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And punish them unto your height of pleasure.Thou foolish friar, and thou pernicious woman, Compact with her that's gone! think'st thou thy oaths,

Though they would swear down each particular saint,

Were testimonies against his worth and credit,
That's sealed in approbation?-You, Lord
Escalus,

Sit with my cousin; lend him your kind pains
To find out this abuse, whence 't is derived.-
There is another friar that set them on;
Let him be sent for.

F. Peter. Would he were here, my lord: for he indeed

Hath set the women on to this complaint:
Your Provost knows the place where he abides,
And he may fetch him.

Duke. Go, do it instantly. [Exit Provost.
And you, my noble and well-warranted cousin,
Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth,
Do with your injuries as seems you best,
In any chastisement: I for a while

Will leave you: but stir not you, till you have well Determined upon these slanderers.

Escal. My lord, we'll do it thoroughly.— [Exit DUKE. Signior Lucio, did not you say you knew that Friar Lodowick to be a dishonest person?

Lucio. Cucullus non facit monachum: honest in nothing but in his clothes; and one that hath spoke most villanous speeches of the Duke.

Escal. We shall entreat you to abide here till he come, and enforce them against him: we shall find this friar a notable fellow.

Lucio. As any in Vienna, on my word. Escal. Call that same Isabel here once again; [To an Attendant.] I would speak with her. Pray you, my lord, give me leave to question; you shall see how I'll handle her.

Lucio. Not better than he, by her own report. Escal. Say you?

Lucio. Marry, sir, I think if you handled her privately, she would sooner confess; perchance, publicly she'll be ashamed.

Re-enter Officers with ISABELLA; the DUKE, in the Friar's habit, and Provost.

Escal. I will go darkly to work with her.

Lucio. That's the way; for women are light at midnight.

Escal. Come on, mistress: [To ISABELLA.] here's a gentlewoman denies all that you have said.

Lucio. My lord, here comes the rascal I spoke of; here with the Provost.

Escal. In very good time:-speak not you to him, till we call upon you.

Lucio. Mum.

Escal. Come sir: did you set these women on to slander Lord Angelo? They have confessed you did.

Duke. "Tis false.

Escal. How! know you where you are?
Duke. Respect to your great place! and let the

devil

Be sometime honoured for his burning throne.— Where is the Duke? 'tis he should hear me speak. Escal. The Duke's in us; and we will hear you speak:

Look you speak justly.

Duke. Boldly, at least.-But, O, poor souls, Come you to seek the lamb here of the fox? Good night to your redress. Is the Duke gone? Then is your cause gone too. The Duke's unjust, Thus to retort your manifest appeal, And put your trial in the villain's mouth Which here you come to accuse.

Lucio. This is the rascal; this is he I spoke of. Escal. Why, thou unreverend and unhallowed friar!

Is 't not enough thou hast suborned these women To accuse this worthy man; but in foul mouth, And in the witness of his proper ear,

To call him villain?

And then to glance from him to the Duke himself; To tax him with injustice! Take him hence; To the rack with him:-We'll touze you joint

by joint,

But we will know this purpose. What! unjust?
Duke. Be not so hot; the Duke

Dare no more stretch this finger of mine, than he
Dare rack his own; his subject am I not,
Nor here provincial: My business in this state
Made me a looker-on here in Vienna,
Where I have seen corruption boil and bubble
Till it o'errun the stew: laws for all faults;
But faults so countenanced, that the strong sta-

tutes

Stand like the forfeits in a barber's shop,
As much in mock as mark.

Escal. Slander to the state! Away with him to prison.

Ang. What can you vouch against him, Signior Lucio?

Is this the man that you did tell us of?

Lucio. "T is he, my lord.-Come hither, goodman baldpate: do you know me?

Duke. I remember you, sir, by the sound of your voice: I met you at the prison, in the absence of the Duke.

Lucio. O, did you so? And do you remember what you said of the Duke? Duke. Most notedly, sir.

Lucio. Do you so, sir? And was the Duke a fleshmonger, a fool, and a coward, as you then reported him to be?

Duke. You must, sir, change persons, with me, ere you make that my report: you indeed spoke so of him; and much more, much worse. Lucio. O thou damnable fellow! Did not I pluck thee by the nose for thy speeches?

Duke. I protest I love the Duke as I love myself.

Ang. Hark! how the villain would close now, after his treasonable abuses.

Escal. Such a fellow is not to be talked withal: away with him to prison. Where is the Provost? Away with him to prison: lay bolts enough upon him: let him speak no more. Away with those giglots too, and with the other confederate companion. [The Provost lays hands on the DUKE. Duke. Stay, sir; stay awhile.

