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Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep one shape, till custom make it
Their perch, and not their terror.

Escal. Ay, but yet

Let us be keen, and rather cut a little,

Than fall, and bruise to death: Alas! this gentleman,
Whom I would save, had a most noble father.
Let but your honour know, (whom I believe
To be most strait in virtue)

That, in the working of your own affections,
Hadtime coher'd with place, or place with wishing,
Or that the resolute acting of your blood
Could have attain'd the effect of your own purpose,
Whether you had not sometime in your life
Err'd in this point which now you censure him3,
And pull'd the law upon you.

their abuses in common houses, I know no law: bring them away.

Ang How now, sir? What's your name? and what's the matter?

Elb. If it please your honour, I am the poor duke's constable, and my name is Elbow; Idolean upon justice, sir, and do bring in here before your good honour two notorious benefactors.

Ang. Benefactors? Well; what benefactors are 10 they? are they not malefactors?

15

20

25

Elb. If it please your honour, I know not well what they are: but precise villains they are, that I am sure of; and void of all profanation in the world, that good christians ought to have.

Escal. This comes offwell'; here's a wise officer. Ang. Go to: What quality are they of? Elbow is your name? Why dost thou not speak, Elbow? Clown. He cannot, sir; he's out at elbow'. Ang. What are you, sir?

Elb. He, sir? a tapster, sir; a parcel-bawd'; one that serves a bad woman; whose house, sir, was, as they say, pluck'd down in the suburbs; and now she professes a hot-house 1o, which, I think, is a very ill house too.

Escal. How know you that?

10

Elb. My wife, sir, whom I detest before heaven and your honour,

Ang. 'Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,
Another thing to fall. I not deny,
The jury, passing on the prisoner's life,
May, in the sworn twelve, have a thief or two
Guiltier than him they try: What's open made to
That justice seizes. What know the laws, [justice,
That thieves do pass on thieves? 'Tis very preg-
Thejewel that we find, we stoop and takeit, [nant,30honest
Because we see it: but what we do not see,
We tread upon, and never think of it.

You may not so extenuate his offence,

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For I have had such faults; but rather tell me,
When I that censure him do so offend,
Let mine own judgment pattern out my death,
And nothing come in partial. Sir, he must die.
Escal. Be it as your wisdom will.
Ang. Where is the provost?
Prov. Here, if it like your honour.
Ang. See that Claudio

Be executed by nine to-morrow morning:
Bring him his confessor, let him be prepar'd;
For that's the utmost of his pilgrimage.

35

Escal. How! thy wife?

Elb. Ay, sir; whom, I thank heaven, is an woman;

Escal. Dost thou detest her, therefore?

Elb. I say, sir, I will detest myself also, as well as she, that this house, if it be not a bawd's house, it is pity of her life, for it is a naughty house. Escal. How dost thou know that, constable? Elb. Marry sir, by my wife; who, if she had been a woman cardinally given, might have been accused in fornication, adultery, and all uncleanness there.

40 Escal. By the woman's means?

[Exit Provost. 45
Escal.Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all!
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall:
Some run from brakes of vice", and answer none;
And some condemned for a fault alone.

Enter Elbow, Froth, Clown, Officers, &c.
Elb. Come, bring them away: if these be good
people in a common-weal, that do nothing but use

7

4

Elb. Ay, sir, by mistress Over-done's means: but as she spit in his face, so she defy'd him.

Clown. Sir, ifit please your honour, this is not so. Elb. Prove it before these varlets here, thou honourable man, prove it.

Escal. Do you hear how he misplaces?
[To Angela.

Clown. Sir, she came in great with child; and longing (saving your honour's reverence) for 50 stew'd prunes"; sir, we had but two in the house, which at that very distant time stood as it were, in a fruit-dish, a dish of some three-pence; your

The provost is usually the executioner of an army. To affright, to terrify. 3 That is, for which you now condemn him. Pregnant here means plain. That is, because. • That is, from the thorny paths of vice. Comes off well, when seriously applied to speech, imports a story or tale to be well told or delivered. Escalus, however, here uses the phrase ironically. The Clown quibbles on the word elbow; meaning, he is out at the word elbow, and out at the elbow of his coat. The meaning is, he is half tapster, half bawd. 10 That is, she keeps a bagnio. "A dish of stewed prunes in the window, was the ancient mark or characteristic, as well as the constant appendage, of a brothel.

honour

Act 2. Scene 1.]

