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Title: Measure for Measure

Author: William Shakespeare

Editor: William George Clark
Cambridge librarian of Trinity College John Glover

Release date: December 12, 2007 [eBook #23045]
Most recently updated: September 27, 2025

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEASURE FOR
MEASURE ***

This text of Measure for Measure is from Volume I of the nine-volume 1863
Cambridge edition of Shakespeare. The Preface (e-text 23041) and the other
plays from this volume are each available as separate e-texts.
General Notes are in their original location at the end of the play, followed by
the text-critical notes originally printed at the bottom of each page. All notes
are hyperlinked in both directions. In dialogue, a link from a speaker’s name
generally means that the note applies to an entire line or group of lines.
Line numbers—shown in the right margin and used for all notes—are from
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THE WORKS

OF

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
EDITED BY

WILLIAM GEORGE CLARK, M.A.
FELLOW AND TUTOR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, AND PUBLIC ORATOR
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE;

and JOHN GLOVER, M.A.

LIBRARIAN OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

VOLUME I.

Cambridge and London:
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1863.

Dramatis Personæ
Act I Scene 1 An apartment in the Duke’s palace.
Scene 2 A street.
Scene 3 A monastery.
Scene 4 A nunnery.
Act II Scene 1 A hall in Angelo’s house.
Scene 2 Another room in the same.
Scene 3 A room in a prison.
Scene 4 A room in Angelo’s house.
Act III Scene 1 A room in the prison.
Scene 2 The street before the prison.
Act IV Scene 1 The moated grange at St Luke’s.
Scene 2 A room in the prison.
Scene 3 Another room in the same.
Scene 4 A room in Angelo’s house.
Scene 5 Fields without the town.
Scene 6 Street near the city-gate.
Act V Scene 1 The city-gate.

Endnotes
Critical Apparatus (“Linenotes”)
Texts Used (from general preface)

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. 1

Vincentio, the Duke.
Angelo, Deputy.
Escalus, an ancient Lord.
Claudio, a young gentleman.
Lucio, a fantastic.
Two other gentlemen.
Provost.

Thomas,
two friars.
Peter,

A Justice 2.
Varrius 2.
Elbow, a simple constable.
Froth, a foolish gentleman.
Pompey, servant to Mistress Overdone 3.
Abhorson, an executioner.
Barnardine, a dissolute prisoner.

Isabella, sister to Claudio.
Mariana, betrothed to Angelo.
Juliet, beloved of Claudio.
Francisca, a nun.

Mistress Overdone, a bawd.

Lords, Officers, Citizens, Boy, and Attendants 2.

Scene—Vienna.

1. Dramatis Personæ] The Names of all the Actors Ff (added at the end of the play).
2. Omitted in Ff.
3. Clowne. Ff.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

ACT I.
I. 1 Scene I. An apartment in the Duke’s palace.

Enter Duke, Escalus, Lords and Attendants.
Duke. Escalus.
Escal. My lord.
Duke. Of government the properties to unfold,
Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse;
5 Since I am put to know that your own science
Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice
My strength can give you: then no more remains,
But that to your sufficiency . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . as your worth is able,
10 And let them work. The nature of our people,
Our city’s institutions, and the terms
For common justice, you’re as pregnant in
As art and practice hath enriched any
That we remember. There is our commission,
15 From which we would not have you warp. Call hither,
I say, bid come before us Angelo.
[Exit an Attendant.
What figure of us think you he will bear?
For you must know, we have with special soul

Elected him our absence to supply;
20 Lent him our terror, dress’d him with our love,
And given his deputation all the organs
Of our own power: what think you of it?
Escal. If any in Vienna be of worth
To undergo such ample grace and honour,
It is Lord Angelo.
I. 1. Look where he comes.
25 Duke.
Enter Angelo.
Ang. Always obedient to your Grace’s will,
I come to know your pleasure.
Duke. Angelo,
There is a kind of character in thy life,
That to th’ observer doth thy history
30 Fully unfold. Thyself and thy belongings
Are not thine own so proper, as to waste
Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.
Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,
Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
35 Did not go forth of us, ’twere all alike
As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch’d
But to fine issues; nor Nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence,
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
40 Herself the glory of a creditor,
Both thanks and use. But I do bend my speech
To one that can my part in him advertise;
Hold therefore, Angelo:—
In our remove be thou at full ourself;
45 Mortality and mercy in Vienna
Live in thy tongue and heart: old Escalus,
Though first in question, is thy secondary.
Take thy commission.

Ang. Now, good my lord,
Let there be some more test made of my metal,
I. 1.
50 Before so noble and so great a figure
Be stamp’d upon it.
Duke. No more evasion:
We have with a leaven’d and prepared choice
Proceeded to you; therefore take your honours.
Our haste from hence is of so quick condition,
55 That it prefers itself, and leaves unquestion’d
Matters of needful value. We shall write to you,
As time and our concernings shall importune,
How it goes with us; and do look to know
What doth befall you here. So, fare you well:
60 To the hopeful execution do I leave you
Of your commissions.
Ang. Yet, give leave, my lord,
That we may bring you something on the way.
Duke. My haste may not admit it;
Nor need you, on mine honour, have to do
65 With any scruple; your scope is as mine own,
So to enforce or qualify the laws
As to your soul seems good. Give me your hand:
I’ll privily away. I love the people,
But do not like to stage me to their eyes:
70 Though it do well, I do not relish well
Their loud applause and Aves vehement;
Nor do I think the man of safe discretion
That does affect it. Once more, fare you well.
Ang. The heavens give safety to your purposes!
I. 1.
75 Escal. Lead forth and bring you back in happiness!
Duke. I thank you. Fare you well. [Exit.

Escal. I shall desire you, sir, to give me leave
To have free speech with you; and it concerns me
To look into the bottom of my place:
80 A power I have, but of what strength and nature
I am not yet instructed.
Ang. ’Tis so with me. Let us withdraw together,
And we may soon our satisfaction have
Touching that point.
Escal. I’ll wait upon your honour.
[Exeunt.

I. 2 Scene II. A street.

Enter Lucio and two Gentlemen.
Lucio. If the duke, with the other dukes, come not to composition
with the King of Hungary, why then all the dukes fall upon the king.
First Gent. Heaven grant us its peace, but not the 5 King of
Hungary’s!
Sec. Gent. Amen.
Lucio. Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to
sea with the Ten Commandments, but scraped one out of the table.
10 Sec. Gent. ‘Thou shalt not steal’?
Lucio. Ay, that he razed.
First Gent. Why, ’twas a commandment to command the captain and
all the rest from their functions: they put forth to steal. There’s not a
soldier of us all, that, in the 15 thanksgiving before meat, do relish the
petition well that prays for peace.
Sec. Gent. I never heard any soldier dislike it.

Lucio. I believe thee; for I think thou never wast where grace was
said.
20 Sec. Gent. No? a dozen times at least.
First Gent. What, in metre?
Lucio. In any proportion or in any language.
First Gent. I think, or in any religion.
Lucio. Ay, why not? Grace is grace, despite of all I. 2.
25 controversy: as, for example, thou thyself art a wicked villain,
despite of all grace.
First Gent. Well, there went but a pair of shears between us.
Lucio. I grant; as there may between the lists and the 30 velvet. Thou
art the list.
First Gent. And thou the velvet: thou art good velvet; thou’rt a three-
piled piece, I warrant thee: I had as lief be a list of an English kersey,
as be piled, as thou art piled, for a French velvet. Do I speak feelingly
now?
35 Lucio. I think thou dost; and, indeed, with most painful feeling of
thy speech: I will, out of thine own confession, learn to begin thy
health; but, whilst I live, forget to drink after thee.
First Gent. I think I have done myself wrong, have 40 I not?
Sec. Gent. Yes, that thou hast, whether thou art tainted or free.
Lucio. Behold, behold, where Madam Mitigation comes! I have
purchased as many diseases under her roof 45 as come to—
Sec. Gent. To what, I pray?
Lucio. Judge.
Sec. Gent. To three thousand dolours a year.
First Gent. Ay, and more.

I. 2.
50 Lucio. A French crown more.
First Gent. Thou art always figuring diseases in me; but thou art full
of error; I am sound.
Lucio. Nay, not as one would say, healthy; but so sound as things
that are hollow: thy bones are hollow; 55 impiety has made a feast of
thee.
Enter Mistress Overdone.
First Gent. How now! which of your hips has the most profound
sciatica?
Mrs Ov. Well, well; there’s one yonder arrested and carried to prison
was worth five thousand of you all.
60 Sec. Gent. Who’s that, I pray thee?
Mrs Ov. Marry, sir, that’s Claudio, Signior Claudio.
First Gent. Claudio to prison? ’tis not so.
Mrs Ov. Nay, but I know ’tis so: I saw him arrested; saw him carried
away; and, which is more, within these 65 three days his head to be
chopped off.
Lucio. But, after all this fooling, I would not have it so. Art thou
sure of this?
Mrs Ov. I am too sure of it: and it is for getting
Madam Julietta with child.
70 Lucio. Believe me, this may be: he promised to meet me two
hours since, and he was ever precise in promise-keeping.
Sec. Gent. Besides, you know, it draws something near to the speech
we had to such a purpose.
I. 2.
75 First Gent. But, most of all, agreeing with the proclamation.
Lucio. Away! let’s go learn the truth of it.

[Exeunt Lucio and Gentlemen.
Mrs Ov. Thus, what with the war, what with the sweat, what with
the gallows, and what with poverty, I am 80 custom-shrunk.
Enter Pompey.
How now! what’s the news with you?
Pom. Yonder man is carried to prison.
Mrs Ov. Well; what has he done?
Pom. A woman.
85 Mrs Ov. But what’s his offence?
Pom. Groping for trouts in a peculiar river.
Mrs Ov. What, is there a maid with child by him?
Pom. No, but there’s a woman with maid by him.
You have not heard of the proclamation, have you?
90 Mrs Ov. What proclamation, man?
Pom. All houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be plucked down.
Mrs Ov. And what shall become of those in the city?
Pom. They shall stand for seed: they had gone down too, 95 but that
a wise burgher put in for them.
Mrs Ov. But shall all our houses of resort in the suburbs be pulled
down?
Pom. To the ground, mistress.
Mrs Ov. Why, here’s a change indeed in the commonwealth! I. 2.
100 What shall become of me?

Pom. Come; fear not you: good counsellors lack no clients: though
you change your place, you need not change your trade; I’ll be your
tapster still. Courage! there will be pity taken on you: you that have
worn your 105 eyes almost out in the service, you will be considered.

Mrs Ov. What’s to do here, Thomas tapster? let’s withdraw.
Pom. Here comes Signior Claudio, led by the provost to prison; and
there’s Madam Juliet.
[Exeunt.
Enter Provost, Claudio, Juliet, and Officers.
110 Claud. Fellow, why dost thou show me thus to the world?
Bear me to prison, where I am committed.
Prov. I do it not in evil disposition,
But from Lord Angelo by special charge.
Claud. Thus can the demigod Authority
115 Make us pay down for our offence by weight
The words of heaven;—on whom it will, it will;
On whom it will not, so; yet still ’tis just.
Re-enter Lucio and two Gentlemen.
Lucio. Why, how now, Claudio! whence comes this restraint?
Claud. From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty:
120 As surfeit is the father of much fast,
So every scope by the immoderate use
Turns to restraint. Our natures do pursue,
Like rats that ravin down their proper bane,
A thirsty evil; and when we drink we die.
I. 2.
125 Lucio. If I could speak so wisely under an arrest, I would send
for certain of my creditors: and yet, to say the truth, I had as lief have
the foppery of freedom as the morality of imprisonment. What’s thy
offence, Claudio?
Claud. What but to speak of would offend again.
130 Lucio. What, is’t murder?
Claud. No.

Lucio. Lechery?
Claud. Call it so.
Prov. Away, sir! you must go.
135 Claud. One word, good friend. Lucio, a word with you.
Lucio. A hundred, if they’ll do you any good.
Is lechery so look’d after?
Claud. Thus stands it with me:—upon a true contract
I got possession of Julietta’s bed:
140 You know the lady; she is fast my wife,
Save that we do the denunciation lack
Of outward order: this we came not to,
Only for propagation of a dower
Remaining in the coffer of her friends;
145 From whom we thought it meet to hide our love
Till time had made them for us. But it chances
The stealth of our most mutual entertainment
With character too gross is writ on Juliet.
Lucio. With child, perhaps?
Claud. Unhappily, even so.
I. 2.
150 And the new Deputy now for the Duke,—
Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness,
Or whether that the body public be
A horse whereon the governor doth ride,
Who, newly in the seat, that it may know
155 He can command, lets it straight feel the spur;
Whether the tyranny be in his place,
Or in his eminence that fills it up.
I stagger in:—but this new governor
Awakes me all the enrolled penalties
160 Which have, like unscour’d armour, hung by the wall
So long, that nineteen zodiacs have gone round,
And none of them been worn; and, for a name,

Now puts the drowsy and neglected act
Freshly on me: ’tis surely for a name.
165 Lucio. I warrant it is: and thy head stands so tickle on thy
shoulders, that a milkmaid, if she be in love, may sigh it off. Send
after the duke, and appeal to him.
Claud. I have done so, but he’s not to be found.
I prithee, Lucio, do me this kind service:
170 This day my sister should the cloister enter
And there receive her approbation:
Acquaint her with the danger of my state;
Implore her, in my voice, that she make friends
To the strict deputy; bid herself assay him:
I. 2.
175 I have great hope in that; for in her youth
There is a prone and speechless dialect,
Such as move men; beside, she hath prosperous art
When she will play with reason and discourse,
And well she can persuade.
180 Lucio. I pray she may; as well for the encouragement of the like,
which else would stand under grievous imposition, as for the
enjoying of thy life, who I would be sorry should be thus foolishly
lost at a game of tick-tack. I’ll to her.
185 Claud. I thank you, good friend Lucio.
Lucio. Within two hours.
Claud. Come, officer, away!
[Exeunt.

I. 3 Scene III. A monastery.

Enter Duke and Friar Thomas.
Duke. No, holy father; throw away that thought;

Believe not that the dribbling dart of love
Can pierce a complete bosom. Why I desire thee
To give me secret harbour, hath a purpose
5 More grave and wrinkled than the aims and ends
Of burning youth.
Fri. T. May your grace speak of it?
Duke. My holy sir, none better knows than you
How I have ever loved the life removed,
And held in idle price to haunt assemblies
10 Where youth, and cost, and witless bravery keeps.
I have deliver’d to Lord Angelo,
A man of stricture and firm abstinence,
My absolute power and place here in Vienna,
And he supposes me travell’d to Poland;
15 For so I have strew’d it in the common ear,
And so it is received. Now, pious sir,
You will demand of me why I do this?
Fri. T. Gladly, my lord.
Duke. We have strict statutes and most biting laws,
20 The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds,
Which for this fourteen years we have let slip;
Even like an o’ergrown lion in a cave,
That goes not out to prey. Now, as fond fathers,
Having bound up the threatening twigs of birch,
I. 3.
25 Only to stick it in their children’s sight
For terror, not to use, in time the rod
Becomes more mock’d than fear’d; so our decrees.
Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead;
And liberty plucks justice by the nose;
30 The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart
Goes all decorum.
Fri. T. It rested in your Grace

To unloose this tied-up justice when you pleased:
And it in you more dreadful would have seem’d
Than in Lord Angelo.
Duke. I do fear, too dreadful:
35 Sith ’twas my fault to give the people scope,
’Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall them
For what I bid them do: for we bid this be done,
When evil deeds have their permissive pass,
And not the punishment. Therefore, indeed, my father,
40 I have on Angelo imposed the office;
Who may, in the ambush of my name, strike home,
And yet my nature never in the fight
To do in slander. And to behold his sway,
I will, as ’twere a brother of your order,
45 Visit both prince and people: therefore, I prithee,
Supply me with the habit, and instruct me
How I may formally in person bear me
Like a true friar. More reasons for this action
At our more leisure shall I render you;
I. 3.
50 Only, this one: Lord Angelo is precise;
Stands at a guard with envy; scarce confesses
That his blood flows, or that his appetite
Is more to bread than stone: hence shall we see,
If power change purpose, what our seemers be.
[Exeunt.

I. 4 Scene IV. A nunnery.

Enter Isabella and Francisca.
Isab. And have you nuns no farther privileges?
Fran. Are not these large enough?

Isab. Yes, truly: I speak not as desiring more;
But rather wishing a more strict restraint
5 Upon the sisterhood, the votarists of Saint Clare.

Lucio [within]. Ho! Peace be in this place!
Isab. Who’s that which calls?
Fran. It is a man’s voice. Gentle Isabella,
Turn you the key, and know his business of him;
You may, I may not; you are yet unsworn.
10 When you have vow’d, you must not speak with men
But in the presence of the prioress:
Then, if you speak, you must not show your face;
Or, if you show your face, you must not speak.
He calls again; I pray you, answer him. [Exit.
15 Isab. Peace and prosperity! Who is’t that calls?
Enter Lucio.
Lucio. Hail, virgin, if you be, as those cheek-roses
Proclaim you are no less! Can you so stead me
As bring me to the sight of Isabella,
A novice of this place, and the fair sister
20 To her unhappy brother Claudio?

Isab. Why, ‘her unhappy brother’? let me ask
The rather, for I now must make you know
I am that Isabella and his sister.
Lucio. Gentle and fair, your brother kindly greets you:
I. 4.
25 Not to be weary with you, he’s in prison.

Isab. Woe me! for what?
Lucio. For that which, if myself might be his judge,
He should receive his punishment in thanks:
He hath got his friend with child.
Isab. Sir, make me not your story.

30 Lucio. It is true.
I would not—though ’tis my familiar sin
With maids to seem the lapwing, and to jest,
Tongue far from heart—play with all virgins so:
I hold you as a thing ensky’d and sainted;
35 By your renouncement, an immortal spirit;
And to be talk’d with in sincerity,
As with a saint.
Isab. You do blaspheme the good in mocking me.
Lucio. Do not believe it. Fewness and truth, ’tis thus:—
40 Your brother and his lover have embraced:
As those that feed grow full,—as blossoming time,
That from the seedness the bare fallow brings
To teeming foison,—even so her plenteous womb
Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry.
45 Isab. Some one with child by him?—My cousin Juliet?
Lucio. Is she your cousin?
Isab. Adoptedly; as school-maids change their names
By vain, though apt, affection.
Lucio. She it is.
Isab. O, let him marry her.
Lucio. This is the point.
I. 4.
50 The duke is very strangely gone from hence;
Bore many gentlemen, myself being one,
In hand, and hope of action: but we do learn
By those that know the very nerves of state,
His givings-out were of an infinite distance
55 From his true-meant design. Upon his place,
And with full line of his authority,
Governs Lord Angelo; a man whose blood
Is very snow-broth; one who never feels

The wanton stings and motions of the sense,
60 But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge
With profits of the mind, study and fast.
He—to give fear to use and liberty,
Which have for long run by the hideous law,
As mice by lions—hath pick’d out an act,
65 Under whose heavy sense your brother’s life
Falls into forfeit: he arrests him on it;
And follows close the rigour of the statute,
To make him an example. All hope is gone,
Unless you have the grace by your fair prayer
70 To soften Angelo: and that’s my pith of business
’Twixt you and your poor brother.
Isab. Doth he so seek his life?
Lucio. Has censured him
Already; and, as I hear, the provost hath
A warrant for his execution.
I. 4.
75 Isab. Alas! what poor ability’s in me
To do him good?
Lucio. Assay the power you have.
Isab. My power? Alas, I doubt,—
Lucio. Our doubts are traitors,
And make us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt. Go to Lord Angelo,
80 And let him learn to know, when maidens sue,
Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel,
All their petitions are as freely theirs
As they themselves would owe them.
Isab. I’ll see what I can do.
Lucio. But speedily.
85 Isab. I will about it straight;

No longer staying but to give the Mother
Notice of my affair. I humbly thank you:
Commend me to my brother: soon at night
I’ll send him certain word of my success.
Lucio. I take my leave of you.
90 Isab. Good sir, adieu.
[Exeunt.

