F. Peter. Blessed be your royal grace! I have stood by, my lord, and I have heard Who is as free from touch or soil with her, We did believe no less. Duke. As he's reported by this gentleman; And, on my trust, a man that never yet Did, as he vouches, misreport your grace. Lucio. My lord, most villainously: believe it. F. Peter. Well; he in time may come to clear himself, But at this instant he is sick, my lord, Of a strange fever. Upon his mere request, To speak, as from his mouth, what he doth know So vulgarly and personally accus'd, Her shall you hear disproved to her eyes, Till she herself confess it. Duke. Good friar, let's hear it. [ISABELLA is carried off guarded; and MARIANA Do you not smile at this, lord Angelo ?— 5 In this I'll be IMPARTIAL :] Impartial was frequently used for most partial, as the commentators have shown by a variety of quotations, but they are not wanted' Of your own cause.-Is this the witness, friar? Why, you : Are nothing then neither maid, widow, nor wife? Lucio. My lord, she may be a punk; for many of them are neither maid, widow, nor wife. Duke. Silence that fellow: I would, he had some cause To prattle for himself. Lucio. Well, my lord. Mari. My lord, I do confess I ne'er was married; And, I confess, besides, I am no maid: I have known my husband, yet my husband knows not That ever he knew me. Lucio. He was drunk then, my lord: it can be no better. Duke. For the benefit of silence, 'would thou wert so too! Lucio. Well, my lord. Duke. This is no witness for lord Angelo. She that accuses him of fornication, In self-same manner doth accuse my husband; here when the Duke says, "I'll be impartial," he means that he will take no part, or stand neuter in the cause, leaving it to the decision of Angelo himself. The word has been hitherto mistaken. 6 First, let her show HER face ;] The first folio has "your face," arising perhaps from "you her" in the MS. having been abbreviated to you'r for the sake of the metre. The alteration was made by the editor of the second folio. When, I'll depose, I had him in mine arms, Ang. Mari. Not that I know. Duke. Charges she more than me? No? you say, your husband. Mari. Why, just, my lord, and that is Angelo, Who thinks, he knows, that he ne'er knew my body, But knows, he thinks, that he knows Isabel's. Ang. This is a strange abuse.-Let's see thy face. This is that face, thou cruel Angelo, And did supply thee at thy garden-house In her imagin'd person. Duke. Know you this woman? Sirrah, no more. Lucio. Carnally, she says. Lucio. Enough, my lord. Ang. My lord, I must confess, I know this woman; And five years since there was some speech of mar riage Betwixt myself and her, which was broke off, I never spake with her, saw her, nor heard from her, Mari. Noble prince, ' And did supply thee at thy garden-house] What we now call a summerhouse, erected in a garden, and often used for purposes of intrigue. They are noticed by many old writers, and especially by dramatists. See various instances in the last edit. of Dodsley's Old Plays, IV. 148, &c. As there comes light from heaven, and words from breath, As there is sense in truth, and truth in virtue, I am affianc'd this man's wife, as strongly As words could make up vows: and, my good lord, Let me in safety raise me from my knees, A marble monument. Ang. I did but smile till now: 8 Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justice; Duke. Compact with her that's gone, think'st thou, thy oaths, Let him be sent for. F. Peter. Would he were here, my lord; for he, indeed, Hath set the women on to this complaint. In "" 8 These poor INFORMAL Women -] Informal signifies out of their senses. "The Comedy of Errors," A. v. sc. 1, as Steevens pointed out, a formal man means a man in his senses. The same remark will apply to the same expression in "Antony and Cleopatra," A. ii. sc. 5, and in "Twelfth Night," A. ii. sc. 5. "Informal" is therefore here used as the opposite of "formal." 9 And punish them to your height of pleasure.] So the folios. To read unto would fill up the measure; but we cannot be at all certain that Shakespeare did not mean to leave the line as it is found in the old copies. Your provost knows the place where he abides, Duke. Go, do it instantly. [Exit Provost. And you, my noble and well-warranted cousin, In any chastisement: I for a while Will leave you; but stir not you, till you have well Escal. My lord, we'll do it thoroughly.-[Exit DUKE.] Signior Lucio, did not you say, you knew that friar Lodowick to be a dishonest person? Lucio. Cucullus non facit monachum: honest in nothing, but in his clothes; and one that hath spoke most villainous speeches of the duke. Escal. We shall entreat you to abide here till he come, and enforce them against him. We shall find this friar a notable fellow. Lucio. As any in Vienna, on my word. Escal. Call that same Isabel here once again: [To an Attendant.] I would speak with her. Pray you, my lord, give me leave to question; you shall see how I'll handle her. Lucio. Not better than he, by her own report. Escal. Say you ? Lucio. Marry, sir, I think, if you handled her privately, she would sooner confess perchance, publicly she'll be ashamed. Re-enter Officers, with ISABELLA: the DUKE, in a Escal. I will go darkly to work with her. Lucio. That's the way; for women are light at midnight. Escal. Come on, mistress. [To ISABELLA.] Here's a gentlewoman denies all that you have said. VOL. II. H |