Lucio.Hascensured himAlready; and,asI hear, the provost hathA warrant for hisexecution.I. 4.75Isab.Alas! what poor ability’s in meTo do him good?Lucio.Assay the power you have.Isab.My power? Alas, I doubt,—Lucio.Our doubts are traitors,Andmakeus lose the good we oft might winBy fearing to attempt. Go to Lord Angelo,80And let him learn to know, when maidens sue,Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel,All their petitions are asfreelytheirsAs they themselves would owe them.Isab.I’ll see what I can do.Lucio.But speedily.85Isab.I will about it straight;No longer staying but to give the MotherNotice of my affair. I humbly thank you:Commend me to my brother: soon at nightI’ll send him certain word of my success.Lucio.I take my leave of you.90Isab.Good sir, adieu.Exeunt.ACT II.II. 1Scene I.A hall inAngelo’shouse.EnterAngelo, Escalus, and aJustice, Provost, Officers, and otherAttendants, behind.Ang.We must not make a scarecrow of the law,Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,And let it keep one shape, till custom make itTheir perch, and not their terror.Escal.Ay, but yet5Let us be keen, and rather cut a little,Thanfall, and bruise to death. Alas, this gentleman,Whom I would save, had a most noble father!Let butyour honour know,Whom I believe to be most strait in virtue,10That, in theworking of your own affections,Had time cohered with place or place with wishing,Or that the resolute acting ofyourbloodCould have attain’d the effect of your own purpose,Whether you had not sometime in your life15Err’d in this pointwhich now you censure him,And pull’d the law upon you.Ang.’Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,Another thing to fall. I not deny,The jury, passing ontheprisoner’s life,20May in the sworn twelve have a thief or twoGuiltier than him they try. What’s open made to justice,Thatjustice seizes: whatknowthe lawsThat theives do pass on thieves? ’Tisverypregnant,The jewel that we find, we stoop and take’t,II. 1.25Because we see it; but what we do not seeWe tread upon, and never think of it.You may not so extenuate his offenceFor I have had such faults; but rather tell me,When I, that censure him, do so offend,30Let mine own judgement 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 ClaudioBe executed by nine to-morrow morning:35Bring him his confessor, let him be prepared;For that’s the utmost of his pilgrimage.Exit Provost.Escal.[Aside] Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all!Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall:Some runfrom brakes of ice, andanswer none;40And some condemned for a fault alone.EnterElbow, andOfficerswithFrothandPompey.Elb.Come, bring them away: if these be good people in a commonweal that do nothing but use their abuses in common houses, I know no law: bring them away.Ang.How now, sir! What’s your name? and what’s45the matter?Elb.If it please your honour, I am the poor Duke’s constable, and my name is Elbow: I do lean upon justice, sir, and do bring in here before your good honour two notorious benefactors.II. 1.50Ang.Benefactors? Well; what benefactors are they? are they not malefactors?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 Christians55ought to have.Escal.This comes off well; here’s a wise officer.Ang.Go to: what quality aretheyof? Elbow is your name? why dost thou not speak, Elbow?Pom.He cannot, sir; he’s out at elbow.60Ang.What are you, sir?Elb.He, sir! a tapster, sir; parcel-bawd; one that serves a bad woman; whose house, sir, was, as they say, plucked down in the suburbs; and now she professes a hot-house, which, I think, is a very ill house too.65Escal.How know you that?Elb.My wife, sir, whom I detest before heaven and your honour,—Escal.How? thy wife?Elb.Ay, sir;—whom, I thank heaven, is an honest70woman,—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.II. 1.75Escal.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 alluncleanlinessthere.Escal.Bythewoman’s means?80Elb.Ay, sir, by Mistress Overdone’s means: but as she spit in his face, so she defied him.Pom.Sir, if it please your honour, this is not so.Elb.Prove it before these varlets here, thou honourable man; prove it.85Escal.Do you hear how he misplaces?Pom.Sir, she came in great with child; and longing, saving your honour’s reverence, for stewed prunes;sir, we had but two in the house, which at that verydistanttime stood, as it were, in a fruit-dish, a dish of some three-pence;90your 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.Pom.No, indeed, sir, not of a pin; you are therein in the right: but to the point. As I say, this Mistress Elbow,95being, as I say, with child, and being great-bellied, and longing, as I said, for prunes; and havingbut twoin the dish, as I said, Master Froth here, this very man, having eaten the rest, as I said, and, as I say, paying for them very honestly; for, as you know, Master Froth, I could notII. 