Why give you me this shame?
Think you I can a resolution fetch
From flowery tenderness? If I must die,

I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms.

Isab. There spake my brother; there my father's grave

Did utter forth a voice! Yes, thou must die :
Thou art too noble to conserve a life

Isab. Alas! alas!

Claud.

Isab.

In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy,-
Whose settled visage and deliberate word
Nips youth i' the head, and follies doth enmew,
As falcon doth the fowl,-is yet a devil;
His filth within being cast, he would appear
A pond as deep as hell.
Claud.

The princely Angelo?
Isab. O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'st body to invest and cover
In princely guards 4 Dost thou think, Claudio,
If I would yield him my virginity,

Thou might'st be freed?
Claud.
Isab. Yes, he would
offence,

O, heavens! it cannot be. give it thee, from this rank

So to offend him still: This night's the time 'That I should do what I abhor to name,

Or else thou diest to-morrow.

Claud.

Thou shalt not do't.

Isab. O, were it but my life, I'd throw it down for your deliverance As frankly as a pin.

Claud.

Thanks, my dear Isabel.

Isab. Be ready, Claudio, for your death to

morrow.

Claud. Yes,-Has he affections in him,
That thus can make him bite the law by the nose,
When he would force it ? Sure it is not sin;

Or of the deadly seven it is the least.
Isab. Which is the least?

Claud. If it were damnable, he, being so wise,
Why, would he for the momentary trick,
Be perdurably fin'd?-O Isabel!
Isab. What says my brother?
Claud.

Death is a fearful thing. Isab. And shamed life a hateful. Claud. Ay, but to die, and go we know not where ;

mind to one painful idea: to ignominy, of which the
remembrance can neither be suppressed nor escaped.
1 A metaphor, from stripping trees of their bark.
2 And the poor beetle that we tread upon

In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.'

This beautiful passage is in all our minds and memories, but it most frequently stands in quotation detached from the antecedent line :- The sense of death is most in apprehension,' without which it is liable to an opposite struction. The meaning is fear is the principal sensation in death, which has no pain; and the giant when he dies feels no greater pain than the beetle?'

3 In whose presence the follies of youth are afraid to show themselves, as the fowl is afraid to flutter while the falcon hovers over it. To enmew is a term in Falconry, signifying to restrain, to keep in a mew or cage either by force or terror.

4 Guards were trimmings, facings, or other ornaments applied upon a dress. It here stands, by syneedoche, for dress.

5 i. e. From the time of my committing this offence, you might persist in sinning with saty 6 Frankly, freely.

[Going. O hear me, Isabella.

Isab. What is your will?

7 'Has he passions that impel him to transgress the law at the very moment that he is enforcing it against others? Surely then it cannot be a sin so very heinous, since Angelo, who is so wise, will venture it? Shakspeare shows his knowledge of human nature in the conduct of Claudio.

8 Delighted, is occasionally used by Shakspeare for delightful, or causing delight; delighted in. So, in Othello, Act ii. Sc. 3;

'If virtue no delighted beauty lack.' And Cymbeline, Act v. Sc. 4:

Whom best I love, I cross, to make my gift
The more delayed, delighted.

9 Jonson, in his Cataline, Act ii. Sc. 4, has a similar expression:- We're spirits bound in ribs of ice. Shakspeare returns to the various destinations of the disembodied Spirit, in that pathetic speech of Othello in the fifth Act. Milton seems to have had Shakspeare before him when he wrote the second book of Paradise Lost, v. 595-603.

10 Viewless, invisible, unseen.
11 Wilderness, for wildness.

12 i. e. my refusal.

pany.

Prov. In good time."

[Exit Provost. Duke. The hand that hath made you fair, hath made you good: the goodness, that is cheap in beauty, makes beauty brief in goodness; but grace, being the soul of your complexion, should keep the body of it ever fair. The assault that Angelo hath made to you, fortune hath convey'd to my understandings and, but that frailty hath examples for his falling, I should wonder at Angelo. How would you do to contend this substitute, and to save your brother ?

Isub. I am now going to resolve him: I had rather my brother die by the law, than my son should be unlawfully born. But O, how much is the good duke deceived in Angelo! If ever he return, and I can speak to him, I will open my lips in vain, or discover his government.

