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Duke.

Not within, sir. Lucio. O, pretty Isabella, I am pale at mine heart, to see thine eyes so red: thou must be patient: I am fain to dine and sup with water and bran; I dare not for my head fill my belly; one fruitful meal would set me to't: But they say the duke will be here to-morrow. By my troth, Isabel, I lov'd thy brother: if the old fantastical duke of dark corners had been at home, he had lived.

[Erit ISABELLA. Duke. Sir, the duke is marvellous little beholden to your reports; but the best is he lives not in them.' Lucio. Friar, thou knowest not the duke so well as I do: he's a better woodman2 than thou takest him for.

Duke. Well, you'll answer this one day. Fare ye well.

Lucio. Nay, tarry; I'll go along with thee; I can tell thee pretty tales of the duke.

Duke. You have told me too many of him already, sir, if they be true; if not true, none were enough. Lucio. I was once before him for getting a wench

with child.

Duke. Did you such a thing?

Lucio. Yes, marry, did I; but was fain to forswear it; they would else have married me to the rotten meddlar.

Duke. Sir, your company is fairer than honest: Rest you well.

Lucio. By my troth, I'll go with thee to the lane's end: If bawdy talk offend you, we'll have very little of it: Nay, friar I am a kind of burr, I shall stick. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. A Room in Angelo's House. Enter ANGELO and ESCALUS.

Escal. Every letter he hath writ hath disvouch'd' other.

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Alack, when once our grace we have forgot, Nothing goes right; we would and we would not, [Exit.10

SCENE V. Fields without the Town. Enter Duke
in his own habit, and Friar Peter.

Duke. These letters at fit time deliver me.
[Giving letters.
The Provost knows our purpose, and our plot.
The matter being afoot, keep your instruction,
And hold you ever to our special drift;
Though sometimes you do blench" from this to that,
As cause doth minister. Go, call at Flavius' house,
And tell him where I stay: give the like notice
To Valentinus, Rowland, and to Crassus,
And bid them bring the trumpets to the gates;
But send me Flavius first.
F. Peter.

It shall be speeded well. [Exit. Friar

Enter VARRIUS.

Duke. I thank thee, Varrius; thou hast made
good haste:

Come we will walk: There's other of our friends
Will greet us here anon, my gentle Varrius.

[Exeunt. SCENE VI. Street near the City Gate. Enter ISABELLA and MARIANA.

Isab. To speak so indirectly, I am loath;

Ang. In most uneven and distracted manner. I would say the truth; but to accuse him so, His actions show much like to madness: pray hea-That is your part: Yet I'm advis'd to do it; ven, his wisdom he not tainted! And why meet him He says, to 'vailful12 purpose. at the gates, and redeliver our authorities there? Mari. Be rul'd by him. Escal. I guess not. Isab. Besides, he tells me, that, if peradventure He speak against me on the adverse side, I should not think it strange; for 'tis a physic, That's bitter to sweet end.

Ang. And why should we proclaim it in an hour before his entering, that, if any crave redress of injustice, they should exhibit their petitions in the street?

Escal. He shows his 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.

Ang. Well, I beseech you, let it be proclaim'd:
Betimes i' the morn, I'll call you at your house:
Give notice to such men of sort and suit,4
As are to meet him.
Escal.

I shall, sir: fare you well.

[Exit.

Ang. Good night.-
This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpreg-
nant,

And dull to all proceeding. A deflower'd maid!
And by an eminent body, that enforc'd

The law against it!-But that her tender shame
Will not proclaim against her maiden loss,
How might she tongue me? Yet reason dares
her?-no:

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Mari. I would, friar Peter-
Isab.

O, peace; the friar is come.
Enter Friar PETER.13

F. Peter. Come, I have found you out a stand most fit,

Where you may have such vantage on the duke,
He shall not pass you; Twice have the trumpets
sounded;

The generous14 and the gravest citizens,
Have hent' the gates, and very near upon
The Duke is ent'ring; therefore, hence, away.
[Exeunt,

ACT V.

SCENE I. A public Place near the City Gate. MARIANA (veil'd,) ISABELLA, and PETER, at a distance. Enter at opposite doors,, Duke, VARRIUS, Lords; ANGELO, ESCALUS, LUCIO, Provost, Officers, and Citizens.

This passage will therefore bear two interpretations, between which the reader must choose.

