Making booth it unable for itself, So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons, By which he should revive and even so Enter ISABELLA. How now, fair maid? Isab. I am come to know your pleasure. Ang. That you might know it, would much better Than to demand what 'tis. Your brother cannot live. [Retiring. Ang. Yet may he live a while; and, it may be, As long as you, or I: yet he must die. Isab. Under your sentence? Ang. Yea. Isab. When, I beseech you? that in his reprieve, Longer, or shorter, he may be so fitted, That his soul sicken not. Ang. Ha! fy, these filthy vices! It were as good Their saucy sweetness, that do coin heaven's image As to put mettle in restrained means, Isab. 'Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth. Isab. Sir, believe this, 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 accompt. Isab. How say you? Ang. Nay, I'll not warrant that; for I can speak Isab. Please you to do't, Ang. Pleas'd you to do't, at peril of your soul, Were equal poize 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 : Accountant to the law upon that pain. Isab. Truc. 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 supposed, or else 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 I have been sick for, ere I'd yield My body up to shame. Ang. Then must your brother die. Isab. And 'twere the cheaper way: Betterit 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 Your sense pursues not mine: either you are ignorant, Ang. Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright, Isab, So. Ang. And his offence is so, as it appears 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. Ang. I think it well: And from this testimony of your own sex, (Since, I suppose, we are made to be no stronger Than faults may shake our frames) let me be bold; I do arrest your words; be that you are, Isab. I have no tongue but one: gentle my lord, Isab. My brother did love Juliet; and you tell me, That he shall die for it. Ang. He shall not, Isabel, if you give me love. Ang. Believe me, on mine honour, Isab. Ha! little honour to be much believ'd, I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for't: Ang. Who will believe thee, Isabel? That banish what they sue for; redeem thy brother Or else he must not only die the death, But thy unkindness shall his death draw out To lingering sufferance. Answer me to-morrow, Say what you can, my false o'erweighs your true. [Exit. Isab. To whom shall I complain? Did I tell this, Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die: And fit his mind to death, for his soul's rest. SCENE I.-A room in the prison. Enter Duke, CLAUDIO, and Provost. But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep, Of palsied eld; and when thou art old, and rich, Claud. I humbly thank you. To sue to live, I find, I seek to die, And, seeking death, find life. Let it come on! Isab.What,ho! Peace here; grace and good company! Prov. Who's there? come in the wish deserves a welcome. Duke. Dear sir, ere long I'll visit you again. Isab. My business is a word or two with Claudio. Prov. And very welcome.-Look, signior,here's your sister. Duke. Provost, a word with you. Prov. As many as you please. Duke. Bring me to hear them to speak, where I may be Claud. Now, sister, what's the comfort? Therefore your best appointment make with speed; Claud. Is there no remedy? Isab. None, but such remedy, as, to save a head, [Exit. To cleave a heart in twain. Duke.So,then you hope of pardon from lord Angelo? I have hope to live, and am prepar'd to die. Duke. Be absolute for death; either death, or life, Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life,IfI do lose thee, I do lose a thing, That none but fools would keep a breath thou art, (Servile to all the skiey influences,) That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st, Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum, Claud. But is there any? Isab. Yes, brother, you may live; If you'll implore it, that will free your life, Claud. Perpetual durance? Isab. Ay, just, perpetual durance; a restraint, Claud. But in what nature? Isab. In such a one as (you consenting to't) Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear, And leave you naked. Claud. Let me know the point. Isab. O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, Claud. Why give you me this shame? I will encounter darkness as a bride, Isab. There spake my brother; there my father's grave Did utter forth a voice! Yes, thou must die: In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy,- For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth, A pond as deep as hell. nor age; Claud. The princely Angelo? 