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, sir, a strange pick-lock, which we have sent to the deputy. Duke. Fye, sirrah; a bawd, a wicked bawd! The evil that thou causest to be done, That is thy means to live: Do thou but think So stinkingly depending? Go, mend, go, mend. 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, 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. Duke. That we were all, as some would seem to be, Free from our faults, as faults from seeming free!" 6 That we were all, as some would seem to be, Free from our faults, as faults from seeming free] i, e. as faults are destitute of all comeliness or seeming. The first of these lines refers to the deputy's sanctified hypocrisy; the second to the Clown's beastly occupation. But the latter part is thus ill expressed for the sake of rhyme. WARBURTON. Mr. Malone omits Free at the beginning of the line. Enter LUCIO. Elb. His neck will come to your waist, a cord", sir. Clo. I spy comfort; I cry, bail: Here's a gentleman, and a friend of mine. Lucio. How now, noble Pompey? What, at the heels of Cæsar? Art thou led in triumph? What, is there none of Pygmalion's images, newly made women, to be had now, for putting the hand in the pocket and extracting it clutch'd? What reply? Ha? What say'st thou to this tune, matter, and method? Is't not drown'd i' the last rain? Ha? What say'st 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! Lucio. How doth my dear morsel, thy mistress? Procures she still? Ha? Clo. 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 so: Ever your fresh whore, and your powder'd bawd: An unshunn'd consequence; it must be so: Art going to prison, Pompey? Clo. Yes, faith, sir. Lucio. Why, 'tis not amiss, Pompey: Farewell: Go; 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: Commend me to the prison, Pompey : You will turn good husband now, Pompey; you will keep the house. 7 His neck will come to your waist, a cord, sir.] His neck will be tied, like your waist, with a rope. The friars of the Franciscan order, perhaps of all others, wear a hempen cord for a girdle. Clo. 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 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? Clo. You will not bail me then, sir? Lucio. Then, Pompey? nor now. abroad, friar? What news? Elb. Come your ways, sir; come. What news [Exeunt ELBOw, Clown, 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 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. 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. Lucio. Yes, in good sooth, the vice is of a great kindred; it is well ally'd: 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 the downright way of creation: Is it true, think you? Duke. How should he be made then? 8 VOL. II. it is not the wear.] i. e. it is not the fashion. L Lucio. Some report, a sea-maid spawn'd him: — Some, that he was begot between two stock-fishes But it is certain, that when he makes water, his urine is congeal'd ice; that I know to be true: and he is a motion ungenerative, 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 cod-piece, to take away the life of a man? Would the duke, that is absent, have done this? Ere he would have hang'd 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 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 clackdish: the duke 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 his2: A shy fellow was the duke: and, I believe, I know the cause of his withdrawing. Duke. What, I pr'ythee, might be the cause? Lucio. No, - pardon; 'tis a secret must be lock'd 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. 1 3 Duke. Wise? why, no question but he was. Lucio. A very superficial, ignorant, unweighing fellow. 9 much detected for women ;] charged or guilty. clack-dish:] The beggars, two or three centuries ago, used to proclaim their want by a wooden dish, with a moveable cover, which they clacked, to show that their vessel was empty. an inward of his :] Inward is intimate. 2 3 The greater file-] The greater number. 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. 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 darken'd in your malice. 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 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? 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. 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 hang'd first: thou art deceiv'd in me, friar. But no more of this: Canst thou tell, if Claudio die 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 return'd again: this 4 the business he hath helmed,] The difficulties he hath steer'd through. A metaphor from navigation. |