Of outward order. This we came not to,
Only for propagation of a dower

Remaining in the coffer of her friends;

From whom we thought it meet to hide our love,
Till time had made them for us. But it chances,
The ftealth of our moft mutual entertainment,
With character too grofs, is writ on Juliet.
Lucio. With child, perhaps?

Claud. Unhappily, even fo.

And the new deputy now for the duke,
(Whether it be the fault, and glimpse, of newness;
Or whether that the body public be

A horfe whereon the governor doth ride,
Who, newly in the feat, that it may know
He can command, let's it straight feel the spur:
Whether the tyranny be in his place,

Or in his eminence that fills it up,

I ftagger in :)-But this new governor
Awakes me all the enrolled penalties,

Which have, like unfcour'd armour, hung by the wall,

So long that nineteen zodiacks have gone round,'
And none of them been worn; and, for a name,
Now puts the drowsy and neglected act
Freshly on me :-'Tis, furely, for a name.

8-the fault and glimpse of newness ;] Fault and glimpse have fo little relation to each other, that both can fcarcely be right: we may read flash for fault: or, perhaps we may read,

Whether it be the fault or glimtfe

That is, whether it be the feeming enormity of the action, or the glare of new authority. Yet the fame fenfe follows in the next Lines. JOHNSON.

So long that nineteen zodiacks have gone round,] The duke in the fcene immediately following fays,

Which for thefe fourteen years we have let flip.

The author could not fo difagree with himself. "Tis neceffary to make the two accounts correfpond. THEOBALD.

Lucio. I warrant, it is: And thy head ftands fo tickle on thy shoulders, that a milk-maid, if the be in love, may figh it off. Send after the duke, and appeal to him.

Claud. I have done fo, but he's not to be found.
I pr'ythee, Lucio, do me this kind service:
This day my fifter fhould the cloister enter,
And there receive her approbation :

Acquaint her with the danger of my state;
Implore her, in my voice, that fhe make friends
To the ftrict deputy; bid herself affay him;
I have great hope in that: for in her youth
There is a prone and speechless dialect,"

'fo tickle] i. e. ticklish. This word is frequently used by our old dramatic authors. So in The true Tragedy of Marius and Scilla, 1594,

-lords of Afia

"Have flood on tickle terms."

Again, in The Widow's Tears, by Chapman, 1612,

66 -upon as tickle a pin as the needle of a dial."

Again, in The Spanish Tragedy, 1610,

"Now stands our fortune on a tickle point."

Again, Byron's Tragedy,

-all his fways

"And tickle aptness to exceed his bounds." STEEVENS. 2-prone and speechless dialect,] I can fcarcely tell what fignification to give to the word prone. Its primitive and tranflated fenfes are well known. The authour may, by a prone dialect, mean a dialect which men are prone to regard, or a dialect natural and unforced, as thofe actions feem to which we are prone. Either of these interpretations are fufficiently ftrained; but fuch distortion of words is not uncommon in our authour. For the fake of an cafier fenfe, we may read,

Or thus,

There is a prompt and speechless dialect. JOHNSON. Prone, perhaps, may ftand for humble, as a prone pofture is a pofture of fupplication. STEEVENS.

C 2

Such

Such as moves men; befide, fhe hath profperous art
When fhe will play with reafon and difcourfe,
And well she can perfuade.

Lucio. I pray, he may as well for the encouragement of the like, which elfe would ftand under grievous impofition; as for the enjoying of thy life, wha I would be forry fhould be thus foolishly loft at a game of tick-tack. I'll to her.

Claud. I thank you, good friend Lucio..
Lucio. Within two hours,

Claud. Come, officer, away.

SCENE IV.

[Exeunt.

Enter Duke and Friar Thomas.

Duke. No; holy father,Throw away that thought;

Believe not, that the dribbling dart of love 4 Can pierce a compleat bofom: why I defire thee To give me fecret harbour, hath a purpose

More grave, and wrinkled, than the aims and ends Of burning youth.

