That's seal'd in approbation?-You, lord Esca

lus,

Sit with my cousin; lend him your kind pains To find out this abuse, whence 'tis deriv'd.There is another friar that set them on;

Let him be sent for.

F. Peter. 'Would, he were here, my lord; for he, 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

Will leave you; but stir not you, till you have well Determined upon these slanderers.

Escal. My lord, we'll do it thoroughly.-[Erit Duke.] Signior Lucio, did not you say, you knew that friar Lodowick to be a dishonest per

son?

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.

Escal. Call that same Isabel here once again; [To an Attendant.] I would speak with her; 'Pray you, my lord, give me leave to question; you shall see how I'll handle her.

Lucio. Not better than he, by her own report.
Escal. Say you?

Lucio. Marry, sir, I think if you handled her privately, she would sooner confess; perchance, publickly, she'll be ashamed.

Re-enter Officers, with ISABELLA, the Duke, in the 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 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 did.

Duke. 'Tis false.

Escal. How! know you where you are?

Duke. Respect to your great place! and let the devil

Be sometime honour'd for his burning throne:Where is the duke? 'tis he should hear me speak. Escal. The duke's in us; and we will hear you speak;

Look, you speak justly.

Duke. Boldly at least:-But O, poor souls, Come you to seek the lamb here of the fox? Good night to your redress. Is the duke gone? Then is your cause gone too. The duke's unjust, Thus to retort your manifest appeal,

And put your trial in the villain's mouth,
Which here you come to accuse.

Lucio. This is the rascal: this is he I spoke of. Escal. Why, thou unreverend and unhallow'd friar!

Is't not enough, thou hast suborn'd these women To accuse this worthy man; but in foul mouth, And in the witness of his proper ear,

To call him villain?

And then to glance from him to the duke him.

self;

To tax him with injustice? Take him hence; To the rack with him :-We'll touze you joint by joint,

But we will know this purpose:-What! unjust?
Duke. Be not so hot; the duke

Dare no more stretch this finger of mine, than he
Dare rack his own; his subject am I not,
Nor here provincial: My business in this state
Made me a looker-on here in Vienna,

Where I have seen corruption boil and bubble,
Till it o'errun the stew: laws for all faults;
But faults so countenanc'd, that the strong
statutes

Stand like the forfeits in a barber's shop,
As much in mock as mark.

Escal. Slander to the state! Away with him to prison.

Ang. What can you vouch against him, signior Lucio?

Is this the man that you did tell us of?

Lucio. 'Tis he, my lord. Come hither, goodinan 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 flesh-monger, 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 so of him; and much more, much worse.

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 prisou :-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 baid-pated, lying rascal! you must be hooded, must you? Show your knave's visage, with a pox to you! show your sheepbiting face, and be hang'd an hour! Wilt not off? [Pulls off the Friar's hood, and discovers the Duke.

Duke. Thou art the first knave that e'er made a duke.

First, Provost, let me bail these gentle three :

Sneak not away, sir; [To Lucio.] for the friar

and you

Must have a word anon :-lay hold on him. Lucio. This may prove worse than hanging. Duke. What you have spoke, I pardon; sit you down. [To ESCALUS. We'll borrow place of him :-Sir, by your leave: [To ANGELO. Hast thou or word, or wit, or impudence, That yet can do thee office? If thou hast, Rely upon it till my tale be heard,

And hold no longer out.

Ang.
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 amazed at his dis

honour,

Than at the strangeness of it.

Duke.

Come hither, Isabel:

Your friar is now your prince: As I was then
Advertising, and holy to your business,

Not changing heart with habit, I am still
Attorney'd at your service.

Isab.
O, give me pardon,
That I, your vassal, have employed and pain'd
Your unknown sovereignty.

Duke. You are pardon'd, Isabel: And now, dear maid, be you as free to us. Your brother's death, I know, sits at your heart; And you may marvel, why I obscured myself, Labouring to save his life; and would not rather

Make rash remonstrance of my hidden power, Than let him so be lost: 0, most kind maid, It was the swift celerity of his death,

Which I did think with slower foot came on, That brain'd my purpose; But, peace be with him!

That life is better life, past fearing death, Than that which lives to fear: make it your comfort,

So happy is your brother.

Re-enter ANGELO, MARIANA, PETER, and Provost.

Isab.

I do, my lord. Duke. For this new-married man approaching

here,

Whose salt imagination yet hath wrong'd
Your well-defended honour, you must pardon
For Mariana's sake: but as he adjudged your
brother

(Being criminal, in double violation

Of sacred chastity, and of promise-breach,
Thereon dependent 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;
Like doth quit like, and Measure still for Measure.
Then, Angelo, thy fault's thus manifested;
Which though thou would'st deny, denies thee
vantage:

We do condemn thee to the very block Where Claudio stoop'd to death, and with like haste;

Away with him.

Mari,
O, my most gracious lord,
I hope you will not mock me with a husband!
Duke. It is your husband mock'd you with a
husband:

Consenting to the safeguard of your honour,
I thought your marriage fit; else imputation,
For that he knew you, might reproach your life,
And choke your good to come: for his posses-
sions,

Although by confiscation they are ours,
We do instate and widow you withal,
To buy you a better husband.