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Enter Friar PETER.

F. Peter. Come; I have found you out a stand most fit, Where you may have such vantage on the duke,

He shall not pass you. Twice have the trumpets sounded:
The generous and gravest citizens

Have hent the gates, and very near upon
The duke is ent'ring: therefore hence, away.

[Exeunt.

ACT V. SCENE I.

A public Place near the City Gate.

MARIANA, (veil'd,) ISABELLA, and PETER, at a distance. Enter at several doors, DUKE, VARRIUS, Lords; ANGELO, ESCALUS, LUCIO, Provost, Officers, and Citizens.

Duke. My very worthy cousin, fairly met :

Our old and faithful friend, we are glad to see you.

Ang. and Escal. Happy return be to your royal grace!
Duke. Many and hearty thankings to you both.

We have made inquiry of you; and we hear
Such goodness of your justice, that our soul
Cannot but yield you forth to public thanks,
Forerunning more requital.

Ang.

You make my bonds still greater.

Duke. Oh! your desert speaks loud; and I should wrong it, To lock it in the wards of covert bosom,

When it deserves with characters of brass
A forted residence 'gainst the tooth of time,
And razure of oblivion. Give me your hand',
And let the subject sce, to make them know

Have HENT the gates,] i. e. Have taken possession of the gates. The word "hent" is derived from the Saxon hentan, to catch or lay hold of: Shakespeare has it again in "The Winter's Tale,"-" And merrily hent the stile-a." Vol. iii. p. 68. Hint (see this Vol. p. 21) has the same etymology, as Horne Tooke justly observed. "Hent" was in use down to the time of Spenser and Shakespeare, but not much afterwards.

7 Give ME your hand,] "Give we your hand," in the first folio, the m and w having been again confounded.

That outward courtesies would fain proclaim
Favours that keep within.-Come, Escalus;
You must walk by us on our other hand,

And good supporters are you.

Friar PETER and ISABELLA come forward.

F. Peter. Now is your time. Speak loud, and kneel before him.

Isab. Justice, oh royal duke! Vail your regard'

Upon a wrong'd, I would fain have said, a maid.
Oh worthy prince! dishonour not your eye
By throwing it on any other object,

Till you have heard me in my true complaint,

And given me justice, justice, justice, justice!

[Kneeling.

Duke. Relate your wrongs: in what? by whom? Be

brief.

Here is lord Angelo shall give you justice:

Reveal yourself to him.

Isab.

Oh, worthy duke !

[Rising.

You bid me seek redemption of the devil.

Hear me yourself; for that which I must speak

Must either punish me, not being believ'd,

Or wring redress from you. Hear me, oh, hear me, here!

[Kneeling again.

Ang. My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm:
She hath been a suitor to me for her brother,
Cut off by course of justice.

Isab.
By course of justice! [Rising'.
Ang. And she will speak most bitterly, and strange'.
Isab. Most strange, but yet most truly, will I speak.

8 Friar Peter and Isabella come forward.] The old copies say, "Enter Peter and Isabella;" but they have been standing behind with Mariana, whose time for coming forward has not yet arrived.

VAIL your regard] To "vail" is to lower, to abase. See Vol. ii. pp. 268. 525; Vol. iv. p. 591, &c.

1 Rising.] All the stage-directions in this part of the scene are from the margin of the corr. fo. 1632: they are valuable as they show the manner in which the scene was conducted of old. Isabella first knelt to prefer her suit; then rose to accuse Angelo; again knelt to procure audience, and subsequently rose again to protest indignantly against Angelo's "course of justice."

2

most bitterly, and strange.] Both here and in the next line the old corrector of the folio, 1632, alters the adjective to the adverb. As we may doubt whether Shakespeare so wrote, we decline to insert the change.

That Angelo's forsworn, is it not strange?
That Angelo's a murderer, is't not strange?
That Angelo is an adulterous thief,

A hypocrite, a virgin-violator,
Is it not strange, and strange?
Duke.

Nay, it is ten times strange'.

Isab. It is not truer he is Angelo,

Than this is all as true as it is strange:
Nay, it is ten times true; for truth is truth
To th' end of reckoning.

Duke.

Away with her.-Poor soul!

She speaks this in th' infirmity of sense.

Isab. Oh prince, I conjure thee, as thou believ'st There is another comfort than this world,

That thou neglect me not, with that opinion

That I am touch'd with madness: make not impossible
That which but seems unlike. 'Tis not impossible,
But one, the wicked'st caitiff on the ground,
May seem as shy, as grave, as just, as absolute,
As Angelo; even so may Angelo,

In all his dressings, characts, titles, forms,
Be an arch-villain. Believe it, royal prince:
If he be less, he's nothing; but he's more,
Had I more name for badness.