11* Isab. O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell, Claud. O, heavens! it cannot be. Isab. I have no superfluous leisure; my stay must be Isab. Yes, he would give it thee, from this rank with the disposition of natures: she, having the truth offence, So to offend him still: this night's the time, That I should do what I abhor to name, Isab. O, were it but my life, I'd throw it down for your deliverance As frankly, as a pin! Claud. Thanks, dear Isabel! Isab. Be ready, Claudio, for your death to-morrow! That thus can make him bite the law by the nose, Claud. If it were damnable, he, being so wise, Claud. Ay, but to die, and go, we know not where; The weariest and most loathed worldly life, Isab. Alas! alas! Claud. Sweet sister, let me live! What sin you do to save a brother's life, of honour in her, hath made him that gracious denial, Claud. Let me ask my sister pardon. I am so out of Provost, a word with you. [Exit Claudio. Prov. What's your will, father? Duke. The hand, that hath made you fair, hath made you good: the goodness, that is cheap in beauty, makes beauty brief in goodness; but grace, being the soul of your complexion, should keep the body of it ever fair. The assault that Angelo hath made to you, fortune hath conveyed to my understanding; and, but that frailty hath examples for his falling, I should wonder at Angelo. How would you do to content this substitute, and to save your brother? From thine own sister's shame? What should I think? Ne'er issu'd from his blood. Take my defiance! Claud. Nay, hear me, Isabel! Isab. Ofy, fy, fy! Thy sin's not accidental, but a trade: Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd: Re-enter DUKE. 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 oh,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. 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 hearing 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 you not 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. Her should this Angelo have married; was affianced to her by oath, and the nuptial appointed: 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 mar[Going. riage dowry; with both, her combinate husband, this well-seeming Angelo. Duke.Vouchsafe a word, young sister, but one word! 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. Can this be so? Did Angelo so leave her? Duke, Left her in her tears, and dry'd not one of them with his comfort; swallowed his vows whole, pretending, in her, discoveries of dishonour: in few, bestowed her on her own lamentation, which she yet wears for his sake; and he, a marble to her tears, is washed with them, but relents not. 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! 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. Elb. His neck will come to your waist, a cord, sir. Clo. I spy comfort; I cry, bail: Here's a gentleman, and a friend of mine! 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, Lucio. How now, noble Pompey? What, at the heels hath, like an impediment in the current, made it more of Caesar? Art thou led in triumph? What, is there violent and unruly. Go you to Angelo; answer his none of Pygmalion's images, newly made woman, to requiring with a plausible obedience; agree with his be had now, for putting the hand in the pocket and demands to the point: only refer yourself to this ad-extracting it clutch'd? What reply? Ha? What say'st vantage, first, that your stay with him may not be thou to this tune,matter, and method? Is't not drown'd long; that the time may have all shadow and silence in i' the last rain? Ha? What say'st thou, trot? Is the it; and the place answer to convenience: this being world as it was, man? Which is the way? Is it sad, granted in course, now follows all. We shall advise and few words? Or how? The trick of it? this wronged maid to stead up your appointment, go in your place; ifthe encounter acknowledge itself hereafter, it may compel him to her recompense: and here, by this, is your brother saved, your honour untainted, the poor Mariana advantaged, and the corrupt deputy scaled. The maid will I frame, and make fit for his attempt. If you think well to carry this as you may, the doubleness of the benefit defends the deceit from reproof. What think you of it? 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 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. Isab. I thank you for this comfort. Fare you well, good father! [Exeunt severally. SCENE II. The street before the prison. Enter Duke, as a Friar; to him ELBOW, Clown, and 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. Duke. O, heavens! what stuff is here! Clo. 'Twas never merry world, since, of two usuries, the merriest was put down, and the worser allow'd by order of law a furr'd gown to keep him warm; and furr'd with fox and lambskins too, to signify, that craft, being richer than innocency, stands for the facing. 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 picklock, which we have sent to the deputy. Duke. Fy, sirrah; a bawd, a wicked bawd! So stinkingly depending? Go, mend, go, mend! Duke. Nay, if the devil have given thee proofs for sin, Duke. Still thus, and thus! still worse! 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 powder'd bawd: an unshun'd consequence; it must be 'so. Art going to prison, Pompey? Clo. Yes, faith, sir. Lucio. Why, 'tis not amiss, Pompey! Farewell! Go; say, I sent thee thither. For debt, Pompey? Or how? Elb. For being a bawd, for being a bawd. Lucio. Well, then imprison him! Ifimprisonment 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 the prison, Pompey! You will turn good husband now, Pompey; you will keep the house. Clo. I hope, sir, your good worship will be my bail. Lucio. No, indeed, will I not, Pompey; it is not the wear. I will pray, Pompey, to increase your bondage: if you take it not patiently, why, your mettle is the more. Adieu, trusty Pompey.