1.100give you three-pence again.Froth.No, indeed.Pom.Very well;—you being then, if you be remembered, cracking the stones of the foresaid prunes,—Froth.Ay, so I did indeed.Pom.Why, very well; I telling you then, if you be remembered,105that such a one and such a one were past cure of the thing you wot of, unless they keptverygood diet, as I told you,—Froth.All this is true.110Pom.Why, very well, then,—Escal.Come, you are a tedious fool: to the purpose. What was done to Elbow’s wife, that he hath cause to complain of? Comemeto what was done to her.Pom.Sir, your honour cannot come to that yet.115Escal.No, sir,norI mean it not.Pom.Sir, but you shall come to it, by your honour’s leave. And, I beseech you, lookintoMaster Froth here, sir; a man of fourscore pound a year; whose father died at Hallowmas:—was’t not at Hallowmas, Master Froth?—120Froth.All-hallondeve.Pom.Why, very well; I hope here be truths. He, sir, sitting, as I say, in a lowerchair, sir; ’twas in the Bunch of Grapes, where, indeed, you have a delight to sit, have you not?II. 1.125Froth.I have so; because it is an open room, and good forwinter.Pom.Why, very well, then; I hope here be truths.Ang.This will last out a night in Russia,When nights are longest there: I’ll take my leave,130And 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 lordship.Exit Angelo.Now, sir, come on: what was done to Elbow’s wife, once more?135Pom.Once, sir? there was nothing done to her once.Elb.I beseech you, sir, ask him what this man did to my wife.Pom.I beseech your honour, ask me.Escal.Well, sir; what did this gentleman to her?140Pom.I beseech you, sir, look in this gentleman’s face. Good Master Froth, look upon his honour; ’tis for a good purpose. Doth your honour mark his face?Escal.Ay, sir, very well.Pom.Nay, I beseech you, mark it well.145Escal.Well, I do so.Pom.Doth your honour see any harm in his face?Escal.Why, no.Pom.I’ll be supposed upon a book, his face is the worst thing about him. Good, then; if his face be the worstII. 1.150thing about him, how could Master Froth do the constable’s wife any harm? I would know that of your honour.Escal.He’s in the right. Constable, what say you to it?Elb.First, an it like you, the house is a respected house; next, this is a respected fellow; and his mistress is155a respected woman.Pom.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 with160man, woman, or child.Pom.Sir, she was respected with him before he married with her.Escal.Which is the wiser here? Justice or Iniquity? Is this true?165Elb.O thou caitiff! O thou varlet! O thou wicked Hannibal! I respected with her before I was married 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 battery170on thee.Escal.If he took you a box o’ th’ 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 wickedII. 1.175caitiff?Escal.Truly, officer, because he hath some offences in him that thou wouldst discover if thou couldst, let him continue in his courses till thou knowest what they are.Elb.Marry, I thank your worship for it. Thou seest,180thou wicked varlet, now, what’s come upon thee: thou art to continue now, thou varlet; thou art to continue.Escal.Where were you born, friend?Froth.Here in Vienna, sir.Escal.Are you of fourscore pounds a year?185Froth.Yes, an’t please you, sir.Escal.So. What trade areyouof, sir?Pom.A tapster; a poor widow’s tapster.Escal.Your mistress’ name?Pom.Mistress Overdone.190Escal.Hath she had any more than one husband?Pom.Nine, sir; Overdone by the last.Escal.Nine! Come hither to me, Master Froth. Master Froth, I would not have you acquainted with tapsters: they will draw you, Master Froth, and you willhang195them. 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, but I am drawn in.Escal.Well, no more of it, Master Froth: farewell. [Exit Froth.] Come you hither to me, Master tapster.II. 1.200What’s your name, Master tapster?Pom.Pompey.Escal.What else?Pom.Bum, sir.Escal.Troth, and your bum is the greatest thing about205you; so that, in the beastliest sense, you are Pompey the Great. Pompey, you are partly a bawd, Pompey, howsoever you colour itinbeing a tapster, are you not? come, tell me true: it shall be the better for you.Pom.Truly, sir, I am a poor fellow that would live.210Escal.How would you live, Pompey? by being a bawd? What do you think of the trade, Pompey? is it a lawful trade?Pom.If the law would allow it, sir.Escal.But the law will not allow it, Pompey;norit215shall not be allowed in Vienna.Pom.Does your worship mean to geld andsplayall the youth of the city?Escal.No, Pompey.Pom.Truly, sir, in my poor opinion, they will to’t,220then. If your worship will take order for the drabs andthe knaves, you need not to fear the bawds.Escal.Therearepretty orders beginning, I can tell you: it is but heading and hanging.Pom.If you head and hang all that offend that wayII. 1.225but for tenyeartogether, you’ll be glad to give out a commission for more heads: if this law hold in Vienna tenyear, I’ll rent the fairest house in it after three-pence abay: if you live to see this come to pass, say Pompey told you so.Escal.Thank you, good Pompey; and, in requital of230your prophecy, hark you: I advise you, let me not find you before me again upon any complaint whatsoever; no, not for dwelling where you 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, for235this time, Pompey, fare you well.Pom.I thank your worship for your good counsel: [Aside] but I shall follow it as the flesh and fortune shall better determine.Whip me? No, no; let carman whip his jade:240The valiant heart is not whipt out of his trade.Exit.Escal.Come hither to me, Master Elbow; come hither, Master constable. How long have you been in this place of constable?Elb.Seven year and a half, sir.245Escal.I thought, byyourreadiness in the office, 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 menII. 