7 Credent, creditable, not questionable.

8 Particular is private: a French sense of the word. 9 i. e. utterer.

10 Dr. Johnson thought the fourth Act should end here, 'for here is properly a cessation of action, a night intervenes, and the place is changed between the passages of this scene and those of the next. The fifth Act, be ginning with the following scene, would proceed without any interruption of time or place.'

11 To blench, to start off, to fly off.

12 Availful.

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Duke. My very worthy cousin, fairly met:Our old and faithful friend, we are glad to see you. Ang. and Escal. Happy return be to your royal grace!

Duke. Many and hearty thankings to you both. We have made inquiry of you; and we hear Such goodness of your justice, that our soul Cannot but yield you forth to public thanks, Forerunning more requital.

Ang.

You make my bonds still greater. Duke. O, your desert speaks loud; and I should wrong it,

To lock it in the wards of covert bosom,
When it deserves of characters of brass

A forted residence, 'gainst the tooth of time,
And razure of oblivion: Give me your hand,
And let the subject see, to make them know
That outward courtesies would fain proclaim
Favours that keep within.-Come, Escalus;
You must walk by us on our other hand;-
And good supporters are you.

PETER and ISABELLA come forward.

F. Peter. Now is your time; speak loud, and kneel before him.

Isab. Justice, O royal duke! Vail' your regard,
Upon a wrong'd, I'd fain have said, a maid!
O worthy prince, dishonour not your eye
By throwing it on any other object,
Till you have heard me in my true complaint,
And given me, justice, justice, justice, justice!
Duke. Relate your wrongs: In what? by whom?
Be brief:

Here is Lord Angelo shall give you justice!
Reveal yourself to him.

Isab.
O, worthy duke,
You bid me seek redemption of the devil:
Hear me yourself; for that which I must speak
Must either punish me, not being believ'd,
Or wring redress from you; hear me, O, hear

here.

me,

Ang. My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm: She hath been a suitor to me for her brother, Cut off by course of justice. Isab. By course of justice! Ang. And she will speak most bitterly and strange. [speak: Isab. Most strange, but yet most truly, will I That Angelo's forsworn, is it not strange ? That Angelo's a murderer; is't not strange? That Angelo is an adulterous thief, An hypocrite, a virgin-violator; Is it not strange, and strange? Duke.

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By mine honesty

If she be mad (as I believe no other,)
Her madness hath the oddest frame of sense,
Such a dependency of thing on thing,
As e'er I heard in madness.
Isab.

O, gracious duke,
Harp not on that; nor do not banish reason
For inequality:4 but let your reason serve
To make the truth appear, where it seems hid;
And hide the false, seems true."

Duke.
Many that are not mad,
Have, sure, more lack of reason.-What would

you say?

Isab. I am the sister of one Claudio,
Condemn'd upon the act of fornication
To lose his head; condemn'd by Angelo:
I, in probation of a sisterhood,

Was sent to by my brother: One Lucio
As then the messenger -
Lucio.

That's I, an't like your grace'
I came to her from Claudio, and desir'd her
To try her gracious fortune with Lord Angelo.
For her poor brother's pardon.
Isab.

Duke. You were not bid to
Lucio.

Nor wish'd to hold my peace.

Duke.

That's he, indeed speak.

No, my good lord;

I wish you now then Pray you, take note of it: and when you have A business for yourself, pray heaven you then Be perfect.

Lucio. I warrant your honour.

Duke. The warrant's for yourself; take heed to it. Isab. This gentleman told somewhat of my tale. Lucio. Right.

Duke. It may be right; but you are in the wrong To speak before your time.-Proceed.

Isab.

I went

To this pernicious caitiff deputy.
Duke. That's somewhat madly spoken.
Isab.
The phrase is to the matter."

Pardon it.

Duke. Mended again: the matter;-Proceed.
Isab. In brief,-to set the needless process by,
How I persuaded, how I pray'd, and kneel'd,
How he refell'd' me, and how I reply'd;
(For this was of much length,) the vile conclusion
I now begin with grief and shame to utter
He would not, but by gift of my chaste body

Nay, ten times strange. To his concupiscible intemperate lust,

Isab. It is not truer he is Angelo, Than this is all as true as it is strange: Nay, it is ten times true; for truth is truth To the end of reckoning. Duke. Away with her :-Poor soul. She speaks this in the infirmity of sense.

