Write from it, if you can, in hand, or phrase; Why you have given me such clear lights of favor; First told me thou wast mad: then cam'st in smiling, Of thine own cause. Fab. Good madam, hear me speak; And let no quarrel, nor no brawl to come, Taint the condition of this present hour, Which I have wondered at. In hope it shall not, 1 Inferior. 3 Practice is a deceit, an insidious stratagem. 2 Fool. 4 Importunacy. Oli. Alas, poor fool! how have they baffled1 thee! Clo. Why, some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrown upon them. I was one, sir, in this interlude; one Sir Topas, sir; but that's all one:-By the Lord, fool, I am not mad.— But do you remember? Madam, why laugh you at such a barren rascal? An you smile not, he's gagged: And thus the whirligig of Time brings in his revenges. Mal. I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you. [Exit. Oli. He hath been most notoriously abused. He hath not told us of the captain yet; Of our dear souls.-Mean time, sweet sister, [Exeunt. SONG. Clo. When that I was and a little tiny boy, A foolish thing was but a toy, For the rain it raineth every day. But when I came to man's estate, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, 'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate, For the rain it raineth every day. But when I came, alas! to wive, 1 Cheated. 2 i. e. Shall serve, agree, be convenient. But when I came unto my bed, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, A great while ago the world begun, But that's all one, our play is done, [Exit. THIS play is in the graver part elegant and easy, and in some of the lighter scenes exquisitely humorous. Ague-cheek is drawn with great propriety, but his character is, in a great measure, that of natural fatuity, and is therefore not the proper prey of a satirist. The soliloquy of Malvolio is truly comic; he is betrayed to ridicule merely by his pride. The marriage of Olivia, and the succeeding perplexity, though well enough contrived to divert on the stage, wants credibility, and fails to produce the proper instruction required in the drama, as it exhibits no just picture of life. JOHNSON. MEASURE FOR MEASURE. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. SHAKSPEARE took the fable of this play from the Promos and Cassandra of George Whetstone, published in 1578, of which this is "The Argument." “In the city of Julio (sometimes under the dominion of Corvinus, king of Hungary and Bohemia), there was a law, that what man soever committed adultery should lose his head, and the woman offender should wear some disguised apparel, during her life, to make her infamously noted. This severe law, by the favor of some merciful magistrate, became little regarded, until the time of Lord Promos's authority; who, convicting a young gentleman named Andrugio of incontinency, condemned both him and his minion to the execution of this statute. Andrugio had a very virtuous and beautiful gentlewoman to his sister, named Cassandra. Cassandra, to enlarge her brother's life, submitted a humble petition to the Lord Promos. Promos, regarding her good behavior, and fantasying her great beauty, was much delighted with the sweet order of her talk; and doing good, that evil might come thereof, for a time he reprieved her brother; but, wicked man, turning his liking into unlawful lust, he set down the spoil of her honor, ransom for her brother's life: chaste Cassandra, abhorring both him and his suit, by no persuasion would yield to this But in fine, won by the importunity of her brother (pleading for life), upon these conditions she agreed to Promos: First, that he should pardon her brother, and after marry her. Promos, as fearless in promise as careless in performance, with solemn vow, signed her conditions; but, worse than any infidel, his will satisfied, he performed neither the one nor ransom. { the other: for to keep his authority unspotted with favor, and to prevent Cassandra's clamors, he commanded the jailer secretly to present Cassandra with her brother's head. The jailer [touched] with the outcries of Andrugio (abhorring Promos's lewdness), by the providence of God, provided thus for his safety. He presented Cassandra with a felon's head newly executed; who knew it not, being mangled, from her brother's (who was set at liberty by the jailer). [She] was so aggrieved at this treachery, that, at the point to kill herself, she spared that stroke to be avenged of Promos; and devising a way, she concluded to make her fortunes known to the king. She, executing this resolution, was so highly favored of the king, that forthwith he hasted to do justice on Promos; whose judgment was to marry Cassandra, to repair her crazed honor; which done, for his heinous offence, he should lose his head. This marriage solemnized, Cassandra, tied in the greatest bonds of affection to her husband, became an earnest suitor for his life: the king tendering the general benefit of the commonweal before her special case, although he favored her much, would not grant her suit. Andrugio (disguised among the company), sor rowing the grief of his sister, bewrayed his safety, and craved pardon. The king, to renown the virtues of Cassandra, pardoned both him and Promos. The circumstances of this rare history, in action lively followeth." Whetstone, however, has not afforded a very correct analysis of his play, which contains a mixture of comic scenes, between a bawd, a pimp, felons, &c., together with some serious situations which are not described. A hint, like a seed, is more or less prolific, according to the qualities of the soil on which it is thrown. This story, which in the hands of Whetstone produced little more than barren insipidity, under the culture of Shakspeare became fertile of entertainment. The curious reader may see the old play of Promos and Cassandra among "Six Old Plays on which Shakspeare founded, &c." published by Mr. Steevens, printed for S. Leacroft, Charing Cross. The piece exhibits an almost complete embryo of Measure for Measure; yet the hints on which it is formed are so slight, that it is nearly as impossible to detect them, as it is to point out in the acorn the future ramifications of the oak. The story originally came |