The Family Shakspeare

Ang.

Well; the matter? | Those many had not dar'd to do that evil,

Isab. I have a brother is condemn'd to die : I do beseech you, let it be his fault, And not my brother.

Prov.

Heaven give thee moving graces!
Ang. Condemn the fault and not the actor of it!
Why, every fault's condemn'd, ere it be done :
Mine were the very cipher of a function,
To find the faults, whose fine stands in record,
And let go by the actor.
Isab.
O just, but severe law!
I had a brother then. - Heaven keep your honour!
[Retiring.
Lucio. [To ISAB.] Give't not o'er so to him
again, intreat him;

Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown;
You are too cold: if you should need a pin,
You could not with more tame a tongue desire it:
To him, I say.

Isab. Must he needs die?
Ang.

Maiden, no remedy,

Isab. Yes; I do think that you might pardon him. And neither heaven, nor man, grieve at the mercy. Ang. I will not do't. Isab. But can you, if you would? Ang. Look, what I will not, that I cannot do. Isab. But might you do't, and do the world no wrong

If so, your heart were touch'd with that remorse As mine is to him.

Ang.

He's, sentenc'd: 'tis too late. Lucio. You are too cold. [To ISABELLA. Isab. Too late? why, no; I, that do speak a word, May call it back again: Well believe this, No ceremony that to great ones 'longs, Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword, The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe, Become them with one half so good a grace, As mercy does. If he had been as you, And you as he, you would have slipt like him; But he like you, would not have been so stern. Ang. Pray you, begone.

Isab. I would to heaven I had your potency, And you were Isabel! should it then be thus? No; I would tell what 'twere to be a judge, And what a prisoner.

Lucio. Ay, touch him: there's the vein.. [Aside. Ang. Your brother is a forfeit of the law, And you but waste your words.

Isab.

Alas! alas!

Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once;
And He that might the vantage best have took,
Found out the remedy: How would you be,
If He, which is the top of judgment, should
But judge you as you are? O, think on that;
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like man new made.

Ang.
Be you content, fair maid;
It is the law, not I condemns your brother:
Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,
It should be thus with him;-he must die to-morrow.
Isab. To-morrow? O, that's sudden! Spare him,
spare him:

He's not prepar'd for death!

Good, good my lord, bethink you :

Who is it that hath died for this offence?

There's many have committed it.

Lucio.

Ay, well said.

Ang. The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept:

If the first man that did the edict infringe,
Had answer'd for his deed: now, 'tis awake;
Takes note of what is done; and, like a prophet,
Looks in a glass, that shows what future evils,
(Either now, or by remissness new-conceiv'd,
And so in progress to be hatch'd and born,)
Are now to have no successive degrees,
But, where they live, to end.
Isab.
Ang. I show it most of all, when I show justice;
For then I pity those I do not know,
Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall;
And do him right, that answering one foul wrong,
Lives not to act another. Be satisfied;

Yet show some pity.

Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep.

Luc. O, to him, to him, wench: he will relent; He's coming, I perceive't.

Prov.

Pray heaven she win him! Isab. We cannot weigh our brother with yourself: Great men may jest with saints: 'tis wit in them; But, in the less, foul profanation.

Lucio. Thou'rt in the right, girl; more o' that. Isab. That in the captain's but a choleric word, Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.

Lucio. Art advis'd o'that? more on't.
Ang. Why do you put these sayings upon me?
Isab. Because authority, though it err like others,
Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself,

That skins the vice o' the top: Go to your bosom;
Knock there; and ask your heart, what it doth know
That's like my brother's fault: if it confess
A natural guiltiness, such as is his,
Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue
Against my brother's life.

Ang.

She speaks, and 'tis Such sense, that my sense breeds with it. Fare you well.

Isab. Gentle my lord, turn back.