Fri. May your grace fpeak of it?

Duke. My holy fir, none better knows than you, How I have ever lov'd the life remov'd;

And held in idle price to haunt affemblies,

Where youth, and coft, and witlefs bravery keeps. I have deliver'd to lord Angelo

3 under grievous impofition:] I once thought it fhould be inquifition, but the prefent reading is probably right. The crime would be under grievous penalties impofed. JOHNSON.

4 Believe not, that the dribbling dart of love

Can pierce a compleat bojim :

-]

Think not that a breast compleatly armed can be pierced by the dart of love that comes fluttering without force. JOHNSON.

(A

(A man of stricture and firm abftinences)
My abfolute power and place here in Vienna;
And he fuppofes me travell'd to Poland;
For fo I have ftrew'd it in the common ear,
And fo it is receiv'd: Now, pious fir,
You will demand of me, why I do this?
Fri. Gladly, my lord.

Duke. We have ftrict ftatutes, and mot biting laws,

The needful bits and curbs for head-ftrong fteeds," Which for thefe nineteen years we have let fleep ;7

Even

5 A man of stricture and firm abftinence,] Stricture makes no sense in this place. We should read,

A man of fricture and firm abstinence,

i. e. a man of the exactest conduct, and practifed in the fubdual of his paffions. Ure an old word for ufe, practice: fo enur'd, habituated to. WARBURTON.

Stricture may eafily be used for frianefs; ure is indeed an old word, but, I think, always applied to things, never to perfons.

JOHNSON. "The needful bits and curbs for head-ftrong feeds,] In the copies, The needful bits and curbs for head-fireng weeds.

There is no matter of analogy or confonance in the metaphors here: and, though the copies agree, I do not think, the author would have talked of bits and carbs for weeds. On the other hand, nothing can be more proper, than to compare perfons of anbrided licenticufnefs to head-ftrong feeds: and, in this view, bridling the paffions has been a phrafe adopted by our best THEOBALD. poets.

7

Which for thefe nineteen years we have let fleep ;] In former editions,

Which for thefe fourteen years we have let flip. For fourteen I have made no fcruple to replace nineteen. I have altered the odd phrafe of letting the laws flip: for how does it fort with the comparison that follows, of a lion in his cave that went not out to prey? But letting the laws fleep, adds a particular propriety to the thing reprefented, and accords exactly too with the fimile. It is the metaphor too, that our author feems fond of uling upon this occafion, in feveral other paffages of this play.

The law hath not been dead, tho' it hath lept;

'Tis now awake,

Even like an o'er-grown lion in a cave,

That goes not out to prey. Now, as fond fathers
Having bound up the threat'ning twigs of birch,
Only to flick it in their children's fight,

For terror, not to use; in time the rod
Becomes more mock'd,3 than fear'd: fo our decrees,
Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead;
And Liberty plucks Juftice by the nose;
The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart
Goes all decorum.

Fri. It refted in your grace

To unloose this ty'd up juftice, when you pleas'd: And it in you more dreadful would have feem'd, Than in lord Angelo.

Duke. I do fear, too dreadful.

Sith 'twas my fault to give the people scope,
'Twould be my tyranny to ftrike and gall them,
For what I bid them do: For we bid this be done,
When evil deeds have their permiffive pass,

And not the punishment. Therefore, indeed, my father,

I have on Angelo impos'd the office :

Who may, in the ambush of my name, ftrike home, And yet, my nature never in the fight

To do it flander. 9 And to behold his fway,

And fo, again,

-but this new governor

Awakes me all th' enrolled penalties;

and for a name,

Now puts the drowsy and neglected a&t
Freshly on me. THEOBALD.

8 Becomes more mock'd than fear'd :—

I will

-] Becomes was added

by Mr. Pope to restore fenfe to the paffage, fome fuch word having been left out. STEEVENS.

Sir Thomas Hanmer has very well corrected it thus,

To do it flander.

Yet