DUKE.

Come hither, Mariana:-
Say, wast thou e'er contracted to his woman?

ANG. I was, my lord.
DUKE. Go take her hence, and marry her in-

stantly.-
Do you the office, friar; which consummate,
Return him here again :-Go with him, Provost.

[Exeunt ANGELO, MARIANA, PETER, and Provost. ESCAL. My lord, I am more amaz’d at his dis

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honour,

Than at the strangeness of it.
DUKE,

Come hither, Isabel :
Your friar is now your prince: As I was then
Advertising, and holy to your business,
Not changing heart with habit, I am still
Attorney'd at your

service. İSAB.

O, give me pardon,
That I, your vassal, have employ'd and pain’d
Your unknown sovereignty.
DUKE.

You are pardon'd Isabel :
And now, dear maid, be you as free to us.
Your brother's death, I know, fits at your heart;
And you may marvel, why I obscur'd myself,
Labouring to save his life; and would not rather
Make rash remonstrance of iny

hidden

power, Than let him so be loit: 0, moit kind maid, It was the swift celerity of his death, Which I did think with flower foot came on, which consummate,] i. e. which being consummated.

MALONE. $ Advertising, and holy —] Attentive and faithful. JOHNSON.

be you as free to us.] Be as generous to us; pardon us as we have pardoned you. JOHNSON.

2 Make rash remonftrance of my hidden power, ] That is, a preu mature discovery of it. M. MASON.

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9

That brain'd my purpose :: But, peace be with him!
That life is better life, past fearing death,
Than that which lives to fear: make it your com-

fort,
So happy is your brother.

Re-enter ANGELO, MARIANA, PETER, and Provost.

Isab.

I do, my lord. .
DUKE. For this new-married man, approaching

here,
Whose falt imagination yet hath wrong'd
Your well-defended honour, you muit pardon
For Mariana's fake: but as he adjudg'd your brother,
(Being criminal, in double violation
Of sacred chastity, and of promise-breach,'
Thereon dependant, for your brother s life,)
The very mercy of the law cries out
Most audible, even from his proper tongue,
An Angelo for Claudio, death for death.
Hafte still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;

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3

2 That brain'd my purpose :) We now use in conversation a like phrase: This it was that knocked my design on the head. Dr. Warburton reads :

baned my purpose. JOHNSON.

and of promise-brcach, ] Our author ought to have written win double violation of sacred chastity, and of promise,' instead of — promise-broach. Sir T. Hanmer reads - and in promisebreach; but change is certainly here improper, Shakspeare having many fimilar inaccuracies. Double indeed may refer to Angelo's conduđ to Mariana and Isabel; yet ftill some difficulty will re. main: for then he will be said to be " criminal [instead of guilty ) of promise-breach. MALONE.

even from his proper tongue, ] Even from Angelo's own žongile. So, above :

In the witness of his proper car 66 To call him villain. JOHNSON.

Like doth quit like, and Measure ftill for Measure."
Then, Angelo, thy fault's thus manifested ;
Which though thou would'st deny, denies thee van-

tage:

6 We do condemn thee to the

very

block Where Claudio stoop'd to death, and with likc

haste: Away with him. MARI.

0,

my most gracious lord, I hope you will not mock me with a husband! Duke. It is your husband mock'd you with a

husband: Consenting to the safeguard of your honour,

, I thought your marriage fit; else imputation ; For that he knew you, might reproach your life, And choke your good to come: for his possessions, Although by confiscation they are ours,

Measure still for Measure. ] So, in the Third Part of K. Henry VI:

Measure for Measure must be answered." STIEVENS. Shakspeare might have remembered these lines in A Warning for faire Women, a tragedy, 1599 (but apparently written fome years

" The trial now remains, as shall conclude
" Measure for Measure, and loft blood for blood." MALONE.

denies thee vantage: ] Takes from thee all .opportunity, all expedient of denial. WARBURTON.