Ang. What! resists he? Help him, Lucio. Lucio. Come, sir; come, sir; come, sir; foh,

sir. Why, you baldpated, lying rascal! you must be hooded, must you? Shew your knave's visage, with a pox to you! shew your sheep-biting face, and be hanged an hour! Will 't not off?

[Pulls off the Friar's hood, and discovers

the DUKE.

Duke. Thou art the first knave that e'er made

a duke.

First, Provost, let me bail these gentle three:Sneak not away, sir; [To Lucio.] for the friar and

you

Must have a word anon. Lay hold on him.

Lucio. This may prove worse than hanging.

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Duke.

You are pardoned, Isabel:

And now, dear maid, be you as free to us.
Your brother's death, I know, sits at your heart;
And you may marvel why I obscured myself,
Labouring to save his life; and would not rather
Make rash remonstrance of my hidden power
Than let him so be lost: O, most kind maid,
It was the swift celerity of his death,
Which I did think with slower foot came on,
That brained my purpose. But peace be with him!
That life is better life, past fearing death,
Than that which lives to fear: make it your
comfort,
So happy is your brother.
Isab.
Re-enter ANGELO, MARIANA, PETER, and Provost.

I do, my lord.

Duke. For this new-married man, approach

ing here,

Whose salt imagination yet hath wronged

Your well-defended honour, you must pardon For Mariana's sake: but as he adjudged your brother

(Being criminal in double violation
Of sacred chastity, and of promise-breach,
Thereon dependent, for your brother's life),
The very mercy of the law cries out
Most audible, even from his proper tongue,
"An Angelo for Claudio, death for death."
Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;
Like doth quit like, and "Measure" still "for
Measure."

Then, Angelo, thy fault's thus manifested: Which though thou wouldst deny, denies thee vantage:

We do condemn thee to the very block Where Claudio stooped to death, and with like haste:

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Duke. I would thou hadst done so by Claudio: Go, fetch him hither; let me look upon him. [Exit Provost.

Escal. I am sorry one so learned and so wise As you, Lord Angelo, have still appeared, Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood And lack of tempered judgment afterward.

Ang. I am sorry that such sorrow I procure: And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart, That I crave death more willingly than mercy; 'Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it.

Re-enter Provost, BARNARDINE, CLAUDIO, and
JULIET.

Duke. Which is that Barnardine?
Prov. This, my lord.

Duke. There was a friar told me of this man. Sirrah, thou art said to have a stubborn soul, That apprehends no further than this world, And squarest thy life according. Thou'rt condemned;

But for those earthly faults, I quit them all;
And pray thee, take this mercy to provide
For better times to come. Friar advise him;
I leave him to your hand.-What muffled fellow's
that?

Prov. This is another prisoner that I saved, That should have died when Claudio lost his head;

As like almost to Claudio as himself.

[Unmuffles CLAUDIO. Duke. If he be like your brother, [ To ISABELLA.]

for his sake

Is he pardoned: and, for your lovely sake,
Give me your hand, and say you will be mine,
He is my brother too: but fitter time for that.
By this, Lord Angelo perceives he's safe;
Methinks I see a quickening in his eye.
Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well:
Look that you love your wife; her worth, worth
yours.-

I find an apt remission in myself;

And yet here's one in place I cannot pardon: You, sirrah, [To Lucio.] that knew me for a fool, a coward,

One all of luxury, an ass, a madman ;
Wherein have I so deserved of you,
That you extol me thus?

Lucio. 'Faith, my lord, I spoke it but according to the trick. If you will hang me for it, you may; but I had rather it would please you I might be whipped.

Duke. Whipped first, sir, and hanged after. Proclaim it, Provost, round about the city, If any woman's wronged by this lewd fellow (As I have heard him swear himself, there's one Whom he begot with child), let her appear, And he shall marry her: the nuptial finished, Let him be whipped and hanged.

Lucio. I beseech your highness, do not marry me to a whore! Your highness said even now, I made you a duke: good my lord, do not recompense me in making me a cuckold.

Duke. Upon mine honour thou shalt marry her. Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithal Remit thy other forfeits. Take him to prison; And see our pleasure herein executed.

Lucio. Marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing to death, whipping, and hanging.

Duke. Slandering a prince deserves it.
She, Claudio, that you wronged, look you restore.
Joy to you, Mariana!—love her, Angelo;

I have confessed her, and I know her virtue.
Thanks, good friend Escalus, for thy much goodness:
There's more behind that is more gratulate.
Thanks, Provost, for thy care and secrecy;
We shall employ thee in a worthier place.
Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you home
The head of Ragozine for Claudio's;
The offence pardons itself.-Dear Isabel,
I have a motion much imports your good;
Whereto if you'll a willing ear incline,
What's mine is yours, and what is yours is mine.
So bring us to our palace; where we'll shew
What's yet behind, that's meet you all should
know.
[Exeunt.

