To the ftrict deputy; bid herself affay him; Such as moves men! befide, the hath profp'rous art Lucio. I pray, he may; as well for the encouragement of the like, which elfe would ftand under grievous impofition; as for the enjoying of thy life, who I would be forry fhould be thus foolishly loft at a game of tick-tack. I'll to her. Claud. I thank you, good friend Lucio. Claud. Come, officer, away. Duke. N SCENE, a Monaftery. Enter Duke, and Friar Thomas. [Exeunt. O; holy father, throw away that thought; Believe not, that the dribbling dart of love Can pierce a compleat bofom: why I defire thee To give me fecret harbour, hath a purpofe More grave, and wrinkled, than the aims and ends. Of burning youth. Fri. May your Grace fpeak of it? Duke. My holy Sir, none better knows than you, How I have ever lov'd the life remov'd ; And held in idle price to haunt affemblies, (A man of stricture and firm abftinence) (5) My the (5) A man of stricture.] Mr. Warburton obferves, that fri&ura, from which this word fhould feem to be form'd, fignified, among Latines, the fpark which flies from red-hot iron when ftruck; whence, in English, it has been metaphorically taken for a bright ftroke in an Author; nor has it, fays he, any other fignification. And he very reasonably questions, whether it had that in Shakespeare's time. As fo remote a fignification could have no place in the text here, he fufpects that two words muft have ignorantly been jumbled into one, and that our Author wrote: A man My abfolute pow'r and place here in Vienna; Duke. We have ftrict statutes and most biting laws, (The needful bits and curbs for head-strong fteeds,) (6) Which for thefe nineteen years we have let fleep; (7) Even A man of ftrict ure and firm abftinence, i. e. a man of a fevere habit of life. Ure, 'tis certain, was a word ufed in CHAUCER's time for chance, destiny, fortune; (when deriv'd from beur;) and alfo for habit, cuftom; (when contracted from the ufura of the Latines ;) whence we have form'd our compound adjective, enured, habituated to. Though I have not difturb'd the text, the conjecture was too ingenious to be pass'd over in filence. But as it is most frequent with our Author as well to coin words, as to form their terminations ad libitum; he may have adopted ftri&ture here to fignify strictness; as afterwards, in this very Play, he has introduced prompture, the ufage of which word I no where elfe remember in our tongue; neither have we promptura or prompture, from the Latin or French, that I know of. (6) The needful bits and curbs for beadstrong weeds :] There is no manner of analogy, or confonance, in the metaphors here: and, tho the copies agree, I do not think, the Author would have talked of bits and curbs for weeds. On the other hand, nothing can be more proper, than to compare perfons of unbridled licentioufnefs to headftrong feeds: and, in this view, bridling the passions has been a phrase adopted by our best poets. So, Horace, Lib. iv. Od. 15. Rect m evaganti frena licentia Et veteres revocavit artes. So, in his Epistles, Lib. 1. Ep. 2. animum rege, qui, nifi paret, Imperat, hunc frenis, bunc tu compefce catena. And fo the elegant Phædrus, Lib. 1. Fab. 2. Procax libertas civitatem mifcuit, Frenumque folvit priftinum licentiâ. But inftances were endless both from the poets, and profe-writers. (7) Which for these fourteen years we bave let lip ] For fourteen I have made no fcruple to replace nineteen. The reafon will be obvious to the reader, who fhall look back to the 4th note upon this play. I have, I hope, upon as good authority, alter'd the odd phrase of letting the laws flip: for, fuppofing the expreffion might be justified, P 3 yet Even like an o'er-grown lion in a cave, That goes not out to prey: now, as fond fathers The baby beats the nurfe, and quite athwart Fri. It refted in your Grace T'unloote this ty'd-up juftice, when you pleas'd: Duke. I do fear, too dreadful. Sith 'twas my fault to give the people scope, Twould be my tyranny to ftrike, and gall them, For what I bid them do. For we bid this be done, When evil deeds have their permiffive pafs, And not the punishment. Therefore, indeed, my father, Who may in th' ambush of my name ftrike home, yet how does it fort with the comparison, that follows, of a lion in his cave that went not out to prey? But letting the laws fleep, as I have restored to the text, adds a particular propriety to the thing represented, and accords exactly too with the fimile. It is the metaphor too, that our Author feems fond of using upon this occafion, in feveral other pages of this Play. The law hath not been dead, tho' it hath flapt: And fo, again, but this new governour Awakes me all th' enrolled penalties ;. and for a name How I may formally in perfon bear, Like a true Fiar. More reafons for this action SCENE, a Nunnery. Enter Ifabella and Francifca. AND have Kab. A ND have you nuns no farther privileges Upon the fifter-hood, the votarifts of Saint Clare. Nun. It is a man's voice: gentle Isabella, When you have vow'd, you must not fpeak with men,, Then, if you fpeak, you must not fhew your face; -Enter Lucio. Lucio. Hail, virgin, (if you be) as thofe cheek-rofess Proclaim you are no lefs; can you fo ftead me, As bring me to the fight of Ifabella, A novice of this place, and the fair fifter To her unhappy brother Claudio? Ijab. Why her unhappy brother?, let me afk. The rather, for I now must make you know I am that Ifabella, and his fifter. Lucio. Gentle and fair, your brother kindly greets you Not to be weary with you, he's in prifon. D R 4 Vab Ifab. Woe me! for what? Lucio. For that, which, if myfelf might be his judge, He should receive his punishment in thanks; He hath got his friend with child. lab. Sir, make me not your ftory. Lucio. Tis true:-I would not (tho' 'tis my familiar fin With maids to feem the lapwing, and to jeft, Tongue far from heart) play with all virgins fo. I hold you as a thing en-ky'd, and fainted; By your renouncement, an immortal spirit; And to be talk'd with in fincerity, As with a faint. Ijab. You do blafpheme the good, in mocking me. Lucio. Do not believe it. Fewness, and truth, 'tis thus; Your brother and his lover having embrac'd, As thofe that feed grow full, as bloffoming time That from the feednefs the bare fallow brings To teeming foyfon; fo her plenteous womb Expreffeth his full tilth and husbandry. Ifab. Some one with child by him?-my coufin Juliet? Luria. Is me your coufin à Ijab. Adoptedly, as fchool-maids change their names, By vain, tho' apt, affection. Lucio. She it is. Ifab. O, let him marry her. The Duke is very ftrangely gone from hence; Governs Lord Angelo; a man whofe blood Is very fnow-broth; one who never feels |