fortune hath convey'd to my understanding; and but that frailty hath examples for his falling, I thould wonder at Angelo. How will you do to content this Substitute, and to fave your brother?

Ifab. I am now going to refolve him. I had rather my brother die by the law, than my fon fhould be unlawfully born. But, oh, how much is the good Duke deceiv'd in Angelo? if ever he return, and I can fpeak to him, I will open my lips in vain, or difcover his Government.

Duke. That fhall not be much amifs; yet as the matter now stands, he will avoid your accufation.— He made tryal of you only.-Therefore faften your ear on my advifings. To the love I have in doing good, a remedy prefents itfelf. I do make myfelf believe, that you may most uprightly do a poor wronged Jady a merited benefit; redeem your brother from the angry law; do no ftain to your own gracious perfon; and much please the abfent Duke, if, peradventure, he shall ever return to have hearing of this bufinefs. Ifab. Let me hear you fpeak further. I have fpirit to do any thing, that appears not foul in the truth of my fpirit.

Duke. Virtue is bold, and Goodness never fearful: have you not heard fpeak of Mariana, the fifter of Frederick, the great foldier who mifcarried at fea?

Ifab. I have heard of the lady, and good words went with her name.

Duke. Her fhould this Angelo have marry'd; was affianc'd to her by oath, and the nuptial appointed; between which time of the contract, and limit of the folemnity, her brother Frederick was wreckt at fea, having in that perifh'd veffel the dowry of his fifter. But mark, how heavily this befel to the poor gentlewoman; there fhe loft a noble and renowned brother, in his love toward her ever moft kind and natural; with him her portion, the finew of her fortune, her marriage

Y 2

marriage-dowry; with both, her combinate husband, this well feeming Angelo.

Ifab. Can this be fo? did Angelo fo leave her?

Duke. Left her in tears, and dry'd not one of them with his comfort; fwallow'd his vows whole, pretending, in her, discoveries of dishonour; in few, beftow'd her on her own lamentation, which fhe yet wears for his fake; and he, a marble to her tears, is washed with them, but relents not.

Ifab. What a merit were it in death to take this poor maid from the world! what corruption in this life, that it will let this man live! but how out of this can fhe avaii?

Duke. It is a rupture that you may eafily heal; and the cure of it not only faves your bother, but keeps you from dishonour in doing it.

Ifab. Shew me how, good father.

Duke. This fore-nam'd maid hath yet in her the continuance of her first affection; his unjuft unkindness, (that in all reafon fhould have quenched her love,) hath, like an impediment in the current, made it more violent and unruly. Go you to Angelo, anfwer his requiring with a plaufible obedience; agree with his demands to the point; only refer yourfelf to this advantage: first, that your ftay with him may not be long; that the time may have all thadow and filence in it; and the place anfwer to convenience. This being granted, in courfe now follows all. We shall advile this wronged maid to ftead up your appointment, go in your place; if the encounter acknowledge itfelf hereafter, it may compel him to her recompence; and here by this is your brother faved, your Honour untainted, the poor Mariana advantaged, and the cor

rupt Deputy fcaled. 9 The maid will I frame, and make fit for his attempt. If you think well to carry this as you may, the doubleness of the benefit defends the deceit from reproof. What think you of it?

Ifab. The image of it gives me content already, and, I trust, it will grow to a most profperous perfection.

Duke. It lies much in your holding up. Hafte you fpeedily to Angelo; if for this night he intreat you to his bed, give him promife of fatisfaction. I will prefently to St Luke's; there at the moated Grange refides this dejected Mariana; at that place call upon me, and difpatch with Angelo, that it may be quickly. Ifab. I thank you for this comfort. Fare you well, good father. [Exeunt feverally.

SCENE IV.

Changes to the Street.

Re-enter Duke as a Friar, Elbow, Clown, and Officers.

Elb.

N

TAY, if there be no remedy for it, but that you will needs buy and fell men and women. like beafts, we fhall have all the world drink brown and white baftard.

