was in

sir, sitting, as I say, in a lower chair, sir;-'t the Bunch of Grapes, where, indeed, you have a delight to sit Have you not?

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

Clo. Why, very well then ;-I hope here be truths. Ang. This will last out a night in Russia, When nights are longest there: I'll take my leave, And leave you to the hearing of the cause; Hoping you'll find good cause to whip them all. Escal. I think no less: Good morrow to your lordship. [Exit ANGELO.

Now, sir, come on: What was done to Elbow's wife, once more?

Clo. Once, sir? there was nothing done to her once. Elb. I beseech you, sir, ask him what this man did to my wife.

Clo. I beseech your honour, ask me.

Escal. Well, sir: What did this gentleman to her?
Clo. I beseech you, sir, look in this gentleman's face:
-Good master Froth, look upon his honour; 't is for a
good purpose: Doth your honour mark his face?
Escal. Ay, sir, very well.

Clo. Nay, I beseech you, mark it well.
Escal. Well, I do so.

Clo. Doth your honour see any harm in his face?
Escal. Why, no.

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

Escal. He's in the right: Constable, what say you to it?

Elb. First, an it like you, the house is a respected house; next, this is a respected fellow; and his mistress is a respected woman.

Clo. By this hand, sir, his wife is a more respected person than any of us all.

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

Clo. Sir, she was respected with him before he married with her.

Escal. Which is the wiser here? Justice, or Iniquity? -Is this true?

Elb. O thou caitiff! O thou varlet! O thou wicked Hannibal! I respected with her, before I was married to her! If ever I was respected with her, or she with 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.

me,

Escal. If he took you a box o' th' ear, you might have your action of slander too.

Elb. Marry, I thank your good worship for it: What is 't your worship's pleasure I should do with this wicked caitiff?

Escal. Truly, officer, because he hath some offences in him that thou wouldst discover if thou couldst, let him continue in his courses till thou know'st what they are. Elb. Marry, I thank your worship for it :-Thou seest, thou wicked varlet now, what's come upon thee; thou art to continue now, thou varlet; thou art to continue.

Escal. Where were you born, friend? [To FROTH.
Froth. Here in Vienna, sir.

Escal. Are you of fourscore pounds a-year?
Froth. Yes, an 't please you, sir.

Escal. So.-What trade are you of, sir? [To the Clo.
Clo. A tapster; a poor widow's tapster.

Escal. Your mistress's name?

Clo. Mistress Overdone.

Escal. Hath she had any more than one husband? Clo. Nine, sir; Overdone by the last.

Escal. Nine-Come hither to me, master Froth. Master Froth, I would not have you acquainted with tapsters: they will draw you, master Froth, and you will hang them: Get you gone, and let me hear no more of you.

Froth. I thank your worship: For mine own part, I never come into any room in a taphouse, but I am drawn in.

Escal. Well; no more of it, master Froth: farewell. [Exit FROTH.]-Come you hither to me, master tapster; what 's your name, master tapster?

Clo. Pompey.

Escal. What else?

Clo. Bum, sir.

Escal. "Troth, and your bum is the greatest thing about you; so that, in the beastliest sense, you are Pompey the great. Pompey, you are partly a bawd, Pompey, howsoever you colour it in being a tapster. Are you not? come, tell me true; it shall be the better for you.

Clo. Truly, sir, I am a poor fellow that would live. Escal. How would you live, Pompey? by being a bawd? What do you think of the trade, Pompey? is it a lawful trade?

Clo. If the law would allow it, sir.

Escal. But the law will not allow it, Pompey: nor it shall not be allowed in Vienna.

Clo. Does your worship mean to geld and splay all the youth of the city?

Escal. No, Pompey.

Clo. Truly, sir, in my poor opinion, they will to 't then: If your worship will take order for the drabs and the knaves, you need not to fear the bawds.

Escal. There are pretty orders beginning, I can tell you: It is but heading and hanging.

Clo. If you head and hang all that offend that way but for ten year together, you'll be glad to give out a commission for more heads. If this law hold in Vienna ten year, I'll rent the fairest house in it after threepence a bay: If you live to see this come to pass, say, Pompey told you so.

Escal. Thank you, good Pompey: and, in requital of your prophecy, hark you,-I advise you, let me not find you before me again upon any complaint whatsoever. no, not for dwelling where you do; if I do, Pompey, I shall beat you to your tent, and prove a shrewd Cæsar to you; in plain dealing, Pompey, I shall have you whipped: so for this time, Pompey, fare you well. Clo. I thank your worship for your good counsel; but I shall follow it as the flesh and fortune shall better determine.

Whip me? No, no; let carman whip his jade; The valiant heart's not whipped out of his trade. [Ex. Escal. Come hither to me, master Elbow; come hither, master constable. How long have you been in this place of constable?

Elb. Seven year and a half, sir.

Escal. I thought, by your readiness in the office, you had continued in it some time: You say, seven years together?

Elb. And a half, sir.