Duke. That shall not be much amiss: Yet, as the matter now stands, he will avoid your accusation; he made trial of you only.-Therefore fasten your ear on my advisings; to the love I have in doing good, a remedy presents itself. I do make myself believe, that you may most uprighteously do a poor wronged lady a merited benefit; redeem your brother from the angry law; do no stain to your own gracious person; and much please the absent duke, if, peradventure, he shall ever return to have hearing of this business.

Isab. Let me hear you speak further; I have spirit to do any thing that appears not foul in the truth of my spirit.

them with his comfort; swallowed his vows whole pretending, in her, discoveries of dishonour: in few, bestowed her on her own lamentation, which she yet wears for his sake; and he, a marble to her tears, is washed with them, but relents not.

Isab. What a merit were it in death, to take this poor maid from the world! What corruption in this life, that it will let this man live!-But how out of this can she avail?

Duke. It is a rupture that you may easily heal: and the cure of it not only saves your brother, but keeps you from dishonour in doing it.

Isab. Show me how, good father.

Duke. This forenamed maid hath yet in her the continuance of her first affection; his unjust unkindness, that in all reason should have quenched her love, hath, like an impediment in the current, made it more violent and unruly. Go you to Angelo: answer his requiring with a plausible obedience; agree with his demands to the point: only refer yourself to this advantage,-first, that your stay with him may not be long; that the time may have all shadow and silence in it; and the place answer to convenience: this being granted in course, now follows all. We shall advise this wronged maid to stead up your appointment, go in your place; it the encounter acknowledge itself hereafter, it may compel him to her recompense: and here, by this, is your brother saved, your honour untainted, the poor Mariana advantaged, and the corrupt deputy scaled. The maid will I frame, and make fit for his attempt. If you think well to carry this as you may, the doubleness of the benefit defends the deceit from reproof. What think you of it?

Isab. The image of it gives me content already; and, I trust, it will grow to a most prosperous perfection.

Duke. It lies much in your holding up: Haste you speedily to Angelo; if for this night he entreat you to his bed give him promise of satisfaction. I will presently to St. Luke's; there at the moated grange, resides this dejected Mariana: At that place call upon me; and despatch with Angelo, that it may be quickly.

Isab. I thank you for this comfort: Fare you well, good father. [Exeunt severally.

at sea ?

Isab. I have heard of the lady, and good words went with her name.

Officers.

Elb. Nay, if there be no remedy for it, but that you will needs buy and sell men and women like beasts, we shall have all the world drink brown and

Duke. O, heavens' what stuff is here? Clo. "Twas never merry world, since, of two usuries, the merriest was put down, and the worser allow'd, by order of law, a furr'd gown to keep him warm; and furr'd with fox and lamb-skins11 too, to signify, that craft, being richer than innocency, stands for the facing.

Elb. Come your way, sir;-Bless you, good father friar.

Duke. And you, good brother father:12 What offence hath this man made you, sir?

Elb. Marry, sir, he hath offended the law; and,

2 Hold you there: continue in that resolution. 3 i. e. a la bonne heure, so be it, very well.

4 1. e. appointed time.

5 i. e. betrothed.

up to her sorrows.

7 Refer yourself, have recourse to.

8 i. e. stripped of his covering or disguise, his affectation of virtue; desquamatus. A metaphor of a simi

12 The Duke humorously calls him brother father, because he had called him father friar, which is equi valent to father brother, friar being derived from frere. Fr.

Duke. Fye, sirrah; a bawd, a wicked bawd!
The evil that thou causest to be done,

That is thy means to live: Do thou but think
What 'tis to cram a maw, or clothe a back,
From such a filthy vice: say to thyself,-
From their abominable and beastly touches
I drink, I eat, array myself, and live.
Canst thou believe thy living is a life,

So stinkingly depending? Go, mend, go, mend. Clo. Indeed, it does stink in some sort, sir; but yet, sir, I would prove

Duke. Nay, if the devil have given thee proofs

for sin,

Thou wilt prove his. Take him to prison, officer;
Correction and instruction must both work,
Ere this rude beast will profit.

