The words of heaven; on whom it will, it will; On whom it will not, fo; yet fill 'tis just.3 The words of heaven; on whom it will, it will; On whom it will not, fo; yet fill 'tis juft.] The sense of the whole is this: The demi-god Authority, makes us pay the full penalty of our offence, and its decrees are as little to be queflioned as the words of heaven, which pronounces its pleasure thus, I punish and remit punishment according to my own uncontroulable will; and yet who can fay, what doft thou?. Make us pay down for our offence by weight, is a fine expreffion to fignify paying the full penalty. The metaphor is taken from paying money by weight, which is always exact; not fo by tale, on account of the pradice of diminishing the fpecies. WARBURTON. Authority is then poetically called the fword of heaven, which will fpare or punish, as it is commanded. The alteration is flight, being made only by taking a fingle letter from the end of the word, and placing it at the beginning. This very ingenious and elegant emendation was fuggefted to me by the Reverend Dr. Roberts, Provost of Eton; and it may be countenanced by the following paffage in The Cobler's Prophecy, 1594: « In brief, they are the fwords of heaven to punish." Sir W. D'Avenant, who incorporated this play of Shakspeare with Much ado about Nothing, and formed out of them a Tragicomedy called The Law againft Lovers, omits the two last lines of this fpeech; I fuppofe, on account of their feeming obfcurity. STEEVENS. The very ingenious emendation propofed by Dr. Roberts, is yet more ftrongly fupported by another paffage in the play before us, where this phrafe occurs, (A& III. fc. laft): He who the fword of heaven will bear, Should be as holy, as fevere." Yet I believe the old copy is right. MALONE. Notwithstanding Dr. Roberts's ingenious conje&ure, the text is certainly right. Authority, being abfolute in Angelo, is finely filed by Claudio, the demi-god. To this uncontroulable power, the poet applies a paffage from St. Paul to the Romans, ch. ix, LUCIO. Why, how now, Claudio? whence comes this reftraint? CLAUD. From too much liberty liberty: my Lucio, As furfeit is the father of much fast, LUCIO. If I could speak so wifely under an arrest, I would fend for certain of my creditors: And yet, to fay the truth, I had as lief have the foppery of freedom, as the morality of imprisonment. What's thy offence, Claudio? for v. 15. 18, which he properly Ayles, the words of heaven: he faith to Mofes, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, &c. And again: "Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, &c. HENLEY, It fhould be remembered, however, that the poet is here fpeaking not of mercy, but punishment. MALONE. Mr. Malone might have fpared himself this remark, had he recolle&ed that the words of St. Paul immediately following, and to which the &c. referred, are - and whom he will he hardeneth.' See also the preceding verfe. HENLEY. 4 Like rats that ravin down their proper bane, ] To ravin was formerly used for eagerly or voraciously devouring any thing: fo in Wilfon's Epiftle to the Earl of Leicefter, prefixed to his Difcourfe upon Ufurye, 1572: "For these bee the greedie cormoraunte wolfes indeed, that ravyn up both beafte and man. REED. Ravin is an ancient word for prey. So, in Noah's Flood, by Drayton : "As well of ravine, as that chew the cud. STEEVENS. when we drink, we die.] So, in Revenge for Honour, by Chapman : "Like poifon'd rats, which when they've fwallowed STEEVENS. 6 - as the morality] The old copy has mortality. It was corrected by Sir William D'Avenant, MALONE. CLAUD. What, but to speak of would offend again. LUCIO. What is it? murder? CLAUD. Nɔ. LUCIO. Lechery? CLAUD. Call it fo. PROV. Away, fir; you moft go. CLAUD. One word, good friend :-Lucio, aword with you. LUCIO. A hundred, if they'll do you any good. Is lechery fo look'd after? [Takes him afide. Upon a true CLAUD. Thus ftands it with me: contract, I got poffeffion of Julietta's bed;7 8 7 I got poffeffion of Julietta's bed, &c.] This fpeech is furely too indelicate to be fpoken concerning Juliet, before her face; for the appears to be brought in with the reft, though he has nothing to fay. The Clown points her out as they enter; and yet, from Claudio's telling Lucio, that he knows the lady, &c. one would think he was not meant to have made her perfonal appearance on the fcene. STEEVENS. The little feeming impropriety there is, will be entirely removed, by fuppofing that when Claudio ftops to speak to Lucio, the Provost's officers depart with Julietta. RITSON. Claudio may be supposed to speak to Lucio apart. MALONI. Remaining in the coffer of her friends;] This fingular mode of expreffion certainly demands fome eludication. The fenfe appears to be this. "We did not think it proper publickly to celebrate our marriage; for this reafon, that there might be no hindrance to the payment of Julietta's portion which was then in the hands of her friends; from whom, therefore, we judged it expedient to conceal our From whom we thought it meet to hide our love, And the new deputy now for the duke, A horfe whereon the governor doth ride, love till we had gained their favour." Propagation being here used to fignify payment, mut have its root in the Italian word pagare. Edinburgh Magazine for November, 1786. I fuppofe the speaker means- for the fake of getting fuch a dower as her friends might hereafter beftow on her, when time had reconciled them to her clandeftine marriage. STEEVENS. Perhaps we fhould read-only for prorogation. MALONE. the fault and glimpfe 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 glimpse 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. Fault, I apprehend, does not refer to any enormous a&t done by the deputy, (as Dr. Johnfon feems to have thought,) but to newnefs. The fault and glimpse is the fame as the faulty glimpse. And the meaning feems to be Whether it be the fault of newuefs, a fault arifing from the mind being dazzled by a novel authority, of which the new governor has yet had only a glimpse, has yet taken only a hafty Survey; or whether, &c. Shakipeare has many fimilar expreffions. MALONE. 2 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 Frefhly on me: 'tis, furely, for a name. LUCIO. I warrant, it is: and thy head ftands fo tickle on thy fhoulders, that a milk-maid, if the be in love, my 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: 3 like unfcour'd armour,] So, in Troilus and Creffida: STEEVENS. 3 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. But this new governor Awakes me all the enrolled penalties Which have, like unfcour'd armour, hung by the wall So long, Now puts the drowsy and neglected act THEOBALD. Freshly on me:] Lord Strafford, in the conclufion of his Defence in the House of Lords, had, perhaps, these lines in his thoughts: "It is now full two hundred and forty years fince any man was touched for this alledged crime, to this height, before myself. Let us reft contented with that which our fathers have left us; and not awake those fleeping lions, to our own deftruction, by raking up a few mufty records, that have lain fo many ages by the walls, quite forgotten and neglected." MALONE. This word is frequently used 5 -fo tickle] i. e. ticklish. by our old dramatic authors. So, in The true Tragedy of Marius and Scilla, 1594: lords of Afia "Have ftood on tickle terms. Again, in The Widow's Tears, by Chapman, 1612: 66 upon as tickle a pin as the needle of a dial. STEEVENS. |