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But my kiffes bring again,

bring again,

feal'd in vain.

Seals of love, but feal'd in vain,

Mari, Break off thy fong, and hafte thee quick away;
Here comes a man of comfort, whofe advice
Hath often still'd my brawling discontent.---

Enter DUKE.

I cry you mercy, fir; and well could wish
You had not found me here fo mufical:
Let me excufe me, and believe me fo,-

My mirth it much difpleas'd, but pleas'd my woe.

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[Exit Boy,

Duke. 'Tis good: though mufick oft hath such a charm, To make bad, good, and good provoke to harm.

I pray you, tell me, hath any body inquired for me here today? much upon this time have I promis'd here to meet.

Mari, You have not been inquired after: I have fat here all day.

Enter ISABELLA.

Duke. I do conftantly 3 believe you :-The time is come, even now. I fhall crave your forbearance a little; may be, I will call upon you anon, for fome advantage to yourself. Mari. I am always bound to you.

Duke. Very well met, and welcome.
What is the news from this good deputy?

Ifab. He hath a garden circummur'd with brick,4
Whose western fide is with a vineyard back'd;
And to that vineyard is a planched gate,5

[Exit.

That makes his opening with this bigger key:
This other doth command a little door,

Which

2 Though the mufick foothed my forrows, it had no tendency to produce light merriment. JOHNSON.

3 Certainly; without fluctuation of mind. JOHNSON.

4 Circummured, walled round. "He caufed the doors to be mared and cafed up. Painter's Palace of Pleasure. JOHNSON.

5 i. e. a gate made of boards. Planche, Fr.

A plancher is a plank. STEEVENS,

Which from the vineyard to the garden leads;
There have I made my promise to call on him,
Upon the heavy middle of the night.

Duke. But fhall you on your knowledge find this way?
Ifab. I have ta'en a due and wary note upon't ;
With whispering and moft guilty diligence,

In action all of precept," he did fhow me

The way twice o'er.

Duke.
Are there no other tokens
Between you 'greed, concerning her obfervance?
Ifab. No, none, but only a repair i' the dark;
And that I have poffefs'd him," my most stay
Can be but brief: for I have made him know,
I have a fervant comes with me along,
That stays upon me; whofe perfuafion is,
I come about my brother.

Duke.

"Tis well borne up. I have not yet made known to Mariana

A word of this:-What, ho! within! come forth

Re-enter MARIANA.

I pray you, be acquainted with this maid;
She comes to do you good.

I do defire the like.

Ifab. Duke. Do you perfuade yourself that I refpect you? Mari. Good friar, I know you do; and have found it, Duke. Take then this your companion by the hand, Who hath a story ready for your ear:

I shall attend your leifure; but make hafte;

The vaporous night approaches.

Mari.

Will' please you walk afide? [Exeuut MARIANA and ISABELLA.

Duke.

i. e. fhewing the feveral turnings of the way with his hand; which action contained fo many precepts, being given for my direction.

I rather think we fhould read,
In precept of all-action,

WARBURTON.

that is, in direction given not by words, but by mute figns. JOHNSON. 7 I have made him clearly and ftrongly comprehend. JOHNSON. To poffefs had formerly the fenfe of inform or acquaint. REID,

2

Duke. O place and greatnefs,8 millions of falfe eyes,
Are stuck upon thee! volumes of report
Run with these falfe and most contrarious quefts
Upon thy doings! thousand 'fcapes of wit 3
Make thee the father of their idle dream,
And rack thee in their fancies!

Welcome! How agreed?

Re-enter MARIANA and ISABELLA.

Ifab. She'll take the enterprize upon her, father,

you advise it.

If

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s It plainly appears that this fine fpeech belongs to that which concludes the preceding fcene between the Duke and Lucio. For they are abfolutely foreign to the fubject of this, and are the natural reflections arising from that. Befides, the very words,

Run with thefe falfe and most contrarious quefts,

evidently refer to Lucio's scandals just preceding; which the Oxford editor, in his ufual way, has emended, by altering thefe to their. But that fome time might be given to the two women to confer together, the players, I fuppofe, took part of the fpeech, beginning at No might nor greatness, &c. and put it here, without troubling themselves about its pertinency. However, we are obliged to them for not giving us their own impertinency, as they have frequently done in other places.

WARBURTON.

I cannot agree that these lines are placed here by the players. The fentiments are common, and fuch as a prince, given to reflection, must have often prefent. There was a neceffity to fill up the time in which the ladies converfe apart, and they must have quick tongues and ready apprehenfions, if they understood each other while this fpeech was uttered. JOHNSON.

