(As I subscribe' not that, nor any other, Isab. As much for my poor brother, as myself: That longing I have been sick for, ere I'd yield Ang. 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 ty- And rather prov'd the sliding of your brother Isab. O, pardon me, my lord; it oft falls out, mean: I something do excuse the thing I hate, For his advantage that I dearly love. 4 we I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for❜t: [Exit. Isab. To whom shall I complain? Did I tell this, To such abhorr'd pollution. Then Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die : Else let my brother die, More than our brother is our chastity. If not a feodary, but only he, Which are as easy broke as they make forms. And fit his mind to death, for his soul's rest. [Exit. ACT III. Claudio, and Provost. In profiting by them. Nay, call us ten times frail; SCENE I.—A room in the prison. Enter Duke Ang. I think it well: Isab. I have no tongue but one: gentle my lord, tell me, That he shall die for it. Ang. He shall not, Isabel, if you give me love. Duke. So, then you hope of pardon from lord Claud. The miserable have no other medicine, have hope to live, and am prepar'd to die. Duke. Be absolute10 for death; either death, or life Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life, If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st, For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork of a poor worm: Thy best of rest is sleep, (1) Agree to. (2) Conversation. (3) Ignominy. (7) Hypocrisy. (8) Attestation. (9) Reluctant. (4) Associate. (5) Own. (6) Impressions. (10) Determined. For what thou hast not, still thou striv'st to get; Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum, nor age; But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep, Claud. Duke. Dear sir, ere long I'll visit you again. your sister. Duke. Provost, a word with you. Yet hear them. [Exeunt Duke and Provost. deed; Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven, Claud. Claud. But is there any? Claud. Perpetual durance? Claud. Claud. Let me know the point. Isab. O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake (1) Affects, affections. (2) Leprous eruptions. The sense of death is most in apprehension; Claud. Isab. There spake my brother; there my father's grave Did utter forth a voice! Yes, thou must die: offence, That I should do what I abhor to name, Thou shalt not do't. I'd throw it down for your deliverance Claud. Isab. Which is the least? Claud. If it were damnable, he, being so wise, Death is a fearful thing. To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot; Isab. Alas! alas! Scene 1. O, faithless coward! O, dishonest wretch! think? Heaven shield, my mother play'd my father fair! Ne'er issu'd from his blood. Take my defiance: Claud. Nay, hear me, Isabel. O, fic, fie, fie! [Going. Duke. That shall not be much amiss: yet, as the matter now stands, he will avoid your accusation; he 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 not you 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. Vouchsafe a word, young sister, but one affianced to her by oath, and the nuptial appointed: word. Isab. What is your will? Duke. Might you dispense with your leisure, I would by and by have some speech with you: the satisfaction I would require, is likewise your own benefit. Isab. I have no superfluous leisure; my stay must be stolen out of other affairs; but I will attend you a while. Duke. Her should this Angel have married; was 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 renowned 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. [To Claudio, aside.] Son, I have overDuke. Left her in her tears, and dry'd not one of heard what hath passed between you and your sister. Angelo had never the purpose to corrupt her; them with his comfort; swallowed his vows whole, only he hath made an essay of her virtue, to practise pretending, in her, discoveries of dishonour: in few, his judgment with the disposition of natures: she, bestowed her on her own lamentation, which she having the truth of honour in her, hath made him yet wears for his sake; and he, a marble to her that gracious denial which he is most glad to re- tears, is washed with them, but relents not. ceive; 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 inake 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. [Ex. Claud. Re-enter Provost. Provost, a word with you. pany. 