He-to give fear to use and liberty,
Which have for long run by the hideous law,
As mice by lions-hath pick'd out an act,
Under whose heavy sense your brother's life
Falls into forfeit: he arrests him on it,
And follows close the rigour of the statute,
To make him an example. All hope is gone,
Unless you have the grace by your fair prayer
To soften Angelo; and that's my pith of business
"Twixt you and your poor brother.

ISAB. Doth he so seek his life?
LUCIO.
Has censur'd him already:
And, as I hear, the provost hath a warrant
For his execution.

ISAB. Alas! what poor ability 's in me
To do him good?
LUCIO.
Assay the power you have.
ISAB. My power! Alas, I doubt,—

LUCIO.

Our doubts are traitors,

The jewel that we find, we stoop and take't,
Because we see it; but what we do not see
We tread upon, and never think of it.
You may not so extenuate his offence

For I have had such faults; but rather tell me
When I, that censure him, do so offend,
Let mine own judgment pattern out my death,
And nothing come in partial. Sir, he must die.
ESCAL. Be it as your wisdom will.
ANG.

Where is the provost ?
PROV. Here, if it like your honour.
ANG.
See that Claudio
Be executed by nine to-morrow morning:
Bring him his confessor, let him be prepar'd,
For that's the utmost of his pilgrimage.

[Exit Provost. ESCAL. Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all!

ANG. How now, sir! What's your name? and what's the matter?

ELB. If it please your honour, I am the poor duke's constable, and my name is Elbow; I do lean upon justice, sir, and do bring in here before your good honour two notorious benefactors.

ANG. Benefactors! Well; what benefactors are they? are they not malefactors?

ELB. If it please your honour, I know not well what they are; but precise villains they are, that I am sure of, and void of all profanation in the world that good Christians ought to have.

ESCAL. This comes off well: here's a wise officer.

ANG. Go to: what quality are they of? Elbow is your name? why dost thou not speak, Elbow ? Pом. He cannot, sir: he's out at elbow. ANG. What are you, sir?

ELB. He, sir! a tapster, sir; parcel-bawd; one that serves a bad woman, whose house, sir, was, as they say, plucked down in the suburbs; and now she professes a hot-house, which, I think, is a very ill house too.

ESCAL. How know you that?

ELB. My wife, sir, whom I detest before heaven and your honour,

ESCAL. How! thy wife?

ELB. Ay, sir;-whom, I thank heaven, is an

honest woman,—

ESCAL. Dost thou detest her therefore?

ELB. I say, sir, I will detest myself also, as well as she, that this house, if it be not a bawd's house, it is pity of her life, for it is a naughty house.

ESCAL. How dost thou know that, constable?

ELB. Marry, sir, by my wife; who, if she had been a woman cardinally given, might have been accused in fornication, adultery, and all uncleanliness there.

ESCAL. By the woman's means?

ELB. Ay, sir, by mistress Overdone's means; but as she spit in his face, so she defied him.

POм. Sir, if it please your honour, this is not so. ELB. Prove it before these varlets here, thou honourable man; prove it.

ESCAL. [TO ANGELO.] Do you hear how he misplaces?

POм. Sir, she came in great with child, and longing-saving your honour's reverence-for stewed prunes:―sir, we had but two in the house, which at that very distant time stood, as it were,

e For-] That is, Because.

d Some run from brakes of vice.—] The old text has, "brakes of Ice:" rice is an emendation of Rowe. If this be the true word, the allusion may be either to the instrument of torture termed a "brake;" or by "brakes of vice" may be meant, as Steevens conjectured, a number, a thicket of vices. It is by no means certain, however, that we have yet got either the poet's expression or meaning in this difficult passage.

in a fruit-dish, a dish of some three-pence,-your honours have seen such dishes; they are not China dishes, but very good dishes,

say,

ESCAL. Go to, go to: no matter for the dish, sir. Ром. No, indeed, sir, not of a pin; you are therein in the right;—but to the point. As I this mistress Elbow, being, as I say, with child, and being great bellied, and longing, as I said, for prunes, and having but two in the dish, as I said, master Froth here, this very man, having eaten the rest, as I said, and, as I say, paying for them very honestly;-for, as you know, master Froth, I could not give you three-pence again,

FROTH. No, indeed.

FROTH. All this is true.

Pом. Why, very well then,

ESCAL. Come, you are a tedious fool to the purpose. What was done to Elbow's wife, that he hath cause to complain of? Come me to what was done to her.

POм. Sir, your honour cannot come to that yet.
ESCAL. No, sir, nor I mean it not.

Poм. Sir, but you shall come to it, by your honour's leave. And, I beseech you, look into master Froth here, sir; à man of fourscore pound a year, whose father died at Hallowmas :-was't not at Hallowmas, master Froth?

FROTH. All-hallownd eve.

Poм. Why, very well; I hope here be truths. He, sir, sitting, as I say, in a lower chair, sir ;'t was in the Bunch of Grapes, where, indeed, you have a delight to sit, have you not?