Isab. O prince, I conjure thee, as thou believ'st
There is another comfort than this world,
That thou neglect me not, with that opinion
That I am touch'd with madness: make not im-
possible

That which but seems unlike: 'tis not impossible
But one the wicked'st catiff on the ground,
May seem as shy, as grave, as just, as absolute,

1 To vail is to lower, to let fall, to cast down. 2-1. e. habiliments of office.

3 Characts are distinctive marks or characters. A statute of Edward VI. directs the seals of office of every bishop to have certain characts under the king's arms for the knowledge of the diocess.'

4 The meaning appears to be 'do not suppose me mad because I speak inconsistently or unequally.

5 I must say with Mr. Steevens that I do not profess to understand these words. Mr. Phelps proposes to read And hid, the false seems true.' . e. The truth being hid, not discovered or made known, what is false seems true.'

Release my brother; and, after much debatement,
My sisterly remorses confutes mine honour,
And I did yield to him. But the next morn betimes.
His purpose surfeiting, he sends a warrant
For my poor brother's head.

Duke.
This is most likely!
Isab. O, that it were as like as it is true!"
Duke. By heaven, fond10 wretch, thou know'st
not what thou speak'st;

Or else thou art suborn'd against his honour,
In hateful practice: First, his integrity
Stands without blemish :-next, it imports no reason
That with such vehemency he should pursue
Faults proper to himself: if he had so offended,
He would have weigh'd thy brother by himself,
And not have cut him off: Some one hath set you on;

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Then, oh, you blessed ministers above,
Keep me in patience; and, with ripen'd time,
Unfold the evil which is here wrapt up

In countenance!'-Heaven shield your grace from woe,

As I, thus wrong'd, hence unbelieved go!

Duke. I know, you'd fain be gone :-An officer! To prison with her :-Shall we thus permit A blasting and a scandalous breath to fall On him so near us? This needs must be a practice. -Who knew of your intent, and coming hither? Isab. One that I would were here, friar Lodowick. Duke. A ghostly father, belike:-Who knows that Lodowick?

Lucio. My lord, I know him; 'tis a meddling friar;
I do not like the man: had he been lay, my lord,
For certain words he spake against your grace
In your retirement, I had swing'd him soundly.
Duke. Words against me? This a good fríar be-
like!

And to set on this wretched woman here
Against our substitute!-Let this friar be found.
Lucio. But yesternight, my lord, she and that friar
I saw them at the prison: a saucy friar,
A very scurvy fellow.

F. Peter.

Blessed be your royal grace! I have stood by, my lord, and I have heard Your royal ear abus'd: First, hath this woman, Most wrongfully accus'd your substitute; Who is as free from touch or soil with her, As she from one ungot.

We did believe no less.

Duke. Know you that friar Lodowick that she speaks of! F. Peter. I know him for a man divine and holy; Not scurvy nor a temporary meddler,2 As he's reported by this gentleman: And, on my trust, a man that never yet Did, as he vouches, misreport your grace.

Lucio. My lord, most villanously; believe it.
F. Peter. Well, he in time may come to clear
himself;

But at this instant he is sick, my lord,
Of a strange fever: Upon his mere3 request
(Being come to knowledge that there was complaint
Intended 'gainst lord Angelo) came I hither,
To speak, as from his mouth, what he doth know
Is true, and false; and what he with his oath,
And all probation, will make up full clear,
Whensoever he's convented. First, for this woman
(To justify this worthy nobleman,
So vulgarly and personally accused ;)
Her shall you hear disproved to her eyes,
Till she herself confess it.
Duke.

Good friar, let's hear it. [ISABELLA is carried off, guarded; and MARIANA comes forward.

Do you not smile at this, lord Angelo!-
O heaven! the vanity of wretched fools!-
Give us some seats.-Come, cousin Angelo;
In this I'll be impartial ; be you judge
Of your own cause.-Is this the witness, friar?
First, let her show her face; and, after, speak.

1 i. e. false appearance.

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2 It is hard to know what is meant by a temporary meddler, perhaps it was intended to signify one who introduced himself as often as he could find opportunity

into other men's concerns.'

3 Mere here means absolute.

4 Convented, cited, summoned. 5 i. c. publicly. 6 Impartial was used sometimes in the sense of partial; and that appears to be the sense here. In the language of the time, im was frequently used as an intensive or augmentative particle. Unpartial was sometimes used in the modern sense of impartial. Yet Shakspeare uses the word in its proper sense in Richard II. Act i. Sc. 2.

Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears,' &c.

Should nothing privilege him nor partialize.'

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Why, you Are nothing then :-Neither maid, widow, nor wife? Lucio. My lord, she may be a punk; for many of them are neither maid, widow, nor wife. Duke. Silence that fellow; I would he had some

cause

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But knows, he thinks, that he knew Isabel's. Ang. This is a strange abuse :-Let's see thy face.

Mari. My husband bids me; now I will unmask. [Unveiling.

This is that face, thou cruel Angelo,
Which, once thou swor'st, was worth the looking on:
This is the hand, which, with a vow'd contract,
Was fast belock'd in thine: this is the body
That took away the match from Isabel,
And did supply thee at thy garden-house,
In her imagin'd person.

Duke.

Know you this woman?

Lucio. Carnally, she says. Duke.

Lucio. Enough, my lord.

Sirrah, no more.

Ang. My lord, I must confess, I know this wo

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7 Abuse stands in this place for deception or puzzle. So in Macbeth:

-My strange and self abuse,' means this strange deception of myself.

9 Garden houses were formerly much in fashion, and often used as places of clandestine meeting and intrigue. They were chiefly such buildings as we should now call summer houses, standing in a walled or enclosed garden in the suburbs of London. See Stubb's Anatomie of Abuses, p. 57. 4to. 1597, or Reed's Old Plays, Vol. V. p. 84.

9 Her fortune which was promised proportionate to mine fell short of the composition, i. e. contract or bar gain.

As there is sense in truth, and truth in virtue,
I am affianc'd this man's wife, as strongly

As words could make up vows: and, my good lord,
But Tuesday night last gone, in his garden-house,
He knew me as a wife: As this is true
Let me in safety raise me from my knees;
Or else for ever be confixed here,
A marble monument!

Ang.

I did but smile till now; Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justice; My patience here is touch'd: I do perceive, These poor informa¡1 women are no more But instruments of some more mightier member, That sets them on: Let me have way, my lord, To find this practice out.

Duke.

Ay, with my heart; 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 seal'd in approbation?2-You, lord Escalus,
Sit with my cousin; lend him your kind pains
To find out this abuse, whence 'tis deriv'd.-
There is another friar that sets them on;
Let him be sent for.

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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 retorts 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 unhallow'd friar!

Is't not enough, thou hast suborn'd 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;

F. Peter. Would he were here, my lord; for he, To the rack with him:-We'll touze you joint by

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.

1 Informal signifies out of their senses. Comedy of Errors, Act. v. Sc. 1.

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
Mado 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 countenanc'd, that the strong statutes
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 cf? Lucio. "Tis he, my lord. Come hither, goodman bald-pate: 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 flesh-monger, 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 talk'd withal:Away with him to prison :-Where is the provost?

6 His subject am I not; nor here provincial. Pro vincial is pertaining to a province; most usually taken So in the for the circuit of an ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The chief or head of any religious order in such a province was called the provincial, to whom alone the members of that order were accountable.

To make of him a formal man again.' The speaker had just before said that she would keep Antipholis of Syracuse, who is behaving like a mad. man, 'till she had brought him to his right wits again. 2 Stamped or sealed, as tried and approved. 8 i. e. out, to the end.

4 This is one of the words on which Shakspeare delights to quibble. Thus Portia, in the Merchant of Venice,

Let me give light, but let me not be light.' 6 To retort is to refer back.

7 Barbers' shops were anciently places of great resort for passing away time in an idle manner. By way of enforcing some kind of regularity, and perhaps, at least as much to promote drinking, certain laws were usually hung up, the transgression of which was to be punished by specific forfeits; which were as much in mock as mark, because the harber had no authority of himself to enforce them, and also because they were of a ludicrous nature.

146

-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 a while.

Ang. What! resists he? Help him, Lucio. Lucio. Come, sir; come, sir; come, sir; foh, sir; Why, you bald-pated, lying rascal! you must be hooded, must you? Show your knave's visage, with pox to you! show your sheep-biting face, and be hang'd an hour!2 Wilt 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. Duke. What you have spoke, I pardon; sit you [To ESCALUS. down.We'll borrow place of him:-Sir, by your leave: [To ANGELO. Hast thou or word, or wit, or impudence, That yet can do thee office? If thou hast, Rely upon it till my tale be heard, And hold no longer out.

