_for vane. O place,_ or _for vane o' the place._ Manlone conj.

15: _thou art blood_] _thou art but blood_ Pope.

_thou still art blood_ Malone.

17: _'Tis not_] _Is't not_ Hanmer. _'Tis yet_ Johnson conj.

18: _desires_] _asks_ Pope.

21: _both it_] _both that_ Pope. _it both_ Collier MS.

22: _all_] om. Hanmer, who makes lines 19-23 end at _blood, both that, dispossessing, fitness._ 27: _subject_] F1 F2 F3. _subjects_ F4.

28: _part_] _path_ Collier MS.

31: SCENE XI. Pope.

33: _demand_] _declare_ Hanmer.

_Your brother_] _He_ Hanmer.

34: _your honour_] _you_ Hanmer.

45: _sweetness_] _lewdness_ Hanmer.

46: _easy_] _just_ Hanmer.

48: _metal_] Theobald. _mettle_ Ff.

_means_] _mints_ Steevens conj. _moulds_ Malone conj.

50: _'Tis ... earth_] _'Tis so set down in earth but not in heaven_ Johnson conj.

51: _Say_] _And say_ Pope. _Yea, say_ S. Walker conj. ending lines 50, 51 at _heaven, then I._ 53: _or_] Rowe (after Davenant), _and_ Ff.

58: _for accompt_] _accompt_ Pope.

68: _Were ... charity._] _Were't ... charity?_ Hanmer.

_'Twere ... charity._ Seymour conj.

70: _of_] om. Pope.

71: _make it my morn prayer_] _make't my morning prayer_ Hanmer.

73: _your_] _yours_ Johnson conj.

75: _craftily_] Rowe (after Davenant). _crafty_ Ff.

76: _me_] om. F1.

80: _enshield_] _in-sh.e.l.l'd_ Tyrwhitt conj.

81: _mark me_] _mark me well_ Hanmer.

90: _loss_] _loose_ Singer MS. _toss_ Johnson conj. _list_ Heath conj.

_force_ Collier MS.

94: _all-building_] Ff. _all-holding_ Rowe. _all-binding_ Johnson.

See note (X).

97: _to let_] _let_ Hanmer.

103: _have_] _I've_ Rowe. _I have_ Capell. _had_ Knight.

See note (XI).

_sick_] _seek_ Johnson (a misprint).

104, 105: Capell (conj.) and Collier end the first line at _must_.

106: _at_] _for_ Johnson conj.

111: _Ignomy in_] _Ignomie in_ F1. _Ignominy in_ F2 F3 F4.

_An ignominious_ Pope.

112, 113: _mercy Is nothing kin_] Ff. _mercy sure Is nothing kin_ Pope. _mercy is Nothing akin_ Steevens.

See note (XII).

117: _oft_] _very oft_ Hanmer, who ends lines 116, 117 at _me ...

have_.

118: _we would_] _we'd_ Steevens. This line printed as two in Ff.

122: _feodary_] F2 F3 F4. _fedarie_ F1.

123: _thy weakness_] _by weakness_ Rowe. _to weakness_ Capell.

_this weakness_ Harness (Malone conj.).

126: _make_] _take_ Johnson conj.

127: _their_] _thy_ Edd. conj.

135: _you be_] _you're_ Pope.

140: _former_] _formal_ Warburton.

143: _for it_] Pope. _for't_ Ff.

153: Pope ends the line at _world_.

163: _redeem_] _save_ Pope.

171: _should_] _shall_ Steevens.

172: _perilous_] _most perilous_ Theobald. _these perilous_ Seymour conj. _pernicious_ S. Walker conj.

175: _court'sy_] _curtsie_ Ff.

179: _mind_] _mine_ Jackson conj.

185: Inverted commas prefixed to this line in Ff.

ACT III.

SCENE I. _A room in the prison._

_Enter DUKE disguised as before, CLAUDIO, and PROVOST._

_Duke._ So, then, you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?

_Claud._ The miserable have no other medicine But only hope: I've hope to live, and am prepar'd to die.

_Duke._ Be absolute for death; either death or life 5 Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life: If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing That none but fools would keep: a breath thou art, Servile to all the skyey influences.

That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st, 10 Hourly afflict: merely, thou art death's fool; For him thou labour'st by thy flight to shun, And yet runn'st toward him still. Thou art not n.o.ble; For all the accommodations that thou bear'st Are nursed by baseness. Thou'rt by no means valiant; 15 For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep, And that thou oft provokest; yet grossly fear'st Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself; For thou exist'st on many a thousand grains 20 That issue out of dust. Happy thou art not; For what thou hast not, still thou strivest to get.

And what thou hast, forget'st. Thou art not certain; For thy complexion shifts to strange effects, After the moon. If thou art rich, thou'rt poor; 25 For, like an a.s.s whose back with ingots bows, Thou bear'st thy heavy riches but a journey, And death unloads thee. Friend hast thou none; For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire, The mere effusion of thy proper loins, 30 Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum, For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor age.

But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep, Dreaming on both; for all thy blessed youth Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms 35 Of palsied eld; and when thou art old and rich, Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty, To make thy riches pleasant. What's yet in this That bears the name of life? Yet in this life Lie hid more thousand deaths: yet death we fear, 40 That makes these odds all even.

_Claud._ I humbly thank you.

To sue to live, I find I seek to die; And, seeking death, find life: let it come on.

_Isab._ [_within_] What, ho! Peace here; grace and good company!

_Prov._ Who's there? come in: the wish deserves a welcome. 45

_Duke._ Dear sir, ere long I'll visit you again.

_Claud._ Most holy sir, I thank you.

_Enter ISABELLA._

_Isab._ My business is a word or two with Claudio.

_Prov._ And very welcome. Look, signior, here's your sister. 50

_Duke._ Provost, a word with you.

_Prov._ As many as you please.