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 lamb-skins 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 pick-lock, which we have sent to the deputy. Duke. Fie, sirrah: a bawd, a wicked bawd!

The evil that thou causest to be done,

That is thy means to live. Do thou but think
What 'tis to cram a maw, or clothe a back,
From such a filthy vice: say to thyself,
From their abominable and beastly touches
I drink, I eat, array myself, and live'.
Canst thou believe thy living is a life,

So stinkingly depending? Go mend, go mend.

Clo. Indeed, it does stink in some sort, sir; but yet, sir, I would prove

Duke. Nay, if the devil have given thee proofs for sin, Thou wilt prove his.-Take him to prison, officer: Correction and instruction must both work,

Ere this rude beast will profit.

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!

1

Enter LUCIO.

Elb. His neck will come to your waist, a cord, sir.

of two USURIES,] Usances might be more proper, and it is the word in the corr. fo. 1632; but the necessity of the change is not so obvious as to induce us to make it.

* I drink, I eat, ARRAY myself, and live.] The old copies have away myself; an easy misprint, and a self-evident emendation by Theobald; also, as may be supposed, found in the corr. fo. 1632.

* FREE from our faults,] "Free" is from the second folio: it is omitted in the first folio, and is necessary to the verse, though not, perhaps, so absolutely required by the sense.

Clo. I spy comfort: I cry, bail. Here's a gentleman, and a friend of mine.

What, at the wheels of
What, is there none of

Lucio. How now, noble Pompey! Cæsar? Art thou led in triumph? Pygmalion's images, newly made woman, to be had now, for putting the hand in the pocket and extracting it clutch'd'? What reply? Ha! What say'st thou to this tune, matter, and method? Is't not drown'd i' the last rain? Ha! What say'st thou, troth"? Is the world as it was, man? Which is the way'? Is it sad, and few words, or how? The trick of it ?

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 unshunn'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. 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 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.

• What, at the WHEELS of Cæsar?] All the ancient editions read, "What, at the wheels of Cæsar?" and Malone and Steevens, "What, at the heels of Cæsar ?'' Why that change was made, is no where explained: the allusion, of course, is to Cæsar's triumphant chariot wheels.

5 — and extracting IT clutch'd?] The old copies omit "it," which is necessary to the sense, and is found in the corr. fo. 1632.

Ha! What say'st thou, TROTH?] The conjecture in our first edition that trot of the folios ought to be "troth" is fully confirmed by the corr. fo. 1632: "troth" is here a mere expletive; but Grey suggested "What say'st thou to't," to which there might be little objection. The h in "troth" had certainly dropped out in the press.

7 Which is the WAY?] Johnson explains this question, "What is the mode now?" but Lucio is referring to old ballads and ballad-tunes, and "the new way" was sometimes added to the directions as to tunes at the head of old ballads, and it is to this that Lucio alludes.

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.

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.

Lucio. Go; to kennel, Pompey, go.

[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 allied; 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 stock-fishes; but it is certain, that when he makes water, his urine is congeal'd ice: that I

8

9

it is not the WEAR.] i. e. It is not the fashion.

after THE downright way of creation:] It is "this downright way" in all the folios, but amended to “the downright" in the corr. fo. 1632, and no doubt properly. Mr. Singer prints "the downright,” but he does not state upon what authority: the same remark will apply to Malone, and, we believe, to all modern editors since the time of Capel, excepting Mr. Knight.

know to be true; and he is a motion' ingenerative, 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. I never heard the absent duke much detected for women': he was not inclined that way.

Lucio. Oh, 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 clack-dish. 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 of his. A shy fellow was the duke; and, I believe, I know the cause of his withdrawing. Duke. What, I pr'ythee, might be the cause?

Lucio. No, pardon:-'tis a secret must be lock'd within 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 his own bringings forth, and he shall appear to the envious a scholar, a statesman, and a

1

he is a MOTION] i. e. A puppet-made of wood: “ingenerative" is the alteration of the corr. fo. 1632 for "generative" of the old editions.

2

much DETECTED for women :] "Detected" was of old not unfrequently synonymous with suspected: Capel read detracted. In "Henry VI., Part III.," Vol. iv. p. 146, "detect” has the force of discover or display, and that it may, perhaps, here bear.

CLACK-DISH.] Beggars used to proclaim their want by a wooden dish, called a clack-dish, or clap-dish: it had a moveable cover, which they clacked, or clapped, to attract attention.

— an INWARD of his.] "Inward" is intimate : here it is used substantively. Possibly, "shy fellow" ought to be "sly fellow," but not at all necessarily. the greater file of the SUBJECT] i. e. The larger number of subjects.

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?

Lucio. Sir, my name is Lucio, well known to the duke. Duke. He shall know you better, sir, if I may live to report

you.

Lucio. I fear you not.

Duke. Oh! 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 tomorrow, or no?

Duke. Why should he die, sir?

Lucio. Why? for filling a bottle with a tun-dish. I would, the duke, we talk of, were return'd again: this ungenitur'd agent will unpeople the province with continency; sparrows must not build in his house-eaves, because they are lecherous. The duke yet would have dark deeds darkly answer'd; he would never bring them to light: would he were return'd! Marry, this Claudio is condemn'd for untrussing. Farewell, good friar;-I pr'ythee, pray for me. The duke, I say to thee again, would eat mutton on Fridays. He's not past it yet'; and I say to thee, he would mouth with a beggar, though

6

- and knowledge with DEARER love.] The old copies have it "deare love," the letter r having doubtless escaped. The corr. fo. 1632 has deare altered to "dearer," and Mr. Singer prints "dearer," without observation.

7 too unhurtful an OPPOSITE.] i. e. Adversary, or opponent.

8 — eat MUTTON on FRIDAYS.] This figure is taken from the fasting required on Fridays, and from the word "mutton " being applied to flesh, both human and bestial. "Mutton" and "laced mutton were the commonest terms for prostitutes in Shakespeare's time: see this Vol. p. 92.

"

• He's NOT past it yet;] "Not" for now of the folios was Sir Thomas Hanmer's emendation, and we avail ourselves of it, in spite of our former edition. In the old copies a comma is by error put before "yet."