Chapter: SCENE III.


_Another room in the same._

  _Enter POMPEY._

_Pom._ I am as well acquainted here as I was in our
house of profession: one would think it were Mistress Overdone's
own house, for here be many of her old customers.
First, here's young Master Rash; he's in for a commodity
of brown paper and old ginger, nine-score and seventeen              5
pounds; of which he made five marks, ready money: marry,
then ginger was not much in request, for the old women
were all dead. Then is there here one Master Caper, at
the suit of Master Three-pile the mercer, for some four
suits of peach-coloured satin, which now peaches him a              10
beggar. Then have we here young Dizy, and young
Master Deep-vow, and Master Copper-spur, and Master
Starve-lackey the rapier and dagger man, and young Drop-heir
that killed lusty Pudding, and Master Forthlight the
tilter, and brave Master Shooty the great traveller, and            15
wild Half-can that stabbed Pots, and, I think, forty more;
all great doers in our trade, and are now 'for the Lord's
sake.'

  _Enter ABHORSON._

_Abhor._ Sirrah, bring Barnardine hither.

_Pom._ Master Barnardine! you must rise and be hanged,              20
Master Barnardine!

_Abhor._ What, ho, Barnardine!

_Bar._ [_Within_] A pox o' your throats! Who makes that
noise there? What are you?

_Pom._ Your friends, sir; the hangman. You must be                  25
so good, sir, to rise and be put to death.

_Bar._ [_Within_] Away, you rogue, away! I am sleepy.

_Abhor._ Tell him he must awake, and that quickly too.

_Pom._ Pray, Master Barnardine, awake till you are
executed, and sleep afterwards.                                     30

_Abhor._ Go in to him, and fetch him out.

_Pom._ He is coming, sir, he is coming; I hear his straw
rustle.

_Abhor._ Is the axe upon the block, sirrah?

_Pom._ Very ready, sir.                                             35

  _Enter BARNARDINE._

_Bar._ 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.

_Bar._ You rogue, I have been drinking all night; I am
not fitted for 't.                                                  40

_Pom._ O, the better, sir; for he that drinks all night,
and is hanged betimes in the morning, may sleep the
sounder all the next day.

_Abhor._ Look you, sir; here comes your ghostly father:
do we jest now, think you?                                          45

  _Enter DUKE disguised as before._

_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.

_Bar._ Friar, not I: I have been drinking hard all night,
and I will have more time to prepare me, or they shall beat         50
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.

_Bar._ I swear I will not die to-day for any man's persuasion.      55

_Duke._ But hear you.

_Bar._ Not a word: if you have any thing to say to me,
come to my ward; for thence will not I to-day.    [_Exit._

_Duke._ Unfit to live or die: O gravel heart!                       60
After him, fellows; bring him to the block.

    [_Exeunt Abhorson and Pompey._

  _Re-enter PROVOST._

_Prov._ Now, sir, how do you find the prisoner?

_Duke._ A creature unprepared, unmeet for death;
And to transport him in the mind he is
Were damnable.

_Prov._      Here in the prison, father,                            65
There died this morning of a cruel fever
One Ragozine, a most notorious pirate,
A man of Claudio's years; his beard and head
Just of his colour. What if we do omit
This reprobate till he were well inclined;                          70
And satisfy the Deputy with the visage
Of Ragozine, more like to Claudio?

_Duke._ O, 'tis an accident that heaven provides!
Dispatch it presently; the hour draws on
Prefix'd by Angelo: see this be done,                               75
And sent according to command; whiles I
Persuade this rude wretch willingly to die.

_Prov._ This shall be done, good father, presently.
But Barnardine must die this afternoon:
And how shall we continue Claudio,                                  80
To save me from the danger that might come
If he were known alive?

_Duke._               Let this be done.
Put them in secret holds, both Barnardine and Claudio:
Ere twice the sun hath made his journal greeting
To the under generation, you shall find                             85
Your safety manifested.

_Prov._ I am your free dependant.

_Duke._ Quick, dispatch, and send the head to Angelo.

    [_Exit Provost._

Now will I write letters to Angelo,--
The provost, he shall bear them,--whose contents                    90
Shall witness to him I am near at home,
And that, by great injunctions, I am bound
To enter publicly: him I'll desire
To meet me at the consecrated fount,
A league below the city; and from thence,                           95
By cold gradation and well-balanced form,
We shall proceed with Angelo.

  _Re-enter PROVOST._

_Prov._ Here is the head; I'll carry it myself.