Duke. Oh, heav'ns! what ftuff is here?

Clown. 'Twas never merry world fince of two ufuries the merriest was put down, and the worfer allow'd

low'd by order of law, a furr'd gown to keep him warm, and furr'd with ox and lamb-fkins too, to fignifie, that craft, being richer than innocency, ftands for the facing.

way, Sir.-Blefs you, good father

Elb. Come your way,

Friar.

Duke. And you, good brother * father; what offence hath this man made you, Sir?

Elb. Marry, Sir, he hath offended the law; and, Sir, we take him to be a Thief too, Sir; for we have found upon him, Sir, a ftrange pick-lock, which we have fent to the Deputy.

Duke. Fie, Sirrah, a bawd, a wicked bawd!
The evil that thou caufeft to be done,

That is thy means to live. Doft thou but think,
What 'tis to cram a maw, or cloath a back,
From fuch a filthy vice? fay to thyfelf,
From their abominable and beaftly touches
I drink, I cat, array myself, and live. 3
Canft thou believe thy living is a life,

So ftinkingly depending! go mend, mend.
Clown. Indeed, it doth ftink in fome fort, Sir; but
yet, Sir, I would prove-

tween the two ufuries. So that
for the future the paffage fhould
be read with afterisks thus
by order of law.
gorun, &c.

a furr'd WARBURTON. Sir Thomas Hanmer corrected this with less pomp, then fince of two Uluiers the merriet was put down, and the worfer allowed, by order of law, a furr'd gown, &c. His punctuation is right, but the alteration, fmall as it is, appears more than was wanted. Ufury may be ufed by an eafy licence for the Profeffors of Ufury.

-father.] This word thould be expunged.

3

The old editions have,

I drink, I eat away myself, and live] This is one very excellent Inftance of the Sagacity of our Editors, and it were to be wifhed heartily, they would have obliged us with their physical Solution, how a Man can eat away himself and live. Mr. Bishop gave me that most certain Emendation, which I have fubftituted in the Room of the former foolifh Reading; by the Help whereof, we have this easy Sense; that the Clown fed himself, and put cloaths on his Back, by exercifing the vile Trade of a Bawd.

THEOBALD.

Duke.

Duke. Nay, if the devil hath giv'n thee proofs for

fin, Thou wilt prove his. Take him to prifon, officer; Correction and inftruction muft both work,

Ere this rude beaft will profit.

Elb. He muft before the Deputy, Sir; he has given him warning; the Deputy cannot abide a whore-mafter; if he be a whore-monger, and comes before him, he were as good go a mile on his errand.

Duke. That we were all, as fome would feem to be, Free from all faults, as faults from feeming free ! 4

4 That we were all, as fome would feem to be, Free from all fauits, as faults

from feeming free!] i. e. as faults are deftitute of all comelinefs or feeming. The first of thefe lines refers to the Deputy's fanctified hypocrify; the fecond, to the Clown's beaftly occupation. But the latter part is thus ill expreffed for the fake of the rhime. WARBURTON.

Sir T. Hanmer reads,

Free from all faults, as from

faults feeming free. The interpretation of Dr. Warburton is deftitute of authority; though feemly is decent or comely, I know not that seeming is ever ufed for comeliness. The fenfe is likewife trifling, and the expreffion harfh. To wish that men were as free from faults, as faults are free from comeliness [inftead

of void of comeliness] is a very
poor conceit.
I once thought it
should be read,

O that all were, as all would
Jeem to be,

Free from all faults, or from falfe
feeming free.

So

in this play,

O place, O power-how doft

thou
Wrench are form fools and tie
the wifer fouls

To thy falfe feeming.
But I now believe that a lefs alte-

ration will ferve the turn.

Free from all faults, or faults

from feeming free;

that men were really good, or that
their faults were known, that men
were free from faults, or faults
from hypocrify. So Ifabella calls
Angelo's hypocrify, feeming, feem-
ing.