Ang. I will bethink me: -- Come again to

Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be,

That modesty may more betray our sense

As that the sin hath brought you to this shame, Which sorrow is always toward ourselves, not heaven;

Showing, we'd not spare heaven, as we love it,
But as we stand in fear.

Juliet. I do repent me, as it is an evil;
And take the shame with joy.
Duke.

There rest,

Your partner, as I hear, must die to-morrow,
And I am going with instruction to him.

Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground Grace go with you! Benedicite !

enough,

Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary,

And pitch our evils there? O, fye, fye, fye!
What dost thou? or what art thou, Angelo?
O, let her brother live :

Thieves for their robbery have authority,
When judges steal themselves. What? do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again,

And feast upon her eyes? What is't I dream on?
O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation, that doth goad us on

To sin in loving virtue; never could the strumpet
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite; Ever, till now,

When men were fond, I smil'd, and wonder'd how. [Eait.

SCENE III.

A Room in a Prison. Enter DUKE, habited like a Friar, and Provost. Duke. Hail to you, provost! so I think you are. Prov. I am the provost: What's your will, good friar?

Duke. Bound by my charity, and my bless'd order,
I come to visit the afflicted spirits
Here in the prison: do me the common right
To let me see them; and to make me know

The nature of their crimes, that I may minister
To them accordingly.

Prov. I would do more than that, if more were needful.

[Erit. Juliet. Must die to-morrow! O, injurious love, That respites me a life, whose very comfort Is still a dying horror! Prov.

'Tis pity of him. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV. - A Room in Angelo's House.

Enter ANGELO.

Ang. When I would pray and think, I think and

pray

To several subjects: heaven hath my empty words.
Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue,
Anchors on Isabel: Heaven in my mouth,
As if I did but only chew his name;

And in my heart, the strong and swelling evil
Of my conception: The state, whereon I studied,
Is like a good thing, being often read,
Grown fear'd and tedious; yea, my gravity,
Wherein (let no man hear me) I take pride,
Could I, with boot', change for an idle plume,
Which the air beats for vain. O place! O form!
How often dost thou with thy case, thy habit,
Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wiser souls
To thy false seeming?

Why does my blood thus muster to my heart; Making both it unable for itself,

And dispossessing all the other parts

Of necessary fitness?

So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons
Come all to help him, and so stop the air
By which he should revive: and even so
The general 2, subject to a well-wish'd king,
Quit their own part, and in obsequious fondness
Crowd to his presence, where their untaught love
Must needs appear offence.

Enter ISABELLA.

How now, fair maid?

Isab.
I am come to know your pleasure.
Ang. That you might know it, would much
better please me,

Than to demand what 'tis. Your brother cannot live.
Isab. Even so? - Heaven keep your honour!

[Retiring.
Ang. Yet may he live a while; and, it may be
As long as you or I: Yet he must die.
Isab. Under your sentence?

Ang. Yea.

Isab. When, I beseech you? that in his reprieve, Longer, or shorter, he may be so fitted,

This his soul sicken not.

Ang. Ha! fye, these filthy vices! It were as good To pardon him, that hath from nature stolen

A man already made, as to remit

Whose credit with the judge, or own great place,
Could fetch your brother from the manacles
Of the all-binding law; and that there were
No earthly mean to save him, but that either
You must lay down the treasures of your person
To this supposed, or else let him suffer;
What would you do?

Isab. As much for my poor brother as myself:
That is, were I under the terms of death,
The impression of keen whips I'd wear as rubies,
And strip myself to death, as to a bed

That longing I have been sick for, ere I'd yield
My honour up to shame.

Ang.

Then must your brother die
Isab. And 'twere the cheaper way:
Better it were, a brother died at once,
Than that a sister, by redeeming him,
Should die for ever.

Ang. Were not you then as cruel as the sentence

Their saucy sweetness, that do coin heaven's image, That you have slander'd so?
In stamps that are forbid.