Ang.

O my dread lord,
I should be guiltier than my guiltiness,
To think I can be undiscernible,
When I perceive, your grace, like power divine,
Hath look'd upon my passes: Then, good prince,
No longer session hold upon my shame,
But let my trial be mine own confession;
Immediate sentence then, and sequent death,
Is all the grace I beg.
Duke.

Come hither, Mariana;-
Say, wast thou e'er contracted to this woman?
Ang. I was, my lord.

Duke, Go take her hence, and marry her in-
stantly.

Do you the office, friar; which consummate,
Return him here again :-Go with him, Provost,
[Exeunt ANGELO, MARIANA, Peter,
and Provost.
Escal. My lord, I am more amaz'd at his dis-
honour,

Than at the strangeness of it.

Come hither, Isabel:
Duke.
Your friar is now your prince: As I was then
Advertising, and holy to your business,
Not changing heart with habit, I am still
Attorney'd at your service.

Isab.

O, give me pardon,
That I, your vassal, have employed and pain'd
Your unknown sovereignty.
Duke.

You are pardon'd, 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 obscur'd 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,

1 Giglots are wantons.

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young Talbot was not born

To be the pillage of a giglot wench.'
K. Henry VI. P. i.

2 Dr. Johnson goes seriously to work to prove that he did not understand this piece of vulgar humour; and Henley thinks the collistrigium, or original pillory, was alluded to! What Piper ho! be hang'd awhile,' is a line in an old madrigal. And in Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, we have

Leave the bottle behind you, and be curst awhile.' In short, they are petty and familiar maledictions, rightly explained, a plague or a mischief on you.'

3 i. e. do thee service.

Passes, probably put for trespasses; or it may mean courses, from passes, Fr.

5 Advertising and holy, attentive and faithful.

That brain'd 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.

Re-enter ANGELO, MARIANA, PETER, and
Provost.

Isab.
I do, my lord.
Duke. For this new-married man, approaching
here,

Whose salt imagination yet hath wrong'd
Your well-defended honour, you must pardon
For Mariana's sake: but as he adjudg'd 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 proper1o 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?i
Then, Angelo, thy fault's thus manifested;
Which though thou would'st deny, denies thee van-
tage:12

We do condemn thee to the very block
Where Claudio stoop'd to death, and with liko
haste;-

Away with him.

Mari.

O, my most gracious lord,

I hope you will not mock me with a husband!
Duke. It is your husband mock'd you with a
husband:

Consenting to the safeguard of your honour,
I thought your marriage fit; else imputation,
For that he knew you, might reproach your life,
And choke your good to come: for his possessions,
Although by confiscation they are ours,
We do instate and widow you withal,
To buy you a better husband.
Mari.

O, my dear lord,
I crave no other, nor no better man.
Duke. Never crave him; we are definitive.
[Kneeling.
Mari. Gentle, my liege,-
Duke. You do but lose your labour;
Away with him to death.-Now, sir, [To Lucio.]

to you.

Mari. O, my good lord!-Sweet Isabel, take
my part;

Lend me your knees, and, all my life to come,
I'll lend you all life to do you service.

my

you

Duke. Against all sense13 do importune her:
Should she kneel down, in mercy of this fact,
Her brother's ghost his paved bed would break,
And take her hence in horror.

Mari.

Isabel,

Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me;
Hold up your hands, say nothing, I'll speak all.
They say, best men are moulded out of faults;
And, for the most, become much more the better
For being a little bad: so may my husband.
O, Isabel! will you not lend a knee?
Duke. He dies for Claudio's death.
Isab.

Most bounteous sir, [Kneeling.

Look, if it please you, on this man condemn'd,

6 i. e. generous ;--pardon us as we have pardoned you.

7 Rash remonstrance; that is, a premature display of it, perhaps we should read demonstrance, out the word may be formed from remonstrer, French-to show again.

8 That brain'd my purpose. We still use in conver. sation a like phrase that knocked my design on the head.' 9 Promise-breach. It should be promise, breach is superfluous.

io i. e. Angelo's own tongue.

11 Measure still for measure. This appears to have been a current expression for retributive justice. Equivalent to like for like. So, in the 3d part of Henry VI Measure for measure must be answered.' 12 i. e. to deny which will avail thee nothing.' 13 i. e. against reason and affection

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