I am not yet instructed. Ang. 'Tis so with me. Let us withdraw together, And we may soon our satisfaction have Touching that point. Escal. I'll wait upon your honour. [Exeunt. SCENE II. A Street. Enter LUCIO and two Gentlemen. Lucio. If the duke, with the other dukes, come not to composition with the king of Hungary, why then, all the dukes fall upon the king. 1 Gent. Heaven grant us its peace, but not the king of Hungary's! 2 Gent. Amen. Lucio. Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the ten commandments, but scraped one out of the table. 2 Gent. Thou shalt not steal? Lucio. Ay; that he razed. 1 Gent. Why, 'twas a commandment to command the captain and all the rest from their functions: they put forth to steal. There's not a soldier of us all, that, in the thanksgiving before meat, doth relish the petition well that prays for peace. 2 Gent. I never heard any soldier dislike it. Lucio. I believe thee; for, I think, thou never wast where grace was said. 2 Gent. No? a dozen times at least. 1 Gent. Why, 'twas a commandment, &c.] "Why" is here not an interrogation, but merely an expletive, and we agree with the Rev. Mr. Dyce, who adduces many examples to prove that if "why" be not an interrogation, it ought not to be followed by the corresponding mark: we do not suppose that such a matter will be doubted. In our former edition, however, we threw out a hint, that if "why" were treated as an interrogation, what succeeds probably belonged to Lucio, and not to the 1 Gent. Of this hint (which was founded on a mistake) Mr. Singer avails himself, and gives all that follows " "Why?" to Lucio, - but without any notice that such a course had ever before been proposed. Here, by abandoning his usual authority, Mr. Dyce, and taking our hint for granted, Mr. Singer has committed the very error he was warned to avoid. 1 Gent. What, in metre? Lucio. In any proportion, or in any language. 1 Gent. I think, or in any religion. Lucio. Ay; why not? Grace is grace, despite of all controversy as for example; thou thyself art a wicked villain, despite of all grace. 1 Gent. Well, there went but a pair of sheers between us'. Lucio. I grant; as there may between the list and the velvet thou art the list. 1 Gent. And thou the velvet: thou art good velvet; thou art a three-pil'd piece, I warrant thee. I had as lief be a list of an English kersey, as be pil'd, as thou art pil'd, for a French velvet'. Do I speak feelingly now? Lucio. I think thou dost; and, indeed, with most painful feeling of thy speech: I will, out of thine own confession, learn to begin thy health; but, whilst I live, forget to drink after thee. 1 Gent. I think, I have done myself wrong, have I not? 2 Gent. Yes, that thou hast, whether thou art tainted, or free. Lucio. Behold! behold, where madam Mitigation comes?! 1 Gent. I have purchased as many diseases under her roof, as come to 2 Gent. To what, I pray? Lucio. Judge. 2 Gent. To three thousand dollars a-year'. 1 Gent. Ay, and more. Lucio. A French crown more. 2 Gent. Thou art always figuring diseases in me; but thou art full of error: I am sound. Lucio. Nay, not as one would say, healthy; but so sound 9 Well, there went but a pair of sheers between us.] A proverbial expression to show that they were both cut off the same piece: it is of common occurrence in our old dramatists. "List" is lists in the folios in the next line. 1 as be PIL'D, as thou art PIL'D, for a French velvet.] The point of this retort depends upon the similarity of sound between “pil'd,” in reference to the pile of velvet, and pill'd, or peel'd, in reference to a person losing his hair. 2 Behold! behold, where madam Mitigation comes!] The old copies give the whole of this speech to Lucio, but the latter part of it probably belongs to 1 Gent. Pope, and Malone following him, took it altogether from Lucio, but there is no reason for depriving him of the observation respecting the approach of the Bawd, who enters just afterwards, though the folios mark it here. 3 To three thousand DOLLARS a-year.] A quibble upon "dollar" and dolour. We have had it already in "The Tempest," A. ii. sc. 1, this Vol. p. 35. See also King Lear," A. ii. sc. 4, Vol. v. p. 661. as things that are hollow: thy bones are hollow; impiety has made a feast of thee. Enter Bawd. 1 Gent. How now! found sciatica ? Which of your hips has the most pro Bawd. Well, well; there's one yonder arrested, and carried to prison, was worth five thousand of you all. 2 Gent. Who's that, I pray thee? Bawd. Marry, sir, that's Claudio; signior Claudio. 1 Gent. Claudio to prison ! 'tis not so. Bawd. Nay, but I know, 'tis so: I saw him arrested; saw him carried away; and, which is more, within these three days his head is to be chopped off*. Lucio. But, after all this fooling, I would not have it so. Art thou sure of this? Bawd. I am too sure of it; and it is for getting madam Julietta with child. Lucio. Believe me, this may be: he promised to meet me two hours since, and he was ever precise in promise-keeping. 