In profiting by them: nay, call us ten times frail;
For we are foft as our complexions are,
And credulous to false prints.
Ang. I think it well;
And from this teftimony of your own fex,
(Since I suppose we're 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're more, you're none.
If you be one, as you are well express'd
By all external warrants, shew it now,
By putting on the destin'd livery.
Ijab. I have no tongue but one; gentle my lord,
Let me intreat you speak the former language.
Ang. Plainly conceive I love you.
Ifab. 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 feems a little fouler than it is,
To pluck on others.
Ang. Believe me on mine honour,
My words express my purpose.
Ifab. 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 out-stretch'd throat I'll tell the world
Aloud what man thou art.
Ang. Who will believe thee, Isabel ?
My unsoil'd name, th' austereness of my life,
My vouch against you, and my place i' th' state,
Will so your accusation over-weigh,
That you shall stifle in your own report,
And smell of calumny. I have begun,
And now I give my sensual race the rein.
Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite,
Lay by all nicety, and prolixious blushes
That banish what they fue for: save thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will.
Or elfe he must not only die the death,
But thy unkindness shall his death draw out
To ling'ring sufferance. Answer me to-morrow,
Or by th' 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. (Exit.
Ifab. To whom should I complain? did I tell this,
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,
That bear in them one and the self-fame tongue,
Either of condemnation or approof *;
Bidding the law make curtsie to their will,
Hooking both right and wrong to th' appetite,
To follow as it draws. I'll to my brother.
Tho' he hath fall'n 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 fister should her body stoop
To fuch 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 foul's reft.
ACT III. SCENE I.
The PRISON.
Enter Duke, Claudio, and Provost.
for pardon from lord Angelo?
Claud. The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope: I've hope to live, and am
Prepar'd to die.
Duke. Be absolute for death; or 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
Servile to all the skiey influences,
That do this habitation where thou keep'st
Approof here is to be taken in the sense of Approbation.
Hourly afflict: meerly thou art death's fool *;
For him thou labour'st by thy flight to shun,
And yet runn'st tow'rd him still. Thou art not noble,
For all th' accommodations that thou bear'st
Are nurs'd by baseness: thou'rt 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'ft; yet grofly fear'st
Thy death, which is no more. Thou'rt 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, forgett'st. Thou art not certain;
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects,
After the moon. Though thou art rich, thou'rt poor;
For like an ass, whose back with ingots bows,
Thou bear'st thy heavy riches but a journey,
And death unloadeth thee. Friend haft thou none;
For thine own bowels which do call thee Sire,
The meer effufion of thy proper loins,
Do curse the Gout, Serpigo, and the Rheum,
For ending thee no sooner. Thou haft nor youth, nor age;
But as it were an after-dinner's sleep,
Dreaming on both; for all thy blessed youth
Becomes an indigent, and doth beg the alms
Of palfied eld; and when thou'rt old and rich,
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty
To make thy riches pleasant. What's in this
That bears the name of life? yet in this life
Lye hid a thousand deaths; yet death we fear,
That makes these odds all even.
Claud. I humbly thank you.
To sue to live, I find I feek to die,
And seeking death, find life: let it come on.
Enter Isabella.
Isab. What, ho? peace here, grace and good company! * In the simplicity of the ancient shews upon our ftage it was common to bring in two figures, one representing a Fool, the other Death or Fate: The turn and contrivance of the piece was to make. the Fool lay many stratagens to avoid Death, which yet brought hin more immediately into the jaws of it.
Prov. Who's there? come in: the wish deserves a welcome.
Duke. Dear Sir, ere long I'll vifit you again.
Claud. Most holy Sir, I thank you.
Isab. My business is a word or two with Claudio.
Prov. And very welcome. Signior, here's your sister.
Duke. Provost, a word with you.
Prov. As many as you please.
Duke. Bring them to speak where I may be conceal'd,
| Exeunt Duke and Provost.
Claud. Now, good sister, what's the comfort?
Ifab. Why, as all comforts are; most good in speed :
Lord Angelo having affairs to heav'n,
Intends you for his swift embassador;
Where you shall be an everlasting leiger.
Therefore your best appointment make with speed,
To-morrow you fet out.
Claud. Is there no remedy?
Ifab. None, but such remedy, as, to save a head,
Must cleave a heart in twain.
Claud. But is there any?
Ifab. Yes, brother, you may live:
There is a devilish mercy in the judge,
If you'll implore it, that will free your life,
But fetter you 'till death.
Claud. Perpetual durance ?
Ifab. Ay, juft; perpetual durance, a restraint,
Tho' all the world's vastidity you had,
To a determin'd scope.
Claud. But in what nature?
Ifab. In such a one, as, your confenting to't, Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear, And leave you naked.
Claud. Let me know the point,
Isab, Oh, I do fear thee, Claudio, and I quake,
Left thou a fev'rous life shouldst entertain,
And fix or seven winters more respect
Than a perpetual honour. Dar'st thou die?
The sense of death is most in apprehenfion,
And the poor beetle that we tread upon,
In corp'ral fufferance finds a pang as great,
As when a giant dies.
Claud. Why give you me this shame ?
Think you I want a resolution fetch'd
From flow'ry tenderness? if I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms.
Ifab. There spake my brother; there my father's grave
Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die:
Thou art too noble to conferve a life
In base appliance. This outward-fainted Deputy,
Whose settled visage and delib'rate word
Nips youth i' th' head, and follies doth emmew
As faulcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil:
His filth within being cast he would appear
A pond as deep as hell.
Claud. The priestly Angelo ?
Ifab. Oh, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'ft body to invest and cover
In priestly guards. Dost thou think, Claudio?
If I would yield him my virginity,
Thou might'ft be freed.
Claud. Oh heav'ns! it cannot be.
Isab. Yes, he would grant thee, for this rank offence,
So to offend him still. This night's the time
That I should do what I abhor to name,
Or else thou dy'st to-morrow.
Claud. Thou shalt not do't.
Isab. Oh, were it but my life,
I'd throw it down for your deliverance
As frankly as a pin.
Claud. Thanks, dearest Ifabel.
Ifab. Be ready, Claudio, for your death to-morrow,
Claud. Yes. Has he then affections in him,
That thus can make him bite the law by th' nofe,
When he would force it? fure it is no fin;
Or of the deadly seven it is the leaft.
Ifab. Which is the least?
Claud. If it were damnable, he being fo wife,
Why, would he for the momentary trick
|