_Duke._ Convenient is it. Make a swift return;
For I would commune with you of such things                        100
That want no ear but yours.

_Prov._                   I'll make all speed.    [_Exit._

_Isab._ [_Within_] Peace, ho, be here!

_Duke._ The tongue of Isabel. She's come to know
If yet her brother's pardon be come hither:
But I will keep her ignorant of her good,                          105
To make her heavenly comforts of despair,
When it is least expected.

  _Enter ISABELLA._

_Isab._                  Ho, by your leave!

_Duke._ Good morning to you, fair and gracious daughter.

_Isab._ The better, given me by so holy a man.
Hath yet the Deputy sent my brother's pardon?                      110

_Duke._ He hath released him, Isabel, from the world:
His head is off, and sent to Angelo.

_Isab._ Nay, but it is not so.

_Duke._ It is no other: show your wisdom, daughter,
In your close patience.                                            115

_Isab._ O, I will to him and pluck out his eyes!

_Duke._ You shall not be admitted to his sight.

_Isab._ Unhappy Claudio! wretched Isabel!
Injurious world! most damned Angelo!

_Duke._ This nor hurts him nor profits you a jot;                  120
Forbear it therefore; give your cause to heaven.
Mark what I say, which you shall find
By every syllable a faithful verity:
The Duke comes home to-morrow;--nay, dry your eyes;
One of our covent, and his confessor,                              125
Gives me this instance: already he hath carried
Notice to Escalus and Angelo;
Who do prepare to meet him at the gates,
There to give up their power. If you can, pace your wisdom
In that good path that I would wish it go;                         130
And you shall have your bosom on this wretch,
Grace of the Duke, revenges to your heart,
And general honour.

_Isab._           I am directed by you.

_Duke._ This letter, then, to Friar Peter give;
'Tis that he sent me of the Duke's return:                         135
Say, by this token, I desire his company
At Mariana's house to-night. Her cause and yours
I'll perfect him withal; and he shall bring you
Before the Duke; and to the head of Angelo
Accuse him home and home. For my poor self,                        140
I am combined by a sacred vow,
And shall be absent. Wend you with this letter:
Command these fretting waters from your eyes
With a light heart; trust not my holy order,
If I pervert your course.--Who's here?                             145

  _Enter LUCIO._

_Lucio._ Good even. Friar, where's the provost?

_Duke._ Not within, sir.

_Lucio._ O pretty Isabella, I am pale at mine heart to
see thine eyes so red: thou must be patient. I am fain
to dine and sup with water and bran; I dare not for my             150
head fill my belly; one fruitful meal would set me to't.
But they say the Duke will be here to-morrow. By my
troth, Isabel, I loved thy brother: if the old fantastical
Duke of dark corners had been at home, he had lived.

    [_Exit Isabella._

_Duke._ Sir, the Duke is marvellous little beholding to            155
your reports; but the best is, he lives not in them.

_Lucio._ Friar, thou knowest not the Duke so well as I
do: he's a better woodman than thou takest him for.

_Duke._ Well, you'll answer this one day. Fare ye well.

_Lucio._ Nay, tarry; I'll go along with thee: I can tell           160
thee pretty tales of the Duke.

_Duke._ You have told me too many of him already,
sir, if they be true; if not true, none were enough.

_Lucio._ I was once before him for getting a wench
with child.                                                        165

_Duke._ Did you such a thing?

_Lucio._ Yes, marry, did I: but I 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.                                                          170

_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 burr; I shall stick.    [_Exeunt._


  NOTES: IV, 3.

  SCENE III.] SCENE VIII. Pope.
  5: _paper_] _pepper_ Rowe.
  11: _Dizy_] F2 F3 F4. _Dizie_ F1. _Dizzy_ Pope. _Dicey_ Steevens conj.
  14: _Forthlight_] Ff. _Forthright_ Warburton.
  15: _Shooty_] F2 F3 F4. _Shootie_ F1. _Shooter_ Warburton.
    _Shoo-tye_ Capell.
  17: _are_] _cry_ Anon. conj. See note (XIX).
  _now_] _now in_ Pope.
  25: _friends_] F1 F2. _friend_ F3 F4.
  32: _his_] _the_ Pope.
  49: _I_] om. F4.

    [Transcriber's Note:
    The text does not specify which occurrence of "I" is meant.
    The speech begins "Not I: I have..."]

