Abhor. Tell him, he must awake, and that quickly too. Clo. Pray, master Barnardine, awake till you are executed, and sleep afterwards.

Abhor. Go in to him, and fetch him out.

Clo. He is coming, sir, he is coming; I hear his straw rustle.

Enter BARNARDINE.

Abhor. Is the axe upon the block, sirrah?
Clo. Very ready, sir.

Barnar. How now, Abhorson? what's the news with you?

Abhor. Truly, sir, I would desire you to clap into your prayers;1 for, look you, the warrant 's come.

Barnar. You rogue, I have been drinking all night, I am not fitted for 't.

Cio. O, the better, sir; for he that drinks all night, and is hanged betimes in the morning, may sleep the sounder, all the next day.

Enter DUKE.

Abhor. Look you, sir, here comes your ghostly father; Do we jest now, think you?

Duke. Sir, induced by my charity, and hearing how hastily you are to depart, I am come to advise you, comfort you, and pray with you.

Barnar. Friar, not I; I have been drinking hard all night, and I will have more time to prepare me, or they shall beat out my brains with billets: I will not consent to die this day, that 's certain.

Duke. O, sir, you must: and therefore, I beseech you, Look forward on the journey you shall go.

Barrar. I swear, I will not die to-day for any man's persuasion.

Duke. But hear you,

Barnar. Not a word; if you have any thing to say to me, come to my ward; for thence will not I to-day.

Enter Provest.

[Exit.

Duke. Unfit to live, or die: O, gravel heart!—

1

to clap into your prayers;] This cant phrase occurs also in As you Like it: "Shall we clap into 't roundly, without hawking or spitting?" Steevens.

After him, fellows;2 bring him to the block.

[Exeunt ABHOR. and Clo. Prov. Now, sir, how do you find the prisoner? Duke. A creature unprepar'd, unmeet for death;, And, to transport him3 in the mind he is,

Were damnable.

Prov.

Here in the prison, father,

There died this morning of a cruel fever
One Ragozine, a most notorious pirate,
A man of Claudio's years; his beard, and head,
Just of his colour: What if we do omit
This reprobate, till he were well inclin'd;
And satisfy the deputy with the visage
Of Ragozine, more like to Claudio?

Duke. O, 'tis an accident that heaven provides!
Despatch it presently; the hour draws on
Prefix'd by Angelo: See, this be done,
And sent according to command; whiles I
Persuade this rude wretch willingly to die.
Prov. This shall be done, good father, presently.
But Barnardine must die this afternoon:

And how shall we continue Claudio,

To save me from the danger that might come,
If he were known alive?

Duke. Let this be done;-Put them in secret holds, Both Barnardine and Claudio: Ere twice

The sun hath made his journal greeting to

The under generation, you shall find

2 After him, fellows;] Here is a line given to the Duke, which belongs to the Provost. The Provost, while the Duke is lamenting the obduracy of the prisoner, cries out:

After him, fellows, &c.

and when they are gone out, turns again to the Duke. Johnson. I do not see why this line should be taken from the Duke, and still less why it should be given to the Provost, who, by his question to the Duke in the next line, appears to be ignorant of every thing that has passed between him and Barnardine. Tyrwhitt. 3 -to transport him-] To remove him from one world to another. The French trépas affords a kindred sense.

Johnson. 4 The under generation,] So Sir Thomas Hanmer, with true judgment. It was in all the former editions:

To yonder

ye under and yonder were confounded. Johnson.

Your safety manifested.

Prov. I am your free dependant.
Duke.

And send the head to Angelo.

Now will I write letters to Angelo,

The provost, he shall bear them,-whose contents
Shall witness to him, I am near at home;
And that, by great injunctions, I am bound
To enter publicly; him I'll desire

To meet me at the consecrated fount,
A league below the city; and from thence,
By cold gradation and weal-balanced form,5
We shall proceed with Angelo.

Re-enter Provost.

Prov. Here is the head; I'll carry it myself. Duke. Convenient is it: Make a swift return; For I would commune with you of such things, That want no ear but yours.

Prov.

I'll make all speed. [Exit. Isab. [within] Peace, ho, be here!

The old reading is not yonder but yond. Steevens.