ACT II.
II. 1 Scene I. A hall in Angelo’s house.

Enter Angelo, Escalus, and a Justice, Provost, Officers, and other
Attendants, behind.
Ang. We must not make a scarecrow of the law,
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep one shape, till custom make it
Their perch, and not their terror.
Escal. Ay, but yet
5 Let us be keen, and rather cut a little,
Than fall, and bruise to death. Alas, this gentleman,
Whom I would save, had a most noble father!
Let but your honour know,
Whom I believe to be most strait in virtue,
10 That, in the working of your own affections,
Had time cohered with place or place with wishing,
Or that the resolute acting of your blood
Could have attain’d the effect of your own purpose,
Whether you had not sometime in your life
15 Err’d in this point which now you censure him,
And pull’d the law upon you.

Ang. ’Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,
Another thing to fall. I not deny,
The jury, passing on the prisoner’s life,
20 May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two
Guiltier than him they try. What’s open made to justice,
That justice seizes: what know the laws
That theives do pass on thieves? ’Tis very pregnant,
The jewel that we find, we stoop and take’t,
II. 1.
25 Because we see it; but what we do not see
We tread upon, and never think of it.
You may not so extenuate his offence
For I have had such faults; but rather tell me,
When I, that censure him, do so offend,
30 Let mine own judgement pattern out my death,
And nothing come in partial. Sir, he must die.
Escal. Be it as your wisdom will.
Ang. Where is the provost?
Prov. Here, if it like your honour.
Ang. See that Claudio
Be executed by nine to-morrow morning:
35 Bring him his confessor, let him be prepared;
For that’s the utmost of his pilgrimage.
[Exit Provost.
Escal. [Aside] Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all!
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall:
Some run from brakes of ice, and answer none;
40 And some condemned for a fault alone.

Enter Elbow, and Officers with Froth and Pompey.
Elb. Come, bring them away: if these be good people in a
commonweal that do nothing but use their abuses in common houses,
I know no law: bring them away.

Ang. How now, sir! What’s your name? and what’s 45 the matter?
Elb. If it please your honour, I am the poor Duke’s constable, and
my name is Elbow: I do lean upon justice, sir, and do bring in here
before your good honour two notorious benefactors.
II. 1.
50 Ang. Benefactors? Well; what benefactors are they? are they not
malefactors?
Elb. If it please your honour, I know not well what they are: but
precise villains they are, that I am sure of; and void of all profanation
in the world that good Christians 55 ought to have.
Escal. This comes off well; here’s a wise officer.
Ang. Go to: what quality are they of? Elbow is your name? why dost
thou not speak, Elbow?
Pom. He cannot, sir; he’s out at elbow.
60 Ang. What are you, sir?
Elb. He, sir! a tapster, sir; parcel-bawd; one that serves a bad
woman; whose house, sir, was, as they say, plucked down in the
suburbs; and now she professes a hot-house, which, I think, is a very
ill house too.
65 Escal. How know you that?
Elb. My wife, sir, whom I detest before heaven and your honour,—
Escal. How? thy wife?
Elb. Ay, sir;—whom, I thank heaven, is an honest 70 woman,—
Escal. Dost thou detest her therefore?
Elb. I say, sir, I will detest myself also, as well as she, that this
house, if it be not a bawd’s house, it is pity of her life, for it is a
naughty house.
II. 1.
75 Escal. How dost thou know that, constable?

Elb. Marry, sir, by my wife; who, if she had been a woman
cardinally given, might have been accused in fornication, adultery,
and all uncleanliness there.
Escal. By the woman’s means?
80 Elb. Ay, sir, by Mistress Overdone’s means: but as she spit in his
face, so she defied him.
Pom. Sir, if it please your honour, this is not so.
Elb. Prove it before these varlets here, thou honourable man; prove
it.
85 Escal. Do you hear how he misplaces?
Pom. Sir, she came in great with child; and longing, saving your
honour’s reverence, for stewed prunes; sir, we had but two in the
house, which at that very distant time stood, as it were, in a fruit-dish,
a dish of some three-pence; 90 your honours have seen such dishes;
they are not China dishes, but very good dishes,—
Escal. Go to, go to: no matter for the dish, sir.
Pom. No, indeed, sir, not of a pin; you are therein in the right: but to
the point. As I say, this Mistress Elbow, 95 being, as I say, with child,
and being great-bellied, and longing, as I said, for prunes; and having
but two in the dish, as I said, Master Froth here, this very man,
having eaten the rest, as I said, and, as I say, paying for them very
honestly; for, as you know, Master Froth, I could not II. 1.
100 give you three-pence again.

Froth. No, indeed.
Pom. Very well;—you being then, if you be remembered, cracking
the stones of the foresaid prunes,—
Froth. Ay, so I did indeed.
Pom. Why, very well; I telling you then, if you be remembered, 105
that such a one and such a one were past cure of the thing you wot of,
unless they kept very good diet, as I told you,—

Froth. All this is true.
110 Pom. Why, very well, then,—
Escal. Come, you are a tedious fool: to the purpose. What was done
to Elbow’s wife, that he hath cause to complain of? Come me to what
was done to her.
Pom. Sir, your honour cannot come to that yet.
115 Escal. No, sir, nor I mean it not.
Pom. Sir, but you shall come to it, by your honour’s leave. And,
I beseech you, look into Master Froth here, sir; a man of fourscore
pound a year; whose father died at Hallowmas:—was’t not at
Hallowmas, Master Froth?—
120 Froth. All-hallond eve.
Pom. Why, very well; I hope here be truths. He, sir, sitting, as I say,
in a lower chair, sir; ’twas in the Bunch of Grapes, where, indeed,
you have a delight to sit, have you not?
II. 1.
125 Froth. I have so; because it is an open room, and good for winter.
Pom. Why, very well, then; I hope here be truths.
Ang. This will last out a night in Russia,
When nights are longest there: I’ll take my leave,
130 And leave you to the hearing of the cause;
Hoping you’ll find good cause to whip them all.
Escal. I think no less. Good morrow to your lordship.
[Exit Angelo.
Now, sir, come on: what was done to Elbow’s wife, once more?
135 Pom. Once, sir? there was nothing done to her once.
Elb. I beseech you, sir, ask him what this man did to my wife.
Pom. I beseech your honour, ask me.

Escal. Well, sir; what did this gentleman to her?
140 Pom. I beseech you, sir, look in this gentleman’s face. Good
Master Froth, look upon his honour; ’tis for a good purpose. Doth
your honour mark his face?
Escal. Ay, sir, very well.
Pom. Nay, I beseech you, mark it well.
145 Escal. Well, I do so.
Pom. Doth your honour see any harm in his face?
Escal. Why, no.
Pom. I’ll be supposed upon a book, his face is the worst thing about
him. Good, then; if his face be the worst II. 1.
150 thing about him, how could Master Froth do the constable’s wife
any harm? I would know that of your honour.
Escal. He’s in the right. Constable, what say you to it?
Elb. First, an it like you, the house is a respected house; next, this is
a respected fellow; and his mistress is 155 a respected woman.
Pom. By this hand, sir, his wife is a more respected person than any
of us all.
Elb. Varlet, thou liest; thou liest, wicked varlet! the time is yet to
come that she was ever respected with 160 man, woman, or child.
Pom. Sir, she was respected with him before he married with her.
Escal. Which is the wiser here? Justice or Iniquity? Is this true?
165 Elb. O thou caitiff! O thou varlet! O thou wicked Hannibal!
I respected with her before I was married to her! If ever I was
respected with her, or she with me, let not your worship think me the
poor duke’s officer. Prove this, thou wicked Hannibal, or I’ll have
mine action of battery 170 on thee.
Escal. If he took you a box o’ th’ ear, you might have your action of
slander too.

Elb. Marry, I thank your good worship for it. What is’t your
worship’s pleasure I shall do with this wicked II. 1.
175 caitiff?

Escal. Truly, officer, because he hath some offences in him that thou
wouldst discover if thou couldst, let him continue in his courses till
thou knowest what they are.
Elb. Marry, I thank your worship for it. Thou seest, 180 thou wicked
varlet, now, what’s come upon thee: thou art to continue now, thou
varlet; thou art to continue.
Escal. Where were you born, friend?
Froth. Here in Vienna, sir.
Escal. Are you of fourscore pounds a year?
185 Froth. Yes, an’t please you, sir.
Escal. So. What trade are you of, sir?
Pom. A tapster; a poor widow’s tapster.
Escal. Your mistress’ name?
Pom. Mistress Overdone.
190 Escal. Hath she had any more than one husband?
Pom. Nine, sir; Overdone by the last.
Escal. Nine! Come hither to me, Master Froth. Master Froth,
I would not have you acquainted with tapsters: they will draw you,
Master Froth, and you will hang 195 them. Get you gone, and let me
hear no more of you.
Froth. I thank your worship. For mine own part, I never come into
any room in a taphouse, but I am drawn in.
Escal. Well, no more of it, Master Froth: farewell. [Exit Froth.]
Come you hither to me, Master tapster. II. 1.
200 What’s your name, Master tapster?

Pom. Pompey.

Escal. What else?
Pom. Bum, sir.
Escal. Troth, and your bum is the greatest thing about 205 you; so
that, in the beastliest sense, you are Pompey the Great. Pompey, you
are partly a bawd, Pompey, howsoever you colour it in being a
tapster, are you not? come, tell me true: it shall be the better for you.
Pom. Truly, sir, I am a poor fellow that would live.
210 Escal. How would you live, Pompey? by being a bawd? What do
you think of the trade, Pompey? is it a lawful trade?
Pom. If the law would allow it, sir.
Escal. But the law will not allow it, Pompey; nor it 215 shall not be
allowed in Vienna.
Pom. Does your worship mean to geld and splay all the youth of the
city?
Escal. No, Pompey.
Pom. Truly, sir, in my poor opinion, they will to’t, 220 then. If your
worship will take order for the drabs and the knaves, you need not to
fear the bawds.
Escal. There are pretty orders beginning, I can tell you: it is but
heading and hanging.
Pom. If you head and hang all that offend that way II. 1.
225 but for ten year together, you’ll be glad to give out a commission
for more heads: if this law hold in Vienna ten year, I’ll rent the fairest
house in it after three-pence a bay: if you live to see this come to
pass, say Pompey told you so.
Escal. Thank you, good Pompey; and, in requital of 230 your
prophecy, hark you: I advise you, let me not find you before me again
upon any complaint whatsoever; no, not for dwelling where you do:
if I do, Pompey, I shall beat you to your tent, and prove a shrewd
Cæsar to you; in plain dealing, Pompey, I shall have you whipt: so,
for 235 this time, Pompey, fare you well.

Pom. I thank your worship for your good counsel: [Aside] but I shall
follow it as the flesh and fortune shall better determine.
Whip me? No, no; let carman whip his jade:
240 The valiant heart is not whipt out of his trade. [Exit.
Escal. Come hither to me, Master Elbow; come hither, Master
constable. How long have you been in this place of constable?
Elb. Seven year and a half, sir.
245 Escal. I thought, by your readiness in the office, you had
continued in it some time. You say, seven years together?
Elb. And a half, sir.
Escal. Alas, it hath been great pains to you. They do you wrong to
put you so oft upon’t: are there not men II. 1.
250 in your ward sufficient to serve it?

Elb. Faith, sir, few of any wit in such matters: as they are chosen,
they are glad to choose me for them; I do it for some piece of money,
and go through with all.
Escal. Look you bring me in the names of some six 255 or seven, the
most sufficient of your parish.
Elb. To your worship’s house, sir?
Escal. To my house. Fare you well.
[Exit Elbow.
What’s o’clock, think you?
Just. Eleven, sir.
260 Escal. I pray you home to dinner with me.
Just. I humbly thank you.
Escal. It grieves me for the death of Claudio;
But there’s no remedy.
Just. Lord Angelo is severe.
Escal. It is but needful:

265 Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so;
Pardon is still the nurse of second woe:
But yet,—poor Claudio! There is no remedy.
Come, sir.
[Exeunt.

II. 2 Scene II. Another room in the same.

Enter Provost and a Servant.
Serv. He’s hearing of a cause; he will come straight:
I’ll tell him of you.
Prov. Pray you, do. [Exit Servant.] I’ll know
His pleasure; may be he will relent. Alas,
He hath but as offended in a dream!
5 All sects, all ages smack of this vice; and he
To die for ’t!
Enter Angelo.
Ang. Now, what’s the matter, provost?
Prov. Is it your will Claudio shall die to-morrow?
Ang. Did not I tell thee yea? hadst thou not order?
Why dost thou ask again?
Prov. Lest I might be too rash:
10 Under your good correction, I have seen,
When, after execution, Judgement hath
Repented o’er his doom.
Ang. Go to; let that be mine:
Do you your office, or give up your place,
And you shall well be spared.
Prov. I crave your honour’s pardon.

15 What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet?
She’s very near her hour.
Ang. Dispose of her
To some more fitter place, and that with speed.
Re-enter Servant.
Serv. Here is the sister of the man condemn’d
Desires access to you.
Ang. Hath he a sister?
20 Prov. Ay, my good lord; a very virtuous maid,
And to be shortly of a sisterhood,
If not already.
Ang. Well, let her be admitted.
[Exit Servant.
See you the fornicatress be removed:
Let her have needful, but not lavish, means;
There shall be order for ’t.
Enter Isabella and Lucio.
God save your honour!
II. 2.
25 Prov. Ang.
Stay a little while. [To Isab.] You’re
welcome: what’s your will?
Isab. I am a woeful suitor to your honour,
Please but your honour hear me.
Ang. Well; what’s your suit?
Isab. There is a vice that most I do abhor,
30 And most desire should meet the blow of justice;
For which I would not plead, but that I must;
For which I must not plead, but that I am
At war ’twixt will and will not.
Ang. Well; the matter?

Isab. I have a brother is condemn’d to die:
35 I do beseech you, let it be his fault,
And not my brother.
Prov. [Aside] Heaven give thee moving graces!
Ang. Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it?
Why, every fault’s condemn’d ere it be done:
Mine were the very cipher of a function,
40 To fine the faults whose fine stands in record,
And let go by the actor.
Isab. O just but severe law!
I had a brother, then.—Heaven keep your honour!
Lucio. [Aside to Isab.] Give’t not o’er so: to him again, entreat him;
Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown:
45 You are too cold; if you should need a pin,
You could not with more tame a tongue desire it:
To him, I say!
Isab. Must he needs die?
Ang. Maiden, no remedy.
Isab. Yes; I do think that you might pardon him,
II. 2.
50 And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.

Ang. I will not do’t.
Isab. But can you, if you would?
Ang. Look, what I will not, that I cannot do.
Isab. But might you do’t, and do the world no wrong,
If so your heart were touch’d with that remorse
As mine is to him.
55 Ang. He’s sentenced; ’tis too late.
Lucio. [Aside to Isab.] You are too cold.
Isab. Too late? why, no; I, that do speak a word,

May call it back again. Well, believe this,
No ceremony that to great ones ’longs,
60 Not the king’s crown, nor the deputed sword,
The marshal’s truncheon, nor the judge’s robe,
Become them with one half so good a grace
As mercy does.
If he had been as you, and you as he,
65 You would have slipt like him; but he, like you,
Would not have been so stern.
Ang. Pray you, be gone.
Isab. I would to heaven I had your potency,
And you were Isabel! should it then be thus?
No; I would tell what ’twere to be a judge,
And what a prisoner.
70 Lucio. [Aside to Isab.] Ay, touch him; there’s the vein.
Ang. Your brother is a forfeit of the law,
And you but waste your words.
Isab. Alas, alas!
Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once;
And He that might the vantage best have took
II. 2.
75 Found out the remedy. How would you be,
If He, which is the top of judgement, should
But judge you as you are? O, think on that;
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like man new made.
Ang. Be you content, fair maid;
80 It is the law, not I condemn your brother:
Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,
It should be thus with him: he must die to-morrow.
Isab. To-morrow! O, that’s sudden! Spare him, spare him!
He’s not prepared for death. Even for our kitchens
85 We kill the fowl of season: shall we serve heaven

With less respect than we do minister
To our gross selves? Good, good my lord, bethink you;
Who is it that hath died for this offence?
There’s many have committed it.
Lucio. [Aside to Isab.] Ay, well said.
90 Ang. The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept:
Those many had not dared to do that evil,
If the first that did the edict infringe
Had answer’d for his deed: now ’tis awake,
Takes note of what is done; and, like a prophet,
95 Looks in a glass, that shows what future evils,
Either now, or by remissness new-conceived,
And so in progress to be hatch’d and born,
Are now to have no successive degrees,
But, ere they live, to end.
Isab. Yet show some pity.
II. 2.
100 Ang. I show it most of all when I show justice;
For then I pity those I do not know,
Which a dismiss’d offence would after gall;
And do him right that, answering one foul wrong.
Lives not to act another. Be satisfied;
105 Your brother dies to-morrow; be content.

Isab. So you must be the first that gives this sentence.
And he, that suffers. O, it is excellent
To have a giant’s strength; but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.
Lucio. [Aside to Isab.] That’s well said.
110 Isab. Could great men thunder
As Jove himself does, Jove would ne’er be quiet,
For every pelting, petty officer
Would use his heaven for thunder.
Nothing but thunder! Merciful Heaven,

115 Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Split’st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak
Than the soft myrtle: but man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,
120 His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.
Lucio. [Aside to Isab.] O, to him, to him, wench! he will relent;
He’s coming; I perceive’t.
II. 2. [Aside] Pray heaven she win him!
125 Prov.
Isab. We cannot weigh our brother with ourself:
Great men may jest with saints; ’tis wit in them.
But in the less foul profanation.
Lucio. Thou’rt i’ the right, girl; more o’ that.
130 Isab.That in the captain’s but a choleric word,
Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.
Lucio. [Aside to Isab.] Art avised o’ that? more on’t.
Ang. Why do you put these sayings upon me?
Isab. Because authority, though it err like others.
135 Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself,
That skins the vice o’ the top. Go to your bosom;
Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know
That’s like my brother’s fault: if it confess
A natural guiltiness such as is his,
140 Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue
Against my brother’s life.
Ang. [Aside] She speaks, and ’tis
Such sense, that my sense breeds with it. Fare you well.
Isab. Gentle my lord, turn back.

