Enter Angelo.

IV.

Ifab. When, I beseech you? that in his reprieve
Longer, or fhorter, he may be so fitted,
That his foul ficken not.

Ang. Ha! Fie, these filthy vices! It were as good
To pardon him, that hath from nature stolen
[Exeunt. 25 A man already made, as to remit

Ang. When I would pray and think, I think 30
and pray

To several subjects: heaven hath my empty words;
Whilft my intention 2, hearing not my tongue,
Anchors on Ifabel: Heaven is in my mouth,
As if I did but only chew its name;

And in my heart, the ftrong and fwelling evil
Of my conception: The state, whereon I ftudied,
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 1, with boot 3, change for an idle plume
Which the air beats for vain. Oh place! oh form!
How often doft thou with thy cafe 4, thy habit,
Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wifer fouls

Their fawcy fweetness 7, that do coin heaven's image
in ftamps that are forbid: 'tis all as easy
Falfely to take away a life true made,
As to put metal in restrained means,
To make a false one".

Ifab. 'Tis fet down fo in heaven, but not in earth.
Ang. Say you fo? then I fhall poze you quickly.
Which had you rather, that the most just law
Now took your brother's life; or, to redeem him,
35 Give up your body to fuch sweet uncleannefs,
As fhe that he hath ftain'd?

Ifab. Sir, believe this,

I had rather give my body than my foul,

Ang. I talk not of your foul: Qur compell'd fins 4c Stand more for number than for accompt.

Ijab. How fay you?

Ang. Nay, I'll not warrant that; for I can speak
Against the thing I fay. Answer to this,

I, now the voice of the recorded law,

To thy falfe feeming? Blood, thou art but blood ; 45 Pronounce a sentence on your brother's life:
Let's write good angel on the devil's horn,

'Tis not the devil's crefts.

Enter Servant.

How now, who's there?

Serv. One Isabel, a sister, desires access to you. 5 Ang. Teach her the way.] [Solus.] Oh heavens! Why does my blood thus mufter to my heart, Making both it unable for itself,

And difpoffeffing all my other parts

Of neceffary fitness?

Might there not be a charity in fin,
To fave this brother's life?

Ifab. Please you to do 't,

I'll take it as a peril to my foul,
It is no fin at all, but charity.

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

Ifab. That I do beg his life, if it be fin,

Heaven, let me bear it! You granting of my fuit, 55 If that be fin, I'll make it my morn prayer

That is, repent not on this account. 2 Intention here fignifies eagerness of defire. The old folio, however, reads invention, by which the poet might mean imagination. 3 Profit, advantage. 4 Cafe is here put for outfide, or external fhew. 5 The meaning is, Let the moft wicked thing have but a virtuous pretence, and it fhall pass for innocent. Thus if we write good angel on the devil's born, 'tis not taken any longer to be the devil's creft. This phrafe of the general, means the people or multitude subject to a king, &c. 7 That is, faucy indulgence of the appetite. 8 The fenfe of this paffage is fimply, that murder is as eafy as fornication, and it is as improper to pardon the latter as the former.

Ijab. So.

Ang. And his offence is fo, as it appears
Accounted to the law upon that pain 3.
Ifab. True.

Ang. Admit no other way to fave his life,
(As I fubfcribe not that, nor any other,
But in the lofs of queftion) that you, his fifter,
Finding yourfelf defir'd of such a person,
Whofe 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 fave him, but that either
You must lay down the treasures of your body
To this fuppofed, or elfe let him fuffer;
What would you do?

Ijab. As much for my poor brother, as myself:
That is, Were I under the terms of death,
The impreffion of keen whips I'd wear as rubies,
And strip myself to death, as to a bed

That longing I have been fick for, ere I'd yield
My body up to fhame.

Ang. Then must your brother die.

Ifab. And 'twere the cheaper way:

Better it were, a brother dy'd at once,
Than that a fifter, by redeeming him,

Should die for ever.

Ang. Were not you then as cruel as the fentence 40 My unfoil'd name, the auftereness of my life, That you have flander'd fo?

II

My vouch 11 against you, and my place i' the state,

Will fo your accufation over-weigh,

That you fhall ftifle in your own report,

And fmell of calumny. I have begun;

Ang. You feem'd of late to make the law a tyrant; 45 And now I give my fenfual race the rein:

And rather prov'd the fliding of your brother

A merriment than a vice.

