drabs and the knaves, you need not to fear the | Repented o'er his doom. 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 three pence a day. 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 whipt. 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 whipt out of his trade. [Exit. 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? Just. Eleven, sir. Ang. Go to; let that be mine: Prov. I crave your honor's pardon. What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet? She's very near her hour. Ang. Dispose of her To some more fitter place, and that with speed. Serv. Here is the sister of the man condemn'd Ang. Ang. Well, let her be admitted. [Exit Servant. Enter LUCIO and ISABELLA. I do beseech you, let it be his fault, Prov. [Aside.] Heaven give thee moving graces! O just, but severe law! Lucio. [To ISAB.] Giv't not o'er so: to him again, Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown; Isab. Must he needs die? Maiden, no remedy. Isab. Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once; Ang. He's not prepar'd for death. Even for our kitchens To our gross selves? Good, good my lord, bethink you: Lucio. [tence, [Aside.] That's well said. Isab. Could great men thunder As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet, d ■"Like man new made," i. e., like the first man in his days of innocence.- Alluding to fortune-tellers, who pretended to see future events in a glass. Paltry. Ill-humor; unseasonable mirth.- "Laugh mortal," i. e., laugh themselves out of their immortality. Lucio. [To ISAB.] O, to him, to him, wench! He He's coming; I perceive't. [will relent: Prov. [Aside.] Pray heaven, she win him! Isab. You cannot weigh our brother with yourself: Great men may jest with saints: 'tis wit in them, But in the less foul profanation. [o' that. Lucio. [To ISAB.] Thou'rt in the right, girl: more Isab. That in the captain's but a choleric word, Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy. Lucio. [Aside.] 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 Ang. [Aside.] She speaks, and 'tis Such sense, that my sense breeds with it. [To her.] Fare you well. Isab. Gentle my lord, turn back. Ang. I will bethink me.-Come again to-morrow. Isab. Ay, with such gifts, that heaven shall share with you. Lucio. [Aside.] You had marr'd all else. Ang. For I am that way going to temptation, Isab. At what hour to-morrow [Exeunt LUCIO, ISABELLA, and Provost. Ang. 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? Not she, nor doth she tempt; but it is I, That lying by the violet in the sun, Ha! Do, as the carrion does, not as the flower, 'Overvalued. Attested; stamped.- "Preserved" from the corruptions of the world. The carrion grows putrid by those beams that increase the fragrance of the violet."Sense" for sensual appetite. With all her doable vigor, art and nature, SCENE III-A Room in a Prison. Duke. Bound by my charity, and my bless'd order, I come to visit the afflicted spirits Here in the prison: do me the common right [needful. Prov. I would do more than that, if more were Look; here comes one: a gentlewoman of mine, Duke. When must he die? As I do think, to-morrow.[To JULIET.] I have provided for you: stay awhile, And you shall be conducted. Duke. Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry? Juliet. I do, and bear the shame most patiently. Duke. I'll teach you how you shall arraign your And try your penitence, if it be sound, [conscience, Or hollowly put on. Juliet. I'll gladly learn. Duke. Love you the man that wrong'd you? Juliet. Yes, as I love the woman that wrong'd him. Duke. So then, it seems, your most offenceful act Was mutually committed? Juliet. Mutually. Duke. Then was your sin of heavier kind than his. As that the sin hath brought you to this shame; Juliet. I do repent me, as it is an evil, And take the shame with joy. Is like a good thing, being often read, h Ang. Ha! Fie, these filthy vices! It were as good To pardon him, that hath from nature stolen A man already made, as to remit Their saucy sweetness, that do coin heaven's image In stamps that are forbid: 'tis all as easy Falsely to take away a life true made, As to put metal in restrained means, To make a false one. Isab. 'Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth. Ang. Say you so? then, I shall poze you quickly. Which had you rather, that the most just law Now took your brother's life, or to redeem him Give up your body to such sweet uncleanness As she that he hath stain'd? 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 for accompt. Isab. How say you? 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: b Profit." For vain," i. e., for being vain.-d Outside."Let's write good angel," &c.; i. e., Though we should write good angel on the devil's horn, it will not change his nature, or give him a right to exhibit an angel for his crest. Crowds.-"The general," i. e., the people; the multitude.-hi, e., that hath killed a man- i, e., sins of compulsion are not imputed to us by Heaven as crimes. Might there not be a charity in sin, To save this brother's life? 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. Your sense pursues not mine: either you are ignorant, Or seem so, crafty; and that is not good. b 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 1inshell'd beauty ten times louder Than beauty could displayed.