SONG.
Take, oh, take those lips away,1 note
That so sweetly were forsworn;
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mis-lead the morn;
But my kisses bring again,
Seals of love, but seal'd in vain.
Enter Duke.
Mari.
Break off thy song, and haste thee quick away:
Here comes a man of comfort, whose advice
Hath often still'd my brawling discontent.—
I cry you mercy, Sir, and well could wish,
You had not found me here so musical;
Let me excuse me, and believe me so,
My mirth it much displeas'd, but pleas'd my woe.2 note
-- 338 --
Duke.
'Tis good; tho' musick oft hath such a charm
To make bad, good; and good provoke to harm.
I pray you, tell me, hath any body enquir'd for me
here to-day? much upon this time, have I promis'd
here to meet.
Mari.
You have not been enquir'd after: I have
sate here all day.
Duke.
I do constantly3 note believe you:
Enter Isabel.
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.
Mari.
I am always bound to you.
[Exit.
SCENE II.
Duke.
Very well met, and welcome.
What is the news from this good deputy?
Isab.
He hath a garden circummur'd with brick,4 note
Whose western side is with a vineyard backt;
And to that vineyard is a planched gate,
That makes his opening with this bigger key;
This other doth command a little door,
Which from the vineyard to the garden leads;
There, on the heavy middle of the night,
Have I my promise made to call upon him.
Duke.
But shall you on your knowledge find this way?
Isab.
I've ta'en a due and wary note upon't.
With whisp'ring and most guilty diligence,
-- 339 --
In action all of precept,5 note
he did shew me
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'th' dark;
And that I have possest him,6 note my most stay
Can be but brief; for I have made him know,
I have a servant comes with me along,
That stays upon me; whose persuasion is,
I come about my brother.
Duke.
'Tis well born up.
I have not yet made known to Mariana
A word of this. What, hoa! within! come forth!
SCENE III.
Enter Mariana.
I pray you, be acquainted with this maid;
She comes to do you good.
Isab.
I do desire the like.
Duke.
Do you persuade yourself that I respect you?
Mari.
Good Friar, I know you do; and I 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;
The vaporous night approaches.
Mari.
Wilt please you to walk aside?
[Exeunt Mar. and Isab.
-- 340 --
Duke.
O place and greatness!7 note
millions of false* note eyes
Are stuck upon thee: volumes of report
Run with these false and most contrarious quests† note
Upon thy doings: thousand 'scapes of wit
Make thee the father of their idle dreams,
And rack thee in their fancies!
SCENE IV.
Enter Mariana, and Isabel.
Welcome; how agreed.
Isab.
She'll take the enterprize upon her, father,
If you advise it.
Duke.
'Tis not my consent,
But my intreaty too.
Isab.
Little have you to say,
When you depart from him, but soft and low,
“Remember now my brother.”
Mari.
Fear me not.
Duke.
Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all:
-- 341 --
He is your husband on a pre-contract;
To bring you thus together, 'tis no sin;
Sith that the justice of your title to him
Doth flourish the deceit.8 note Come, let us go;
Our corn's to reap; for yet our tithe's to sow.9 note
[Exe.
SCENE V.
Changes to the Prison.
Enter Provost and Clown.
Prov.
Come hither, sirrah: can you cut off a
man's head?
Clown.
If the man be a bachelor, Sir, I can: but
if he be a marry'd 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 deliverance with
an unpitied whipping; for you have been a notorious
bawd.
Clown.
Sir, I have been an unlawful bawd, time
-- 342 --
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 hoa, Abhorson! where's Abhorson,
there?
Enter Abhorson.
Abhor.
Do you call, Sir?
Prov.
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 present, and dismiss him.
He cannot plead his estimation with you, he hath been
a bawd.
Abhor.
A bawd, Sir? fie upon him, he will discredit
our mistery.1 note
Prov.
Go to, Sir, you weigh equally; a feather
will turn the scale.
[Exit.
Clown.
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
mistery?
Abhor.
Ay, Sir; a mistery.
Clown.
Painting, Sir, I have heard say, is a mistery;
and your whores, Sir, being members of my occupation,
using painting, do prove my occupation a
mistery: but what mistery there should be in hanging,
if I should be hang'd, I cannot imagine.2 note
* * *
-- 343 --
Abhor.
