Clown. Indeed, it does stink in some sort, sir; but yet, sir, I would prove

Duke. Nay, if the devil have given thee proofs for sin,

Thou wilt prove his. Take him to prison, officer; Correction and instruction must both work,

Ere this rude beast will profit.

Elbow. He must before the deputy, sir; he has given him warning: the deputy cannot abide a whoremaster: if he be a whoremonger, and comes before him, he were as good go a mile on his errand. Duke. That we were all, as some would seem

to be,

From our faults, as faults from seeming, free!

Enter LUCIO.

Elbow. His neck will come to your waist, a cord,

sir.1

Clown. I spy comfort; I cry, bail. Here's a gentleman, and a friend of mine.

Lucio. How now, noble Pompey? What, at the heels of Cæsar? Art thou led in triumph? What, is there none of Pygmalion's images, newly made woman, to be had now, for putting the hand in the pocket, and extracting it clutched? What reply? Ha? What say'st thou to this tune, matter, and

1 His neck will be tied, like your waist, with a rope. Some orders of friars wear a hempen cord for a girdle.

method? Is 't not drowned 1 i' the last rain?

Ha!

What say'st thou, trot?

Is the world as it was,

man? Which is the way?

Is it sad, and few

words? Or how? The trick of it?

Duke. Still thus, and thus! still worse!

Lucio. How doth my dear morsel, thy mistress ? Procures she still? Ha?

Clown. Troth, sir, she hath eaten up all her beef, and she is herself in the tub.

Lucio. Why, 'tis good; it is the right of it; it must be so : ever your fresh whore, and your powdered bawd: an unshunned 3 consequence; it must be so. Art going to prison, Pompey?

Clown. Yes, faith, sir.

Lucio. Why, 'tis not amiss, Pompey: farewell: go; say, I sent thee thither. For debt, Pompey? or how?

Elbow. For being a bawd, for being a bawd.

Lucio. Well, then imprison him: if imprisonment be the due of a bawd, why, 'tis his right: bawd is he, doubtless, and of antiquity too; bawd-born. Farewell, good Pompey. Commend me to the prison, Pompey: you will turn good husband now, Pompey; you will keep the house.

Clown. I hope, sir, your good worship will be my bail.

Lucio. No, indeed, will I not, Pompey; it is not

1 Meaning probably-Is not your answer drowned, &c. in allusion to the miserable appearance of Pompey.

2 What is the mode now?

3 Inevitable.

the wear.1 I will pray, Pompey, to increase your bondage if you take it not patiently, why, your mettle is the more. Adieu, trusty Pompey.-Bless you, friar.

Duke. And you.

Lucio. Does Bridget paint still, Pompey? Ha?
Elbow. Come your ways, sir; come.

Clown. You will not bail me then, sir?

Lucio. Then, Pompey? nor now.—What news abroad, friar? What news?

Elbow. Come your ways, sir; come.

Lucio. Go,-to kennel, Pompey, go.

[Exeunt Elbow, Clown, and Officers.

What news, friar, of the duke?

Duke. I know none. Can you tell me of any?
Lucio. Some say, he is with the emperor of
But where is

Russia; other some, he is in Rome.

Duke. I know not where: but wheresoever, I wish him well.

Lucio. It was a mad fantastical trick of him, to steal from the state, and usurp the beggary he was never born to. Lord Angelo dukes it well in his absence; he puts transgression to 't.

Duke. He does well in 't.

Lucio. A little more lenity to lechery would do no harm in him something too crabbed that way, friar.

Duke. It is too general a vice, and severity must cure it.

Lucio. Yes, in good sooth, the vice is of a great kindred; it is well allied: but it is impossible to extirp it quite, friar, till eating and drinking be put down. They say, this Angelo was not made by man and woman, after the downright way of creation. Is it true, think you ?

Duke. How should he be made then?

Lucio. Some report, a sea-maid spawned him ;some, that he was begot between two stock-fishes. -But it is certain, that when he makes water, his urine is congealed ice; that I know to be true: and he is a motion 1 ungenerative, that's infallible.

Duke. You are pleasant, sir; and speak apace. Lucio. Why, what a ruthless thing is this in him, for the rebellion of a cod-piece, to take away the life of a man? Would the duke, that is absent, have done this? Ere he would have hanged a man for the getting a hundred bastards, he would have paid for the nursing a thousand. He had some feeling of the sport; he knew the service, and that instructed him to mercy.

Duke. I never heard the absent duke much detected for women; he was not inclined that way. Lucio. O sir, you are deceived.

Duke. "Tis not possible.

Lucio. Who? not the duke? yes, your beggar of

1 Puppet.

fifty; and his use was, to put a ducat in dish 1 the duke had crotchets in him. be drunk too; that let me inform you.

Duke. You do him wrong, surely.

her clack

He would

Lucio. Sir, I was an inward 3 of his. A shy fellow was the duke; and, I believe, I know the cause of his withdrawing.

Duke. What, I pr'ythee, might be the cause?

Lucio. No, - pardon; -'tis a secret must be locked within the teeth and the lips: but this I can let you understand :-The greater file of the subject * held the duke to be wise.

Duke. Wise? why, no question but he was.

4

Lucio. A very superficial, ignorant, unweighing 5 fellow.

Duke. Either this is envy in you, folly, or mistaking the very stream of his life, and the business he hath helmed,6 must, upon a warranted need, give him a better proclamation. Let him be but testimonied in his own bringings forth, and he shall appear to the envious, a scholar, a statesman, and a soldier. Therefore, you speak unskilfully; or, if your knowlege be more, it is much darkened in your malice.

Lucio. Sir, I know him, and I love him.

1 The beggars used to proclaim their wants by a wooden dish with a moveable cover, which they clacked, to show that their vessel was empty.

3 Intimate friend.

5 Inconsiderate.

2 Odd fancies.

4 The majority of his subjects. 6 Steered through.