Ang. I will bethink me: come again to-morrow.
145 Isab. Hark how I’ll bribe you: good my lord, turn back.
Ang. How? bribe me?
Isab. Ay, with such gifts that heaven shall share with you.
Lucio. [Aside to Isab.] Yon had marr’d all else.
Isab. Not with fond shekels of the tested gold,
II. 2.
150 Or stones whose rates are either rich or poor
As fancy values them; but with true prayers
That shall be up at heaven and enter there
Ere sun-rise, prayers from preserved souls,
From fasting maids whose minds are dedicate
To nothing temporal.
155 Ang. Well; come to me to-morrow.
Lucio. [Aside to Isab.] Go to; ’tis well; away!
Isab. Heaven keep your honour safe!
Ang. [Aside] Amen:
For I am that way going to temptation,
Where prayers cross.
Isab. At what hour to-morrow
Shall I attend your lordship?
160 Ang. At any time ’fore noon.
Isab. ’Save your honour!
[Exeunt Isabella, Lucio, and Provost.
Ang. From thee,—even from thy virtue!
What’s this, what’s this? Is this her fault or mine?
The tempter or the tempted, who sins most?
Ha!
165 Not she; nor doth she tempt: but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,

Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be
That modesty may more betray our sense
170 Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary,
And pitch our evils there? O, fie, fie, fie!
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
II. 2.
175 That make her good? O, let her brother live:
Thieves for their robbery have authority
When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again,
And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?
180 O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet,
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
185 Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. Ever till now,
When men were fond, I smiled, and wonder’d how. [Exit.

II. 3 Scene III. A room in a prison.

Enter, severally, Duke disguised as a friar, and Provost.
Duke. Hail to you, provost!—so I think you are.
Prov. I am the provost. What’s your will, good friar?
Duke. Bound by my charity and my blest order,
I come to visit the afflicted spirits
5 Here in the prison. Do me the common right
To let me see them, and to make me know
The nature of their crimes, that I may minister

To them accordingly.
Prov. I would do more than that, if more were needful.
Enter Juliet.
10 Look, here comes one: a gentlewoman of mine,
Who, falling in the flaws of her own youth,
Hath blister’d her report: she is with child;
And he that got it, sentenced; a young man
More fit to do another such offence
15 Than die for this.

Duke. When must he die?
Prov. As I do think, to-morrow.
I have provided for you: stay awhile, [To Juliet.
And you shall be conducted.
Duke. Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry?
20 Jul. I do; and bear the shame most patiently.
Duke. I’ll teach you how you shall arraign your conscience,
And try your penitence, if it be sound,
Or hollowly put on.
Jul. I’ll gladly learn.
Duke. Love you the man that wrong’d you?
II. 3.
25 Jul. Yes, as I love the woman that wrong’d him.
Duke. So, then, it seems your most offenceful act
Was mutually committed?
Jul. Mutually.
Duke. Then was your sin of heavier kind than his.
Jul. I do confess it, and repent it, father.
30 Duke. ’Tis meet so, daughter: but lest you do repent,
As that the sin hath brought you to this shame,

Which sorrow is always towards ourselves, not heaven,
Showing we would not spare heaven as we love it,
But as we stand in fear,—
35 Jul.I do repent me, as it is an evil,
And take the shame with joy.
Duke. There rest.
Your partner, as I hear, must die to-morrow,
And I am going with instruction to him.
Grace go with you, Benedicite! [Exit.
40 Jul. Must die to-morrow! O injurious love,
That respites me a life, whose very comfort
Is still a dying horror!
Prov. ’Tis pity of him.
[Exeunt.

II. 4 Scene IV. A room in Angelo’s house.

Enter Angelo.
Ang. When I would pray and think, I think and pray
To several subjects. Heaven hath my empty words;
Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue,
Anchors on Isabel: Heaven in my mouth,
5 As if I did but only chew his name;
And in my heart the strong and swelling evil
Of my conception. The state, whereon I studied,
Is like a good thing, being often read,
Grown fear’d and tedious; yea, my gravity,
10 Wherein—let no man hear me—I take pride,
Could I with boot change for an idle plume,
Which the air beats for vain. O place, O form,
How often dost thou with thy case, thy habit,

Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wiser souls
15 To thy false seeming! Blood, thou art blood:
Let’s write good angel on the devil’s horn;
’Tis not the devil’s crest.
Enter a Servant.
How now! who’s there?
Serv. One Isabel, a sister, desires access to you.
Ang. Teach her the way. O heavens!
20 Why does my blood thus muster to my heart,
Making both it unable for itself,
And dispossessing all my other parts
Of necessary fitness?
So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons:
II. 4.
25 Come all to help him, and so stop the air
By which he should revive: and even so
The general, subject to a well-wish’d king,
Quit their own part, and in obsequious fondness
Crowd to his presence, where their untaught love
Must needs appear offence.
Enter Isabella.
30 How now, fair maid?

Isab. I am come to know your pleasure.
Ang. That you might know it, would much better please me
Than to demand what ’tis. Your brother cannot live.
Isab. Even so.—Heaven keep your honour!
35 Ang. Yet may he live awhile; and, it may be,
As long as you or I: yet he must die.
Isab. Under your sentence?
Ang. Yea.

Isab. When, I beseech you? that in his reprieve,
40 Longer or shorter, he may be so fitted
That his soul sicken not.
Ang. Ha! fie, these filthy vices! It were as good
To pardon him that hath from nature stolen
A man already made, as to remit
45 Their saucy sweetness that do coin heaven’s image
In stamps that are forbid: ’tis all as easy
Falsely to take away a life true made,
As to put metal in restrained means
To make a false one.
II. 4.
50 Isab. ’Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth.
Ang. Say you so? then I shall pose you quickly.
Which had you rather,—that the most just law
Now took your brother’s life; or, to redeem him,
Give up your body to such sweet uncleanness
As she that he hath stain’d?
55 Isab. Sir, believe this,
I had rather give my body than my soul.
Ang. I talk not of your soul: our compell’d sins
Stand more for number than for accompt.
Isab. How say you?
Ang. Nay, I’ll not warrant that; for I can speak
60 Against the thing I say. Answer to this:—
I, now the voice of the recorded law,
Pronounce a sentence on your brother’s life:
Might there not be a charity in sin
To save this brother’s life?
Isab. Please you to do’t,
65 I’ll take it as a peril to my soul,
It is no sin at all, but charity.

Ang. Pleased you to do’t at peril of your soul,
Were equal poise of sin and charity.
Isab. That I do beg his life, if it be sin,
70 Heaven let me bear it! you granting of my suit,
If that be sin, I’ll make it my morn prayer
To have it added to the faults of mine,
And nothing of your answer.
Ang. Nay, but hear me.
Your sense pursues not mine: either you are ignorant,
II. 4.
75 Or seem so, craftily; and that’s not good.

Isab. Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good,
But graciously to know I am no better.
Ang. Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright
When it doth tax itself; as these black masks
80 Proclaim an enshield beauty ten times louder
Than beauty could, display’d. But mark me;
To be received plain, I’ll speak more gross:
Your brother is to die.
Isab. So.
85 Ang.And his offence is so, as it appears,
Accountant to the law upon that pain.
Isab. True.
Ang. Admit no other way to save his life,—
As I subscribe not that, nor any other,
90 But in the loss of question,—that you, his sister,
Finding yourself desired of such a person,
Whose credit with the judge, or own great place,
Could fetch your brother from the manacles
Of the all-building law; and that there were
95 No earthly mean to save him, but that either
You must lay down the treasures of your body

To this supposed, or else to let him suffer;
What would you do?
Isab. As much for my poor brother as myself:
II. 4.
100 That is, were I under the terms of death,
The impression of keen whips I’ld wear as rubies,
And strip myself to death, as to a bed
That longing have been sick for, ere I’ld yield
My body up to shame.
Ang. Then must your brother die.
105 Isab. And ’twere the cheaper way:
Better it were a brother died at once,
Than that a sister, by redeeming him,
Should die for ever.
Ang. Were not you, then, as cruel as the sentence
110 That you have slander’d so?

Isab. Ignomy in ransom and free pardon
Are of two houses: lawful mercy
Is nothing kin to foul redemption.
Ang. You seem’d of late to make the law a tyrant;
115 And rather proved the sliding of your brother
A merriment than a vice.
Isab. O, pardon me, my lord; it oft falls out,
To have what we would have, we speak not what we mean:
I something do excuse the thing I hate,
120 For his advantage that I dearly love.

Ang. We are all frail.
Isab. Else let my brother die,
If not a feodary, but only he
Owe and succeed thy weakness.
Ang. Nay, women are frail too.

II. 4.
125 Isab.
Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves;
Which are as easy broke as they make forms.
Women!—Help Heaven! men their creation mar
In profiting by them. Nay, call us ten times frail;
For we are soft as our complexions are,
And credulous to false prints.
130 Ang. I think it well:
And from this testimony of your own sex,—
Since, I suppose, we are made to be no stronger
Than faults may shake our frames,—let me be bold;—
I do arrest your words. Be that you are,
135 That is, a woman; if you be more, you’re none;
If you be one,—as you are well express’d
By all external warrants,—show it now,
By putting on the destined livery.
Isab. I have no tongue but one: gentle my lord,
140 Let me entreat you speak the former language.

Ang. Plainly conceive, I love you.
Isab. 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.
145 Isab. I know your virtue hath a license in’t,
Which seems a little fouler than it is,
To pluck on others.
Ang. Believe me, on mine honour,
My words express my purpose.
Isab. Ha! little honour to be much believed,
II. 4.
150 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 outstretch’d throat I’ll tell the world aloud
What man thou art.
Ang. Who will believe thee, Isabel?
155 My unsoil’d name, the austereness of my life,
My vouch against you, and my place i’ the state,
Will so your accusation overweigh,
That you shall stifle in your own report,
And smell of calumny. I have begun;
160 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 sue for; redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will;
165 Or else he must not only die the death,
But thy unkindness shall his death draw out
To lingering sufferance. Answer me to-morrow.
Or, by the affection that now guides me most,
I’ll prove a tyrant to him. As for you,
170 Say what you can, my false o’erweighs your true. [Exit.
Isab. To whom should I complain? Did I tell this,
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,
That bear in them one and the self-same tongue,
Either of condemnation or approof;
II. 4.
175 Bidding the law make court’sy to their will;
Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite,
To follow as it draws! I’ll to my brother:
Though he hath fall’n by prompture of the blood,
Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour,
180 That, had he twenty heads to tender down
On twenty bloody blocks, he’ld yield them up,
Before his sister should her body stoop
To such abhorr’d pollution.
Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die:
185 More than our brother is our chastity.

I’ll tell him yet of Angelo’s request,
And fit his mind to death, for his soul’s rest. [Exit.

ACT III.
III. 1 Scene I. A room in the prison.

Enter Duke disguised as before, Claudio, and Provost.
Duke. So, then, you hope of 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.
5 Duke. Be absolute for death; either 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 thou art,
Servile to all the skyey influences.
10 That dost this habitation, where thou keep’st,
Hourly afflict: merely, thou art death’s fool;
For him thou labour’st by thy flight to shun,
And yet runn’st toward him still. Thou art not noble;
For all the accommodations that thou bear’st
15 Are nursed 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 provokest; yet grossly fear’st
Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself;
20 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 strivest to get.
And what thou hast, forget’st. Thou art not certain;
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects,

III. 1
25 After the moon. If 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 unloads thee. Friend hast thou none;
For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire,
30 The mere effusion of thy proper loins,
Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum,
For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor age.
But, as it were, an after-dinner’s sleep,
Dreaming on both; for all thy blessed youth
35 Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms
Of palsied eld; and when thou art old and rich,
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty,
To make thy riches pleasant. What’s yet in this
That bears the name of life? Yet in this life
40 Lie hid more thousand deaths: yet death we fear,
That makes these odds all even.
Claud. I humbly thank you.
To sue to live, I find I seek to die;
And, seeking death, find life: let it come on.
Isab. [within] What, ho! Peace here; grace and good company!
45 Prov. Who’s there? come in: the wish deserves a welcome.
Duke. Dear sir, ere long I’ll visit you again.
Claud. Most holy sir, I thank you.
Enter Isabella.
Isab. My business is a word or two with Claudio.
Prov. And very welcome. Look, signior, here’s your III. 1
50 sister.

Duke. Provost, a word with you.
Prov. As many as you please.

Duke. Bring me to hear them speak, where I may be concealed.
[Exeunt Duke and Provost.
55 Claud. Now, sister, what’s the comfort?
Isab. Why,
As all comforts are; most good, most good indeed.
Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven,
Intends you for his swift ambassador,
60 Where you shall be an everlasting leiger:
Therefore your best appointment make with speed;
To-morrow you set on.
Claud. Is there no remedy?
Isab. None, but such remedy as, to save a head,
To cleave a heart in twain.
Claud. But is there any?
65 Isab. 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?
Isab. Ay, just; perpetual durance, a restraint,
70 Though all the world’s vastidity you had,
To a determined scope.
Claud. But in what nature?
Isab. In such a one as, you consenting to’t,
Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear,
And leave you naked.
Claud. Let me know the point.
III. 1
75 Isab.
O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake,
Lest thou a feverous life shouldst entertain,

And six or seven winters more respect
Than a perpetual honour. Darest thou die?
75 The sense of death is most in apprehension;
And the poor beetle, that we tread upon,
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.
Claud. Why give you me this shame?
Think you I can a resolution fetch
80 From flowery tenderness? If I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms.
Isab. There spake my brother; there my father’s grave
Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die:
85 Thou art too noble to conserve a life
In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy,
Whose settled visage and deliberate word
Nips youth i’ the head, and follies doth emmew
As falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil;
90 His filth within being cast, he would appear
A pond as deep as hell.
Claud. The prenzie Angelo!
Isab. O, ’tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned’st body to invest and cover
In prenzie guards! Dost thou think, Claudio?—
95 If I would yield him my virginity,
Thou mightst be freed.
Claud. O heavens! it cannot be.
Isab. Yes, he would give’t thee, from 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 diest to-morrow.
III. 1 Thou shalt not do’t.
100 Claud.

Isab. O, were it but my life,
I’ld throw it down for your deliverance
As frankly as a pin.
Claud. Thanks, dear Isabel.
Isab. Be ready, Claudio, for your death to-morrow.
105 Claud. Yes. Has he affections in him,
That thus can make him bite the law by the nose,
When he would force it? Sure, it is no sin;
Or of the deadly seven it is the least.
Isab. Which is the least?
110 Claud. If it were damnable, he being so wise,
Why would he for the momentary trick
Be perdurably fined?—O Isabel!
Isab. What says my brother?
Claud. Death is a fearful thing.
Isab. And shamed life a hateful.
115 Claud. Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;
To lie in cold obstruction and to rot;
This sensible warm motion to become
A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
120 In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice;
To be imprison’d in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence round about
The pendent world; or to be worse than worst
Of those that lawless and incertain thought
III. 1
125 Imagine howling:—’tis too horrible!
The weariest and most loathed worldly life
That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment
Can lay on nature is a paradise
To what we fear of death.

Isab. Alas, alas!
130 Claud. Sweet sister, let me live:
What sin you do to save a brother’s life,
Nature dispenses with the deed so far
That it becomes a virtue.
Isab. O you beast!
O faithless coward! O dishonest wretch!
135 Wilt thou be made a man out of my vice?
Is’t not a kind of incest, to take life
From thine own sister’s shame? What should I think?
Heaven shield my mother play’d my father fair!
For such a warped slip of wilderness
140 Ne’er issued from his blood. Take my defiance!
Die, perish! Might but my bending down
Reprieve thee from thy fate, it should proceed:
I’ll pray a thousand prayers for thy death,
No word to save thee.
Claud. Nay, hear me, Isabel.
145 Isab. O, fie, fie, fie!
Thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade.
Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd:
’Tis best that thou diest quickly.
Claud. O, hear me, Isabella!
Re-enter Duke.
Duke. Vouchsafe a word, young sister, but one word.
III. 1
150 Isab. What is your will?
Duke. Might you dispense with your leisure, I would by and by have
some speech with you: the satisfaction I would require is likewise
your own benefit.

Isab. I have no superfluous leisure; my stay must be 155 stolen out of
other affairs; but I will attend you awhile. [Walks apart.
Duke. Son, I have overheard what hath passed between you and
your sister. Angelo had never the purpose to corrupt her; only he hath
made an assay of her virtue to practise his judgement with the
disposition of natures: 160 she, having the truth of honour in her, hath
made him that gracious denial which he is most glad to receive. I am
confessor to Angelo, and I know this to be true; therefore prepare
yourself to death: do not satisfy your resolution with hopes that are
fallible: to-morrow you must die; go 165 to your knees, and make
ready.
Claud. Let me ask my sister pardon. I am so out of love with life,
that I will sue to be rid of it.
Duke. Hold you there: farewell. [Exit Claudio.] Provost, a word with
you!
Re-enter Provost.
170 Prov. What’s your will, father?
Duke. That now you are come, you will be gone. Leave me awhile
with the maid: my mind promises with my habit no loss shall touch
her by my company.
Prov. In good time.
[Exit Provost. Isabella comes forward.
III. 1
175 Duke. The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good: the
goodness that is cheap in beauty makes beauty brief in goodness; but
grace, being the soul of your complexion, shall keep the body of it
ever fair. The assault that Angelo hath made to you, fortune hath
conveyed to 180 my understanding; and, but that frailty hath examples
for his falling, I should wonder at Angelo. How will you do to
content this substitute, and to save your brother?

Isab. I am now going to resolve him: I had rather my brother die by
the law than my son should be unlawfully 185 born. But, O, how
much is the good Duke deceived in Angelo! If ever he return and I
can speak to him, I will open my lips in vain, or discover his
government.
Duke. That shall not be much amiss: yet, as the matter now stands,
he will avoid your accusation; he made trial 190 of you only.
Therefore fasten your ear on my advisings: to the love I have in doing
good a remedy presents itself. I do make myself believe that you may
most uprighteously do a poor wronged lady a merited benefit; redeem
your brother from the angry law; do no stain to your own gracious 195
person; and much please the absent Duke, if peradventure he shall
ever return to have hearing of this business.
Isab. Let me hear you speak farther. I have spirit to do any thing that
appears not foul in the truth of my spirit.
Duke. Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful. Have III. 1
200 you not heard speak of Mariana, the sister of Frederick the great
soldier who miscarried at sea?
Isab. I have heard of the lady, and good words went with her name.
Duke. She should this Angelo have married; was affianced 205 to her
by oath, and the nuptial appointed: between which time of the
contract and limit of the solemnity, her brother Frederick was
wrecked at sea, having in that perished vessel the dowry of his sister.
But mark how heavily this befell to the poor gentlewoman: there she
lost a noble 210 and renowned brother, in his love toward her ever
most kind and natural; with him, the portion and sinew of her fortune,
her marriage-dowry; with both, her combinate husband, this well-
seeming Angelo.
Isab. Can this be so? did Angelo so leave her?
215 Duke. Left her in her tears, and dried not one of them with his
comfort; swallowed his vows whole, pretending in her discoveries of
dishonour: in few, bestowed her on her own lamentation, which she

yet wears for his sake; and he, a marble to her tears, is washed with
them, but relents not.
220 Isab. What a merit were it in death to take this poor maid from
the world! What corruption in this life, that it will let this man live!
But how out of this can she avail?
Duke. It is a rupture that you may easily heal: and the cure of it not
only saves your brother, but keeps you III. 1
225 from dishonour in doing it.

