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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
Lie hid more thousand deaths: yet death we fear,
That makes these odds all even.

Claud.

I humbly thank
To sue to live, I find, I seek to die;
And, seeking death, find life: Let it come on.

Enter ISABElla.

you.

Isab. What, ho! Peace here; grace and good company!

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.

Isab. My business is a word or two with Claudio. Prov. And very welcome. Look, signior, here's

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Prov.

As many as you please. Duke. Bring them to speak, where I may be

conceal'd.

Yet hear them.

[Exeunt Duke and Provost. Claud. Now, sister, what's the comfort? Isab. Why, as all comforts are; most good in deed:1

Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven,

dent on palsied eld; must beg alms from the coffers of hoary avarice; and being very niggardly supplied, becomes as aged, looks, like an old man, on happiness which is beyond his reach. And, when he is old and rich, when he has wealth enough for the purchase of all that formerly excited his desires, he has no longer the powers of enjoyment:

has neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty, To make his riches pleasant.

most good IN deed:] i. e. truly.

Intends you for his swift embassador,
Where you shall be an everlasting leiger:
Therefore your best appointment make with speed;
To-morrow you set on.

Claud.

2

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?

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, Though all the world's vastidity you had,

To a determin'd scope.3

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.

Isab. O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, Lest thou a feverous life should'st entertain, And six or seven winters more respect Than a perpetual honour. Dar'st thou die? 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.

2

Claud.

Why give you me this shame?

an everlasting leiger:

Therefore your best appointment-] Leiger is the same with resident. Appointment; preparation; act of fitting, or state of being fitted for any thing.

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To a determin'd scope.] A confinement of your mind to one painful idea; to ignominy, of which the remembrance can neither be suppressed nor escaped. JOHNSON.

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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS

Think you I can a resolution fetch

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:
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 enmew,
As falcon doth the fowl,'-is yet a devil;

6

His filth within being cast, he would appear
A pond as deep as hell.

Claud.

4

The princely Angelo?
Isab. O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'st body to invest and cover

In princely guards! Dost thou think, Claudio,
If I would yield him my virginity,

Thou might'st be freed?

Claud.

O, heavens! it cannot be.

Isab. Yes, he would give it thee, from this rank

offence,8

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.

Claud.

Isab. O, were it but

Thou shalt not do't.

my life,

follies doth enmew,] Forces follies to lie in cover, without daring to show themselves.

As falcon doth the fowl,] as the fowl is afraid to flutter while the falcon hovers over it.

His filth within being cast,] To cast a pond is to empty it of mud.

7

princely guards!] i. e. badges of royalty, or outward appearances. Some would read priestly guards, or sanctity. from this rank offence,] from the time of my committing this offence, you might persist in sinning with safety.

8

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