  57: _hear_] _heave_ F2.
  59: SCENE IX. Pope.
  60: _gravel heart_] _grovelling beast_ Collier MS.
  61: Given by Hanmer to _Prov._
  69: _his_] F1. om. F2 F3 F4.
  _do_] om. Pope.
  76: _whiles_] _while_ Pope.
  83: _both Barnardine and Claudio_] _Claudio and Barnardine_ Hanmer.
    See note (XX).
  85: _the under_] Hanmer. _yond_ Ff. _yonder_ Pope.
  86: _manifested_] _manifest_ Hanmer.
  88: _Quick_] _Quick, then,_ Capell.
  96: _well-_] Rowe. _weale-_ F1 F2 F3. _weal_ F4.
  102: SCENE X. Pope.
  103: _She's come_] _She comes_ Pope.
  106: _comforts_] _comfort_ Hanmer.
  107: _Ho,_] om. Pope.
  113, 114, 115: Ff make two lines ending at _other ... patience._
    Text as proposed by Spedding.
  114, 115: _show ... patience_] _In your close patience, daughter,
    shew your wisdom_ Capell.
  114: _your wisdom_] _wisdom_ Pope.
  115: _close_] _closest_ Pope.
  119: _Injurious_] _perjurious_ Collier MS.
  120: _nor hurts_] _not hurts_ F4. _hurts not_ Rowe.
  122: _say_] _say to you_ Collier MS.
  _find_] _surely find_ Pope.
  124: _nay_] om. Pope.
  125: _covent_] Ff. _convent_ Rowe.
  126: _instance_] _news_ Pope.
  129: _If you can, pace_] Rowe. _If you can pace_ Ff. _Pace_ Pope.
    S. Walker thinks a line is lost after 131.
  129, 130: _If you can pace ... wish it, go,_ Edd. conj.
  137: _to-night_] om. Pope.
  141: _combined_] _confined_ Johnson conj. (withdrawn).
  145: _Who's_] _whose_ F1.
  146: SCENE XI. Pope.
  154: [Exit ISABELLA] Theobald. om. Ff.
  155: _beholding_] Ff. _beholden_ Rowe.
  163: _not true_] _not_ Rowe.
  172: _it_] om. F2.



SCENE IV.


_A room in ANGELO'S house._

  _Enter ANGELO and ESCALUS._

_Escal._ Every letter he hath writ hath disvouched 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 redeliver our authorities there?                                 5

_Escal._ I guess not.

_Ang._ And why should we proclaim it in an hour before
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           10
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 proclaimed betimes
i' the morn; I'll call you at your house: give notice to such
men of sort and suit as are to meet him.                            15

_Escal._ I shall, sir. Fare you well.

_Ang._ Good night.    [_Exit Escalus._

This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnant,
And dull to all proceedings. A deflower'd maid!
And by an eminent body that enforced                                20
The law against it! But that her tender shame
Will not proclaim against her maiden loss,
How might she tongue me! Yet reason dares her no;
For my authority bears of a credent bulk,
That no particular scandal once can touch                           25
But it confounds the breather. He should have lived,
Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous sense,
Might in the times to come have ta'en revenge,
By so receiving a dishonour'd life
With ransom of such shame. Would yet he had lived!                  30
Alack, when once our grace we have forgot,
Nothing goes right: we would, and we would not.    [_Exit._


  NOTES: IV, 4.

  SCENE IV.] SCENE XII. Pope.
  A room ... house.] Capell. The palace. Rowe.
  2, sqq.: Angelo's speeches in this scene Collier prints as verse.
  5: _redeliver_] Capell. _re-liver_] F1. _deliver_ F2 F3 F4.
  13: A colon is put after _proclaim'd_ by Capell, who prints
    lines 13-16 as verse.
  19: _And_] om. Hanmer.
  23: _dares her no;_] Ff. _dares her:_ Pope. _dares her: no,_ Hanmer.
    _dares her No_ Warburton. _dares her? no:_ Capell.
    _dares her note_ Theobald conj. _dares her not_ Steevens conj.
    _dares her on_ Grant White (Becket conj.).
  _reason ... no_] _treason dares her?--No_ Jackson conj.
  24: _bears of a credent bulk_] F1 F2 F3.
    _bears off a credent bulk_ F4. _bears off all credence_ Pope.
    _bears a credent bulk_ Theobald.
    _bears such a credent bulk_ Collier MS.
    _here's of a credent bulk_ Singer. _bears so credent bulk_ Dyce.
    _bears up a credent bulk_ Grant White.



SCENE V.

