Lucio. If I could speak so wisely under an arrest, I would send for certain of my creditors. 5 And yet, to say the truth, I had as lief have the foppery of freedom, as the morality 6 of imprisonment. - What 's thy offence, Claudio ?

Claud. What but to speak of would offend again.
Lucio. What is it? murder ?
Claud. No.
Lucio. Lechery?
Claud. Call it so.
Prov. Away, Sir; you must go.
Claud. One word, good friend. -- Lucio, a word with you.

[Takes him aside. Lucio. A hundred, if they'll do you any good. – Is lechery so look'd after ?

Claud. Thus stands it with me: Upon a true contract, ?
I got possession of Julietta's bed:
You know the lady; she is fast my wife,
Save that we do the denunciation 8 lack
Of outward order: this we came not to,
Only for propagation 9 of a dower
Remaining in the coffer of her friends,
From whom we thought it meet to hide our love,
Till time had made them for us. 10 But it chances,
The stealth of our most mutual entertainment 11
With character too gross is writ on Juliet.

Lucio. With child, perhaps ?

Claud. Unhappily, even so.
And the new deputy now for the duke, –

5) damit die Glänbiger mich auch verhaften liessen und mich so veranlassten, so weise

zu reden wis Claudio in seiner Haft thut. 6) morality verbesserte Davenant in seiner Umarbeitung dieses Dramas, und des

damit verschmolzenen Much Ado about Nothing, die 1633 unter dem Titel Law

against Lovers erschien, das mortality der Fol. ) contract betont Sh. bald auf der ersten und bald auf der zweiten Sylbe. 8) denunciation of outward order = die vorschriftsmässige, herkömmliche öffentliche

Verkündigung der Vermählung. So gebraucht Sh. to denounce = verkünden, in K. John (A. 3. Sc. 1) denounce a curse upon his head; und in Hall's Cases of Conscience wird denunciation selbst ganz wie hier gebraucht: This publick and reiterated denun

Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness, 12
Or whether that the body public be
A horse whereon the governor doth ride,
Who , newly in the seat, that it may know
He can command, lets it straight feel the spur;
Whether the tyranny be in his place,
Or in his eminence that fills it up,
I stagger in, 13 — but this new governor
Awakes me all the enrolled penalties,
Which have, like unscour'd armour, hung by the wall
So long, that nineteen zodiacks have gone round , 14
And none of them been worn; and, for a name, 15
Now puts the drowsy and neglected act
Freshly on me : - 't is surely, for a name.

Lucio. I warrant, it is: and thy head stands so tickle 16 on thy shoulders, that a milk-maid, if she be in love, may sigh it off Send after the duke, and appeal to him.

Claud. I have done so, but he is not to be found.
I pr’ythee, Lucio, do me this kind service.
This day my sister should the cloister enter,
And there receive her approbation : 17
Acquaint her with the danger of my state; •
Implore her, in my voice, that she make friends
To the strict deputy ; bid herself assay bim:
I have great hope in that; for in her youth
There is a prone 18 and speechless dialect,

Such as moves men: veside, she hath prosperous art,
When she will play with reason and discourse,
And well she can persuade.

Lucio. I pray, she may: as well for the encouragement of the like, which else would stand under grievous imposition , 19 as for the enjoying of thy life, who I would be sorry should be thus foolishly lost at a game of ticktack. 20 I 'll to her.

Claud. I thank you, good friend Lucio.
Lucio. Within two hours, -
Claud.
Come, officer; away!

Ereuni.

SCENE IV.

A Monastery.

Enter Duke, and Friar THOMAS.
Duke. No, holy father; throw away that thought:
Believe not that the dribbling - dart of love
Can pierce a complete 2 bosom. Why I desire thee
To give me secret harbour, hath a purpose
More grave and wrinkled , 3 than the aims and ends
Of burning youth.
Fri.

May your grace speak of it?
Duke. My holy Sir, none better knows than you
How I have ever lov'd the life remov'd; 4
And held in idle price to haunt assemblies,
Where youth, and cost, and 5 witless bravery keeps.
I have deliver'd to lord Angelo
(A man of strictures and firm abstinence)
My absolute power and place here in Vienna ,

19) imposition = Besteurung, Belastung mit einer Busse oder Strafe.
20) game of tick-tack == ein Bretspiel, Trictrac, sprichwörtlich in obscönem Sinno gebraucht.
1) dribhling von einem Pfeil oder Schuss, der sein Ziel nur matt oder gar nicht trifft.

