Supply me with the habit, and inftru&t me
How I may formally in perfon bear me
Like a true friar. More reafons for this action,
At our more leisure shall I render you;
Only, this one;-Lord Angelo is precife:
Stands at a guard with envy; scarce confeffes
That his blood flows, or that his appetite

is more to bread than stone: Hence fhall we fee, If power change purpofe, what our feemers be.

SCENE V. A Nunnery.

Enter ISABELLA, and FRANCISCA.

Ifab. And have you nuns no farther privileges? Nun. Are not thefe large enough?

Ijab. Yes, truly: I fpeak not as defiring more; But rather withing a more ftrict reftraint

Upon the fifter-hood, the votarifts of faint Clare. Lucio. [Within.] Ho! Peace be in this place! Ifab. Who's that which calls?

Nun. It is a man's voice: Gentle Ifabella, Turn you the key, and know his bufinefs of lim, You may, I may not; you are yet unfworn: When you have vow'd, you must not speak with men, But in the prefence of the prioreis:

Then, if you fpeak, you must not fhew your face; Or, if you fhew your face, you must not speak. He calls again; I pray you anfwer him.

[Exit FRANCISCA. Ifab. Peace and profperity! Who is't that calls? Enter Lucio.

Lucio. Hail, virgin, if you be; as those cheek-rofes Proclaim you are no lefs! Can you fa ftead me,

As

As bring me to the fight of Ifabella,
A novice of this place, and the fair fifter
To her unhappy brother Claudio?

Iab. Why her unhappy brother? let me afk; The rather, for I now must make you know I am that Ifabella, and his fifler.

Lucio. Gentle and fair, your brother kindly greets Not to be weary with you, he's in prifon. [you: Ifab. Woe me! for what?

Lucio. For that, which, if myself might be his
judge,

He fhould receive his punishment in thanks:
He hath got his friend with child.

Ifab. Sir, make me not your ftory.

Lucio. 'Tis true:-I would not (though 'tis my
familiar fin

With maids to feem the lapwing, and to jeft,
Tongue far from heart) play with all virgins fo:
I hold you as a thing enfky'd, and fainted;
By your renouncement, an immortal spirit;
And to be talked with in fincerity,

As with a faint.

Ifab. You do blafpheme the good, in mocking me. Lucio. Do not believe it. Fewnefs and truth, 'tis thus:

Your brother and his lover have embrac'd:

As thofe that feed grow full; as bloffoming time
That from the feedness the bare fallow brings
To teeming foyfon? fo her plenteous womb
Expreffeth his full tilth and husbandry.

Ifab. Some one with child by him?-My coufin
Lucio. Is the your coufin?
[Juliet?
Ifab. Adoptedly; as fchool-maids change their

By vain though apt affection.

[names,

Lucio. She it is.

Ifab. O, let him marry her!

Lucio. This is the point.

The duke is very ftrangely gone from hence;
Bore many gentlemen, myfelf 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
From his true-meant defign. Upon his place,
And with full line of his authority,

Governs lord Angelo: A man whose blood
Is very fnow-broth; one who never feels
The wanton ftings and motions of the sense;
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,
Under whofe heavy fense 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,
Unlefs you have the grace by your
fair prayer
To foften Angelo: and that's my pith

Of bufinefs 'twixt you and your poor brother.
Ifab. Doth he fo feek his life?

Lucio. Has cenfur'd him

Already; and, as I hear, the provost hath
A warrant for his execution.

Ifab. Alas! what poor ability's in me
To do him good?

Lucio. Affay the power you have.
Ifab. My power! Alas! I doubt

1

Lucio. Our doubts are traitors,

And make us lofe the good we oft might win,
By fearing to attempt: Go to lord Angelo,
And let him learn to know, when maidens fue,
Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel,
All their petitions are as truly theirs
As they themselves would owe them.
b. I'll fee what I can do.

Lucio. But, fpeedily.

fab. I will about it strait;

No longer flaying but to give the mother
Netice of my affair. I humbly thank you:
Commend me to my brother: foon at night
Pil fend him certain word of my fuccefs.
Lucio. I take my leave of you.
Hab. Good fir, adieu.

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I. ANGELO's House.

Enter ANGELO, EscaLus, a Juftice, Proveft, and Attendants.

Angelo.

We must not make a fcare-crow of the law;
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep one fhape, till custom make it
Their perch, and not their terror.

Efoal. Ay, but yet

Let us be keen, and rather cut a little,

Thanfall, and bruife to death: Alas! this gentleman,

Whom

Whom I would fave, had a most noble father.
Let but your honour know, (whom I believe
To be moft ftrait in virtue)

That, in the working of your own affections,
Had time coher'd with place, or place with wifhing,
Or that the refolute acting of your blood

Could have attain'd the effect of your own purpofe,
Whether you had not fometime in your life
Err'd in this point which now you cenfure 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, paffing on the prisoner's life,

May, in the fworn twelve, have a thief or two
Guiltier than him they try: What's open made to
That juftice feizes. What know the laws, [justice,
That thieves do pafs on thieves? 'Tis very pregnant,
The jewel that we find, we ftoop and take it,
Because we fee it; but what we do not fee,
We tread upon, and never think of it.

You may not fo extenuate his offence,

For I have had fuch faults; but rather tell me, When I that cenfure him do fo offend,

Let mine own jndgment pattern out my death And nothing come in partial. Sir, he must die. Efcal. Be it, as your wifdom will.

Ang. Where is the provost?

Prov. Here, if it like your honour.
Ang. See that Claudio

Be executed by nine to-morrow morning:
Bring him his confeffor, let him be prepar'd;
For that's the utmost of his pilgrimage. [Exit Prov.
Efcal. Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive

us all!

Some