Efcal. I guess not.

Ang. And why fhould we proclaim it in an hour before his entring, that if any crave redress of injustice, they fhould exhibit their petitions in the street?

Efcal. He fhews his reafon for that; to have a difpatch of complaints, and to deliver us from devices. hereafter, which fhall then have no power to ftand against us.

Ang. Well; I befeech you, let it be proclaimed be-
times i'the morn; l'll call you at your house: give
notice to fuch men of fort and fuit, as are to meet him.
Efcal. I fhall, Sir: fare you well.. [Exit.
Ang. Good night.
This deed unfhapes me quite, makes me unpregnant,
And dull to all proceedings. A defloured maid!
And by an eminent body, that enforc'd

The law against it! but that her tender fhame
Will not proclaim against her maiden lofs,

How might fhe tongue me? yet reafon dares her: (25)
For my authority tears a credent bulk;

That no particular fcandal once can touch,

But it confounds the breather. He fhould have liv'd,
Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous fenfe,
Might in the times to come have ta'en revenge;
By to receiving a difhonour'd life,

With ranfom of fuch shame. Would yet, he had liv’d!
Alack, when once our grace we have forgot,
Nothing goes right; we would, and we would not.

[Exit.

(25) yet reafon dares her:] The old folio impreffions read, ye reafon dares her no: - perhaps, dares her note: i. e. ftifles her voice; frights her from speaking. In this fenfe, our Author ufta the word dare, again, in his Henry VIII.

Farewel, nobility! let his Grace go forward,
And dare us with his cap, like larks,

SCENE

SCENE changes to the Fields without the Town.

Enter Duke in his own habit; and Friar Peter.

Duke.' Hefe letters at fit time deliver me.

The Provost knows our purpose, and our plot:
The matter being afoot, keep your inftruction,
And hold you ever to our fpecial drift;

Tho' fometimes you do blench from this to that,
As caufe doth minifter: go, call at Flavius' house,
And tell him, where I ftay; give the like notice
Unto Valentius, Rowland, and to Crassus,

And bid them bring the trumpets to the gate :
But fend me Flavius firft.

Peter. It thall be fpeeded well.

Enter Varrius.

Duke. I thank thee,

hafte :

Come, we will walk.

[Exit Friar

Varrius; thou haft made good

There's other of our friends

Will greet us here anon, my gentle Varrius. [Exeunt

Enter Ifabella and Mariana.

Ifab. To fpeak fo indirectly, I am loth: I'll fay the truth; but to accufe him fo, That is your part; yet I'm advis'd to do it, He fays, t'availful purpose. (26)

Mari. Be rul'd by him.

Ifab. Befides, he tells me, that if peradventure
He speak against me on the adverse fide,

I should not think it ftrange; for 'tis a phyfic
That's bitter to sweet end.

Mari. I would, Friar Peter

Ifab. Oh, peace; the Friar is come.

(26) He fays to vail full purpose.] Thus the old copies. I don't know, what idea our Editors form'd to themfelves, of vailing fuil purpose; but, I'm perfuaded, the Poet meant, as I have reftor'd viz. to a purpose that will stand us in ftead, that will profit us.

Enter

Enter Peter.

Peter. Come, I have found you out a ftand most fit, Where you may have fuch vantage on the Duke, He fhall not pass you. Twice have the trumpets

founded:

The generous and graveft citizens

Have hent the gates, and very near upon (27)
The Duke is entring: therefore hence, away. [Exeunt.

SCENE, a public Place near the City. Enter Duke, Varrius, Lords, Angelo, Efcalus, Lucio, and Citizens at Several Doors.

M

DUKE.

Y very worthy coufin, fairly met;

Our old and faithful friend, we're glad to fee you. Ang. and Efcal. Happy return be to your royal Grace!

(27) Have hent the gates,-] An anonymous correfpondent, advis'd me to read;

Have bemm'd the gates,

But, I apprehend, there is no occafion for any change. To bend, SKINNER and fome other glossaries tell us, fignifies, to feize, lay hold on with the hand; but we find by Spenfer, in his Colin Clout, that it likewife fignifies, to furround, encircle; (in which senses it is used here.)