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

To have what we would have, we speak not what

we mean:

I fomething do excufe the thing I hate,
For his advantage that I dearly love.

Fit thy confent to my fharp appetite;

Lay by all nicety, and prolixious blushes,

That banish what they fue for; redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will;

5-Or elfe he must not only die the death,
But thy unkindness fhall his death draw out
To Lingering fufferance: answer me to-morrow,

2 That is, a beauty

3 Pain here means

I Meaning, the faults of mine answer are the faults which I am to answer for. covered as with a thield. Thefe masks probably mean, the masks of the audience. penalty, punishment. 4 To fubfcribe, here fignifies, to agree to. Dr. Warburton obferves, this passage is fo obfcure, but the allufion fo fine, that it deferves to be explained. A feedary was one who in the times of vaffalage held lands of the chief lord, under the tenure of paying rent and fervice: which tenures were call'd feuda amongst the Goths. Now, fays Angelo, “we are all frail." "Yes, replies Ifabella; if all mankind were not fedaries, who owe what they are to this tenure of imbecility, and who fucceed cach other by the fame tenure, as well as my brother, I would give him up." The comparing mankind, lying under the weight of original fin, to a fedary, who owes fuit and fervice to his lord, is, I think, not ill imagined.

7 Puthaps we should read, take forms. fon. 10 That is, Hypocrify, hypocrify.

To we, in this place, fignifies to on, to have poffeffion. 8 That is, in imitating them. 9 That is, take any imprefOr,

11 Pouch is the teftimony one man bears for another.

Or, by the affection that now guides me moft,
I'll prove a tyrant to him: As for you,
Say what you can, my falfe o'erweighs your true.

[Exit
Ifab. To whom should I complain? Did I tell this,
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,
That bear in them one and the felf-fame tongue,
Either of condemnation or approof!

Bidding the law make court'fy to their will;
Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite,
To follow, as it draws; I'll to my brother:

O, then you hope of pardon from lord
Angelo ?

Claud. The miferable have no other medicine,
But only hope :

III.

[2c For thy own bowels, which do call thee fire,
The mere effufion o: thy proper loins,
Do curfe the gout, ferpigo 7, and the rheum,
For en ding thee no fooner: Thou haft nor youth,
But, as it were, an after-dinner's fleep, [nor age;
25 Dreaming on both: for all thy bletfed youth h3
Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms

I have hope to live, and am prepar'd to die.
Duke. Be abfolute for death 2; either death or life
Shall thereby be the fweeter. Reason thus with 30
If I do lofe thee, I do lofe a thing,

[life:

Of palfied eld 9; and when thou art old, and rich,
Thou haft neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty
To make thy riches pleasant. What's yet in this,
That bears the name of life? Yet in this life
Lye hid more thoufand deaths 10; yet death we fear,
That makes these odds all even.

Claud. I humbly thank you.

To fue to live, I find, I feek to die; 35 And, feeking death, find life: Let it come on. Enter Ijabella.

For all the accommodations, that thou bear'st,
Are nurs'd by bafenefs: Thou art by no means 40
valiant;

For thou doft fear the soft and tender fork
Of a poor worm 5: Thy best of rest is fleep,
And that thou oft provok'ft; yet grofly fear'st

Ijab. What, ho! Peace here; grace and good
company!
[a welcome.
Prov. Who's there? Come in: the with deferves
Duke. Dear fir, ere long I'll vifit you again.
Claud. Moft holy fir, I thank you.

[your fifter. [ceal'd,

Ifub. My bufinefs is a word or two with Claudio.
Prov. And very welcome. Look, fignior, here's
Duke. Provoft, a word with you.
Prov. As many as you please.
Duke. Bring them to speak where I may be con-
Yet hear them.
[Excant Duke and Proveft.
Claud. Now, fifter, what's the comfort?
Ifab. Why, as all comforts are, most good in
50 Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven,
Intends you for his fwift embaffador,
Where you fhall be an everlasting leiger 11: [speed
Therefore your best appointment 12 make with
To-morrow you fet on.

Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyfelf; 45
For thou exift'ft on many a thousand grains
That iffue out of duft: Happy thou art not;
For what thou haft not, ftill thou striv'ft to get;
And what thou hast, forget'st: Thou art not certain,
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects",
After the moon: If thou art rich, thou art poor;
For, like an afs, whofe back with ingots bows,
Thou bear'ft thy heavy riches but a journey,
And death unloads thee: Friend haft thou none;]

[deed':

That is, temptation, inftigation. Meaning, be determined to die, without any hope of life. 3 Keep in this place fignifies to care for. 4 In the old farces called Moralities, the fool of the piece, in order to fhew the inevitable approaches of death, is made to employ all his ftratagems to avoid him; which, as the matter is ordered, bring the fool at every turn into his very jaws. 5 Worm is here substituted for any creeping thing or ferpent. 6 For effects we should read affects; that is, affections. 7 A kind of tetter. The drift of this period is to prove, that neither youth nor age can be faid to be really enjoyed, which, in poetical language, is,-We bave neither youth nor age. 9 Eld is here ufed for old age, or perfans worn out with years. 10 Meaning a thousand deaths befides those which have been mentioned. 11 Leger is the fame with resident. 12 Appointment means preparation.

G 4

Claud.

Claud. Is there no remedy?

Ifab. None, but fuch remedy, as, to fave a head, To cleave a heart in twain.

Claud. But is there any?

Ijab. 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?

Ifab. Ay, juft, perpetual durance; a reftraint,
Though all the world's vastidity you had,
To a determin'd scope.

Claud. But in what nature?

Ifab. In fuch 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.

Ifab. Oh, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake,
Leit thou a feverous life fhould'st entertain,
And fix or feven winters more respect
Than a perpetual honour. Dar'st thou die?
The fenfe of death is most in apprehenfion;
And the poor beetle, that we tread upon,
In corporal fufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.

Claud. Why give you me this shame?
Think you I can a resolution fetch
From flowery tenderness? If I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,

And hug it in mine arms.

6

A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit
15 To bathe in fiery floods, or to refide
In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice;
To be imprifon'd in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence round about
The pendant world; or to be worse than worst
20 Of thofe, that lawless and inçertain thoughts
Imagine howling!-'tis too horrible!

The wearieft and most loathed worldly life,
That age, ach, penury, and imprisonment
Can lay on nature, is a paradife

25 To what we fear of death.
Ifab. Alas! alas!

Claud. Sweet fifter, let me live:
What fin you do to fave a brother's life,
Nature difpenfes with the deed so far,

[grave 30 That it becomes a virtue.

Ifab. There fpake my brother; there my father's
Did utter forth a voice! Yes, thou must die:
Thou art too noble to conferve a life

In base appliances. This outward-fainted deputy,
Whofe fettled vifage and deliberate word

Nips youth i' the head, and follies doth emmew,
As faulcon doth the fowl,-is yet a devil:
His filth within being caft 2, he would appear
A pond as deep as hell.

Claud. The princely Angelo?

Ifab. Oh, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned it body to invest and cover

In princely guards 3! Doft thou think, Claudio,
If I would yield him my virginity,

Thou might't be freed?

Claud. Oh, heavens! it cannot be.

[offence,

50

55

Claud. Nay, hear me, Isabel.

Ijab. Oh, fie, fie, fie!

Thy fin 's not accidental, but a trade 9:
Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd:
'Tis beft that thou dy'ft quickly.

Claud. Oh hear me, Ifabella.

Re-enter Duke.

Duke. Vouchfafe a word, young fister, but one word.

Ifab. What is your will?

Duke. Might you dispense with your leisure, I would by and by have some speech with you: the fatisfaction I would require, is likewise your own benefit.

Ifab. I have no fuperfluous leisure; my stay must

To emmer is a term in falconry. The meaning of the paffage is, In whofe presence youth are afraid to fhew their follies. 2 To caft a pond is to empty it of mud. 3 That is, in the ornaments of royalty. 4 That is, when he is putting the law in force against me. 6 5 Laftingly. That is, the fpirit accustomed here to cafe and delights. This was properly urged as an aggravation to the fharpness of the torments fpoken of. 7 Wilderness is here used for wildness. 8 Defiance is refufal. 9 An established

habit.

be

be ftolen out of other affairs; but I will attend you a while.

