Ang. Go to; let that be mine. Do you your office, or give up your place, Prov. I crave your pardon. What shall be done, Sir, with the groaning Juliet ? Ang. Difpofe of her To fome more fitting place, and that with speed. Ang. Hath he a fifter? Prov. Ay, my good lord; a very virtuous maid, And to be shortly of a fifterhood, If not already. See Ang. Well, let her be admitted, [Exit Servant. Let her have needful, but not lavish, means; SCENE VII. Enter Lucio and Ifabella. Prov. 'Save your honour. Ang. Stay yet a while * [To Ifab.] Y'are wel come; what's your will? Ifab. I am a woful fuitor to your Honour, Please but your Honour hear me. Ang. Well, what's your fuit? Ifab. There is a vice that most I do abhor, Ang. Well; the matter? * It is not clear why the Provoft is bidden to stay, nor when he goes out. (5) For which I muft not plead, but that I am Ai 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. Tet and yet are almost undistinguishable in a manuscript. L'ab Ifab. I have a brother is condemn'd to die : I do befeech you, let it be his fault, And not my brother. Prov. Heav'n give thee moving graces! Ang. Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it? To find the faults, whofe fine ftands in record, Ifab. Ŏ 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, in treat him, Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown; Ifab. Mut he needs die ?: Ang. Maiden, no remedy. Ifab. Yes; I do think, that you might pardon hin And neither heav'n nor man, grieve at the mercy, Ang. I will not do't... Ifab. But can you if you would. Ang. Look, what I will not, that I cannot do. If fo wrong, your heart were touch'd with that remorfe, As mine is to him? Ang. He's fentenc'd; 'tis too late.. Lucio. You are too cold. [To Ifabel. Ifab. Too late? why, no ; I, that do fpeak a word May call it back again. Well believe this, No ceremony that to great ones, 'longs, Ifab. I would to heav'n I had your potency, B5 No No; I would tell what'twere to be a judge, And what a prifoner. Lucio. [afide.] Ay, touch him; there's the vein. lab. Alas! alas ! Why, all the fouls that were, were forfeit once; (6) Ang. Be you content, fair maid. It is the law, not I condemns your brother. It fhould be thus with him- he dies to-morrow. He's not prepar'd for death. Even for our kitchens We kill the fowl, of season; fhall we ferve heay'n With lefs refpect than we do minifter 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: Those many had not dar'd to do that evil, (6) all the fouls that WERE,] fhould read, ARE. and, like a prophet, (8) This is falfe divinity. We (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 frefp out of the bands of his WARBURTON. creator. like a propbet, (8) Looks in a glass] This alludes to the fopperies of the Berril, much ufed at that time by cheats and fortune-tellers to predict by. WARBURTON. Looks in a glafs that fhews what future evils, Ifab. Yet thew fome pity. (1) Ang. I fhew it most of all, when I shew justice; Which a difmifs'd offence would after gaul; Your brother dies to-morrow ; be content. 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,. Lucio. That's well faid. Ifab. Could great men thunder [Afide As Yove himfelf 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, Mof ignorant of what he's most assur'd, His glaffy effence, like an angry ape, Plays fuch fantaftick 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 fagaciously fubftituted by Sir Thomas Hanmer for, but here they live. (1) •fhew fome pity. Ang. I fhew it most of all, when Ifhew justice; For then I pity thufe I do not know:] This was one of Hale's me morials. When I find myself fw yed to mercy, let me remember, that there is a mercy likewife due to the Country. (2) As makes the angels aveep ;] The notion of angels weeping for the fins of men is rabbinical. inducunt Hebræorum magiftri,~ Ob peccatum fentes angels: WARBURTON. Would all themselves laugh mortal. (3) Lucio. [afide.] Oh, to him, to him, Wench; he will relent`; He's coming: I perceive't. Prov. [To Lucio.] Pray heav'n, fhe win him! Ifab. We cannot weigh our brother with yourself: (4) Great men may jeft 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. That fkins the vice o' th' top. Go to your bofom; Let it not found a thought upon your tongue Ang [Afide.] She speaks, and 'tis fuch sense, (3) who, with our spleens, Would all themselves laugh mortal.] Mr. Theobald fays the meaning of this is, that if they were endowed with our spleens and perifbable organs, they would laugh themfelves out of immortality: Which amounts to this, that if they were mortal they would not be immortal Shakelpear meant no fuch nonfenfe. By fpleens, he meant that peculiar turn of the human mind, that always inclines it to a fpiteful, unfeafonable mirth. Had the Angels that, fays Shakespeare, they would laugh themselves out of their immortality, by indulging a paffion which does not deserve that prerogative. The ancients thought that immoderate laughter was caused by the bigness of the spleen. WARBURTON. (4) In former Editions: We cannot weigh our brother with ourfelf] Why not? Tho' this fhould be the Reading of all the Copies, 'tis as plain as Light, it is not the Author's meaning. Ifabella would fay, there is fo great a Disproportion in Quality betwixt Lord Angelo and her Brother, that their Actions can bear no Comparison, 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 |