Let him not die. My brother had but juftice, For Angelo, His act did not o'ertake his bad intent; And must be bury'd but as an intent, That perifh'd by the way: thoughts are no fubjects: Intents, but merely thoughts. Mari. Meerly, my lord. Duke. Your fuit's unprofitable; ftand up, I sayI have bethought me of another fault. Provost, how came it, Claudio was beheaded Prov. It was commanded fo. Duke. Had you a fpecial warrant for the deed? Prov. No, my good lord; it was by private meffage. Duke. For which I do discharge you of your office. Give up your keys. Prov. Pardon me, noble lord. I thought it was a fault, but knew it not; abel is importuned against all fenfe bim. dinary. A due fincerity govern'd his deeds, 'Till he did look on me; fince it is jo, Let him not die. That Angelo had committed all the crimes charged gainft him, as far as he could commit them, is evident. The only intent which bis act did not overtake, was the defilement of Ijabel. Of this Angelo was only intentionally guilty. Angelo's crimes were fuch, as muit iufficiently justify punish 6 ment, whether its end be to fecure the innocent from wrong, or to deter guilt by example; and I be. lieve every reader feels fome indignation when he finds hin spared. From what extenuation of his crime can Ifabel, who yet fuppofes her brother dead, form Since any plea in his favour. be was good 'till he looked on me, let him not die. I am afraid our Varlet Peet intended to inculcate, that women think ill of nothing that raises the credit of their beauty, and are ready, however virtuous, to pardon any act which they think incited by their own charms. 1 have I have referv'd alive. Duke. What's he? Prov. His name is Bernardine. Duke. I would, thou had'it done fo by Claudio Go, fetch him hither; kt me look upon him. [Exit Provost. Efcal. I'm forry one fo learned and fo wife As you, lord Angelo, hath fill appear'd, Should flip fo grofsly both in heat of blood, And lack of temper'd judgment afterward. Ang. I'm forry, that fuch forrow I procure; And fo deep flicks it in my penitent heart, That I crave death more willingly than mercy : Tis my deferving, and I do intreat it. Enter Provost, Barnardine, Claudio, and Julietta. Duke. Which is that Barnardine? Prov. 'Tis this, my lord. Duke. There was a Friar told me of this man. That apprehends no further than this world; For better times to come. Friar advife him; I leave him to your hand. What muffled fellow's that? Duke. If he be like your brother, for his fake [To Ifab. Is he pardon'd; and for your lovely fake, 7-for thofe earthly faults.] Thy faults, to far as they are punishable on earth, fo far as they are cognifable by temporal power, I forgive. He * He is my brother too; but fitter time for that. 8 Look, that you love your wife; her worth, worth yours. I find an apt remiffion in myself, And yet here's one in place I cannot pardon. One of all luxury, an ass, a mad-man; That you extol me thus ? 2 [To Lucio. Lucio. 'Faith, my lord, I fpoke it but according to the trick; if you will hang me for it, you may : but I had rather it would pleafe you, I might be whipt. Duke. Whipt first, Sir, and hang'd after. Proclaim it, Provost, round about the city; If any woman's wrongd by this lew'd fellow, As I have heard him fwear himself, there's one Whom he begot with child; let her appear, And he fhall marry her. The nuptial finifh'd, Let him be whipt and hang'd.` Lucio. I befeech your highness, do not marry me to a whore. Your highnefs faid even now, I made you a duke; good my lord, do not recompence me, in making me a cuckold. Duke. Upon mine honour thou fhalt marry her. Remit thy other forfeits. 3-Take him to prison: Lucio. Marrying a punk, my lord, is preffing to death, whipping and hanging. Duke. Sland'ring a prince deferves it. She, Claudio, that you wrong'd, look you restore. I have confefs'd her, and I know her virtue. What's yet behind, that's meet You all fhould know. tually executed, and the governour fends his head in a bravado to the fifter, after he had debauched her on promife of marriage. A circumftance of too much horror and villainy for the ftage. And, in the next place, the fifter afterwards is, to folder up her difgrace, married to the governour, and begs his life of the Emperour, though he had unjustly been the death of her brother. Both which abfurdities the Poet has avoided by the Epifode of Mariana, a creature purely of his own invention. The Duke's remaining incognito at home to fupervife the conduct of his deputy, is alfo entirely our Authour's fiction. The ftery was attempted for the scene before our authour was fourteen years old, by one George Whetstone, in Two Comical Difcourfes, as they are called, containing the right excellent and famous hillory of Promos and Caffandra. Printed with the black letter 1578. The Authour going that vear with Sir Humphry Gilbert to Norimbega, left them with his friends to publish. THEOBALD. The novel of Cynthio Giraldi, from which Shakespear is fuppofed to have borrowed this fable, may be read in Shakespear illuftrated, elegantly tranflated, with remarks which wil affift the enquirer to difcover how much abfurdity Shakespear has admitted or avoided. I cannot but fufpe&t that fome other had new modelled the novel of Cynthin, or written a flory which in fome particulars refembled it, and that Cinthio was not the authour whom Shakespear immediately followed. The emperour in Cinthio is named Maximine, the Duke, in Shakespear's enumeration of the perfons of the drama, is called Vincentio. This appears a very flight remark; but fince the Duke has no name in the play, nor is ever mentioned but by his title, why fhould he be called Vincentio among the Perfons, but becaufe the name was copied from the ftory, and placed fuperfluoufly at the head of the lift by the mere habit of tranfcription? It is therefore likely that there was then a Aory of Vincentio Dake of Vienna, different from that of Maximine Emperor of the Romans. Of this play the light or comick part is very natural and pleafing, but the grave scenes, if a few paffages be excepted, have more labour than elegance. The plot is rather intricate than artful. The time of the action is indefinite; fome time, we know not how much, must have elapsed between the recefs of the Duke and the imprisonment of Claudie; for he mult have learned the ftory of Mariana in his disguise, or he del-gated his power to a man already known to be corrupted. The unities of action and place are fufficiently preferved. THE |