Vio. And died that day when Viola from her birth with the which I doubt not but to do myself much Had number'd thirteen years.

Seb. O, that record is lively in my soul!

He finished, indeed, his mortal act,
That day that made my sister thirteen years.
Vio. If nothing lets to make us happy both,
But this my masculine usurp'd attire,
Do not embrace me, till each circumstance
Of place, time, fortune, do cohere, and jump,
That I am Viola: which to confirm,
I'll bring you to a captain in this town,
Where lie my maiden weeds; by whose gentle help,
I was preserv'd, to serve this noble count:
All the occurrence of my fortune since
Hath been between this lady, and this lord.
Seb. So comes it, lady, you have been mistook:|
[To Olivia.

But nature to her bias drew in that.
You would have been contracted to a maid;
Nor are you therein, by my life, deceiv'd;
You are betroth'd both to a maid and man.

Duke. Be not amaz'd; right noble is his blood.
If this be so, as yet the glass seems true,
I shall have share in this most happy wreck :
Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times,

[To Viola.

Oli. Pr'ythee, read i' thy right wits. Clo. So I do, madonna; but to read his right wits, is to read thus: therefore perpend,3 my princess, and give ear.

Oli. Read it you, sirrah.

\right, or you much shame. Think of me as you please. Ileave my duty a little unthought of, and speak out of my injury.

The madly-used Malvolio.

Oli. Did he write this?

Clo. Ay, madam.

Duke. This savours not much of distraction. Oli. See him deliver'd, Fabian; bring him hither. [Exit Fabian.

My lord, so please you, these things further thought

on,

To think me as well a sister as a wife,
One day shall crown the alliance on't, so please you,
Here at my house, and at my proper cost.

Duke. Madam, I am most apt to embrace your
offer.-

Your master quits you; [To Viola.] and, for your
service done him,

So much against the mettle of your sex,
So far beneath your soft and tender breeding,
And since you call'd me master for so long,
Here is my hand; you shall from this time be
Your master's mistress.

Oli.

A sister?-you are she.

letter:

You must not now deny it is your hand,
Write from it, if you can, in hand, or phrase;
Or say, 'tis not your seal, nor your invention:
You can say none of this: Well, grant it then,
And tell me, in the modesty of honour,
Why you have given me such clear lights of favour;
Bade me come smiling, and cross-garter'd to you,
To put on yellow stockings, and to frown
Upon sir Toby, and the lighters people:
And, acting this in an obedient hope,
Why have you suffer'd me to be imprison'd,
Kept in a dark house, visited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck, and gull,
That e'er invention play'd on? tell me why.

Oli. Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing,
Though, I confess, much like the character:
But, out of question, 'tis Maria's hand.
And now I do bethink me, it was she
First told me, thou wast mad; then cam❜st in smiling,
And in such forms which here were presuppos'd
Upon thee in the letter. Pr'ythee be content:
This practice hath most shrewdly pass'd upon thee;
But, when we know the grounds and authors of it,
Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge
Of thine own cause.
Fab.

Good madam, hear me speak; And let no quarrel, nor no brawl to come, Taint the condition of this present hour, [To Fabian. Which I have wonder'd at. In hope it shalt not, Fab. [reads. By the Lord, madam, you wrong Most freely I confess, myself, and Toby, me, and the world shall know it: though you have Set this device against Malvolio here, put me into darkness, and given your drunken Upon some stubborn and uncourteous parts cousin rule over me, yet have I the benefit of my We had conceiv'd against him: Maria writ senses as well as your ladyship. I have your own The letter, at sir Toby's great importance;" better that induced me to the semblance I put on; In recompence whereof, he hath married her. How with a sportful malice it was follow'd,

Hinders. (2) Voice.
Frame and constitution.

(3) Attend. (5) Inferior.

(6) Fool. (7) Importunacy.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

Escalus, an ancient lord, joined with Angelo in Barnardine, a dissolute prisoner.

2 Gent. Amen.

1 Gent. How now? Which of your hips has the most profound sciatica ?

Bawd. Well, well; there's one yonder arrested, and carried to prison, was worth five thousand of you all.

1 Gent. Who's that, I pray thee?
Bawd. Marry,sir, that's Claudio, signior Claudio.
1 Gent. Claudio to prison! 'tis not so.