Isab. Show me how, good father.
Duke. This forenamed maid hath yet in her the continuance of her
first affection: his unjust unkindness, that in all reason should have
quenched her love, hath, like an impediment 230 in the current, made
it more violent and unruly. Go you to Angelo; answer his requiring
with a plausible obedience; agree with his demands to the point; only
refer yourself to this advantage, first, that your stay with him may not
be long; that the time may have all shadow and 235 silence in it; and
the place answer to convenience. This being granted in course,—and
now follows all,—we shall advise this wronged maid to stead up your
appointment, go in your place; if the encounter acknowledge itself
hereafter, it may compel him to her recompense: and here, by 240 this,
is your brother saved, your honour untainted, the poor Mariana
advantaged, and the corrupt Deputy scaled. The maid will I frame and
make fit for his attempt. If you think well to carry this as you may,
the doubleness of the benefit defends the deceit from reproof. What
think 245 you of it?
Isab. The image of it gives me content already; and I trust it will
grow to a most prosperous perfection.
Duke. It lies much in your holding up. Haste you speedily to
Angelo: if for this night he entreat you to his III. 1
250 bed, give him promise of satisfaction. I will presently to Saint
Luke’s: there, at the moated grange, resides this dejected Mariana. At
that place call upon me; and dispatch with Angelo, that it may be
quickly.

Isab. I thank you for this comfort. Fare you well, 255 good father.
[Exeunt severally.

III. 2 Scene II. The street before the prison.

Enter, on one side, Duke disguised as before; on the other, Elbow,
and Officers with Pompey.
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.
Duke. O heavens! what stuff is here?
5 Pom. ’Twas never merry world since, of two usuries, the merriest
was put down, and the worser allowed by order of law a furred gown
to keep him warm; and furred with fox and lamb-skins too, to signify,
that craft, being richer than innocency, stands for the facing.
10 Elb. Come your way, sir. ’Bless you, good father friar.
Duke. And you, good brother father. 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, 15 sir, a strange picklock,
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. Do thou but think
What ’tis to cram a maw or clothe a back
20 From such a filthy vice: say to thyself,
From their abominable and beastly touches
I drink, I eat, array myself, and live.
Canst thou believe thy living is a life,
So stinkingly depending? Go mend, go mend.

III. 2
25 Pom. Indeed, it does stink in some sort, sir; but yet, sir, I would
prove—
Duke. Nay, if the devil have given thee proofs for sin,
Thou wilt prove his. Take him to prison, officer:
Correction and instruction must both work
30 Ere this rude beast will profit.

Elb. He must before the Deputy, sir; he has given him warning: the
Deputy cannot abide a whoremaster: if he be a whoremonger, and
comes before him, he were as good go a mile on his errand.
35 Duke. That we were all, as some would seem to be,
From our faults, as faults from seeming, free!
Elb. His neck will come to your waist,—a cord, sir.
Pom. I spy comfort; I cry bail. Here’s a gentleman and a friend of
mine.
Enter Lucio.
40 Lucio. How now, noble Pompey! What, at the wheels of Caesar?
art thou led in triumph? What, is there none of Pygmalion’s images,
newly made woman, to be had now, for putting the hand in the pocket
and extracting it clutched? What reply, ha? What sayest thou to this
tune, 45 matter and method? Is’t not drowned i’ the last rain, ha? What
sayest thou, Trot? Is the world as it was, man? Which is the way? Is it
sad, and few words? or how? The trick of it?
Duke. Still thus, and thus; still worse!
III. 2
50 Lucio. How doth my dear morsel, thy mistress? Procures she still,
ha?
Pom. Troth, sir, she hath eaten up all her beef, and she is herself in
the tub.
Lucio. Why, ’tis good; it is the right of it; it must be 55 so: ever your
fresh whore and your powdered bawd: an unshunned consequence; it

must be so. Art going to prison, Pompey?
Pom. Yes, faith, sir.
Lucio. Why, ’tis not amiss, Pompey. Farewell: go, 60 say I sent thee
thither. For debt, Pompey? or how?
Elb. For being a bawd, for being a bawd.
Lucio. Well, then, imprison him: if imprisonment be the due of a
bawd, why, ’tis his right: bawd is he doubtless, and of antiquity too;
bawd-born. Farewell, good Pompey. 65 Commend me to the prison,
Pompey: you will turn good husband now, Pompey; you will keep the
house.
Pom. I hope, sir, your good worship will be my bail.
Lucio. No, indeed, will I not, Pompey; it is not the wear. I will pray,
Pompey, to increase your bondage: if 70 you take it not patiently, why,
your mettle is the more. Adieu, trusty Pompey. ’Bless you, friar.
Duke. And you.
Lucio. Does Bridget paint still, Pompey, ha?
Elb. Come your ways, sir; come.
III. 2
75 Pom. You will not bail me, then, sir?
Lucio. Then, Pompey, nor now. What news abroad, friar? what
news?
Elb. Come your ways, sir; come.
Lucio. Go to kennel, Pompey; go. [Exeunt Elbow, 80 Pompey and
Officers.] What news, friar, of the Duke?
Duke. I know none. Can you tell me of any?
Lucio. Some say he is with the Emperor of Russia; other some, he is
in Rome: but where is he, think you?
Duke. I know not where; but wheresoever, I wish him 85 well.

Lucio. It was a mad fantastical trick of him to steal from the state,
and usurp the beggary he was never born to. Lord Angelo dukes it
well in his absence; he puts transgression to’t.
90 Duke. He does well in’t.
Lucio. A little more lenity to lechery would do no harm in him:
something too crabbed that way, friar.
Duke. It is too general a vice, and severity must cure it.
95 Lucio. Yes, in good sooth, the vice is of a great kindred; it is well
allied: but it is impossible to extirp it quite, friar, till eating and
drinking be put down. They say this Angelo was not made by man
and woman after this downright way of creation: is it true, think you?
III. 2
100 Duke. How should he be made, then?
Lucio. Some report a sea-maid spawned him; some, that he was
begot between two stock-fishes. But it is certain that, when he makes
water, his urine is congealed ice; that I know to be true: and he is a
motion generative; 105 that’s infallible.
Duke. You are pleasant, sir, and speak apace.
Lucio. Why, what a ruthless thing is this in him, for the rebellion of
a codpiece to take away the life of a man! Would the Duke that is
absent have done this? Ere he 110 would have hanged a man for the
getting a hundred bastards, he would have paid for the nursing a
thousand: he had some feeling of the sport; he knew the service, and
that instructed him to mercy.
Duke. I never heard the absent Duke much detected 115 for women;
he was not inclined that way.
Lucio. O, sir, you are deceived.
Duke. ’Tis not possible.
Lucio. Who, not the Duke? yes, your beggar of fifty; and his use
was to put a ducat in her clack-dish: the Duke 120 had crotchets in
him. He would be drunk too; that let me inform you.

Duke. You do him wrong, surely.
Lucio. Sir, I was an inward of his. A shy fellow was the Duke: and I
believe I know the cause of his III. 2
125 withdrawing.

Duke. What, I prithee, might be the cause?
Lucio. No, pardon; ’tis a secret must be locked within the teeth and
the lips: but this I can let you understand, the greater file of the
subject held the Duke to be wise.
130 Duke. Wise! why, no question but he was.
Lucio. A very superficial, ignorant, unweighing fellow.
Duke. Either this is envy in you, folly, or mistaking: the very stream
of his life and the business he hath helmed must, upon a warranted
need, give him a better proclamation. 135 Let him be but testimonied
in his own bringings-forth, and he shall appear, to the envious,
a scholar, a statesman and a soldier. Therefore you speak unskilfully;
or if your knowledge be more, it is much darkened in your malice.
140 Lucio. Sir, I know him, and I love him.
Duke. Love talks with better knowledge, and knowledge with dearer
love.
Lucio. Come, sir, I know what I know.
Duke. I can hardly believe that, since you know not 145 what you
speak. But, if ever the Duke return, as our prayers are he may, let me
desire you to make your answer before him. If it be honest you have
spoke, you have courage to maintain it: I am bound to call upon you;
and, I pray you, your name?
III. 2
150 Lucio. Sir, my name is Lucio; well known to the duke.
Duke. He shall know you better, sir, if I may live to report you.
Lucio. I fear you not.

155 Duke. O, you hope the Duke will return no more; or you imagine
me too unhurtful an opposite. But, indeed, I can do you little harm;
you’ll forswear this again.
Lucio. I’ll be hanged first: thou art deceived in me, friar. But no
more of this. Canst thou tell if Claudio die 160 to-morrow or no?
Duke. Why should he die, sir?
Lucio. Why? For filling a bottle with a tun-dish. I would the Duke
we talk of were returned again: this ungenitured agent will unpeople
the province with continency; 165 sparrows must not build in his
house-eaves, because they are lecherous. The Duke yet would have
dark deeds darkly answered; he would never bring them to light:
would he were returned! Marry, this Claudio is condemned for
untrussing. Farewell, good friar: I prithee, pray for 170 me. The Duke,
I say to thee again, would eat mutton on Fridays. He’s not past it yet,
and I say to thee, he would mouth with a beggar, though she smelt
brown bread and garlic: say that I said so. Farewell. [Exit.
Duke. No might nor greatness in mortality
III. 2
175 Can censure ’scape; back-wounding calumny
The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong
Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue?
But who comes here?
Enter Escalus, Provost, and Officers with Mistress Overdone.
Escal. Go; away with her to prison!
180 Mrs Ov. Good my lord, be good to me; your honour is accounted
a merciful man; good my lord.
Escal. Double and treble admonition, and still forfeit in the same
kind! This would make mercy swear and play the tyrant.
185 Prov. A bawd of eleven years’ continuance, may it please your
honour.

Mrs Ov. My lord, this is one Lucio’s information against me.
Mistress Kate Keepdown was with child by him in the Duke’s time;
he promised her marriage: his 190 child is a year and a quarter old,
come Philip and Jacob: I have kept it myself; and see how he goes
about to abuse me!
Escal. That fellow is a fellow of much license: let him be called
before us. Away with her to prison! Go 195 to; no more words.
[Exeunt Officers with Mistress Ov.] Provost, my brother Angelo will
not be altered; Claudio must die to-morrow: let him be furnished with
divines, and have all charitable preparation. If my brother wrought by
my pity, it should not be so with him.
III. 2
200 Prov. So please you, this friar hath been with him, and advised
him for the entertainment of death.
Escal. Good even, good father.
Duke. Bliss and goodness on you!
Escal. Of whence are you?
205 Duke. Not of this country, though my chance is now
To use it for my time: I am a brother
Of gracious order, late come from the See
In special business from his Holiness.
Escal. What news abroad i’ the world?
210 Duke. None, but that there is so great a fever on goodness, that
the dissolution of it must cure it: novelty is only in request; and it is
as dangerous to be aged in any kind of course, as it is virtuous to be
constant in any undertaking. There is scarce truth enough alive to
make societies 215 secure; but security enough to make fellowships
accurst:— much upon this riddle runs the wisdom of the world. This
news is old enough, yet it is every day’s news. I pray you, sir, of what
disposition was the Duke?
Escal. One that, above all other strifes, contended 220 especially to
know himself.

Duke. What pleasure was he given to?
Escal. Rather rejoicing to see another merry, than merry at any thing
which professed to make him rejoice: a gentleman of all temperance.
But leave we him to his III. 2
225 events, with a prayer they may prove prosperous; and let me
desire to know how you find Claudio prepared. I am made to
understand that you have lent him visitation.
Duke. He professes to have received no sinister measure from his
judge, but most willingly humbles himself to 230 the determination of
justice: yet had he framed to himself, by the instruction of his frailty,
many deceiving promises of life; which I, by my good leisure, have
discredited to him, and now is he resolved to die.
Escal. You have paid the heavens your function, and 235 the prisoner
the very debt of your calling. I have laboured for the poor gentleman
to the extremest shore of my modesty: but my brother justice have I
found so severe, that he hath forced me to tell him he is indeed
Justice.
Duke. If his own life answer the straitness of his proceeding, 240 it
shall become him well; wherein if he chance to fail, he hath
sentenced himself.
Escal. I am going to visit the prisoner. Fare you well.
Duke. Peace be with you!
[Exeunt Escalus and Provost.
He who the sword of heaven will bear
245 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.
III. 2
250 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!
O, what may man within him hide,
255 Though angel on the outward side!
How may likeness made in crimes,
Making practice on the times,
To draw with idle spiders’ strings
Most ponderous and substantial things!
260 Craft against vice I must apply:
With Angelo to-night shall lie
His old betrothed but despised;
So disguise shall, by the disguised,
Pay with falsehood false exacting,
265 And perform an old contracting. [Exit.

ACT IV.
IV. 1 Scene I. The moated grange at St Luke’s.

Enter Mariana and a Boy.
Boy sings.
Take, O, take those lips away,
That so sweetly were forsworn;
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn:
5 But my kisses bring again, bring again;
Seals of love, but sealed in vain, sealed in vain.

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.
[Exit Boy.
Enter Duke disguised as before.
10 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 displeased, but pleased my woe.
Duke. ’Tis good; though music oft hath such a charm
15 To make bad good, and good provoke to harm.

I pray you, tell me, hath any body inquired for me here to-day? much
upon this time have I promised here to meet.
Mari. You have not been inquired after: I have sat here all day.
Enter Isabella.
20 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.
Mari. I am always bound to you. [Exit.
Duke. Very well met, and well come.
IV. 1
25 What is the news from this good Deputy?

Isab. He hath a garden circummured with brick,
Whose western side is with a vineyard back’d;
And to that vineyard is a planched gate,
That makes his opening with this bigger key:
30 This other doth command a little door
Which from the vineyard to the garden leads;
There have I made my promise
Upon the heavy middle of the night
To call upon him.
35 Duke. But shall you on your knowledge find this way?
Isab. I have ta’en a due and wary note upon’t:
With whispering and most guilty diligence,
In action all of precept, he did show me
The way twice o’er.
Duke. Are there no other tokens

40 Between you ’greed concerning her observance?

Isab. No, none, but only a repair i’ the dark;
And that I have possess’d him my most stay
Can be but brief; for I have made him know
I have a servant comes with me along,
45 That stays upon me, whose persuasion is
I come about my brother.
Duke. ’Tis well borne up.
I have not yet made known to Mariana
A word of this. What, ho! within! come forth!
Re-enter Mariana.
I pray you, be acquainted with this maid;
She comes to do you good.
IV. 1 I do desire the like.
50 Isab.
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.
55 I shall attend your leisure: but make haste;
The vaporous night approaches.
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
60 Run with these false and most contrarious quests
Upon thy doings! thousand escapes of wit
Make thee the father of their idle dreams,
And rack thee in their fancies!
Re-enter Mariana and Isabella.

Welcome, how agreed?
Isab. She’ll take the enterprise upon her, father,
If you advise it.
65 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,
‘Remember now my brother.’
Mari. Fear me not.
Duke. Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all.
70 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. Come, let us go:
Our corn’s to reap, for yet our tithe’s to sow.
[Exeunt.

IV. 2 Scene II. A room in the prison.

Enter Provost and Pompey.
Prov. Come hither, sirrah. Can you cut off a man’s head?
Pom. If the man be a bachelor, sir, I can; but if he be a married man,
he’s his wife’s head, and I can never cut off a woman’s head.
5 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; 10 if not, you shall have your full time of
imprisonment, and your deliverance with an unpitied whipping, for
you have been a notorious bawd.

Pom. Sir, I have been an unlawful bawd time out of mind; but yet I
will be content to be a lawful hangman. I 15 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?
Prov. Sirrah, here’s a fellow will help you to-morrow 20 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 IV. 2
25 our mystery.

Prov. Go to, sir; you weigh equally; a feather will turn the scale.
[Exit.
Pom. Pray, sir, by your good favour,—for surely, sir, a good favour
you have, but that you have a hanging look,— 30 do you call, sir, your
occupation a mystery?
Abhor. Ay, sir; a mystery.
Pom. 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 35 what mystery there should be in
hanging, if I should be hanged, I cannot imagine.
Abhor. Sir, it is a mystery.
Pom. Proof?
Abhor. Every true man’s apparel fits your thief: if it 40 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?
Pom. Sir, I will serve him; for I do find your hangman 45 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 IV. 2
50 trade; follow.

Pom. 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.
55 Prov. Call hither Barnardine and Claudio:
[Exeunt Pompey and Abhorson.
The one has my pity; not a jot the other,
Being a murderer, though he were my brother.
Enter Claudio.
Look, here’s the warrant, Claudio, for thy death:
’Tis now dead midnight, and by eight to-morrow
60 Thou must be made immortal. Where’s Barnardine?

Claud. As fast lock’d up in sleep as guiltless labour
When it lies starkly in the traveller’s bones:
He will not wake.
Prov. Who can do good on him?
Well, go, prepare yourself. [Knocking within.] But, hark, what noise?
—
65 Heaven give your spirits comfort! [Exit Clandio.] By and by.—
I hope it is some pardon or reprieve
For the most gentle Claudio.
Enter Duke disguised as before.
Welcome, father.
Duke. The best and wholesomest spirits of the night

Envelop you, good Provost! Who call’d here of late?
70 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.
IV. 2
75 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
That in himself which he spurs on his power
To qualify in others: were he meal’d with that
80 Which he corrects, then were he tyrannous;
But this being so, he’s just. [Knocking within.
Now are they come.
[Exit Provost.
This is a gentle provost: seldom when
The steeled gaoler is the friend of men. [Knocking within.
How now! what noise? That spirit’s possessed with haste
85 That wounds the unsisting postern with these strokes.

Re-enter Provost.
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.
90 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
95 Lord Angelo hath to the public ear
Profess’d the contrary.
Enter a Messenger.
This is his lordship’s man.
Duke. And here comes Claudio’s pardon.
Mes. [Giving a paper] My lord hath sent you this note; and by me
this further charge, that you swerve not from the IV. 2
100 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. [Aside] This is his pardon, purchased by such sin
For which the pardoner himself is in.
105 Hence hath offence his quick celerity,
When it is borne in high authority:
When vice makes mercy, mercy’s so extended,
That for the fault’s love is the offender friended.
Now, sir, what news?
110 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.
Duke. Pray you, let’s hear.
Prov. [Reads]
Whatsoever you may hear to the contrary, let Claudio be executed 115 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.

120 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 nursed up and bred; one that is a
prisoner nine years old.
IV. 2
125 Duke. How came it that the absent Duke had not either delivered
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 Angclo, 130 came not to an
undoubtful proof.
Duke. It is now apparent?
Prov. Most manifest, and not denied by himself.
Duke. Hath he borne himself penitently in prison? how seems he to
be touched?
135 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 advice.
140 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 oft
awaked him, as if to carry him to execution, and showed him a
seeming warrant for it: 145 it hath not moved 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 my self in hazard.
Claudio, whom here IV. 2
150 you have 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 crave but four days’ respite; for the which you are
to do me both a present and a dangerous courtesy.
155 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, 160 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 165 the favour.
Duke. O, death’s a great disguiser; and you may 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 170 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.
IV. 2
175 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 persuasion 180 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.

