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Mal. I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you.

[Exit.
Oli. He hath been most notoriously abus'd.
Duke. Pursue him, and entreat him to peace :-
He hath not told us of the captain yet;
When that is known, and golden time convents,'
A solemn combination shall be made

Of our dear souls-Meantime, sweet sister,
We will not part from hence.-Cesario, come;
For so you shall be, while you are a man ;
But, when in other habits you are seen,
Orsino's mistress, and his fancy's queen. [Exeunt.

SONG.

Clo. When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

A foolish thing was but a toy,

For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man's estate,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, 'Gainst knave and thief men shut their gate, For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my bed,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken head,
For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day.

(1) Shall serve.

[Exil.

This play is in the graver part elegant and easy, and in some of the lighter scenes exquisitely humorous. Ague-cheek is drawn with great propriety, but his character is, in a great measure, that of natural fatuity, and is therefore not the proper prey of a satirist. The soliloquy of Malvolio is truly comic; he is betrayed to ridicule merely by his pride. The marriage of Olivia, and the succeeding perplexity, though well enough contrived to divert on the stage, wants credibility, and fails to produce the proper instruction required in the drama, as it exhibits no just picture of life.

JOHNSON.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

Vincentio, duke of Vienna.

Angelo, lord deputy in the duke's absence. Escalus, an ancient lord, joined with Angelo in the deputation.

Claudio, a young gentleman.

Lucio, a fantastic.

Two other like gentlemen.

Varrius, a gentleman, servant to the duke.
Provost.

[blocks in formation]

Elbow, a simple constable.

Froth, a foolish gentleman.

Clown, servant to Mrs. Over-done.

Abhorson, an executioner.

Barnardine, a dissolute prisoner.

Isabella, sister to Claudio.

Mariana, betrothed to Angelo.

Juliet, beloved by Claudio.

Francisca, a nun.

Mistress Over-done, a bawd.

Lords, gentlemen, guards, officers, and other at

tendants.

Scene, Vienna.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

ACT I.

SCENE I-An apartment in the Duke's palace. Enter Duke, Escalus, Lords, and attendants.

ESCALUS,

Escal. My lord.

Duke.

Duke. Of government the properties to unfold, Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse; Since I am put to know that your own science, Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice

My strength can give you: then no more remains
But that to your sufficiency, as your worth is able,
And let them work. The nature of our people,
Our city's institutions, and the terms

For common justice, you are as pregnant2 in,
As art and practice hath enriched any

That we remember: there is our commission,
From which we would not have you warp.-Call

hither,

I say, bid come before us Angelo.

[Exit an attendant.
What figure of us think you he will bear?
For you must know, we have with special soul
Elected him our absence to supply;

Lent him our terror, drest him with our love;
And given his deputation all the organs
Of our own power: what think you of it?
Escal. If any in Vienna be of worth
To undergo such ample grace and honour,
(1) Bounds.
(2) Full of.

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