Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life, If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing That none but fools would keep3: a breath thou art, (Servile to all the skiey influences,) That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st, And yet run'st toward him still: Thou art not noble; Are nurs❜d by baseness: Thou art by no means valiant? For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork Of a poor worm: Thy best of rest is sleep, 6 And that thou oft provok'st; yet grossly fear'st That issue out of dust: Happy thou art not: 5 That none but fools would keep :] i. e. care for. 6 Thy best of rest is sleep, And that thou oft provok’st; yet grossly fear'st Thy death, which is no more.] I cannot without indignation find Shakspeare saying that death is only sleep, lengthening out his exhortation by a sentence which in the Friar is impious, in the reasoner is foolish, and in the poet trite and vulgar. JOHNSON. This was an oversight in Shakspeare; for in the second scene of the fourth Act, the Provost speaks of the desperate Barnardine, as one who regards death only as a drunken sleep. STEEVENS. I apprehend Shakspeare means to say no more, than that the passage from this life to another is as easy as sleep; a position in which there is surely neither folly nor impiety. MALONE. 7 strange effects,] read affects or affections. Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum, For ending thee no sooner: Thou hast nor youth, nor age; But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep, Dreaming on both: for all thy blessed youth Of palsied eld; and when thou art old, and rich, Claud. I humbly thank you. To sue to live, I find, I seek to die; And, seeking death, find life: Let it come on. 8 9 Enter ISABELLA. Isab. What, ho! Peace here; grace and good company! Prov. Who's there? come in: the wish deserves a welcome. Duke, Dear sir, ere long I'll visit you again. Claud. Most holy sir, I thank you. Isab. My business is a word or two with Claudio. Prov. And very welcome. Look, signior, here's your sister. serpigo,] The serpigo is a kind of tetter. palsied eld;] Eld is here put for old people. Shakspeare declares that man has neither youth nor age; for in youth, which is the happiest time, or which might be the happiest, he commonly wants means to obtain what he could enjoy; he is dependent on palsied eld; must beg alms from the coffers of hoary avarice; and being very niggardly supplied, becomes as aged, looks, like an old man, on happiness which is beyond his reach. And, when he is old and rich, when he has wealth enough for the purchase of all that formerly excited his desires, he has no longer the powers of enjoy ment. has neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty, To make his riches pleasant. Duke. Provost, a word with you. Prov. As many as you please. Duke. Bring them to speak+; where I may be con ceal'd, Yet hear them. Claud. [Exeunt Duke and Provost. Now, sister, what's the comfort? Isab. Why, as all comforts are; most good in deed:1 Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven, Intends you for his swift embassador, Where you shall be an everlasting leiger: 2 Therefore your best appointment make with speed; Claud. Is there no remedy? Isab. None, but such remedy, as, to save a head, To cleave a heart in twain. Claud. But is there any? Isab. Yes, brother, you may live ; There is a devilish mercy in the judge, Claud. Perpetual durance? Isab. Ay, just, perpetual durance; a restraint, Though all the world's vastidity you had, To a determin'd scope. 3 Claud. But in what nature? Isab. In such a one as (you consenting to't) Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear, + "Bring me to hear them speak.” 1 2 most good in deed:] ie. truly. an everlasting leiger: MALONE. Therefore your best appointment] Leiger is the same with resident. Appointment; preparation; act of fitting, or state of being fitted for any thing. To a determin'd scope.] A confinement of your mind to one painful idea; to ignominy, of which the remembrance can neither be suppressed nor escaped. JOHNSON. Claud. Let me know the point. Isab. O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, Claud. Why give you me this shame? Think you I can a resolution fetch From flowery tenderness? If I must die: I will encounter darkness as a bride, And hug it in mine arms. Isab. There spake my brother; there my father's grave In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy, Nips youth i'the head, and follies doth enmew, 5 His filth within being cast, he would appear Claud. The princely Angelo? Isab. O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell, The damned'st body to invest and cover In princely guards!7 Dost thou think, Claudio, Thou might'st be freed? 4 Claud. O, heavens! it cannot be. -follies doth enmew,] Forces follies to lie in cover, without daring to show themselves. 5 As falcon doth the fowl-] as the fowl is afraid to flutter while the falcon hovers over it. 6 His filth within being cast,] To cast a pond is to empty it of mud. 7 - princely guards!] i. e. badges of royalty, or outward appearances. Some would read priestly guards, or sanctity. Isab. Yes, he would give it thee, from this rank offence, 8 So to offend him still: This night's the time That I should do what I abhor to name, Or else thou diest to-morrow. Isab. Be ready, Claudio, for your death to-morrow. Claud. Yes. Has he affections in him, That thus can make him bite the law by the nose; Or of the deadly seven it is the least. Isab. Which is the least? Claud. If it were damnable, he, being so wise, Why, would he for the momentary trick Be perdurably fin'd?? — O Isabel! Isab. What says my brother? Death is a fearful thing. Isab. And shamed life a hateful. Claud. Ay, but to die, and go we know not where; To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot; This sensible warm motion to become A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit 1 8 from this rank offence,] from the time of my committing this offence, you might persist in sinning with safety. 9 Be perdurably fin'd?] Perdurably is lastingly. 1 · delighted spirit —] i. e. the spirit accustomed here to ease and delights. |