-But mark me: To be received plain, I'll speak more gross. Your brother is to die. Ang. Admit no other way to save his life, (As I subscribe not that, nor any other, But in the force 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 longing I've been sick for, ere I'd yield Ang. Your brother die. Then must Isab. And 'twere 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, Ang. You seem'd of late to make the law a tyrant; Isab. O, pardon me, my lord! it oft falls out, To have what we would have, we speak not what we I something do excuse the thing I hate, [mean. For his advantage that I dearly love. Ang. We are all frail. Isab. Else let my brother die, If not a feodary, but only he, Owe, and succeed this weakness. "Of your answer," i. e., for you to answer-b" Crafty," ie., being crafty. Accuse." Inshell'd," i e., hidden.Penalty."Subscribe not," i. e., agree not to.-"In the force of question," i. e., in the way of supposition.- Supposed person. Ignominy. The meaning of this obscure passage seems to be: "If we are not all frail, let my brother die; if he alone offend, and have no feodary (companion) in this weakness. Ang. Nay, women are frail too. Isab. Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves, Which are as easy broke as they make forms. Women!-Help heaven! men their creation mar In profiting by them. Nay, call us ten times frail, For we are soft as our complexions are, And credulous to false prints. m 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, That is, a woman; if you be more, you're none; If you be one, (as you are well express'd By all external warrants,) show it now, By putting on the destin'd livery. Isab. I have no tongue but one: gentle my lord, Let me intreat you speak the former language. Ang. Plainly, conceive I love you. 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. Isab. I know, your virtue hath a licence in't, Which seems a little fouler than it is, To pluck on "others. Ang. Believe me, on mine honor, My words express my purpose. Isab. Ha! little honor to be much believ'd, And most pernicious purpose!-Seeming, seem [ing!— I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for't: Ang. Or else he must not only die the death, But thy unkindness shall his death draw out To lingering sufferance. Answer me to-morrow, Or, by the affection that now guides me most, I'll prove a tyrant to him. As for you, [Exit. Isab. To whom should I complain? Did I tell this, Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die : 1i. e., "Men debase their natures by taking advantage of women's weakness."- Impressions.-i. e., You are privi leged to assume an air of licentiousness, in order to detect others."-Hypocrisy.-P Declare.- Dilatory; tedious.Approval.-Temptation; instigation. I have hope to live, and am prepar'd to die. That none but fools would keep: a breath thou art, That 'do this habitation, where thou keep'st, And yet run'st toward him still: thou art not noble ; Are nurs'd by baseness: thou art by no means valiant; e For thou exist'st on many a thousand grains Of palsied eld: and when thou art old and rich, I humbly thank you. Duke. Dear sir, ere long I'll visit you again. Claud. Most holy sir, I thank you. Isab. My business is a word or two with Claudio. Prov. And very welcome. Look, signior; here's Duke. Provost, a word with you. [your sister. Prov. As many as you please. Duke. Bring me to hear them speak, where I may be conceal'd. [Exeunt DUKE and Provost. Claud. Now, sister, what's the comfort? Isab. Comforts are; most good, most good, indeed. Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven, Intends you for his swift ambassador, Where you shall be an everlasting lieger: Why, as all Claud. Is there no remedy? Isab. None, but such remedy, as to save a head To cleave a heart in twain. Claud. But is there any? Isab. Yes, brother, you may live: There is a devilish mercy in the judge, If you'll implore it, that will free your life. But fetter you till death. Claud. Perpetual durance? Isab. Ay, just; perpetual durance: a restraint, To a determin'd scope. Though all the world's vastidity you had, Claud. But in what nature? Isab. In such a one as, you consenting to it, Would bark your honor from that trunk you bear, And leave you naked. Claud. Let me know the point. Lest thou a feverous life 3 would'st entertain, Isab. O! I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, And six or seven winters more respect, Than a perpetual honor. Dar'st thou die? The sense of death is most in apprehension, And the poor beetle, that we tread upon, In corporal sufferance finds a pang, as great As when a giant dies. Claud. Think you I can a resolution fetch [grave Isab. There spake my brother: there my father's Whose settled visage and deliberate word Claud. The priestly Angelo? Claud. Thou shalt not do't. Isab. O! were it but my life, I'd throw it down for your deliverance As frankly as a pin. Claud. Thanks, dear Isabel. ⚫Determined. -b Care for.- Dwellest. Shakespeare Preparation. Vastness of extent.-"To a determin'd here adopts the error that a worm (or serpent) wounds with scope," i. e., a confinement of your mind to one painful his tongue, and that his tongue is forked. Affections; pas- idea. Restrain; shut up.- "From this rank offence," i. sions of the mind. Serpigo is a leprous eruption.-Olde., from the time of my committing this rank offence.— age. Resident. Freely. Enforce.- Lastingly. |