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

honours have seen such dishes; they are not China dishes, but very good dishes.

Escal. Go to, go to; no matter for the dish, sir. Clown. No, indeed, sir, not of a pin; you are therein in the right: but to the point: As I say, 5 this mistress Elbow, being, as I say, with child, and being great belly'd, and longing, as I said, for prunes; and having but two in the dish, as I said, master Froth here, this very man, having eaten the rest, as I said, and, as I say, paying for 10 them very honestly;-for, as you know, master Froth, I could not give you three pence again. Froth. No, indeed.

be you Clown. Very well: you being then, if remember'd, cracking the stones of the foresaid prunes.

Froth. Ay, so I did, indeed.

honour; 'tis for a good purpose:
nour mark his face?

Escal. Ay, sir, very well.

Doth your ho

Clown. Nay, I beseech you mark it well.
Escal. Well, I do so.

Clown. Doth your honour see any 1 arm in his ́

face?

Escal. Why, no.

Clown. I'll be suppos'd upon a bock, his face is the worst thing about him: Good then; if his face be the worst thing about him, how could master Froth do the constable's wile any harm? I would know that of your honour.

Escal. He's in the right: constable, what say 15 you to it?

Clown. Why, very well: I telling you then, if you be remember'd, that such a one, and such a one, were past cure of the thing you wot of, un-20 less they kept very good diet, as I told you. Froth. All this is true.

Clown. Why, very well then.

Escal. Come, you are a tedious fool; to the purpose. What was done to Elbow's wife, that 25 he hath cause to complain of? come me to what was done to her.

[yet. Clown. Sir, your honour cannot come to that Escal. No, sir, nor I mean it not.

Clown. Sir, but you shall come to it, by your 30 honour's leave: And, I beseech you, look into master Froth here, sir: a man of fourscore pound a year; whose father dy'd at Hallowmas:-Was't not at Hallowmas, master Froth?

Froth. All-hollond eve.

Clown. Why, very well; I hope here be truths: I in a lower chair, sir;He, sir, sitting, as say, 'twas in the Bunch of Grapes, where, indeed, you have a delight to sit, Have you not?

35

Froth. I have so; because it is an open room, 40 and good for winter.

Clown. Why, very well then ;-I hope here be truths.

Ang. This will last out a night in Russia,

Elb. First, an it like you, the house is a respectled house; next, this is a respected fellow; and his mistress is a respected woman.

Clown. By this hand, sir, his wife is a more respected person than any of us all.

Elb. Varlet, thou liest; thou liest, wicked varlet: the time is yet to come, that she was ever respected with man, woman, or child.

Clown. Sir, she was respected with him before he marry'd with her.

Escal. Which is the wiser here? Justice or Iniquity--Is this true?

Elb. O thou caitiff! O thou varlet! O thou wicked Hannibal! I respected with her, before I was marry'd to her? If ever I was respected with her, or she with me, let not your worship think me the poor duke's officer:-Prove this, thou wicked Hannibal, or I'll have mine action of battery on thee.

Escal. If he took you a box o' the ear, you might have your action of slander too.

Elb. Marry, I thank your good worship for it: What is't your worship's pleasure I shall do with this wicked caitiff?

Escal. Truly, officer, because he hath some offences in him, that thou would'st discover if thou could'st, let him continue in his courses, till thou know'st what they are.

Elb. Marry, I thank your worship for it :

When nights are longest there: I'll take my leave, 45 Thou seest, thou wicked varlet now, what's come

And leave you to the hearing of the cause; Hoping, you'll find good cause to whip them all. Escal. I think no less: Good-morrow to your [Exit Angelo. lordship.

Now, sir, come on: What was done to Elbow's 50 wife, once more?

Clown. Once, sir? there was nothing done to her once.

