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Ang. See that Claudio

Be executed by nine to-morrow morning:
Bring him his confeffor, let him be prepar'd;
For that's the utmoft of his pilgrimage.

[Exit Prov. Efcal. Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all! Some rife by fin, and fome by virtue fall*: Some run from brakes of vice, and answer none; And fome condemned for a fault alone.

Enter ELBOW, FROTH, Clown, Officers, &c. Elb. Come, bring them away: if thefe be good people in a common-weal, that do nothing but ufe their abuses in common houses, I know no law: bring them away.

Ang. How now, fir! What's your name? and what's the matter?

Elb. If it please your honour, I am the poor duke's conftable, and my name is Elbow; I do lean upon justice, fir, and do bring in here before your good honour two notorious benefactors.

Ang. Benefactors? Well; what benefactors are they? Are they not malefactors?

2 Some rife &c.] This line is in the first folio printed in Italicks, as a quotation. All the folios read in the next line:

Some run from brakes of ice, and answer none. JOHNSON. A brake anciently meant not only a fharp bit, a fnaffle, but also the engine with which farriers confined the legs of fuch unruly horfes as would not otherwise submit themselves to be fhod, or to have a cruel operation performed on them. This in fome places is ftill called a fmith's brake. I likewife find from Holinfhed, p. 670, that the brake was an engine of torture. It was called the duke of Exeter's daughter. See Blackstone's COMMENT. IV. 320, 321.

If Shakspeare alluded here to this engine, the fenfe of this paffage will be: Some run more than once from engines of punishment, and answer no interrogatories; while fome are condemned to fuffer for a fingle trespass. A yet plainer meaning may be deduced from the fame words. A brake meant a bufh. By brakes of vice, therefore, may be meant a collection, a number, a thicket of vices.

Mr. Tollet is of opinion that, by brakes of vice, Shakspeare means only the thorny paths of vice. STEEVENS.

I am not fatisfied with either the old or prefent reading of this very difficult paffage; yet have nothing better to propose. The modern reading, vice, was introduced by Mr.Rowe. In K. Henry VIII, we have "Tis but the fate of place, and the rough brake "That virtus must go through." MALONE.

Elb.

Elb. If it pleafe your honour, I know not well what they are: but precife villains they are, that I am sure of; and void of all profanation in the world, that good chriftians ought to have.

Efcal. This comes off well; here's a wife officer.

Ang. Go to: What quality are they of? Elbow is your name? Why doft thou not speak, Elbow+?

Clown. He cannot, fir; he's out at elbow.

Ang. What are you, fir?

Elb. He, fir? a tapfter, fir; parcel-bawd; one that ferves a bad woman; whofe houfe, fir, was, as they fay, pluck'd down in the fuburbs; and now the profeffes a hothouse, which, I think, is a very ill house too.

Efcal. How know you that?

Elb. My wife, fir, whom I deteft before heaven and your honour,

Efcal. How! thy wife?

Elb. Ay, fir; whom, I thank heaven, is an honeft

woman;

Ejcal. Doft thou deteft her therefore?

Elb. I fay, fir, I will deteft myself alfo, as well as fhe, that this houfe, if it be not a bawd's houfe, it is pity of her life, for it is a naughty houfe.

3 This comes off well;] This is nimbly spoken; this is volubly uttered. JOHNSON.

The fame phrafe is employed in Timon of Athens, and elsewhere; but in the prefent inftance it is ufed ironically. The meaning of it, when seriously applied to speech, is—This is well delivered, this story is well told. STEEVENS.

4 Why dost thou not fpeak, Elbow ?] Says Angelo to the conftable. "He cannot, fir, quoth the Clown, he's out at elbow." I know not whether this quibble be generally obferved: he is out at the word elbow, and out at the elboro of his coat. The Conftable, in his account of mafter Froth and the Clown, has a ftroke at the puritans, who were very zealous against the ftage about this time." Precife villains they are, that I am fure of; and void of all profanation in the world, that good Chriftians ought to have." FARMER.

5-a

tapfer, fir; parcel-bawd;] This we fhould now exprefs by faying, be is half-tapfter, half bawd. JOHNSON.

Thus in K Henry IV: "a parcel-gilt goblet." STEEVENS. 6 -he profeffes a bot-boufe;] A bot-boufe is an English name for a bagnie. JOHNSON.

3-wbom I deteft-] He means-proteft. MALONE.

Efcal.

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Efcal. How doft thou know that, conftable?

Elb. Marry, fir, by my wife; who, if she had been a woman cardinally given, might have been accused in fornication, adultery, and all uncleanness there. Efcal. By the woman's means?

Elb. Ay, fir, by miftrefs Over-done's means: but as the fpit in his face, fo the defy'd him.

Clown. Sir, if it please your honour, this is not fo. Elb. Prove it before thefe varlets here, thou honourable man, prove it.

Efcal. Do you hear how he misplaces? [To Angelo. Clown. Sir, the came in great with child; and longing (faving your honour's reverence,) for ftew'd prunes; fir, we had but two in the houfe, which at that very diftant time 'flood, as it were, in a fruit-dish, a dish of fome three-pence; your honours have feen fuch dishes; they are not China dishes, but very good dishes.

