I am combined by a sacred vow, Lucio. Good even! Enter Lucio. Not within, sir. Friar, where is the provost? Duke. Lucio. O, pretty Isabella, I The law against it!-But that her tender shame For my authority bears a credent' bulk, But it confounds the breather. He should have liv'd, am pale at mine With ransom of such shame. 'Would yet he heart, to see thine eyes so red: thou must be pa tient: I am fain to dine and sup with water and Alack, when once our grace we have forgot, I lov'd thy brother: if the old fantastical duke of SCENE V.-Fields without the town. [Exit Isabella. [Exit. Enter [Giving letters. Duke. Sir, the duke is marvellous little beholden to your reports; but the best is, he lives not in them. The provost knows our purpose, and our plot. Lucio. Friar, thou knowest not the duke so well The matter being afoot, keep your instruction, as I do: he's a better woodman than thou takest And hold you ever to our special drift; him for. Duke. Well, you'll answer this one day. Fare ye well. Lucio. Nay, tarry; I'll go along with thee; can tell thee pretty tales of the duke. Though sometimes you do blench" from this to that I Duke. You have told me too many of him ready, 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?" Duke. I thank thee, Varrius; thou hast made good haste; Lucio. Yes, marry, did I but was fain to for- Come, we will walk: There's other of our friends swear it; they would else have married me to the Will greet us here anon, my gentle Varrius. [Exe. rotten medlar. Duke. Sir, your company is fairer than honest: SCENE VI.-Street near the city gate. Enter Rest you well. Ang. And why should we proclaim it in an hour before his entering, that if any crave redress of injus- Where you may have such vantage" on the duke,' tice, they should exhibit their petitions in the street? He shall not pass you: Twice have the trumpets Escal. He shows his reason for that: to have a sounded; despatch of complaints; and to deliver us from The generous and gravest citizens devices hereafter, which shall then have no power Have hent" the gates, and very near upon to stand against us. The duke is ent'ring; therefore hence, away. [Exe. Jur old and faithful friend, we are glad to see you. In all his dressings, characts, titles, forms, grace! Duke. Many and hearty thankings to you both. Ang. To lock it in the wards of covert bosom, Friar Peter and Isabella come forward. F. Peter. Now is your time; speak loud, and Isab. Justice, O, royal duke! Vail' your regard Till you have heard me in my true complaint, Here is lord Angelo shall give you justice; Or wring redress from you: hear me, O, hear me, Ang. My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm: Isab. Most strange, but yet most truly, will I That Angelo's forsworn; is it not strange? A hypocrite, a virgin-violator; Be an arch-villain: believe it, royal prince, Duke. By mine honesty, Isab. O, gracious duke, Duke. you say? Isab. I am the sister of one Claudio, Was sent to by my brother: One Lucio I That's I, an't like your grace? Isab. That's he indeed. Duke. You were not bid to speak. Nor wish'd to hold my peace. No, my good lord; Duke. Lucio. I warrant your honour. Duke. The warrant's for yourself; take heed Duke. Mended again: the matter:-Proceed. Nay, ten times strange. To his concupiscible intemperate lust, Isab. It is not truer he is Angelo, That which but seems unlike: 'tis not impos- But one, the wicked'st caitiff on the ground, (1) Lower. (2) Habits and characters of office, Release my brother; and, after much debatement, Duke. This is most likely! Or else thou art suborn'd against his honour, (6) Conspiracy, Confess the truth, and say by whose advice Isab. And is this all? Duke. A widow then? Then, oh, you blessed ministers above, In countenance!-Heaven shield your grace from As I, thus wrong'd, hence unbelieved go! Duke. I know, you'd fain be gone:-An officer! Lucio. My lord, I know him; 'tis a meddling friar; belike! And to set on this wretched woman here I saw them at the prison: a saucy friar, We did believe no less. Know you that friar Lodowick, that she speaks of?| But at this instant he is sick, my lord, So vulgarly and personally accus'd,) Good friar, let's hear Do you not smile at this, lord Angelo?