2 Gent. Besides, you know, it draws something near to the speech we had to such a purpose. 1 Gent. But most of all, agreeing with the proclamation. Lucio. Away: let's go learn the truth of it. [Exeunt LUCIO and Gentlemen. Bawd. Thus, what with the war, what with the sweat, what with the gallows, and what with poverty, I am customshrunk.-How now! what's the news with you? Enter Clown. Clo. Yonder man is carried to prison. Bawd. Well: what has he done? Clo. A woman. Bawd. But what's his offence? Clo. Groping for trouts in a peculiar river. Bawd. What, is there a maid with child by him? Clo. No; but there's a woman with maid by him. You have not heard of the proclamation, have you? 4 Bawd. What proclamation, man? his head is to be chopped off.] We find "is" in the margin of the corr. fo. 1632, and we insert it, as necessary to the sentence. 5 Clo. All bawdy houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be pluck'd down. Bawd. And what shall become of those in the city? Clo. They shall stand for seed: they had gone down too, but that a wise burgher put in for them. Bawd. But shall all our houses of resort in the suburbs be pull'd down? Clo. To the ground, mistress. Bawd. Why, here's a change, indeed, in the commonwealth! What shall become of me? Clo. Come; fear not you: good counsellors lack no clients : though you change your place, you need not change your trade; I'll be your tapster still. Courage! there will be pity taken on you; you that have worn your eyes almost out in the service: you will be considered. Bawd. What's to do here, Thomas Tapster? Let's withdraw. Clo. Here comes signior Claudio, led by the provost to prison; and there's madam Juliet. [Exeunt. SCENE III. The Same. Enter Provost, CLAUDIO, JULIET, and Officers; Lucio, and two Gentlemen. Claud. Fellow, why dost thou show me thus to th' world? Bear me to prison, where I am committed. Prov. I do it not in evil disposition, But from Lord Angelo by special charge. Claud. Thus can the demi-god, Authority', 5 All BAWDY houses in the suburbs] In the folios it is "All houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be plucked down;" but the proclamation could not apply to all houses," and the corr. fo. 1632 supplies the necessary word. 6 What's to do here, Thomas Tapster?] She uses the name "Thomas Tapster" merely as a designation of the Clown's business. Thomas, or Tom Tapster, was a common mode of speaking of a drawer.-Such was the note in our first edition, and the Rev. Mr. Dyce, in fact, only repeats it in a different form, when he appears to correct us: see his " Remarks," p. 24. 7 Thus can the demi-god, Authority, &c.] "Authority," Henley remarks, being absolute in Angelo, is finely styled by Claudio, "the demi-god." To this uncontrollable power, the poet applies a passage from St. Paul to the Romans, ch. ix. Make us pay down for our offence by weight.- Lucio. Why, how now, Claudio? whence comes this restraint? Claud. From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty: So every scope by the immoderate use Lucio. If I could speak so wisely under an arrest, I would send for certain of my creditors. And yet, to say the truth, I had as lief have the foppery of freedom, as the morality' of imprisonment.-What's thy offence, Claudio? Claud. What but to speak of would offend again. Lucio. What is it? murder? Claud. No. Lucio. Lechery? Claud. Call it so. Prov. Away, sir! you must go. Claud. One word, good friend.-Lucio, a word with you. [Takes him aside. Lucio. A hundred, if they'll do you any good. Is lechery so look'd after? Claud. Thus stands it with me:-Upon a true contract You know the lady; she is fast my wife, v. 15. 18, which he properly styles, "the words of heaven:" "for he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," &c. And again: "There fore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy," &c. 8 and when we drink, we die.] The following corresponding lines from Chapman's "Revenge for Honour," 1654, as quoted by Steevens, form an excellent commentary upon this passage: “Like poison'd rats, which, when they've swallowed The pleasing bane, rest not until they drink; 9 as the MORALITY] The old copies have mortality. The correction was made by Sir W. Davenant in his adaptation of this play in 1673. Save that we do the DENUNCIATION lack] "Denunciation" has been, and ought to be, the received lection, but the corr. fo. 1632 amends it to pronunciation; which was most likely the word the old annotator had heard recited: his change afterwards, of propagation to "procuration" can hardly be disputed. |