pray To several subjects: heaven hath my empty words; Ang. Yea. Isab. When, I beseech you? that in his reprieve, Longer, or shorter, he may be so fitted, That his soul sicken not. [good Their saucy sweetness, that do coin heaven's image, [earth. Isub. 'Tis set down so in heaven, but not in Ang. Say you so? then I shall poze you quickly. Which had you rather, That the most just law Now took your brother's life; or, to redeem him, Give up your body to such sweet uncleanness, As she that he hath stain'd? Isab. Sir, believe this, I had rather give my body than my soul. Ang. I talk not of your soul; our compell'd sins Stand more for number than accompt. Isab. How say you? Ang. Nay, I'll not warrant that; for I can speak Against the thing I say. Answer to this, I, now the voice of the recorded law, Pronounce a sentence on your brother's life: To save this brother's life? Isab. I'll take it as a peril to my soul, It is no sin at all, but charity. Please you to do't, Ang. Pleas'd you to do't, at peril of your soul, Were equal poize of sin and charity. Isab. That I do beg his life, if it be sin, Heaven, let me bear it! you granting of my suit, If that be sin, I'll make it my moru prayer To have it added to the faults of mine, And nothing of your, answer. Ang. Nay, but hear me : Your sense pursues not mine: either you are ig Or seem so craftily; and that's not good. [norant, Isab. Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good, But graciously to know I am no better. Ang. Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright, When it doth tax itself: as these black masks Proclaim an enshield beauty ten times louder Than beauty could displayed.-But mark me; To be received plain, I'll speak more gross : Your brother is to die. Isab. So. Ang. And his offence is so, as it appears Ang. Admit no other way to save his life, ACT III. SCENE 1.] MEASURE FOR MEASURE. Isab. As much for my poor brother, as myself: Then must your brother die. Ang. Were not you then as cruel as the sentence, Isab. Ignomy in ransom, and free pardon, Ang. You seem'd of late to make the law a tyrant; Isab. O, pardon me, my lord; it oft falls out, Which are as easy broke as they make forms. Isab. I have no tongue but one: gentle my lord, Isab. My brother did love Juliet; and you tell me, Ang. He shall not, Isabel, if you give me love. Ang. Believe me, on mine honour, Aloud, what man thou art. [ing! Who will believe thee, Isabel? That banish what they sue for; redeem thy brother But thy unkindness shall his death draw out To lingering sufferance: answer me to-morrow, [Exit. Isab. To whom shall I complain? Did I tell this, Then Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die : And fit his mind to death, for his soul's rest. [Exit. SCENE I.-A Room in the Prison. Duke. So, then you hope of pardon from lord Claud. The miserable have no other medicine, I have hope to live, and am prepar'd to die. Duke. Be absolute for death; either death, or life, That none but fools would keep: a breath thou art, That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st, valiant ; For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep, I humbly thank you. Enter ISABELLA. Isab. What, ho! Peace here; grace and good Isab. My business is a word or two with Claudio. your sister. Duke. Provost, a word with you. Isab. Be ready,Claudio, for your death to-morrow. Claud. Yes. Has he affections in him, That thus can make him bite the law by the nose, When he would force it? Sure it is no sin; Or of the deadly seven it is the least. Isab. Which is the least? Claud. If it were damnable, he, being so wise, Why, would he for the momentary trick Be perdurably fin'd?-O Isabel! Claud. Ay, but to die, and go we know not where The weariest and most loathed worldly life, Isab. Alas! alas! Claud. Sweet sister, let me live: What sin you do to save a brother's life, Isab. Claud. Nay, hear me, Isabel. Isab. O, fy, fy, fy! (Going.) O hear me, Isabella. Re-enter DUKE. Duke. Vouchsafe a word, young sister, but one Isab. What is your will? [word. Duke. Might you dispense with your leisure, I would by and by have some speech with you: the benefit. satisfaction I would require, is likewise your own Isab. I have no superfluous leisure; my stay must be stolen out of other affairs; but I will attend you a while. Duke. (To Claudio, aside.) Son, I have overheard what hath past between you and your sister. Angelo had never the purpose to corrupt her; only he hath made an essay of her virtue, to practise his judgment with the disposition of natures; she, having the truth of honour in her, hath made him that gracious denial, which he is most glad to receive: I am confessor to Angelo, and I know this to be true; therefore prepare yourself to death: Do not satisfy your resolution with hopes that are fallible: to-morrow you must