Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

"That modefty may more betray our sense, "Than woman's lightness? having wafte ground enough,

"Shall we defire to raze the fanctuary,

“And pitch our evils there? oh, fie, fie, fie !
What doft thou? or what art thou, Angelo ?
Doft thou defire her foully, for those things
That make her good? Oh, let her brother live:
Thieves for their robbery have authority,

When judges fteal themselves. What? do I love her,
That I defire to hear her speak again,

And feast upon her eyes? what is't I dream on? Oh, cunning enemy, that, to catch a Saint, With Saints doft bait thy hook! most dangerous "Is that temptation, that doth goad us on "To fin in loving virtue: ne'er could the ftrumpet, With all her double vigour, art and nature, Once ftir my temper; but this virtuous maid Subdues me quite: Ever 'till this very Now, When men were fond, I fmil'd, and wonder'd how. [Exit.

[blocks in formation]

Changes to a Prifon.

Enter Duke habited like a Friar, and Provoft.

Duke.

AIL to you, Provoft! fo, I think, you are. Prov. I am the Provoft; what's your will, good Friar?

Duke. Bound by my charity, and my blest Order, I come to visit the afflicted spirits

Here in the prison; do me the common right
To let me fee them, and to make me know
The nature of their crimes; that I may minifter
To them accordingly.

Prov. I would do more than that, if more were

needful.

Enter

Enter Juliet.

Look, here comes one; a gentlewoman of mine,
+ Who falling in the flames of her own youth,
Hath blifter'd her report: fhe is with child;
And he, that got it, fentenc'd: a young man
More fit to do another fuch offence,
Than die for this.

Duke. When must he die?

Prov. As I do think, to-morrow.

I have provided for you; ftay a while, [To Juliet. And you fhall be conducted.

Duke. Repent you, fair one, of the fin you carry? Juliet. I do; and bear the fhame most patiently. Duke. I'll teach you, how you fhall arraign your confcience,

And try your penitence, if it be found,

Or hollowly put on.

Juliet. I'll gladly learn.

Duke. Love you the man that wrong'd you? Juliet. Yes, as I love the woman that wrong'd him. Duke. So then, it seems, your most offenceful act Was mutually committed.

[ocr errors]

Juliet. Mutually.

Duke. Then was your fin of heavier kind than his. Juliet. I do confefs it, and repent it, father.

Duke. 'Tis meet fo, daughter; but repent you not, As that the fin hath brought you to this shame? Which forrow's always tow'rds ourselves, not heav'n; Shewing, we'd not feek heaven, as we love it, But as we ftand in fear.

Juliet. I do repent me, as it is an evil;

And take the fhame with joy.

4 Who falling in the flaws of her own youth

Hath blifter'd her report:] Who doth not fee that the integrity of the metaphor requires we should read FLAMES of her own youth.

Cc 3

Duke.

Duke. There reft.

Your partner, as I hear, muft die to-morrow,
And I am going with inftruction to him;
So, grace go with you! benedicite.

[Exit.

Juliet. Muft die to-morrow! 5 oh, injurious love, That refpites me a life, whofe very comfort

Is ftill a dying horror!

Prov. 'Tis pity of him.

Ang

S C CENE X.

Changes to the Palace.

Enter Angelo.

WHEN I would

and pray

[Exeunt.

pray and think, I think

To fev'ral fubjects: heav'n hath my empty words,
Whilft my intention, hearing not my tongue,
Anchors on Ifabel. Heav'n's in my mouth,
As if I did but only chew its name;

And in my heart the ftrong and fwelling evil
Of my conception: the state, whereon I studied,
Is like a good thing, being often read,

7 Grown fear'd and tedious; yea, my gravity,
Wherein (let no man hear me) I take pride,
Could I with boot change for an idle plume
Which the air beats for vain. Oh place! oh form!

5- oh, injurious love,] Her execution was refpited on account of her pregnancy, the effects of her love: therefore fhe calls it injurious; not that it brought her to fhame, but that it hindered her freeing herself from it. Is not this all very natural? yet the Oxford Editor changes it to injurious law.

6 Whilft my intention, ] Nothing can be either plainer or exacter than this expreffion. But the old blundering Folio having it, invention, this was enough for Mr. Theobald to prefer authority to fenfe.

7 Grown FEAR'D and tedious ;] We fhould read SEAR'D i. e. old. So Shakespear uses, in the fear, to fignify old age.

How

How often doft thou with thy case, thy habit,
Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wifer fouls
To thy false seeming? blood, thou art but blood:
8 Let's write good angel on the devil's horn;
Tis not the devil's creft.

Enter Servant.

How now, who's there?

Serv. One Ifabel, a fifter, defires access to you. Ang. Teach her the way. Oh heav'ns! Why does my blood thus muster to my heart, Making both That unable for itself,

And difpoffeffing all my other parts

Of neceffary fitness?

So play the foolish throngs with one that fwoons;
Come all to help him, and so stop the air
By which he should revive: and even fo
The genʼral fubjects to a well-wifht King
Quit their own part, and in obfequious fondness
Crowd to his prefence, where their untaught love
Must needs appear offence. How now, fair maid?

8 Let's write good angel on the devil's horn;

'Tis not the devil's creft.] i. e. Let the most wicked thing have but a virtuous pretence, and it fhall pafs for innocent. This was his conclufion from his preceeding words,

ob form!

How often doft thou with thy cafe, thy habit,

Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wifer fouls

To thy falfe feeming?

But the Oxford Editor makes him conclude just counter to his own premifes; by altering it to,

Is't not the devil's creft.

So that, according to this alteration, the reafoning ftands thus.Falfe feeming wrenches awe from fools, and deceives the wife. Therefore, Let us but write good angel on the devil's born; (i. e. give him the appearance of an angel;) and what then? Is't not the devil's creft? (i. e. he fhall be esteem'd a devil.)

[blocks in formation]

SCE NE

Enter Ifabella.

XI.

Ifab. I am come to know your pleasure. Ang. That you might know it, would much better please me,

Than to demand, what 'tis. Your brother cannot live. Ifab. Ev'n fo?- Heaven keep your Honour!

[Going. Ang. Yet may he live a while; and, it may be, As long as you or I; yet he must die. Ifab. Under your fentence?

Ang. Yea.

Ifab. When, I beseech you? that in his reprieve, Longer or fhorter, he may be fo fitted,

That his foul ficken not.

Ang. Ha? fie, these filthy vices! 'twere as good
To pardon him, that hath from nature ftol'n
A man already made, as to remit

Their fawcy fweetness, that do coin heav'n's image
In ftamps that are forbid: 'tis all as eafie,
Falfely to take away a life true made;

As to put metal in reftrained means,

To make a falfe one.

Ifab. 'Tis fet down fo in heav'n, but not in earth. Ang. And fay you fo? then I fhall poze you quickly.

Which had you rather, that the most just law
Now took your brother's life; or, to redeem him,

9 -'tis all as eafie, ] Eafie is here put for light or trifling. Tis, fays he, as light or trifling a crime to do fo, as fo, &c. Which the Oxford Editor not apprehending, has alter'd it to juft; for 'tis much easier to conceive what Shakespear fhould fay, than what he does fay. So just before, the poet faid, with his ufual licence, their fawcy sweetness, for fawey indulgence of the appetite. And this, forfooth, must be changed to farey lewdness, tho' the epithet confines us, as it were, to the poet's word.

« ПредишнаНапред »