I have over and over again considered the several emendations which have been suggested, and it seems to me that none of them answer all the necessary conditions; namely, that the word adopted shall be (1.) suitable to the reputed character of Angelo; (2.) an appropriate epithet to the word "guards," in the reply of Isabella above quoted; (3.) of the proper metre in both {402} places in which the misprint occurred; and (4.) similar in appearance to the word "prenzie." "Princely" does not agree with the sense or spirit of the particular passage; for it is extremely improbable that Claudio, when confined under sentence of death for an absurd and insufficient cause, would use a term of mere compliment to the man by whom he had been doomed. "Precise" and "priestly" are both far better than "princely;" but "precise" is wholly unsuited to the metre in both places, and "priestly" points too much to a special character to be appropriate to Angelo's office and position. It may also be remarked, that both "princely" and "priestly" differ from the number and form of the letters contained in "prenzie." The word which I venture to suggest is "PENSIVE," a word particularly applicable to a person of saintly habits, and which is so applied by Milton in "Il Penseroso:" "Come, pensive nun, devout and pure, Sober, stedfast, and demure." The word "pensive" is stated by Dr. Johnson to mean "sorrowfully thoughtful, sorrowfully serious," or melancholy; and that such epithets are appropriate to the reputed character of Angelo will be seen from the following extracts: "I implore her, in my service, that she make friends To the strict deputy."--_Claudio_, Act I. Sc. 3. "I have deliver'd to Lord Angelo, A man of stricture, and firm abstinence."--_Duke_, Act I. Sc. 4. "Lord Angelo is precise; Stands at a guard with envy; scarce confesses That his blood flows, or that his appetite Is more to bread than stone."--_Duke_, Act I. Sc. 4. "A man, whose blood Is very snow-broth; one who never feels The wanton stings and motions of the sense, But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge With profits of the mind, study and fast."--_Lucio_, Act I. Sc. 5. See also Angelo's portraiture of himself in the soliloquy at the commencement of Act II. Sc. 4.: "My gravity, Wherein (let no man hear me) I take pride, Could I, with boot, change for an idle plume Which the air beats for vain." And, lastly, the passage immediately under consideration: "This outward-sainted deputy, Whose settled visage and deliberate word, Nips youth i' the head, and follies doth emmew."--_Isabella_, Act III. Sc. 1. Thus much as to the propriety of the word "pensive," in relation to the reputed character of Angelo.