He afterwards betrayed the trust reposed in him by the Duke. He threatened Isabella that if she would not surrender her virtue, he would not merely put her brother to death, but make

"His death draw out to lingering sufferance."

And, finally, when he thought his object accomplished, he ordered Claudio to be murdered, in violation of his most solemn engagements.

These are the crimes, which, in the language of Mariana, are expressed by the words a little bad; and with a perfect knowledge of Angelo's having committed them, she

"Craves no other, nor no better man."

Claudio's life having been preserved by the Provost, it would not, perhaps, have been lawful to have put Angelo to death; but the Duke might with great propriety have addressed him in the words of Bolingbroke to Exton:

"Go, wander through the shades of night,

And never show thy head by day nor light."

Other parts of the play are not without faults. The best characters act too much upon a system of duplicity and falsehood; and the Duke, in the first act, trifles cruelly with the feelings of Isabella, allowing her to suppose her brother to be dead much longer than the story of the play required. Lucio is inconsistent as well as profligate. He appears, in the first act, as the friend of Claudio, and in the fifth he assists the cause of Angelo, whom he supposes to be his murderer. Lastly, the indecent expressions with which many of the scenes abound are so interwoven with the story, that it is extremely difficult to separate the one from the other.

I trust, however, that I have succeeded in doing it, and I should not be sorry if the merit or demerit of the whole work were to be decided by the examination of this very extraordinary Play, as it is now printed in the Family Shakspeare.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-An Apartment in the DUKE's Palace.

Enter DUKE, ESCALUS, and LORDS.

Duke. Escalus,

Escalus. My lord.

Duke. Of government the properties to unfold,
Would seem in me t'affect speech and discourse,
Since I am put to know, that your own science
Exceeds in that the lists of all advice

My strength can give you: Then no more remains
But that to your sufficiency, as your worth is able,
And let them work. The nature of our people,
Our city's institutions, and the terms
For common justice, y'are as pregnant in
As art and practice hath enriched any

That we remember: There is our commission,
From which we would not have you warp.

I

say, bid come before us Angelo.

Call hither,

What figure of us think you he will bear?
For you must know, we have with special soul
Elected him our absence to supply;

Lent him our terror, drest him with our love,
And given his deputations all the organs
Of our own power: What think you of it?
Escalus. If any in Vienna be of worth
To undergo such ample grace and honour,
It is lord Angelo.

Duke.

Enter ANGELO.

Look, where he comes.

Angelo. Always obedient to your grace's will, I come to know your pleasure.

Duke. Angelo, There is a kind of character in thy life, That, to th' observer, doth thy history

Fully unfold:-Thyself, and thy belongings,
Are not thine own so proper, as to waste
Thyself upon thy virtues, them on thee.
Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do,
Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike

As if we had them not.

Spirits are not finely touch'd
But to fine issues: nor nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence,

But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor,

Both thanks and use; but I do bend my speech
To one that can my part in him advértise;
Hold, therefore, Angelo:

In our remove, be thou at full ourself;

Mortality and mercy in Vienna

Live in thy tongue and heart: Old Escalus,
Though first in question, is thy secondary.

Take thy commission.

Angelo,

Now, good my lord,

Let there be some more test made of my mettle,
Before so noble and so great a figure

Be stamp'd upon it.

Duke.

No more evasion:

We have with a leaven'd and prepared choice
Proceeded to you; therefore take your honours.
Our haste from hence is of so quick condition,
That it prefers itself, and leaves unquestion'd
Matters of needful value. We shall write to you,
As time and our concernings shall impórtune,
How it goes with us, and do look to know
What doth befall you here. So, fare you well:
To th' hopeful execution do I leave you
Of your commissions.

Angelo.

Yet, give leave, my lord,

That we may bring you something on the way.
Duke. My haste may not admit it;

Nor need you, on mine honour, have to do
With any scruple: your scope is as mine own,

So to enforce or qualify the laws

As to your soul seems good:-Give me your hand;

I'll privily away: I love the people,

But do not like to stage me to their eyes:
Though it do well, I do not relish well
Their loud applause, and aves vehement:
Nor do I think the man of safe discretion
That does affect it. Once more, fare you well.
Angelo. The heavens give safety to your purposes!
Escalus. Lead forth, and bring you back in happiness!
Duke. I thank
you.-Fare you well.

[Exit.
Escalus. I shall desire you, sir, to give me leave
To have free speech with you; and it concerns me
To look into the bottom of my place:

A

power I have, but of what strength and nature,

I am not yet instructed.

Angelo. 'Tis so with me:-Let us withdraw together, And we may soon our satisfaction have

Touching that point.

Escalus.

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 Gentleman. Heaven grant us its peace; but not the king of Hungary's!

2 Gentleman. Amen.

Lucio. Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the ten commandments, but scraped one out of the table.

2 Gentleman. Thou shalt not steal?

Lucio. Ay, that he razed.

1 Gentleman. 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 Gentleman. I never heard any soldier dislike it.

Lucio. I believe thee; for, I think, thou never wast where grace was said. But see, where Madam Mitigation comes.

Enter MRS. OVERDONE.

Overdone. There's one yonder, arrested and carried to prison, was worth five thousand of you all. 1 Gentleman. Who's that, I pray thee?

Overdone. Marry sir, that's Claudio, Signior Claudio. 1 Gentleman. Claudio to prison! 'tis not so.

Overdone. Nay, but I know 'tis so: I saw him arrested; saw him carried away; and, which is more, within these three days his head's to be chopped off.

Lucio. But, after all this fooling, I would not have it so: art thou sure of this?

Overdone. I am too sure of it; and it is on account of Madam Julietta.

Lucio. Believe me, this may be: he promised to meet me two hours since; and he was ever precise in promisekeeping.

2 Gentleman. Besides, you know, it draws something near to the speech we had to such a purpose.

1 Gentleman. But most of all, agreeing with the proclamation.

Lucio. Away; let's go learn the truth of it.

[Exeunt LUCIO and GENTLEMEN. Overdone. Thus, what with the war, what with the gallows, and what with poverty, I am custom-shrunk. How now! what's the news with you?

Enter CLOWN.

Clown. You have not heard of the proclamation, have you?

Overdone. What proclamation, man?

Clown. All houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be pluck'd down.