Duke.

By mine honesty,

If she be mad, as I believe no other,

Her madness hath the oddest frame of sense,
Such a dependency of thing on thing,

As e'er I heard in madness.

Isab.

Oh, gracious duke!

Harp not on that; nor do not banish reason
For incredulity'; but let your reason serve
To make the truth appear, where it seems hid,
And hide the false seems true ".

Duke.
Many that are not mad,
Have, sure, more lack of reason.-What would you say?

3 Nay, IT is ten times strange.] So the folios. Malone and Steevens omit "it is" without warrant, and without notice.

4

CHARACTS,] i. e. Characters, marks, or inscriptions.

5 For INCREDULITY;] i. e. Because it appears incredible: this emendation is from the corr. fo. 1632, the text having always hitherto been inequality, doubtless a word misread by the old compositor.

6 AND hide the false seems true.] Theobald and Monck Mason would read "Not hide the false seems true," but no change is really required.

Isab. I am the sister of one Claudio,
Condemn'd upon the act of fornication
To lose his head; condemn'd by Angelo.
I, in probation of a sisterhood,

Was sent to by my brother; one Lucio
As then the messenger.

Lucio.

That's I, an't like your grace.

I came to her from Claudio, and desir'd her

To try her gracious fortune with lord Angelo,
For her poor brother's pardon.

Isab.

Duke. You were not bid to speak.
Lucio.

Nor wish'd to hold my peace.

Duke.

That's he, indeed.

[blocks in formation]

I wish you now, then:

Pray you, take note of it; and when you have
A business for yourself, pray heaven, you then
Be perfect.

Lucio. I warrant your honour.

Duke. The warrant's for yourself: take heed to it.
Isab. This gentleman told somewhat of my tale.
Lucio. Right.

Duke. It may be right; but you are in the wrong

To speak before your time.-Proceed.

Isab.

To this pernicious, caitiff deputy.

Duke. That's somewhat madly spoken.

Isab.

The phrase is to the matter.

I went

Pardon it:

Duke. Mended again: the matter?-Now proceed'.
Isab. In brief,-to set the needless process by,
How I persuaded, how I pray'd, and kneel'd,
How he refell'd me, and how I replied,

(For this was of much length) the vile conclusion

I now begin with grief and shame to utter.
He would not, but by gift of my chaste body
To his concupiscible intemperate lust,

Release my brother; and, after much debatement,

7 Now proceed.] "Now," which we may feel assured had dropped out in the press, and which is absolutely necessary to complete the line, is from the corr. fo. 1632. In the next line the important word "process" having dropped out in the folio, 1632, it was inserted by the old annotator: the same authority, whatever it might be, that furnished him with "process," most likely also gave him "Now."

My sisterly remorse confutes mine honour,

And I did yield to him. But the next morn betimes,
His purpose surfeiting, he sends a warrant

For my poor brother's head.

Duke.

This is most likely!

Isab. Oh, that it were as like, as it is true!

Duke. By heaven, fond wretch"! thou know'st not what

thou speak'st,

Or else thou art suborn'd against his honour,

In hateful practice. First, his integrity

Stands without blemish: next, it imports no reason,
That with such vehemency he should pursue

Faults proper to himself: if he had so offended,
He would have weigh'd thy brother by himself,
And not have cut him off. Some one hath set you on:
Confess the truth, and say by whose advice

Thou cam'st here to complain.

Isab.

And is this all?

Then, oh! you blessed ministers above,

Keep me in patience; and, with ripen'd time,
Unfold the evil which is here wrapt up

In countenance!-Heaven shield your grace from woe,
As I, thus wrong'd, hence unbelieved go!

Duke. I know, you'd fain be gone.-An officer!
To prison with her.-Shall we thus permit
A blasting and a scandalous breath to fall

On him so near us? This needs must be a practice.
Who knew of your intent, and coming hither?

Isab. One that I would were here, friar Lodowick.
Duke. A ghostly father, belike.-Who knows that Lo-
dowick ?

Lucio. My lord, I know him: 'tis a meddling friar;

I do not like the man: had he been lay, my lord,
For certain words he spake against your grace
In your retirement, I had swing'd him soundly.

Duke. Words against me? This a good friar, belike!
And to set on this wretched woman here

Against our substitute !-Let this friar be found.

8 Oh, that it were as like, as it is true!] The Duke says in derision, "This is most likely!" and Isabel, finding the Duke's incredulity, insists upon the truth of her story, however improbable.

9

FOND wretch!] i. e. Foolish wretch. See Vol. ii. pp. 228. 316. 373, and many other instances in subsequent volumes.

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