Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

Prefixt by Angelo. See, this be done,
And fent according to command; while I
Perfuade this rude wretch willingly to die.

Prov. This fhall be done, good father, prefently. But Barnardine muft die this afternoon ;

And how fhall we continue Claudio,

To fave me from the danger that might come,
If he were known alive?

Duke. Let this be done;

Put them in fecret holds, both Barnardine and Claudio:
Ere twice the fun hath made his journal greeting
To th' under generation, you fhall find
Your fafety manifefted.

3

Prov. I am your free dependent.

Duke. Quick, dispatch, and fend the head to An

[blocks in formation]

[Exit Provoft.

(The Provost, he fhall bear them;) whofe contents
Shall witness to him, I am near at home;
And that, by great injunctions I am bound
To enter publickly; him I'll defire

To meet me at the confecrated fount,
A league below the city; and from thence,
By cold gradation and weal-balanced form,
We fhall proceed with Angelo.

Enter Provoft.

Prov. Here is the head, I'll carry it myself.
Duke. Convenient is it. Make a fwift return;
For I would commune with you of fuch things,
That want no ears but yours.
Prov. I'll make all speed.
Ifab. [within] Peace, hoa, be here !

3 To th' under generation] So Sir Tho. Hanmer with true judgIt was in all the former

ment.

VOL. I.

[Exit.

editions to yonder: ye under and yonder were confounded.

Аа

Duke.

Duke. The tongue of Ifabel.

know,

She comes to

If yet her brother's pardon be come hither:
But I will keep her ignorant of her good,
To make her heav'nly comforts of defpair,
When it is leaft expected. *

SCENE X.

Enter Ifabel.

fab. Hoa, by your leave.

Duke. Good Morning to you, fair and gracious daughter.

Iab. The better, giv'n me by fo holy a man. Hath yet the depury fent my brother's pardon? Duke. He hath releas'd him, Ifabel, from the world; His head is off, and fent to Angelo.

Ifab. Nay, but it is not fo.

Duke. It is no other.

Shew your wifdom, daughter, in your closest patience.
Ifb. Oh, I will to him, and pluck out his eyes.
Duke. You fhall not be admitted to his fight.
Ifab. Unhappy Claudio! wretched Ifabel!
Injurious world! most damned Angelo!

Duke This nor hurts him, nor profits you a jot; Forbear it therefore, give your cause to heav'n. Mark, what I fay; which you fhall furely find

By ev'ry fyllable a faithful verity.

The Duke comes home to-morrow; dry your eyes; One of our convent, and his confeffor,

Gave me this inftance: already he hath carry'd

Notice to Efcalus and Angelo,

Who do prepare to meet him at the gates,

There to give up their pow'r. If you can, pace your In that good path that I would wish it go,

* A better reafon might have been given It was neceflary to keep fabella in ignorance, that

[wifdom

the might with more keenness accufe the Deputy.

And

4

And you shall have your bofom on this wretch,
Grace of the Duke, revenges to your heart,
And gen'ral honour.

Ifab. I'm directed by you.

Duke. This letter then to Friar Peter give;
'Tis that he fent me of the Duke's return:
Say, by this token, I defire his company
At Mariana's houfe to night. Her caule and
I'll perfect him withal, and he shall bring you
Before the Duke, and to the head of Angelo
Accufe him home, and home. For my poor felf,

I am combin'd by a facred vow,

yours

And fhall be abfent. Wend you with this letter:
Command thefe fretting waters from your eyes
With a light heart; truft not my holy Order,
If I pervert your courfe. Who's here?

SCENE

Enter Lucio.

Lucio. Good even;———

Friar, where's the Provot?

Duke. Not within, Sir.

XI,

Lucio. Oh, pretty Ifabella, I am pale at mine heart, to fee thine eyes fo red; thou must te patient; I am fain to dine and fup with water and bran; I dare not for my head fill my belly: one fruitful meal would fet me to't. But they fay the Duke will be here to-morrow. By my troth, fabel, I lov'd thy brother: if the old fantastical Duke of dark corners had been at home, he had liv'd. [Exit Ifabella.

4your bofom.] Your with; your heart's defire.

5 I am combin'd by a facred wow.] I once thought this should be confined, but Shakespeare ufes combine tor to bind by a pact or agreement, fo he calls Angelo the

combinate hofband of Mariana.

If the cld, &c.] Sir Thomas Hanmer reads, the odd fantastical Duke, but old is a common word in ludicrous language, as, there was old revelling.

A a 2

Duke.

Duke. Sir, the Duke is marvellous little beholden to your reports; but the best is, He lives not in them. Lucio. Friar, thou knoweft not the Duke fo well as I do; he's a better woodman, 7 than thou tak'st him for. Duke. Well; you'll answer this one day. Fare ye

well.

Lucio. Nay, tarry, I'll go along with thee: I can tell thee pretty tales of the Duke.

Duke. You have told me too many of him already, Sir, if they be true; if not true, none were enough. Lacio. I was once before him for getting a wench with child.

Duke. Did you fuch a thing?

Lucio. Yes, marry, did 1; but I was fain to forfwear it; they would elfe have marry'd me to the rotten medlar.

Duke. Sir, your company is fairer than honeft: reft you well.

Lucio. By my troth, I'll go with thee to the lane's end. If bawdy talk offend you, we'll have very little of it. Nay, Friar, I am a kind of bur, I shall stick. [Exeunt.

Eftal.

E

[blocks in formation]

Changes to the Palace.

Enter Angelo and Efcalus.

VERY letter, he hath writ, hath disvouch'd the other.

Ang. In moft uneven and distracted manner. His actions fhew much like to madnefs, pray heav'n, his wisdom be not tainted. And why meet him at the gites, and deliver our authorities there?

Efcal. I guess not.

Ang. And why fhould we proclaim it in an hour be

T 7 Woodman.] That is, Huntfman, here taken for a hunter of

girls.

fore

fore his entring, that if any crave redrefs of injuftice, they should exhibit their petitions in the ftreet?

Efcal. He fhews his reafon for that; to have a difpatch of complaints, and to deliver us from devices hereafter; which fhall then have no power to stand against us.

Ang. Well; I beseech you, let it be proclaim'd betimes i' th' morn; I'll call you at your houfe: give notice to fuch men of fort and fuit, as are to meet him.

Efcal. I fhall, Sir: fare you well.

Ang. Good night.

8

[Exit.

This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnant, And dull to all proceedings. A defloured maid!

And by an eminent body, that enforc'd

The law against it!

-but that her tender fhame

Will not proclaim against her maiden lofs,

How might the tongue me? yet reafon dares her No.9 For my authority bears a credent bulk; '

That no particular scandal once can touch,

But it confounds the breather. He fhould have liv'd, Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous fenfe,

8

and rank.

fort and fuit.] Figure

9 yet reafon dares her :] The old Folio impreffions read,

yet reafon dares her No. And this is right. The meaning is, the circumftances of our cafe are fuch, that she will never venture to contradict me:

dares her to reply No to me, what ever I fav.

WARBURTON. Mr. Theobald reads yet reafon dares her note. Sir Tho. Haumer, yet reafon dares her: No. Mr. Upton, yet reafon dares her-No, which he exp ains thus: yet, fays Angelo, reafon will give her courage-No, that is, it will not. I

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« PředchozíPokračovat »