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And strip myself to death, as to a bed

That longing I have been fick for, ere I'd yield My body up to fhame.

Ang. Then muft your brother die. Ifab. And 'twere the cheaper way: Better it were, a brother dy'd at once, Than that a fifter, by redeeming him, Should die for ever.

Ang. Were not you then as cruel as the fentence have flander'd fo?

That you

Ifab. Ignominy in ranfom, and free pardon, Are of two houses: lawful mercy Is nothing kin to foul redemption.

Ang. You feem'd of late to make the lawa tyrant; And rather prov'd the fliding of your brother A merriment than a vice.

Ifab. O pardon me, my lord; it oft falls out To have what we would have, we speak not what we I fomething do excufe the thing I hate, [mean: For his advantage that I dearly love.

Ang. We are all frail.

Ifab. Elfe let my brother die,
If not a feodary, but only he,
Owe, and fucceed by weakness.
Ang. Nay, women are frail too.

Ifab. Ay, as the glaffes where they view themfelves;

Which are as eafy 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 as foft as our complexions are,
And credulous to falfe prints.

Ang. I think it well:

And from this teftimony of your own fex,

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(Since, I fuppofe, we are made to be no ftronger,
Than faults may shake our frames) let me be bold—
I do arreft your words; be that you are,
That is, a woman; if you be more, you're none;
If you be one (as you are well exprefs'd
By all external warrants) fhew it now,
By putting on the deftin'd livery.

Ifab. I have no tongue but one; gentle my lord,
Let me intreat you fpeak the former language.
Ang. Plainly conceive, I love you.
Ifab. My brother did love Juliet;
And you tell me, that he fhall die for it.

Ang. He fhall not, Ifabel, if you give me love. Hab. I know, your virtue hath a licence in't, Which feems a little fouler than it is,

To pluck on others.

Ang. Believe me, on mine honour, My words exprefs my purpose.

Hab. Ha! little honour to be much believed, And moft pernicious purpofe!-Seeming, feeming!

I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for't:
Sign me a prefent pardon for my brother,

Or, with an out-ftretch'd throat, I'll tell the world
Aloud, what man thou art.

Ang. Who will believe thee, Ifabel?

My unfoil'd name, the aufterenefs of my life,
My vouch against you, and my place i' the state,
Will fo your accufation over-weigh,

That you fhall ftifle in your own report,
And fmell of calumny. I have begun ;
And now I give my fenfual race the rein:
Fit thy confent to my fharp appetite;
Lay by all nicety, and prolixious blufhes,

That

That banish what they fue for; redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will;
Or elfe he must not only die the death,
But thy unkindnefs fhall his death draw out
To lingering fufferance: anfwer me to-morrow,
Or, by the affection that now guides me most,
I'll prove a tyrant to him: As for you,
Say what you can, my falfe o'erweighs your true.
[Exit.
Ifab. To whom fhould I complain? Did I tell this,
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,
That bear in them one and the felf-fame tongue,
Either of condemnation or approof!

Bidding the law make court'fy to their will;
Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite,
To follow, as it draws! I'll to my brother:
Though he hath fallen by prompture of the blood,
Yet hath he in him fuch a mind of honour,
That had he twenty heads to tender down
On twenty bloody blocks, he'd yield them up,
Before his fifter fhould her body stoop
To fuch abhorr'd pollution.

Then, Ifabel, live chate-and, brother, die:
More than our brother is our chastity.

I'll tell him yet of Angelo's request,

And fit his mind to death, for his foul's reft. [Exit.

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ACT III.

SCENE I. The Prifon.

Enter Duke, CLAUDIO, and Provost.

Duke.

So, then you hope of pardon from lord Angelo? Claud. The miserable have no other medicine,

But only hope :

I have hope to live, and am prepar❜d to die. Duke. Be abfolute for death; either death or life, Shall thereby be the fweeter. Reason thus with

If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing,

[life,That none but fools would keep: a breath thou art, Servile to all the fkiey influences

That do this habitation, where thou keep❜st,
Hourly afflict: merely, thou art death's fool;
For him thou labour'ft by thy flight to fhun,
And yet runneft toward him still: Thou art not
noble ;

For all the accommodations, that thou bear'ft,
Are nurs'd by baseness: Thou art by no means va-
For thou dost fear the foft and tender fork [liant;
Of a poor worm: Thy best of rest is fleep,
And that thou oft provok'st; yet grossly fear'ft
Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thy.
For thou exist'ft on many a thousand grains [felf;
That iffue out of duft: Happy thou art not;
For what thou haft not, ftill thou striv'ft to get;
And what thou haft, forget'ft: Thou art not cer-
For thy complexion fhifts to ftrange effects, [tain;

After

After the moon; if thou art rich, thou art poor;
For, like an ass, whose back with ingots bows,
Thou bear'ft thy heavy riches but a journey,
And death unloads thee: Friend haft thou none;
For thy own bowels, that do call thee fire,
The mere effufion of thy proper loins,

Do curfe the gout, ferpigo, and the rheum,
For ending thee no fooner: Thou haft nor youth,
But, as it were, an after-dinner's fleep, [nor age;
Dreaming on both: for all thy bleffed youth
Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms

Of palfied eld; and when thou art old, and rich,
Thou haft neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty
fo make thy richès 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 you.

To fue to live, I find, I feek to die;

And, feeking death, find life: Let it come on.

Enter ISABELLA.

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

Prov. Who's there? Come in the wifh deferves

a welcome.

:

Duke. Dear fir, ere long I'll vifit you again.
Claud. Moft holy fir, I thank you.

Ifab. My business is a word or two with Claudio.
Prov. And very welcome. Look, Signior, here's
Duke. Provoft, a word with you.
[your fifter.

Prov. As many as you please.

Duke. Bring them to speak where I may be con

ceal'd,

Yet

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