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I've known my husband; yet my husband knows not, That ever he knew me.

Lucio. He was drunk then, my lord it can be no better.

Duke. For the benefit of filence, would thou wert fo too.

Lucio. Well, my lord.

Duke. This is no witnefs for lord Angelo.
Mari. Now I come to't, my lord.

She, that accufes him of fornication,
In felf-fame manner doth accuse my husband;
And charges him, my lord, with fuch a time,
When I'll depofe I had him in my arms,
With all th' effect of love.

Ang. Charges fhe more than me?

Mari. Not that I know.

Duke. No? you fay, your husband. [To Mariana. Mari. Why, juft, my lord, and that is Angelo; Who thinks, he knows, that he ne'er knew my body; But knows, he thinks, that he knows Ifabel's.

Ang. This is a strange abuse-Let's fee thy face. Mari. My husband bids me; now I will unmask. [Unveiling.

This is that face, thou cruel Angelo,

Which, once thou fwor'ft, was worth the looking on:
This is the hand, which, with a vow'd contract,
Was faft belock'd in thine: this is the body,
That took away the match from Ifabel;

And did fupply thee at thy garden-house
In her imagin'd perfon.

Duke. Know you this woman?

Lucio. Carnally, fhe fays.

Duke. Sirrah, no more.

Lucio. Enough, my lord.

Ang. My lord, I must confefs, I know this woman;

Abufe ftands in this place for deception, or puzzle. So in Macbeth, this frange and felf abule,

means this frange deception of bimfelf.

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And five years fince there was fome fpeech of mar

rfage

Betwixt my.elf and her; which was broke off.
Partly, for that her promised proportions 9
Came fhort of compofition; but, in chief,
For that her Reputation was dilvalu'd
In levity; fince which time, of five years,

I never fpake with her, faw her, nor heard from her,
Upon my faith and honour.

Mari. Noble Prince,

As there comes light from heav'n, and words from breath,

As there is fenfe in truth, and truth in virtue,

I am affianc'd this man's wife, as ftrongly

As words could make up vows; and, my good lord,
But Tuesday night laft gone, in's garden-house,

He knew me as a wife. As this is true,
Let me in fafety raife me from my knees;
Or else for ever be confixed here,

A marble monument !

Ang. I did but fmile 'till now.

Now, good my lord, give me the fcope of justice;
My patience here is touch'd; I do perceive,
• These poor informal women are no more

But inftruments of fome more mightier member,
That fets them on. Let me have way, my lord,
To find this practice out.

Duke. Ay, with my heart;

9 -her promised proportions Came fhort of compofition; -] Her fortune which was promifed proportionate to mine, fell fhort of the compofition, that is, contract or bargain.

Thefe poor informal women.] i. e. women who have ill concerted their story. Formal fignifies frequently, in our authour, a thing put into form or method: fo informal, out of method, ill VOL. I.

concerted. How easy is it to say, that Shakespear might better have wrote informing, i. e. accufing. But he who (as the Oxford Editor) thinks he did write fo, knows nothing of the character of his file. WARBURTON.

I believe informal has no other or deeper fignification than infarming, accufing. The Scope of juftice, is the full extent.

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And

And punish them unto your height of pleasure.
Thou foolish Friar, and thou pernicious woman,
Compact with her that's gone; think'ft thou, thy
oaths,

Tho' they would fwear down each particular Saint,
Were teftimonies 'gainst his worth and credit,
That's feal'd in approbation? You, lord Efcalus,
Sit with my coufin; lend him your kind pains
To find out this abufe, whence 'tis deriv'd.
There is another Friar, that fet them on;
Let him be fent for.

Peter. Would he were here, my lord; for he indeed, Hath fet the women on to this complaint.

Your Provost knows the place, where he abides;
And he may fetch him.

Duke. Go, do it instantly,

And you, my noble and well-warranted coufin,
Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth; 3
Do with your injuries, as feems you best,
In any chaftifement: I for a while

Will leave you: ftir not you, 'till you have well
Determined upon these flanderers.