FROTH. I have so: because it is an open room, and good for winter."

Pом. Why, very well, then: I hope here be truths.

ANG. This will last out a night in Russia, When nights are longest there: I'll take my leave,

And leave you to the hearing of the cause; Hoping you'll find good cause to whip them all. ESCAL. I think no less; good morrow to your lordship. [Exit ANGELO. Now, sir, come on: what was done to Elbow's wife, once more?

Poм. Once, sir! there was nothing done to her

once.

a An open room, and good for winter.] Master Froth may have been intended to blunder, otherwise we should have suspected for was a misprint.

ELB. I beseech you, sir, ask him what this man did to my wife.

Pом. I beseech your honour, ask me. ESCAL. Well, sir, what did this gentleman to her?

Poм. I beseech you, sir, look in this gentleman's face. Good master Froth, look upon his honour; 'tis for a good purpose.-Doth your honour mark his face?

ESCAL. Ay, sir, very well.

POм. Nay, I beseech you, mark it well.
ESCAL. Well, I do so.

Poм. Doth your honour see any harm in his face?
ESCAL. Why, no.

POм. I'll be supposed upon a book, his face is the worst thing about him. Good, then; if his face be the worst thing about him, how could master Froth do the constable's wife any harm? I would know that of your honour.

ESCAL. He's in the right.-Constable, what say you to it?

ELB. First, an it like you, the house is a respected house; next, this is a respected fellow; and his mistress is a respected woman.

Poм. By this hand, sir, his wife is a more respected person than any of us all.

ELB. Varlet, thou liest! thou liest, wicked varlet the time is yet to come that she was ever respected with man, woman, or child.

POм. Sir, she was respected with him before he married with her.

ESCAL. Which is the wiser here? Justice, or Iniquity? Is this true?

ELB. O thou caitiff! O thou varlet! O thou wicked Hannibal! I respected with her before I was married to her!-If ever I was respected with her, or she with me, let not your worship think me the poor duke's officer.-Prove this, thou wicked Hannibal, or I'll have mine action of battery on thee.

ESCAL. If he took you a box o' the ear, you might have your action of slander too.

ELB. Marry, I thank your good worship for it. What is't your worship's pleasure I shall do with this wicked caitiff?

ESCAL. Truly, officer, because he hath some offences in him that thou wouldst discover if thou couldst, let him continue in his courses till thou knowest what they are.

ELB. Marry, I thank your worship for it.-Thou seest, thou wicked varlet, now, what's come upon thee thou art to continue now, thou varlet; thou art to continue.

ESCAL. [TO FROTH.] Where were you born, friend?

b Justice, or Iniquity ?] Justice and Iniquity were characters in the old Moralities.

FROTH. Here in Vienna, sir.

ESCAL. Are you of fourscore pounds a year?
FROTH. Yes, an't please you, sir.

ESCAL. So. [TO POMPEY.] What trade are you of, sir?

POм. A tapster; a poor widow's tapster.
ESCAL. Your mistress' name?

POм. Mistress Overdone.

ESCAL. Hath she had any more than one husband?
POм. Nine, sir; Overdone by the last.

ESCAL. Nine !-Come hither to me, master Froth. Master Froth, I would not have you acquainted with tapsters: they will draw you, master Froth, and you will hang them: get you gone, and let me hear no more of you.

FROTH. I thank your worship. For mine own part, I never come into any room in a taphouse, but I am drawn in.

ESCAL. Well, no more of it, master Froth: farewell. [Exit FROTH.-Come you hither to me, master tapster. What's your name, master tapster?

Ром. Pompey.

ESCAL. What else?

POм. Bum, sir.

ESCAL. Troth, and your bum is the greatest thing about you; so that, in the beastliest sense, you are Pompey the Great. Pompey, you are partly a bawd, Pompey, howsoever you colour it in being a tapster: are you not? come, tell me true it shall be the better for you.

POм. Truly, sir, I am a poor fellow that would live.

ESCAL. How would you live, Pompey? by being a bawd? What do you think of the trade, Pompey? is it a lawful trade?

POм. If the law would allow it, sir.

ESCAL. But the law will not allow it, Pompey; nor it shall not be allowed in Vienna.

Poм. Does your worship mean to geld and splay all the youth of the city?

ESCAL. No, Pompey.

Poм. Truly, sir, in my poor opinion, they will to't then. If your worship will take order for the drabs and the knaves, you need not to fear the bawds.

ESCAL. There are pretty orders beginning, I can tell you it is but heading and hanging.

POм. 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 threepence a bay:" if you live to see this come to pass, say Pompey told you so.

ESCAL. Thank you, good Pompey; and, in

a Threepence a bay:] Pope and Mr. Collier's annotator read."threepence a day;" but "a bay of building," which Coles in his Dictionary explains-mensura viginti quatuor pedum-was a common expression in reference to the measurement of a building's

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.

What's o'clock, think you?

JUST. Eleven, sir.

[Exit ELBOW.