1.250in your ward sufficient to serve it?Elb.Faith, sir, few of any wit in such matters: as they are chosen, they are glad to choose me for them; I do it for some piece of money, and go through with all.Escal.Look you bring me in the names of some six255or seven, the most sufficient of your parish.Elb.To your worship’s house, sir?Escal.To my house. Fare you well.Exit Elbow.What’s o’clock, think you?Just.Eleven, sir.260Escal.I pray youhometo 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:265Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so;Pardon is still the nurse of second woe:But yet,—poor Claudio!There isno remedy.Come, sir.Exeunt.II. 2Scene II.Another room in the same.EnterProvostand aServant.Serv.He’s hearing of a cause;he willcome straight:I’ll tell him of you.Prov.Pray you, do. [Exit Servant.] I’ll knowHis pleasure; may be he will relent. Alas,He hathbut as offendedin a dream!5Allsects, all ages smackof thisvice; and heTo die for ’t!EnterAngelo.Ang.Now, what’s the matter, provost?Prov.Is it your will Claudio shall die to-morrow?Ang.Did not I tell thee yea? hadst thou not order?Whydost thouask again?Prov.Lest I might be too rash:10Under your good correction, I have seen,When, after execution, Judgement hathRepented 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 spared.Prov.I crave yourhonour’spardon.15What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet?She’s very near her hour.Ang.Dispose of herTo some morefitterplace, and that with speed.Re-enterServant.Serv.Here is the sister of the man condemn’dDesires access to you.Ang.Hath he a sister?20Prov.Ay, my good lord; a very virtuous maid,And to be shortly of a sisterhood,If not already.Ang.Well, let her be admitted.Exit Servant.See you the fornicatress be removed:Let her have needful, but not lavish, means;There shall be orderfor ’t.EnterIsabellaandLucio.II. 2.25Prov.God saveyour honour!Ang.Staya littlewhile. [To Isab.] You’re welcome: what’s your will?Isab.I am a woeful suitor to your honour,Pleasebut your honour hear me.Ang.Well; what’s your suit?Isab.There is a vice that most I do abhor,30And mostdesire should meet the blow of justice;For which I would not plead, but that I must;For which Imust not plead, but thatI amAt war ’twixt will and will not.Ang.Well; the matter?Isab.I have a brother is condemn’d to die:35I do beseech you, let it be his fault,And not my brother.Prov.[Aside] 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,40To finethefaultswhose 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.[Aside to Isab.] Give’t not o’er so: to him again, entreat him;Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown:45You are too cold; if you should need a pin,You could not withmore tame atongue 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,II. 2.50And 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.Butmight youdo’t, and do the world no wrong,If so your heart were touch’d with that remorseAs mine is tohim.55Ang.He’s sentenced; ’tis too late.Lucio.[Aside to Isab.]You aretoo cold.Isab.Too late? why, no; I, that do speak a word,May call itbackagain.Well, believethis,No ceremony that to great ones’longs,60Not 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 graceAs mercy does.If he had been as you, and you as he,65You would have slipt like him; but he, like you,Would not have been so stern.Ang.Pray you, be gone.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.70Lucio.[Aside to Isab.] 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 soulsthat werewere forfeit once;And He that might the vantage best have tookII. 2.75Found out the remedy. How would you be,If He, which is thetopof judgement, shouldBut 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;80It is the law, not Icondemnyour brother:Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,It should be thus with him: hemust dieto-morrow.Isab.To-morrow! O, that’ssudden!Spare him, spare him!He’s not prepared for death. Even for our kitchens85We kill the fowl of season:shall we serveheavenWith less respect than we do ministerTo our gross selves? Good, good my lord, bethink you;Who is it that hath died for this offence?There’s many have committed it.Lucio.[Aside to Isab.] Ay, well said.90Ang.The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept:Those many had not dared to do that evil,Ifthe first that did the edictinfringeHad answer’d for his deed: now ’tis awake,Takes note of what is done; and, like a prophet,95Looks in a glass,that shows whatfuture evils,Either now, or by remissness new-conceived,And so in progress to be hatch’d and born,Are now to have no successive degrees,But,erethey live, to end.Isab.Yet show some pity.