Elb. He must before the deputy, sir; he has given him warning; the deputy cannot abide a whoremaster: if he be a whoremonger, and comes before him, he were as good go a mile on his errand. Duke. That we were all, as some would seem to be

Free from our faults, as faults from seeming, free!2 Enter LUCIO.

sir.

Elb. His neck will come to your waist, a cord,3

Clo. I spy comfort; I cry, bail: Here's a gentleman, and a friend of mine."

Lucio. How now, noble Pompey? What, at the heels of Cesar? Art thou led in triumph? What, is there none of Pygmalion's images, newly made woman, to be had now, for putting the hand in the pocket and extracting it clutch'd? What reply? Ha? What say'st thou to this tune, matter, and method? Is't not drown'd i'the last rain? Ha? What say'st thou, trot? Is the world as it was, man? Which is the way? Is it sad, and few words? Or how? The trick of it?

Duke. Still thus, and thus! still worse! Lucio. How doth my dear morsel, thy mistress? Procures she still? Ha?

Clo. Troth, sir, she hath eaten up all her beef, and she is herself in the tub."

you, friar.

Duke. And you.

Lucio. Does Bridget paint still, Pompey? Ha? Elb. Come your ways, sir; come.

Clo. You will not bail me then, sir?

Lucio. Then, Pompey? nor now. What news abroad, friar? What news?

Elb. Come your ways, sir; come.
Lucio. Go,-to kennel, Pompey, go;

[Exeunt ELBOW, Clown, and Officers. What news, friar, of the duke?

Duke. I know none: Can you tell me of any? Lucio. Some say, he is with the emperor of Russia; other some, he is in Rome: But where is he, think you?

Duke. I know not where: But wheresoever, I wish him well.

Lucio. It was a mad fantastical trick of him, to steal from the state, and usurp the beggary he was never born to. Lord Angelo dukes it well in his absence; he puts transgression to't. Duke. He does well in't.

Lucio. A little more lenity to lechery would do no harm in him: something too crabbed that way, friar. Duke. It is too general a vice, and severity must cure it.

Lucio. Yes, in good sooth, the vice is of a great kindred; it is well ally'd: but it is impossible to extirp it quite, friar, till eating and drinking be put down. They say, this Angelo was not made by man and woman, after the downright way of crea tion: Is it true think you?

Duke. How should he be made then?

Lucio. Some report a sea-maid spawn'd him :Some that he was begot between two stock-fishes:

But it is certain, that when he makes water, his urine is congeal'd ice; that I know to be true: and he is a motion' ungenerative, that's infallible.

Duke. You are pleasant, sir; and speak apace. Lucio. Why, what a ruthless thing is this in him, for the rebellion of a cod-piece, to take away the life of a man? Would the duke, that is absent, have done this? Ere he would have hang'd a man for the getting a hundred bastards, he would have paid for the nursing of a thousand: He had some feeling of the sport; he knew the service, and that instruct

Clo. Yes, faith, sir.

Lucio. Why, 'tis not amiss, Pompey : Farewell: Go; say, I sent thee thither. For debt, Pompey? Or how?

Elb. For being a bawd, for being a bawd. Lucio. Well, then imprison him: If imprisonment be the due of a bawd, why, 'tis his right: Bawd is he, doubtless, and of antiquity too; bawdborn. Farewell, good Pompey: Commend me to the prison, Pompey; You will turn good husband now, Pompey; you will keep the house."

Clo. I hope, sir, your good worship will be my bail.

Lucio. No, indeed, will I not, Pompey; it is not the wear." I will pray, Pompey, to increase your

1 It is not neccessary to take honest Pompey for a housebreaker, the locks he had occasion to pick were Spanish padlocks. In Jonson's Volpone, Corvino threatens to make his wife wear one of these strange contrivances.

2 i. e. As faults are free from or destitute of all comeliness or seeming."

3 His neck will be tied, like your waist, with a cord. The friar wore a rope for a girdle.

4 i. e. Have you no new courtesans to recommend to your customers.

5 The method of cure for a certain disease was grossly called the powdering tub. See the notes on the tub fast and the diet, in Timon of Athens, Act iv. in the Variorum of Shakspeare.

