preceded have the head. The modern editions following the fourth folio, read to be fo barb'd; but the old copy is certainly right. So, in All's well that ends well: "I would the cutting of

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