185 Duke. The contents of this is the return of the Duke: you shall
anon over-read 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 tenour; perchance of the
Duke’s 190 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 195 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.

IV. 3 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 5 of brown paper and old ginger, nine-
score 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 Master Caper, at the suit
of Master Three-pile the mercer, for some four 10 suits of peach-
coloured satin, which now peaches him a 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 15
tilter, and brave Master Shooty the great traveller, and 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.
20 Pom. Master Barnardine! you must rise and be hanged, Master
Barnardine!
Abhor. What, ho, Barnardine!
Bar. [Within] A pox o’ your throats! Who makes that noise there?
What are you?
IV. 3
25 Pom. Your friends, sir; the hangman. You must be 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 30 executed, and
sleep afterwards.
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?
35 Pom. Very ready, sir.
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 40 not fitted for
’t.
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: 45 do we jest
now, think you?

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, IV. 3
50 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.
55 Bar. I swear I will not die to-day for any man’s persuasion.
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.
60 Duke. Unfit to live or die: O gravel heart!
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.
65 Prov. Here in the prison, father,
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
70 This reprobate till he were well inclined;
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

IV. 3
75 Prefix’d by Angelo: see this be done,
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:
80 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
85 To the under generation, you shall find
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,—
90 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 publicly: him I’ll desire
To meet me at the consecrated fount,
95 A league below the city; and from thence,
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;
IV. 3
100 For I would commune with you of such things
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:
105 But I will keep her ignorant of her good,
To make her heavenly comforts of despair,
When it is least expected.
Enter Isabella.
Ho, by your leave!
Isab.
Duke. Good morning to you, fair and gracious daughter.
Isab. The better, given me by so holy a man.
110 Hath yet the Deputy sent my brother’s pardon?

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,
115 In your close patience.

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!
120 Duke. This nor hurts him nor profits you a jot;
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;
IV. 3
125 One of our covent, and his confessor,
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
130 In that good path that I would wish it go;
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;
135 ’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
140 Accuse him home and home. For my poor self,
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,
145 If I pervert your course.—Who’s here?

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 IV. 3
150 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 loved thy brother: if the
old fantastical Duke of dark corners had been at home, he had lived.
[Exit Isabella.
155 Duke. Sir, the Duke is marvellous little beholding 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 than thou takest him for.
Duke. Well, you’ll answer this one day. Fare ye well.
160 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 165 with child.
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 170 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 burr;
I shall stick.
[Exeunt.

IV. 4 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, 5 and redeliver our authorities there?
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?

10 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 proclaimed betimes i’ the morn;
I’ll call you at your house: give notice to such 15 men of sort and suit
as are to meet him.
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!
20 And by an eminent body that enforced
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,
IV. 4
25 That no particular scandal once can touch
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
30 With ransom of such shame. Would yet he had lived!
Alack, when once our grace we have forgot,
Nothing goes right: we would, and we would not. [Exit.

IV. 5 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;
5 Though 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
To Valentius, Rowland, and to Crassus,
And bid them bring the trumpets to the gate;
But send me Flavius first.
10 Fri. P. It shall be speeded well. [Exit.
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.

IV. 6 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.
5 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 physic
That’s bitter to sweet end.
Mari. I would Friar Peter—
Isab. O, peace! the friar is come.
Enter Friar Peter.

10 Fri. P.Come, I have found you out a stand most fit,
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
15 The Duke is entering: therefore, hence, away!

[Exeunt.

ACT V.
V. 1 Scene I. The city-gate.

Mariana veiled, Isabella, and Friar Peter, at their stand. Enter
Duke, Varrius, Lords, Angelo, Escalus, Lucio, Provost,
Officers, and Citizens, at several doors.
Duke. My very worthy cousin, fairly met!
Our old and faithful friend, we are glad to see you.

Ang.
Happy return be to your royal Grace!
Escal.

Duke. Many and hearty thankings to you both.
5 We have made inquiry of you; and we hear
Such goodness of your justice, that our soul
Cannot but yield you forth to public thanks,
Forerunning more requital.
Ang. You make my bonds still greater.
Duke. O, your desert speaks loud; and I should wrong it,
10 To lock it in the wards of covert bosom,
When it deserves, with characters of brass,
A forted residence ’gainst the tooth of time
And razure of oblivion. Give me your hand,

And let the subject see, to make them know
15 That outward courtesies would fain proclaim
Favours that keep within. Come, Escalus;
You must walk by us on our other hand:
And good supporters are you.
Friar Peter and Isabella come forward.
Fri. P. Now is your time: speak loud, and kneel before him.
20 Isab. Justice, O royal Duke! Vail your regard
Upon a wrong’d, I would fain have said, a maid!
O worthy prince, dishonour not your eye
By throwing it on any other object
Till you have heard me in my true complaint,
V. 1
25 And given me justice, justice, justice, justice!

Duke. Relate your wrongs; in what? by whom? be brief.
Here is Lord Angelo shall give you justice:
Reveal yourself to him.
Isab. O worthy Duke,
You bid me seek redemption of the devil:
30 Hear me yourself; for that which I must speak
Must either punish me, not being believed,
Or wring redress from you. Hear me, O hear me, here!
Ang. My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm:
She hath been a suitor to me for her brother
Cut off by course of justice,—
35 Isab. By course of justice!
Ang. And she will speak most bitterly and strange.
Isab. Most strange, but yet most truly, will I speak:
That Angelo’s forsworn; is it not strange?
That Angelo’s a murderer; is’t not strange?
40 That Angelo is an adulterous thief,
An hypocrite, a virgin-violator;

Is it not strange and strange?
Duke. Nay, it is ten times strange.
Isab. It is not truer he is Angelo
Than this is all as true as it is strange:
45 Nay, it is ten times true; for truth is truth
To th’ end of reckoning.
Duke. Away with her!—Poor soul,
She speaks this in th’ infirmity of sense.
Isab. O prince, I conjure thee, as thou believest
There is another comfort than this world,
V. 1
50 That thou neglect me not, with that opinion
That I am touch’d with madness! Make not impossible
That which but seems unlike: ’tis not impossible
But one, the wicked’st caitiff on the ground,
May seem as shy, as grave, as just, as absolute
55 As Angelo; even so may Angelo,
In all his dressings, characts, titles, forms,
Be an arch-villain; believe it, royal prince:
If he be less, he’s nothing; but he’s more,
Had I more name for badness.
Duke. By mine honesty,
60 If she be mad,—as I believe no other,—
Her madness hath the oddest frame of sense,
Such a dependency of thing on thing,
As e’er I heard in madness.
Isab. O gracious Duke,
Harp not on that; nor do not banish reason
65 For inequality; but let your reason serve
To make the truth appear where it seems hid,
And hide the false seems true.
Duke. Many that are not mad
Have, sure, more lack of reason. What would you say?

Isab. I am the sister of one Claudio,
70 Condemn’d upon the act of fornication
To lose his head; condemn’d by Angelo:
I, (in probation of a sisterhood,)
Was sent to by my brother; one Lucio
As then the messenger,—
Lucio. That’s I, an’t like your Grace:
V. 1
75 I came to her from Claudio, and desired her
To try her gracious fortune with Lord Angelo
For her poor brother’s pardon.
Isab. That’s he indeed.
Duke. You were not bid to speak.
Lucio. No, my good lord;
Nor wish’d to hold my peace.
Duke. I wish you now, then;
80 Pray you, take note of it: and when you have
A business for yourself, pray heaven you then
Be perfect.
Lucio. I warrant your honour.
Duke. The warrant’s for yourself; take heed to’t.
Isab. This gentleman told somewhat of my tale,—
85 Lucio. Right.
Duke. It may be right; but you are i’ the wrong
To speak before your time. Proceed.
Isab. I went
To this pernicious caitiff Deputy,—
Duke. That’s somewhat madly spoken.
Isab. Pardon it;
90 The phrase is to the matter.

Duke. Mended again. The matter;—proceed.
Isab. In brief,—to set the needless process by,
How I persuaded, how I pray’d, and kneel’d,
How he refell’d me, and how I replied,—
95 For this was of much length,—the vile conclusion
I now begin with grief and shame to utter:
He would not, but by gift of my chaste body
To his concupiscible intemperate lust,
Release my brother; and, after much debatement,
V. 1
100 My sisterly remorse confutes mine honour,
And I did yield to him: but the next morn betimes,
His purpose surfeiting, he sends a warrant
For my poor brother’s head.
Duke. This is most likely!
Isab. O, that it were as like as it is true!
105 Duke. By heaven, fond wretch, thou know’st not what thou
speak’st,
Or else thou art suborn’d against his honour
In hateful practice. First, his integrity
Stands without blemish. Next, it imports no reason
That with such vehemency he should pursue
110 Faults proper to himself: if he had so offended,
He would have weigh’d thy brother by himself,
And not have cut him off. Some one hath set you on:
Confess the truth, and say by whose advice
Thou camest here to complain.
Isab. And is this all?
115 Then, O you blessed ministers above,
Keep me in patience, and with ripen’d time
Unfold the evil which is here wrapt up
In countenance!—Heaven shield your Grace from woe.
As I, thus wrong’d, hence unbelieved go!

120 Duke. I know you’ld fain be gone.—An officer!
To prison with her!—Shall we thus permit
A blasting and a scandalous breath to fall
On him so near us? This needs must be a practice.
Who knew of your intent and coming hither?
V. 1
125 Isab. One that I would were here, Friar Lodowick.
Duke. A ghostly father, belike. Who knows that Lodowick?
Lucio. My lord, I know him; ’tis a meddling friar;
I do not like the man: had he been lay, my lord,
For certain words he spake against your Grace
130 In your retirement, I had swinged him soundly.

Duke. Words against me! this’s a good friar, belike!
And to set on this wretched woman here
Against our substitute! Let this friar be found.
Lucio. But yesternight, my lord, she and that friar,
135 I saw them at the prison: a saucy friar,
A very scurvy fellow.
Fri. P. Blessed be your royal Grace!
I have stood by, my lord, and I have heard
Your royal ear abused. First, hath this woman
140 Most wrongfully accused your substitute,
Who is as free from touch or soil with her
As she from one ungot.
Duke. We did believe no less.
Know you that Friar Lodowick that she speaks of?
Fri. P. I know him for a man divine and holy;
Not scurvy, nor a temporary meddler,
As he’s reported by this gentleman;
And, on my trust, a man that never yet
Did, as he vouches, misreport your Grace.
Lucio. My lord, most villanously; believe it.

V. 1
150 Fri. P. Well, he in time may come to clear himself;
But at this instant he is sick, my lord,
Of a strange fever. Upon his mere request,—
Being come to knowledge that there was complaint
Intended ’gainst Lord Angelo,—came I hither,
155 To speak, as from his mouth, what he doth know
Is true and false; and what he with his oath
And all probation will make up full clear,
Whensoever he’s convented. First, for this woman,
To justify this worthy nobleman,
160 So vulgarly and personally accused,
Her shall you hear disproved to her eyes,
Till she herself confess it.
Duke. Good friar, let’s hear it.
[ Isabella is carried off guarded; and Mariana comes forward.
Do you not smile at this, Lord Angelo?—
O heaven, the vanity of wretched fools!—
165 Give us some seats. Come, cousin Angelo;
In this I’ll be impartial; be you judge
Of your own cause. Is this the witness, friar?
First, let her show her face, and after speak.
Mari. Pardon, my lord; I will not show my face
170 Until my husband bid me.

Duke. What, are you married?
Mari. No, my lord.
Duke. Are you a maid?
Mari. No, my lord.
V. 1
175 Duke. A widow, then?
Mari. Neither, my lord.
Duke. Why, you are nothing, then:—neither maid, widow, nor wife?

Lucio. My lord, she may be a punk; for many of them 180 are neither
maid, widow, nor wife.
Duke. Silence that fellow: I would he had some cause
To prattle for himself.
Lucio. Well, my lord.
Mari. My lord, I do confess I ne’er was married;
185 And I confess, besides, I am no maid:
I have known my husband; yet my husband
Knows not that ever he knew me.
Lucio. He was drunk, then, my lord: it can be no better.
Duke. For the benefit of silence, would thou wert so too!
190 Lucio. Well, my lord.
Duke. This is no witness for Lord Angelo.
Mari. Now I come to’t, my lord:
She that accuses him of fornication,
In self-same manner doth accuse my husband;
195 And charges him, my lord, with such a time
When I’ll depose I had him in mine arms
With all th’ effect of love.
Ang. Charges she more than me?
Mari. Not that I know.
Duke. No? you say your husband.
V. 1
200 Mari.
Why, just, my lord, and that is Angelo,
Who thinks he knows that he ne’er knew my body,
But knows he thinks that he knows Isabel’s.
Ang. This is a strange abuse. Let’s see thy face.
Mari. My husband bids me; now I will unmask. [Unveiling.
205 This is that face, thou cruel Angelo,
Which once thou sworest was worth the looking on;

This is the hand which, with a vow’d contract,
Was fast belock’d in thine; this is the body
That took away the match from Isabel,
210 And did supply thee at thy garden-house
In her imagined person.
Duke. Know you this woman?
Lucio. Carnally, she says.
Duke. Sirrah, no more!
Lucio. Enough, my lord.
Ang. My lord, I must confess I know this woman:
215 And five years since there was some speech of marriage
Betwixt myself and her; which was broke off,
Partly for that her promised proportions
Came short of composition; but in chief,
For that her reputation was disvalued
220 In levity: since which time of five years
I never spake with her, saw her, nor heard from her,
Upon my faith and honour.
Mari. Noble prince,
As there comes light from heaven and words from breath,
As there is sense in truth and truth in virtue,
V. 1
225 I am affianced this man’s wife as strongly
As words could make up vows: and, my good lord,
But Tuesday night last gone in’s garden-house
He knew me as a wife. As this is true,
Let me in safety raise me from my knees;
230 Or else for ever be confixed here,
A marble monument!
Ang. I did but smile till now:
Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justice;
My patience here is touch’d. I do perceive
These poor informal women are no more

235 But instruments of some more mightier member
That sets them on: let me have way, my lord,
To find this practice out.
Duke. Ay, with my heart;
And punish them to your height of pleasure.
Thou foolish friar; and thou pernicious woman,
240 Compact with her that’s gone, think’st thou thy oaths,
Though they would swear down each particular saint,
Were testimonies against his worth and credit,
That’s seal’d in approbation? You, Lord Escalus,
Sit with my cousin; lend him your kind pains
245 To find out this abuse, whence ’tis derived.
There is another friar that set them on;
Let him be sent for.
Fri. P. Would he were here, my lord! for he, indeed,
Hath set the women on to this complaint:
V. 1
250 Your provost knows the place where he abides,
And he may fetch him.
Duke. Go do it instantly.
[Exit Provost.
And you, my noble and well-warranted cousin,
Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth,
Do with your injuries as seems you best,
255 In any chastisement: I for a while will leave you;
But stir not you till you have well determined
Upon these slanderers.
Escal. My lord, we’ll do it throughly. [Exit Duke.] Signior Lucio,
did not you say you knew that Friar Lodowick 260 to be a dishonest
person?
Lucio. ‘Cucullus non facit monachum:’ honest in nothing but in his
clothes; and one that hath spoke most villanous speeches of the Duke.

Escal. We shall entreat you to abide here till he come, 265 and
enforce them against him: we shall find this friar a notable fellow.
Lucio. As any in Vienna, on my word.
Escal. Call that same Isabel here once again: I would speak with her.
[Exit an Attendant.] Pray you, my lord, 270 give me leave to question;
you shall see how I’ll handle her.
Lucio. Not better than he, by her own report.
Escal. Say you?
Lucio. Marry, sir, I think, if you handled her privately, V. 1
275 she would sooner confess: perchance, publicly, she’ll be ashamed.

Escal. I will go darkly to work with her.
Lucio. That’s the way; for women are light at midnight.
Re-enter Officers with Isabella; and Provost with the Duke in his
friar’s habit.
Escal. Come on, mistress: here’s a gentlewoman denies 280 all that
you have said.
Lucio. My lord, here comes the rascal I spoke of; here with the
provost.
Escal. In very good time: speak not you to him till we call upon you.
285 Lucio. Mum.
Escal. Come, sir: did you set these women on to slander Lord
Angelo? they have confessed you did.
Duke. ’Tis false.
Escal. How! know you where you are?
290 Duke. Respect to your great place! and let the devil
Be sometime honour’d for his burning throne!
Where is the Duke? ’tis he should hear me speak.
Escal. The Duke’s in us; and we will hear you speak:

Look you speak justly.
295 Duke. Boldly, at least. But, O, poor souls,
Come you to seek the lamb here of the fox?
Good night to your redress! Is the Duke gone?
Then is your cause gone too. The Duke’s unjust,
Thus to retort your manifest appeal,
V. 1
300 And put your trial in the villain’s mouth
Which here you come to accuse.
Lucio. This is the rascal; this is he I spoke of.
Escal. Why, thou unreverend and unhallow’d friar,
Is’t not enough thou hast suborn’d these women
305 To accuse this worthy man, but, in foul mouth,
And in the witness of his proper ear,
To call him villain? and then to glance from him
To the Duke himself, to tax him with injustice?
Take him hence; to the rack with him! We’ll touse you
310 Joint by joint, but we will know his purpose.
What, ‘unjust’!
Duke. Be not so hot; the Duke
Dare no more stretch this finger of mine than he
Dare rack his own: his subject am I not,
Nor here provincial. My business in this state
315 Made me a looker-on here in Vienna,
Where I have seen corruption boil and bubble
Till it o’er-run the stew; laws for all faults,
But faults so countenanced, that the strong statutes
Stand like the forfeits in a barber’s shop,
320 As much in mock as mark.

Escal. Slander to the state! Away with him to prison!
Ang. What can you vouch against him, Signior Lucio?
Is this the man that you did tell us of?

Lucio. ’Tis he, my lord. Come hither, goodman bald-pate: V. 1
325 do you know me?

Duke. I remember you, sir, by the sound of your voice: I met you at
the prison, in the absence of the Duke.
Lucio. O, did you so? And do you remember what you said of the
Duke?
330 Duke. Most notedly, sir.
Lucio. Do you so, sir? And was the Duke a flesh-monger, a fool, and
a coward, as you then reported him to be?
Duke. You must, sir, change persons with me, ere you 335 make that
my report: you, indeed, spoke so of him; and much more, much
worse.
Lucio. O thou damnable fellow! Did not I pluck thee by the nose for
thy speeches?
Duke. I protest I love the Duke as I love myself.
340 Ang. Hark, how the villain would close now, after his treasonable
abuses!
Escal. Such a fellow is not to be talked withal. Away with him to
prison! Where is the provost? Away with him to prison! lay bolts
enough upon him: let him speak 345 no more. Away with those giglets
too, and with the other confederate companion!
Duke. [To Provost] Stay, sir; stay awhile.
Ang. What, resists he? Help him, Lucio.
Lucio. Come, sir; come, sir; come, sir; foh, sir! V. 1
350 Why, you bald-pated, lying rascal, you must be hooded, must
you? Show your knave’s visage, with a pox to you! show your sheep-
biting face, and be hanged an hour! Will’t not off?
[ Pulls off the friar’s hood, and discovers the Duke.
Duke. Thou art the first knave that e’er madest a Duke.
355 First, provost, let me bail these gentle three.