Lucio.Hascensured himAlready; and,asI hear, the provost hathA warrant for hisexecution.
Lucio.
Hascensured him
Already; and,asI hear, the provost hath
A warrant for hisexecution.
I. 4.75Isab.Alas! what poor ability’s in meTo do him good?
I. 4.75Isab.Alas! what poor ability’s in me
To do him good?
Lucio.
Assay the power you have.
Isab.My power? Alas, I doubt,—
Lucio.Our doubts are traitors,Andmakeus lose the good we oft might winBy fearing to attempt. Go to Lord Angelo,80And let him learn to know, when maidens sue,Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel,All their petitions are asfreelytheirsAs they themselves would owe them.
Lucio.
Our doubts are traitors,
Andmakeus lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt. Go to Lord Angelo,
80And let him learn to know, when maidens sue,
Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel,
All their petitions are asfreelytheirs
As they themselves would owe them.
Isab.I’ll see what I can do.
Lucio.
But speedily.
85Isab.I will about it straight;No longer staying but to give the MotherNotice of my affair. I humbly thank you:Commend me to my brother: soon at nightI’ll send him certain word of my success.
85Isab.I will about it straight;
No longer staying but to give the Mother
Notice of my affair. I humbly thank you:
Commend me to my brother: soon at night
I’ll send him certain word of my success.
Lucio.I take my leave of you.
90Isab.
Good sir, adieu.
Exeunt.
Ang.We must not make a scarecrow of the law,Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,And let it keep one shape, till custom make itTheir perch, and not their terror.
Ang.We must not make a scarecrow of the law,
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 yet5Let us be keen, and rather cut a little,Thanfall, and bruise to death. Alas, this gentleman,Whom I would save, had a most noble father!Let butyour honour know,Whom I believe to be most strait in virtue,10That, in theworking of your own affections,Had time cohered with place or place with wishing,Or that the resolute acting ofyourbloodCould have attain’d the effect of your own purpose,Whether you had not sometime in your life15Err’d in this pointwhich now you censure him,And pull’d the law upon you.
Escal.
Ay, but yet
5Let us be keen, and rather cut a little,
Thanfall, and bruise to death. Alas, this gentleman,
Whom I would save, had a most noble father!
Let butyour honour know,
Whom I believe to be most strait in virtue,
10That, in theworking of your own affections,
Had time cohered with place or place with wishing,
Or that the resolute acting ofyourblood
Could have attain’d the effect of your own purpose,
Whether you had not sometime in your life
15Err’d in this pointwhich now you censure him,
And pull’d the law upon you.
Ang.’Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,Another thing to fall. I not deny,The jury, passing ontheprisoner’s life,20May in the sworn twelve have a thief or twoGuiltier than him they try. What’s open made to justice,Thatjustice seizes: whatknowthe lawsThat theives do pass on thieves? ’Tisverypregnant,The jewel that we find, we stoop and take’t,II. 1.25Because we see it; but what we do not seeWe tread upon, and never think of it.You may not so extenuate his offenceFor I have had such faults; but rather tell me,When I, that censure him, do so offend,30Let mine own judgement pattern out my death,And nothing come in partial.Sir, he must die.
