II.iv.16 (51,9) [Let's write good angel on the devil's horn; 'Tis not the devil's crest] [Hammer: Is't not the devil's crest] I am still inclined to the opinion of the Oxford editor. Angelo, reflecting on the difference between his seeming character, and his real disposition, observes, that he _could change his gravity for a plume_. He then digresses into an apostrophe, _O dignity, how dost thou impose upon the world_! then returning to himself, _Blood_, says he, _thou art but blood_, however concealed with appearances and decorations. Title and character do not alter nature, which is still corrupt, however dignified. _Let's write good angel on the devil's horn_; _Is't not_?--or rather--_'Tis yet the devil's crest_. It may however be understood, according to Dr. Warburton's explanation. O place, how dost thou impose upon the world by false appearances! so much, that if we _write good angel on the devil's horn, 'tis not_ taken any longer to be _the devil's crest_. In this sense, _Blood, thou art but blood._! is an interjected exclamation. (1773) II.iv.27 (53,1) [The gen'ral subjects to a well-wish'd king] So the later editions: but the old copies read, _The_ general subject _to a well-wish'd king_. The _general subject_ seems a harsh expression, but _general subjects_ has no sense at all; and _general_ was, in our authour's time, a word for _people_, so that the _general_ is the _people_, or _multitude, subject_ to a king. So in _Hamlet_: _The play pleased not the_ million; _'twas caviare to the_ general. II.iv.47 (54,3) [Falsely to take away a life true made] _Falsely_ is the same with _dishonestly, illegally_: so _false_, in the next lines, is _illegal, illegitimate_. II.iv.48 (54,4) [As to put metal in restrained means] In forbidden moulds. I suspect _means_ not to be the right word, but I cannot find another. II.iv.50 (55,5) ['Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth] I would have it considered, whether the train of the discourse does not rather require Isabel to say, _'Tis so set down in_ earth, _but not in_ heaven. When she has said this, _Then_, says Angelo, _I shall poze you quickly_. Would you, who, for the present purpose, declare your brother's crime to be less in the sight of heaven, than the law has made it; would you commit that crime, light as it is, to save your brother's life? To this she answers, not very plainly in either reading, but more appositely to that which I propose: _I had rather give my body, than my soul_. (1773) II.iv.67 (56,6) [Pleas'd you to do't at peril of your soul, Were equal poize of sin and charity]