die; go to your knees, and make ready. Claud. Let me ask my sister pardon. I am so out of love with life, that I will sue to be rid of it. Duke. Hold you there: Farewell. [Exit Claudio. Re-enter Provost. Provost, a word with you. Prov. What's your will, father? Duke. That now you are come, you will be gone : Leave me awhile with the maid; my mind promises with my habit, no loss shall touch her by my company. [Exit Provost. Prov. In good time. Duke. The hand, that hath made you fair, bath made you good: the goodness, that is cheap in beauty, makes beauty brief in goodness; but grace, being the soul of your complexion, should keep the body of it ever fair. The assault, that Angelo hath Death is a fearful thing. made to you, fortune hath convey'd to my under Isab. What says my brother? Claud. Isab. "And shamed life a hateful. standing; and, but that frailty hath examples for his falling, I should wonder at Angelo. How would you do to content this substitute, and to save your brother? Isab. I am now going to resolve him: I had rather my brother die by the law, than my son should be unlawfully born. But O, how much is the good duke deceived in Angelo! If ever he return, and I can speak to him, I will open my lips in vain, or discover his government. Duke. That shall not be much amiss: Yet, as the matter now stands, he will avoid your accusation; be made trial of you only.-Therefore, fasten your ear on my advisings; to the love I have in doing good, a remedy presents itself. I do make myself believe, that you may most uprighteously do a poor wronged lady a merited benefit; redeem your brother from the angry law; do no stain to your own gracious person; and much please the absent duke, if, peradventure, he shall ever return to have hear. ing of this business. Isab. Let me hear you speak further; I have spirit 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 speak of Mariana, the sister of Frederick, the great soldier, who miscarried at sea? Isab. I have heard of the lady, and good words went with her name. Duke. Her should this Angelo have married; was affianced to her by oath, and the nuptial appointed: between which time of the contract, and limit of the solemnity, her brother Frederick was wrecked at sea, having in that perish'd vessel the dowry of his sister. But mark, how heavily this befel to the poor gentlewoman: there she lost a noble and reDowned brother, in his love toward her ever most kind and natural; with him the portion and sinew of her fortune, her marriage-dowry; with both, her combinate husband, this well-seeming Angelo. Isab. Can this be so? Did Angelo so leave her? Duke. Left her in her tears, and dry'd not one of them with his comfort; swallowed his vows whole, pretending in her discoveries of dishonour: in few, bestowed her on her own lamentation, which she yet wears for his sake; and he, a marble to her tears, is washed with them, but relents not. Isab. 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 she avail? Duke. It is a rupture that you may easily heal: and the cure of it not only saves your brother, but keeps you from dishonour in doing it. Isab. Show me how, good father. Duke. It lies much in your holding up: Haste you speedily to Angelo; if for this night he entreat you to his bed, give him promise of satisfaction. I will presently to St. Luke's; there, at the moated grange, resides this dejected Mariana: At that place call upon me; and despatch with Angelo, that it may be quickly. İsab. I thank you for this comfort: Fare you well, good father. [Exeunt severally. SCENE II.-The Street before the Prison. Enter Duke, as a Friar; to him ELBOW, Clown, and Officers. Elb. Nay, if there be no remedy for it, but that beasts, we shall have all the world drink brown and you will needs buy and sell men and women like white bastard. Duke. O, heavens! what stuff is here? usuries, the merriest was put down, and the worser Clo. 'Twas never merry world, since, of two allow'd by order of law a furr'd gown to keep him warm; and furr'd with fox and lamb-skins too, to signify, that craft, being richer than innocency, stands for the facing. Elb. Come your way, sir:-Bless 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 found upon him, sir, a strange pick-lock, which we have sent to the deputy. The evil that thou causest to be done, Duke. Nay, if the devil have given thee proofs Thou wilt prove his. Take him to prison, officer; Elb. He must before the deputy, sir; he has given him warning: the deputy cannot abide a before him, he were as good go a mile on his whoremaster; if he be a whoremonger, and comes errand. Duke. That we were all, as some would seem to be, Duke. This fore-named maid hath yet in her the continuance of her first affection; his unjust unkind- Free from our faults, as faults from seeming free! Bess, that in all reason