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Clown. I beseech you, fir, look in this gentleman's face:Good mafter Froth, look upon his honour; 'tis for a good purpose: Doth your honour mark his face? Efcal. Ay, fir, very well.

Clown. Nay, I beseech you mark it well.
Efcal. Well, I do fo.

Clown. Doth your honour fee any harm in his face?
Escal. Why, no.

Clown. I'll be fuppos'd upon a book, his face is the worst thing about him: Good then; if his face be the worst thing about him, how could mafter Froth do the conftable's wife any harm? I would know that of your honour.

Efcal. He's in the right: constable, what fay you

to it?

Elb. First, an it like you, the house is a refpected houfe; next, this is a refpected fellow; and his miftress is a refpected woman,

Clown. By this hand, fir, his wife is a more refpected person than any of us-all.

Elb. Varlet, thou lieft thou lieft, wicked varlet: the time is yet to come, that he was ever refpected with man, woman, or child.

Clown. Sir, fhe was refpected with him before he marry'd with her.

Elb. Which is the wifer here? Juftice or Iniquis ty? Is this true?

Elb. O thou caitiff! O thou varlet! O, thou wicked Hannibal! I refpected with her, before I was marry'd to her? If ever I was refpected with her, or fhe with me, let not your worship think me the poor duke's officer:-Prove this, thou wicked Hannibal, or I'll have mine action of battery on thee.

5 Fuftice or Iniquity?] Thefe were, I fuppofe, two perfonages well known to the audience by their frequent appearance in the old moralities. The words therefore, at that time, produced a com bination of ideas, which they have now loft. JOHNSON.

6 Hannibal, Miftaken by the conttable for Cannibal. JOHNSON. Efcal.

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Efcal, If he took you a box o' of the ear, you might have your action of flander too.

Elb. Marry, I thank your good worship for it: What is't your worship's pleasure I fhall do with this wicked caitiff?

Efcal. Truly, officer, because he hath fome offences in him, that thou wouldst discover if thou couldft, let him continue in his courses, till thou know'ft what they are.

Elb. Marry, I thank your worship for it :-Thou feeft, thou wicked varlet now, what's come upon thee; thou art to continue now, thou varlet; thou art to continue.

Efcal. Where were you born, friend? [To Froth. Froth. Here in Vienna, fir.

Efcal. Are you of fourfcore pounds a year?

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Froth. Yes, and't please you, fir?:

Efcal. So. What trade are you of, fir?

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[To the Clown

Clown. A tapfter; a poor widow's tapfter.
Efcal. You miftrefs's name?

Clown. Miftrefs Over-done.

Efcal. Hath fhe had any more than one husband ?Clown. Nine, fir; Over-done by the last.

Efcal. Nine !-Come hither to me, mafter Froth. Mafter Froth, I would not have you acquainted with tapfers; they will draw you, mafter Froth, and you will hang them: Get you gone, and let me hear no more of you.

Froth, I thank your worship: For mine own part, I never come into any room in a taphouse, but I am drawn in.

Efcal. Well; no more of it, mafter Froth: fare

7 they will draw you,] Draw has here a cluster of fenfes. As it refers to the tapfter, it fignifies to drain, to empty; as it is related to bang, it means to be conveyed to execution on a hurdle. In Froth's anfwer, it is the fame as to bring along by fome motive or power.

JOHNSON.

well.

well.-Come you hither to me, mafter tapfter; what's your name, mafter tapster

Clown. Pompey.
Efcal. What else?
Clown. Bum, fir.

Efcal. Troth, and your bum is the greatest thing about you; fo that, in the beaftlieft fenfe, you are Pompey the great. Pompey, you are partly a bawd, Pompey, howfoever you colour it in being tapfter; Are you you not? come, tell me true; it fhall be the better for you. Clown. Truly, fir, I am a poor fellow, that would live. Efcal. How would you live, Pompey? by being a bawd? What do you think of the trade, Pompey? is it a lawful trade?

Clown. If the law will allow it, fir.

Efcal. But the law will not allow it, Pompey; nor

it fhall not be allowed in Vienna.

Clown. Does your worfhip mean to geld and spay all the youth in the city?

Efcal. No, Pompey.