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. This fore-named maid hath yet in her the continuance of her first affection; his unjust unkindness, that in all reason should have quenched her love, hath, like an impediment in the current, Prov. What's your will, father? Duke. That now you are come, you will be gone: made it more violent and unruly. Go you to Anleave me a while with the maid; my mind promises gelo; answer his requiring with a plausible obediwith my habit, no loss shall touch her by my coin-ence; agree with his demands to the point: only refer yourself to this advantage,--first, that your Prov. In good time. [Exit Provost, stay with him may not be long; that the time may Duke. The hand that hath make you fair, hath have all shadow and silence in it; and the place made you good: the goodness, that is cheap in answer to convenience this being granted in We shall advise this beauty, makes beauty brief in goodness; but grace, course, now follows all. being the soul of your complexion, should keep the wronged maid to stead up your appointment, go in body of it ever fair. The assault, that Angelo hath your place; if the encounter acknowledge itself made to you, fortune hath convey'd to my under- hereafter, it may compel him to her recompense; standing; and, but that frailty hath examples for and here, by this, is your brother saved, your ho his falling, I should wonder at Angelo. How would nour untainted, the poor Mariana advantaged, and you do to content this substitute, and to save your the corrupt deputy scaled. The maid will I frame, and make fit for his attempt. If you think well to brother? carry this as you may, the doubleness of the benefit defends the deceit from reproof. What think you of it? 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. Isab. The image of it gives me content already; and, I trust, it will grow to a most prosperous perfection. Duke. It lies much in your holding up: haste (5) Betrothed. (6) Gave her up to her sorrows. (7) Have recourse to. (8) Over-reached. 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. 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. Isab. I thank you for this comfort: fare you well, good father. [Exeunt severally. SCENE II.-The street before the prison. Enter Lucio. Why, 'tis not amiss, Pompey: farewell: Duke, as a friar; to him Elbow, Clown, and go; say, I sent thee thither. For debt, Pompey? Or how? Officers. Elb. Nay, if there be no remedy for it, but that you will needs buy and sell men and women like beasts, we shall have all the world drink brown and white bastard.2 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; bawd born. Farewell, good Pompey: commend me to Duke. O, heavens! what stuff is here? the prison, Pompey: you will turn good husband Clo. 'Twas never merry world, since, of two now, Pompey; you will keep the house. usuries, the merriest was put down, and the worser Clo. I hope, sir, your good worship will be my allow'd by order law a furr'd gown to keep bail. him warm; and furr'd with fox and lamb-skins Lucio. No, indeed, will I not, Pompey; it is not too, to signify, that craft, being richer than inno- the wear." I will pray, Pompey, to increase your cency, stands for the facing. bondage: if you take it not patiently, why, your mettle is the more. Adieu, trusty Pompey.-Bless you, friar. 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,3 which we have sent to the deputy. Duke. Fie, sirrah; a bawd, a wicked bawd! 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 whoremaster: if he be a whoremonger, and comes before him, he were as good go a mile on his errand. Duke. That we were all, as some would seem to be, Free from our faults, as faults from seeming, free! Enter Lucio. Duke. And you. Lucio. Does Bridget paint still, Pompey? Ha? Clo. You will not bail me then, sir? Lucio. Then, Pompey? nor now.-What news abroad, friar? what news? 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 3 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 Elb. His neck will come to your waist, a cord, sir. down. They say, this Angelo was not made by Clo. I spy comfort; I cry, bail: here's a gentle-man and woman, after the downright way of creaman, and a friend of mine. tion: is it true, think you? Duke. How should he be made then? Lucio. How now, noble Pompey? What, at the heels of Cæsar? Art thou led in triumph? What, Lucio. Some report, a sea-maid spawn'd him :— is there none of Pygmalion's images, newly made Some, that he was begot between two stock-fishes: woman, to be had now, for putting the hand in the but it is certain, that when he makes water, his pocket, and extracting it clutch'd? What reply? urine is congeal'd ice; that I know to be true: and Ha? What say'st thou to this tune, matter, and he is a motion ungenerative, that's infallible. method? Is't not drown'd i' the last rain? Ha? Duke. You are pleasant, sir; and speak apace. What say'st thou, trot? Is the world as it was, Lucio. Why, what a ruthless thing is this in man? Which is the way? Is it sad, and few him, for the rebellion of a cod-piece, to take away words? Or how? The trick of it? 