Which though thou would's deny, denies thee vantage :] The denial of which will avail thee nothing. So, in The Winter's Tale :

" Which to deny, concerns more than avails. ' MALONE.

Although by confiscation they are ours, ] This reading was fur. nished by the editor of the second folio. The original copy has confutation, which may be right:-by his being confuted, or proved guilty of the fa& wbich he had denied. This however being rather harsh, I have followed all the modern editors in adopting the emendation that has been made. MALONE.

I cannot think it even poffible that confutation should be the true reading. But the value of the second folio, it seems, muft on all occalons be disputed. STELVENS.

before):

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We do instate and widow you withal,
To buy you a better husband.
MARI.

O, my dear lord, I crave no other, nor no better man,

DUKE. Never crave him : we are definitive.
Mari. Gentle , my liege:-

[Kneeling. DUKE.

You do but lose your labour: Away with him to death.-Now, fir, [To Lucio.]

to you.

Isabel,

MARI. O, my good lord ! _Sweet Isabel, take my

part ; I end me your knees, and all my life to come l'll lend you , all my life to do

life to do you service. Duke. Aaginst ali sense you do importune her:: Should she kneel down, in mercy of this fact, Her brother's ghost his paved bed would break , And take her hence in horror.

MARI.
Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me;
Hold up your hands, say nothing, I'll speak all.
They say, best men are moulded out of faults;
And, for the most, become much more the better
For being a little bad ; so may my husband.
0, Isabel! will you not lend a knee?

Duke. He dies for Claudio's death.
ISAB.

Molt bounteous fir,

(Kneeling. Look, if it please you, on this man condemn’d,

A

& Against all fenfe you do importune her:] The meaning required is, against all reason and natural affc&ion; Shakspcare, therefore, judicioully uses a single word that implies both; Jense figuifying both reason and affe&ion. JOHNSON. The same cxpreffion occurs in The Tempeft, A& II:

" You ciam these words into my ears, against
6. The ftomach of my sonja. STRIVENS.

As if my brother, liv’d: I partly think,
A due fincerity govern'd his deeds,
Till he did look on me; ' since it is so,
Let him 'not die: My brother had but justice,
In that, he did the thing for which he died :
For Angelo,
His act did not o'ertake his bad intent; *
And must be buried but as an intent
That perish'd by the way: ' thoughts are no subjects;
Intents but merely thoughts.

9 Till he did look on me; ] The Duke has justly observed, that Isabel is importuned againft all Jense to solicit for Angelo, yet here against all sense the folicits for him. Her argument is extraordinary :

A due fincerity govern'd his deeds
Till he did look on me : since it is so,

Let him not die. That Angelo had committed all the crimes charged against him, as far as he could commit them, is evident. The only intent which his a&t did not overtake, was the defilement of lsabel. Of this Angelo was only intentionally guilty.

Angelo's crimes were such, as must sufficiently justify punishment, whether its end be to secure the innocent from wrong, or to deter guilt by example; and I believe every reader feels some indignation when he finds him fpared. From what extenuation of bis crime, can Isabel, who yet supposes her brother dead, form any plea in his favour? Since he was good till he looked on me, let him not die. I am afraid our varlet poet intended to inculcatc, that women think ill of nothing that raises the credit of their beauty, and are ready, however virtuous, to pardon any ad which they think incited by their own charms. Johnson.

It is evident that Isabella condescends to Mariana's importunate solicitation, with great relu&ance. Bad as her argument might be, it is the best that the guilt of Angelo would admit. The sacrifice that the makes of her revenge to her friendship, scarcely merits to be considered in so haríh a light. Ritson. 2. His act did not o'ertake his bad intent;] So, in Macbeth:

" The flighty purpose never is o’ertook,
“ Unless ihe derd go with it. STEEVENS.

buried but as an intent That perish'd by the way:) i. e. like the traveller, who dies on his journey, is obscurely interred, and thought of no more:

Illum expirantem
Obliti ignoto camporum in pulvere linquunt. STEEVENS.

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