[Exit Efcal. My lord, we'll do it throughly. Signior Lucio, did not you fay, you knew that Friar Lodowick to be a difhoneft perfon?

Lucio. Cucullus non fecit monachum; honest in nothing, but in his cloaths; and one that has spoke most villainous fpeeches of the Duke.

Efcal. We fhall intreat you to abide here 'till he come, and inforce them against him; we shall find this Friar a notable fellow.

2 That's jeal'd in approbation.] When any thing fubject to counterfeits is tried by the proper of ficers and approved, a ftamp or Jeal is put upon it, as among us on plate, weights and

cafures

and feal'd in teftimony of that approbation, and, like other things fo fealed, is no more to be called in question.

3

to hear this matter forth To hear it to the end;

So the Duke fays that Angelo's to fearch it to the bottom. faith has been tried, approved

Lucio. As any in Vienna, on my word.

Efe . Call that fame fabel here once again; I would speak with her: pray you, my lord, give me leave to queftion; you fall fee how I'll handle her. Lucio. Not better than he, by her own report. Efcal. Say you?

Lucio. Marry, Sir, I think, if you handled her privately, the fhould fooner confefs; perchance, publickly fhe'll be asham'd.

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Enter Duke in the Friar's babit, and Provost. Isabella is brought in.

Efcal. I will go darkly to work with her.

Lucio. That's the way; for women are light at midnight.

Ecal. Come on, miftrefs: here's a gentlewoman denies all that you have faid.

Lucio. My lord, here comes the rafcal I spoke of, here with the Provoft.

Escal. In very good time-speak not you to him, 'till we call upon you.

Lucio. Mum

Efcal. Come, Sir, did you fet these women on to flander lord Angelo? they have confefs'd you did. Duke. 'Tis falfe.

Efcal. How? know you where you are?

Duke. Refpect to your great Place !and let the

devil

Be fometime honour'd for his burning throne.
Where is the Duke? 'tis he fhould hear me fpeak.
Efcal. The Duke's in us; and we will hear you
speak:

Look, you fpeak justly.

Duke. Boldly, at leaft. But oh, poor fouls, Come you to feek the lamb here of the fox? Good night to your redress: is the Duke gone?

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Then is
your caule gone too. The Duke's unjust,
Thus to retort your manifeft appeal ; 4
And put your trial in the villain's mouth,
Which here you come to accufe.

Lucio. This is the rafcal, this is he I spoke of.
Efcal. Why, thou unrev'rend and unhallow'd Friar,
Is't not enough thou haft fuborn'd these women
T'accufe this worthy man, but with foul mouth,
And in the witness of his
proper ear,

To call him villain;

And then to glance from him to th' Duke himself,
To tax him with injuftice?-take him hence;
To th' rack with him-we'll touze you joint by joint,
But we will know your purpose-what? unjust?

Duke. Be not fo hot; the duke dare no more stretch
This finger of mine, than he dare rack his own:
His fubject am I not,

Nor here provincial; 5 my business in this state
Made me a looker on here in Vienna;

Where I have feen corruption boil and bubble,
'Till it o'er-run the ftew: laws, for all faults;
But faults fo countenanc'd, that the ftrong ftatutes
Stand like the forfeits in a barber's fhop, 6

4 - to retort your manifeft appeal To refer back to Angelo the caufe in which you appealed from Angelo to the Duke.

Nor bere provincial.] Nor here accountable. The meaning feems to be, I am not one of his natural fubjects, nor of any dependent province.

6 Stands Ike the forfeits in a barber's fhop.] Barbers fhops were, at all times, the refort of idle people.

Touftrina erat quædam : hic fo-
ibamas ferè
Plerumque eam opperiri.

As

Which Donatus calls apta fedes aticfis. Formerly, with us, the better fort of people went to the Barber's fhop to be trimm'd; who then practifed the under parts of Surgery: fo that he had occafion for numerous inftruments, which lay there ready for ufe; and the idle people, with whom his fhop was generally crowded, would be perpetually handling and mifufing them. To remedy which, I fuppofe, there was placed up against the wall a table of forfeitures, adapted to every offence of this kind; which,

it

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