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forry fhould be thus foolishly loft at a game of tick-tack. I'll to her.

Claud. I thank you, good friend Lucio.

Lucio. Within two hours,

Claud. Come, officer, away.

Duhe.

SCENE, A MONASTERY.

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Enter Duke, and Friar Thomas.

[Exeunt.

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O; holy father, throw away that thought; Believe not, that the dribbling dart of love Can pierce a compleat bofom; why I defire thee To give me fecret harbour, hath a purpose More grave, and wrinkled than the aims and ends Of burning youth.

Fri. May your Grace fpeak of it?

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Duke. My holy Sir, none better knows than you,
How I have ever lov'd the life remov'd;

And held in idle price to haunt Affemblies,
Where youth, and coft, and witless bravery keeps.
I have deliver'd to lord Angelo

(A man of ftricture and firm abftinence)
My abfolute Pow'r and Place here in Vienna;
And he fuppofes me travell'd to Poland;
For fo I've ftrew'd it in the common ear,
And fo it is receiv'd: now, pious Sir,
You will demand of me, why I do this?
Fri. Gladly, my lord.

Duke. We have strict Statutes and most biting Laws, (The needful bits and curbs for head-ftrong Steeds, (4) Which for thefe nineteen years we have let fleep: (5)

Even

(4) The needful Bits and Curbs for beadftrong Weeds :] There is no matter of Analogy or Confonance, in the Metaphors here: and tho' the Copies agree, I do not think, the Author would have talk'd of Bits and Curbs for Weeds. On the other hand, nothing can be more proper, than to compare Perfons of unbridled Licentioufeness to head-ftrong Steeds: and, in this View, bridling the Paffions has been a Phrafe adopted by our beft Poets.

(5) Which for theje fourteen years we have let ip.] For fourteen I have made no Scruple to replace nineteen. The Rea

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Even like an o'er-grown lion in a cave,

That goes not out to prey: now, as fond fathers
Having bound up the threat'ning twigs of birch,
Only to ftick it in their Children's fight,
For terror, not to ufe; in time the rod
Becomes more mock'd, than fear'd: fo our Decrees,
Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead;
And Liberty plucks Juftice by the nofe;
The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart
Goes all decorum.

Fri. It refted in your Grace

T'unloofe this ty'd up juftice, when you pleas'd:
And it in you more dreadful would have feem'd,
Than in lord Angelo.

Duke. I do fear, too dreadful.

Sith 'twas my fault to give the people scope,
'Twould be my tyranny to ftrike and gall them,
For what I bid them do. For we bid this be done,
When evil deeds have their permiffive pafs,

And not the punishment. Therefore, indeed, my father,
I have on Angelo impos'd the office:

Who may in th' ambush of my name ftrike home,

fon will be obvious to the Reader, who fhould look back to the 3d Note upon this Play. I have, I hope, upon as good Authority, alter'd the odd Phrafe of letting the Laws flip: for, fuppofing the Expreffion might be juftified, yet how does it fort with the Comparison, that follows, of a Lion in his Cave that went not out to prey? But letting the Laws fleep, as I have reftored to the Text, adds a particular Propriety to the Thing reprefented, and accords exactly too with the Simile It is the Metaphor too, that our Author feems fond of ufing upon this Occafion, in feveral other Paffages of this Play..

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And yet, my nature never in the fight
So do in flander: And to behold his sway,
I will, as 'twere a Brother of your Order,
Vifit both prince and people; therefore, pr'ythee,
Supply me with the habit, and inftruct me
How I may formally in perfon bear,

Like a true Friar. More reafons for this action
At our more leisure fhall I render you;
Only, this one Lord Angelo is precife;
Stands at a guard with envy; fcarce confeffes
That his blood flows, or that his appetite

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Is more to bread than stone: hence hall we fee,
If pow'r change purpofe, what our feemers be. [Exeunt.

SCENE, A Nunnery.

Enter Ifabella and Francifca.

Ifab. A Nun. Are not these large enough?