Isab. 'Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth.
Ang. Say you so? then I shall pose you quickly.
Which had you rather, that the most just law
Now took your brother's life; or, to redeem him,
Give up your person to such sweet uncleanness,
As she that he hath stained?

Isab.

Sir, believe this,

I had rather give my body than my soul.
Ang. I talk not of your soul; our compell'd sins
Stand more for number than accompt.
Isab.

How say you?
Ang. Nay, I'll not warrant that; for I can speak
Against the thing I say.
Answer to this;

I, now the voice of the recorded law,
Pronounce a sentence on your brother's life:
Might there not be a charity in sin,
To save this brother's life?

Isab.

Please you to do't,
I'll take it as a peril to my soul,
It is no sin at all, but charity.

Ang. Pleas'd you to do't, at peril of your soul,
Were equal poise of sin and charity.

Isab. That I do beg his life, if it be sin,
Heaven, let me bear it! you granting of my suit,
If that be sin, I'll make it my morn prayer
To have it added to the faults of mine,
And nothing of your answer.
Ang.
Your sense pursues not mine:

rant,

Nay, but hear me :
either you are igno-

Isab. Ignomy in ransom, and free pardon,
Are of two houses: lawful mercy is
Nothing akin to foul redemption.

Ang. You seem'd of late to make the law a tyrant;
And rather prov'd the sliding of your brother
A merriment than a vice.

Isab. O, pardon me, my lord; it oft falls out,
To have what we'd have, we speak not what we mean:
I something do excuse the thing I hate,
For his advantage that I dearly love.

Ang. We are all frail.
Isab.

Else let my brother die,

If not a feodary, but only he,
Owe, and succeed by weakness.

I think it well:
And from this testimony of your own sex,
(Since, I suppose, we are made to be no stronger
Than faults may shake our frames,) let me be bold;
I do arrest your words; be that you are,
That is, a woman; if you be more, you're none;
If you be one, (as you are well express'd
By all external warrants,) show it now,
By putting on the destin'd livery.

Isab. I have no tongue but one: gentle my lord,
Let me entreat you, speak the former language.
Ang. Plainly conceive, I love you.

Isab. My brother did love Juliet; and you tell me, That he shall die for it.

Ang. He shall not, Isabel, if you give me love. Isab. I know your virtue hath a licence in't, Which seems a little fouler than it is,

My words express my purpose.

Isab. Ha! little honour to be much believ'd, And most pernicious purpose! — Seeming, seeming!

I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for't:

Sign me a present pardon for my brother,
Or, with an outstretch'd throat, I'll tell the world
Aloud, what man thou art.

Ang.

Who will believe thee, Isabel? My unsoil'd name, the austereness of my life, 6 Impressions

4 Associate.

5 Own.

My vouch against you, and my place i'the state
Will so your accusation overweigh,
That you shall stifle in your own report,
And smell of calumny. I have begun;
And now I give my sensual race the rein:
Lay by all nicety; redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy person to my will;
Or else he must not only die the death,
But thy unkindness shall his death draw out
To lingering sufferance: answer me to-morrow,
Or, by the affection that now guides me most,
I'll prove a tyrant to him: As for you,
Say what you can, my false o'erweighs your true.
[Erit
Isab. To whom shall I complain? Did I tell this,
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,

That bear in them one and the self-same tongue,
Either of condemnation or approof!
Bidding the law make court'sy to their will;
Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite,
To follow as it draws! I'll to my brother:
Though he hath fallen by prompture of the blood,
Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour,
That had he twenty heads to tender down
On twenty bloody blocks, he'd yield them up,
Before his sister should her person stoop
To such abhorr'd pollution.

Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die:
More than our brother is our chastity.
I'll tell him yet of Angelo's request,
And fit his mind to death, for his soul's rest.

[Exit.

ACT III.

SCENE I. A Room in the Prison.

Enter Duke, CLAUDIO, and Provost. Duke. So, then you hope of pardon from lord Angelo?

