Prefixt by Angelo. See, this be done,
And fent according to command; while I
Perfuade this rude wretch willingly to die.

Prov. This fhall be done, good father, prefently. But Barnardine muft die this afternoon;

And how fhall we continue Claudio,

To fave me from the danger that might come,
If he were known alive?

Duke. Let this be done;

Put them in fecret holds, both Barnardine and Claudio:
Ere twice the fun hath made his journal greeting
To th' under generation, you shall find

Your fafety manifested.

Prov. I am your free dependent.

Duke. Quick, difpatch, and fend the head to An

[Exit Provoft.

(The Provost, he fhall bear them;) whofe contents
Shall witnefs to him, I am near at home;

And that, by great injunctions I am bound
To enter publickly; him I'll defire
To meet me at the confecrated fount,
A league below the city; and from thence,
By cold gradation and weal-balanced form,
We fhall proceed with Angelo.

Enter Provost.

Prov. Here is the head, I'll carry it myself. Duke. Convenient is it. Make a Twift return; For I would commune with you of fuch things, That want no ears but yours.

Prov. I'll make all speed.

Ifab. [within.] Peace, hoa, be here!

3 To th under generation. So Sir Tho. Hanmer with true judgment It was in all the former VOL. I.

[ Exit.

editions to yonder: ye under and onder were confounded.

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Duke.

Duke. The tongue of Ifabel..

know,

-She comes to

If
yet her brother's pardon be come hither:
But I will keep her ignorant of her good,
To make her heav'nly comforts of despair,
When it is leaft expected. *

Ifab. Hoa, by your leave.

Duke. Good morning to you, fair and gracious daughter.

Ifab. The better, giv'n me by fo holy a man. Hath yet the deputy fent my brother's pardon? Duke. He hath releas'd him, Ifabel, from the world; His head is off, and fent to Angelo.

Ifab. Nay, but it is not fo.

Duke. It is no other.

Shew your wifdom, daughter, in your clofeft patience.
Ifab. Oh, I will to him, and pluck out his eyes.
Duke. You fhall not be admitted to his fight.
Ifab. Unhappy Claudio! wretched Isabel!
Injurious world! moft damned Angelo!

Duke. This nor hurts him, nor profits you a jot;
Forbear it therefore, give your caufe to heav'n.
Mark, what I fay; which you fhall furely find
By ev'ry fyllable a faithful verity.

The Duke comes home to-morrow; dry your eyes;
One of our convent, and his confeffor,

Gave me this inftance: already he hath carry'd

Notice to Efcalus and Angelo,

Who do prepare to meet him at the gates,

There to give up their pow'r. If you can, pace your In that good path that I would with it go,

* A better reafon might have been given. It was neceffary to keep jabella in ignorance, that

[wifdom

fhe might with more keenness accufe the Deputy.

And

And you shall have your bofom 4 on this wretch,
Grace of the Duke, revenges to your heart,
And gen'ral honour.

Ifab. I'm directed by you.

Duke. This letter then to friar Peter give;
'Tis that he fent me of the Duke's return:
Say, by this token, I defire his company
At Mariana's houfe to-night. Her caufe and yours
I'll perfect him withal, and he shall bring you
Before the Duke, and to the head of Angelo
Accuse him home, and home. For my poor felf,
I am combined 5 by a facred vow,

And shall be abfent. Wend you with this letter:
Command these fretting waters from your eyes
With a light heart; truft not my holy Order,
If I pervert your courfe. Who's here?

SCENE

XI.

Enter Lucio.

Lucio. Good even;

Friar, where's the Provoft?

Duke. Not within, Sir.

Lucio. Oh, pretty Isabella, I am pale at mine heart, to fee thine eyes fo red; thou must be patient; I am fain to dine and fup with water and bran; I dare not for my head fill my belly: one fruitful meal would fet me to't. But they fay the Duke will be here to-morrow. By my troth, fabel, I lov'd thy brother: if the old 6 fantastical Duke of dark corners had been at home, he had liv'd. [Exit Ifabella.

4your bofom] Your with; your heart's defire.

5 I am combined by a facred vow.] I once thought this thould be confined, but Shakespear ufes combine for to bind by a pat or agreement, fo he calls Angelo the

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combinate husband of Mariana,

6 If the old, &c.] Sir Thomas Hanmer reads, the odd fantastical Duke, but old is a common word in ludicrous language, as, there was old revelling.

Duke.

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, 7 than thou tak'ft him - for.

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

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 fuch a thing?

Lucio. Yes, marry, did I, but I was fain to forfwear it; they would elfe have marry'd me to the rotten medlar.

Duke. Sir, your company is fairer than honeft: reft 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 bur, I shall stick. [Exeunt.

Efcal.

E

SCENE XII.

Changes to the Palace.

Enter Angelo and Efcalus.

VERY letter, he hath writ, hath dif vouch'd the other.

Ang. In moft uneven and diftracted manner. His actions fhew much like to madness, pray heav'n, his wifdom be not tainted. And why meet him at the gates, and deliver our authorities there?

Efcal. I guess not.

Ang. And why fhould we proclaim it in an hour be

7 Woodman.] That is, Huntfman, here taken for a hunter of

girls.

fore

fore his entring, that if any crave redrefs of injuftice, they should exhibit their petitions in the street?

Efcal. He fhews his reason for that; to have a difpatch of complaints, and to deliver us from devices hereafter, which fhall then have no power to stand against us.

Ang. Well, I beseech you, let it be proclaim'd betimes i'th morn; I'll call you at your houfe: give notice to fuch men of fort and fuit, & as are to meet him.

Efcal. Ifhall, Sir: fare you well.

Ang. Good night.

[Exit.

This deed unfhapes me quite, makes me unpregnant, And dull to all proceedings. A defloured maid! And by an eminent body, that enforc'd

The law against it!--but that her tender shame Will not proclaim against her maiden lofs,

How might the tongue me? yet reafon dares her No. 9 For my authority bears a credent bulk; '

That no particular scandal once can touch,

But it confounds the breather. He fhould have liv'd,

Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous fenfe,

ら yet reafon dares her :] The old Folio impreffions read, yet reafon dares her No.

And this is right. The meaning is, the circumstances of our cafe are fuch, that the will never venture to contradict me: dares her to reply No to me, whatever I fay. WARBURTON. Mr. Theobald reads, yet reajon dares her note. Sir Th. Hanmer, yet reajon dares her: No. Mr. Upton, yet reafon dares her-No, which he explains thus yet, fays Angelo, reafon will give her courage-No, that is, it will not. I

my authority bears a credent bulk;

Which no particular flander, &c.] Credent is creditable, inforcing credit, not questionable. The old English writers often confound the active and paffive adjectives. So Shakespear, and Milton after him, ufe inexpefive from inexpreffible.

Particular is private, a French fenfe. No fcandal from any private mouth can reach a man in my authority.

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Might