betimes i' the morn; I'll call you at your
house: give notice to such men of sort and
suit as are to meet him.

Escal. I shall, sir. Fare you well.

Ang. Good night.

20

[Exit Escalus.

This deed unshapes me quite, makes me un

pregnant,

And dull to all proceedings. A deflower'd maid!

And by an eminent body that enforced

The law against it! But that her tender shame
Will not proclaim against her maiden loss,
How might she tongue me! Yet reason dares
her no;

28-31. This is commonly printed thus: "Yet reason dares her?no: for my authority," &c.; in which case dares has the sense of prompt, challenge, or call forth, as in 1 Henry IV, Act v. sc. 2: "Unless a brother should a brother dare

To gentle exercise and proof of arms."

"Does reason move her to expose me?-No the drawings of reason are all the other way"; which certainly yields an apt and clear meaning enough. Yet we give the passage as it stands in the original. Nor is the sense much less clear and apt as there printed. For dare, used transitively, may well have, and often has, the effect to keep or dissuade one from doing a thing; as if one should say, "I dared him to strike me, and he durst not do it." So, in the text as we give it, the sense plainly is,-"Yet reason bids her not expose me"; the effect of that bidding being expressed by no; reason threatens and overawes her, so that she dare not do it. Thus, in Beaumont and Fletcher's play, The Chances, Act iii. sc. 4:

"His sister that you nam'd 'tis true I have long lov'd,

As true, I have enjoy'd her; no less truth,

I have a child by her: but that she, or he,

Or any of that family, are tainted,
Suffer disgrace, or ruin, by my pleasures,

I wear a sword to satisfy the world no."

That is, to satisfy the world that 'tis not so. So, also, in A Wife for

30

For my authority bears of a credent bulk,
That no particular scandal once can touch
But it confounds the breather. He should

have lived,

Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous

sense,

Might in the times to come have ta'en revenge,
By so receiving a dishonor'd life

With ransom of such shame. Would yet he
had lived!

Alack, when once our grace we have forgot,
Nothing goes right: we would, and we would

not.

[Exit.

SCENE V

Fields without the town.

Enter Duke in his own habit, and Friar Peter. Duke. These letters at fit time deliver me:

[Giving letters. The provost knows our purpose and our plot. The matter being afoot, keep your instruction, And hold you ever to our special drift;

a Month, by the same authors: "I'm sure he did not, for I charg'd him no"; that is, charged him not to do it. But indeed this use of no is not uncommon in the old writers.-The of after bears, in the next line, seems to have a partitive sense: "For my authority carries so much of weight," &c.—H. N. H.

29. "bears of a credent bulk"; so Folios 1, 2, 3; many emendations have been proposed; Dyce's seems the most plausible-"bears so credent bulk"; "credent bulk”—“weight of credit.”—I. G.

Though sometimes you do blench from this to that,

As cause doth minister. Go call at Flavius'
house,

And tell him where I stay: give the like notice
To Valentius, Rowland, and to Crassus,

And bid them bring the trumpets to the gate;
But send me Flavius first.

Fri. P.

It shall be speeded well. [Exit. 10

Enter Varrius.

Duke. I thank thee, Varrius; thou hast made good haste:

Come, we will walk. There's other of our friends

Will greet us here anon, my gentle Varrius.

SCENE VI

[Exeunt.

Street near the city-gate.

Enter Isabella and Mariana.

Isab. To speak so indirectly I am loath:

I would say the truth; but to accuse him so,
That is your part: yet I am advised to do it;
He says, to veil full purpose.

Mari.

Be ruled by him. Isab. Besides, he tells me that, if peradventure He speak against me on the adverse side, I should not think it strange; for 'tis a physic That's bitter to sweet end.

Mari. I would Friar Peter

Isab.

O, peace the friar is come.

Enter Friar Peter.

10

Fri. P. Come, I have found you out a stand most fit, Where you may have such vantage on the Duke, He shall not pass you. Twice have the trumpets sounded;

The generous and gravest citizens

Have hent the gates, and very near upon

The Duke is entering: therefore, hence, away! [Exeunt.

14. "very near upon the duke is entering"; is on the point of entering.-C. H. H.

ACT FIFTH

SCENE I

The city-gate.

Mariana veiled, Isabella, and Friar Peter, at
their stand. Enter Duke, Varrius, Lords,
Angelo, Escalus, Lucio, Provost, Officers,
and Citizens, at several doors.

Duke. My very worthy cousin, fairly met!
Our old and faithful friend, we are glad to see

Ang.
Escal.

you.

Happy return be to your royal Grace! Duke. Many and hearty thankings to you both. We have made inquiry of you; and we hear Such goodness of your justice, that our soul Cannot but yield you forth to public thanks, Forerunning more requital.

Ang.

You make my bonds still greater. Duke. O, your desert speaks loud; and I should wrong it,

To lock it in the wards of covert bosom,
When it deserves, with characters of brass,
A forted residence 'gainst the tooth of time

10

12. "A forted residence 'gainst"; a residence fortified against.— C. H. H.