[To Lucio] Sneak not away, sir; for the friar and you
Must have a word anon. Lay hold on him.
Lucio. This may prove worse than hanging.
Duke. [To Escalus] What you have spoke I pardon: sit you down:
360 We’ll borrow place of him. [To Angelo] Sir, by your leave.
Hast thou or word, or wit, or impudence,
That yet can do thee office? If thou hast,
Rely upon it till my tale be heard,
And hold no longer out.
Ang. O my dread lord,
365 I should be guiltier than my guiltiness,
To think I can be undiscernible,
When I perceive your Grace, like power divine,
Hath look’d upon my passes. Then, good prince,
No longer session hold upon my shame,
370 But let my trial be mine own confession:
Immediate sentence then, and sequent death,
Is all the grace I beg.
Duke. Come hither, Mariana.
Say, wast thou e’er contracted to this woman?
Ang. I was, my lord.
V. 1
375 Duke. Go take her hence, and marry her instantly.
Do you the office, friar; which consummate,
Return him here again. Go with him, provost.
[Exeunt Angelo, Mariana, Friar Peter and Provost.
Escal. My lord, I am more amazed at his dishonour
Than at the strangeness of it.
Duke. Come hither, Isabel.
380 Your friar is now your prince: as I was then
Advertising and holy to your business,
Not changing heart with habit, I am still

Attorney’d at your service.
Isab. O, give me pardon,
That I, your vassal, have employ’d and pain’d
Your unknown sovereignty!
385 Duke. You are pardon’d, Isabel:
And now, dear maid, be you as free to us.
Your brother’s death, I know, sits at your heart;
And you may marvel why I obscured myself,
Labouring to save his life, and would not rather
390 Make rash remonstrance of my hidden power
Than let him so be lost. O most kind maid,
It was the swift celerity of his death,
Which I did think with slower foot came on,
That brain’d my purpose. But, peace be with him!
395 That life is better life, past fearing death,
Than that which lives to fear: make it your comfort,
So happy is your brother.
Isab. I do, my lord.
Re-enter Angelo, Mariana, Friar Peter, and Provost.
Duke. For this new-married man, approaching here,
Whose salt imagination yet hath wrong’d
V. 1
400 Your well-defended honour, you must pardon
For Mariana’s sake: but as he adjudged your brother,—
Being criminal, in double violation
Of sacred chastity, and of promise-breach
Thereon dependent, for your brother’s life,—
405 The very mercy of the law cries out
Most audible, even from his proper tongue,
‘An Angelo for Claudio, death for death!’
Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;
Like doth quit like, and measure still for measure.
410 Then, Angelo, thy fault’s thus manifested;

Which, though thou wouldst deny, denies thee vantage.
We do condemn thee to the very block
Where Claudio stoop’d to death, and with like haste.
Away with him!
Mari. O my most gracious lord,
415 I hope you will not mock me with a husband.

Duke. It is your husband mock’d you with a husband.
Consenting to the safeguard of your honour,
I thought your marriage fit; else imputation,
For that he knew you, might reproach your life,
420 And choke your good to come: for his possessions,
Although by confiscation they are ours,
We do instate and widow you withal,
To buy you a better husband.
Mari. O my dear lord,
I crave no other, nor no better man.
V. 1
425 Duke. Never crave him; we are definitive.
Mari. Gentle my liege,— [Kneeling.
Duke. You do but lose your labour.
Away with him to death! [To Lucio] Now, sir, to you.
Mari. O my good lord! Sweet Isabel, take my part;
Lend me your knees, and all my life to come
430 I’ll lend you all my life to do you service.

Duke. Against all sense you do importune her:
Should she kneel down in mercy of this fact,
Her brother’s ghost his paved bed would break,
And take her hence in horror.
Mari. Isabel,
435 Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me;
Hold up your hands, say nothing,—I’ll speak all.
They say, best men are moulded out of faults;

And, for the most, become much more the better
For being a little bad: so may my husband.
440 O Isabel, will you not lend a knee?

Duke. He dies for Claudio’s death.
Isab. Most bounteous sir, [Kneeling.
Look, if it please you, on this man condemn’d,
As if my brother lived: I partly think
A due sincerity govern’d his deeds,
445 Till he did look on me: since it is so,
Let him not die. My brother had but justice,
In that he did the thing for which he died:
For Angelo,
His act did not o’ertake his bad intent;
V. 1
450 And must be buried but as an intent
That perish’d by the way: thoughts are no subjects;
Intents, but merely thoughts.
Mari. Merely, my lord.
Duke. Your suit’s unprofitable; stand up, I say.
I have bethought me of another fault.
455 Provost, how came it Claudio was beheaded
At an unusual hour?
Prov. It was commanded so.
Duke. Had you a special warrant for the deed?
Prov. No, my good lord; it was by private message.
Duke. For which I do discharge you of your office:
Give up your keys.
460 Prov. Pardon me, noble lord:
I thought it was a fault, but knew it not;
Yet did repent me, after more advice:
For testimony whereof, one in the prison,
That should by private order else have died,

I have reserved alive.
Duke. What’s he?
465 Prov. His name is Barnardine.
Duke. I would thou hadst done so by Claudio.
Go fetch him hither; let me look upon him.
[Exit Provost.
Escal. I am sorry, one so learned and so wise
As you, Lord Angelo, have still appear’d,
470 Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood,
And lack of temper’d judgment afterward.
Ang. I am sorry that such sorrow I procure:
And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart,
That I crave death more willingly than mercy;
V. 1
475 ’Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it.

Re-enter Provost, with Barnardine, Claudio muffled, and Juliet.
Duke. Which is that Barnardine?
Prov. This, my lord.
Duke. There was a friar told me of this man.
Sirrah, thou art said to have a stubborn soul,
That apprehends no further than this world,
480 And squarest thy life according. Thou’rt condemn’d:
But, for those earthly faults, I quit them all;
And pray thee take this mercy to provide
For better times to come. Friar, advise him;
I leave him to your hand. What muffled fellow’s that?
485 Prov. This is another prisoner that I saved,
Who should have died when Claudio lost his head;
As like almost to Claudio as himself. [Unmuffles Claudio.
Duke. [To Isabella] If he be like your brother, for his sake

Is he pardon’d; and, for your lovely sake,
490 Give me your hand, and say you will be mine,
He is my brother too: but fitter time for that.
By this Lord Angelo perceives he’s safe;
Methinks I see a quickening in his eye.
Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well:
495 Look that you love your wife; her worth worth yours.
I find an apt remission in myself;
And yet here’s one in place I cannot pardon.
[To Lucio] You, sirrah, that knew me for a fool, a coward,
One all of luxury, an ass, a madman;
V. 1
500 Wherein have I so deserved of you,
That you extol me thus?
Lucio. ’Faith, my lord, I spoke it but according to the trick. If you
will hang me for it, you may; but I had rather it would please you I
might be whipt.
505 Duke. Whipt first, sir, and hang’d after.
Proclaim it, provost, round about the city,
Is any woman wrong’d by this lewd fellow,
As I have heard him swear himself there’s one
Whom he begot with child, let her appear,
510 And he shall marry her: the nuptial finish’d,
Let him be whipt and hang’d.
Lucio. I beseech your highness, do not marry me to a whore. Your
highness said even now, I made you a Duke: good my lord, do not
recompense me in making me a 515 cuckold.
Duke. Upon mine honour, thou shalt marry her.
Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithal
Remit thy other forfeits.—Take him to prison;
And see our pleasure herein executed.
520 Lucio.Marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing to death, whipping,
and hanging.

Duke. Slandering a prince deserves it.
[Exeunt Officers with Lucio.
She, Claudio, that you wrong’d, look you restore.
Joy to you, Mariana! Love her, Angelo:
V. 1
525 I have confess’d her, and I know her virtue.
Thanks, good friend Escalus, for thy much goodness:
There’s more behind that is more gratulate.
Thanks, provost, for thy care and secrecy:
We shall employ thee in a worthier place.
530 Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you home
The head of Ragozine for Claudio’s:
The offence pardons itself. Dear Isabel,
I have a motion much imports your good;
Whereto if you’ll a willing ear incline,
535 What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is mine.
So, bring us to our palace; where we’ll show
What’s yet behind, that’s meet you all should know.
[Exeunt.

NOTES.

Note I.
I. 1. 8, 9. The suggestion that a line has been lost in this place came first from Theobald. It is scarcely
necessary to say that there is no mark of omission in the Folios. Malone supposes that a similar
omission has been made II. 4. 123. The compositor’s eye (he says) may have glanced from ‘succeed’
to ‘weakness’ in a subsequent hemistich.
In order to relieve the plethoric foot-note we set down in this place some conjectures for which we
are indebted to Mr Halliwell’s note on the passage.

(1) Then no more remains
To your sufficiency as your worth is able
But that you let than work.
Wheler MS.
(2) But task to your sufficience ...
Dent. MS.
(3) But that your sufficiency as your worth be able ...
Monck Mason.
(4) Then no more remains:
To your sufficiency your worth be added,
And let them work.
T. Hull’s MS. Commentary.
(5) ... I let them work.
Chalmers.

The reading assigned in the foot-note to Steevens is found in a note to the Edition of 1778. He
afterwards changed his mind.

Note II.
I. 2. 15. Hanmer’s reading is recommended by the fact that in the old forms of ‘graces’ used in many
colleges, and, as we are informed, at the Inns of Court, the prayer for peace comes always after, and
never before, meat. But as the mistake may easily have been made by Shakespeare, or else
deliberately put into the mouth of the ‘First Gentleman,’ we have not altered the text.

Note III.
I. 2. 22-26. In the remainder of this scene Hanmer and other Editors have made capricious changes in
the distribution of the dialogue, which we have not thought it worth while to chronicle. It is
impossible to discern any difference of character in the three speakers, or to introduce logical
sequence into their buffoonery.

Note IV.
I. 2. 110. We retain here the stage direction of the Folio, ‘Enter ... Juliet, &c.’ for the preceding line
makes it evident that she was on the stage. On the other hand, line 140 shows that she was not within
hearing, nor near Claudio while he spoke. We may suppose that she was following at a distance
behind, in her anxiety for the fate of her lover. She appears again as a mute personage at the end of
the play.

Note V.
I. 2. 115, 116. Johnson in the first Edition, 1765, says, ‘I suspect that a line is lost.’ This note was
omitted in the Edition of 1778.

Note VI.
I. 4. 70. ‘To soften Angelo: and that’s my pith of business.’ We have left this line as it is printed in the
Folios. There is a line of similar length and rhythm in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, IV. 2. 16.
‘But here comes Thurio: now must we to her window.’

Note VII.
II. 2. 149. A writer, ‘A. E. B.’ in Notes and Queries (Vol. V. p. 325) points out that in Wickliffe’s
bible, ‘shekels’ is spelt ‘sickles,’ which he says ought, therefore, to be retained. There is no doubt of
the meaning; but we, in accordance with our custom, have modernized the spelling.

Note VIII.
II. 2. 155-161. The printing in the Folios gives no help towards the metrical arrangement of these and
other broken lines. In the present case we might read:

‘Ang. Well, come to me to-morrow.
Luc. Go to: ’tis well;
Away!
Isab. Heaven keep your honour safe!
Ang. Amen:

To your sufficiency your worth be added,
For I, &c.’

Or, considering the first two lines as prose, we might read the last:

Isab. Heaven keep your honour safe!
Ang. Amen: for I
Am that way going to temptation
Where prayers cross.’

Note IX.
II. 4. 9. ‘fear’d.’ Mr Collier, in Notes and Queries, Vol. VIII. p. 361, mentions that in Lord
Ellesmere’s copy of the First Folio the reading is ‘sear’d.’

Note X.
II. 4. 94. ‘all-building.’ ‘Mr Theobald has binding in one of his copies.’ Johnson.

Note XI.
II. 4. 103. ‘That longing have been sick for.’ Delius says in his note on this passage, ‘Das I vor have
lässt sich nach Shaksperischer Licenz leicht suppliren.’ The second person singular of the governing
pronoun is frequently omitted by Shakespeare in familiar questions, but, as to the first and third
persons, his usage rarely differs from the modern. If the text be genuine, we have an instance in this
play of the omission of the third person singular I. 4. 72, ‘Has censured him.’ See also the early
Quarto of the Merry Wives of Windsor, Sc. XIV. l. 40, p. 285 of our reprint:
‘Ile cloath my daughter, and aduertise Slender
To know her by that signe, and steale her thence,
And vnknowne to my wife, shall marrie her.’

Note XII.
II. 4. 111-113. Mr Sidney Walker adopts Steevens’ emendation, and affirms that among all the
metrical licenses used by Shakespeare, the omission of the final syllable of the line is not one. But if
the reading of the first Folio be allowed to stand, we can find many instances of lines which want the
final syllable. The line immediately preceding may be so scanned:
‘Ignomy in ransom and free pardon.’
And in this same scene, line 143, we have
‘And you tell me that he shall die for’t.’
And in V. 1. 83:
‘The warrant’s for yourself; take heed to’t.’

It is conceivable that ‘mercy’ may be pronounced as a trisyllable; but in all the undoubted examples
of such a metrical license, the liquid is the second of the two consonants, not the first. See, however,
S. Walker’s Shakespeare’s Versification, pp. 207 sqq.
Possibly a word may have dropt out, and the original passage may have stood thus:
‘Ignomy in ransom and free pardon are
Of two opposed houses: lawful mercy
Is nothing kin to foul redemption.’

Note XIII.
III. 1. 29. Mr Collier’s copy of the second Folio has ‘sire.’ Notes and Queries, Vol. VI. p. 141.

Note XIV.
III. 1. 56, 57. The metrical arrangement is uncertain here. It is not probable that the last word of the
Duke’s speech, ‘concealed,’ should be the first of a line which would be interrupted by his exit.
Perhaps, too, the true reading of the following line may have been:
‘As comforts all are good, most good indeed.’

Note XV.
III. 1. 91, 94. The word ‘prenzie,’ occurring, as it does, twice in this passage, rests on such strong
authority that it is better to seek to explain than to alter it. It may be etymologically connected with
‘prin,’ in old French, meaning ‘demure;’ also with ‘princox,’ a ‘coxcomb,’ and with the word
‘prender,’ which occurs more than once in Skelton: e.g.
‘This pevysh proud, this prender gest,
When he is well, yet can he not rest.’
Mr Bullock mentions, in support of his conjecture, that ‘pensie’ is still used in some north-country
dialects. ‘Primsie’ is also found in Burns’ poems with the signification of ‘demure, precise,’
according to the glossary.

Note XVI.
III. 1. 118. Johnson says the most plausible conjecture is ‘benighted.’ It does not appear by whom this
conjecture was made.

Note XVII.
III. 1. 168. We must suppose that Claudio, as he is going out, stops to speak with his sister at the back
of the stage within sight of the audience.

Note XVIII.
IV. 2. 91. This is a case in which we have thought it best to make an exception to our usual rule of
modernizing the spelling. The metre requires ‘Haply’ to be pronounced as a trisyllable. Perhaps it
would be well to retain the spelling of the first two Folios ‘Happely,’ and as a general rule it would be
convenient if an obsolete spelling were retained in words used with an obsolete meaning. We have,
however, abstained from introducing on our own authority this, or any other innovation in
orthography. In IV. 3. 126, we have retained ‘covent,’ which had grown to be a distinct word from
‘convent,’ and differently pronounced. Shakespeare’s ear would hardly have tolerated the harsh-
sounding line
‘One of our cónvent and his cónfessor.’

Note XIX.
IV. 3. 17. The reading ‘cry’ (i.e. ‘crie’) for ‘are’ was suggested by a passage in Nashe’s Apologie for
Pierce Pennilesse, 1693, quoted by Malone: ‘At that time that thy joys were in the fleeting, and thus
crying ‘for the Lord’s sake’ out at an iron window.’

Note XX.
IV. 3. 83. In order to avoid the unmetrical line 83, as given in the Folios and by all Editors to Johnson
inclusive, the lines 82-85 have been arranged as five, thus:

If... Let... In secret... Ere... To the under... Capell.
If... Let... Both... The sun... The under... Steevens.
If... Let... Both... Ere... To yonder... Collier.
If... Let... Both... The sun... To yond... Singer.

Perhaps the best arrangement, because requiring the least change from the printing of the Folio,
would be to put the words ‘And Claudio’ in a line by themselves. Many examples of such a broken
line in the middle of a speech may be found (e.g. V. 1. 448), and it would add to the emphasis with
which the Duke commends Claudio to the Provost’s care. The long line V. 1. 465, might be similarly
reduced by reading
‘His name
Is Barnardine.’

Note XXI.
IV. 5. 1. Mr Spedding suggests that Act V. should begin here. Dr Johnson says: “This play has two
Friars, either of whom might singly have served. I should therefore imagine that ‘Friar Thomas,’ in
the first Act, might be changed without any harm to ‘Friar Peter:’ for why should the Duke
unnecessarily trust two in an affair which required only one? The name of Friar Thomas is never
mentioned in the dialogue, and therefore seems arbitrarily placed at the head of the scene.”

Note XXII.
V. 1. 131. Mr Sidney Walker, in his Shakespeare’s Versification, pp. 80 sqq. suggests that in this and
other passages we should read ‘this,’ because ‘This is is not unfrequently, like That is, &c. contracted
into a monosyllable.’ For the reason assigned in Note (iii) to The Tempest, I. 2. 173, we have
preferred the more familiar spelling this’s.

Act I: Scene 1
Scene i. Lords and Attendants.] Singer. Lords. Ff. and Attendants. Capell.
5. put] not Pope. apt Collier MS.
7, 8. remains, But that] remains; Put that Rowe.
8, 9. But that to your sufficiency ...] But that to your sufficiency you add Due diligency ...
Theobald conj.
But that to your sufficiency you joyn A will to serve us ... Hanmer.
But that to your sufficiency you put A zeal as willing ... Tyrwhitt conj.
But that to your sufficiencies your worth is abled Johnson conj.
But your sufficiency as worth is able Farmer conj.
Your sufficiency ... able Steevens conj.
But that your sufficiency be as your worth is stable Becket conj.
But state to your sufficiency ... Jackson conj.
But thereto your sufficiency ... Singer.
But add to your sufficiency your worth Collier MS.
But that [tendering his commission] to your sufficiency. And, as your worth is able, let
them work Staunton conj.
But that to your sufficiency I add Commission ample Spedding conj.
See note (i).
11. city’s] cities Ff.
16. [Exit an Attendant.] Capell.
18. soul] roll Warburton. seal Johnson conj.
22. what] say, what Pope.
25. Scene ii. Pope.
27. your pleasure] F1. your Graces pleasure F2 F3 F4.
28. life] look Johnson conj.
28, 29. character ... history] history ... character Monck Mason conj.
32. they] them Hanmer.
35, 36. all alike As if we] all as if We Hanmer.
37. nor] om. Pope.
42. my part in him] in my part me Hanmer. my part to him Johnson conj. in him, my part
Becket conj.

