Lucio.

That's well said.

Isab. Could great men thunder

As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet,
For every pelting,' petty officer,

Would use his heaven for thunder: nothing but thunder.

Merciful heaven!

Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt,
Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,2
Than the soft myrtle;-O, but man, proud man!
Drest in a little brief authority;

Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd,
His glassy essence,-like an angry ape,

Plays such fantastick tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.3

Lucio. O, to him, to him, wench: he will relent; He's coming, I perceive't.

Prov.

Pray heaven, she win him! Isab. We cannot weigh our brother with ourself: Great men may jest with saints: 'tis wit in them; But, in the less, foul profanation.

Lucio. Thou'rt in the right, girl; more o' that. Isab. That in the captain's but a cholerick word, Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.

Lucio. Art advis'd o' that? more on't. Ang. Why do you put these sayings upon me? Isab. Because authority, though it err like others, Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself,

1

2

-pelting,] i. e. paltry.

in wood.

3

gnarled oak,] Gnarre is the old English word for a knot

who, with our spleens,

Would all themselves laugh mortal.] By spleens, Shakspeare means that peculiar turn of the human mind, that always inclines it to a spiteful, unseasonable mirth. Had the angels that, says Shakspeare, they would laugh themselves out of their immortality, by indulging a passion which does not deserve that prerogative.

+

That skins the vice o' the top: Go to your bosom ; Knock there; and ask your heart, what it doth know That's like my brother's fault if it confess

A natural guiltiness, such as is his,

Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue
Against my brother's life.

Ang.

She speaks, and 'tis Such sense, that my sense breeds with it.Fare

you well.

Isab. Gentle my lord, turn back.

Ang. I will bethink me :-Come again to-mor

row.

Isab. Hark, how I'll bribe you: Good my lord, turn back.

Ang. How! bribe me?

Isab. Ay, with such gifts, that heaven shall share with you.

Lucio. You had marr'd all else.

Isab. Not with fond shekels of the tested gold, Or stones, whose rates are either rich, or poor, As fancy values them: but with true prayers, That shall be up at heaven, and enter there, Ere sun-rise; prayers from preserved souls," From fasting maids, whose minds are dedicate To nothing temporal.

Ang.

To-morrow.

Lucio. Go to; it is well; away.

Well: come to me

[Aside to ISABel.

Amen: for I [Aside.

Isab. Heaven keep your honour safe!

Ang.

Am that way going to temptation,

fond shekels - Fond means very frequently in our author, foolish. It signifies in this place valued or prized by folly. tested gold,] i. e. brought to the test, or cupelled. preserved souls,] i. e. preserved from the corruption of

5

6

the world.

Where prayers cross.7

Isab.

At what hour to-morrow

Shall I attend your lordship?

Ang.

Isab. Save your honour!

· Ang.

At any time 'fore noon.

[Exeunt Lucio, ISABELLA, and Provost.
From thee; even from thy virtue !—
What's this? what's this? Is this her fault, or mine?
The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most? Ha!
Not she; nor doth she tempt: but it is I,
That lying by the violet, in the sun,

Do, as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be,
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground
enough,

Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary,

And pitch our evils there? O, fy, fy, fy!
What dost thou? or what art thou, Angelo?
Dost thou desire her foully, for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live:
Thieves for their robbery have authority,

When judges steal themselves. What? do I love her,

That I desire to hear her speak again,

And feast upon her eyes? What is't I dream on?
O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation, that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet,
With all her double vigour, art, and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid

7

I am that way going to temptation,

Where prayers cross.] This appointment of his for the morrow's meeting, being a premeditated exposure of himself to temptation, which it was the general object of prayer to thwart. HENLEY.

VOL. II.

M

Subdues me quite;-Ever, till now,

When men were fond, I smil'd, and wonder'd how.

[Exit.

SCENE III.

A Room in a Prison.

Enter Duke, habited like a Friar, and Provost. Duke. Hail to you, provost! so, I think you are. Prov. I am the provost : What's your will, good friar?

Duke. Bound by my charity, and my bless'd order,

I come to visit the afflicted spirits

Here in the prison: do me the common right

To let me see them; and to make me know
The nature of their crimes, that I may minister
To them accordingly.

Prov. I would do more than that, if more were needful.

Enter JULIET.

Look, here comes one; a gentlewoman of mine, Who falling in the flames of her own youth, Hath blister'd her report: She is with child; And he that got it, sentenc'd: a young man More fit to do another such offence,

Than die for this.

Duke.

When must he die?

Prov. As I do think, to-morrow.—

I have provided for you; stay a while, [To JULIET. And you shall be conducted.

Duke. Repent you, fair one, of the sin you

carry?

Juliet. I do; and bear the shame most patiently.

Duke. I'll teach you how you

conscience,

shall arraign your

And try your penitence, if it be sound,

Or hollowly put on.
Juliet.

Duke. Love you

I'll gladly learn.
the man that wrong'd you?

Juliet. Yes, as I love the woman that wrong'd him.

Duke. So then, it seems, your most offenceful act Was mutually committed?

Juliet.

Mutually.

Duke. Then was your sin of heavier kind than

his.

Juliet. I do confess it, and repent it, father. Duke. 'Tis meet so, daughter: But lest you do repent,&

As that the sin hath brought you to this shame,Which sorrow is always toward ourselves, not heaven;

Showing, we'd not spare heaven, as we love it,
But as we stand in fear,—

Juliet. I do repent me," as it is an evil;

And take the shame with joy.

Duke.

There rest.1

[Exit.

Your partner, as I hear, must die to-morrow,
And I am going with instruction to him.-
Grace go with you! Benedicite!

Juliet. Must die to-morrow! O, injurious love,? That respites me a life, whose very comfort.

Is still a dying horror!

Prov.

"Tis pity of him. [Exeunt.

8 But lest you do repent,] i. e. "Take care, lest you repent [not so much of your fault, as it is an evil,] as that the sin hath brought you to this shame.

9 Showing, we'd not spare heaven,] i. e. spare to offend heaven. There rest.] Keep yourself in this temper.

O, injurious love,] probably should be law.