mean the most "moral"; this accords with the whole scheme
of the play. Isabella--we conclude with the poet's own
description--is a saint. I am not quoting "a thing en-
sky'd and sainted"; these words have reference to the
cloister; but I allude to III, i, 186-7. Again, let me illus-
trate, and by comparison; there is no inductive method in
literature. Isabella we may compare with the Portia of
The Merchant of Venice, and the distinction is most strik-
ing; she combines all the daring of Portia with cold calm-
ness and a hesitancy of peculiar charm. Portia would
have importuned Angelo quite otherwise (II, ii) ; Isabella
is at war 'twixt will and will not; but for the urgency of
Lucio she might have withdrawn from the contest; this is
one of the finest things in the play. But as she proceeds,
love dominates the scruple of morality, and she gains the
respite of another interview.--LUCE, Handbook to Shake-
speare's Works.

The reigning Duke, who had thus allowed this law to
slumber, had done so from kindness of heart and innate
mildness. He thinks himself justified in bearing testimony
to himself that even to the envious he must appear a
scholar, a statesman, and a soldier. He holds that high
moral opinion that the ruler and judge ought to be as
holy as he is severe, a pattern in himself, "grace to stand
and virtue go"; he considers him as a tyrant who punishes
in others the faults into which he falls himself. His whole
nature is that of a man of moderation, gentleness, and
calmness, his whole endeavor that of a circumspect phi-
losopher. He loves his people, but he does not relish their
loud applause and thronging, nor does he think the man
of safe discretion that affects it. He has a leaning to
solitude, and plays the part of a friar perhaps even better
than that of a statesman; his earnest endeavor was always
to know himself, but it also seemed a kind of necessity
with him to know men and to test the instruments of his
rule. This circumspect wisdom, never seeing things im-

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