Escal. Alas! it hath been great pains to you! They do you wrong to put you so oft upon 't: Are there not men in your ward sufficient to serve it?

Elb. Faith, sir, few of any wit in such matters: as they are chosen, they are glad to choose me for them. I do it for some piece of money, and go through with all Escal. Look you bring me in the names of some six or seven, the most sufficient of your parish.

Elb. To your worship's house, sir?

Escal. To my house: Fare you well. [Exit ELBOW.] What 's o'clock, think you?

Ang.

He's sentenc'd; 't is too late. Lucio. You are too cold.

[To ISAB Isab. Too late? why, no; I, that do speak a word, May call it back again: Well believe this, No ceremony that to great ones longs, Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword, The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe, Become them with one half so good a grace As mercy does.

If he had been as you, and you as he,

You would have slipp'd like him; but he, like you,
Would not have been so stern.

Ang.
Pray you, begone.
Isab. I would to Heaven I had your potency,
And you were Isabel! should it then be thus?
No; I would tell what 't were to be a judge,
And what a prisoner.

Lucio. Ay, touch him; there's the vein.
Ang. Your brother is a forfeit of the law,
And you but waste your words.
Isab.
Alas! alas!
Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once;
And He that might the vantage best have took
Found out the remedy: How would you be,
If He, which is the top of judgment, should
But judge you as you are? O, think on that;
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like man new made.b

LAside

slept :

Those many had not dar'd to do that evil,
If the first that did the edict infringe
Had answer'd for his deed; now, 't is awake;
Takes note of what is done; and, like a prophet,
Looks in a glass, that shows what future evils
(Either now, or by remissness new-conceiv'd,

a Well believe this-be well assured of this.

b This has, we think, reference to the fine allusion to the redemption which has gone before: Think on that, and you will then be as merciful as a man regenerate,

The fowl of season—when in season.

R

Ang. I show it most of all, when I show justice;
For then I pity those I do not know,
Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall;
And do him right, that, answering one foul wrong,
Lives not to act another. Be satisfied;
Your brother dies to-morrow; be content.

Isab. So you must be the first that gives this sentence; And he, that suffers: O, it is excellent

To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.

Lucio.

That 's well said.

Isab. Could great men thunder

As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet,
For every pelting, petty officer

Would use his heaven for thunder: nothing but thunder.
Merciful Heaven!

Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt,
Splitt'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,
Than the soft myrtle: But man, proud man!
Dress'd in a little brief authority;

Most ignorant of what he 's most assur'd,
His glassy essence,-like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high Heaven,
As make the angels weep: who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.a

Lucio. O, to him, to him, wench: he will relent, He's coming, I perceive 't.

Prov. Pray Heaven, she win him! Isab. We cannot weigh our brother with ourself: Great men may jest with saints: 't is wit in them; But, in the less, foul profanation

Lucio. Thou 'rt in the right, girl; more o' that.
Isab. That in the captain 's but a choleric word,
Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.

Lucio. Art avis'd o' that? more on 't.
Ang. Why do you put these sayings upon me?
Isab. Because authority, though it err like others,
Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself,

That skins the vice o' the top: Go to your bosom ;
Knock there; and ask your heart, what it doth know
That's like my brother's fault: if it confess
A natural guiltiness, such as is his,

Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue
Against my brother's life.

Ang.

Such sense,

She speaks, and 't is

that my sense breeds with it.-Fare you well. Isab. Gentle my lord, turn back.

Ang. I will bethink me:-Come again to-morrow. Isab. Hark, how I'll bribe you: Good my lord, turn back.

Ang. How bribe me?

Shall I attend your lordship? Ang.

Isab. Save your honour!

Ang.

At any time 'fore noon.

[Exeunt Lucio, ISAB., and Prov. From thee; even from thy virtue What 's this? what 's this? Is this her fault, or mine! The tempter or the tempted, who sins most? Ha! Not she; nor doth she tempt: but it is 1, That, lying by the violet, in the sun, Do, as the carrion does, not as the flower, Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be, That modesty may more betray our sense Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough,

Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary,

And pitch our evils there? O, fie, fie, fie!
What dost thou or what art thou, Angelo?
Dost thou desire her foully, for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live:
Thieves for their robbery have authority,

When judges steal themselves. What? do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again,

And feast upon her eyes? What is 't I dream on?
O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation, that doth goad us on

To sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet,
With all her double vigour, art, and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite :-Ever till now,

When men were fond, I smil'd and wonder'd how. [Ezit.

with you.

Lucio. You had marr'd all else.

Isab. Not with fond shekels of the tested gold, Or stones, whose rates are either rich or poor As fancy values them; but with true prayers That shall be up at heaven, and enter there, Ere sunrise prayers from preserved souls, From fasting maids, whose minds are dedicate To nothing temporal.

Ang.

Well: come to me to-morrow. Lucio. Go to: 't is well; away. [Aside to ISABEL. Isab. Heaven keep your honour safe!

Amen :

[Aside.

