The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Israel Gollancz William Shakespeare [2377]
III.i.59 (68,6) [an everlasting leiger. Therefore your best appointment] Leiger is the same with resident. Appointment; preparation; act of fitting, or state of being fitted for any thing. So in old books, we have a knight well appointed; that is, well armed and mounted or fitted at all points.
III.i.68 (68,8)
[Tho' all the world's vastidity you had,
To a determin'd scope]
A confinement of your mind to one painful idea; to ignominy, of which the remembrance can neither be suppressed nor escaped.
III.i.79 (69,9)
[And the poor beetle, that we tread upon,
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great,
As when a giant dies]
The reasoning is, that death is no more than every being must suffer, though the dread of it is peculiar to man; or perhaps, that_ we are inconsistent with ourselves, when we so much dread that which we carelessly inflict on other creatures, that feel the pain as acutely as we.
III.i.91 (69,1) [follies doth emmew] Forces follies to lie in cover without daring to show themselves.
III.1.93 (69,3) [His filth within being cast] To cast a pond is to empty it of mud.
Mr. Upton reads,
His pond within being cast, he would appear
A filth as deep as hell.
III.1.94 (70,4)
[Claud. The princely Angelo?
Isab. Oh, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'st body to invest and cover
In princely guards!]
[W: priestly guards] The first folio has, in both places, prenzie,
from which the other folios made princely, and every editor may make what he can.
III.i.113 (71,7)
[If it were damnable, he being so wise,
Why would he for the momentary trick
Be perdurably fin'd?]
Shakespeare shows his knowledge of human nature in the conduct of Claudio. When Isabella first tells him of Angelo's proposal, he answers, with honest indignation, agreeably to his settled principles,
Thou shalt not do't.
But the love of life being permitted to operate, soon furnishes him with sophistical arguments, he believes it cannot be very dangerous to the soul, since Angelo, who is so wise, will venture it.
III.i.121 (71,8) [delighted spirit] This reading may perhaps stand, but many attempts have been made to correct it. The most plausible is that which substitutes,
—the benighted spirit,
alluding to the darkness always supposed in the place of future punishment.
Perhaps we may read,
—the delinquent spirit,
a word easily changed to delighted by a bad copier, or unskilful reader. Delinquent is proposed by Thirlby in his manuscript.(1773)
III.i.127 (72,9) [lawless and incertain thoughts] Conjecture sent out to wander without any certain direction, and ranging through all possibilities of pain.
III.i.139 (73,2) [Is't not a kind of incest, to take life From thine own sister's shame?] In Isabella's declamation there is something harsh, and something forced and far-fetched. But her indignation cannot be thought violent, when we consider her not only as a virgin, but as a nun.
III.i.149 (74,4) [but a trade] A custom; a practice, an established habit. So we say of a man much addicted to any thing, he makes a trade of it.
III.i.176 (75,6) [Hold you there] Continue in that resolution.
III.i.255 (77,l) [only refer yourself to this advantage] This is scarcely to be reconciled to any established mode of speech. We may read, only reserve yourself to, or only reserve to yourself this advantage.
III.i.266 (77,2) [the corrupt deputy scaled] To scale the deputy may be, to reach him, notwithstanding the elevation of his place; or it may be, to strip him and discover his nakedness, though armed and concealed by the investments of authority.
III.ii.6 (78,4) [since, of two usuries] Sir Thomas Hammer corrected this with less pomp [than Warburton], then since of two usurers the merriest was put down, and the worser allowed, by order of law, a furr'd gown, &c. His punctuation is right, but the alteration, small as it is,