Efcal. Go to, go to; no matter for the dish, fir.

Clown. No, indeed, fir, not of a pin; you are therein in the right but to the point: as I fay, this mistress Elbow, being, as I fay, with child, and being great belly'd, and longing, as I faid, for prunes; and having but two in the dish, as I faid, mafter Froth here, this very man, having eaten the reft, as I faid, and, as I fay, paying for them very honeftly; for, as you know, mafter Froth, I could not give you three pence again:

Froth. No, indeed.

Clown. Very well: you being then, if you be remember'd, cracking the ftones of the forefaid prunes; Froth. Ay, fo I did, indeed.

Clown. Why, very well: I telling you then, if you be remember'd, that fuch a one, and fuch a one, were

& Ay, fir, by mifirefs Over-done's means :] Here feems to have been fome mention made of Froth, who was to be accufed, and fome words therefore may have been loft, unless the irregularity of the narrative may be better imputed to the ignorance of the conftable. JOHNS. 9-frew'd prunes ;] Stewed prunes were to be found in every brothel. See a note on the 3d fccne of the 3d act of the First Part of King Henry IV. In the old copy prunes are ipelt, according to vulgar pronunciation, prewyns. STEEVENS.

1 at that very diftant time-] He means inftant. MALONE.

paft

paft cure of the thing you wot of, unless they kept very good diet, as I told you;

Froth. All this is true.

Clown. Why, very well then.

Efcal. Come, you are a tedious fool: to the purpose.— What was done to Elbow's wife, that he hath caufe to complain of? Come me to what was done to her.

Clown. Sir, your honour cannot come to that yet.
Efcal. No, fir, nor I mean it not.

Clown. Sir, but you shall come to it, by your honour's leave: And, I befeech you, look into mafter Froth here, fir; a man of fourfcore pound a year; whofe father dy'd at Hallowmas :-Was't not at Hallowmas, mafter Froth ? Froth. All-hallond eve.

2

Clown. Why, very well; I hope here be truths: He, fir, fitting, as I fay, in a lower chair, fir;-'twas in The Bunch of Grapes, where, indeed, you have a delight to fit, Have you not?

Froth. I have fo; because it is an open room, and good for winter.

Clown. Why, very well then ;-I hope here be truths.
Ang. This will last out a night in Ruffia,

When nights are longeft there: I'll take my leave,
And leave you to the hearing of the cause ;

Hoping, you'll find good caufe to whip them all.

Efcal. I think no lefs: Good morrow to your lordship. [Exit ANGELO. Now, fir, come on: What was done to Elbow's wife, once more?

Clown. Once, fir? there was nothing done to her once. Elb. I befeech you, fir, afk him what this man did to my wife.

Clown. I befeech your honour, ask me.

Efcal. Well, fir; What did this gentleman to her?
Clown. I beseech you, fir, look in this gentleman's

2in a lower chair,] One of the editors, plaufibly enough, propofes to read-in a lower chamber, which derives fome fupport from the fubfequent words" where, indeed, you have a delight to fit." But the old reading is intelligible, and therefore fhould not be changed. A lower chair is a chair lower than ordinary. MALONE.

5

face:

face:-Good mafter Froth, look upon his honour; 'tis for a good purpose: Doth your honour mark his face? Efcal. Ay, fir, very well.

Clown. Nay, I befeech you mark it well.
Ejcal. Well, I do fo.

Clown. Doth your honour fee any harm in his face ?
Efcal. Why, no.

Clown. I'll be fuppofed 3 upon a book, his face is the worst thing about him: Good then; if his face be the worst thing about him, how could mafter Froth do the conftable's wife any harm? I would know that of your honour ?

Efcal. He's in the right: conftable, what fay you to it? Elb. First, an it like you, the houfe is a refpected houfe; next, this is a refpected fellow; and his miftrefs is a refpected woman.

Clown. By this hand, fir, his wife is a more refpected perfon than any of us all.

Elb. Varlet, thou lieft; thou lieft, wicked varlet: the time is yet to come, that she was ever respected with man, woman, or child.

Clown. Sir, fhe was refpected with him before he marry'd with her.

Efcal. Which is the wifer here? Juftice, or Iniquity 4?--Is this true?

Elb. O thou caitiff! O thou varlet! O thou wicked Hannibal! I refpected with her, before I was marry'd to her? If ever I was refpected with her, or fhe with me, let not your worship think me the poor duke's officer :Prove this, thou wicked Hannibal, or I'll have mine action of battery on thee.

Efcal. If he took you a box of the ear, you might have your action of flander too.

3 I'll be fuppofed-] He means depofed. MALONE.

4 Fuftice, or Iniquity?] Elbow, the officer of justice, or Pompey, the intrument of vice? MALONE.

Juftice and Iniquity were, I fuppofe, two perfonages well known to the audience by their frequent appearance in the old moralities. The words, therefore, at that time produced a combination of ideas, which they have now loft. JOHNSON.

5-Hannibal,] Mistaken by the constable for Cannibal. JOHNSON.

Elb.

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