At what hour to-morrow

We understand this passage,-as they are angels, they weep at folly; if they had our spleens, they would laugh, as mortals.

Enter ANGELO.

Ang. When I would pray and think, I think and pray To several subjects: Heaven hath my empty words; Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue, Anchors on Isabel: Heaven in my mouth, As if I did but only chew his name; And in my heart, the strong and swelling evil Of my conception: The state whereon I studied Is like a good thing, being often read, Grown fear'd and tedious; yea, my gravity, Wherein (let no man hear me) I take pride, Could I, with boot, change for an idle plume, Which the air beats for vain. O place! O form! How often dost thou with thy case, thy habit, Wrenca awe from fools, and tie the wiser souls To thy false seeming! Blood, thou art blood: Let's write good angel on the devil's horn, T is not the devil's crest

I had rather give my body than my soul.
Ang. I talk not of your soul: Our compell'd sins
Stand more for number than for accompt.
How say you?

Isab.
Ang. Nay, I'll not warrant that; for I can speak
Against the thing I say. Answer to this ;-
I, now the voice of the recorded law,
Pronounce a sentence on your brother's life:
To save this brother's life?
Might there not be a charity in sin,

Isab.

Please you to do 't, I'll take it as a peril to my soul,

It is no sin at all, but charity.

Ang. Pleas'd you to do 't, at peril of your soul, Were equal poise of sin and charity.

Isab. That I do beg his life, if it be sin, Heaven let me bear it! you granting of my suit, If that be sin, I 'll make it my morn prayer To have it added to the faults of mine, And nothing of your answer. Ang. Nay, but hear me: Your sense pursues not mine: either you are ignorant, Or seem so, craftily; and that's not good.

Isab. Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good, But graciously to know I am no better.

Ang. Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright, When it doth tax itself: as these black masks Proclaim an enshield beauty ten times louder Than beauty could, displayed.-But mark me; To be received plain, I 'll speak more gross :

So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons;
Come all to help him, and so stop the air

By which he should revive: and even so
The general, subject to a well-wish'd king,
Quit their own part, and in obsequious fondness
Crowd to his presence, where their untaught love
Must needs appear offence.

Isab. So.

Ang. And his offence is so, as it appears
Accountant to the law upon that pain.
Isab. True.

Ang. Admit no other way to save his life,
(As I subscribe not that, nor any other,
But in the loss of question,) that you, his sister,
Finding yourself desir'd of such a person,
Whose credit with the judge, or own great place,
Could fetch your brother from the manacles
Of the all-binding law; and that there were
No earthly mean to save him, but that either
You must lay down the treasures of your body
To this suppos'd, or else to let him suffer;
What would you do?

Isab. As much for my poor brother as myself:
That is, Were I under the terms of death,
The impression of keen whips I 'd wear as rubies,
And strip myself to death, as to a bed
That longing had been sick for, ere I'd yield
My body up to shame.

Ang.
Then must your brother die.
Isab. And 't were the cheaper way:
Better it were a brother died at once,
Than that a sister, by redeeming him,
Should die for ever.

Ang. Were not you then as cruel as the sentence That you have slander'd so?

Isab. Ignomy in ransom, and free pardon,

Are of two houses: lawful mercy

Is nothing kin to foul redemption.

Ang. You seem'd of late to make the law a tyrant,

And rather prov'd the sliding of your brother

A merriment, than a vice.

Isab. O pardon me, my lord; it oft falls out,

Your answer-for you to answer.

Isab. Could great men thunder As Jove himself does, Jove would ne For every pelting, petty officer

Would use his heaven for thunder: no. Merciful Heaven!

Thou rather, with thy sharp and sul Splitt'st the unwedgeable and gnarle Than the soft myrtle: But man, pro Dress'd in a little brief authority; Most ignorant of what he 's most ass His glassy essence,-like an angry Plays such fantastic tricks before hi As make the angels weep: who, with Would all themselves laugh mortal.

Lucio. O, to him, to him, wench He 's coming, I perceive 't. Prov. Pray He

Isab. We cannot weigh our brothe Great men may jest with saints: 'ti But, in the less, foul profanation

Lucio. Thou 'rt in the right, girl; Isab. That in the captain 's but a Which in the soldier is flat blasphem

Lucio. Art avis'd o' that? more of Ang. Why do you put these sayin Isab. Because authority, though it Hath yet a kind of medicine in itsel That skins the vice o' the top: Go to Knock there; and ask your heart, w That 's like my brother's fault: if it A natural guiltiness, such as is his, Let it not sound a thought upon your Against my brother's life.

Ang. She speaks, Such sense, that my sense breeds with Isab. Gentle my lord, turn back. Ang. I will bethink me:-Come

Isab. Hark, how I'll bribe you

4. my purpose.

Hate on to be much anast pericions perpose!-Seeming thee, Angelo; look for ".

farred with fox soul D

being nicher then T, GUŠÍ

Eh. Come your Way

Drake And