should have quenched her love, hath, like an impediment in the current, made it more violent and unruly. Go you to Angelo; an*wer his requiring with a plausible obedience; agree with his demands to the point: only refer yourself to this advantage,-first, that your stay with him may not be long; that the time may have all shadow and silence in it; and the place answer to convenience: this being granted in course, now follows all. We shall advise this wronged maid to stead up your appointment, go in your place; if the encounter acknowledge itself hereafter, it may compel him to her recompense: and here, by this, is your brother saved, 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 doubleness of the benefit defends the deceit from reproof. What think you of it? Isab. The image of it gives me content already; and, I trust, it will grow to a most prosperous perfection. Enter LUCIO. Elb. His neck will come to your waist, a cord, sir. Clo. 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 clutch'd? What reply? Ha? What say'st thou to this tune, matter, and method? Is't not drown'd 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? Clo. 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 pow~ der'd bawd: An unshunn'd consequence; it must be so Art going to prison, Pompey? Clo. Yes, faith, sir. Lucio. Why, 'tis not amiss, Pompey: Farewell: Go; say, I sent thee thither. For debt, Pompey? Or how? Elb. 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: bawdborn. Farewell, good Pompey: Commend me to the prison, Pompey: You will turn good husband now, Pompey; you will keep the house. [bail. Clo. I hope, sir, your good worship will be my Lucio. No, indeed, will I not, Pompey; it is not the wear. 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? Elb. Come your ways, sir; come. [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 Russia; other some, he is in Rome: but where is he, think you? 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 ally'd: 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 spawn'd him :Some, that he was begot between two stock-fishes : -But it is certain, that when he makes water, his urine is congeal'd ice; that I know to be true and he is a motion ungenerative, that's infallible. Lucio. No,-pardon; -'tis a secret must be lock'd 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. Laucio. A very superficial, ignorant, unweighing fellow. Duke. Either this is envy in you, folly, or mistaking; the very stream of his life, and the business he hath helmed, 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 knowledge be more, it is much darken'd in your malice. Lucio. Sir, I know him, and I love him. Duke. Love talks with better knowledge, and knowledge with dearer love. Lucio. Come, sir, I know what I know. Duke. I can hardly believe that, since you know not what you speak. But, if ever the duke return, (as our prayers are he may,) let me desire you to make your answer before him: If it be honest you have spoke, you have courage to maintain it: I am bound to call upon you; and, I pray you, your name? Lucio. Sir, my name is Lucio; well known to the duke. Duke. He shall know you better, sir, if I may live to report you. Lucio. I fear you not. Duke. O, you hope the duke will return no more; or you imagine me too unhurtful an opposite. But, indeed, I can do you little harm: you'll forswear this again. Lucio. I'll be hang'd first: thou art deceiv'd in me, friar. But no more of this: Canst thou tell, if Claudio die to-morrow, or no? Duke. Why should he die, sir? Lucio. Why? for filling a bottle with a tun-dish. Duke. No might nor greatness in mortality 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 hang'd 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 in-honour is accounted a merciful man: good my lord. structed him to mercy. Duke. I never heard the absent duke much de- Lucio. Who? not the duke? yes, your beggar of fifty; and his use was, to put a ducat in her clack dish: the duke had crotchets in him: He would be drunk too; that let me inform you. Duke. You do him wrong, surely. Lucio. Sir, I was an inward 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? Enter ESCALUS, Provost, Bawd, and Officers. Escal. Double and treble admonition, and still forfeit in the same kind? This would make mercy swear, and play the tyrant. Prov. A bawd of eleven years continuance, may it please your honour. Bawd. My lord, this is one Lucio's information against me: mistress Kate Keep-down was with child by him in the duke's time, he promised her marriage; his child is a year and a quarter old, come Philip and Jacob: I have kept it myself; and see how he goes about to abuse me. Escal. That fellow is a fellow of much license:let him be called before us.-Away with her to prison: Go to; no more words. [Exeunt Bawd and |