Ang. Go to; let that be mine.

Do you your office, or give up your place,
And you fhall well be fpar'd.

Prov. I crave your pardon

What fhall be done, Sir, with the groaning Juliet ?
She's very near her hour.

Ang. Difpofe of her

To fome more fitting place, and that with speed.
Serv. Here is the fifter of the man condemn'd,
Defires access to youth of sued

Ang. Hath he a fifter?

Pro, Ay, my good lord, a very virtuous maid, And to be thortly of a fifterhoods

If not already.

Ang. Well, let her be admitted,

See you, the fornicatrefs be remov'd;

[Exit Servant.

Let her have needful, but not lavish, means;
There fhall be order far it...

SCENE

100

IV

Enter Lucio and Isabella.

Prov. 'Save your honour.

Ang. Stay yet a while *

[To Ifab.] Y'are wel

come; what's your will?

Ijab. I am a woful fuitor to your Honour,

Please but your Honour hear meg
Ang. Well, what's your fait

2 བྱུང་གི
Ifab. There is a vice that most I do abhor,
And most defire should meet the blow of juftice
For which I would not plead, but that I multz
For which I must not plead, but that I am (5)
At war, 'twixt will, and will not.

Ang. Well, the matter?

*It is not clear why the Provoft is bidden to ftay, nor when he goes out.

(s) For nobich I must not plead, but that I am

Al war, 'twixt will, and will not.] This is obfcure, perhaps it may

-be mended by reading,

For which I must now plead, but yet I am

At war, 'twixt will and will not.

Yet and yet are almost undistinguishable in a manufcript.

Lab.

Ifab. I have a brother is condemn'd to die :
I do befeech you, let it be his fault,

And not my brother.

A

Prov. Heav'n give thee moving graces!

Ang. Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it?
Why, every fault's condemn'd, ere it be done A
Mine were the very cipher of a function,

To find the faults, whofe fine ftands in record,
And let go by the actor..

Ifab. O juft, but fevere law !

I had a brother then-heav'n keep your Honour ! Lucio. [To Ifab.] Give not o'er fo: to him again, intreat him,

Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown?

You are too cold; if you should need a pin,
You could not with more tame a tongue defire it.
'To him I fay.

Ifab. Muft he needs die ?-

Ang. Maiden, no remedy..

Ifab. Yes; I do think, that you might pardon him And neither heav'n not man, grieve at the mercy. Ang. I will not do'talos o

Ifab. But can you if you would.

Ang. Look, what I will not, that I cannot do.

Ifab. But might you do't, and do the world no

wrong,

If fo your heart were touch'd with that remorse,

As mine is to him?

Ang. He's fentenc'd; 'tis too late.

Lucio. You are too cold, as

[To Ifabel

Ifab. Too late? why, no f, that do fpeak a word

May call it back again. Well believe this,

No ceremony that to great ones, 'longs,
Not the King's crown, nor the deputed fword,
The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe,.
Become them with one half fo good a grace,
As mercy does. If he had been as you,
And you as he, you would have flipt like him;
But he, like you, would not have been fo ftern.
Ang. Pray you, be gone.

Ifab. I would to heav'n I had your potency,
And you were Isabel; fhould it then be thus ?

No; I would tell what 'twere to be a judge,
And what a prifoner.

Lucio. [afide.] Ay, touch him; there's the vein.
Ang. Your brother is a forfeit of the law,
And you but wafte

Ijab. Alas! alas !

your words.

Why, all the fouls that were, were forfeit once; (6)
And he, that might the 'vantage best have took,
Found out the remedy. How would you be,
If he, which is the top of judgment, fhould
But judge you, as you are? oh, think on that:
And mercy then will breathe within your lips, (7)
Like man new made.

Ang. Be you content, fair maid.

It is the law, not I condemns your brother.
Were he my kinfman, brother, or my fon,
It fhould be thus with himn - he dies to-morrow.
Ifab. To-morrow, Oh! that's fudden.
fpare him.

He's not prepar'd for death.
We kill the fowl, of feafon;

Spare him,

Even for our kitchens

fhall we serve heav'n

With lefs refpect than we do minister

To our grofs felves? good, good my lord, bethink you : Who is it, that hath dy'd for this offence ?

There's many have committed it.

Lucio Ay, well faid.

[Afide.

Ang. The law hath not been dead, tho' it hath

flept:

Thofe many had not dar'd to do that evil,

Now, 'tis awake

If the first man, that did th' edict infringe,
Had anfwer'd for his deed.
Takes note of what is done

:

all the fouls that WERE,]

(6) fhould read, ARE.

