By your renouncement, an immortal-fpirit;
And to be talk'd with in fincerity,

As with a faint.

ISAB. You do blafpheme the good, in mocking me. LUCIO. Do not believe it. Fewness and truth,

'tis thus:

Your brother and his lover' have embrac'd:
As those that feed grow full; as bloffoming time,

2

'tis my common practice. to jeft with and to deceive all virgins, I would not fo play with all virgins.

The fenfe, as I have regulated my text, appears to me clear and s eafy. 'Tis very true, (fays he) I ought indeed, as you say, to proceed at once to my story. Be affured, I would not mock you Though it is my familiar pradice to jeft with maidens, and, like the lapwing, to deceive them by my infincere prattle, though, I say, it is my ordinary and habitual practice to fport in this manner with all virgins, yet I should never think of treating you fo; for I confider you, in confequence of your having renounced the world, as an immortal fpirit, as one to whom I ought to speak with as much fincerity as if I were addreffing a saint. MALONE.

Mr. Malone complains of a contradiction which I cannot find in the fpeech of Lucio. He has not faid that it is his practice to jeft with and deceive all virgins. Though (fays he) is is my practice with maids to feem the lapwing, I would not play with all virgins fo;" meaning that the herself is the exception to his ufual practice. Though he has treated other women with levity, he is ferious in his addrefs to her. STEEVENS.

--

2 Fewness and truth, &c.] i. e. in few words, and those true ones. In few, is many times thus used by Shakspeare. STEEVENS. 3 Your brother and his lover i. e. his miftrefs; lover, in our author's time, being applied to the female as well as the male fex. Thus, one of his poems, containing the lamentation of a deserted maiden, is entitled, "A Lover's Complaint.

he,

So, in Tarleton's Newes out of Purgatory, bl. 1. no date : « — fpide the fetch, and perceived that all this while this was his lover's husband, to whom he had revealed these escapes. MALONE.

as blooming time,

That from the feedness the bare fallow brings

To teeming foifon; even fo As the fentence now stands, it is apparently ungrammatical. I read,

At blooming time, &c.

That from the feedness the bare fallow brings
To teeming foifon; even so her plenteous womb
Expreffeth his fall tilth and hufbandry.

İSAB. Some one with child by him?-- My coufin
Juliet?

Lucro. Is the your coufin?

ISAB. Adoptedly; as fchool-maids change their

The duke is very ftrangely gone from hence:
Bore many gentlemen, myfelf being one,
In hand, and hope of action

but we do learn

That is, As they that feed grow full, fo her womb now at bloffoming time, at that time through which the feed time proceeds to the harvest, her womb fhows what has been doing. Lucio ludicrously calls pregnancy blooming time, the time when fruit is promifed, though not yet ripe. JOHNSON.

Inftead of that, we may read doth; and, instead of brings, bring. Foizon is plenty. So, in The Tempel:

nature fhould bring forth,
&c..

Of its own kind, all foizon,

Teeming foizon, is abundant produce. STEEVENS.

The paffage feems to me to require no amendment; and the meaning of it is this: «As bloffoming time proves the good tillage of the farmer, fo the fertility of her womb expreffes Claudio's full tilth and husbandry. By bloffoming time is meant, the time when the ears of corn are formed. M. MASON.

This fentence, as Dr. Johnfon has obferved, is apparently ungrammatical. I fufped two half lines have been loft. Perhaps however an imperfe& fentence was intended, of which there are many inftances in thefe plays : or, as might have been ufed in

the fenfe of like. Tilth is tillage.
So, in our author's 3d Sonnet:

For who is the fo fair, whofe unear'd womb
Difdains the tillage of thy husbandry?

Bore many gentlemen,

MALONE.