Ang.’Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,
Another thing to fall. I not deny,
The jury, passing ontheprisoner’s life,
20May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two
Guiltier than him they try. What’s open made to justice,
Thatjustice seizes: whatknowthe laws
That theives do pass on thieves? ’Tisverypregnant,
The jewel that we find, we stoop and take’t,
II. 1.25Because we see it; but what we do not see
We tread upon, and never think of it.
You may not so extenuate his offence
For I have had such faults; but rather tell me,
When I, that censure him, do so offend,
30Let mine own judgement 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 ClaudioBe executed by nine to-morrow morning:35Bring him his confessor, let him be prepared;For that’s the utmost of his pilgrimage.
Ang.
See that Claudio
Be executed by nine to-morrow morning:
35Bring him his confessor, let him be prepared;
For that’s the utmost of his pilgrimage.
Exit Provost.
Escal.[Aside] Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all!Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall:Some runfrom brakes of ice, andanswer none;40And some condemned for a fault alone.
Escal.[Aside] Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all!
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall:
Some runfrom brakes of ice, andanswer none;
40And some condemned for a fault alone.
Elb.Come, bring them away: if these be good people in a commonweal that do nothing but use their abuses in common houses, I know no law: bring them away.
Ang.How now, sir! What’s your name? and what’s45the matter?
Elb.If it please your honour, I am the poor Duke’s constable, and my name is Elbow: I do lean upon justice, sir, and do bring in here before your good honour two notorious benefactors.
II. 1.50Ang.Benefactors? Well; what benefactors are they? are they not malefactors?
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 Christians55ought to have.
Escal.This comes off well; here’s a wise officer.
Ang.Go to: what quality aretheyof? Elbow is your name? why dost thou not speak, Elbow?
Pom.He cannot, sir; he’s out at elbow.
60Ang.What are you, sir?
Elb.He, sir! a tapster, sir; parcel-bawd; one that serves a bad woman; whose house, sir, was, as they say, plucked down in the suburbs; and now she professes a hot-house, which, I think, is a very ill house too.
65Escal.How know you that?
Elb.My wife, sir, whom I detest before heaven and your honour,—
Escal.How? thy wife?
Elb.Ay, sir;—whom, I thank heaven, is an honest70woman,—
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.
II. 1.75Escal.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 alluncleanlinessthere.
Escal.Bythewoman’s means?
80Elb.Ay, sir, by Mistress Overdone’s means: but as she spit in his face, so she defied him.
Pom.Sir, if it please your honour, this is not so.
Elb.Prove it before these varlets here, thou honourable man; prove it.
85Escal.Do you hear how he misplaces?
Pom.Sir, she came in great with child; and longing, saving your honour’s reverence, for stewed prunes;sir, we had but two in the house, which at that verydistanttime stood, as it were, in a fruit-dish, a dish of some three-pence;90your 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.
Pom.No, indeed, sir, not of a pin; you are therein in the right: but to the point. As I say, this Mistress Elbow,95being, as I say, with child, and being great-bellied, and longing, as I said, for prunes; and havingbut twoin the dish, as I said, Master Froth here, this very man, having eaten the rest, as I said, and, as I say, paying for them very honestly; for, as you know, Master Froth, I could notII. 1.100give you three-pence again.
Froth.No, indeed.
Pom.Very well;—you being then, if you be remembered, cracking the stones of the foresaid prunes,—
Froth.Ay, so I did indeed.
Pom.Why, very well; I telling you then, if you be remembered,105that such a one and such a one were past cure of the thing you wot of, unless they keptverygood diet, as I told you,—
Froth.All this is true.
110Pom.Why, very well, then,—
Escal.Come, you are a tedious fool: to the purpose. What was done to Elbow’s wife, that he hath cause to complain of? Comemeto what was done to her.
Pom.Sir, your honour cannot come to that yet.
115Escal.No, sir,norI mean it not.
Pom.Sir, but you shall come to it, by your honour’s leave. And, I beseech you, lookintoMaster Froth here, sir; a man of fourscore pound a year; whose father died at Hallowmas:—was’t not at Hallowmas, Master Froth?—
120Froth.All-hallondeve.
Pom.Why, very well; I hope here be truths. He, sir, sitting, as I say, in a lowerchair, sir; ’twas in the Bunch of Grapes, where, indeed, you have a delight to sit, have you not?
II. 1.125Froth.I have so; because it is an open room, and good forwinter.
Pom.Why, very well, then; I hope here be truths.