Claud. The miserable have no other medicine, But only hope:

I have hope to live, and am prepar'd to die.

Duke. Be absolute for death: either death, or life, Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life,If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing

That none but fools would keep a breath thou art, (Servile to all the skiey influences,)

That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st,
Hourly afflict: merely, thou art death's fool;
For him thou labour'st by thy flight to shun,
And yet run'st toward him still: Thou art not noble;
For all the accommodations that thou bear'st,
Are nurs'd by baseness: Thou art by no means valiant;
For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork
Of a poor worm: Thy best of rest is sleep,
And that thou oft provok'st; yet grossly fear'st
Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself;
For thou exist'st on many a thousand grains
That issue out of dust: Happy thou art not:
For what thou hast not, still thou striv'st to get;
And what thou hast, forget'st: Thou art not certain;
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects 7,
After the moon: If thou art rich, thou art poor;
For, like an ass, whose back with ingots bows,
Thou bear'st thy heavy riches but a journey,
And death unloads thee: Friend hast thou none;
For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire,
The mere effusion of thy proper loins,
Do curse the gout, serpigo &, and the rheum,
For ending thee no sooner: Thou hast nor youth,

Duke. Bring them to speak, where I may be conceal'd, Yet hear them.

[Exeunt Duke and Provost. Claud. Now, sister, what's the comfort? Isab. Why, as all comforts are; most good in deed: Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven, Intends you for his swift embassador, Where you shall be an everlasting lieger 9: Therefore your best appointment make with speed; To-morrow you set on.

Claud. Is there no remedy? Isab. None, but such remedy, as to save a head, To cleave a heart in twain.

Perpetual durance? Isab. Ay, just, perpetual durance; a restraint, Though all the world's fastidity you had, To a determined scope.

Claud.

But in what nature? Isab. In such a one as (you consenting to't) Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear, And leave you naked.

Claud. Let me know the point. Isab. O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, Lest thou a feverous life should'st entertain, And six or seven winters more respect

9 Resident.

Nips youth i'the head, and follies doth enmew,
As falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil;
The princely Angelo?
Isab. O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The vilest body to invest and cover
In princely guards! Dost thou think, Claudio,
If I would yield him my virginity,
Thou might'st be freed?

Claud.

O, heavens! it cannot be. Isab. Yes, he would give it thee, from this rank offence,

Isab. I have no superfluous leisure; my stay must be stolen out of other affairs; but I will attend you awhile.

Duke. [To CLAUDIO, aside.] Son, I have overheard what hath past between you and your sister. Angelo had never the purpose to corrupt her; only he hath made an essay of her virtue, to practise his judgment with the disposition of natures; she, having the truth of honour in her, hath made him that gracious denial which he is most glad to receive: Thou shalt not do't. I am confessor to Angelo, and I know this to be

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.

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

Thanks, dear Isabel.

Claud. 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 no 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; To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot: This sensible warm motion to become A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice; To be imprison'd in the viewless winds, And blown with restless violence round about The pendent world; or to be worse than worst Of those, that lawless and incertain thoughts Imagine howling! 'tis too horrible! The weariest and most loathed worldly life, That age, ach, penury, and imprisonment Can lay on nature, is a paradise

To what we fear of death.

true; therefore prepare yourself to death: Do not satisfy your resolution with hopes that are fallible: to-morrow you must die; go to your knees, and make ready.

Claud. Let me ask my sister pardon. I am so out of love with life, that I will sue to be rid of it. Duke. Hold you there: Farewell. [Exit CLAUDIO.

Re-enter Provost.

Provost, a word with you.

Prov. What's your will, father?

Duke. That now you are come you will be gone. Leave me a while with the maid; my mind promises with my habit, no loss shall touch her by my company.

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 understanding; and, but that frailty hath examples for his falling, I should wonder at Angelo. How would you do to content this substitute, and to save your brother?

Isab. 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! It 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

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