Clown. Truly, fir, in my poor opinion, they will to't then: If your worship will take order for the drabs and the knaves, you need not to fear the bawds.

Efcal. There are pretty orders beginning, I can tell you it is but heading and hanging.

Clown. If you head and hang all that offend that way but for ten year together, you'll be glad to give out a commiffion for more heads. If this law hold in Vienna ten years, I'll rent the faireft house in it, after three pence a bay 9: If you live to fee this come to pafs, fay, Pompey told you fo..

Efcal.

-greateft thing about you.] This fashion, of which, perhaps, fome remains were to be found in the age of Shakespeare, feems to have prevailed originally in that of Chaucer, who in the PerJones Tale fpeaks of it thus. "Som of hem fhewen the boffe and the fhape &c. in the wrapping of hir hofen, and eke the buttokkes of hem behinde, &c." Greene in one of his pieces mentions the great bumme of Paris. STEEVENS.

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Ill rent the fairest boufe in it, after three pence a bay:] Mr.

Theobald

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Efcal. Thank you, good Pompey and in requital of your prophecy, hark you, I advife you, let me not find you before me again upon any complaint whatfoever, no, not for dwelling where you do; if I do, Pompey, I fhall beat you to your tent, and prove a fhrewd Cæfar to you; in plain dealing, Pompey, I fhall have you whipt: fo, for this time, Pompey, fare you well.

Clown. I thank your worship for your good counfel; but I fhall follow it, as the flesh and fortune fhall better determine.

Whip me? No, no: let carman whip his jade; The valiant heart's not whipt out of his trade. [Exit. Efcal, Come hither to me, mafter Elbow; come hither, mafter conftable. How long have you been in this place of constable?

Elb. Seven year and a half, fir.

Efcal. I thought, by your readiness in the office, you had continued in it fome time; You fay, feven years together?

Elb. And a half, fir.

Efcal. Alas! it hath been great pains to you! they do you wrong to put you fo oft upon't: Are there not men in your ward fufficient to serve it?

Elb. Faith, fir, few of any wit in fuch matters: Theobald found that this was the reading of the old books, and he follows it out of pure reverence for antiquity; for he knows nothing of the meaning of it. He fuppofes bay to be that projection called a bay-window; as if the way of rating houfes was by the number of their bay-windows. But it is quite another thing, and fignifies the fquared frame of a timber houfe; each of which divifions, or fquares, is called a bay. Hence a building, of fo many bays. WARBURTON.

A bay of building is, in many parts of England, a common term, of which the best conception that I could ever attain, is, that it is the space between the main beams of the roof; fo that a barn croffed twice with beams is a barn of three bays. JOHNSON. that, by the yearly birth

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"The large-bay'd barn doth fill," &c.

I forgot to take down the title of the work from which this in Hance is adopted. STEEVENS.

as

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as they are chofen, they are glad to chufe me for them; I do it for fome piece of money, and go through with all.

Efcal. Look you, bring me in the names of fome
fix or feven, the most fufficient of your parish.
Elb. To your worship's house, fir?

Efcal. To my houfe: Fare you well.
What's a clock, think you?

Juft. Eleven, fir.

Efcal, I pray you home to dinner with me,
fuft. I humbly thank you.

Efcal. It grieves me for the death of Claudio;
But there's no remedy.

Juft. Lord Angelo is fevere.

Efcal. It is but needful ::

Mercy is not itself, that oft looks fo;

Pardon is ftill the nurse of fecond woe:

But yet, Poor Claudio!-There's no remedy.
Çome, fir.

SCENE II.

Angelo's Houfe.

Enter Provoft, and a Servant.

[Exeunt.

Serv. He's hearing of a cause; he will come straight:

I'll tell him of you.

Prov. Pray you, do. [Exit. Servant.] I'll know His pleasure; may be, he will relent: Alas,

He hath but as offended in a dream!

All fects, all ages fmack of this vice; and he
To die for it!-

. Enter Angelo.

Ang. Now, what's the matter, provost?!

Prov. Is it your will Claudio fhall die to-morrow? Ang. Did I not tell thee, yea? hadft thou not order? Why doft thou ask again?

Prov.

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