268 REMARKS ON THE PHILOSOPHY 



And those eyes, the break of day, 



Lights that do mislead the morn : 

 But my kisses bring again, 



bring again, 

 Seals of love, but seal'd in vain, 



seal'd in vain." 



Isabella's pleading before the Duke is very fine ; first appealing 

 loud for justice — the sense of her wrongs gives poignancy to her 

 wit — she retaliates by the cutting irony of question — 



" is it not strange ? 

 That Angelo's a murderer ; is't not strange ? 

 That Angelo is an adulterous thief, 

 An hypocrite, a virgin-violater ; 

 Is it not strange, and strange ? 



Then she hurls down the truth at once., by the confirmation of 

 Angelo's guilt : — 



" Isab — It is not truer he is Angelo, 

 Than this is all as true as it is strange : 

 Nay, it is ten times true ; for truth is truth 

 To the end of reckoning. 



Duke — Away with her Poor soul, 



She speaks this in the infirmity of sense. 



Isab. — O prince, I conjure thee, as thou believ'st 

 There is another comfort than this world, 

 That thou neglect me not, with that opinion 

 That I am touch'd with madness ; make not impossible 

 That which but seems unlike : 'tis not impossible 

 But one, the wickedest caitiff on the ground, 

 May seem as shy, as grave, as just, as absolute, 

 As Angelo ; even so may Angelo, 

 In all his dressings, characts, titles, forms, 

 Be an arch-villain ; believe it, royal prince, 

 If he be less, he's nothing ; but he's more, 

 Had I more name for badness." 



These transitions and impetuous reasonings of Isabella are very 

 grand ; our thoughts rush along with each successive change — we 

 feel with her — we plead with her. 



" Duke — By mine honesty, 



If she be mad, as I believe no other, 

 Her madness hath the oddest frame of sense, 

 Such a dependency of thing on thing, 

 As e'er I heard in madness." 



