Should be as holy as severe; Pattern in himself to know, Grace to stand, and virtue go; More nor less to others paying, Than by self-offences weighing. Shame to him, whose cruel striking Kills for faults of his own liking! Twice treble shame on Angelo, To weed my vice, and let his grow! 0, what may man within him hide, Though angel on the outward side! How may likeness, made in crimes, Making practice on the times, Draw with idle spiders 'strings Most pond'rous and substantial things! Craft against vice I must apply: With Angelo to-night shall lie His old betrothed, but despis'd; So disguise shall, by the disguis'd, Pay with falsehood false exacting, And perform an old contracting. [Exit. Duke. I do constantly believe you :-the time is come, even now. I shall crave your forbearance a little; may be, I will call upon you anon, for some advantage to yourself. [Exit. Mari. I am always bound to you. Duke. But shall you on your knowledge find this way? 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; Duke. 'Tis well borne up. I have not yet made known to Mariana A word of this. What, ho! within! come forth! I pray you, be acquainted with this maid; Isab. I do desire the like. Duke. Do you persuade yourself, that I respect you? Mari. Good friar, I know you do, and have found it. Duke. Take then this your companion by the hand, Who hath a story ready for your ear: I shall attend your leisure; but make haste! Mari. 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 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 enterprize 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, Mari. Fear me not! He is Duke. Nor, gentle daugther, fear you not at all: Our corn's to reap, for yet our tithe's to sow ![Exeunt. 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. Prov. Come, sir, leave me your snatches, and yield me a direct answer! To-morrow morning are to die Claudio and Barnardine: here is in our prison a common executioner, who in his office lacks a helper; if you will take it on you to assist him, it shall redeem you from your gyves: if not, you shall have your full time of imprisonment, and your deliv erance with an unpitied whipping; for you have been a notorious bawd. Clo. Sir, I have been an unlawful bawd, time out of mind; but yet I will be content to be a lawful hangman. I would be glad to receive some instruction from my fellow partner. Prov. What ho,Abhorson! Where's Abhorson,there? Enter ABHORSON. Abhor. Do you call, sir? Pro. Sirrah, here's a fellow will help you to-morrow in your execution: if you think it meet, compound with him by the year, and let him abide here with you; if not, use him for the prescut, and dismiss him; he cannot plead his estimation with you; he hath been a bawd. Abhor. A bawd, sir? Fy upon him, he will discredit our mystery! Prov. Goto, sir; you weigh equally; a feather will turn the scale. [Exit. Clo. Pray, sir, by your good favour, (for, surely, sir, a good favour you have, but that you have a hanging look,) do you call, sir, your occupation a mystery? Abhor. Ay, sir, a mystery. Clo. Painting, sir, I have heard say, is a mystery; and your whores, sir, being members of my occupation, using painting, do prove my occupation a mystery: but what mystery there should be in hanging, if I should be hanged, I cannot imagine. Abhor. Sir, it is a mystery. Clo. Proof! Abhor.Every true man's apparel fits your thief:if it be too little for your thief, your true man thinks it big enough; if it be too big for your thief, your thief thinks it little enough: so every true man's apparel fits your thief. Re-enter Provost. Prov. Are you agreed? Clo. Sir, I will serve him; for I do find, your hangmau is a more penitent trade, than your bawd; he doth oftener ask forgiveness. Prov. You, sirrah, provide your block and your axe, to-morrow four o'clock. Abhor. Come on, bawd! I will instruct thee in my trade; follow! Clo. I do desire to learn, sir; and, I hope, if you have occasion to use me for your own turn, you shall find me yare; for truly, sir, for your kindness, Iowe you a good turn. Prov. Call hither Barnardine and Claudio! Enter CLAUDIO. Duke. As near the dawning, provost, as it is, You something know; yet, I believe, there comes Look, here's the warrant, Claudio, for thy death: Enter a Messenger. Prov. Who can do good on him? Prov. I shall obey him. [Exit Messenger. Duke. This is his pardon; purchas'd by such sin, [Aside. For which the pardoner himself is in: Duke. There's some in hope. Prov. It is a bitter deputy. Duke. Not so, not so; his life is parallel'd Even with the stroke and line of his great justice; He doth with holy abstinence subdue Prov. I told you: Lord Angelo, belike, thinking me remiss in mine office, awakens me with this unwonted putting on: methinks, strangely; for he hath not used it before. let's hear. Duke. Pray you, Prov. [Reads.] Whatsoever you may hear to the contrary, let Claudio be executed by four of the clock; and, in the afternoon, Barnardine: for my better satisfaction, let me have Claudio's head sent me by five. Let this be duly performed; with a thought, that more depends on it than we must yet deliver. Thus fail not to do your office, as you will answer it at your peril.