From thence another world of land we ken'd,

Floating amid the fea in jeopardy;

And round about with mighty white rocks bend,

Against the fea's encroaching cruelty.

We meet with the word again, in its first acceptation, in our Author's Winter's Tale.

Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,

And merrily bent the file-a:

A merry heart goes all the day,

Your fad tires in a mile-a.

Duke.

Duke. Many and hearty thanks be to you both:
We've made enquiry of you, and we hear
Such goodness of your juftice, that our foul
Cannot but yield you forth to public thanks,
Forerunning more requital.

Ang. You make my bonds ftill greater.

Duke. Oh, your defert fpeaks loud; and I fhould wrong it,

To lock it in the wards of covert bosom,
When it deferves with characters of brafs
A forted refidence, 'gainft the tooth of time
And razure of oblivion. Give me your hand,
And let the fubje&ts fee, to make them know
That outward courtefies would fain proclaim
Favours that keep within. Come, Efcalus;
You must walk by us on our other hand:
And good fupporters are you. [As the Duke is going out.
Enter Peter and Ifabella.

Peter. Now is your time: speak loud, and kneel before him.

Ifab. Juftice, O royal Duke; vail your regard
Upon a wrong'd, I'd fain have faid, a maid:
Oh, worthy Prince, difhonour not your eye
By throwing it on any other object,

'Till you have heard me in my true complaint,
And given me justice, justice, justice, juftice.

Duke. Relate your wrongs; in what, by whom? be

brief:

Here is Lord Angelo fhall give you justice;

Reveal yourself to him.

- Ifab. Oh, worthy Duke,

You bid me feek redemption of the devil:

Hear me yourself; for that which I mutt speak

Muft either punish me, not being believ'd,

Or wring redrefs from you: oh, hear me, hear me.
Ang. My Lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm :
She hath been a fuitor to me for her brother,
Cut off by courfe of justice.

Lab.

Ifab. Courfe of juftice!

Ang. And the will speak moft bitterly, and ftrange. (28) Ifab. Moft frange, but yet moft truly, will 1 fpeak; That Angelo's forfworn: is it not ftrange?

That Angelo's a murd'rer: is't not strange?
That Angelo is an adult'rous thief,
An hypocrite, a virgin-violater :
Is it not ftrange and ftrange?

Duke. Nay, it is ten times ftrange.
Ifab. It is not truer he is Angelo,
Than this is all as true, as it is ftrange:
Nay, it is ten times true; for truth is truth
To th' end of reckoning.

Duke. Away with her poor foul,

She fpeaks this in th' infirmity of sense.

Ifub. O Prince, I conjure thee, as thou believ't There is another comfort than this world,

That thou neglect me not; with that opinion

That I am touch'd with madness. Make not impoffible
That, which but feems unlike; 'tis not impoffible,
But one, the wicked'ft caitiff on the ground,
May feem as fhy, as grave, as juft, as abfolute,
As Angelo; even fo may Angelo,

In all his dreffings, caracts, titles, forms,
Be an arch-villain: believe it, royal Prince,
If he be lefs, he's nothing; but he's more,
Had I more name for badnefs.

Duke. By mine honesty,

If the be mad, as I believe no other,
Her madness hath the oddeft frame of sense;
Such a dependency of thing on thing,

As e'er I heard in madness.

(28) And he will speak moft bitterly ] Thus is the verfe left imperfect by Mr. Rowe and Mr. Pope; tho' the old copies all fill it up, as I have done. I have reftor'd an infinite number of fuch paffages tacitly from the first impreffions: but I thought proper to take notice, once for all, her, that as Mr. Pope follows Mr Rowe's edition in his errors and omiffions, it gives great fufpicion, notwithstanding the pretended collation of copies, that Mr. Pope, for the generality, took Mr. Rowe's edition as his guide.