Friar, where's the provost?

DUKE.

Good even.

Not within, sir. LUCIO. O, pretty Isabella, I am pale at mine heart to see thine eyes so red: thou must be patient. I am fain to dine and sup with water and bran; I dare not for my head fill my belly; one fruitful meal would set me to't. But they say the duke will be here to-morrow. By my troth, Isabel, I loved thy brother: if the old fantastical duke of dark corners had been at home, he had lived. [Exit ISABELLA.

DUKE. Sir, the duke is marvellous little beholden to your reports; but the best is, he lives not in them.

LUCIO. Friar, thou knowest not the duke so well as I do: he's a better woodman than thou takest him for.

DUKE. Well, you'll answer this one day. ye well.

Fare LUCIO. Nay, tarry; I'll go along with thee: I can tell thee pretty tales of the duke.

DUKE. You have told me too many of him already, sir, if they be true; if not true, none were enough.

LUCIO. I was once before him for getting a wench with child.

DUKE. Did you such a thing?

LUCIO. Yes, marry, did I; but I was fain to forswear it; they would else have married me to the rotten medlar.

DUKE. Sir, your company is fairer than honest. Rest you well.

LUCIO. By my troth, I'll go with thee to the lane's end: if bawdy talk offend you, we'll have very little of it. Nay, friar, I am a kind of burr; I shall stick. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV. A Room in Angelo's House.

Enter ANGELO and ESCALUS. ESCAL. Every letter he hath writ hath disvouched other.

a Woodman-] A cant term for a wencher.

b Re-deliver-] The first folio has reliver; the second, deliver. Unpregnant,-] Inapt, unable.

d Yet reason dares her no;] The meaning seems to be, reason overawes, or frights her not to impeach me.

For my authority rears of a credent bulk-] The old copies have,

"For my authority beares of a credent bulke," &c. which is plainly wrong. In modern editions the reading is,→

ANG. In most uneven and distracted manner. His actions show much like to madness: pray heaven his wisdom be not tainted! And why meet him at the gates, and re-deliver our authorities there?

ESCAL. I

guess not.

ANG. And why should we proclaim it in an hour before his entering, that if any crave redress of injustice, they should exhibit their petitions in the street?

ESCAL. He shows his reason for that ;-to have a dispatch of complaints, and to deliver us from devices hereafter, which shall then have no power to stand against us.

ANG. Well, I beseech you, let it be proclaim'd.
Betimes i' the morn, I'll call you at your house.
Give notice to such men of sort and suit
As are to meet him.

ESCAL. I shall, sir: fare you well.
ANG. Good night.-

[Exit ESCALUS. This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregC nant,

And dull to all proceedings. A deflower'd maid!
And by an eminent body that enforc'd

The law against it !-But that her tender shame
Will not proclaim against her maiden loss,
How might she tongue me! Yet reason dares her
no; d

e

For my authority rears of a credent bulk
That no particular scandal once can touch,
But it confounds the breather. He should have
liv'd,

Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous sense,
Might in the times to come have ta’en revenge,
By so receiving a dishonour'd life

With ransom of such shame. Would yet he had liv'd!

Alack, when once our grace we have forgot, Nothing goes right! we would, and we would not.

[Erit.

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
Favours that keep within.-Come, Escalus;
You must walk by us on our other hand :-
And good supporters are you.

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 believ'd,

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,—

By course of justice!

ISAB.
ANG. And she will speak most bitterly and

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.

That's he, indeed. DUKE. You were not bid to speak. LUCIO.

Nor wish'd to hold my peace.

DUKE.

No, my good lord;

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

I warrant

your

honour.

you

have

then

[to it.

DUKE. The warrant's for yourself: take heed

ISAB. This gentleman told somewhat of my

tale,

Lucio. Right.

[wrong

DUKE. It may be right; but you are i' the To speak before your time.-Proceed.

ISAB.

I went

To this pernicious caitiff deputy,—
DUKE. That's somewhat madly spoken.
ISAB.

The phrase is to the matter.

Pardon it:

DUKE. Mended again: the matter;-proceed. ISAB. In brief,-to set the needless process by,

"As ne'er I heard in madness."

How I persuaded, how I pray'd, and kneel'd,
How he refell'da 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,
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. O, 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?

Not scurvy, nor a temporary meddier,
As he's reported by this gentleman;
And, on my trust, a man that never yet
Did, as he vouches, misreport your grace.

Lucio. My lord, most villainously; believe it. F. PETER. Well, he in time may come to clear himself;

But at this instant he is sick, my lord,
Of a strange fever. Upon his mere request,-
Being come to knowledge that there was com-
plaint

Intended 'gainst lord Angelo,-came I hither,
To speak, as from his mouth, what he doth know
Is true and false; and what he with his oath,
And all probation, will make up full clear,
Whensoever he's convented. First, for this wo-
man,-

To justify this worthy nobleman,

So vulgarly and personally accus'd,
Her shall you hear disproved to her eyes,
Till she herself confess it.
DUKE.

Do

Good friar, let's hear it. [ISABELLA is carried off guarded; and MARIANA comes forward. you not smile at this, lord Angelo ?— · O heaven, the vanity of wretched fools!— Give us some seats.-Come, cousin Angelo; In this I'll be impartial; be you judge Of your own cause. Is this the witness, friar? First, let her show her face, and after speak. MARI. Pardon, my lord, I will not show my face, my husband bid me.

Until DUKE.

What, are you married?

MARI.

DUKE. Why, you are nothing then-neither maid, widow, nor wife?

Lucio. My lord, she may be a punk; for many of them are neither maid, widow, nor wife.

e This a good friar,-] Meaning, "This is a good friar;" an habitual turn of expression in old language.

f Convented.] That is, summoned, cited.

g I'll be impartial;] Although impartial is sometimes used by our old writers for most partial, it means in this place no more than neutral.