An

Duke. [To Claudio afide.] Son, I have overheard what hath paft between you and your fifter. gelo had never the purpose to corrupt her: only 5 he hath made an affay of her virtue, to practife his judgment with the disposition of natures: fhe, having the truth of honour in her, hath made him that gracious denial, which he is most glad to receive: I am confeffor to Angelo, and I know this I to be true; therefore prepare yourself to death:Do not fatisfy your resolution with hopes that are fallible to-morrow you muft die; go to your knees, and make ready.

was affianc'd to her by oath, and the nuptial ap pointed: between which time of the contract, and limit of the folemnity, her brother Frederick was wreck'd at fea, having in that perish'd veffel the dowry of his fiftcr, But mark, how heavily this befel to the poor gentlewoman: there the loft a noble and renowned brother, in his love toward her ever moft kind and natural; with him the portion and finew of her fortune, her marriagedowry; with both, her combinate 3 husband, this well-feeming Angelo.

Ifab. Can this be fo? Did Angelo fo leave her? Duke. Left her in her tears, and dry'd not one of them with his comfort; fwallow'd his vows whole,

Claud. Let me ask my sister pardon. I am fo out 15 pretending, in her, discoveries of dishonour: in of love with life, that I will fue to be rid of it. [Exit Claudio. Re-enter Provoft.

Duke. Hold you there : Farewell. Provost, a word with you.

Prov. What's your will, father?

Duke. That now you are come, you will be gone: Leave me a while with the maid; my mind promises with my habit, no lofs fhall touch her by my company.

Prov. In good time 2.

few, beftow'd her on her own lamentation, which yet fhe wears for his fake; and he, a marble to her tears, is washed with them, but relents not.

Ifab. What a merit were it in death, to take 20this poor maid from the world! What corruption in this life, that it will let this man live!-But how out of this can fhe avail?

Duke. It is a rupture that you may easily heal: and the cure of it not only faves your brother, [Exit Prov. 25 but keeps you from dishonour in doing it.

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 foul of your complexion, fhould keep the body of it ever fair. The affault, that 30 Angelo hath made to you, fortune hath convey'd to my understanding; and, but that frailty hath examples for his falling, I fhould wonder at Angelo: How would you do to content this fubftitute, and to fave your brother?

Ifab. Shew me how, good father.

Duke. This fore-named maid hath yet in her the continuance of her first affection; his unjust unkindnefs, that in all reason fhould have quenched her love, hath, like an impediment in the current, made it more violent and unruly. Go you to Angelo; anfwer his requiring with a plausible obedience; agree with his demands to the point; only refer yourself to this advantage,-first, that 35 your ftay with him may not be long; that the time may have all fhadow and filence in it; and the place anfwer to convenience: this being granted in course, now follows all. We shall advife this wronged maid to ftead up your appointment, go in your place; if the encounter acknowledge itself hereafter, it may compel him to her recompence: and here, by this, is your brother faved, your honour untainted, the poor Mariana advantaged, and the corrupt deputy fcaled 4. 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?

Ijab. I am now going to refolve him: I had rather my brother die by the law, than my fon should be unlawfully born. But oh, how much is the good duke deceived in Angelo! If ever he returns, and I can speak to him, I will open my 40 lips in vain, or discover his government.

Duke. That fhall not be much amifs: yet, as the matter now ftands, he will avoid your accufation; he made trial of you only.-Therefore faften your ear on my advifings; to the love I have in 45 doing good, a remedy prefents itself. I do make myfelf 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 perfon; and much please the 50 abfent duke, if, peradventure, he shall ever return to have hearing of this bufinefs.

Ifab. Let me hear you speak further: I have spirit to do any thing, that appears not foul in the truth of my fpirit.

Duke. Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful. Have you not heard speak of Mariana, the fifter of Frederick, the great foldier, who miscarried at fea? Ifab. I have heard of the lady, and good words went with her name.

Duke. Her fhould this Angelo have marry'd;

Ifab. The image of it gives me content already; and, I truft, it will grow to a most profperous perfection.

Duke. It lies much in your holding up: Hafte you speedily to Angelo; if for this night he intreat you to his bed, give him promife of fatif55faction. I will presently to St. Luke's; there, at

the moated grange 5 refides this dejected Mariana: at that place call upon me; and dispatch with Angelo, that it may be quickly.

Ifab. I thank you for this comfort: Fare you 60 well, good father. [Excunt feverally.

Perfevere in that refolution. 2 i. e. Very well. 3 Combinate means betrothed. 4 To Scale means, to reach him notwithstanding the elevation of his fituation. 5 A grange is a folitary farm-house.

SCENE