Owe, and succeed thy weakness.
Ang. Nay, women are frail too.
Measure for Measure, Act. ii. Sc. 4.
I should paraphrase Isabella's remarks thus:—
"If it be otherwise, if we are not all frail as thou sayest, then let my brother die, unless he be but in the same case as others; if he alone possess and follow thee in that particular frailty to which thou has half confessed."
A feodary, I should observe, was an officer of the Court of Wards, who was joined with the escheator and did not act singly; I conceive therefore that Shakspeare by this expression indicates an associate; one in the same plight as others; negatively, one who does not stand alone. In Cymbeline, Act iii. Sc. 2., we read:
"Senseless bauble,
Art thou a feodary for this act, and lookst
So virgin-like without?"
where feodary clearly means confederate, associate. According to some, the word signifies one who holds land by the same tenure as the rest of mankind; whilst Mr. Knight, in a note on Henry IV. Part i. Act i. endeavors to show that it includes both the companion and the feudal vassal.