Shall thereby be the fweeter.

I

Reason thus with life;

• If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing,

• That none but fools would reck; a breath thou art, Servile to all the skiey influences,

• That do this habitation, where thou keep❜ft, Hourly afflict; meerly thou art Death's Fool; • For him thou labour'ft by thy flight to fhun, And yet runn'ft tow'rd him ftill. 3 Thou art not

I

noble ;

Reafon thus with life;
If I do lofe thee, I do lofe a thing,

That none but fools would keep.] But this reading is not only contrary to all fenfe and reafon; but to the drift of this moral discourse. The Duke, in his affum'd character of a Friar, is endeavouring to inftil into the condemn'd prifoner a refignation of mind to his fentence; but the fenfe of the lines, in this reading, is a direct perfuafive to Suicide! I make no doubt, but the Poet

wrote,

That none but Fools would reck.

i. e. care for, be anxious about, regret the lofs of. So in the Tragedy of Tancred and Gifmunda, A&t 4. Scene 3.

Not that he RECKS this life And Shakespear in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Recking as little what betideth me

2

meerly thou art Death's Fool;
For him thou labour'ft by thy flight to fhun,

And yet runn'ft tow'rd him fill.] In those old Farces called MORALITIES, the Fool of the piece, in order to fhew the inevitable approaches of Death, is made to employ all his ftratagems to avoid him which, as the matter is ordered, bring the Fool, at every turn, into his very jaws. So that the representations of these scenes would afford a great deal of good mirth and morals mixed together. And from fuch circumftances, in the genius of our ancestors publick diverfions, I fuppofe it was, that the old proverb arose, of being merry and wife.

3

Thou art not noble;

For all th' accommodations, that thou bear'ft,

Are nurs'd by bafenefs: ] This enigmatical fentence, fo much in the manner of our Author, is a fine proof of his knowledge of human nature. The meaning of it being this, Thy most virtuous actions have a felfish motive, and even thofe of them which appear most generous, are but the more artful difguifes of felf-love.

• For

For all th' accommodations, that thou bear'ft,
Are nurs❜d by baseness: thou'rt by no means va-

liant;

For thou doft fear the foft and tender fork Of a poor worm. 4 Thy best of Reft is fleep, •And that thou oft provok'st; yet grofly fear'st Thy death, which is no more. Thou'rt not thy felf; For thou exift'ft on many a thousand grains,

• That iffue out of duft. Happy thou art not; • For what thou haft not, ftill thou ftriv'ft to get; • And what thou haft forget'ft. Thou art not certain; For thy complexion fhifts to strange effects, After the moon. If thou art rich, thou'rt poor; • For, like an ass, whofe back with ingots bows, < Thou bear'ft thy heavy riches but a journey, • And death unloadeth thee. Friend thou haft none; For thy own bowels, which do call thee Sire, The meer effufion of thy proper loins, Do curse the Gout, Serpigo, and the Rheum, For ending thee no fooner. 5 Thou haft nor youth, nor age;

4 Thy beft of Reft is fleep.

And that thou oft provok'ft; yet grofly fear'ft

• But

Thy death, which is no more.] Evidently from the following paffage of Cicero: Habes fomnum imaginem Mortis, eamque quotidie induis, & dubitas quin fenfus in morte nullus fit, cum in ejus fimulacro videas effe nullum fenfum. But the Epicurean infinuation is, with great judgment, omitted in the imitation.

5 Thou haft nor youth, nor age;

But as it were an after dinner's fleep,
Dreaming on both; for all thy bleffed youth
Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms

Of palfied Eld.] The drift of this period is to prove, that neither youth nor age can be faid to be really enjoyed, which, in poetical language, is, We have neither youth nor age. But how is this made out? That Age is not enjoyed he proves, by recapitulating the infirmities of it, which deprive that period of life of all fenfe of pleasure. To prove that Youth is not enjoyed, he ufes thefe words, For all thy blaffed youth becomes as aged, and doth

beg

• But as it were an after-dinner's fleep,

Dreaming on both; for pall'd, thy blazed youth • Becomes affuaged, and doth beg the alms

6

Of palfied Eld; and when thou'rt old and rich, Thou haft neither heat, affection, limb, nor bounty To make thy riches pleasant. What's yet in this, • That bears the name of life? yet in this life

Lye hid more thousand deaths; yet death we fear, • That makes these odds all even.

