"The ( ) Angelo!"
it is quite clear that the epithet which has to be supplied is one in
total contrast to the character just given of him by Isabella. What is
this character?
"This _outward-sainted_ deputy,--
Whose settled visage and deliberate word
Nips youth i' the head, and follies doth emmew,
As falcon doth the fowl,--_is yet a devil;
His filth within being cast, he would appear
A pond as deep as hell_."
To this it appears to me Claudio would naturally exclaim:
"The _saintly_ Angelo!"
and Isabella, as naturally following up the contrast, would continue--
"O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The _damned'st body to invest and cover_
In _saintly guards_!"
My acquaintance with the handwriting of the age is very limited, but I
have no doubt there are possible scrawls in which _saintlie_ might be
made to look like _prenzie_. If any one knows a better word, let him
propose it; only I beg leave to warn him against _pious_, which I have
already tried, and for various reasons rejected.