Sir, it is a mistery.
Clown.
Proof—
Abhor.
Every true man's apparel fits your thief.
-- 344 --
Clown.
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?
Clown.
Sir, I will serve him: for I do find, your
hangman is a more penitent trade than your bawd; he
doth oftner ask forgiveness.
Prov.
You, sirrah, provide your block and your
ax to-morrow, four o'clock.
Abhor.
Come on, bawd, I will instruct thee in my
trade. Follow.
Clown.
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 I owe
you a good turn.
[Exit.
Prov.
Call hither Barnardine, and Claudio:
One has my pity; not a jot the other,
Being a murd'rer, tho' he were my brother.
SCENE VI.
Enter Claudio.
Look, here's the warrant, Claudio, for thy death;
'Tis now dead midnight, and by eight to-morrow
Thou must be made immortal. Where's Barnardine?
Claud.
As fast lock'd up in sleep, as guiltless labour
When it lyes starkly3 note in the traveller's bones.
He'll not awake.
Prov.
Who can do good on him?
Well, go, prepare yourself. [Exit Claud.] But, hark, what noise?
[Knock within.
-- 345 --
Heav'n give your spirits comfort!—by and by;—
I hope, it is some pardon, or reprieve,
For the most gentle Claudio. Welcome, father.
Enter Duke.
Duke.
The best and wholesom'st spirits of the night
Invellop you, good Provost! who call'd here of late?
Prov.
None, since the curfew rung.
Duke.
Not Isabel?
Prov.
No.
Duke.
They will then, ere't be long.
Prov.
What comfort is for Claudio?
Duke.
There's some in hope.
Prov.
It is a bitter deputy.
Duke.
Not so, not so; his life is parallel'd
Ev'n with the stroke* note and line of his great justice;
He doth with holy abstinence subdue
That in himself, which he spurs on his pow'r
4 noteTo qualifie in others. Were he meal'd5 note
With that, which he corrects, then were he tyrannous;
But this being so, he's just. Now they are come.
[Knock. Provost goes out.
This is a gentle Provost; seldom, when
The steeled goaler is the friend of men.
How now? what noise? that spirit's possest with haste,6 note
-- 346 --
That wounds th' unresisting postern with these strokes.
[Provost returns.
Prov.
There he must stay, until the officer
Arise to let him in; he is call'd up.
Duke.
Have you no countermand for Claudio yet,
But he must die to-morrow?
Prov.
None, Sir, none.
Duke.
As near the dawning, Provost, as it is,
You shall hear more ere morning.
Prov.
Happily,
You something know; yet, I believe, there comes
No countermand; no such example have we:
Besides, upon the very siege of justice,
Lord Angelo hath to the publick ear
Profest the contrary.
SCENE VII.
Enter a Messenger.
Duke.
This is his lordship's man.
Prov.
And here comes Claudio's pardon.
Mess.
My lord hath sent you this note, and by me
this further charge, that you swerve not from the smallest
article of it, neither in time, matter, or other circumstance.
Good morrow; for as I take it, it is almost
day.
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:
Hence hath offence his quick celerity,
When it is borne in high authority;
-- 347 --
When vice makes mercy, mercy's so extended,
That, for the fault's love, is th' offender friended.
Now, Sir, what news?
Prov.
I told you: lord Angelo, be-like, thinking
me remiss in mine office, awakens me with this unwonted
putting on; methinks, strangely; for he hath
not us'd it before.
Duke.
Pray you, let's hear.
Provost reads the letter.
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 perform'd,
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 executed
in the afternoon?
Prov.
A Bohemian born; but here nurst up 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?
Prov.
Most manifest, and not deny'd by himself.
Duke.
Hath he born himself penitent 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
-- 348 --
fearless of what's past, present, or to come; insensible
of mortality, and desperately mortal.7 note
Duke.
He wants advice.
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
awak'd him, as if to carry him to execution, and
shew'd 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
sentenc'd him. To make you understand this in a manifested
effect, I crave but four days respite; for the
which you are to do me both a present and a dangerous
courtesy.
Prov.
Pray, Sir, in what?
Duke.
In the delaying death.
Prov.