Ang.This will last out a night in Russia,When nights are longest there: I’ll take my leave,130And leave you to the hearing of the cause;Hoping you’ll find good cause to whip them all.
Ang.This will last out a night in Russia,
When nights are longest there: I’ll take my leave,
130And 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 lordship.
Exit Angelo.
Now, sir, come on: what was done to Elbow’s wife, once more?
135Pom.Once, sir? there was nothing done to her once.
Elb.I beseech you, sir, ask him what this man did to my wife.
Pom.I beseech your honour, ask me.
Escal.Well, sir; what did this gentleman to her?
140Pom.I beseech you, sir, look in this gentleman’s face. Good Master Froth, look upon his honour; ’tis for a good purpose. Doth your honour mark his face?
Escal.Ay, sir, very well.
Pom.Nay, I beseech you, mark it well.
145Escal.Well, I do so.
Pom.Doth your honour see any harm in his face?
Escal.Why, no.
Pom.I’ll be supposed upon a book, his face is the worst thing about him. Good, then; if his face be the worstII. 1.150thing about him, how could Master Froth do the constable’s wife any harm? I would know that of your honour.
Escal.He’s in the right. Constable, what say you to it?
Elb.First, an it like you, the house is a respected house; next, this is a respected fellow; and his mistress is155a respected woman.
Pom.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 with160man, woman, or child.
Pom.Sir, she was respected with him before he married with her.
Escal.Which is the wiser here? Justice or Iniquity? Is this true?
165Elb.O thou caitiff! O thou varlet! O thou wicked Hannibal! I respected with her before I was married 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 battery170on thee.
Escal.If he took you a box o’ th’ 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 wickedII. 1.175caitiff?
Escal.Truly, officer, because he hath some offences in him that thou wouldst discover if thou couldst, let him continue in his courses till thou knowest what they are.
Elb.Marry, I thank your worship for it. Thou seest,180thou wicked varlet, now, what’s come upon thee: thou art to continue now, thou varlet; thou art to continue.
Escal.Where were you born, friend?
Froth.Here in Vienna, sir.
Escal.Are you of fourscore pounds a year?
185Froth.Yes, an’t please you, sir.
Escal.So. What trade areyouof, sir?
Pom.A tapster; a poor widow’s tapster.
Escal.Your mistress’ name?
Pom.Mistress Overdone.
190Escal.Hath she had any more than one husband?
Pom.Nine, sir; Overdone by the last.
Escal.Nine! Come hither to me, Master Froth. Master Froth, I would not have you acquainted with tapsters: they will draw you, Master Froth, and you willhang195them. 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, but I am drawn in.
Escal.Well, no more of it, Master Froth: farewell. [Exit Froth.] Come you hither to me, Master tapster.II. 1.200What’s your name, Master tapster?
Pom.Pompey.
Escal.What else?
Pom.Bum, sir.
Escal.Troth, and your bum is the greatest thing about205you; so that, in the beastliest sense, you are Pompey the Great. Pompey, you are partly a bawd, Pompey, howsoever you colour itinbeing a tapster, are you not? come, tell me true: it shall be the better for you.
Pom.Truly, sir, I am a poor fellow that would live.
210Escal.How would you live, Pompey? by being a bawd? What do you think of the trade, Pompey? is it a lawful trade?
Pom.If the law would allow it, sir.
Escal.But the law will not allow it, Pompey;norit215shall not be allowed in Vienna.
Pom.Does your worship mean to geld andsplayall the youth of the city?
Escal.No, Pompey.
Pom.Truly, sir, in my poor opinion, they will to’t,220then. If your worship will take order for the drabs andthe knaves, you need not to fear the bawds.
Escal.Therearepretty orders beginning, I can tell you: it is but heading and hanging.
Pom.If you head and hang all that offend that wayII. 1.225but for tenyeartogether, you’ll be glad to give out a commission for more heads: if this law hold in Vienna tenyear, I’ll rent the fairest house in it after three-pence abay: if you live to see this come to pass, say Pompey told you so.
Escal.Thank you, good Pompey; and, in requital of230your prophecy, hark you: I advise you, let me not find you before me again upon any complaint whatsoever; no, not for dwelling where you 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, for235this time, Pompey, fare you well.
Pom.I thank your worship for your good counsel: [Aside] but I shall follow it as the flesh and fortune shall better determine.