NOTES.

"We have with a leavened and prepared choice," &c. Act I., Scene I. This is one of Shakspere's fine, close metaphors. The choice, or determination, has been leavened; and having thus passed through the stages of fermentation, has settled to a well-digested and dispassionate opinion. Dr. Johnson calls this "one of Shakspere's harsh metaphors."

"Well, there went but a pair of shears between us." Act I., Scene 2. We were made of the same stuff; and between thy "wicked villany" and mine, the difference is no wider than the edge of the shears that separated us.

"As thou art piled, for a French velvet."-Act I., Scene 2. A pun upon "piled" and "pilled." This play, especially in its low-comedy scenes, contains a great many dirty allusions, elaborate explanations of which are to be found in Theobald, Warburton, Johnson, Collins, Tyrwhitt, Farmer, Steevens, Malone, and other erudite commentators.

"Save that we do the denunciation lack Of outward order."-Act I., Scene 3. Denunciation is here used in the sense of annunciation and legal sanction. It is evidently a wrong application of the word.

"With maids to seem the lapwing."-Act I., Scene 5. It is my sin to speak to maids with a tongue that is far from my heart; like the lapwing, which utters cries as it recedes further from its nest, and thus leads astray those who would discover its home.

"What know the laws

That thieves do pass on thieves?"—Act II., Scene 1. What know we of the laws which thieves have among themselves; or how should we know whether there be not thieves among the administrators of the laws, and the jurymen? The exact meaning is not clear.

"You may not so extenuate his offence,

For I have had such faults."-Act II., Scene 1. You are not to excuse his faults because I may have committed the same.

"And some by virtue fall."-Act II., Scene 1. Virtue being frequently overwhelmed by the vices of the world, falls into error or ruin. Some fall by the very strength of their best feelings and virtue.

"Some run from brakes of vice."-Act II., Scene 1. The "brake" or "break" was an engine of torture, invented by the Duke of Exeter, and sometimes called "the Duke of Exeter's daughter." The remains of one of these engines are in the Tower. Whether the word in the above passage alludes to this, or to "a break" for young, wild, or vicious horses, is not clear.

"ESCAL. What's o'clock, think you?

JUST. Eleven, sir.

ESCAL. I pray you home to dinner with me."
Act II., Scene 1.

This passage amusingly marks the "early habits" of our ancestors at the period; for although the scene is laid in Vienna, we find in this play, as in most others, that Shakspere habitually attributes the local manners and customs of all parts of the world to those of his own country.

"How would you be,

If He, which is the top of judgment, should
But judge you as you are? O, think on that;
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like man new made.”—Act II., Scene 2.

This reduction of man to the very first associations of his primitive creation, when his soul was all innocence, and expanding with the ardent fulness of anxious sympathy, is one of the most exquisite images in Shakspere. It tells us that man is all merciful when all innocent: how much more, then, should he be merciful towards his fellow creatures when, as now, most guilty?

"Most ignorant of what he's most assured,

His glassy essence."-Act II., Scene 2.

The soul, or essence, of a substance easily shattered to atoms; yet, which man ignorantly thinks he sees through, and is thus made conversant with all the depths of heaven beyond. The full meaning, in its peculiar subtlety, does not admit of literal explanation, and vanishes before the rude materiality of analysis.

"Would all themselves laugh mortal."—Act II., Scene 2. If angels had our spleens, they would laugh themselves into mortality at the fantastic tricks of mankind.

"That skins the vice o' the top."-Act II., Scene 2. Brings a new skin or covering over the sore place.

"Prayers from preserved souls."-Act II., Scene 2. Souls which have obtained salvation. Warburton, with equal gravity and sweetness, says, that "the metaphor is taken from fruits preserved in sugar!"

"An idle plume,

Which the air beats for vain.”-Act II., Scene 4. For "vain," we should probably read "vane."-My very gravity, in which I take such pride, I could change with advantage for an idle feather which the air beats like a vane, or weathercock.

"The general, subject to a well-wished king,

Quit their own part."-Act II., Scene 4.

The multitude, who happen to be the subjects of a beloved monarch, forget their own place and distance.

"Our compelled sins

Stand more for number than accompt."-Act II., Scene 4. A fine moral axiom, to the effect, that the sins which are committed involuntarily, are rather set down as a numerical catalogue of the sins of the world, than as things for which we are individually accountable.

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