MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
(Shakspeare adapted to "The Times.")
"Oppression hath made up this League."
King John, Act iii., Scene 1.
Angelo ... Lord S-l-sb-ry.
Escalus ... B-lf-r.
Escalus. Every leader it hath writ hath disvouched other.
Angelo. In most uneven and distracted manner. Its actions show much like to madness: pray heaven its wisdom be not tainted. Yet can we own ourselves beaten, and redeliver our authority?
Esc. I guess not.
Ang. And why should we proclaim it a few days before our departure, that if any crave redress of injustice, they must not exhibit their discontent in the street?
Esc. It shows its reason for that: to have a despatch of complaints; and to deliver us from devices hereafter, which shall then have no power to stand against us.