Know then, I here forget all former griefs,
Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again,
Plead a new ftate in thy unrivalled merit,
To which I thus fubfcribe-Sir Valentine,
Thou art a gentleman, and well derived;

Take thou thy Silvia, for thou haft deserved her.

In this paffage Valentine is justly commended for his proper and becoming manhood, in vindicating the right both of his love and honour, at the hazard of his, comparatively, meaner life. He has, therefore, a right to the appellation and character here given of him, in the following line:

Thou art a gentleman, and well derived.

But what ftrikes me more particularly in this fpeech, is the gallant Duke's affeveration, in that truly noble expreffion,;

Now, by the bonour of my ancestry.

It was this generous fpirited idea that continued down the race of heroes, among us, while they did exift; and were the profeffion of heraldry never to be confidered in any other light, than as a record of men's worth, not titles, it would then become both a political and a liberal fcience. Honours, as Selden fays, fhould be native only, and not dative derived from Merits, not from Gifts.

MEASURE

MEASURE

FOR

MEASURE.

D

Dramatis Perfona.

DUKE of Vienna.

ME N.

ANGELO, Lord Deputy in the Duke's abfence. ESCALUS, an ancient Lord joined with him. CLAUDIO, a young Gentleman.

LUCIO, his Friend.

WOMEN.

ISABELLA, Sifter to Claudio.

JULIET, with child by Claudio.

MEASURE for MEASURE.

I

CANNOT fee what moral can be extracted

from the fable of this Piece; but as the author of it seems to have thought otherwife, I fhall present the reader with his idea on this fubject, in his own words; where the Duke paffes fentence on Angelo, his deputy, for his double villainy:

Hafte ftill pays hafte, and leisure answers leifure;
Like doth quit like, and measure fill for measure.

[Act v. Scene vii.

But as there is not matter enough here, for further expatiating upon, I fhall proceed to collect together the difperfed maxims, fentiments or morals, which may be gathered from the field at large; and which I fhall arrange under their several heads, without regard to the order of the drama; as this method. may best serve to give them an united force, and enable them to act more ftrongly on the minds of my readers.

That our talents, our faculties, or powers, are not our own, properly; but that we are to confider ourfelves as endowed with fuch advantages, by Providence, for the more enlarged benefit of mankind, is finely fet forth in the following speech:

Duke. Angelo,

There is a kind of character in thy life*,
That to the observer doth thy history
Fully unfold. Thyself, and thy belongings
Are not thine own fo proper, as to waste
Thelf upon thy virtues; them on thee.
Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do;
Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues
D. not go forth of us, 'twere all alike,

* Doctor Johnson reads look; and, I think, rightly.

D 2

A:

As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely teached,
But to fine iffues; nor Nature never lends

The fmallest feruple of her excellence,

But, like a thrifty Goddess, she determines
Her felf the glory of a creditor,

Both thanks, and ufe.

The dangers to be apprehended to fociety, from those who affect too much popularity, are very juftly remarked upon. in the fame Scene; which judgment may be fully fupported by innumerable inftances of Demagogues to be met with in hiftory, both ancient

and modern.

Duke. I love the people,

But do not like to stage me to their eyes;

Tho' it do well, I do not relish well

Their loud applause, and Ave's vehement ;
Nor do I think the man of fafe diferetion,

That does affect it.

SCENE VI.

That a fpirit of liberty, where the reins of government are fuffered to relax, is too apt to exceed into a licentioufnefs which counteracts its own ends, is well noted here.

Lucio, on feeing his friend carrying to prison.

Why, how now, Claudio? Whence comes this restraint?
Claudio. From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty;
As furfeit is the father of much fast,

So every scope by the immoderate use
Turns to restraint: our natures do purfue,
Like rats that raven down their proper bane,
A thirsty evil; and when we drink we die.
Again, in the next Scene:

Duke. We have ftrict ftatutes, and moft biting laws;
The needful bits and curbs for head-ftrong fteeds;
Which for thefe nineteen years we have let fleep;
Even like an o'er-grown lion in a cave,

That goes not out to prey. Now, as fond fathers,
Having bound up the threatening twigs of birch,
Only to flick it in their childrens fight,

For terror, not to ufe; in time the rod

Becomes more mocked, than feared; fo our decrees,

* Paulùm fepultæ diftat inertiæ

Celata virtus.

Dead