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That wounds the unsisting postern with these strokes.5 Provost returns, speaking to one at the door.

Prov. There he must stay until the officer, Arise to let him in; he is call'd up.

Duke. Have you no countermand for Claudio yet, But he must die to-morrow?

Prov.

None, sir, none.

Duke. As near the dawning, Provost, as it is, You shall hear more ere morning.

Prov.

Happily,

You something know; yet, I believe, there comes
No countermand; no such example have we:
Besides, upon the very siege of justice,6

Lord Angelo hath to the public ear

Profess'd the contrary.

Enter a Messenger.

Duke. This is his lordship's man.7

That spirit's possess'd with haste,

That wounds the unsisting postern with these strokes.] The line is irregular, and the old reading, unresisting postern, so strange an expression, that want of measure, and want of sense, might justly raise suspicion of an error; yet none of the latter editors seem to have supposed the place faulty, except Sir Thomas Hanmer, who reads;

the unresting postern. ·

The three folios have it,

- unsisting postern

out of which Mr. Rowe made unresisting, and the rest followed him. Sir Thomas Hanmer seems to have supposed unresisting the word in the copies, from which he plausibly enough extracted unresting; but he grounded his emendation on the very syllable that wants authority. What can be made of unsisting I know not; the best that occurs to me is unfeeling. Johnson. Unsisting may signify "never at rest," always opening.

I should think we might safely read:

unlist'ning postern, or unshifting postern.

Blackstone.

The measure requires it, and the sense remains uninjured.
Mr. M Mason would read unlisting, which means unregarding.
I have, however, inserted Sir William Blackstone's emendation
in the text. Steevens.

6

siege of justice,] i. e. seat of justice. Siege, French. So, in Othello:

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Prov. And here comes Claudio's pardon.

Mess. My lord hath sent you this note; and by me this further charge, that you swerve not from the smallest article of it, neither in time, matter, or other circumstance. Good morrow; for, as I take it, it is almost day.

Prov. I shall obey him.

[Exit Mess. Duke. This is his pardon; purchas'd by such sin,

For which the pardoner himself is in:
Hence hath offence his quick celerity,
When it is borne in high authority:

[Aside.

When vice makes mercy, mercy 's so extended,
That for the fault's love, is the offender friended.-
Now, sir, what news?

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Prov. I told you: Lord Angelo, be-like, thinking me remiss in mine office, awakens me with this unwonted putting on: methinks, strangely; for he hath not used it before.

7

This is his lordship's man. n.] The old copy has-his lord's man. Corrected by Mr. Pope. In the MS. plays of our author's time they often wrote Lo. for Lord, and Lord. for Lordship; and these contractions were sometimes improperly followed in the printed copies. Malone.

Enter a Messenger.

Duke. This is his lordship's man.

Prov. And here comes Claudio's pardon.] The Provost has just declared a fixed opinion that the execution will not be countermanded, and yet, upon the first appearance of the Messenger, he immediately guesses that his errand is to bring Claudio's pardon. It is evident, I think, that the names of the speakers are misplaced. If we suppose the Provost to say: This is his lordship's man,

it is very natural for the Duke to subjoin,

And bere comes Claudio's pardon.

The Duke might believe, upon very reasonable grounds, that Angelo had now sent the pardon. It appears that he did so, from what he says to himself, while the Provost is reading the letter:

This is his pardon; purchas'd by such sin. Tyrwhitt. When, immediately after the Duke had hinted his expectation of a pardon, the Provost sees the Messenger, he supposes the Duke to have known something, and changes his mind. Either reading may serve equally well. Johnson.

9 putting on:] i. e. spur, incitement. So, in Macbeth, Act IV, sc. iii :

Duke. Pray you, let's hear.

Prov. [Reads] Whatsoever you may hear to the contrary, let Claudio be executed by four of the clock; and, in the afternoon, Barnardine: for my better satisfaction, let me have Claudio's head sent me by five. Let this be duly perform'd; with a thought, that more depends on it than we must yet deliver. Thus fail not to do your office, as you will answer it at your peril.

What say you to this, sir?

Duke. What is that Barnardine, who is to be executed in the afternoon?

Prov. A Bohemian born; but here nursed up and bred: one that is a prisoner nine years old.1

Duke. How came it, that the absent duke had not either deliver❜d him to his liberty, or executed him? I have heard, it was ever his manner to do so.

Prov. His friends still wrought reprieves for him: And, indeed, his fact, till now in the government of lord Angelo, came not to an undoubtful proof.

Duke. Is it now apparent?

Prov. Most manifest, and not denied by himself. Duke. Hath he borne himself penitently in prison? How seems he to be touch'd?