;

and, like a prophet, (8)

This is falfe divinity. We
WARBURTON.

(7) And mercy then will breathe within your lips, Like man new made.] This is a fine thought, and finely expreffed: The meaning is, that mercy will add fuch grace to your perfons, that you will appear as amiable as man come fresh out of the bands of his WARBURTON.

creator.

- like a propbet,

(8) Looks in a glafs] This alludes to the fopperies of the Berril, much ufed at that time by cheats and fortune-tellers to predict by.

WARBURTON.
Looks

Looks in a glass that fhews what future evils,
Or new, or by remiffness new conceiv'd,
And fo in progrefs to be hatch'd and born,
Are now to have no fucceffive degrees;
But ere they live to end. (9) v
Ifab. Yet fhew fome pity. (1)

Ang. I fhew it most of all, when I fhew justice,
For then I pity thofe, I do not know;

Which a difmifs'd offence would after gaul;
And do him right, that, anfwering one foul wrong,
Lives not to act another. Be fatisfy'd;

Your brother dies to-morrow; be content.

Ifab. So you must be the first, that gives this fentence;

And he, that fuffers. Oh, 'tis excellent

To have a giant's ftrength; but it is tyrannous,

To use it like a giant.

Lucio. That's well faid.

Ifab. Could great men thunder

[Afider

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

Would ufe his heav'n for thunder;

Nothing but thunder.

Merciful heav'n!

Thou rather with thy fharp, and fulph'rous, bolt

Split'ft the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,

Than the foft myrtle: O, but man! proud man,
Dreft in a little brief authority,

Moft ignorant of what he's moft affur'd,

His glaffy effence, like an angry ape,

Plays fuch fantastick tricks before high heav'n,

As make the angels weep; (2) who, with our fpleens

(9) But ere they live to end] This is very fagacionfly fubftituted by Sir Thomas Hanmer for, but here they live.

(1)

fher fome pity.

Ang. I be it most of all, when I'fbea juftice

For then I pity thofe I do not know:] This was one of Hale's me morials. When I find myself fr yed to mercy, let me remember, that there is a mercy likewife due to the Country.

(2) ds makes the angels aweep; for the fins of men is rabbinical. inducunt Hebræorum magiftri,—

The notion of angels weeping
Ob peccatum fentes angels.
Grotius ad Lucam.

WARBURTON.
Would

Would all themselves laugh mortal. (3)

Lucio. [afide.] Oh, to him, to him, Wench; he will relent;

He's coming: I perceive't, villa

Prov. [To Lucio.] Pray heav'n, the win him !

Ifab. We cannot weigh our brother with yourfelf: (4) Great men may jest with Saints; 'tis wit in them But, in the lefs, foul profanation.

Lucio. [Afide] Thou'rt right, girl; more o'that. Ifab. That in the captain's but a cholerick word, Which in the foldier is flat blafphemy.

Lucio. Afide.} Art advis'd o'that? more on't.
Ang. Why do you put these fayings upon me?
Ifab. Because authority, tho' t err like others,
Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself,

That fkins the vice o' th' top. Go to your bofom;
Knock there, and afk your heart, what it doth know
That's like my brother's fault, if it confefs
A natural guiltinefs, fuch as is his,

Let it not found a thought upon your tongue
Againft my brother's life.

Ang [Afide.] She fpeaks, and 'tis fuch fenfe,

(3)

who, with our fplens,

Would all tb mfelves laugh mortal.] Mr. Theobald fays the meaning of this is, that if they were endowed with our spleens and perishable organs, they would laugh themselves out of immortality: Which a mounts to this, that if they were mortal they would not be immortal. Shakespear meant no fuch nonfenfe. By fpleens, he meant that peculiar turn of the human mind, that always inclines it to a spiteful, unfeasonable mith. Had the Angels that, fays Shakespeare, they would laugh themselves out of their immortality, by indulging a paffion which does not deferve that prerogative. The ancients thought: that immoderate laughter was caused by the bignefs of the spleen. WARBURTON

(4) In former Editions: We cannot weigh our brother with ourfelf] Why not? Tho' this Should be the Reading of all the Copies, 'tis as plain as Light, it is pot the Author's meaning. Ifabella would fay, there is fo great a. Difproportion in Quality betwixt Lord Angelo and her Brother, that their Aations can bear no Comparifon, or Equality, together: but her Brother's Crimes would be aggravated, Angelo's Frailties extenuated, from the Difference of their Degrees and State of Life.

WARBURTON.

That