If I would yield him my virginity,

Thou might'st be freed?

Claud. Oh, heavens! it cannot be.

Ifab. Yes, he would give it thee, for this rank offence, So to offend him ftill: This night's the time

That I fhould do what I abhor to name,

Or else thou dy't to-morrow.

Claud. Thou shalt not do't.

Ifab. Oh, were it but my life,

I'd throw it down for your deliverance

As frankly as a pin.

Claud. Thanks, dear Ifabel.

Ifab. Be ready, Claudio, for your death to-morrow.
Claud. Yes. Has he affections in him,

That thus can

make him bite the law by the nose,

When he would force it? Sure it is no fin;

Or of the deadly feven it is the least.

Ijab. Which is the leaft?

Claud. If it were damnable, he, being so wise,

Why would he for the momentary trick
Be perdurably fin'd? Oh Ifabel!

Ifab. What fays my brother?
Claud. Death is a fearful thing.

Hab. And fhamed life a hateful.

Claud. Ay, but to die, and go we know not where ;

To lye in cold obftruction, and to rot;

с

This fenfible warm motion to become

d

A kneaded clod; and the delighted fpirit

To bathe in fiery floods, or to refide

make him bite the law by the nofe, &c]-impel him to tranfgrefs the law, at the very inftant when he is putting it in force? Surely then this fo general propenfity is either no fin, or at least a venial one.

bin cold obftruction,]-a lifelefs mafs.

fenfible warm metion]-animated frame.

delighted spirit) - accuftomed to, capable of, delight.

In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice;
To be imprison'd in the viewless winds,

And blown with reftlefs violence round about
The pendant world; or to be worse than worst
Of thofe, that lawless and incertain thoughts
Imagine howling!-'tis too horrible!

е

The weariest and most loathed worldly life,
That age, ach, penury, and imprisonment
Can lay on nature, is a paradife

To what we fear of death.

fab. Alas! alas!

Claud. Sweet fifter, let me live:
What fin you do to fave a brother's life,
Nature difpenfes with the deed fo far,
That it becomes a virtue.

Ifab. Oh, you beast!

Oh, faithlefs coward! Oh, dishonest wretch!
Wilt thou be made a man out of my vice?

Is't not a kind of inceft, to take life

From thine own fifter's fhame? What should I think?
Heaven shield, my mother play'd my father fair!
For fuch a warped flip off wilderness

g

Ne'er iffu'd from his blood. Take my defiance:

Die; perifh might but my bending down
Reprieve thee from thy fate, it should proceed:
pray a thousand
prayers for thy death,

I'll

No word to fave thee.

Claud. Nay hear me, Ifabel.

Ifab. Oh, fie, fie, fie!

Thy fin's not accidental, but a trade:

Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd:

lawless and incertain thoughts]-vague, and unfounded conjecture. f wilderness]-wildness. 8 defiance :]-refusal.

D a trade :]-the effect of inveterate custom, an established habit.

'Tis best that thou dy'st quickly.

Claud. Oh hear me, Ifabella.

Re-enter Duke.

Duke. Vouchsafe a word, young fifter, but one word.
Ifab. What is your will?

Duke. Might you difpenfe with your leifure, I would by and by have some speech with you: the fatisfaction I would require, is likewife your own benefit.

Ifab. I have no fuperfluous leifure; my ftay must be ftolen out of other affairs; but I will attend you a while.

Duke. [To Claudio afide.] Son, I have over-heard what hath past between you and your fifter. Angelo had never the purpose to corrupt her; only he hath made an affay of her virtue, to practise his judgment with the difpofition of natures: fhe, having the truth of honour in her, hath made him that gracious denial, which he is moft glad to receive: I am confeffor to Angelo, and I know this to be true; therefore prepare yourself to death: Do not 'fatisfy your refolution with hopes that are fallible: to-morrow you must die; go to your knees, and make ready.