Prov. A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully, but as a drunken sleep; careless, reckless, and fearless of what 's past, present, or to come; insensible of mortality, and desperately mortal.2

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the powers above

"Put on their instruments." Steevens.

1 one that is a prisoner nine years old,] i. e. That has been confined these nine years. So, in Hamlet: "Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of very warlike preparation," &c.

Malone.

2 desperately mortal.] This expression is obscure. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads, mortally desperate Mortally is in low conversation used in this sense, but I know not whether it was ever written. I am inclined to believe, that desperately mortal means desperately mischievous Or desperately mortal may mean a man likely to die in a desperate state, without reflection or repentance. Johnson.

The word is often used by Shakspeare in the sense first affixed to it by Dr. Johnson, which I believe to be the true one. So, in Othello:

“And you, ye mortal engines," &c. Malone.

Duke. He wants advice.

Prov. He will hear none: he hath evermore had the liberty of the prison; give him leave to escape hence, he would not: drunk many times a-day, if not many days entirely drunk. We have very often awaked him, as if to carry him to execution, and show'd him a seeming warrant for it: it hath not moved him at all.

Duke. More of him anon. There is written in your brow, Provost, honesty and constancy: if I read it not truly, my ancient skill beguiles me; but in the boldness of my cunning,3 I will lay myself in hazard. Claudio, whom here you have a warrant to execute, is no greater forfeit to the law than Angelo who hath sentenced him: To make you understand this in a manifested effect, I crave but four days respite; for the which you are to do me both a present and a dangerous courtesy.

Prov. Pray, sir, in what?

Duke. In the delaying death.

Prov. Alack! how may I do it? having the hour limited; and an express command, under penalty, to deliver his head in the view of Angelo? I may make my case as Claudio's, to cross this in the smallest.

Duke. By the vow of mine order, I warrant you, if my instructions may be your guide. Let this Barnardine be this morning executed, and his head borne to Angelo.

Prov. Angelo hath seen them both, and will discover the favour.4

Duke. O, death 's a great disguiser: and you may add to it. Shave the head, and tie the beard;5 and say,

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As our author, in The Tempest, seems to have written "harmonious charmingly," instead of "harmoniously charming," he may, in the present instance, have given us desperately mortal, ," for "mortally desperate :" i. e. desperate in the extreme.— In low provincial language,-mortal sick,—mortal bad,—mortal poor, is phraseology of frequent occurrence. Steevens.

3

in the boldness of my cunning,] i. e. in confidence of my sagacity. Steevens.

5

be favour.] See note 2, p. 432. Steevens

and tie the beard;] The Revisal recommends Mr. Simpson's emendation, DYE the beard, but the present reading

it was the desire of the penitent to be so bared before his death: You know the course is common. If any thing fall to you upon this, more than thanks and good fortune, by the saint whom I profess, I will plead against it with my life.

Prov. Pardon me, good father; it is against my oath.

Duke. Were you sworn to the duke, or to the deputy?

Prov. To him, and to his substitutes.

Duke. You will think you have made no offence, if the duke avouch the justice of your dealing?

Prov. But what likelihood is in that?

Duke. Not a resemblance, but a certainty. Yet since I see you fearful, that neither my coat, integrity,

may stand. Perhaps it was usual to tie up the beard before
decollation. Sir T. More is said to have been ludicrously
careful about this ornament of his face. It should, however,
be remembered, that it was also the custom to dje beards.
So, in the old comedy of Ram-Alley, 1611:

"What colour'd beard comes next by the window?
"A black man's, I think.

"I think, a red; for that is most in fashion."

Again, in The Silent Woman: "I have fitted my divine and canonist, died their beards and all."

Again, in The Alchemist: ".

he had dy'd his beard, and all." Steevens.

A beard tied would give a very new air to that face, which had never been seen but with the beard loose, long, and squalid.

6

Johnson.

to be so bared-] These words relate to what has just preceded-shave the head. The modern editions following the fourth folio, read—to be so barb'd; but the old copy is certainly right. So, in All's well that ends well: "I would the cutting of my garments would serve the turn, or the baring of my beard; and to say it was in stratagem." Malone.

7 you know the course is common.] P. Mathieu, in his Heroyke Life and deplorable Death of Henry the Fourth, of France, says, that Ravaillac, in the midst of his tortures, lifted up his head and shook a spark of fire from his beard. "This uprofitable care, (he adds) to save it, being noted, afforded matter to divers to praise the custome in Germany, Srvisserland, and divers other places, to shave off, and then to burn all the haire from all parts of the bodies of those who are convicted for any notorious crimes." Grimston's Translation, 4to. 1612, p. 181.

Reed

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