progress of their guilt is marked by differing as well as accordant circumstances. Apparently men of strict integrity and unimpeachable virtue, in the hour of temptation, unhappily, they fall; but they fall not without a struggle, nor without remorse: they combat with the guilty suggestions of their passions, and seek refuge from the allurements of beauty in the offices of religion. Promos, the more readily to prevail with Cassandra, enters into a positive engagement to marry her, as well as to spare the life of her brother. Angelo is not guilty of this vulgar artifice; but his villany assumes a blacker character from the unmanly threats by which he seeks to enforce compliance with his wishes. *

In a moment of inconsiderate anger, Isabella threatens to expose the villany of Angelo, and endeavours, by that means, to extort the pardon of her brother. The reply is sufficiently obvious ; but Shakspeare is not without the authority of the old play for the expressions which he assigns to Angelo :

"No force for that my might commandeth right: Her privy maim her open cries will stay ;

*Act II. sc. 4.

Or if not so, my frowning will her fright:

And thus shall rule conceal my filthy deed." *

Angelo places unbounded confidence in the argument, and urges it with considerable force:

"Who will believe thee, Isabel?

My unsoil'd name, the austereness of my life,
My vouch against you, and my place i' the state,
Will so your accusation overweigh,

That you shall stifle in your own report,
And smell of calumny." +

Again :

"For my authority bears off a credent bulk, That no particular scandal once can touch, But it confounds the breather." ‡

Angelo lays great stress on the death of Claudio as the means of preventing the detection of his crime; and that he may be perfectly satisfied on so important a point, he directs the head to be brought to him after the execution. Promos commands the gaoler to deliver the head to Cassandra.

In the management of the Duke, in the early scenes of the play, Shakspeare has deserted Whetstone to follow his own conceptions. The King, in Promos and Cassandra, has no immediate

* Part I. Act IV. sc. 2. Act IV. sc. 4.

+ Act II. sc. 4.

superintendence over the actions of his deputy, for he resides at a distance, and learns the delinquency of Promos from the injured female who appeals to him. This is credible and natural, which is more than can be said of the conduct of the Duke. He resigns his government into the hands of deputies under the pretence of making a journey into Poland, whither he does not go; but remains concealed in Vienna overlooking the conduct of Angelo, and prying for intelligence in the disguise of a friar.

When the sovereign in the original makes his entrance into the city, due solemnity and state are observed on the occasion: the delegated authorities are assembled to receive him, and to resign their power into his hands; and proclamation is made throughout the streets for all those who think themselves aggrieved to apply to him for redress. Shakspeare has not omitted any of these circumstances; the public reception of the Duke he exhibits on the stage, whilst Angelo mentions the other particulars ;-" And why meet him at the gates, and re-deliver our authorities there?" Shakspeare has also copied the sovereign's salutation of the guilty magistrate both in substance and form:

"But see where Promos and the Mayor wait

To welcome me with great solemnity.

With cheerful show I shadow will the hate

I bear to him for his insolency."

Promos, the good report of your good government
I hear :"

Thus in Measure for Measure:

"Give me your hand,

And let the subject see, to make them know
That outward courtesies would fain proclaim
Favours that keep within.

We have made enquiry of you; and we hear
Such goodness of your justice, &c.

O, your desert speaks loud." +

The crimes of the iniquitous governors detected, they, in both plays, make confession.

My guilty heart commands my tongue, O King, to tell a truth,

I do confess this tale is true, and I deserve thy wrath."

"No longer session hold upon my shame,
But let my trial be mine own confession;
Immediate sentence then, and sequent death,
Is all the grace I beg." §

* Promos and Cass. Part II. Act I. sc. 8 and 9. + Act V. sc. 1.

Promos and Cass. Part II. Act III. sc. 2. § Measure for Measure, Act V. sc. 1.

Promos and Angelo are both pardoned by the intercession of the females they have injured; they are both compelled to marry them, and both are similarly exhorted to repay by affection the unmerited kindness of their deliverers.

"Be loving to good Cassandra thy wife.” *

"Look you love your wife :

and again

"Love her, Angelo;

I have confess'd her, and I know her virtue." +

Had it been only in view to prove that Promos and Cassandra, and not the novel of Cinthio formed the groundwork of Measure for Measure, many of the preceding extracts might have been spared; but the attaining of an insight into Shakspeare's process in the construction of his play has been the object, and for that reason we are still led to the notice of one or two other concurring particulars. In both plays, low officers take into custody the inmates of a brothel, and carry them before the deputy; and a woman of bad character bewails the enforcement of the laws against the vices of her trade. Whetstone's Rosko and Shakspeare's Clown are gentlemen

* Promos and Cass. Part II. Act V. sc. 4.

+ Meas. for Meas. Act V. sc. 1.