His pleasure; may be, he will relent. Alas! Ang. Enter ANGELO. Now, what's the matter, provost ? Prov. Is it your will Claudio shall die to-morrow? Ang. Did I not tell thee, yea? hadst thou not order? Why dost thou ask again? Lest I might be too rash. Prov. Ang. Do you your office, or give up your place, you Prov. Go to; let that be mine: I crave your honour's pardon. What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet? She's very near her hour. Ang. Dispose of her To some more fitter place, and that with speed. Re-enter Servant. Serv. Here is the sister of the man condemn'd Desires access to you. Ang. Hath he a sister? Prov. Ay, my good lord; a very virtuous maid, And to be shortly of a sisterhood, If not already. Ang. Well, let her be admitted. [Exit Servant. See you the fornicatress be remov'd: Let her have needful, but not lavish, means; There shall be order for it. Enter LUCIO and ISABELLA. Pror. Save your honour! [Offering to retire. Ang. Stay a little while.-[To ISAB.] Y' are welcome: what's your will? Isab. I am a woful suitor to your honour, Please but your honour hear me. Ang. Well; what's your suit? Isab. There is a vice, that most I do abhor, Ang. Well; the matter? Isab. I have a brother is condemn'd to die: I do beseech you, let it be his fault, And not my brother. Prov. [Aside.] Heaven give thee moving graces! Ang. Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it? Why, every fault's condemn'd ere it be done. Mine were the very cipher of a function, To fine the faults, whose fine stands in record, And let go by the actor. Isab. Oh just, but severe law! I had a brother then.-Heaven keep your honour! [Retiring. Lucio. [To ISAB.] Give't not o'er so: to him again, intreat him; Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown. You are too cold: if you should need a pin, You could not with more tame a tongue desire it. To him, I say. Isab. Must he needs die? Ang. Maiden, no remedy. Isab. Yes; I do think that you might pardon him, And neither heaven, nor man, grieve at the mercy. Ang. I will not do't. Isab. But can you, if you would? Ang. Look; what I will not, that I cannot do. Isab. But might you do't, and do the world no wrong, If so your heart were touch'd with that remorse As mine is to him? Ang. He's sentenc'd: 'tis too late. Lucio. [To ISAB.] You are too cold. Isab. Too late? why, no; I, that do speak a word, May call it back again': Well believe this, And not my brother.] The meaning is, "let it be my brother's fault that is to die, and not himself." 7 May call it BACK again:] The word "back" was inserted by the editor of the folio of 1632; and, perhaps, as the measure shows, it had accidentally dropped out in the original impression of 1623,-a frequent source of error, not unfrequently thus remedied. VOL. I. U No ceremony that to great ones 'longs, Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword, If he had been as you, and you as he, You would have slipt like him; but he, like you, Ang. And what a prisoner. Lucio. [Aside.] Ay, touch him; there's the vein. Alas! alas! Isab. Ang. Be you content, fair maid. It is the law, not I, condemns your brother: Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son, It should be thus with him. He must die to-morrow. Isab. To-morrow? Oh, that's sudden! Spare him, spare him! He's not prepar'd for death. Even for our kitchens We kill the fowl of season: shall we serve heaven With less respect than we do minister To our gross selves? Good, good my lord, bethink you: 8 If he, which is the TOP of judgment,] For "top of judgment" the corr. fo. 1632 has "God of judgment," which at first sight may appear more emphatic; but what Isabel means to refer to is the very height and apex of judgment. We apprehend that the performer of the character of the heroine inserted God for "top," when the old annotator saw "Measure for Measure," and we admit our over-hasty praise in "Notes and Emendations," p. 45. So in "The False One," by Beaumont and Fletcher, A. ii. sc. 1, Pompey is termed " the top of honour;" and it is rather surprising that the Rev. Mr. Dyce should have altogether forgotten this apposite illustration: "Few Notes," p. 24. There's many have committed it. Lucio. [Aside.] Ay, well said. Ang. The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept: Those many had not dar'd to do that evil, If the first one that did th' edict infringe' Had answer'd for his deed: now, 'tis awake; Takes note of what is done, and, like a prophet, Looks in a glass, that shows what future evils (Either new, or by remissness new-conceiv'd', And so in progress to be hatch'd and born,) Are now to have no successive degrees, But ere they live to end. Isab. Yet show some pity. Ang. I show it most of all, when I show justice; For then I pity those I do not know, Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall, And do him right, that, answering one foul wrong, Be satisfied: Your brother dies to-morrow: be content. Isab. So you must be the first that gives this sentence, To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous? Lucio. [Aside.] That's well said. Isab. Could great men thunder As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet, Would use his heaven for thunder; Nothing but thunder. Merciful heaven! 9 If the first ONE that did th' edict infringe] In the old copies a syllable is clearly wanting in this line, and the corr. fo. 1632 gives "one" to supply the deficiency. Pope inserted man, but "one" is clearly preferable, since it is put in opposition to "many," immediately above: Tyrwhitt and Capel recommended "If he the first that did," &c. The folios have neither "one," he, nor man, and Rowe also left the line imperfect. 1 (Either NEW, or by remissness new-conceiv'd,] i. e. Either new evils, evils not before known, or newly engendered: the text in the folios is "Either now," which seems palpably wrong. The last line of this speech, "But here they live to end," is amended in the corr. fo. 1632 to "But ere they live to end," which was Sir T. Hanmer's proposal. We therefore adopt it, although in our first edition, having then no other guide, we adhered to the old copies. 2 To have a giant's strength; but IT IS tyrannous] The corr. fo. 1632 omits "it is," because surplusage as regards the verse; but we dare take no such liberty with the ancient text, seeing that the poet may have intended "it is tyrannous to balance against "it is excellent" in the preceding line. Shakespeare may purposely have made the line of twelve syllables. Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens, Would all themselves laugh mortal. Lucio. [To ISAB.] Oh! to him, to him, wench. He will relent: He's coming; I perceive't. Prov. [Aside.] Pray heaven, she win him! Isab. We cannot weigh our brother with ourself': Great men may jest with saints: 'tis wit in them, But in the less foul profanation. Lucio. [To ISAB.] Thou'rt in the right, girl: more o' that. Isab. That in the captain's but a choleric word, Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy. Lucio. [Aside.] Art avis'd o' that ? more on't. That skins the vice o' the top. Go to your bosom ; A natural guiltiness, such as is his, Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue Ang. [Aside.] She speaks, and 'tis Such sense, that my sense breeds with it. [To her.] Fare you 3 well. Isab. Gentle my lord, turn back. Ang. I will bethink me. Come again to-morrow. Isab. Hark, how I'll bribe you. Good my lord, turn back. Ang. How! bribe me? Isab. Ay, with such gifts, that heaven shall share with you. Lucio. [Asile.] You had marr'd all else. 4 Isab. Not with fond shekels of the tested gold, WE cannot weigh our brother with OURSELF:] "You cannot weigh our brother with yourself" are the words in the corr. fo. 1632; but the change is somewhat violent, and not necessary: see also p. 342. Not with fond SHEKELS] Circles, for sickles of the folio, 1623, is the word in |