That is, Eyes infidious and traiterous. JOHNSON.

2 Different reports, running counter to each other. JOHNSON. I incline to think that quefts here means inquifitions, in which fenfe the word was ufed in Shakspeare's time. See Minfhieu's Dict. in v. Cole in his Latin Dictionary, 1679, renders "A queft," by " examen, inquifitio." MALONE.

Falfe and contrarious quests in this place rather mean lying and contradict ory meffengers, with whom ran volumes of report. RITSON.

3 'fcapes of wit-] i. e. fallies, irregularities. STEEVENS. 4 Though rack, in the prefent inftance, may fignify torture or mangle, it might alfo mean confufe; as the rack, i. e. fleeting cloud, renders the object behind it obfcure, and of undetermined form. STILVENS.

When you depart from him, but, foft and low,
Remember now my brother.

Mari.

Fear me not.

Duke. Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at aN :
He is your husband on a pre-contract:
To bring you thus together, 'tis no fin;
Sith that the juftice of your title to him
Doth flourish the deceit.5 Come, let us go;
Our corn's to reap, for yet our tythe's to low."

[Exeunt. SCENE

5 A metaphor taken from embroidery, where a coarse ground is filled p, and covered with figures of rich materials and elegant workmanship. WARBURTON.

Flourish is ornament in general. STEEVENS. Dr. Warburton's illuftration of the metaphor feems to be inaccurate. The paffage from another of Shakspeare's plays, quoted by Mr. Steevens, fuggefts to us the true one.

The term-flourish, alludes to the flowers impreffed on the wafte printed paper and old books, with which trunks are commonly lined.

HENSZY When it is proved that the practice alluded to, was as ancient as the time of Shakspeare, Mr. Henley's explanation may be admitted.

STEEVENS.

As before, the blundering editors have made a prince of the priestly Angelo, fo here they have made a priest of the prince. We fhould read tilth, i. e. Our tillage is yet to make. The grain from which we expect our harvest, is not yet put into the ground. WARBURTON.

The reader is here attacked with a petty fophifm.. We should read, tilth, i. e. our tillage is to make. But in the text it is to sow; and who has ever faid that his tillage was to for? I believe tytbe is right, and that the expreffion is proverbial, in which tythe is taken, by an eafy metonymy, for barveft. JOHNSON.

Dr. Warburton did not do justice to his own conjecture; and no wonder, therefore, that Dr. Johnson has not.-Tilth is provincially used for land till'd, prepared for fowing. Shakspeare, however, has applied it before in its ufual acceptation. FARMER.

Dr. Warburton's conjecture may be fupported by many inftances in Markham's English Husbandman, 1635. TOLLET.

Tilth is ufed for crop, or barveft, by Gower, De Confessione Amantis, Lib. V. fol. 93. b.

"To fowe cockill with the corne,

"So that the tilth is nigh forlorne,

"Which Chrift few first his own honde."

Shakspeare ufes the word tilth in a former fcene of this play; and, (as Dr. Farmer has obferved,) in its common acceptation:

" -her

SCENE II.

A Room in the Prifon.

Enter Provoft and Clown.

Prov. Come hither, firrah: Can you cut off a man's head?

Clo. If the man be a bachelor, fir, I can: but if he be a married man, he is his wife's head, and I can never cut off a woman's head.

Prov. Come, fir, leave me your fnatches, and yield me a direct answer. To-morrow morning are to die Claudio and Barnardine: Here is in our prifon a common executioner, who in his office lacks a helper: if you will take it on you to affift him, it shall redeem you from your gyves; if not, you fhall have your full time of imprisonment, and your deliverance with an unpitied whipping; for you have been a notorious bawd.

Clo. Sir, I have been an unlawful bawd, time out of mind but yet I will be content to be a lawful hangman. I would be glad to receive fome inftruction from my fellow partner. Prov. What ho, Abhorfon! Where's Abhorfon there?

Enter ABHORSON.

Abhor. Do you call, fir?

Prov. Sirrah, here's a fellow will help you to-morrow in your execution: If you think it meet, compound with him by the year, and let him abide here with you; if not, use him for the prefent, and difmifs him: He cannot plead his estimation with you; he hath been a bawd.

Abbor. A bawd, fir? Fie upon him, he will difcredit our mystery.

66 - her plenteous womb

Expreffeth its full tilth and husbandry."

Again, in The Tempest:

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-bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none."

but my quotation from Gower shows that, to for tilth, was a phrase once in ufe.

STEEVENS.

This conjecture appears to me extremely probable. MALONE. 7 i. e. an unmerciful one. STEEVENS.

VOL. I.

Z

Prov.

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