Claud. Let me ask my fifter pardon. I am so out of love with life, that I will fue to be rid of it.

[Exit Claudio. Re-enter Provost. Duke. Hold you there: Farewell. Provoft, a word with you.

Prov. What's your will, father?

Duke. That now you are come, you will be gone: Leave me a while with the maid; my mind promifes with my habit, no lofs fhall touch her by my company.

i

Prov. 'In good time.

[Exit Provoft.

fatisfy your refolution]-reft fatisfied, acquiefce in hopes that will deceive you-falfify your refolution-elude, debafe, weaken the force of it. Hold you there :]-Perfift in that determination.

In good time.]-very well.

Duke.

Duke. The hand, that hath made you fair, hath made you good: the goodness, that is "cheap in beauty, makes beauty brief in goodnefs; but grace, being the foul of your complexion, fhould keep the body of it ever fair. The affault, that Angelo hath made to you, fortune hath convey'd to my understanding; and, but that frailty hath examples for his falling, I fhould wonder at Angelo: How would you do to content this fubftitute, and to save your

brother?

Ifab. I am now going to refolve him: I had rather my brother die by the law, than my fon fhould be unlawfully born. But oh, how much is the good duke deceived in Angelo! if ever he returns, and I can fpeak to him, I will open my lips in vain, or discover his government.

Duke. That fhall not be much amifs: yet, as the matter now ftands, he will avoid your accufation; "he made trial of you only. Therefore faften your ear on my advisings; to the love I have in doing good, a remedy presents itself. I do make myself believe, that you may moft uprighteously do a poor wronged lady a merited benefit; redeem your brother from the angry law; do no ftain to your own gracious perfon; and much please the abfent duke, if, peradventure, he shall ever return to have hearing of this bufinefs.

Ifab. Let me hear you speak further: I have spirit to do any thing, that appears not foul in the truth of my fpirit.

Duke. Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful. Have you not heard fpeak of Mariana the fifter of Frederick, the great foldier, who mifcarried at sea ?

Ifab. I have heard of the lady, and good words went with her name.

m

cheap in beauty,]-held cheap by beauty-if beauty hold virtue cheap, 'twill be but of fhort continuance.

be made trial of you only.]—he'll pretend fo, fhould you charge him with this attempt upon your honour.

Duke.

1

Duke. Her fhould this Angelo have marry'd; was affianc'd to her by oath, and the nuptial appointed: between which time of the contract, and limit of the folemnity, her brother Frederick was wreck'd at fea, having in that perish'd veffel the dowry of his fifter. But mark, how heavily this befel to the poor gentlewoman: there she lost a noble and renowned brother, in his love toward her ever moft kind and natural; with him the portion and finew of her fortune, her marriage-dowry; with both, her combinate husband, this well-feeming Angelo!

Ifab. Can this be fo? Did Angelo fo leave her?

Duke. Left her in her tears, and dry'd not one of them with his comfort; fwallow'd his vows whole, pretending, in her, discoveries of dishonour: in few, bestowed her on her own lamentation, which yet she wears for his fake; and he, a marble to her tears, is washed with them, but relents not.

Ifab. What a merit were it in death, to take this poor maid from the world! What corruption in this life, that it will let this man live!-But how out of this can fhe avail?

Duke. It is a rupture that you may easily heal: and the cure of it not only faves your brother, but keeps you from difhonour in doing it.

Ifab. Shew me how, good father.

Duke. This fore named maid hath yet in her the continuance of her firft affection; his unjuft unkindness, that in all reason fhould have quenched her love, hath, like an impediment in the current, made it more violent and unruly. Go you to Angelo; anfwer his requiring with a plaufible obedience; agree with his demands to the point; only refer yourself to this advantage,-firft, that your • combinate]-contracted, betrothed.

bestow'd her on her own lamentation,]-configned her over to, abandoned her to her forrows. 9 referve to yourself.

stay