Alack! how may I do it, having the hour
limited, and an express command, under penalty, to
deliver his head in the view of Angelo? I may make
my case as Claudio's, to cross this in the smallest.
Duke.
By the vow of mine Order, I warrant you,
if my instructions may be your guide. Let this Barnardine
be this morning executed, and his head borne to
Angelo.
Prov.
Angelo hath seen them both, and will discover
the favour.
Duke.
Oh, death's a great disguiser, and you may
-- 349 --
add to it. Shave the head, and tie the beard,6Q0035 and say
it was the desire of the penitent to be so barb'd 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.
Duke.
You will think you have made no offence,
if the Duke avouch the justice of your dealing?
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 overr-ead it at your pleasure;
where you shall find, within these two days he will be
here. This is a thing, which Angelo knows not, for
he this very day receives letters of strange tenor; perchance,
of the Duke's death; perchance, of his entering
into some monastery; but, by chance, nothing
of what is writ.8 note 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
-- 350 --
amaz'd, but this shall absolutely resolve you. Come
away, it is almost clear dawn.
[Exeunt.
SCENE VIII.
Enter Clown.
Clown.
I am as well acquainted here, as I was in
our house of profession; one would think, it were
mistress Over-done's own house; for here be many of
her old customers. First, here's young Mr. Rash;9 note
he's in for a commodity of brown pepper and old ginger,
ninescore and seventeen 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 Mr. Caper, at the suit
of master Three-Pile the mercer; for some four suits
of peach-colour'd sattin, which now peaches him a
beggar. Then have we here young Dizzy, and young
Mr. Deep-vow, and Mr. Copper-spur, and master
Starve-lacky the rapier and dagger-man, and young
Drop-heir that kill'd lusty Pudding, and Mr. Forthlight
the tilter, and brave Mr. Shooty the great traveller,
and wild Half-canne that stabb'd Pots, and, I think,
forty more; all great doers in our trade, and are now
in for the Lord's sake.1 note
-- 351 --
Enter Abhorson.
Abhor.
Sirrah, bring Barnardine hither.
Clown.
Master Barnardine, you must rise and be
hang'd, master Barnardine.
Abhor.
What, hoa, Barnardine!
Barnar. [within.]
A pox o' your throats; who
makes that noise there? what are you?
Clown.
Your friend, 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.
Clown.
Pray, master Barnardine, awake 'till you
are executed, and sleep afterwards.
Abhor.
Go in to him, and fetch him out.
Clown.
He is coming, Sir, he is coming; I hear
the straw rustle.
Enter Barnardine.
Abhor.
Is the ax upon the block, Sirrah?
Clown.
Very ready, Sir.
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.
Clown.
Oh, the better, Sir; for he that drinks all
night, and is hang'd betimes in the morning, may sleep
the sounder all the next day.
Enter Duke.
Abhor.
Look you, Sir, here comes your ghostly father;
do we jest now, think you?
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.
-- 352 --
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.
Oh, 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.
SCENE IX.
Enter Provost.
Duke.
Unfit to live, or die: oh, gravel heart?—
After him, fellows: bring him to the block.* note
[Exeunt Abhorson and Clown.
Prov.
Now, Sir, how do you find the prisoner?
Duke.
A creature unprepar'd, unmeet for death;
And, to transport him2 note in the mind he is,
Were damnable.
Prov.
Here in the prison, father,
There dy'd 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 omit
This reprobate, 'till he were well inclin'd;
And satisfy the deputy with the visage
Of Ragozine, more like to Claudio?
Duke.
O, 'tis an accident, that heav'n provides:
Dispatch it presently. The hour draws on
-- 353 --
Prefixt by Angelo. See, this be done,
And sent according to command; while 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,
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 th' under generation,3 note you shall find
Your safety manifested.
Prov.
I am your free dependent.
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
Shall witness to him, I am near at home;
And that, by great injunctions I am bound
To enter publickly; him I'll desire
To meet me at the consecrated fount,
A league below the city; and from thence,
By cold gradation and weal-balanced form,
We shall proceed with Angelo.
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,
That want no ears but yours.
Prov.
I'll make all speed.
[Exit.
Isab. [within.]
Peace, hoa, be here!
-- 354 --
Duke.