43. Hold therefore, Angelo:—] Hold therefore, Angelo: [Giving him his commission] Hanmer.
Hold therefore. Angelo, Tyrwhitt conj. Hold therefore, Angelo, our place and power:
Grant White.
45. Mortality] Morality Pope.
51. upon it] upon ’t Capell.
No more] Come, no more Pope.
52. leaven’d and prepared] Ff. leven’d and prepar’d Rowe. prepar’d and leaven’d Pope.
prepar’d and level’d Warburton. prepar’d unleaven’d Heath conj.
56. to you] om. Hanmer.
61. your commissions] F1. your commission F2 F3 F4. our commission Pope.
66. laws] law Pope.
76. [Exit.] F2. [Exit. (after line 75) F1.
84. your] you F2.

Act I: Scene 2
Scene ii.] Scene iii. Pope.
12. First Gent. Why, ’twas] 1. Gent. Why? ’twas Ff. First Gent. Why? Luc. ’Twas Singer.
15. before] after Hanmer. See note (ii).
do] doth Hanmer. does Warburton.
22-26. Lucio. In any proportion ... language. First Gent. I think ... religion. Lucio. Ay, why
not?... all grace.]
Lucio. Not in any profession ... language, I ... religion. 2. Gent. And why not?...
controversy. Lucio. As for ... all grace. Hanmer.
See note (iii).
29. lists] list Anon. conj.
42. Here Ff have Enter Bawde, transferred by Theobald to line 56.
43. Scene iv. Pope. Bawd coming at a distance. Hanmer.
44. I have] 1. Gent. I have Pope (ed. 2). He has Halliwell.
48. dolours] Rowe. dollours Ff. dollars Pope.
56. Scene iv. Johnson.
65. head] head is Rowe. head’s Capell.
81. Scene v. Pope.
88. with maid] with-made Seymour conj.
91. houses] bawdy houses Tyrwhitt conj.
96. all] om. Pope.
110. Scæna Tertia. Ff.

Pope’s Scene VI is not mentioned, but presumably begins here.

Juliet] Ff. Gaoler. Halliwell. om. Collier MS. See note (iv).

113. Lord] om. F2 F3 F4.
115. offence] offence’ (for offences) S. Walker conj.
115, 116. by weight The words] Ff.
by weight; I’ th’ words Hanmer.
by weight. The words Warburton (after Davenant).
by weight—The sword Roberts conj.
by weight The word Halliwell.
by weight.—The word’s Becket conj.
by weight—The works Jackson conj.
See note (v).
117. yet still ’tis just] yet ’tis just still S. Walker conj.
121. every scope] liberty Wheeler MS.
124. A thirsty evil] An evil thirst Davenant’s version. A thirsted evil Spedding conj.
128. morality] Rowe (after Davenant). mortality Ff.
141. denunciation] pronunciation Collier MS.
143. propagation] F2 F3 F4. propogation F1. prorogation Malone conj. procuration Jackson
conj. preservation Grant White.
147. most] om. Hanmer.
148. on] F1. in F2 F3 F4.
151. fault and] flash and Johnson conj. foult or Id. conj. foil and Anon. conj. fault and] flash
and Johnson conj. fault or Id. conj. foil and Anon. conj.
glimpse] guise Anon. conj.
161. nineteen] fourteen Whalley conj.
165. it is] so it is Hanmer (who prints line 165-167 as four verses ending stands, milkmaid,
off, him.
166. she be] she be but Hanmer.
173. voice] name Wheler MS.
175. youth] zenith Johnson conj.
176. prone] prompt Johnson conj. pow’r Id. conj. proue Becket conj.
177. move] Ff. moves Rowe.
beside] besides Capell.
181. under] F1. upon F2 F3 F4. on Hanmer, who prints 179-185 as six verses ending may,
like, imposition, be, tick-tack, Lucio.
imposition] inquisition Johnson conj. (withdrawn).
182. the enjoying of] om. Hanmer.
who I would] which I’d Hanmer.
184. her] her strait Hanmer.

Act I: Scene 3
Scene iii.] Scena Quarta Ff. Scene vii. Pope.

3. bosom] breast Pope.
10. and witless] F2 F3 F4. witless F1. with witless Edd. conj.
keeps] keep Hammer.
12. stricture] strictness Davenant’s version. strict ure Warburton.
15. For] Far F2.
20. to] F1. for F2 F3 F4.
weeds] Ff. steeds Theobald. wills S. Walker conj.
21. this] these Theobald.
fourteen] nineteen Theobald.
slip] Ff. sleep Theobald (after Davenant).
25. to] do Dent. MS.
26. terror] F1. errour F2 F3 F4.
26, 27. the rod Becomes more ... decrees] Pope (after Davenant). the rod More ... decrees Ff.
the rod’s More ... most just decrees Collier MS.
27. mock’d] markt Davenant’s version.
34. do] om. Pope.
37. be done] om. Pope.
39. the] their Dyce conj.
indeed] om. Pope.
42, 43. fight To do in slander]
sight To do in slander Pope.
fight So do in slander Theobald.
sight To do it slander Hanmer.
sight, So doing slander’d Johnson conj.
sight To draw on slander Collier MS.
right To do him slander Singer conj.
light To do it slander Dyce conj.
fight To do me slander Halliwell.
win the fight To die in slander Staunton conj.
never ... slander] ever in the fight To dole in slander Jackson conj.
43. And] om. Pope.
45. I] om. Pope.
47. in person bear me] Capell. in person beare Ff. my person bear Pope.
49. our] F1. your F2 F3 F4.

Act I: Scene 4
Scene iv.] Scena Quinta Ff. Scene viii. Pope.
5. sisterhood, the votarists] sister votarists Pope.
27. For that which] That for which Malone conj.

30. make me not your story] mock me not:—your story Malone. make me not your scorn
Collier MS. (after Davenant). make ... sport Singer.
It is true] Steevens. ’Tis true Ff. om. Pope. Nay, tis true Capell.
31. I would not] Malone puts a full stop here.
40. have] having Rowe.
42. That ... brings] Doth ... bring Hanmer.
seedness] seeding Collier MS.
44. his] its Hanmer.
49. O, let him] F1. Let him F2 F3 F4. Let him then Pope.
50. is] who’s Collier MS.
52. and] with Johnson conj.
do] om. Pope.
54. givings-out] Rowe. giving-out Ff.
60. his] it’s Capell.
63. for long] long time Pope.
68. hope is] hope’s Pope.
70. pith of business ’Twixt] pith Of business betwixt Hanmer. See note (vi).
pith of] om. Pope.
72. so seek] so, Seeke Ff. so? seek Edd. conj.
Has] H’as Theobald.
71-75. Ff end the lines thus:— so,—already—warrant—poor—good. Capell first gave the
arrangement in the text.
73. as] om. Hanmer.
74. A warrant for his] a warrant For’s Ff.
78. make] Pope. makes Ff.
82. freely] F1. truely F2 F3 F4.
Enter Provost inserted by Capell.

Act II: Scene 1
6. fall] fell Warburton conj.
8, 9, 10. Let ... That, in the] Let ... whom I believe To ... whether in The Hanmer. Let ... whom I
believe To ... virtue, and consider This, in the Capell.
12. your] Rowe (after Davenant) our Ff.
15. which now you censure him] you censure now in him Hanmer. which now you censure him
for Capell. where now you censure him Grant White.
19. the] a Collier MS.
22. justice seizes] justice ceizes Ff. justice seizes on Pope. it seizes on Hanmer.
know] Pope. knowes F1 F2. knows F3 F4.
23. very] om. Hanmer, ending lines 21, 22, 23 at made—seizes on—pregnant.

31. Sir] om. Pope.
31. After this line Ff have ‘Enter Provost.’
36. [Exit Provost] Rowe. om. Ff.
37. [Aside] S. Walker conj.
38. This line is printed by Ff in italics.
39. from brakes of ice, and] through brakes of vice and Rowe. from brakes of vice, and
Malone. from brakes of justice, Capell. from breaks of ice, and Collier. from brakes, off
ice and Knight conj.
41. Scene ii. Pope.
57. they] you Rowe.
78. uncleanliness] F1. uncleanness F2 F3 F4.
79. the] that Hanmer.
85. [To Ange. Capell.
87. sir] om. F4.
88. distant] F1. instant F2 F3 F4.
96. but two] F1. no more F2 F3 F4.
107. very] om. Pope.
113. me] om. Pope. we Grant White.
115. nor] om. Pope.
117. into] unto Collier MS.
120. All-hallond] All-holland Pope.
122. chair, sir] chamber, sir Capell conj. chamber Anon. conj.
126. winter] windows Collier MS.
132. Scene iii. Pope.
186. you] ye F4.
194. hang] hang on Heath conj.
198. Scene iv. Pope.
207. in] F1. om. F2 F3 F4.
214. nor] and Pope.
216. splay] spay Steevens.
221. the knaves] F1. knaves F2 F3 F4.
222. are F2 F3 F4. is F1.
225. year] Ff. years Rowe.
226. year] F1 years F2 F3 F4.
227. bay] day Pope.
234. Pompey] om. F4.
237. [Aside] Staunton.
241. Scene v. Pope.

245. your] Pope. the Ff.
260. home] F1. go home F2 F3 F4.
267. There is] There’s Pope.

Act II: Scene 2
Scene ii.] Scene vi. Pope.

Pope’s Scene VII is not identified. Scene VIII begins at line 161.

1. he will] he’ll Pope.
4. but as offended] offended but as Grant White.
5. sects] sorts S. Walker conj.
of this] o’ th’ Hanmer.
9. dost thou] om. Hanmer.
12. Go to] om. Hanmer.
14. honour’s] om. Pope.
17. fitter] fitting Pope.
22. Well] om. Pope.
25. for’t] for it Pope.
God save] ’Save Ff.
26. a little] yet a Pope.
28. Please] ’Please Ff.
Well] om. Pope.
30. And most] And more Rowe.
32. must not plead, but that] must plead, albeit Hanmer. must now plead, but yet Johnson
conj.
40. To fine] to find Theobald.
faults] fault Dyce.
46. more tame a] a more tame Rowe.
53. might you] you might S. Walker conj.
55. him.] him? Ff.
56. You are] Yo art F2. Thou art Collier MS.
58. back] F2 F3 F4. om. F1.
Well,] and Hanmer.
Well, believe] Well believe Knight.
59. ’longs] Theobald, longs Ff. belongs Pope.
73. that were] that are Warburton.
76. top] God Collier MS.
80. condemn] condemns Rowe.

82. must die] dies Pope.
83. Printed as two lines in Ff, the first ending sudden.
85. shall we serve] serve we Pope.
92. the first] Ff. the first man Pope. he, the first Capell (Tyrwhitt conj.). the first one Collier
MS. but the first Grant White. the first he Spedding conj.
the first that] he who first Davenant’s version.
did the edict] the edict did Keightley conj.
95. that shows what] which shews that Hanmer.
96. Either now] Or new Pope. Either new Dyce.
99. ere] Hanmer. here Ff. where Malone.
104. Be] Then be Pope.
107. it is] ’tis Pope.
108. it is] om. Hanmer.
111. ne’er] never F1.
113. Would] Incessantly would Hanmer.
114. Heaven] sweet Heaven Hanmer.
116. Split’st] splits F1.
117. but] F1. O but F2 F3 F4.
proud] weak, proud Malone conj.
120. glassy] grassy Lloyd conj.
126. We] You Collier MS.
cannot] can but Anon. conj.
ourself] yourself Theobald (Warburton).
127. saints] sins Anon. conj.
129. i’ the right] i’ th right F1 F2. i’ right F3 F4. right Pope. in the right Steevens.
132. avised] avis’d F1 F2. advis’d F3 F4. thou advis’d Hanmer.
more on’t] more on’t, yet more Hanmer.
140. your] you F2.
142. breeds] bleeds Pope.
149. shekels] Pope. sickles Ff. cycles Collier conj. circles Collier MS. See note (vii).
150. rates are] Johnson. rate are Ff. rate is Hanmer.
157. Amen] Amen! I say Hanmer. See note (viii).
159. Where] Which your Johnson conj.
160. your lordship] you lordship F2. you Hanmer.
161. ’Save] God save Edd. conj.
161. Scene viii. Pope.
163. Ha!] om. Pope.
166. by] with Capell.
172. evils] offals Collier MS.

183. never] ne’er Pope.
186. Ever till now] F1.
Even till now F2 F3 F4.
Even till this very now Pope.
Ever till this very now Theobald.
Even from youth till now Collier MS.

Act II: Scene 3
Scene iii.] Scene ix. Pope. Act III. Scene i. Johnson conj.
7. crimes that I may] several crimes that I May Seymour conj.
9. Enter Juliet] Transferred by Dyce to line 15.
11. flaws] F3 F4. flawes F1 F2. flames Warburton (after Davenant).
26. offenceful] offence full F1.
30. lest you do repent] F4. least you do repent F1 F2 F3. repent you not Pope.
33. we would not spare] Ff. we’d not seek Pope. we’d not spare Malone. we would not serve
Collier MS. we’d not appease Singer conj.
36. There rest] Tis well; there rest Hammer.
39. Grace] So grace Pope. May grace Steevens conj. All grace Seymour conj. Grace go with
you is assigned to Juliet by Dyce (Ritson conj.).
40. love] law Hanmer.

Act II: Scene 4
Scene iv.] Scene x. Pope.
2. empty] om. Seymour conj.
3. invention] intention Pope.
4. Heaven] Heaven’s Rowe. Heaven is Capell.
5. his] its Pope.
9. fear’d] scar’d Hanmer. sear Heath conj. stale Anon. conj. See note (ix).
10. take] took Seymour conj.
12. for vain. O place,] F4. for vaine. O place, F1 F2 F3. for vane. O place, or for vane o’ the
place. Manlone conj.
15. thou art blood] thou art but blood Pope. thou still art blood Malone.
17. ’Tis not] Is’t not Hanmer. ’Tis yet Johnson conj.
18. desires] asks Pope.
21. both it] both that Pope. it both Collier MS.
22. all] om. Hanmer, who makes lines 19-23 end at blood, both that, dispossessing, fitness.
27. subject] F1 F2 F3. subjects F4.
28. part] path Collier MS.

31. Scene xi. Pope.
33. demand] declare Hanmer.
Your brother] He Hanmer.
34. your honour] you Hanmer.
45. sweetness] lewdness Hanmer.
46. easy] just Hanmer.
48. metal] Theobald. mettle Ff.
means] mints Steevens conj. moulds Malone conj.
50. ’Tis ... earth] ’Tis so set down in earth but not in heaven Johnson conj.
51. Say] And say Pope. Yea, say S. Walker conj. ending lines 50, 51 at heaven, then I.
53. or] Rowe (after Davenant), and Ff.
58. for accompt] accompt Pope.
68. Were ... charity.] Were’t ... charity? Hanmer. ’Twere ... charity. Seymour conj.
70. of] om. Pope.
71. make it my morn prayer] make’t my morning prayer Hanmer.
73. your] yours Johnson conj.
75. craftily] Rowe (after Davenant). crafty Ff.
76. me] om. F1.
80. enshield] in-shell’d Tyrwhitt conj.
81. mark me] mark me well Hanmer.
90. loss] loose Singer MS. toss Johnson conj. list Heath conj. force Collier MS.
94. all-building] Ff. all-holding Rowe. all-binding Johnson. See note (x).
97. to let] let Hanmer.
103. have] I’ve Rowe. I have Capell. had Knight. See note (xi).
sick] seek Johnson (a misprint).
104, 105. Capell (conj.) and Collier end the first line at must.
106. at] for Johnson conj.
111. Ignomy in] Ignomie in F1. Ignominy in F2 F3 F4. An ignominious Pope.
112, 113. mercy Is nothing kin] Ff. mercy sure Is nothing kin Pope. mercy is Nothing akin
Steevens. See note (xii).
117. oft] very oft Hanmer, who ends lines 116, 117 at me ... have.
118. we would] we’d Steevens. This line printed as two in Ff.
122. feodary] F2 F3 F4. fedarie F1.
123. thy weakness] by weakness Rowe. to weakness Capell. this weakness Harness (Malone
conj.).
126. make] take Johnson conj.
127. their] thy Edd. conj.
135. you be] you’re Pope.
140. former] formal Warburton.

143. for it] Pope. for’t Ff.
153. Pope ends the line at world.
163. redeem] save Pope.
171. should] shall Steevens.
172. perilous] most perilous Theobald. these perilous Seymour conj. pernicious S. Walker
conj.
175. court’sy] curtsie Ff.
179. mind] mine Jackson conj.
185. Inverted commas prefixed to this line in Ff.

Act III: Scene 1
1. of] for Hanmer.
4. I’ve] I’have Ff.
5. either] or Pope.
8. keep] reck Warburton. thou art] om. Hanmer.
10. dost] Ff. do Hanmer.
20. exist’st] Theobald. exists Ff.
24. effects] affects Johnson conj.
25. If] Though Hanmer.
28. unloads] unloadeth Pope.
29. sire] F4. fire F1 F2 F3. See note (xiii).
31. serpigo] Rowe. sapego F1. sarpego F2 F3 F4.
34. all thy blessed] pall’d, thy blazed Warburton. all thy blasted Johnson conj. all thy boasted
Collier MS.
35. as aged] an indigent Hanmer. assuaged Warburton. assieged Becket conj. engaged
Staunton conj. enaged Grant White conj. abased Edd. conj.
37. beauty] bounty Warburton.
38. yet] om. Pope.
40. more] moe Ff. a Hanmer.
46. sir] son Mason conj.
49. Look] om. Pope.
53. Bring me to hear them speak] Malone (Steevens conj.). Bring them to hear me speak F1.
Bring them to speak F2 F3 F4. Bring me to stand Capell.
54. concealed] conceal’d F1. conceal’d, yet hear them F2 F3 F4. conceal’d, yet hear them
speak Capell. Bring me where I conceal’d May hear them speak Davenant’s version.
55. Scene ii. Pope.
sister] good sister Hanmer.
57. most good, most good indeed] most good indeed Pope. most good in speed Hanmer. most
good. Indeed Blackstone conj. See note (xiv).

60. leiger] ledger Capell. lieger Staunton.
62. set on] set out Pope.
64. To] Must Hanmer.
70. Though] Pope. Through Ff.

75, 75. Overlapping line numbers unchanged. In the original text, the two lines
called 75 occur before and after a page break.