Collier citirt dazu aus Sidney's Astrophel and Stella: Not at the first sight
nor with a dribbling shot | Love gave the wound.
complele, von Sh. bald auf der ersten Sylbe, bald auf der zweiten betont, erklärt

Johnson mit completely armed. Es ist wohl eher = fest, nach allen Seiten ganz. 3) wrinkled = funzlicht, wie das Greisenalter, charakterisirt die ehrbare, dem Alter

anstehende Absicht, die der Herzog bei seinem Plane hegt. 4) life remov'd = ein zurückgezogenes, abgesondertes Leben. So in As you like it

(A. 3, Sc. 2) your accent is something finer than you could purchase in so remov'd a

dwelling. sy and ergänzt die zweite Folioansg.: wo Jugend und Verschwendung und sinnloser

Prunk walten. 6) stricture = Strenge, Genauigkeit, gebraucht Sh. für strictness, welches Wort Dave

And he supposes me travell'd to Poland;
For so I have strew'd it in the common ear,
And so it is receiv'd. Now, pious Sir,
You will demand of me, why I do this?

Fri. Gladly, my lord.

Duke. We have strict statutes, and most biting laws,
(The needful bits and curbs to headstrong steeds) 7
Which for this fourteen years we have let sleep; 6
Even like an o'er-grown lion in a cave,
That goes not out to prey: now, as fond fathers,
Having bound up the threat'ning twigs of birch
Only to stick it in their children's sight,
For terror, not to use, in time the rod
Becomes 9 more mock'd than fear'd; so our decrees,
Dead to infiction, to themselves are dead,
And liberty 10 plucks justice by the nose;
The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart
Goes all decorum.

Fri. It rested in your grace
To unloose this tied-up justice, when you pleas'd;
And it in you more dreadful would have scene,
Than in lord Angelo.

Duke. . I do fear, too dreadful:
Sith 't was my fault to give the people scope,
'T would be my tyranny to strike and gall them
For what I bid them do: for we bid this be done,
When evil deeds have their permissive pass,
And not the punishment. 11 Therefore, indeed, my father,
I have on Angelo impos'd the office,

Who may, in the ambush of my name, strike home,
And yet my nature never in the fight,
To do it slander. 12 And to behold his sway,
I will, as 't were a brother of your order,
Visit both prince and people: therefore, I priythee,
Supply me with the habit, and instruct me
How I may formally in person bear me 13
Like a true friar. More 14 reasons for this action,
At our more leisure shall I render you;
Only, this one: – Lord Angelo is precise;
Stands at a guard with envy, 16 scarce confesses
That his blood flows, or that his appetite
Is more to bread than stone: hence shall we see,
If power change purpose, what our seemers be.

[Exeunt.,

"SCENE V.

A Nunnery.

Enter ISABELLA and FRANCISCA.
Isab. And have you nuns no further privileges ?
Fran. Are not these large enough?

Isab. Yes, truly: I speak not as desiring more,
But rather wishing a more strict restraint
Upon the sisterhood, the votarists of saint Clare.

Lucio. [Within.] Ho! Peace be in this place!
Isab.

Who is that which calls ?
Fran. It is a man's voice. Gentle Isabella,
Turn you the key, and know his business of him:

12) Hanmer setzte zuerst sight für fight der Fol., und it für in der Fol. – Letztere

Emendation scheint besser begründet, als erstere, da fight zu ambush und strike home sehr wohl passt, wenn auch nur im igürlichen Sinne: indem doch zugleich mein Wesen niemals im Gefecht, in einem Conflikt, der mir Schmach bringen könnte, sich zeigt. – Ziemlich kühn ist Staunton's Conjectur, die er jedoch nicht in den Text setzt: And yet my nature never win the fight To die in slander. - Dyce und Singer vermuthen light für fight. – Knight, der die alten Lesarten der Fol. beibehält, erklärt to do in slander etwas gesucht mit to be prominent in action and thus

exposed to slander. 13) me, das in der Foi, fehlt und das zuerst Capell einfügte, scheint unentbehrlich:

unterweise mich, wie ich mich gehörig im Aeussern als ein wahrer Mönch zu halten oder zu benehmen babe. In Davenant's Umarbeitung steht: I may in person a true friar seem. – Šo steht in Tempest (A. 1, Sc. 2) some good instruction give ||

How I may bear me here. **) Für more hat die Fol. das veraltete moe, in der folgenden Zeilo jedoch more. 15) er steht auf seiner Hut der Anfeindung gegenüber; er benimmt sich so, dass ihm der

Hass und Neid nichts anhaben kann.