Hold therefore, Angelo:

In our Remove, be thou at full our felf.
Mortality and Mercy in Vienna

Live in thy tongue and heart: old Efcalus,
Though firft in queftion, is thy Secondary.
Take thy Commiffion.

Ang. Now, good my lord,

Let there be fome more test made of my metal,
Before fo noble and fo great a figure

Be ftampt upon it.

Duke. Come, no more evafion :

We have with a prepar'd and level'd choice
Proceeded to you; therefore take your honours.
Our hafte from hence is of fo quick condition,
That it prefers it felf, and leaves unquestion'd
Matters of needful value. We fhall write to you,
A's time and our concernings fhall importune,
How it goes with us; and do look to know
What doth befal you here. So, fare you well.
To th❜hopeful execution do I leave you
Of your Commiffions.

Ang. Yet give me leave, my lord,
That we may bring you fomething on the way.
Duke. My hafte may not admit it;

Nor need you, on mine honour, have to do
With any scruple; your fcope is as mine own,
So to inforce, or qualify the Laws,

As to your foul feems good. Give me your hand
I'll privily away. I love the people;
But do not like to stage me to their eyes:
Though it do well, I do not relish well
Their loud applaufe, and Ave's vehement :

8 Come, no more evafion :

We have with a prepar'd and LEAVEN'D choice Proceeded to you;] leaven'd has no fenfe in this place: we hould read LEVEL'D choice. The allufion is to archery, when

a man has fixed upon his object, after taking good aim.

Nor

Nor do I think the man of fafe difcretion,
That does affect it. Once more, fare you well.
Ang. The heav'ns give fafety to your purposes!
Efcal. Lead forth and bring you back in happiness!
Duke. I thank you, fare you well.
[Exit.
Efcal. I fhall defire you, Sir, to give me leave
To have free fpeech with you; and it concerns me
To look into the bottom of my Place:

A pow'r I have, but of what strength and nature
I am not yet instructed.

Ang. 'Tis fo with me: let us withdraw together, : And we may foon our fatisfaction have

Touching that point.

Efcal. I'll wait upon your Honour.

S CE N

The Street.

[Exeunt.

EIII.

Enter Lucio, and two Gentlemen.

Lucio. F the Duke, with the other Dukes, come not to compofition with the King of Hungary,

why, then all the Dukes fall upon the King.

Gent. Heav'n grant us its peace, but not the King of Hungary's!

2 Gent. Amen.

Lucio. Thou conclud'ft like the fanctimonious Pi rate, that went to fea with the ten Commandments, but scrap'd one out of the Table.

2 Gent. Thou shalt not steal.

Lucio. Ay, that he raz'd.

I Gent. Why, 'twas a Commandment to command the captain and all the reft from their functions; they put forth to steal; there's not a foldier of us all, that, in the thanksgiving before meat, does relish the petition well that prays for Peace.

2 Gent. I never heard any foldier dislike it.

Lucio. I believe thee: for, I think, thou never waft where grace was said.

2 Gent. No? a dozen times at least.

1 Gent. What, in meeter?

Lucio. In any proportion, or in any language. 1 Gent. I think, or in any religion.

Lucio. Ay, why not? grace is grace, defpight of all controverfie; as for example, thou thy felf art a wicked villain, defpight of all grace.

1 Gent. Well; there went but a pair of sheers be

tween us.

Lucio. I grant; as there may between the lifts and the velvet. Thou art the lift.

...I Gent. And thou the velvet; thou art good velvet; thou'rt a three-pil'd piece, I warrant thee: I had as lief be a lift of an English kersey, as be pil'd, as thou art pil'd, for a French velvet. Do I fpeak feelingly now?

Lucio. I think, thou doft; and, indeed, with most painful feeling of thy fpeech: I will, out of thine own confeffion, learn to begin thy health; but, whilft I live, forget to drink after thee.

1. Gent. I think, I have done my self wrong, have I not?

2 Gent. Yes, that thou haft; whether thou art tainted, or free.

Lucio. Behold, behold, where Madam Mitigation

comes.

9 In any proportion, &c.] Here the Oxford Editor gives us a dialogue of his own, instead of this: and, as one would expect, neither fo clear nor fo lively. And all for want of knowing the meaning of the word proportion, which fignifies measure: and refers to the queftion, What, in meeter?

I defpight of all controverfie; ] Satirically infinuating that the controverfies about grace were fo intricate and endless, that the difputants unfettled every thing but this, that grace was grace; which, however, in ípite of controverfy, ftill remained certain.

I Gent.

1 Gent. I have purchas'd as many diseases under her roof, as come to

2 Gent. To what I pray?

1 Gent. Judge.

2 Gent. To three thousand dollars a year. 1 Gent. Ay, and more.

Lucio. A French crown more.

1 Gent. Thou art always figuring difeafes in me; but thou art full of error; I am found.

Lucio. Nay, not as one would fay healthy; but fo found, as things that are hollow; thy bones are hollow; impiety hath made a feast of thee.

profound sciatica? Bawd. Well, well; and carry'd to prifon, you all.

IV.

which of your hips has the moft

there's one yonder arrested, was worth five thousand of

1 Gent. Who's that, I pr'ythee?

Bawd. Marry, Sir, that's Claudio; Signior Claudio, 1 Gent. Claudio to prifon? 'tis not fo.

Bawd. Nay, but I know, 'tis fo; I faw him arrefted; faw him carry'd away; and, which is more, within these three days his head is to be chopt off.

Lucio. But, after all this fooling, I would not have it fo: art thou fure of this?

Bawd. I am too fure of it; and it is for getting madam Julietta with child.

Lucio. Believe me, this may be; he promised to meet me two hours fince, and he was ever precife in promise-keeping.

2 Gent. Befides, you know, it draws fomething near to the fpeech we had to fuch a purpose.

1 Gent.

1 Gent. But most of all agreeing with the Procla

mation.

Lucio. Away, let's go learn the truth of it.

Manet Bawd.

[Exit.

Bawd. Thus, what with the war, what with the fweat, what with the gallows, and what with poverty, I am custom-fhrunk. How now? what's the news with you?

SCENE

V.

Enter Clown.

Clown. Yonder man is carry'd to prison.
Bawd. Well; what has he done?

Clown. A woman.

Bawd. But what's his offence?

Clown. Groping for trouts in a peculiar river. Bawd. What? is there a maid with child by him? Clown. No; but there's a woman with maid by him. You have not heard of the Proclamation, have you? Bawd. What Proclamation, man?

Clown. All houses in the fuburbs of Vienna muft be pluck'd down.

2

Bawd. And what shall become of those in the city? Clown. They fhall stand for feed; they had gone down too, but that a wife burgher put in for them. Bawd. But fhall all our houses of refort in the suburbs be pull'd down?

Clown. To the ground, mistress.

2 They fhall ftand for feed; ] Seneca, in his mock Apotheofis of Claudius, ridiculing him for having extended the rights of Roman citizens fo immoderately, makes Clotho fay, Ego mehercule, pufillum temporis adjicere illi volebam, dum hos pauculos, qui fuperfunt, civitate donaret: conftituerat enim omnes Græcos, Gallos, Hifpanos, Britannos, togatos videre. Sed quoniam placet aliquos peregrinos IN SEMEN RELINQUI, et tu ita jubes fieri, fiat.

Bawd.