DUKE.

Know you this woman?

Sirrah, no more.

Lucio. Carnally, the fays.
DUKE.

LUCIO. Enough, my lord.

ANG. My lord, I muft confefs, I know this woman; And, five years fince, there was some speech of mar

riage

Betwixt myself and her: which was broke off,
Partly, for that her promised proportions
Came fhort of compofition; but, in chief,
For that her reputation was difvalued
In levity: fince which time, of five years,

I never fpake with her, faw her, nor heard from her,
Upon my faith and honour.

MARI.

Noble prince,

As there comes light from heaven, and words from

breath,

As there is fenfe in truth, and truth in virtue,
I am affianc'd this man's wife, as strongly

As words could make up vows: and, my good lord,
But Tuesday night laft gone, in his garden-house,
He knew me as a wife: As this is true,

Let me in fafety raise me from my knees;
Or elfe for ever be confixed here,

A marble monument!

ANG.

I did but fmile till now;

Now, good my lord, give me the fcope of juftice;
My patience here is touch'd: I do perceive,

These poor

informal women2 are no more

9her promifed proportions

Came fhort of compofition;] Her fortune, which was promised proportionate to mine, fell short of the compofition, that is, contract or bargain. JOHNSON.

2 Thefe poor informal women-] Informal fignifies out of their fenfes. In The Comedy of Errors, we meet with these lines:

!

But inftruments of fome more mightier member, That fets them on: Let me have way, my lord, To find this practice out.

DUKE. Ay, with my heart; And punish them unto your height of pleasure.Thou foolish friar; and thou pernicious woman, Compact with her that's gone! think'ft thou, thy oaths,

Though they would fwear down each particular faint,'

Were teftimonies against his worth and credit,
That's feal'd in approbation? +-You, lord Efcalus,
Sit with my coufin; lend him your kind pains
To find out this abuse, whence 'tis deriv'd.—
There is another friar that fet them on;
Let him be fent for.

F. PETER. Would he were here, my lord; for he,
indeed,

Hath fet the women on to this complaint:

I will not let him stir,

"Till I have us'd the approved means I have,
"With wholesome fyrups, drugs, and holy prayers,
"To make of him a formal man again.'

"

Formal, in this paffage, evidently fignifies in his fenfes. The lines are fpoken of Antipholis of Syracufe, who is behaving like a madman. Again, in Antony and Cleopatra:

"Thou fhouldft come like a fury crown'd with fnakes,
"Not like a formal man." STEEVENS.

3 Though they would fwear down each particular faint,] So, in Antony and Cleopatra, Act I. fc. iii:

Though you in fwearing shake the throned gods."

STEEVENS.

4 That's feal'd in approbation?] When any thing subject to counterfeits is tried by the proper officers and approved, a ftamp or feal is put upon it, as among us on plate, weights, and measures. So the Duke fays, that Angelo's faith has been tried, approved, and feal'd in teftimony of that approbation, and, like other things fo fealed, is no more to be called in queftion. JOHNSON.

Your provost knows the place where he abides,
And he may fetch him.

DUKE. Go, do it instantly.

[Exit Provoft.

And you, my noble and well-warranted coufin,
Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth,+
Do with your injuries as feems you beft,
In any chaftifement: I for a while

Will leave you; but ftir not you, till you have well
Determined upon these flanderers.

ESCAL. My lord, we'll do it thoroughly.-[Exit. DUKE.] Signior Lucio, did not you fay, you knew that friar Lodowick to be a difhoneft perfon?

Lucio. Cucullus non facit monachum: honeft in nothing, but in his clothes; and one that hath spoke moft villainous fpeeches of the duke.

ESCAL. We fhall entreat you to abide here till he come, and enforce them against him: we shall find this friar a notable fellow.

LUCIO. As any in Vienna, on my word.

ESCAL. Call that fame Ifabel here once again; [To an Attendant.] I would fpeak with her: Pray you, my lord, give me leave to question; you fhall fee how I'll handle her.

LUCIO. Not better than he, by her own report.
ESCAL. Say you?

LUCIO. Marry, fir, I think, if you handled her privately, fhe would fooner confefs; perchance, publickly fhe'll be ashamed.

Re-enter Officers, with ISABELLA; the DUKE, in the Friar's habit, and Provost.

4

ESCAL. I will go darkly to work with her.

to hear this matter forth,] To hear it to the end; to fearch it to the bottom. JOHNSON.

LUCIO. That's the way; for women are light at midnight.'

ESCAL. Come on, miftrefs; [To ISABELLA.] here's a gentlewoman denies all that you have said.

Lucio. My lord, here comes the rascal I spoke of; here with the provost.

ESCAL. In very good time:-speak not you to him, till we call upon you.

LUCIO. Mum.

ESCAL. Come, fir: Did you set these women on to flander lord Angelo? they have confefs'd you did. DUKE. 'Tis falfe.

ESCAL. How! know you where you are?

DUKE. Refpect to your great place! and let the

devil

Be fometime honour'd for his burning throne: 6Where is the duke? 'tis he should hear me speak. ESCAL. The duke's in us; and we will hear

speak:

Look, you fpeak justly.

. DUKE.

you

Boldly, at least:-But, O, poor fouls, Come you to feek the lamb here of the fox? Good night to your redrefs. Is the duke gone?

5 - are light at midnight.] This is one of the words on which Shakspeare chiefly delights to quibble. Thus, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, A&t V. fc. i:

"Let me give light, but let me not be light." STEEVENS. Refpect to your great place! and let the devil, &c.] I suspect that a line preceding this has been loft. MALONE.

I fufpect no omiffion. Great place has reference to the preceding queftion" know you where you are?"

Shakspeare was a reader of Philemon Holland's translation of Pliny; and in the fifth book and eighth chapter, might have met with his next idea: "The Augyle do no worship to any but to the devils beneath." STEEVENS.

Then is your caufe gone too. The duke's unjust,
Thus to retort your manifeft appeal,'

And put your trial in the villain's mouth,
Which here you come to accufe.

Lucio. This is the rafcal; this is he I spoke of. ESCAL. Why, thou unreverend and unhallow'd friar!

Is't not enough, thou haft fuborn'd these women To accufe this worthy man; but, in foul mouth, And in the witness of his proper ear,

To call him villain?

And then to glance from him to the duke himself;
To tax him with injuftice?-Take him hence;
To the rack with him :-We'll touze you joint by

joint,

8

But we will know this purpose: -What! unjuft?
DUKE. Be not fo hot; the duke

Dare no more ftretch this finger of mine, than he
Dare rack his own; his fubject am I not,
Nor here provincial: My business in this state

7 to retort your manifeft appeal,] To refer back to Angelo the caufe in which you appealed from Angelo to the Duke.

JOHNSON. 8this purpose:] The old copy has his purpose. The emendation was made by Sir T. Hanmer. I believe the paffage has been corrected in the wrong place; and would read:

We'll touze him joint by joint,

But we will know his purpofe. MALONE.

9 Nor here provincial:] Nor here accountable. The meaning feems to be, I am not one of his natural fubjects, nor of any dependent province. JOHNSON.

The different orders of monks have a chief, who is called the General of the order; and they have alfo fuperiors, fubordinate to the general, in the feveral provinces through which the order may be difperfed. The Friar therefore means to fay, that the Duke dares not touch a finger of his, for he could not punish him by his own authority, as he was not his fubject, nor through that of the fuperior, as he was not of that province. M. MASON.