To yond generation,] Prisons are generally so constructed as not to admit the rays of the sun. Hence the Duke here speaks of its greeting only those without the doors of the jail, to which he must be supposed to point when he speaks these words. Sir T. Hanmer, I think without necessity, reads-To_the_under generation, which has been followed by the subsequent editors. Journal, in the preceding line, is daily. Journalier, Fr. Malone.

Mr. Malone reads:

To yond generation, you shall find But surely it is impossible that yond should be the true reading; for unless ge-ne-ra-ti-on were sounded as a word of five syllables, (a practice from which every ear must revolt) the metre would be defective. It reminds one too much of Peascod, in Gay's What d' ye call it:

"The Pilgrim's Progress-eighth-e-di-ti-on, "Lon-don prin-ted for Ni-cho-las Bod-ding-ton." By the under generation our poet means the antipodes. So, in King Richard II:

5

66 when the searching eye of heaven is hid

"Behind the globe, and lights the lower world." Steevens.

weal balanced form] Thus the old copy. Mr. Heath thinks that well-balanced is the true reading; and Hanmer was of the same opinion. Steevens.

Duke. The tongue of Isabel:-She 's come to know, If yet her brother's pardon be come hither:

But I will keep her ignorant of her good,
To make her heavenly comforts of despair,
When it is least expected.

Enter ISABELLA.

Isab. Ho, by your leave.

Duke. Good morning to you, fair and gracious daughter.

Isab. The better, given me by so holy a man. Hath yet the deputy sent my brother's pardon?

Duke. He hath releas'd him, Isabel, from the world; His head is off, and sent to Angelo.

Isab. Nay, but it is not so.

Duke.

It is no other:

Show your wisdom, daughter, in your close patience.
Isab. O, I will to him, and pluck out his eyes.
Duke. You shall not be admitted to his sight.
Isab. Unhappy Claudio! Wretched Isabel!
Injurious world! Most damned Angelo!

Duke. This nor hurts him, nor profits you a jot:
Forbear it therefore; give your cause to heaven.
Mark what I say; which you shall find

By every syllable, a faithful verity:

The duke comes home to-morrow;-nay, dry your

eyes;

One of our convent, and his confessor,

Gives me this instance: Already he hath carried

Notice to Escalus and Angelo;

Who do prepare to meet him at the gates,

There to give up their power.

wisdom

If you can, pace your

In that good path that I would wish it go;

And you shall have your bosom on this wretch,
Grace of the duke, revenges to your heart,

And general honour.

Isab.

I am directed by you.

6 When it is least expected.] A better reason might have been given. It was necessary to keep Isabella in ignorance, that she might with more keenness accuse the deputy. Johnson.

7 - your bosom—] Your wish; your heart's desire. Johnson.

Duke. This letter then to friar Peter give;
'Tis he that sent me of the duke's return:
Say, by this token, I desire his company
At Mariana's house to-night. Her cause, and yours,
I'll perfect him withal; and he shall bring you
Before the duke; and to the head of Angelo
Accuse him home, and home. For my poor self,
I am combined by a sacred vow,

And shall be absent. Wend you with this letter:
Command these fretting waters from your eyes
With a light heart; trust not my holy order,
If I pervert your course.-Who's here?

Lucio. O, pretty Isabella, I am pale at mine heart, to see thine eyes so red: thou must be patient: I am fain to dine and sup with water and bran; I dare not for my head fill my belly; one fruitful meal would set me to 't: But they say the duke will be here to-morrow. By my troth, Isabel, I lov'd thy brother; if the old fantastical duke of dark corners1 had been at home, he had lived. [Exit ISAB. Duke. Sir, the duke is marvellous little beholden to your reports; but the best is, he lives not in them.2

8 I am combined by a sacred vow,] I once thought this should be confined, but Shakspeare uses combine for to bind by a pact or agreement; so he calls Angelo the combinate husband of MariJohnson.

ana

9 Wend you] To wend is to go.-An obsolete word. So, in The Comely of Errors:

66

Hopeless and helpless doth Ageon wend." Again, in Orlando Furioso, 1599:

"To let his daughter wend with us to France." Steevens.

if the old, &c.] Sir Thomas Hanmer reads-the odd fantastical duke; but old is a common word of aggravation in ludicrous language, as, there was old revelling. Johnson.

duke of dark corners] This duke who meets his mistresses in by-places. So, in Kirg Henry VIII:

"There is nothing I have done yet, o' my conscience, "Deserves a corner." Malone.