6 i. e. inevitable.

7 i. e. stay at home, alluding to the etymology of hus band

Duke. I never heard the absent duke much detected for women; he was not inclined that way. Lucio. O, sir, you are deceived. Duke. "Tis not possible.

Lucio. Who? not the duke? yes, your beggar of fifty-and his use was, to put a ducat in her clackdish: the duke had crotchets in him: He would be drunk too; and let me inform you.

Duke. You do him wrong, surely.

Lucio. Sir, I was an inward12 of his : A shy fellow was the duke: and, I believe, I know the cause of his withdrawing.

Duke. What, I pr'ythee, might be the cause?

Lucio. No, pardon;-'tis a secret must be lock'd within the teeth and the lips: but this I can let you understand,--The greater file1 of the subject held the duke to be wise.

Duke. Wise? why, no question but he was.

Isab. I have ta'en a due and wary note upon't; With whispering and most guilty diligence, In action all of precept, he did show me The way twice o'er.

Duke. Are there no other tokens Between you 'greed, concerning her observance ? Isab. No, none, but only a repair i'the dark; And that I have possess'd' him, my most stay Can be but brief; for I have made him know, I have a servant comes with me along, That stays upon me; whose persuasion is, I come about my brother. "Tis well born up.

Duke.

Enter DUKE.

[Exit Boy.

I cry you mercy, sir; and well could wish
You had not found me here so musical;
Let me excuse me, and believe me so,-
My mirth is much displeas'd, but pleas'd my woe.
Duke. "Tis good: though music oft hath such a
charm,

To make bad, good, and good provoke to harm.
I pray you, tell me, hath any body inquired for me
here to-day? much upon this time have I promis'd
here to meet.

Mari. You have not been inquired after. I have sat here all day.

you!

Mari. Good friar, I know you do; and have

Who hath a story ready for your ear:

I shall attend your leisure; but make haste;
The vaporous night approaches.
Ματί.

Will't please you walk aside? [Exeunt MARIANA and ISABELLA. Duke. O place and greatness, millions of false

eyes

Are stuck upon thee! volumes of report
Run with these false and most contrarious quests
Upon thy doings? thousand 'scapes of wit
Make thee the father of their idle dream,
And rack thee in their fancies!-Welcome !-How
agreed?

Re-enter MARIANA and ISABELLA.
Isab. She'll take the enterprise upon her, father,
If you advise it.
Duke.
It is not my consent
But my entreaty too.
Isab.
Little have you to say,
When you depart from him, but, soft and low,
Remember now my brother.
Mari.
Fear me not.
Duke. Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all:
He is your husband on a pre-contract:
To bring you thus together, 'tis no sin;
Sith that the justice of your title to him
Doth flourish the deceit. Come, let us go;
Our corn's to reap, for yet our tilth's1 to sow.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. A Room in the Prison. Enter Provost and Clown.

Prov. Come hither, sirrah: Can you cut off a man's head?

Clo. If the man be a bachelor, sir, I can: but if he be a married man, he is his wife's head, and I can never cut off a woman's head.

cond. It may indeed be the property of some unknown

"How may likeness, made in crimes,
Mocking, practice on the times.'

The old copies read making. The emendation is Mr. Malone's. The sense of this obscure passage appears to be:- How may persons assuming the likeness or semblance of virtue, while they are in fact guilty of the grossest crimes, impose with this counterfeit sanctity upon the world, in order to draw to themselves by the flimsiest pretensions the most solid advantages; such as pleasure, honour, reputation, &c.'

be pleased to have the second stanza.

Hide, oh hide those hills of snow
Which thy frozen bosom bears,
On whose tops the pinks that glow
Are of those that April wears.
But first set my poor heart free,
Bound in those icy chains by thee.'

4 Though the music soothed my sorrows, it had no tendency to produce light merriment. 5 Circummur'd, walled round.

6 Planched, planked, wooden.

7 i. e. informed. Thus Shylock says'I have possess'd your grace of what I

purpose.'

8 Stays, waits. 9 Quests, inquisitions, inquiries. 10 'Scapes, sallies, sportive wiles. 11 i. e. ornament, embellish an action that would otherwise seem ugly.