A SISTER PLEADING FOR A BROTHER. 7. Yea! men may wonder when they scan In such a rest his heart to keep; 8. For me, my heart, that erst2 did go That sees through tears the juggler's3 leap, "Who giveth His beloved, sleep!" 9. And friends! dear friends! when it shall be Let one, most loving of you all, Say, "Not a tear must o'er her fall HE GIVETH HIS BELOVED, SLEEP!" 387 ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. 168. A SISTER PLEADING FOR A CONDEMNED BROTHER Isabella. I am a woful suitor to your honor; Please but your honor hear me. Angelo. Well; what's your suit? Isab. There is a vice that most I do abhor, And most desire should meet the blow of justice, Ang. Well; the matter? Isab. I have a brother is condemn'd to die; I do beseech you, let it be his fault, And not my brother. Ang. Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it? Why, every fault's condemn'd ere it be done; 1 Ween, think; fancy; imagine.--2 Erst, at first; formerly; till now. -3 Jåg' gler, a cheat; a deceiver; one who practices or exhibits sleight of hand tricks. Mine were the very cipher of a function,' To find the faults, whose fine stands in record, Isab. O just but severe law! I had a brother, then ;-must he needs die? Ang. Maiden, no remedy. Isab. Yes; I do think that you might pardon him, And neither Heaven nor man grieve at the mercy. Ang. I will not do't. Isab. But can you, if you would? Ang. Look; what I will not, that I can not do. Isab. But might you do't, and do the world no wrong, so your heart were touch'd with that remorse, As mine is to him? Ang. Isab. Too late? He's sentenced; 'tis too late. Why, no; I, that do speak a word, May call it back again: well, believe this, 2 And you as he, you would have slipt like him; Isab. I would to Heaven I had your potency, Ang. Your brother is a forfeit of the law, And you but waste your words. Why, all the souls that are, were forfeit once; 1 Function (fůngk' shun), duty; office; performance.-- Truncheon (trůn' shun), a short staff; a club.- Po' ten cy, power; authority.For' feit, that which is lost by an offense. A SISTER PLEADING FOR A BROTHER. If He, which is the top of judgment, should And mercy Like man new made. Ang. Be you content, fair maid; It is the law, not I, condemns your brother. Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son, It should be thus with him; he dies to-morrow. 389 Isab. To-morrow? oh! that's sudden. Spare him, spare him. Good, good my lord, bethink you : Who is it that hath died for this offense? There's many have committed it. Ang. The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept; If the first man that did the edict1 infringe,2 And so in progress to be hatch'd and born, Isab. Yet show some pity. Ang. I show it most of all, when I show justice; For then I pity those I do not know, Which a dismiss'd offense would after gall; And do him right, that, answering one foul wrong, Your brother dies to-morrow; be content. Isab. So you must be the first that gives this sentence: And he, that suffers: oh! 'tis excellent To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous3 To use it like a giant.- -Merciful Heaven! 1E' dict, proclamation; law.- - In fringe', break; encroach upon.Tyr'an nous, cruel; unjustly severe. Dress'd in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he's most assured, Plays such fantastic tricks before high Heaven, We can not weigh our brother with yourself: That in the captain's but a choleric2 word, Ang. Why do you put these sayings upon me? That skins the vice o' the top: go to your bosom; Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue Ang. She speaks, 'tis such sense, That my sense bleeds with it. Fare you well. Isab. Gentle my lord, turn back. Ang. I will bethink me; come again to-morrow. Isab. Hark, how I'll bribe you; good my lord, turn back. Ang. How! bribe me? Isab. Ay, with such gifts, that Heaven shall share with you. Not with fond shekels' of the tested gold, Or stones, whose rate is either rich or poor, Ang. Well, come to-morrow. Isab. Heaven keep your honor safe. SHAKSPEARE 1 Prof a nå' tion, a violation of something sacred; treating with abuse or disrespect. Choleric (kol' er ik), angry; passionate.- Blås' phemy, irreverent or contemptuous words uttered wickedly against God.-'Shekel (shek' kl), a Jewish coin of the value of about half a dollar, or sixty cents. Test' ed, tried; purified. t 1 1. 169. THE TRAVELER. WITHDRAW yon curtain, look within that room, 2. "Tis he, the husband, father, lost in care, 3. His eye must see, his foot each spot must tread, 1 Socrates, an illustrious Grecian philosopher and teacher of youth was born at Athens, in the year 468 B. C. Though the best of all the men of his time, and one of the wisest and most just of all men, he unjustly suffered the punishment of death for impiety at the age of seventy. Homer, the most distinguished of poets, called the "Father of Song." He is supposed to have been an Asiatic Greek, though his birth-place, and the period in which he lived, are not known. 2 |