Whip me? No, no; let carman whip his jade:240The valiant heart is not whipt out of his trade.Exit.
Whip me? No, no; let carman whip his jade:
240The valiant heart is not whipt out of his trade.Exit.
Escal.Come hither to me, Master Elbow; come hither, Master constable. How long have you been in this place of constable?
Elb.Seven year and a half, sir.
245Escal.I thought, byyourreadiness in the office, 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 menII. 1.250in your ward sufficient to serve it?
Elb.Faith, sir, few of any wit in such matters: as they are chosen, they are glad to choose me for them; I do it for some piece of money, and go through with all.
Escal.Look you bring me in the names of some six255or seven, the most sufficient of your parish.
Elb.To your worship’s house, sir?
Escal.To my house. Fare you well.Exit Elbow.What’s o’clock, think you?
Escal.To my house. Fare you well.
Exit Elbow.
What’s o’clock, think you?
Just.Eleven, sir.
260Escal.I pray youhometo dinner with me.
Just.I humbly thank you.
Escal.It grieves me for the death of Claudio;But there’s no remedy.
Escal.It grieves me for the death of Claudio;
But there’s no remedy.
Just.Lord Angelo is severe.
Escal.It is but needful:265Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so;Pardon is still the nurse of second woe:But yet,—poor Claudio!There isno remedy.Come, sir.
Escal.
It is but needful:
265Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so;
Pardon is still the nurse of second woe:
But yet,—poor Claudio!There isno remedy.
Come, sir.
Exeunt.
Serv.He’s hearing of a cause;he willcome straight:I’ll tell him of you.
Serv.He’s hearing of a cause;he willcome straight:
I’ll tell him of you.
Prov.Pray you, do. [Exit Servant.] I’ll knowHis pleasure; may be he will relent. Alas,He hathbut as offendedin a dream!5Allsects, all ages smackof thisvice; and heTo die for ’t!
Prov.
Pray you, do. [Exit Servant.] I’ll know
His pleasure; may be he will relent. Alas,
He hathbut as offendedin a dream!
5Allsects, all ages smackof thisvice; and he
To die for ’t!
Ang.Now, what’s the matter, provost?
Ang.
Now, what’s the matter, provost?
Prov.Is it your will Claudio shall die to-morrow?
Ang.Did not I tell thee yea? hadst thou not order?Whydost thouask again?
Ang.Did not I tell thee yea? hadst thou not order?
Whydost thouask again?
Prov.Lest I might be too rash:10Under your good correction, I have seen,When, after execution, Judgement hathRepented o’er his doom.
Prov.
Lest I might be too rash:
10Under your good correction, I have seen,
When, after execution, Judgement 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 spared.
Ang.
Go to; let that be mine:
Do you your office, or give up your place,
And you shall well be spared.
Prov.I crave yourhonour’spardon.15What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet?She’s very near her hour.
Prov.
I crave yourhonour’spardon.
15What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet?
She’s very near her hour.
Ang.Dispose of herTo some morefitterplace, and that with speed.
Ang.
Dispose of her
To some morefitterplace, and that with speed.
Serv.Here is the sister of the man condemn’dDesires access to you.
Serv.Here is the sister of the man condemn’d
Desires access to you.
Ang.
Hath he a sister?
20Prov.Ay, my good lord; a very virtuous maid,And to be shortly of a sisterhood,If not already.
20Prov.Ay, my good lord; a very virtuous maid,
And to be shortly of a sisterhood,
If not already.
Ang.Well, let her be admitted.Exit Servant.See you the fornicatress be removed:Let her have needful, but not lavish, means;There shall be orderfor ’t.
Ang.
Well, let her be admitted.
Exit Servant.
See you the fornicatress be removed:
Let her have needful, but not lavish, means;
There shall be orderfor ’t.
II. 2.25Prov.
God saveyour honour!
Ang.Staya littlewhile. [To Isab.] You’re welcome: what’s your will?
Isab.I am a woeful suitor to your honour,Pleasebut your honour hear me.
Isab.I am a woeful suitor to your honour,
Pleasebut your honour hear me.
Ang.
Well; what’s your suit?
Isab.There is a vice that most I do abhor,30And mostdesire should meet the blow of justice;For which I would not plead, but that I must;For which Imust not plead, but thatI amAt war ’twixt will and will not.