-What say you to this, sir? Duke. What is that Barnardine, who is to be execu ted in the afternoon? Prov. A Bohemian born; but here nursed and bred: one that is a prisoner nine years old. Duke. How came it, that the absent duke had not either deliver'd him to his liberty, or executed him? I have heard, it was ever his manner to do so. Prov. His friends still wrought reprieves for him: and, indeed, his fact, till now in the government of lord Angelo, came not to an undoubtful proof. Duke. Is it now apparent? That in himself, which he spurs on his power This is a gentle provost! seldom, when That wounds the unsisting postern with these strokes. Provost returns, speaking to one at the door. Prov. There he must stay, until the officer up Prov. Most manifest, and not denied by himself. Duke. Hath he borne himself penitently in prison? How seems he to be touch'd? Prov. A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully, but as a drunken sleep; careless, reckless, and fearless of what's past, present, or to come; insensible of mortality, and desperately mortal. Duke. He wants advise. Prov. He will hear none: he hath evermore had the liberty of the prison; give him leave to escape hence, he would not: drunk many times a-day, if not many days entirely drunk. We have very often awaked him, as ifto carry him to execution, and showed him a seeming warrant for it: it hath not mov'd him at all. Duke. More of him anon. There is written in your brow, provost, honesty and constancy: if I read it not truly, my ancient skill beguiles me; but in the boldness of my cunning, I will lay myself in hazard. Claudio, whom here you have a warrant to execute, is no greater forfeit to the law, than Angelo, who hath sentenced him: To make you understand this in a manifested effect, I Prov. Alack! how may I do it? having the hour li- Enter ABHORSON. Abhor. Sirrah, bring Barnardine hither! Clo. Master Barnardine !you must rise and be hang'd, master Barnardine! Abhor. What, ho, Barnardine! Barn. [Within.] A pox o' your throats! Who makes that noise there? What are you? Clo. Your friends, sir; the hangman. You must be so good, sir, to rise and be put to death. Barnar. [Within.] Away, you rogue,away! I am sleepy. Abhor. Tell him, he must awake,and that quickly too. Clo. Pray, master Barnardine, awake till you are executed, and sleep afterwards. Prov. Angelo hath seen them both, and will discover Abhor. Go in to him, and fetch him out! the favour. Duke. O, death's a great disguiser: and you may a add to it. Shave the head, and tie the beard and say, it was the desire of the penitent to be so bared before his death: you know the course is common. If any thing fall to you upon this, more than thanks and good fortune, by the saint whom I profess, I will plead against it with my life. Prov. Pardon me, good father; it is against my oath. Duke. Were you sworn to the duke, or to the deputy? Prov. To him and to his substitutes. Clo. He is coming, sir, he is coming; I hear his straw Abhor. Is the axe upon the block, sirrah? Barnar. How now, Abhorson? what's the news with you? Abhor. Truly, sir, I would desire you to clap into your prayers; for, look you, the warrant's come. Barnar. You rogue, I have been drinking all night, I am not fitted for't. Enter Duke. Abhor. Look you, sir, here comes your ghostly father. Do we jest now, think you? Clo. O, the better, sir; for he that drinks all night, Duke. You will think you have made no offence, if and is hanged betimes in the morning, may sleep the the duke avouch the justice of your dealing? sounder all the next day. Prov. But what likelihood is in that? Duke. Not a resemblance, but a certainty. Yet since I see you fearful, that neither my coat, integrity, nor my persuasion, can with ease attempt you, I will go further, than I meant, to pluck all fears out of you. Look you, sir, here is the hand and seal of the duke. You know the character, I doubt not; and the signet is not strange to you. Prov. I know them both. Duke. The contents of this is the return of the duke; you shall anon overread it at your pleasure; where you shall find, within these two days he will be here. This is a thing that Angelo knows not: for he this very day receives letters of strange tenor; perchance, of the duke's death; perchance, entering into some monastery; but, by chance, nothing of what is writ. Look, the unfolding star calls up the shepherd. Put not yourself into amazement, how these things should be: all difficulties are but easy, when they are known. Call your executioner, and off with Barnardine's head. I will give him a present shrift, and advise him for a better place. Yet you are amazed; but this shall absolutely resolve you. Come away; it is almost clear dawn. [Exeunt. SCENE III.-Another room in the same. Enter Clown. Duke. Sir, induced by my charity, and hearing how hastily you are to depart, I am come to advise you, comfort you, and pray with you. Barnar. Friar, not I: I have been drinking hard all night, and I will have more time to prepare me, or they shall beat out my brains with billets: I will not consent to die this day, that's certain. Duke. O, sir, you must: and therefore, I beseech you, look forward on the journey you shall go. Barnar. I swear, I will not die to-day for any man's persuasion. Duke. But hear you, Barnar. Not a word; if you have any thing to say to me, come to my ward: for thence will not I to-day. [Exit. Enter Provost. [Exeunt Abhorson and Clown. Clo.I am as well acquainted here, as I was in our house Prov. Here in the prison, father, Starve-lackey the rapier and dagger-man, and young Prov. This shall be done, good father, presently. Drop-heir that kill'd lusty Pudding, and master Forth- But Barnardine must die this afternoon: right the tilter, and brave master Shoe-tie the great And how shall we continue Claudio, traveller, and wild Half-can that stabb'd Potts, and, To save me from the danger that might come, Ithink, forty more; all great doers in our trade, and If he were known alive? are now for the Lord's sake. Duke. Let this be done.