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To make the truth appear, where it seems hid;
And hide the false, seems true.

Duke.

Many that are not mad,

Have sure more lack of reason.-What would you

say?

Isab. I am the sister of one Claudio,
Condemn'd upon the act of fornication
To lose his head; condemn'd by Angelo:
I, in probation of a sisterhood,

Was sent to by my brother: One Lucio
As then the messenger;—

Lucio.

That 's I, an 't like your grace:

I came to her from Claudio, and desir'd her
To try her gracious fortune with lord Angelo,
For her poor brother's pardon.

Isab.

Duke. You were not bid to speak.
Lucio.

Nor wish'd to hold my peace.

Duke.

That 's he, indeed..

No, my good lord;

I wish you now then;

Pray you, take note of it: and when you have

A business for yourself, pray heaven, you then
Be perfect.

Lucio. I warrant your honour.

Duke. The warrant 's for yourself; take heed to it. Isab. This gentleman told somewhat of my tale. Lucio. Right.

Duke. It may be right; but you are in the wrong To speak before your time.-Proceed.

Isab.

To this pernicious caitiff deputy.

I went

I imagine the meaning rather is-Do not suppose I am mad, because I speak passionately and unequally. Malone.

And hide the false, seems true.] And for ever bide, i e. plunge into eternal darkness, the false one, i. e. Angelo, who now seems honest. Many other words would have expressed our poet's meaning better than bide, but he seems to have chosen it merely for the sake of opposition to the preceding line. Mr. Theobald unnecessarily reads-Not hide the false,-which has been followed by the subsequent editors. Malone.

I do not profess to understand these words; nor can I perceive how the meaning suggested by Mr. Malone is to be deduced from them. Steevens.

Duke. That's somewhat madly spoken.
Isab.

The phrase is to the matter.

Pardon it;

Duke. Mended again: the matter;—Proceed.
Isab. In brief,-to set the needless process by,
How I persuaded, how I pray'd, and kneel'd,
How he refell'd me, and how I reply'd;

(For this was of much length) the vile conclusion
I now begin with grief and shame to utter:
He would not, but by gift of my chaste body
To his concupiscible intemperate lust,8

Release my brother; and, after much debatement,
My sisterly remorse? confutes mine honour,

And I did yield to him: But the next morn betimes,
His purpose surfeiting,' he sends a warrant

For my poor brother's head.

Duke.

This is most likely!

Isab. O, that it were as like, as it is true !2

7 bow be refell'd me,] To refel is to refute.

"Refellere et coarguere mendacium." Cicero pro Ligario. Ben Jonson uses the word:

"Friends not to refel you,

"Or any way quell you."

Again, in The Second Part of Robert Earl of Huntington, 1601 "Therefore go on, young Bruce, proceed, refell "The allegation."

The modern editors changed the word to repel. Steevens.

To his concupiscible &c.] Such is the old reading. The modern editors unauthoritatively substitute concupiscent. Steevens. 9 My sisterly remorse] i. e. pity. So, in King Richard III : "And gentle, kind, effeminate remorse.” Steevens.

1 His purpose surfeiting,] Thus the old copy. We might read forfeiting, but the former word is too much in the manner of Shakspeare to be rejected. So, in Othello:

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my hopes not surfeited to death."

Steevens.

20, that it were as like as it is true!] Like is not here used for probable, but for seemly. She catches at the Duke's word, and turns it into another sense; of which there are a great many examples in Shakspeare, and the writers of that time.

Warburton,

I do not see why like may not stand here for probable, or why the lady should not wish, that since her tale is true, it may obtain belief. If Dr. Warburton's explication be right, we should read:

O! that it were as likely as 'tis true! Likely I have never found for seemly. Johnson.

Duke. By heaven, fond wretch,3 thou know'st not what thou speak'st;

Or else thou art suborn'd against his honour,
In hateful practice; First, his integrity

Stands without blemish :-next, it imports no reason,
That with such vehemency he should pursue
Faults proper to himself; if he had so offended,
He would have weigh'd thy brother by himself
And not have cut him off: Some one hath set you on ;
Confess the truth, and say by whose advice

Thou cam'st here to complain.

Isab.

And is this all?

Then, oh, you blessed ministers above,

Keep me in patience; and, with ripen'd time,

Unfold the evil which is here wrapt up

In countenance !5-Heaven shield your grace from

woe,

As I, thus wrong'd, hence unbelieved go!

Duke. I know, you'd fain be gone:-An officer! To prison with her:-Shall we thus permit A blasting and a scandalous breath to fall

On him so near us? This needs must be a practice.

Though I concur in Dr. Johnson's explanation, I cannot help observing that likely is used by Shakspeare himself for seemly. So, in King Henry IV, Part II, Act III, sc. ii: Sir John, they are your likeliest men." Steevens.