The tongue of Isabel.—She comes to know,
If yet her brother's pardon be come hither:
But I will keep her ignorant of her good,
To make her heav'nly comforts of despair,
When it is least expected.* note
SCENE X.
Enter Isabel.
Isab.
Hoa, by your leave.—
Duke.
Good morning to you, fair and gracious daughter.
Isab.
The better, giv'n me by so holy a man.
Hath yet the deputy sent my brother's pardon?
Duke.
He hath releas'd 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.
Shew your wisdom, daughter, in your closest patience.
Isab.
Oh, 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;
Forbear it therefore, give your cause to heav'n.
Mark, what I say; which you shall surely find
By ev'ry syllable a faithful verity.
The Duke comes home to-morrow; dry your eyes;
One of our convent, and his confessor,
Gave me this instance: already he hath carry'd
Notice to Escalus and Angelo,
Who do prepare to meet him at the gates,
There to give up their pow'r. If you can, pace your wisdom
In that good path that I would wish it go,
-- 355 --
And you shall have your bosom4 note on this wretch,
Grace of the Duke, revenges to your heart,
And gen'ral honour.
Isab.
I'm 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
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,
I am combined5 note 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?
SCENE XI.
Enter Lucio.
Lucio.
Good even;—
Friar, where's the Provost?
Duke.
Not within, Sir.
Lucio.
Oh, 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 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 lov'd thy brother: if the
old6 note fantastical Duke of dark corners had been at
home, he had liv'd.
[Exit Isabella.
-- 356 --
Duke.
Sir, the Duke is marvellous little beholden
to 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,7 note than thou tak'st 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 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.
Duke.
Did you such a thing?
Lucio.
Yes, marry, did I; but I was fain to forswear
it; they would else have marry'd 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 XII.
Changes to the Palace.
Enter Angelo and Escalus.
Escal.
Every letter, he hath writ, hath disvouch'd the other.
Ang.
In most uneven and distracted manner. His
actions shew much like to madness: pray heav'n, his
wisdom be not tainted. And why meet him at the
gates, and deliver our authorities there?
Escal.
I guess not.
Ang.
And why should we proclaim it in an hour before
-- 357 --
his entring, that if any crave redress of injustice,
they should exhibit their petitions in the street?
Escal.
He shews 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 betimes
i'th' morn; I'll call you at your house: give
notice to such men of sort and suit,8 note as are to meet
him.
Escal.
I shall, Sir: fare you well.
[Exit.
Ang.
Good night.
This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnant,
And dull to all proceedings. A defloured maid!
And by an eminent body, that enforc'd
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.9 note
For my authority bears a credent bulk;1 note
That no particular scandal once can touch,
But it confounds the breather. He should have liv'd,
Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous sense,
-- 358 --
Might in the times to come have ta'en revenge;
For so receiving a dishonour'd life,
With ransom of such shame. 'Would yet, he had liv'd!
Alack, when once our grace we have forgot,
Nothing goes right; we would, and we would not.2 note
[Exit.
SCENE XIII.
Changes to the Fields without the Town.
Enter Duke in his own Habit, and Friar Peter.
Duke.
These* note 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;
Tho' sometimes you do blench from this to that,
As cause doth minister. Go, call at Flavius' house,
And tell him, where I stay; give the like notice
Unto Valentius, Rowland, and to Crassus,
And bid them bring the trumpets to the gate:
But send me Flavius first.
Peter.
It shall be speeded well.
[Exit Friar.
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.
-- 359 --
SCENE XIV.
Enter Isabella and Mariana.
Isab.
To speak so indirectly, I am loth:
(I'd say the truth; but to accuse him so,
That is your part;) yet I'm advis'd to do it,
He says, to vail full purpose.3 note
Mari.
Be rul'd by him.
Isab.
Besides, he tells me, that if peradventure
He speak against me on the adverse side,
I should not think it strange; for 'tis a physick,
That's bitter to sweet end.
Mari.
I would, Friar Peter—
Isab.
Oh, peace; the Friar is come.
Enter Peter.4 note
Peter.
Come, I have found you out a stand most fit,
-- 360 --
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,5 note and very near upon
The Duke is entring: therefore hence, away.
[Exeunt.
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].
