Elbow, Clown, and Officers.
Elb.
Nay, if there be no remedy for it, but that
you will needs buy and sell men and women
like beasts, we shall have all the world drink brown
and white bastard.1 note
Duke.
Oh, heav'ns! what stuff is here?
Clown.
'Twas never merry world since of two usuries2 note
the merriest was put down, and the worser allow'd
-- 326 --
by order of law, a furr'd gown to keep him
warm, and furr'd with ox and lamb-skins too, to signifie,
that craft, being richer than innocency, stands
for the facing.
Elb.
Come your way, Sir.—Bless you, good father
Friar.
Duke.
And you, good brother * notefather; what offence
hath this man made you, Sir?
Elb.
Marry, Sir, he hath offended the law; and, Sir,
we take him to be a Thief too, Sir; for we have
found upon him, Sir, a strange pick-lock, which we
have sent to the Deputy.
Duke.
Fie, Sirrah, a bawd, a wicked bawd!
The evil that thou causest to be done,
That is thy means to live. Dost thou but think,
What 'tis to cram a maw, or cloath a back,
From such a filthy vice? say to thyself,
From their abominable and beastly touches
I drink, I eat, array myself, and live.3 note
Canst thou believe thy living is a life,
So stinkingly depending! go mend, mend.
Clown.
Indeed, it doth stink in some sort, Sir; but
yet, Sir, I would prove—
-- 327 --
Duke.
Nay, if the devil hath giv'n thee proofs for sin,
Thou wilt prove his. Take him to prison, officer;
Correction and instruction must both work,
Ere this rude beast will profit.
Elb.
He must before the Deputy, Sir; he has given
him warning; the Deputy cannot abide a whore-master;
if he be a whore-monger, and comes before him,
he were as good go a mile on his errand.
Duke.
That we were all, as some would seem to be,
Free from all faults, as faults from seeming free!4 note
-- 328 --
Samuel Johnson [1765], The plays of William Shakespeare, in eight volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of Various Commentators; To which are added notes by Sam. Johnson (Printed for J. and R. Tonson [and] C. Corbet [etc.], London) [word count] [S11001].