-Put them in secret holds, Isab. Ho, by your leave. Isab. The better, given me by so holy a man. Isab. Nay, but it is not so. Show your wisdom, daughter, in your close patience! Duke. This nor hurts him, nor profits you a jot: The duke comes home to-morrow; eyes; Enter Lucio. Lucio. Good even! Lucio. O, pretty Isabella, I am pale at mine heart, to Duke. You have told me too many of him already, sir, Duke. Did you such a thing? Lucio. Yes, marry, did I : but was fain to forswear it; they would else have married me to the rotten medlar. Duke. Sir, your company is fairer than honest. Rest you well! Lucio. By my troth, I'll go with thee to the lane's end if bawdy talk offend you, we'll have very little of it.Nay, friar, I am a kind of bur, I shall stick. [Exeunt. SCENE IV.--A room in Angelo's house. Enter ANGELO and ESCALUS. Escal. Every letter he hath writ, hath disvouch'd other. Ang. In most uneven and distracted manner. His actions show much like to madness: pray heaven, his wisdom be not tainted! And why meet him at the gates, and re-deliver our authorities there? Escal. I guess not. Ang. And why should we proclaim it in an hour be fore his entering, that if any crave redress of injustice, they should exhibit their petitions in the street? Escal. He shows his reason for that: to have a dispatch of complaints, and to deliver us from devices hereafter, which shall then have no power to stand against us. Ang. Well, I beseech you, let it be proclaim'd: nay, dry your Betimes i' the morn, I'll call you at house: One of our convent, and his confessor, Who do prepare to meet him at the gates, your Give notice to such men of sort and suit, As are to meet him. Escal. I shall, sir: fare you well! Ang. Good night! [Exit. This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnant, There to give up their power. If you can, pace your And dull to all proceedings. A deflower'd maid! wisdom In that good path, that I would wish it go; And you shall have your bosom on this wretch, Isab. I am directed by you. Duke. This letter then to friar Peter give; 'Tis that he sent me of the duke's return. Say, by this token, I desire his company At Mariana's house to-night. Her cause, and yours, And shall be absent. Wend you with this letter: And by an eminent body, that enforc'd The law against it!-But that her tender shame How might she tongue me? Yet reason dares her?-no: With ransom of such shame. 'Would yet he had liv'd! [Giving letters. The provost knows our purpose and our plot. Though sometimes you do blench from this to that, F. Peter. It shall be speeded well. [Exit Friar. Duke. I thank thee, Varrius; thou hast made good Come, we will walk. There's other of our friends SCENE VI.-Street near the city gate. Isab. To speak so indirectly, I am loath; Mari. Berul'd by him! Isab. Besides, he tells me, that, if peradventure I should not think it strange; for 'tis a physic, Mari. I would, friar Peter Isab. O, peace! the friar is come. Enter Friar PETER. F. Peter. Come, I have found you out a stand most fit, The generous and gravest citizens Have hent the gates, and very near upon And given me, justice, justice, justice, justice! Here is lord Angelo shall give you justice; Isab. O, worthy duke, You bid me seek redemption of the devil. Hear me yourself: for that, which I must speak, Or wring redress from you: hear me, O, hear me, here! Isab. By course of justice! Ang. And she will speak most bitterly, and strange. Duke. Away with her!-Poor soul, The duke is ent'ring; therefore hence, away [Exeunt, In all his dressings, characts, titles, forms, SCENEI. A public place near the city gate. MARIANA, (veiled,) ISABELLA, and PETER, at a distance. Enter at opposite doors, Duke, VARRIUS, Lords; ANGELO, ESCALUS, Lucio, Provost, Officers, and Citizens. Duke. My very worthy cousin, fairly met! Our old and faithful friend, we are glad to see you. Ang. You make my bonds still greater. Be an arch-villain: believe it, royal prince, If she be mad, (as I believe no other,) Harp not on that; nor do not banish reason Duke. Many that are not mad, Isab. I am the sister of one Claudio, What would you Duke. O, your desert speaks loud; and I should Condemn'd upon the act of fornication wrong it, To lock it in the wards of covert bosom, Peter and IsabelLA come forward. F. Peter. Now is your time; speak loud, and kneel Isab. Justice, O royal duke! Vail your regard O worthy prince, dishonour not your eye By throwing it on any other object, Till you have heard me in my true complaint, To lose his head; condemn'd by Angelo: Lucio. That's I, an't like your grace: I came to her from Claudio, and desir'd her Isab. That's he, indeed. Duke. You were not bid to speak. Pray you, take note of it: and when you have Lucio. I warrant your honour. Duke. The warrant's for yourself: take heed to it! |