_Fields without the town._

  _Enter DUKE in his own habit, and FRIAR PETER._

_Duke._ These letters at fit time deliver me:
                                                [_Giving letters._
The provost knows our purpose and our plot.
The matter being afoot, keep your instruction,
And hold you ever to our special drift;
Though sometimes you do blench from this to that,                    5
As cause doth minister. Go call at Flavius' house,
And tell him where I stay: give the like notice
To Valentius, Rowland, and to Crassus,
And bid them bring the trumpets to the gate;
But send me Flavius first.

_Fri. P._           It shall be speeded well.    [_Exit._           10

  _Enter VARRIUS._

_Duke._ I thank thee, Varrius; thou hast made good haste:
Come, we will walk. There's other of our friends
Will greet us here anon, my gentle Varrius.    [_Exeunt._


  NOTES: IV, 5.

  SCENE V.] SCENE XIII. Pope.
  FRIAR PETER] See note (XXI).
  6: _Go_] om. Hanmer.
  _Flavius'_] Rowe. _Flavio's_ Ff.
  8: _To Valentius_] _To Valencius_ Ff. _Unto Valentius_ Pope.
    _To Valentinus_ Capell.



SCENE VI.


_Street near the city-gate._

  _Enter ISABELLA and MARIANA._

_Isab._ To speak so indirectly I am loath:
I would say the truth; but to accuse him so,
That is your part: yet I am advised to do it;
He says, to veil full purpose.

_Mari._                      Be ruled by him.

_Isab._ Besides, he tells me that, if peradventure                   5
He speak against me on the adverse side,
I should not think it strange; for 'tis a physic
That's bitter to sweet end.

_Mari._ I would Friar Peter--

_Isab._                     O, peace! the friar is come.

  _Enter FRIAR PETER._

_Fri. P._ Come, I have found you out a stand most fit,              10
Where you may have such vantage on the Duke,
He shall not pass you. Twice have the trumpets sounded;
The generous and gravest citizens
Have hent the gates, and very near upon
The Duke is entering: therefore, hence, away!    [_Exeunt._         15


  NOTES: IV, 6.

  SCENE VI.] SCENE XIV. Pope.
  2: _I would_] _I'd_ Pope.
  3: _I am_] _I'm_ Pope.
  4: _to veil full_] Malone. _to vaile full_ F1 F2 F3.
    _to vail full_ F4. _t' availful_ Theobald. _to 'vailful_ Hanmer.

 Pompey remarks that he is as well acquainted with the prison as with Mistress Overdone's brothel. He adds that many of the same people frequent both places, and lists them. Abhorson enters, telling Pompey to bring Barnadine. Barnadine tells them that he has been drinking all night and does not want to die today. The Duke comes to offer prayer, and Barnadine holds firm, saying that he will not die. The Provost tells the Duke that a notorious pirate, of about Claudio's age, died in prison the night before, and that they can use his head instead of Barnadine's. The Duke says that it "is an accident that heaven provides" . He tells the provost to hide both Barnadine and Claudio and send the head immediately to Angelo. Isabella enters, asking if the pardon has arrived. The Duke tells her that her brother has already been executed, his head sent to Angelo. Isabella wants to go to Angelo, but the Duke tells her that she will not be admitted. Instead, he says, she should wait until the Duke's return and have Angelo punished by his superior. He gives her a letter to take to Friar Peter. Lucio enters and tells Isabella that he is mourning her brother's death. He also says that if the Duke had been in Vienna, Claudio would not have died. Isabella exits, and Lucio begins to talk about the Duke's relations with women again. The Duke says that he does not want to hear more stories. Lucio tells him that he was once before the Duke for impregnating a woman, but that he denied it because he did not want to marry her. Angelo and Escalus discuss the Duke's letter. They do not understand why they have to meet him at the gates. The letter also orders them to proclaim that anyone with a complaint should present a petition in the street, ostensibly to ensure that no one lodges a complaint against Angelo later on. Escalus leaves, and Angelo wonders what Isabella might say. He hopes that she will be too modest to tell what has happened. He also says that he would have let Claudio go, but was worried about later revenge. The Duke arrives outside the town, in his own clothes, with Friar Peter. He tells the friar to deliver some letters, and also to bring Flavius to him. Varrius enters, and they walk together. Isabella and Mariana are standing by the city gate. Isabella is nervous about accusing Angelo, but Mariana tells her to obey the Duke and the Friar. Friar Peter approaches and tells them that he will find a place for them near the Duke.

