Let me excuse me, and believe me so,

My mirth it much displeas'd, but pleas'd my woe2. Duke. 'Tis good: though musick oft hath such a charm,

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 promis'd here to meet.

Mari. You have not been inquired after: I have sat here all day.

Enter ISABElla.

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,

advantage to yourself.

Mari. I am always bound to you.
Duke. Very well met, and welcome.

What is the news from this good deputy?

for some

[Exit.

Isab. He hath a garden circummur'd3 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: This other doth command a little door, Which from the vineyard to the garden leads; There have I made my promise to call on him, Upon the heavy middle of the night.

Duke. But shall you on your knowledge find this way?

Isab. I have ta’en a due and wary note With whispering and most guilty diligence, In action all of precept, he did show me The way twice o'er.

upon't;

2 Though the music soothed my sorrows, it had no tendency to produce light merriment.

3 Circummur'd, walled round. 4 Planched, planked, wooden.

Duke.

Are there no other tokens

Between you 'greed, concerning her observance?
Isab. No, none, but only a repair i'the dark;
And that I have possess❜d5 him, my most stay
Can be but brief: for I have made him know,
I have a servant comes with me along,

6

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.
Isab.
I do desire the like.
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:

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

Run with these false and most contrarious quests?
Upon thy doings? thousand 'scapes of wit
Make thee the father of their idle dream,

And rack thee in their fancies!--Welcome! How agreed?

5 i. e. informed. Thus Shylock says

'I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose.'

6 Stays, waits.

7 Quests, inquisitions, inquiries.

8

'Scapes, sallies, sportive wiles.

Re-enter MARIANA and ISABELLA.

Isab. She'll take the enterprise upon her, father,

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: 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 flourish9 the deceit. Come, let us go; Our corn's to reap, for yet our tilth's 10 to sow.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. A Room in the Prison.

Enter Provost and Clown.

Prov. Come hither, sirrah: Can you cut off a man's head?

Clo. If the man be a bachelor, sir, I can: but if he be a married man, he is his wife's head, and I can never cut off a woman's head.

Prov. Come, sir, leave me your snatches, and yield me a direct answer. To-morrow morning are to die Claudio and Barnardine: Here is in our prison a common executioner, who in his office lacks a helper: if you will take it on you to assist him, it shall redeem you from your gyves1; if not, you

9 i. e. ornament, embellish an action that would otherwise seem ugly.

10 Tilth here means land prepared for sowing. The old copy reads tithe; the emendation is Warburton's, v. p. 19. note 6. ante. 1 i. e. fetters.

shall have your full time of imprisonment, and your deliverance with an unpitied whipping; for you

have been a notorious bawd.

2

Clo. Sir, I have been an unlawful bawd, time out of mind; but yet I will be content to be a lawful hangman. I would be glad to receive some instruction from my fellow partner.

Prov. What ho, Abhorson! Where's Abhorson, there?

Enter ABHORSON.

Abhor. Do you call, sir?

Prov. Sirrah, here's a fellow will help you tomorrow 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? Fye upon him, he will discredit our mystery.

Prov. Go to, sir; you weigh equally; a feather will turn the scale. [Exit. Clo. Pray, sir, by your good favour (for, surely, sir, a good favour3 you have, but that you have a hanging look), do you call, sir, your occupation a mystery?

Abhor. Ay, sir; a mystery.

Clo. 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 what mystery there should be in hanging, if I should be hang'd, I cannot imagine.

Abhor. Sir, it is a mystery.

Clo. Proof.

Abhor. Every true man's apparel fits your thief:

2 i. e. a whipping that none shall pity.

3 Favour is countenance.

4 i. e. honest.

If it be too little for your thief, your true man thinks it big enough; if it be too big for your thief, your thief thinks it little enough: so every true man's apparel fits your thief5.

Re-enter Provost.

Prov. Are you agreed?

Clo. Sir, I will serve him; for I do find, your hangman 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 trade; follow.

Clo. 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.

Prov. Call hither Barnardine and Claudio:

[Exeunt Clown and ABHORSON.

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 Thou must be made immortal. Where's Barnardine?

5 Warburton says, 'this proves the thief's trade a mystery, not the hangman's,' and therefore supposes that a speech in which the hangman proved his trade a mystery is lost, part of this last speech being in the old editions given to the clown. But Heath observes, 'The argument of the hangman is exactly similar to that of the clown. As the latter puts in his claim to the whores as members of his occupation, and in virtue of their painting would enroll his own fraternity in the mystery of painters; so the former equally lays claim to the thieves as members of his occupation, and in their right endeavours to rank his brethren the hangmen under the mystery of fitters of apparel, or tailors.'

Ŏ i. e. ready.