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For fuch a warped flip of wilderness

Ne'er iffu'd from his blood. Take my defiance,
Die, perifh! might my only bending down
Reprieve thee from thy fate, it fhould proceed.
I'll pray a thousand
prayers for thy death;

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 it felf a bawd;
'Tis beft, that thou dy'ft quickly.
Claud. Oh hear me, Ifabella.

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To them, Enter Duke and Provost. Duke. Vouchfafe 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 fome fpeech with you; the fatisfaction I would require, is likewife your own benefit.

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

Duke. Son, I have over-heard what hath past between you and your Sifter. Angelo had never the purpofe to corrupt her; only he hath made an affay of her virtue, to practise his judgment with the difpofition of natures. She, 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 your felf to death. Do not falfifie your refolution with hopes that are fallible;

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to-morrow

2 Do not fatisfie your resolution with hopes that are fallible ;] A condemned man, whom his confeffor had brought to bear

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death

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 Claud. Duke. Hold you there; farewel. Provost, 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 promises with my habit, no lofs fhall touch her by my company.

Prov. In good time.

[Exit Prov. Duke. The hand, that hath made you fair, hath made you good; the goodness, that is cheap in beauty, makes beauty brief in goodness; but grace, being the foul of your complexion, fhall keep the body of it ever fair. The affault, that Angelo hath made on you, fortune hath convey'd to my understanding; and but that frailty hath examples for his falling, I fhould wonder at Angelo: how will you do to content this Substitute, and to fave 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 deceiv'd in Angelo? if ever he return, and I can fpeak

death with decency and refolution, began anew to entertain hopes of life. This occafioned the advice in the words above. But how did thefe hopes fatisfie his refolution? or what harm was there, if they did? We muit certainly read, Do not FALSIFIE your refolution with hopes that are fallible. And then it becomes a reafonable admonition. For hopes of life, by drawing him back into the world, would naturally elude or weaken the virtue of that refolu tion, which was raifed only on motives of religion. And this his confeffor had reafon to warn him of. The term falfifie is taken from fencing, and fignifies the pretending to aim a ftroke in order to draw the adverfary off his guard. So Fairfax,

Now firikes be out, "and now he FALSIFIETH.

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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 stands, he will avoid your accufation; he made tryal of you only. Therefore faften your ear. on my advifings: to the love I have in doing good, a remedy presents it felf. I do make my felf believe, that you may most uprightly do a poor wronged lady a merited benefit; redeem your brother from the angry law; do no stain to your own gracious perfon; and much please the abfent Duke, if, peradventure, he fhall ever return to have hearing of this business.

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

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 fea?

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

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 wreckt at fea, having in that perifh'd veffel the dowry of his fifter. But mark, how heavily this befel to the poor gentlewoman; there fhe loft 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 tears, and dry'd not one of them with his comfort; fwallow'd his vows whole, pretending, in her, discoveries of difhonour: in few, beftow'd her on her own lamentation, which the yet wears for

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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-nam'd maid hath yet in her the continuance of her first affection; his unjust unkindness, (that in all reafon fhould have quenched her love), hath, like an impediment in the current, made it more violent and unruly. Go you to Angelo, answer his re quiring with a plaufible obedience; agree with his demands to the point; only refer your felf to this advantage: first, that your stay with him may not be long; that the time may have all fhadow and filence in it; and the place anfwer to convenience. This being granted, in courfe now follows all: we fhall advise this wronged maid to ftead up your appointment, go in your place; if the encounter acknowledge it felf hereafter, it may compel him to her recompence; and here by this is your brother faved, your Honour untainted, the poor Mariana advantaged, and the corrupt. Deputy scaled. The maid will I frame, and make fit for his attempt: if you think well to carry this as you may, the doublenefs of the benefit defends the deceit from reproof. What think you of it?

Ifab. The image of it gives me content already, and, I truft, it will grow to a moft profperous perfection.

Duke. It lies much in your holding up; hafte you fpeedily to Angelo; if for this night he intreat you to his bed, give him promife of fatisfaction. I will pre

fently

fently to St. Luke's; there at the moated Grange refides this dejected Mariana; at that place call upon me, and difpatch with Angelo, that it may be quickly. Ifab. I thank you for this comfort: fare you well, good father. [Exeunt feverally.

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Re-enter Duke as a Friar, Elbow, Clown, and Officers.

Elb.

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AY, if there be no remedy for it, but that you will needs buy and fell men and women like beafts, we shall have all the world drink brown and white baftard.

Duke. Oh, heav'ns! what ftuff is here?

Clown. 4 'Twas never merry world fince of two ufuries the merrieft was put down, and the worfer allow'd by order of law.*** a furr'd gown to keep him warm, and furr'd with fox and lamb-skins too, to fignifie, that craft, being richer than innocency, ftands for the facing.

Elb. Come your way, Sir: blefs you, good father Friar.

Duke. And you, good brother father; what offence hath this man made you, Sir?

Elb. Marry, Sir, he hath offended the law; and, Sir, we take him to be a Thief too, Sir; for we have

3 bafard] A kind of fweet wine then much in vogue. From the Italian, Bafiardo.

·4 'Twas never merry world fince of two ufuries the merrieft was put down, and the warfer allow'd by order of law. A furr'd gown, &c.] Here a fatire on ufury turns abruptly to a fatire on the perfon of the ufurer, without any kind of preparation. We may be affured then, that a line or two, at least, have been loft. The fubject of which we may eafily difcover, a comparison between the two ufurers; as, before, between the two ufuries. So that for the future the paffage fhould be read with afterisks thus by order

of law.*** a furr'd gown, &c.

found

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