Isab.There is a vice that most I do abhor,
30And mostdesire should meet the blow of justice;
For which I would not plead, but that I must;
For which Imust not plead, but thatI am
At war ’twixt will and will not.
Ang.
Well; the matter?
Isab.I have a brother is condemn’d to die:35I do beseech you, let it be his fault,And not my brother.
Isab.I have a brother is condemn’d to die:
35I do beseech you, let it be his fault,
And not my brother.
Prov.[Aside] 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,40To finethefaultswhose fine stands in record,And let go by the actor.
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,
40To finethefaultswhose 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!
Isab.
O just but severe law!
I had a brother, then.—Heaven keep your honour!
Lucio.[Aside to Isab.] Give’t not o’er so: to him again, entreat him;Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown:45You are too cold; if you should need a pin,You could not withmore tame atongue desire it:To him, I say!
Lucio.[Aside to Isab.] Give’t not o’er so: to him again, entreat him;
Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown:
45You are too cold; if you should need a pin,
You could not withmore tame atongue 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,II. 2.50And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.
Isab.Yes; I do think that you might pardon him,
II. 2.50And 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.Butmight youdo’t, and do the world no wrong,If so your heart were touch’d with that remorseAs mine is tohim.
Isab.Butmight youdo’t, and do the world no wrong,
If so your heart were touch’d with that remorse
As mine is tohim.
55Ang.
He’s sentenced; ’tis too late.
Lucio.[Aside to Isab.]You aretoo cold.
Isab.Too late? why, no; I, that do speak a word,May call itbackagain.Well, believethis,No ceremony that to great ones’longs,60Not 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 graceAs mercy does.If he had been as you, and you as he,65You would have slipt like him; but he, like you,Would not have been so stern.
Isab.Too late? why, no; I, that do speak a word,
May call itbackagain.Well, believethis,
No ceremony that to great ones’longs,
60Not 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,
65You would have slipt like him; but he, like you,
Would not have been so stern.
Ang.
Pray you, be gone.
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.
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.
70Lucio.[Aside to Isab.] Ay, touch him; there’s the vein.
Ang.Your brother is a forfeit of the law,And you but waste your words.
Ang.Your brother is a forfeit of the law,
And you but waste your words.
Isab.Alas, alas!Why, all the soulsthat werewere forfeit once;And He that might the vantage best have tookII. 2.75Found out the remedy. How would you be,If He, which is thetopof judgement, shouldBut judge you as you are? O, think on that;And mercy then will breathe within your lips,Like man new made.
Isab.
Alas, alas!
Why, all the soulsthat werewere forfeit once;
And He that might the vantage best have took
II. 2.75Found out the remedy. How would you be,
If He, which is thetopof judgement, 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;80It is the law, not Icondemnyour brother:Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,It should be thus with him: hemust dieto-morrow.
Ang.
Be you content, fair maid;
80It is the law, not Icondemnyour brother:
Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,
It should be thus with him: hemust dieto-morrow.
Isab.To-morrow! O, that’ssudden!Spare him, spare him!He’s not prepared for death. Even for our kitchens85We kill the fowl of season:shall we serveheavenWith less respect than we do ministerTo our gross selves? Good, good my lord, bethink you;Who is it that hath died for this offence?There’s many have committed it.
Isab.To-morrow! O, that’ssudden!Spare him, spare him!
He’s not prepared for death. Even for our kitchens
85We kill the fowl of season:shall we serveheaven
With less respect than we do minister
To our gross selves? Good, good my lord, bethink you;
Who is it that hath died for this offence?
There’s many have committed it.
Lucio.[Aside to Isab.] Ay, well said.
90Ang.The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept:Those many had not dared to do that evil,Ifthe first that did the edictinfringeHad answer’d for his deed: now ’tis awake,Takes note of what is done; and, like a prophet,95Looks in a glass,that shows whatfuture evils,Either now, or by remissness new-conceived,And so in progress to be hatch’d and born,Are now to have no successive degrees,But,erethey live, to end.
90Ang.The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept:
Those many had not dared to do that evil,
Ifthe first that did the edictinfringe
Had answer’d for his deed: now ’tis awake,
Takes note of what is done; and, like a prophet,
95Looks in a glass,that shows whatfuture evils,
Either now, or by remissness new-conceived,
And so in progress to be hatch’d and born,
Are now to have no successive degrees,
But,erethey live, to end.
Isab.
Yet show some pity.