The meaning I think is: O that it had as much of the appearance, as it has of the reality, of truth! Malone.

3

fond wretch,] Fond wretch is foolish wretch. So, in Coriolanus, Act IV, sc. i:

""Tis fond to wail inevitable strokes." Steevens.

In bateful practice;] Practice was used by the old writers for any unlawful or insidious stratagem. So again:

"This must needs be practice."

And again:

"Let me have way to find this practice out." Johnsov. 5 In countenance!] i e. in partial favour. Warburton.

Countenance, in my opinion does not mean partial favour, as Warburton supposes, but false appearance, hypocrisy. Isabella does not mean to accuse the Duke of partiality; but alludes to the sanctified demeanor of Angelo, which, as she supposes, prevented the Duke from believing her story. M. Mason.

6

practice.] Practice, in Shakspeare, very often means shameful artifice, unjustifiable stratagem. So, in King Lear: This is practice, Gloster."

66

-Who knew of your intent, and coming hither?
Isab. One that I would were here, friar Lodowick.
Duke. A ghostly father, belike:-Who knows that
Lodowick?

Lucio. My lord, I know him; 'tis a meddling friar;
I do not like the man; had he been lay, my lord,
For certain words he spake against your grace
In your retirement, I had swing'd him soundly.
Duke. Words against me? This' a good friar, belike!
And to set on this wretched woman here

Against our substitute!-Let this friar be found.

Lucio. But yesternight, my lord, she and that friar I saw them at the prison: a saucy friar, A very scurvy fellow.

F. Peter.

Blessed be your royal grace!

I have stood by, my lord, and I have heard
Your royal ear abus'd: First hath this woman
Most wrongfully accus'd your substitute;
Who is as free from touch or soil with her,
As she from one ungot.

Duke.

We did believe no less.
Know you that friar Lodowick, that she speaks of?
F. Peter. I know him for a man divine and holy:
Not scurvy, nor a temporary meddler,7

As he's reported by this gentleman;
And, on my trust, a man that never yet

Again, in King John:

"It is the shameful work of Hubert's hand,
"The practice and the purpose of the king."

Steevens.

7 — nor a temporary meddler,] It is hard to know what is meant by a temporary meddler. In its usual sense, as opposed to perpetual, it cannot be used here. It may stand for temporal: the sense will then be, I know him for a boly man, one that meddles not with secular affairs. It may mean temporising: I know bim to be a holy man, one who would not temporise, or take the opportunity of your absence to defame you. Or, we may read: Not scurvy, nor a tamperer and meddler:

not one who would have tampered with this woman to make her a false evidence against your deputy. Fohnson.

66

Peter here refers to what Lucio had before affirmed concerning Friar Lodowick. Hence it is evident that the phrase temporary meddler," was intended to signify one who introduced bimself, as often as he could find opportunity, into other men's concerns. See the context. Henley.

Did, as he vouches, misreport your grace.

Lucio. My lord, most villainously; believe it.

F. Peter. Well, he in time may come to clear himself;

But at this instant he is sick, my lord,

Of a strange fever: Upon his mere request,8
(Being come to knowledge that there was complaint
Intended 'gainst lord Angelo) came I hither,
To speak, as from his mouth, what he doth know
Is true, and false; and what he with his oath,
And all probation, will make up full clear,
Whensoever he's convented. First, for this woman;
(To justify this worthy nobleman,

So vulgarly1 and personally accus'd,)

8

Cæsar:

bis mere request,] i. e. his absolute request. So, in Julius

"Some mere friends, some honourable Romans." Again, in Othello:

"The mere perdition of the Turkish fleet." Steevens. Whensoever be's convented.] The first folio reads, convented, and this is right: for to convene signifies to assemble; but convent, to cite or summons. Yet because convented hurts the measure, the Oxford editor sticks to conven'd, though it be nonsense, and signifies, Whenever he is assembled together. But thus it will be, when the author is thinking of one thing, and his critic of another. The poet was attentive to his sense, and the editor quite throughout his performance, to nothing but the measure; which Shakspeare having entirely neglected, like all the dramatic writers of that age, he has spruced him up with all the exactness of a modern measurer of syllables. This being here taken notice of once for all, shall, for the future, be forgot, as if it had never been. Warburton.

The foregoing account of the measure of Shakspeare, and his contemporaries, ought indeed to be forgotten, because it is

untrue.

To convent is no uncommon word. So, in Woman's a Weathercock, 1612:

66 lest my looks

"Should tell the company convented there," &c.

To convent and to convene are derived from the same Latin verb, and have exactly the same meaning. Steevens.

1 So vulgarly-] Meaning either so grossly, with such indecency of invective, or by so mean and inadequate witnesses. Johnson. Vulgarly, I believe, means publickly. The vulgar are the common people. Daniel uses vulgarly for among the common people : and which pleases vulgarly." Steevens.

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