- Mari. Duke. Are nothing then :-Neither maid, widow, nor wife? Lucio. Well, my lord. Duke. This is no witness for lord Angelo. She, that accuses him of fornication, Ang. Charges she more than me? Mari. Not that I know. No? you say, your husband. Mari. Why, just, my lord, and that is Angelo, Who thinks, he knows, that he ne'er knew my body, But knows, he thinks, that he knows Isabel's. Ang. This is a strange abuse: '-Let's see thy face. Mari. My husband bids me; now I will unmask. This is that face, thou cruel Angelo, This is the hand, which, with a vow'd contract, Duke. Know you this woman? Or else for ever be confixed here, Ang. Duke. Though they would swear down each particular Were testimonies against his worth and credit, Escal. How! know you where you are? Be some time honour'd for his burning throne:~ Look, you speak justly. Duke. Boldly, at least:-But, O, poor souls, Lucio. This is the rascal; this is he I spoke of. Is't not enough, thou hast suborn'd these women Te call him villain? F. Peter. Would he were here, my lord; for he, And then to glance from him to the duke himself; 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 To tax him with injustice?-Take him hence; joint, But we will know this purpose:-What! unjust? Dare no more stretch this finger of mine, than he Nor here provincial: My business in this state Will leave you; but stir not you, till you have Where I have seen corruption boil and bubble, 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. Lucio. Not better than he, by her own report. Lucio. Marry, sir, I think, if you handled her privately, she would sooner confess; perchance, publicly she'll be ashamed. Till it o'er-run the stew: laws, for all faults; Escal. Slander to the state! Away with him to Ang. What can you vouch against him, signior Is this the man that you did tell us of? 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 fleshmonger, 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 Re-enter Officers, with Isabella; the Duke, in the so of him; and much more, much worse. 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. Lucio. Mum. Escal, Come, sir: Did you set these women on to slander lord Angelo? they have confess'd you d. Duke. "Tis false. 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 ? 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, (1) Crazy. (2) Conspiracv. (3) To the end. (4) Refer back. (5) Accountable. (6) Wantons, with a pox to you! show your sheep-biting face, Of sacred chastity, and of promise-breach, and be hang'd an hour! Will't not off? Pulls off the friar's hood, and discovers the Duke. Thereon dependant, for your brother's life,) The very mercy of the law cries out Most audible, even from his proper' tongue, An Angelo for Claudio, death for death. Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure; First, provost, let me bail these gentle three: Like doth quit like, and Measure still for Measure. Sneak not away, sir; [To Lucio.] for the friar and Duke. Thou art the first knave, that c'er made a duke.. 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 instantly. 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 dishonour, Than at the strangeness of it. Isab. O, give me pardon, That I, your vassal, have employ'd and pain'd Your unknown sovereignty. Duke. You are pardon'd, Isabel Re-enter Angelo, Mariana, Peter, and Provost. : Duke. For this new-married man, approaching here, Whose salt imagination yet hath wrong'd (Being criminal, in double violation Then, Angelo, thy fault's thus manifested: We do condemn thee to the very block I Mari. husband: Consenting to the safeguard of your honour, Mari. O, my dear lord, I crave no other, nor no better man." Duke. Never crave him; we are definitive. Mari. Gentle my liege,[Kneeling. Duke. You do but lose your labour: Away with him to death.-Now, sír, [To Lucio.] to you. Mari. O, my good lord!-Sweet Isabel, take my part; Lend me your knees, and all my life to come Duke. Against all sense do you impórtune her: Isabel, Hold up your hands, say nothing, I'll speak all. Most bounteous sir, [Kneeling. Look, if it please you, on this man condemn'd, His act did not o'ertake his bad intent, Mari. Merely, my lord. Duke. Your suit's unprofitable; stand up, I say.Provost, how came it, Claudio was beheaded I have bethought me of another fault: At an unusual hour? |