Elb. I beseech you, sir, ask him what this man did to my wife.

Clown. I beseech your honour, ask me.
Escal. Well, sir; What did this gentleman to

her?

55

upon thee; thou art to continue now, thou varlet,
thou art to continue.

Escal. Where were you born, friend To Froth.
Froth. Here, in Vienna, sir.
Escal. Are you of fourscore pounds a
Froth. Yes, and't please you, sir.
Escul. So.-What trade are you of, sir?

year?

[To the Clown.

Clown. A tapster; a poor widow's tapster.
Escal. Your mistress's name?

Clown. Mistress Over-done.

Escal. Hath she had any more than one husband?
Clown. Nine, sir; Over-done by the last.
Come hither to ine,
Escal. Nine!

master

Clown. I beseech you, sir, look in this gentleman's face:-Good master Froth, look upon his 60 Froth. Master Froth, I would not have you ac

This probably alludes to two personages well known to the audience by their frequent introduc? A mistake for Cannibal. tion in the old Moralities.

2

G

quainted

quainted with tapsters; they will draw you, master Froth, and you will hang them: Get you gone, and let me hear no more of you.

Froth. I thank your worship: For mine own part, I never come into any room in a taphouse, 5 but I am drawn in.

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Clown. Bum, sir.

Escal. I thought, by your readiness in the ofice, you had continued in it some time: You say, seven years together? Elb. And a half, sir.

Escal. Alas! it hath been great pains to you they do you wrong to put you so oft upon't: Are there not men in your ward sufficient to serve it?

Elb. Faith, sir, few of any wit in such matters: as they are chosen, they are glad to chuse me for 10 them; I do it for some piece of money, and gʊ through with all.

Escal. Truth, and your bum is the greatest thing about you: so that, in the beastliest sense, you are Pompey the great. Pompey, you are partly a 15 bawd, Pompey, howsoever you colour it in being tapster; Are you not? Come, tell me true; it shall be the better for you.

Clown. Truly, sir, I am a poor fellow that would live.

Escal. How would you live, Pompey? by being a bawd? What do you think of the trade, Pompey is it a lawful trade?

Clown. If the law will allow it, sir.

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Escal. There are pretty orders beginning, I can tell you: it is but heading and hanging.

35

Clown. If you head and hang all that offend that way but for ten years together, you'll be glad to give out a commission for more heads. If this law hold in Vienna ten years, I'll rent the fairest house in it, after three-pence a bay: If you live to see 40 this come to pass, say, Pompey told you so.

Escal. Thank you, good Pompey; and in requital of your prophecy, hark you,-I advise you, let me not find you before me again upon any complaint whatsoever, no, not for dwelling where you 45 do; if I do, Pompey, I shall beat you to your tent, and prove a shrewd Cæsar to you; in plain dealing, Pompey, I shall have you whipt: so, for this time, Pompey, fare you well.

Clown. I thank your worship for your good coun-50 sel; but I shall follow it, as the flesh and fortune shall better determine.

Whip me! No, no; let carman whip his jade; The valiant heart's not whipt out of his trade. [Exit. Escal. Come hither to me, master Elbow; come 55 hither, master constable. Howlong have you been in this place of constable?

Elb. Seven year and a half, sir.

Escal. Look you, bring me in the names of some six or seven, the most sufficient of your parish. Elb. To your worship's house, sir? Escal. To my house: Fare you well. What's a clock, think you?

Just. Eleven, sir.

Escal. I pray you, home to dinner with me. Just. I humbly thank you.

Escal. It grieves me for the death of Claudio : But there's no remedy.

Just. Lord Angelo is severe.

Escal. It is but needful:

Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so;
Pardon is still the nurse of second woe:
But yet,-poor Claudio!-There's no remedy.
Come, sir.
[Exeunt.

SCENE II. Angelo's house.

Enter Provost and a Servant. Serv. He'shearing ofacause; he will come straight; I'll tell him of you.

Prov. Pray you, do. [Exit Servant.] I'll know
His pleasure; may be, he will relent: Alas,
He hath but as offended in a dream!