79. can a resolution fetch] want a resolution fetch’d Hanmer.
80. tenderness?] tenderness. Dyce (Heath conj.).
86. appliances] appliance Hanmer.
88. head] bred Grey conj.
89. falcon] falconer Grey conj.
90, 91. filth ... pond] pond ... filth Upton conj.
91, 94. prenzie] F1. princely F2 F3 F4.
priestly Hanmer.
precise Knight (Tieck conj.).
rev’rend Staunton.
saintly Hickson conj. pensive Anon. (N. & Q.) conj. frenzy!—princely Knight conj.
printsy Taylor conj. pious Delius conj. phrenzied Anon. (N. & Q.) conj. primsie Anon.
(N. & Q.) conj. pensie Bullock conj.
See note (xv).
93. damned’st] damnest F1.
94. guards] garb Collier MS.
97. give’t] grant Hanmer. give Warburton.
from] for Hanmer.
103. dear] dearest Pope.
105. he] he then Hanmer.
111. Why] Why, Hanmer.
118. delighted] dilated Hanmer. benighted (Anon. conj. ap. Johnson). delinquent Upton conj.
alighted Anon. conj. delated Anon. conj. in Fras. Mag. See note (xvi).
119. reside] recide F1 (and 249).
120. region] regions Rowe.
124, 125. those that ... thought Imagine] those, that ... thought, Imagine Ff. ... thoughts ...
Theobald. those—that ... thought—Imagine Hanmer. those whom ... thought Imagines
Heath conj. (after Davenant).
127. penury] F2 F3 F4. periury F1.
and] om. Pope.
138. shield] F1. shield: F2 F3 F4. grant Pope.
141. but my] my only Pope.
145. Nay] om. Pope.

148. [Going. Capell.
149. Scene iii. Pope.
Re-enter Duke] Capell. Duke steps in. F2. om. F1. Enter Duke and Provost. Rowe.
155. [Walks apart] Capell.
163. satisfy] falsify Hanmer.
168. [Exit C.] Exit. F2, after line 167, om. F1. See note (xvii).
174. Exit ... forward] Edd. [Exit. F2 om. F1.
176. cheap] chief Collier MS.
177. in goodness] in such goodness Hanmer.
179. to you] on you Hanmer.
183. him:] him, Dyce.
190, 191. advisings: ... good] Pope. advisings,... good; Ff.
192. uprighteously] uprightly Pope.
197. farther] , father F4.
204. She] Her Pope.
was] he was Hanmer.
205. by] om. F1.
and] om. F4.
217. few] F1 F2. few words F3 F4.
her on] on her Capell conj.
219. a marble] as marble Anon. conj.
tears] F1. ears F2 F3 F4.
228. unkindness] kindness Pope.
236. granted in course,—and now] granted incourse, and now Ff. granted, in course now
Pope.
241. scaled] foiled Grant White.
244. from] and Rowe.
255. [Exeunt severally] [Exit Ff.

Act III: Scene 2
Scene ii.] om. Ff. Scene iv. Pope.
Enter ... Pompey] Enter Elbow, Clowne, Officers. Ff.
5. usuries] usancies Collier MS.
7. Punctuated as in Hanmer. Ff place a semicolon after law. Pope a full stop. Warburton
supposes a line or two to be lost.
furred gown] furred lambskin gown Capell.
8. fox and lamb-skins] fox-skins Capell. fox on lamb-skins Mason conj.
11. father] om. Johnson conj.

22. eat, array myself] Theobald (Bishop conj.). eat away myself Ff.
24. Go mend, go mend] Go mend, mend Pope.
25. does] doth Pope.
36. From our faults] F1. Free from our faults F2 F3. Free from all faults F4.
as faults from seeming] as from faults seeming Hanmer. or from false seeming Johnson
conj. or faults from seeming Id. conj.
36. Scene v. [Enter Lucio. Pope.
37. waist] Johnson, ed. 1778. wast F1 F2 F3. waste F4.
40. wheels] heels Steevens.
43. it] Pope. om. Ff.
44, 45. this tune ... Is’t not] this? tune ... method,—is’t not? Johnson conj.
45. matter and method] the matter and the method Hanmer.
Is’t not ... rain] It’s not down in the last reign Warburton.
46. Trot] to’t Dyce (Grey conj.). troth Jackson conj.
52. her] the Pope.
69, 70. bondage: ... patiently,] Theobald. bondage ... patiently: Ff.
80. Scene vi. Pope.
93. general] gentle Warburton.
95. a great] great Rowe.
98. this] Ff. the Pope.
104. is a motion generative]
is a motion ungenerative Theobald.
has no motion generative Hanmer.
is not a motion generative Capell.
is a motion ingenerative Collier MS.
is a notion generative Upton conj.
is a mule ungenerative Anon. conj.
114. detected] detracted Capell.
123. shy] sly Hanmer.
126. I] om. Rowe.
142. dearer] Hanmer. deare F1 F2. dear F3 F4.
157. little] a little Hanmer.
again.] again? Ff.
168. this Claudio] this: Claudio Edd. conj.
171. He’s not past it yet, and I say to thee] Hanmer. He’s now past it, yet (and I say to thee)
Ff. He’s now past it: yea, and I say to thee Capell.
172. smelt] smelt of Rowe.
173. said] say Pope.
179. Scene vii. Pope
183. swear] swerve Hanmer. severe Farmer conj.

202. even] F4. ’even F1 F2 F3.
207. See] Theobald. Sea Ff.
212. and it is as] F3 F4. and as it is as F1 F2.
213. undertaking. There] undertaking, there Collier.
220. especially] specially Pope. These two lines are printed as verse by Ff, ending strifes, ...
himself.
232. leisure] lecture Capell conj.
234. your function] the due of your function Collier MS.
243. Scene viii. Pope.
[Exeunt....] Capell. [Exit. F2. om. F1.
246, 247. Pattern ... go] Patterning himself to know, In grace to stand, in virtue go Johnson
conj. Pattern in himself, to show Grace and virtue. Stand or go Becket conj.
247. and virtue go] virtue to go Collier MS.
249. self-offences] self offences Collier.
256-258. may ... To draw] many ... Draw Harness.
256. likeness made in crimes] Ff. that likeness made in crimes Theobald. that likeness
shading crimes Hanmer. such likeness trade in crimes Heath conj. likeness wade in
crimes Malone conj. (withdrawn). likeness mate in crimes Leo conj.
257. Making practice] Mocking, practise Malone conj. Make sin practise Jackson conj.
Masking practice Collier MS.
258. To draw] Draw Theobald. So draw Staunton conj.

Act IV: Scene 1
Scene i. Enter M.] Ff. M. discovered sitting. Steevens.
5, 6. F4 omits the refrain in l. 6. Rowe omits it in both lines.
6. but] though Fletcher’s version.
13. it] is Warburton.
17. meet] meet one Hanmer.
19. Enter I.] Transferred by Singer to line 23.
24. Scene ii. Pope.
well come] Ff. welcome Warburton.
32, 33, 34. There have I made my promise Upon the heavy middle of the night To call upon
him.] S. Walker conj.
There have I made my promise, upon the Heavy middle of the night to call upon him. Ff.
There on the heavy middle of the night Have I my promise made to call upon him. Pope.
There have I made my promise to call on him Upon the heavy middle of the night.
Capell.
There have I made my promise in the heavy Middle.... Singer.
There have I made my promise on the heavy Middle.... Dyce.
Delius and Staunton read with Ff. but print as prose.

38. action all of precept] precept of all action Johnson conj.
49. Scene iii. Pope.
52. have] I have Pope.
58-63. O place ... fancies] These lines to precede III. 2. 178. Warburton conj.
60. these] their Hanmer. base Collier MS.
quests] quest F1.
61. escapes] ’scapes Pope.
62. their idle dreams] Pope. their idle dreame Ff. an idle dream Rowe.
63. Welcome, how agreed?] Well! agreed? Hanmer.
Scene iv. Pope.
65. It is] ’Tis Pope.
74. tithe’s] Tithes F1 F2 F3. Tythes F4. tilth’s Hanmer (Warburton).
Our ... sow] Our tythe’s to reap, for yet our corn’s to sow Capell conj. MS.

Act IV: Scene 2
Scene ii.] Scene v. Pope.
2-4. Printed as verse in Ff.
37-42. Abhor. Sir,.......thief] Abhor. ***Clown.*** Sir, it is a mystery. Abhor. Proof.— Clown.
Every ... thief (42) Hanmer. Pom. Proof ... thief (42) Lloyd conj.
39-42. Every......thief] Capell. Abh. Every....thief (39). Clo. If it be ... thief (41) Ff. Abh. Every
... thief, Clown: if it be......thief (42) Theobald.
45. your] you F2.
53. yare] Theobald. y’are Ff. yours Rowe.
56. The one] Th’ one Ff. One Hamner.
58. Scene vi. Pope.
63. He will not wake] F1 F2. He will not awake F3 F4. He’ll not awake Pope.
64. yourself] yourself [Ex. Claudio.] Theobald.
65. comfort! [Exit Claudio.] By and by.—] Capell. comfort: by and by, Ff.
70. None] F1. Now F2 F3 F4.
71. They] She Hawkins conj. There Collier MS.
85. unsisting] F1 F2 F3. insisting F4. unresisting Rowe. unresting Hanmer. unshifting Capell.
unlist’ning Steevens conj. resisting Collier conj. unlisting Mason conj. unfeeling
Johnson conj. unwisting Singer.
86. ....Provost] ....Provost, speaking to one at the door, after which he comes forward. Capell.
91. Happily] Happely F1 F2. Happily F3 F4. See note (xviii).
96. Scene vii. Pope.
lordship’s] Pope. lords Ff. om. Capell.

96, 97. This ... man. Duke. And ... pardon] Knight (Tyrwhitt conj.). Duke. This ... man. Pro.
And ... pardon Ff.
98-101. Printed as verse in Ff.
113. you] om. F4.
114. Prov. [Reads] Rowe. The letter. Ff.
117. duly] truly Capell (a misprint).
131. It is] Ff. Is it Pope.
136. reckless] Theobald. wreaklesse F1 F2 F3. wreakless F4. rechless Pope.
138. desperately mortal] mortally desperate Hanmer.
161-165. Printed as verse in Ff. Rowe.
167. tie] F1 F4. tye F2 F3. tire Theobald conj. dye Simpson conj.
168. bared] Malone. bar’de F1 F2 F3. barb’d F4.
179. persuasion] Ff. my persuasion Rowe.
188. that] F1 F2 F3. which F4.
191. writ] here writ Hanmer.

Act IV: Scene 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.

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.

Act IV: Scene 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.

Act IV: Scene 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.

Act IV: Scene 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.

Act V: Scene 1
The city-gate] Capell. The street. Rowe. A public place near the city. Warburton. Capell
adds: A State with chairs under it.
Mariana ... stand.] Capell. om. Ff.
Provost, Officers] Malone. om. Ff.
4. thankings] F1. thankings be F2 F3. thinkings be F4. thanks be Pope.
5. We have] We’ve Pope.
9. wrong it] F1. wrong F2 F3 F4.
13. me] F3 F4. we F1 F2.
14. subject] subjects Theobald.
19. Scene ii. Pope.
... come forward.] Capell. Enter ... Ff.
21. I would] I’d Pope.
25. given] give F4.

26. Printed as two lines in Ff, ending wrongs ... brief.
32. Two lines in Ff, ending you ... heere.
Hear me, O hear me, here!] F3 F4. Heare me: oh heare me, heere F1 F2. O hear me here.
Pope. O, hear me, hear me! Theobald.
35. By] om. Pope.
36. and strange] F1. om. F2 F3 F4. and strangely Collier MS.
37. strange, but yet] strangely yet Collier MS.
42. it is] om. Pope.
47. infirmity] infirmiry F4.
48. O prince, I conjure thee,] O, I conjure thee, Prince, Pope. O prince, I do conjure thee,
Capell.
54, 55. as absolute As] F4. as absolute: As F1 F2 F3.
57. believe it] trust me Pope.
63. e’er] ne’er Capell conj.
O] om. Pope.
64. nor] and Pope.
65. inequality] incredulity Collier MS.
65, 66. serve To make the truth] Serve to make truth Pope.
67. And hide] Not hide Theobald (Warburton). And hid, Phelps.
67. that are] om. Hanmer.
68. Two lines in Ff, ending reason ... say?
73. Lucio] Lucio being Hanmer.
74. As] Was Johnson.
82. your honour] your honour, sir Hanmer.
83. take heed] be sure, take heed Hanmer.
to’t] to it Capell.
84. somewhat] F1. something F2 F3 F4.
91. Mended] Mend it Malone conj.
The matter;] The matter then; Hanmer. om. Capell. The matter? now Collier MS.
92. process] F1. om. F2 F3 F4.
94. refell’d] repell’d Pope.
98. concupiscible] concupiscent Pope.
99. and] om. Pope.
101. but the] om. Pope.
102. surfeiting] Theobald. surfetting F1 F2 F3. forfeiting F4.
107. First] om. Pope.
108. Next] om. Pope.
109. vehemency] vehemence Pope.
110-113. Hanmer ends the lines so ... by ... one ... say.

111. He would] he’d Hanmer.
123. needs] om. Pope.
124. your] our Pope.
131. this ’s] this’ F1 F2 F3. this F4. this is Rowe. See note (xxii).
137. Blessed] Bless’d Hanmer.
royal] om. Hanmer.
142, 143. Hanmer ends the lines believe ... Lodowick.
143. that she speaks of] F1. which she speaks of F2 F3 F4. om. Hanmer.
145. temporary] tamperer and Johnson conj.
147. trust] truth Collier MS. troth Singer.
149. villanously;] villanously he did; Hanmer.
152. strange] strong S. Walker conj.
154. ’gainst] F1. against F2 F3 F4.
156. what he with] he upon Pope.
157. And] By Pope.
158. Whensoever he’s convented] Whenever he’s conven’d Pope. Whenever he’s convented
Warburton.
162. [Isabella, &c.] Stage direction to this effect inserted here by Capell. Hanmer, &c. to
Johnson place it after line 166, where Ff have: Enter Mariana.
166. I’ll be impartial] I will be partial Theobald.
168. Scene iii. Pope.
her face] F2 F3 F4. your face F1.
170-178. Printed as four verses by Steevens (Capell conj.).
175. A widow] Widow Capell.
177. Why] What Capell.
you are] F1. are you F2 F3 F4.
186, 167. husband Knows not] Ff. husband knows not Pope.
195. with such a time] with such, a time Edd. conj.
199. No? om. Hanmer.
202. he knows] he knew Hanmer.
213. my lord] om. Hanmer.
221. with her, saw her, nor] with, saw, or Hanmer.
234. informal] informing Hanmer.
235. mightier] mighty Pope.
238. to] unto Pope. even to Capell.
242. against] F1. gainst F2. ’gainst F3 F4.
251. Go] om. Pope.
255-257. while ... you; But ... determined Upon] Spedding conj. while Will ... have Well
determin’d upon Ff. while Will ... well Determined upon Theobald. while Will ... have

Determin’d well upon Hanmer.
258. Scene iv. Pope.
275. would] F1. should F2 F3 F4.
she’ll] F1 F2 F3. she’ld F4. she’d Rowe.
278. Re-enter ...] Enter Duke, Provost, Isabella. Ff (after line 276).
289. Malone supposes a line preceding this to be lost.
290. and] then Collier MS.
295. at least] at least I’ll speak Hanmer.
296. fox?] F2 F3 F4. fox; F1. fox, Dyce.
299. retort] reject Collier MS.
305. in] with Theobald.
307-311. Capell ends the lines: villain? ... himself ... hence; ... by joint, ... unjust?
307. to glance] glance Pope.
309. you] him Malone conj.
310. Joint by joint] Even joint by joint] Hanmer.
his] this Hanmer. your Collier MS.
311. What,] What? He Hanmer.
311, 312. the duke Dare no more] Capell. the duke dare No more Ff.
311-313. Pope ends the lines: stretch ... own ... not.
319. forfeits] forceps Jackson conj.
321. Two lines in Ff.
340. close] gloze Collier MS.
345. giglets] giglots Capell.
347. [To Provost] Capell.
352. hanged an hour!] hanged! an hour? Hanmer. hanged—an’ how? Johnson conj. hanged
anon! Lloyd conj.
353. Stage direction inserted by Rowe.
354. madest] mad’st Ff. made Capell.
373. e’er] ere] F1. ever F2 F3 F4. om. Hanmer, who divides the lines: Come ... thou
Contracted ... lord.
378. Scene v. Pope.
379. of it.] of— Capell.
381. and] all Hanmer.
390. remonstrance] demonstrance Staunton (Malone conj.).
391. so be] F1 F2 F3. be so F4.
394. brain’d] bain’d Warburton.
But] But now Hanmer.
398. Scene vi. Pope.
400. pardon] pardon him Hanmer.

401. he adjudged your brother] a judge Hanmer.
402. Being criminal, in double violation] Being doubly criminal in violation Hanmer.
403. of promise-breach] in promise-breach Hanmer. of promise Malone conj.
410. fault’s thus manifested;] Ff. faults are manifested; Rowe. faults are manifest; Hanmer.
fault thus manifested— Dyce.
411. deny, denies] deny ’em, deny Hanmer.
413. haste.] haste, F4.
421. confiscation] F2 F3 F4. confutation F1.
422. withal] F4. with all F1. withall F2 F3.
426. [Kneeling.] Johnson.
441. [Kneeling.] Rowe.
452. but] om. Hanmer, who ends lines 448-452 at o’ertake ... but ... way ... thoughts.
456. It was commanded so] ’Twas so commanded Hanmer.
465. What’s he?] And what is he? Hanmer. See note (xx).
466. would] F1. wouldst F2 F3 F4. wish Capell (corrected in MS. to would).
470. the heat] heat Pope.
476. Scene vii. Pope.
muffled] om. Ff. C. behind, and J. both muffl’d up. Capell.
my lord] my good lord Hanmer.
480. according] accordingly F4.
482. And] F1. I F2 F3 F4.
484. your hand] you Hanmer.
489. Is he pardon’d] He’s pardoned Hanmer. Is he too pardon’d Capell.
490. and say you will] say you’ll Hanmer.
491. He is] And he’s Hanmer, ending the line here.
495. her worth worth yours] her worth works yours Hanmer. her worth’s worth yours Heath
conj.
500. so deserved] deserved so Pope. so well deserv’d Collier MS. so undeserv’d S. Walker
conj.
507. Is any woman] Edd. If any woman Ff. If any woman’s Hanmer.
519. executed] execute Hanmer.
522. [Exeunt ... Lucio] Dyce.
527-532. Johnson conjectures: Ang. The offence pardons itself. Duke. There’s more behind
That is more gratulate. Dear Isabel, ...
537. that’s] F2 F3 F4. that F1.

Sources
The general Preface (e-text 23041) discusses the 17th- and 18th-century
editions in detail; the newer (19th-century) editions are simply listed by name.
The following editions may appear in the Notes. All inset text is quoted from
the Preface.
Folios:
F1 1623; F2 (no date given); F3 1663; F4 1685.
“The five plays contained in this volume occur in the first Folio in the
same order, and ... were there printed for the first time.”
Early editions:
Rowe 1709
Pope 1715
“Pope was the first to indicate the place of each new scene; as, for
instance, Tempest, I. 1. ‘On a ship at sea.’ He also subdivided the
scenes as given by the Folios and Rowe, making a fresh scene
whenever a new character entered—an arrangement followed by
Hanmer, Warburton, and Johnson. For convenience of reference to
these editions, we have always recorded the commencement of Pope’s
scenes.”
Theobald 1733
Hanmer (“Oxford edition”) 1744
Warburton 1747
Johnson 1765
Capell 1768; also Capell’s annotated copy of F2
Steevens 1773
Malone 1790
Reed 1803
Later editions:
Singer, Knight, Cornwall, Collier, Phelps, Halliwell, Dyce, Staunton

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