-Bless you, friar! Duke. And you! Lucio. Does Bridget paint still, Pompey? Ha? 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 is 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 down. They say, this Angelo was not made by man and woman, after the downright way of creation: is it true, think you? Duke. How should he be made then? Lucio. Some report, a sea-maid spawn'd him: : Some, that he was begot between two stockfishes :but it is certain, that, when he makes water, his urine is congeal'd ice; that I know to be true: and he is a motion ungenerative, that's infallible. Duke. You are pleasant, sir; and speak apace. Lucio. Why, what a ruthless thing is this in him, for the rebellion of a cod-piece, to take away 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 paid for the nursing a thousand he had some feeling of the sport; he knew the service, and that instructed him to mercy. Duke. Inever heard the absent duke much detected for women; he was not inclined that way. 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. Duke. You do him wrong, surely! Lucio, Sir, I was an inward ofhis: a shy fellow was the duke: and, I believe, I know the cause of his withdrawing. The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong, Enter ESCALUS, Provost, Bawd, and Officers. Prov. A bawd of eleven years continuance, may it a Bawd.My lord, this is oneLucio's information against Duke. Not of this country, though my chance is now Duke. What, Ipr'ythee, might be the cause? Lucio.No,-pardon;-'tis a secret must be lock'dwithin the teeth and the lips:but this I can let you understand, -the greater file of the subject held the duke to be wise. Duke. Wise? why, no question but he was! Lucio.A very superficial,ignorant,unweighing fellow. Duke. Either this is envy in you, folly, or mistaking; the very stream of his life, and the business he hath helmed, must, upon a warranted need, give him a better proclamation. Let him be but testimonied in Escal. What news abroad i' the world? his own bringings forth, and he shall appear to the Duke. None, but that there is so great a fever on envious a scholar, a statesman, and a soldier: there-goodness, that the dissolution of it must cure it: nofore, 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 ledge with dearer love. velty is only in request; and it is as dangerous to be aged in any kind of course, as it is virtuous to be constant in any undertaking. There is scarce truth enough know-alive, to make societies secure; but security enough, to make fellowships accurs'd: much upon this riddle runs the wisdom of the world. This news is old enough, yet it is every day's news. I pray you, sir, of what disposition was the duke? Lucio. Come, sir, I know what I know." Lucio.Sir,my name is Lucio; well known to the duke. Duke. He shall know you better, sir, if I may live to Lucio. I fear you not. report you. 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. Canst thou tell, if Claudio die to-morrow, or no? Duke. Why should he die, sir? Escal. One, that, above all other strifes, contended especially to know himself. Duke. What pleasure was he given to? Escal.Rather rejoicing to see another merry, than merry at any thing, which profess'd to make him rejoice: a gentleman of all temperance. But leave we him to his events, with a prayer,they may prove prosperous; and let me desire to know, how you find Claudio prepared. I am made to understand, that you have lent him visitation. Duke. He professes to have received no sinister measures from his judge, but most willingly humbles himself to the determination of justice: yet had he framed to himself, by the instruction of his frailty, many deLucio. Why? for filling a bottle with a tun-dish. I ceiving promises of life; which I, by my good leisure, would, the duke, we talk of, were return'd again: this have discredited to him, and now is he resolved to die. ungenitur'd agent will unpeople the province with con- Escal. You have paid the heavens your function,and tinency; sparrows must not build in his house-eaves, the prisoner the very debt of your calling. I have labecause they are lecherous. The duke yet would have bour'd for the poor gentleman, to the extremest shore dark deeds darkly answer'd; he would never bring of my modesty; but my brother justice have I found so them to light: would he were return'd! Marry, this severe, that he hath forced me to tell him, he is indeed Claudio is condemu'd for untrussing. Farewell, good-justice. friar; I pr'ythee, pray for me! The duke, I say to thee again, would eat mutton on Fridays. He's now past it; yet, and I say to thee, he would mouth with abeggar, though she smelt brown bread and garlick: say, that said so. Farewell. Duke. No might, nor greatness in mortality Can censure 'scape; back-wounding calumny I [Exit. Duke. If his own life answer the straitness of his proceeding, it shall become him well; wherein, if he chance to fail, he hath sentenced himself. Escal. I am going to visit the prisoner. Fare you well, Duke. Peace be with you! [Exeunt Escalus and He, who the sword of heaven will bear, Provost. |