In felf-fame manner doth accufe my husband;
And charges him, my lord, with fuch a time,
When I'll depose I had him in mine arms,

With all the effect of love.

ANG.

Charges fhe more than me?

MARI. Not that I know.

DUKE.

No? you fay, your husband. MARI. Why, just, 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 strange abuse: '-Let's see thy face. MARI. My husband bids me; now I will unmask. [Unveiling.

This is that face, thou cruel Angelo,
Which, once thoufwor'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 supply thee at thy garden-house,
In her imagin'd perfon.

7 This is a frange abufe:] Abufe ftands in this place for deception or puzzle. So, in Macbeth:

66

my ftrange and self abuse.”

means, this frange deception of myself. JOHNSON.

8 And did fupply thee at thy garden-house,] A garden-house in the time of our author was ufually appropriated to purposes of intrigue. So, in SKIALETHIA, ΟΥ a Jhadow of truth, in certain Epigrams and Satyres, 1598.

"Sweet lady,

"Who, coming from the CURTAIN, sneaketh in "To fome old garden noted house for fin. Again, in The London Prodigal, a comedy, 1605: if you have any friend, or garden-house, where you may employ a poor gentleman as your friend, I am yours to command in all fecret fervice. MALONE.

See also an extract from Stubbes's Anatomie of Abuses, 4to, 1597, p. 57; quoted in Vol. V. of Dodfley's Old Plays, edit. 1780, p. 74. REED.

VOL. VI.

DUKE.

Know you this woman?

Sirrah, no more.

LUCIO. Carnally, fhe fays.

DUKE.

LUCIO. Enough, my lord.

ANG. My lord, I mult confefs, I know this woman; And, five years fince, there was fome speech of mar

riage

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 spake 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 last gone, in his garden-house,
He knew me as a wife: As this is true,

Let me in fafety raife me from my knees;

Or elfe for ever be confixed here,

A marble monument!

ANG.

I did but fmile till now;

Now, good my lord, give me the fcope of juftice;
My patience here is touch'd: I do perceive,
Thefe poor informal women are no more

2

Came fhort of compofition;] Her fortune, which was promised proportionate to mine, fell fhort of the compofition, that is, contrac or bargain. JOHNSON.

Thefe poor informal women. -] Informal fignifies out of their fenfes. In The Comedy of Errors, we meet with these lines:

But inftruments of fome more mightier member, That fets them on: Let me have way, my lord, To find this practice out.

DUKE.

Ay, with my heart; And punish them unto your height of pleafure.Thou foolish friar; and thou pernicious woman, Compact with her that's gone! think'st thou, thy oaths,

Though they would fwear down each particular faint,

3

Were teftimonies against his worth and credit,
That's feal'd in approbation? -You, lord Efcalus,
'Sit with my coufin; lend him your kind pains
To find out this abufe, whence 'tis deriv'd. -
There is another friar that fet them on;

Let him be fent for.

F. PETER. Would he were here, my lord; for he, indeed,

Hath fet the women on to this complaint:

'

I will not let him ftir,

Till I have us'd the approved means I have,

With wholefome fyrups, drugs, and holy prayers, "To make of him a formal man again.

Formal, in this paffage, evidently fignifies in his fenfes. The lines are spoken of Antipholis of Syracufe, who is behaving like a madAgain, in Antony and Cleopatra:

man.

"Thou fhouldft come like a fury crown'd with fnakes, Not like a formal man. STEEVENS.

3 Though they would fwear down each particular faint,] So, in Antony and Cleopatra, A& I. fc. iii :

Though you in fwearing fhake the throned gods.

STEEVENS.

That's feal'd in approbation?] When any thing subject to counterfeits is tried by the proper officers and approved, a ftamp or feal is put upon it, as among us on plate, weights, and mealures. So the Duke fays, that Angelo's faith has been tried, approved, and feal'd in teftimony of that approbation, and, like other things fo Jealed, is no more to be called in question. JOHNSON.

Your provoft knows the place where he abides,
And he may fetch him.

DUKE. Go, do it instantly.

[Exit Provoft. And you, my noble and well-warranted coufin, Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth, Do with your injuries as feems you beft, In any chaftifement: I for a while Will leave you; but ftir not you, Determined upon thefe flanderers.

till you

have well

ESCAL. My lord, we'll do it thoroughly. — [Exit. DUKE.] Signior Lucio, did not you fay, you knew that friar Lodowick to be a difhoneft perfon?

LUCIO. Cucullus non facit monachum: honeft in nothing, but in his clothes; and one that hath spoke moft villainous fpeeches of the duke.

ESCAL. We fhall entreat you to abide here till he come, and enforce them against him: we shall find this friar a notable fellow.

LUCIO. As any in Vienna, on my word.

ESCAL. Call that fame Ifabel here once again; [To an Attendant.] I would fpeak with her: Pray you, my lord, give me leave to queftion; you fhall

fee how I'll handle her.

LUCIO: Not better than he, by her own report. ESCAL. Say you?

LUCIO. Marry, fir, I think, if you handled her privately, fhe would fooner confess; perchance, publickly fhe'll be aflamed.

Re-enter Officers, with ISABELLA; the DUKE, in the Friar's habit, and Provost.

ESCAL. I will go darkly to work with her.

to hear this matter forth,] To hear it to the end; to fearch it to the bottom. JOHNSON.

LUCIO. That's the way; for women are light at midnight. '

ESCAL. Come on, miftrefs; [To ISABELLA.] here's a gentlewoman denies all that you have faid.

LUCIO. My lord, here comes the rafcal I spoke of; here with the provoft.

ESCAL. In very good time: fpeak not you to him, till we call upon you.

LUCIO. Mum.

ESCAL. Come, fir, Did you fet thefe women on to flander lord Angelo? they have confefs'd you did. DUKE. 'Tis falfe.

ESCAL. How! know you where you are?

DUKE. Refpect to your great place! and let the

devil

Be fometimes honour'd for his burning throne :Where is the duke? 'tis he fhould hear me speak. ESCAL. The duke's in us; and we will hear

speak:

Look, you speak justly.

you

DUKE. Boldly, at leaft: -But, O, poor fouls, Come you to feek the lamb here of the fox?

Good night to your redrefs. Is the duke gone?

are light at midnight.] This is one of the words on which Shakspeare chiefly delights to quibble. Thus, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, A& V. fc. i:

Let me give light, but let me not be light.' STEEVENS. Refpect to your great place! and let the devil, &c.] I fufped that a line preceding this has been loft. MALONE.

I fufped no omiffion. Great place has reference to the preceding queftion "know you where you are?"

Shakspeare was a reader of Philemon Holland's tranflation of Pliny; and in the fifth book and eighth chapter, might have met with his next idea: "The Augyla do no worship to any but to the devils beneath. '

STEEVENS.