All sects, all ages smack of this vice; and he
To die for it!

Enter Angelo.

Ang. Now, what's the matter, provost ?
Proc. Is it your will Claudio shall die to-morrow?
Ang. Did I not tell thee, yea? hadst thou not
Why dost thou ask again?
[order?

Prov. Lest I might be too rash:
Under your good correction, I have seen,
When, after execution, judgment hath
Repented o'er his doom.

Ang. Go to; let that be mine:

Do you your office, or give up your place,
And you shall well be spar’d.

Proc. I crave your honour's pardon.-
What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet?
She's very near her hour.

Ang. Dispose of her

To some more titting place; and that with speed. Re-enter Servant.

Serv. Here is the sister of the man condemn'd, Desires access to you.

'Draw includes here a variety of senses. As it refers to the tapster, it means, to drain, to empty; as it refers to hang, it implies to be conveyed to execution on a hurdle. In Froth's answer, it imports the same as to bring along by some motive or power. Dr. Johnson says, a bay of building is, in many parts of England, a common term, for the space between the main beams of the roof; so that a barn crossed twice with beams is a barn of three buys. In Statfordshire, it is applied to the two open spaces of a barn on each side the threshing-floor.

Ang.

Ang. Hath he a sister?

Prov. Ay, my good lord; a very virtuous maid, And to be shortly of a sister-hood,

If not already.

Would not have been so stern.

Ang. Pray you, be gone.

Isab. I would to heaven I had your potency, you were Isabel! should it then be thus?

And

Ang. Well, let her be admitted. [Erit Servant. 5 No; I would tell what 'twere to be a judge,

See you, the fornicatress be remov'd;

Let her have needful, but not lavish means;

There shall be order for it.

Enter Lucio and Isabella.

Prov. Save your honour!

Ang. Stay yet a while.-[To Isab.] You are welcome: What's your will?

Isab. I am a woeful suitor to your honour, Please but your honour hear me.

Ang. Well; what's your suit?

Isab. There is a vice that most I do abhor, And most desire should meet the blow of justice: For which I would not plead, but that I must; For which I must not plead, but that I am At war, 'twixt will, and will not.

Ang. Well; the matter?

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 cypher 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! Lucio. [To Isab.] Give 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.

10

And what a prisoner.

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

Isab. Alas! alas!

Why, all the souls that were2, 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 15 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. 20 Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son, [row. It should be thus with him:-he must die to-mor Isub. To-morrow? Oh, that's sudden! Spare him, spare him;

He's not prepar'd for death! Even for our kitchens 25 We kill the fowl, of season; shall we serve heaven With less respect than we do minister [you: To our gross selves? Good, good my lord, bethink Who is it that hath died for this offence? There's many have committed it.

30

Lucio. Ay, well said.

[slept: Ang. The law hath not been dead, tho' it hath Those many had not dar'd to do that evil, If the first man, that did the edict infringe, Had answer'd for his deed: now, 'tis awake: 35 Takes note of what is done; and, like a prophet, Looks in a glass that shews 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, ere they live, to end.

[him, 40

Isab. Must he needs die? Ang. Maiden, no remedy. Isab. Yes; I do think that you might pardon 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 is sentenc'd; 'tis too late.
Lucio. You are too cold.

[To Isabel.
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 merey does.

If he had been as you, and you as he,

Isab. Yet shew some pity.

Ang. I shew it most of all, when I shew justice; For then I pity those I do not know, Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall;

45 And do him right, that, answering one foul wrong, Lives not to act another. Be satisfy'd;

50

Your brother dies to-morrow; be content.

Isab. So you must be the first, that gives this senAnd he, that suffers: Oh, it is excell nt [tence; To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous, To use it like a giant.

Lucio. That's well said,

Isab. Could great men thunder

As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet, 55 For every pelting', petty officer [thunderWould use his heaven for thunder; nothing but Merciful heaven!

Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,

You would have slipt, like him; but he, like you, [60] l'han the soft myrtle: O, but man! proud man,

3

That is, pity. 2 Perhaps we ought to read are. ' Meaning, perfect as the first man was, when he came from the hands of his Creator. ↑ This alludes to the fopperies of the bɛril, a ball of crystal much used at that time by cheats and fortune-tellers to predict by. 'Paltry. That is, knotted. G 2

(Drest

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(Drest in a little brief authority;
Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd,
His glassy essence,) like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastick tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens, 5
Would all themselves laugh mortal'.

Lucio. Oh, 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 ourself:
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.
Isub. That in the captain's but a cholerick word,
Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.

10

15

Lucio. Art advis'd o' that? more on't.
Ang. Why do you put these sayings upon me?
Isub. 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 ; 20
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. [Aside.] She speaks, and 'tis

Such sense, that my sense breeds with it. [To Isab.
Fare you well.

Isab. Gentle my lord, turn back. [row.
Ang. I will bethink me:-Coine again to-inor-30
Isab. Hark, how I'll bribe you: Good my lord,
Ang. How! bribe me?
[turn back.]
Isab. Ay, with such gifts, that heaven shall share
Lucio. You had marr'd all else [with you.
Isub. Notwith fond shekels of the tested 'gold, 35
Or stones, whose rates are either rich or poor,
As fancy values them: but with true prayers,
That shall be up at heaven, and enter there,
Ere sun-rise; prayers from preserved souls,
From fasting maids, whose minds are dedicate
To nothing temporal.

Ang. Well; come to me to-morrow.
Lucio. Goto; 'tis well; [ Aside to Isabel.]away.
Isab. Heaven keep your honour safe!
Ang. Amen:

For I'am that way going to temptation, [Aside.
Where prayers cross".

Isab. At what hour to-morrow

Shall I attend your lordship?

Ang. At any time 'fore noon.

Isab. Save your honour! [Ex. Lucio and Isab. Ang. From thee: even from thy virtue!What's this? what's this? Is this her fault or mine? The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most? Ha, Not she; nor doth she tempt; but it is I,

That lying by the violet in the sun,

Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season, Can it be,
That modesty may more betray our sense [nough,
Than woman's lightness? having waste ground e-
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary,

And pitch our evils there? Oh, fie, fie, fie!
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
Dost thou desire her foully, for those things
That make her good? Oh, let her brother live:
Thieves for their robbery have authority, [her,
When judges steal themselves. What?" do I love
That I desire to hear her speak again,

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

fo sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet,
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite:-Ever, till now,

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

how.

SCENE III.
A Prison.

Enter Duke, habited like a Friar, and Procost.
Duke. Hail to you, provost! so I think you are.
Prov. I am the provost: What's your will,
good friar?
[order,
Duke. Bound by my charity, and my bless'd
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.
[needful.

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

Enter Juliet.

Look, here comes one; a gentlewoman of mine, 40 Who falling in the flaws of her own youth, Hath blister'd her report: She is with child; And he that got it, sentenc'd: a young man More fit to do another such offence,

45

Than die for this.

Duke. When must he die?

Prov. As I do think, to-morrow.—

I have provided for you; stay a while, [To Juliet,
And you shall be conducted.

50

Duke. Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry?
Juliet. Ido; and bear the shame most patiently.
Duke. I'll teach you how you shall arraign your
conscience,

55)

And try your penitence, if it be sound,
Or hollowly put on.

Juliet. Il gladly learn.

Dr. Warburton supposes, that Shakspeare meant by spleen, that peculiar turn of the human mind, which always inclines it to a spiteful, unseasonable mirth; that had the angels that, they would laugh themselves out of their immortality, by indulging a passion which does not deserve that prerogative, 2 Fond The ancients thought, that immoderate laughter was caused by the bigness of the spleen. here means, valued or prized by folly. That is, cupelled, brought to the test, refined, is, preserved from the corruption of the world. 'Dr. Johnson thinks, that, instead of where we should read, which your prayers cross. The meaning of the passage will then be, The temptation under which I labour is that which thou hast unknowingly thwarted with thy prayer. Perhaps it were better to

read fiumes.

That is, has disfigured uer lame or reputation.

10

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4 That

Duke.

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