ND have you Nuns no further privileges

Ifab. Yes, truly; I fpeak not. as defiring more;
But rather withing a more strict rettraint

Upon the fifter-hood, the votarifts of Saint Clare.
Lucio. [within.] Hoa! Peace be in this place!
Ifab. Who's that, which calls?

Nun. It is a man's voice: gentle. Ifabella,
Turn you

the key, and know his business of him;
You may; I may not: you are yet unfworn:
When you have vow'd, you must not speak with men,
But in the prefence of the Priorefs;

Then, if you speak, you must not fhew your face;
Or, if you fhew your face, you must not speak.
He calls again; I pray you, answer him. [Exit Fran.
Ifab. Peace and profperity! who is't that calls?

Enter Lucio.

Lucio. Hail, virgin, (if you be) as thofe cheek-roofes Proclaim you are no lefs; can you so ftead me,

As bring me to the fight of Ifabella,

A novice of this place, and the fair fifter

To her unhappy brother Claudio?

Ifab. Why her unhappy brother? let me ask The rather, for I now must make you know

I am that Isabella, and his fifter.

Lucio. Gentle and fair, your brother kindly greets you; Not to be weary with you, he's in prifon.

Ifab. Woe me! for what?

Lucio. For that, which, if myself might be his judge, He should receive his punishment in thanks; He hath got his friend with child.

Ifab. Sir, make me not your ftory.

Lucio. Tis true:I would not (tho''tis my familiar fin With maids to feem the lapwing, and to jeft, Tongue far from heart) play with all virgins fo. I hold you as a thing en-sky'd, and fainted; By your renouncement, an immortal Spirit; And to be talk'd with in fincerity,

As with a Saint:

Ifab. You do blafpheme the good, in mocking me. Lucio. Do not believe it. Fewness and truth, 'tis thus ; Your brother and his lover having embrac❜d,

As thofe that feed grow full, as bloffoming time
That from the feednefs the bare fallow brings
To teeming foyfon; fo her plenteous womb
Expreffeth his full tilth and husbandry.

İfab. Some one with child by him?-my coufin Juliet?
Lucio, Is the your coufin ? -

Ifab. Adoptedly, as fchool-maids change their names, By vain, tho' apt, affection.

Lucio. She it is.

Ifab. O, let him marry her!

Lucio. This is the point.

The Duke is very ftrangely gone from hence;
Bore many gentlemen, myself being one,
In hand and hope of action; but we learn,
By thofe that know the very nerves of state,
His givings out were of an infinite diftance
From his true-meant defign. Upon his place,
And with full line of his authority,
Governs lord Angelo; a man whose blood
Is very fnow-broth; one who never feels

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The wanton ftings and motions of the fenfe;
But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge
With profits of the mind, ftudy and fast.
He, (to give fear to ufe and liberty,
Which have long time run by the hideous law,
As mice by lions ;) hath pickt out an act,
Under whofe heavy fenfe your brother's life
Falls into forfeit; he arrefts him on it;
And follows close the rigour of the statute,
To make him an example: all hope's gone,
Unless you have the grace by your fair prayer
To foften Angelo; and that's my pith of business
'Twixt you and your poor brother.

Ijab. Doth he fo

Seek for his life?

Lucio. H'as cenfur'd him already;

And, as I hear, the Provoft hath a warrant
For's execution.

Ijab. Alas! what poor

Ability's in me, to do him good?
Lucio. Affay the power you have.
Ifab. My power alas! I doubt.
Lucio. Our doubts are traitors;

And made us lofe the good, we oft might win,
By fearing to attempt. Go to lord Angelo,
And let him learn to know, when maidens fue,
Men give like Gods; but when they weep and kneel,
All their petitions are as truly theirs,

As they themselves would owe them.

Ifab. I'll fee what I can do.
Lucio. But, fpeedily.

Ifab. I will about it ftrait;

No longer flaying, but to give the mother
Notice of my affair. I humbly thank you;
Commend me to my brother: foon at night
I'll fend him certain word of my fuccefs.
Lucio. I take my leave of you.
Ifab. Good Sir, adieu.

[Exeunt.

ACT

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