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 Duke. Still thus, and thus! still worse! (1) A solitary farm-house. (2) A sweet wine. (3) For a Spanish padlock. (4) Tied like your waist with a rope. paid for the nursing a thousand: he had some feel-Duke. No might nor greatness in mortality ing of the sport; he knew the service, and that in- Can censure 'scape; back-wounding calumny structed him to mercy. The whitest virtue strikes: What king so strong, Duke. I never heard the absent duke much de-Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue ? tected for women; he was not inclined that way. But who comes here? Lucio. O, sir, you are deceived. Duke. 'Tis not possible. Lucio. Who? not the duke? yes, your beggar of fifty-and his use was, to put a ducat in her clackdish: the duke had crotchets in him: he would be drunk too; that let me inform you. Dake. You do him wrong, surely. Lacio. Sir, I was an inward of his: a shy fellow was the duke: and, I believe, I know the cause of his withdrawing. Enter Escalus, Provost, Bawd, and Officers. Escal. Go, away with her to prison. Bawd. Good my lord, be good to me; your honour is accounted a merciful man: good my lord. Escal, Double and treble admonition, and still forfeit in the same kind? This would make mercy swear, and play the tyrant. it Prov. A bawd of eleven years continuance, may please your honour. Duke. What, I pr'ythee, might be the cause? Bawd. My lord, this is one Lucio's information Lucio. No,-pardon; 'tis a secret must be against me: mistress Kate Keep-down was with lock'd within the teeth and the lips; but this I can child by him in the duke's time, he promised her let you understand,-The greater file of the sub-marriage; his child is a year and a quarter old, jeet held the duke to be wise. Duke. Wise? why, no question but he was. Lucio. A very superficial, ignorant, unweighing fellow. 4 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 Duke. Either this is envy in you, folly, or mis- prison: Go to; no more words. [Exeunt Bawd and taking; the very stream of his life, and the business Officers.] Provost, my brother Angelo will not be he hath helmed, must, upon a warranted need, alter'd, Claudio must die to-morrow; let him be give him a better proclamation. Let him be but furnished with divines, and have all charitable testimonied in his own bringings forth, and he shall paration: if my brother wrought by my pity, it appear to the envious, a scholar, a statesman, and should not be so with him. 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? 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 deceived in me, friar. But no more of this: can'st thou tell, if Claudio die to-morrow, or no? pre Prov. So please you, this friar hath been with him, Duke. Not of this country, though my chance is now To use it for my time: am a brother Escal. What news abroad i' the world? I Duke. What pleasure was he given to? Escal. Rather rejoicing to see another merry, than merry at any thing which profess'd to make Duke. Why should he die, sir? him rejoice; a gentleman of all temperance. But Lucio. Why? for filling a bottle with a tun-dish. leave we him to his events, with a prayer they may I would, the duke, we talk of, were return'd again: prove prosperous: and let me desire to know how this ungenitur'd agent will unpeople the province you find Claudio prepared. I am made to underwith continency; sparrows must not build in his stand, that you have lent him visitation. house-eaves, because they are lecherous. The duke Duke. He professes to have received no sinister yet would have dark deeds darkly answer'd; he measures from his judge, but most willingly humwould never bring them to light: would he were bles himself to the determination of justice: yet return'd! Marry, this Claudio is condemned for had he framed to himself, by the instruction of his untrussing. Farewell, good friar ; I pr'ythee, pray frailty, many deceiving promises of life; which I2 for me. The duke, I say to thee again, would eat by my good leisure, have discredited to him, and mutton on Fridays. He's now past it; yet, and I now is he resolved to die. say to thee, he would mouth with a beggar, though Escal. You have paid the heavens your function, she smelt brown bread and garlic: say, that I said and the prisoner the very debt of your calling. so. Farewell. [Exit. have labour'd for the poor gentleman, to the cx (1) Suspected. (2) The majority of his subjects. (3) Ionsiderate. (4) Guided. (5) Opponent. (6) Have a wench. (7) Transgress. |