In hand, and hope of action: To bear in hand is a common

By thofe that know the very nerves of ftate,
His givings out were of an infinite diftance
From his true-meant defign. Upon his place,
And with full line of his authority,

Governs lord Angelo; a man, whofe blood
Is very fnow-broth; one who never feels
The wanton flings and motions of the fenfe ;
But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge
With profits of the mind, study and fast.
He (to give fear to use and liberty,
Which have, for long, run by the hideous law,
As mice by lions,) hath pick'd out an act,
Under whofe heavy fense your brother's life
Falls into forfeit: he arrefts him on it;
And follows close the rigour of the statute,
To make him an example: all hope is gone,
Unless you have the grace by your fair prayer
To foften Angelo: and that's my pith

Of bufinefs 'twixt you and your poor brother.
ISAB. Doth he fo feek his life?

phrafe for to keep in expectation and dependance; but we should .read:

7

8

STEEVENS.

with full line-] With full extent, with the whole length. JOHNSON.

to give fear to use To intimidate ufe, that is, practices long countenanced by cuftom. JOHNSON.

9 Unless you have the grace-] That is, the acceptableness, the power of gaining favour. So, when she makes her fuit, the provost fays:

2

Heaven give thee moving graces!" JOHNSON.

my pith

Of bufinefs-] The inmost part, the main of my message.

So, in Hamlet:

JOHNSON.

» And enterprizes of great pith and moment." STEEVENS.

Lucio.

Has cenfur'd him'

Already; and, as I hear, the provofl hath
A warrant for his execution.

ISAB. Alas! what poor ability's in me
To do him good?

LUCIO.

Affay the power you have.

ISAB. My power! Alas! I doubt,

And make us lofe the good we oft might win,
By fearing to attempt: Go to lord Angelo,
And let him learn to know, when maidens fue,
Men give like gods; but when they weep and
kneel,

All their petitions are as freely theirs

As they themfelves would owe them.
ISAB. I'll fee what I can do.

LUCIO.

But, speedily.

3 Has cenfur'd him- i. e. fentenced him. So, in Othello: to you, lord governor,

Remains the cenfure of this hellifh villain." STEEVENS. We should read, I think, He has cenfured him, &c. In the Mfs. of our author's time, and frequently in the printed copy of thefe plays, he has, when intended to be contracted, is writtenh'as. Hence probably the mistake here.

So, in Othello, 4to. 1622:

"And it is thought abroad, that 'twixt my fheets

H'as done my office."

Again, in All's well that ends well, p. 247, folio 1623, we find H'as twice, for He has. See allo Twelfth-Night, p. 258, edit. 1623h'as been told fo, for he has been told fo."

MALONE.

4 All their petitions are as freely theirs ] All their requests are as freely granted to them, are granted in as full and beneficial a manner, as they themselves vould with. The editor of the fecond folio arbitrarily reads as truly theirs; which has been followed in all the fubfequent copies. MALONE.

would owe them.] To owe, fignifies in this place, as in many others, to poffefs, to have. STEEVENS.

ISAB. I will about it ftraight;

No longer flaying but to give the mother

Notice of my alfair.

I humbly thank you:

Commend me to my brother: foon at night
I'll fend him certain word of my fuccefs.

LUCIO. I take my leave of you.

Enter ANGELO, ESCALUS, a Juftice, Provost,
Officers, and other Attendants.

7.

ANG. We muft not make a fcare-crow of the law, Setting it up to fear the birds of

prey,

the mother -] The abbefs, or priorefs. JOHNSON.

" Prevoft

7 Provost,] A Provoft martial, Minfhieu explains, des maréfchaux: Præfe&us rerum capitalium, Prætor rerum pitalium." REED.

ca

A provoft is generally the executioner of an army. So, in The Famous Hiftory of Tho. Stukely, 1605, bl. 1:

Provoft, lay irons upon him, and take him to your charge.

Again, in The Virgin Martyr, by Maffinger:

Thy provost, to fee execution done

On thefe bafe Chriftians in Cæfarea.

STEEVENS

A prifon for military offenders is at this day, in fome places, called the Prévôt. MALONE.

The Provost here, is not a military-officer, but a kind of sheriff or gaoler, fo called in foreign countries. DOUCE.

8

to fear the birds of prey,] To fear is to affright, to terrify. So, in The Merchant of Venice: