I'll prove a tyrant to him: As for you, [Exit. Isab. To whom shall I complain? Did I tell this, Bidding the law make court'sy to their will; 4 Though he hath fallen by prompture of the blood, That had he twenty heads to tender down Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die; I'll tell him yet of Angelo's request, And fit his mind to death, for his soul's rest. [Exit. ACT III. SCENE I.- A Room in the Prison. Enter Duke, CLAUDIO, and Provost. Duke. So, then you hope of pardon from lord Angelo? Claud. The miserable have no other medicine, But only hope : I have hope to live, and am prepar'd to die. Duke. Be absolute for death; either death, or life, 4 - prompture-] Suggestion, temptation, instigation. Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life, If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing That none but fools would keep5: a breath thou art, That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st, And yet run'st toward him still: Thou art not noble; Are nurs❜d by baseness: Thou art by no means valiant ; Of a poor worm: Thy best of rest is sleep, 5 That none but fools would keep:] i. e. care for. 6 Thy best of rest is sleep, And that thou oft provok'st; yet grossly fear'st Thy death, which is no more.] I cannot without indignation find Shakspeare saying, that death is only sleep, lengthening out his exhortation by a sentence which in the Friar is impious, in the reasoner is foolish, and in the poet trite and vulgar. JOHNSON. This was an oversight in Shakspeare; for in the second scene of the fourth Act, the Provost speaks of the desperate Barnardine, as one who regards death only as a drunken sleep. STEEVENS. I apprehehend Shakspeare means to say no more, than that the passage from this life to another is as easy as sleep; a position in which there is surely neither folly nor impiety. MALONE. 7 - strange effects,] read affects or affections. Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum, For ending thee no sooner: Thou hast nor youth, nor age; But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep, Dreaming on both: for all thy blessed youth Of palsied eld 9; and when thou art old, and rich, Lie hid more thousand deaths: yet death we fear, Claud. I humbly thank you. To sue to live, I find, I seek to die; And, seeking death, find life: Let it come on. Enter ISABELLA. Isab. What, ho! Peace here; grace and good company! Prov. Who's there? come in the wish deserves a welcome. : Duke. Dear sir, ere long I'll visit you again. Claud. Most holy sir, I thank you. Isab. My business is a word or two with Claudio. Prov. And very welcome. Look, signior, here's your sister. serpigo,] The serpigo is a kind of tetter. 8 9 - palsied eld ;] Eld is here put for old people. Shakspeare declares that man has neither youth nor age; for in youth, which is the happiest time, or which might be the happiest, he commonly wants means to obtain what he could enjoy; he is dependent on palsied eld; must beg alms from the coffers of hoary avarice; and being very niggardly supplied, becomes as aged, looks, like an old man, on happiness which is beyond his reach. And, when he is old and rich, when he has wealth enough for the purchase of all that formerly excited his desires, he has no longer the powers of enjoy ment. has neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty, To make his riches pleasant. Duke. Provost, a word with you. Prov. As many as you please. Duke. Bring them to speak+; where I may be con ceal'd. Yet hear them. Claud. [Exeunt Duke and Provost. Now, sister, what's the comfort? Isab. Why, as all comforts are; most good in deed1: Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven, Intends you for his swift embassador, Where you shall be an everlasting leiger: Therefore your best appointment? make with speed; Claud. Is there no remedy? Isab. None, but such remedy, as, to save a head, To cleave a heart in twain. Claud. But is there any? Claud. Perpetual durance? Isab. Ay, just, perpetual durance; a restraint, Though all the world's vastidity you had, To a determin'd scope. Claud. But in what nature? Isab. In such a one as (you consenting to't) Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear, +"Bring me to hear them speak." MALONE. Therefore your best appointment] Leiger is the same with resident. Appointment; preparation; act of fitting, or state of being fitted for any thing. To a determin'd scope.] A confinement of your mind to one painful idea; to ignominy, of which the remembrance can neither be suppressed nor escaped. JOHNSON. Claud. Let me know the point. Isab. O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, Claud. Why give you me this shame? Think you I can a resolution fetch From flowery tenderness? If I must die, I will encounter darkness as a bride, And hug it in mine arms. Isab. There spake my brother; there my father's grave Did utter forth a voice! Yes, thou must die: Thou art too noble to conserve a life In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy, His filth within being cast", he would appear A pond as deep as hell. Claud. The princely Angelo? Isab. O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell, The damned'st body to invest and cover In princely guards! Dost thou think, Claudio, Thou might'st be freed? 4 Claud. O, heavens! it cannot be. -follies doth enmew.] Forces follies to lie in cover, without daring to show themselves. 5 As falcon doth the fowl,] as the fowl is afraid to flutter while the falcon hovers over it. 7 6 His filth within being cast,] To cast a pond is to empty it of mud. • princely guards!] i. e. badges of royalty, or outward appearances. Some would read priestly guards, or sanctity. |