And bid them bring the trumpets to the gate;
But send me Flavius first.

F. Peter.

It shall be speeded well.

Enter VARRIUS.

[Exit Friar.

Duke. I thank thee, Varrius; thou hast made good

haste:

Come, we will walk there's other of our friends
Will greet us here anon, my gentle Varrius. [Exeunt.

SCENE VI. Street near the City Gate.

Enter ISABELLA and MARIANA.

Isab. To speak so indirectly, I am loath; I would say the truth; but to accuse him so, That is your part: yet I'm advised to do it; He says, to 'vailful purpose.1

Mari.

Be ruled by him. Isab. Besides, he tells me, that, if peradventure He speak against me on the adverse side,

I should not think it strange; for 'tis a physic

That's bitter to sweet end.

Mari. I would, friar Peter-
Isab.

O, peace; the friar is come.

Enter Friar PETER.2

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 generous3 and the gravest citizens

4

Have hent the gates, and very near upon

The duke is entering; therefore, hence, away.

[Exeunt.

1 This is Mr. Theobald's alteration: the old folio reads vaile full purpose.

2 He is called friar Thomas in the first Act.

3 Generous, for noble.

4 i. e. seized, laid hold on.

ACT V.

SCENE I. A public Place near the City Gate.

MARIANA (veiled), ISABELLA, and PETER, at a distance. Enter, at opposite 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. O, 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 see, to make them know
That outward courtesies would fain proclaim
Favors that keep within.-Come, Escalus;
You must walk by us on our other hand;---
And good supporters are you.

PETER and ISABELLA come forward.

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

Isab. Justice, O royal duke! Vail1 your regard,

1 To vail is to lower, to let fall, to cast down.

Upon a wronged, I'd fain have said, a maid!
O worthy prince, dishonor 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!

Duke. Relate your wrongs: In what? By whom? Be brief:

Here is lord Angelo shall give you justice!

Reveal yourself to him.

Isab.

O, worthy duke,

You bid me seek redemption of the devil:

Hear me yourself; for that which I must speak

Must either punish me, not being believed,

Or wring redress from you; hear me, O, hear me, here. 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!

Ang. And she will speak most bitterly and strange. Isab. Most strange, but yet most truly, will I speak : That Angelo's forsworn, is it not strange?

That Angelo's a murderer, is't not strange?

That Angelo is an adulterous thief,

An hypocrite, a virgin-violator,

Is it not strange, and strange?
Duke.

Nay, 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 the end of reckoning.

Duke.

Away with her :-poor soul.

She speaks this in the infirmity of sense.

Isab. O prince, I cónjure thee, as thou believest There is another comfort than this world,

That thou neglect me not, with that opinion

That I am touched 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,

1

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.

O, gracious duke,

Harp not on that; nor do not banish reason
For inequality 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 P

Isab. I am the sister of one Claudio, Condemned upon the act of fornication To lose his head; condemned 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 desired her
To try her gracious fortune with lord Angelo,
For her poor brother's pardon.

Isab.

That's he, indeed.

No, my good lord;

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 honor.

Duke. The warrant's for yourself; take heed to it.

1 Characts are distinctive marks or characters.

2 Mr. Phelps proposes to read "And hid, the false seems true."