Claud. I humbly thank you.

To fue to live, I find, I seek to die ;

And, feeking death, find life: let it come on.

Enter Ifabella.

Ifab. What, ho? peace here, grace and good company!

Prov. Who's there? come in: the wifh deferves a welcome.

beg the alms of palfied Eld. Out of which, he that can deduce the conclufion, has a better knack at logic than I have. I fuppofe the Poet wrote,

for pall'd, thy blazed youth

Becomes affuaged; and doth beg the alms
Of palfied Eld;

i. e. when thy youthful appetite becomes palled, as it will be in the very enjoyment, the blaze of youth is at once affuaged, and thou immediately contracteft the infirmities of old age; as, particularly, the palfie and other nervous diforders, confequent on the inordinate ufe of fenfual pleasures. This is to the purpose; and proves Youth is not enjoyed by fhewing the fhort duration of it. The words of Cicero, of which this is an imitation, confirm this emendation, Que verò ætas longa eft? Aut quid omnino homini longum? Nonne modò pueros, modò adolefcentes, in curfu à tergo infequens, nec opinantes affecuta eft fenectus?

6 heat, affection, limb, nor beauty.] But how does beauty make riches pleasant? We fhould read BOUNTY, which compleats the fenfe, and is this; Thou haft neither the pleasure of enjoying riches thy felf, for thou wanteft vigour: nor of feeing it enjoyed by others, for thou wanteft bounty. Where the making the want of bounty as infeparable from old age as the want of health, is extremely fatyrical tho' not altogether juft.

Duke.

Duke. Dear Sir, ere long I'll vifit you again.
Claud. Moft holy Sir, I thank you.

Ifab. My Bufinefs is a word, or two, with Claudio. Prov. And very welcome. Look, Signior, here's your fifter.

Duke. Provost, a word with you.

Prov. As many as you please.

Duke. Bring them to fpeak where I may be con

ceal'd,

Yet hear them.

[Exeunt Duke and Provost,

E II.

SCEN

Claud. Now, fifter, what's the comfort?

Ifab. Why, as all comforts are; moft good in

Deed:

Lord Angelo, having affairs to heav'n,
Intends you for his fwift ambaffador;
Where you fhall be an everlafting leiger.

Therefore your beft appointment make with fpeed,
To-morrow you fet on.

Claud. Is there no remedy?

Ifab. None, but fuch remedy, as, to fave a head, To cleave a heart in twain.

Claud. But is there any?

Ifab. Yes, brother, you may live :
There is a devilifh mercy in the judge,

If you'll implore it, that will free your life,
But fetter you 'till death.

Claud. Perpetual durance?

Ifab. Ay, juft; perpetual durance; a restraint, Tho' all the world's vastidity you had,

To a determin'd scope.

Claud. But in what nature?

Ifab. In fuch a one, as you, confenting to't, Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear,

And leave you naked.

VOL. I.

Claud. Let me know the point.

Ifab. "Oh, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, "Left thou a fev'rous life fhould'st entertain, "And fix or seven Winters more respect

"Than a perpetual Honour. Dar'ft thou die?
"The fenfe of death is most in apprehenfion;
"And the poor Beetle, that we tread upon,
"In corp'ral fufferance finds a pang as great,
"As when a Giant dies.

Claud. Why give you me this fhame?
Think you, I can a resolution fetch
From flow'ry tenderness? if I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms.

Ifab." There fpake my brother; there my father's

grave

"Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou muft die:
Thou art too noble to conferve a life

In base appliances. This outward-fainted Deputy,
Whose fettled visage and delib'rate word
Nips youth i'th' head; and follies doth emmew,
As faulcon doth the fowl; is yet a devil:
His filth within being caft, he would appear
A pond as deep as hell.

Claud. 7 The Priestly Angelo?

Ifab. Oh, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'ft body to inveft and cover
In Prieftly guards. Doft thou think, Claudio,

If

7 The PRINCELY Angelo? PRINCELY guards.] The ftupid Editors miftaking guards for fatellites, (whereas it here fignifies lace) altered PRIESTLY, in both places, to PRINCELY. Where as Shakespear wrote it PRIESTLY, as appears from the words themselves,

'tis the cunning livery of hell,

The damned ft body to inveft and cover
With PRIESTLY guards.

In the first place we fee that guards here fignifies lace, as referring to livery, and as having no fenfe in the fignification of fatellites.

Now