Bawd. Nay, but I know, 'tis so: I saw him arrested; saw him carried away; and, which is more, within these three days his head's to be chopped off.

Lucio. But, after all this fooling, I would not have it so: art thou sure of this?

Bawd. I am too sure of it: and it is for getting madam Julietta with child.

Lucio. Believe me, this may be: he promised to meet me two hours since; and he was ever pre

Lucio. Thou concludest like the sanctimonious cise in promise-keeping. pirate, that went to sea with the ten command-1 ments, but scraped one out of the table.

2 Gent. Thou shalt not steal? Lucio. Ay, that he razed.

1 Gent. Why, 'twas a commandment to command the captain and all the rest from their functions; they put forth to steal: there's not a soldier of us all, that, in the thanksgiving before meat, doth relish the petition well that prays for peace. 2 Gent. I never heard any soldier dislike it. Lucio. I believe thee; for, I think, thou never wast where grace was said.

2 Gent. No? a dozen times at least. 1 Gent. What? in metre?

Lucio. In any proportion, or in any language. 1 Gent. I think, or in any religion.

Lucio. Ay! why not? Grace is grace, despite of all controversy: as for example; thou thyself art a wicked villain, despite of all grace.

--1 Gent. Well, there went but a pair of sheers between us.2

Lucio. I grant; as there may between the lists and the velvet: thou art the list.

1 Gent. And thou the velvet: thou art good velvet; thou art a three-pil'd piece, I warrant thee: I had as lief be a list of an English kersey, as be pil'd, as thou art pil'd, for a French velvet. Do speak feelingly now?

Lucio. I think thou dost; and, indeed, with most painful feeling of thy speech: I will, out of thine own confession, learn to begin thy health; but, whilst I live, forget to drink after thee.

1 Gent. I think I have done myself wrong; have I not?

2 Gent. Besides you know, it draws something near to the speech we had to such a purpose.

1 Gent. But most of all, agreeing with the proclamation.

Lucio. Away; let's go learn the truth of it. [Exeunt Lucio and Gentlemen. Bawd. Thus, what with the war, what with the sweat; what with the gallows, and what with poverty, I am custom-shrunk. How now? what's the news with you?

Enter Clown.

Clo. Yonder man is carried to prison.
Bawd. Well; what has he done?
Clo. A woman.

Bawd. But what's his offence?

Clo. Groping for trouts in a peculiar river.
Bawd. What, is there a maid with child by him?
Clo. No; but there's a woman with maid by him:
you have not heard of the proclamation, have you?
Bawd. What proclamation, man?

Clo. All houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be pluck'd down.

Bawd. And what shall become of those in the city?

Clo. They shall stand for seed: they had gone down too, but that a wise burgher put in for them. Bawd. But shall all our houses of resort in the suburbs be pull'd down?

Clo. To the ground, mistress.

Bawd. Why, here's a change, indeed, in the commonwealth! What shall become of me? Clo. Come; fear not you: good counsellors lack

2 Gent. Yes, that thou hast; whether thou art no clients: though you change your place, you need not change your trade; I'll be your tapster still. tainted, or free. Lucio. Behold, behold, where madam Mitiga-Courage; there will be pity taken on you: you that tion comes! I have purchased as many diseases have worn your eyes almost out in the service, you under her roof, as come to

2 Gent. To what, I pray?

1 Gent. Judge.

2 Gent. To three thousand dollars a year.

1 Gent. Ay, and more.

(1) Measure. (2) A cut of the same cloth.
(3) A jest on the loss of hair by the French disease.!

will be considered.

Bawd. What's to do here, Thomas Tapster? let's withdraw.

Clo. Here comes signior Claudio, led by the provost to prison: and there's madam Juliet. [Exe.

(4) Corona Veneris.

The sweating sickness,

SCENE III.-The same.-Enter Provost, Claudio, Juliet, and Officers; Lucio, and two Gentlemen.

Claud. I have done so, but he's not to be found.
I pr'ythee, Lucio, do me this kind service:
This day my sister should the cloister enter,
And there receive her approbation :

Claud. Fellow, why dost thou show me thus to Acquaint her with the danger of my state;

the world?

Bear me to prison, where I am committed.
Prov. I do it not in evil disposition,
But from lord Angelo by special charge.

Claud, Thus can the demi-god, Authority,
Make us pay down for our offence by weight.-
The words of heaven;-on whom it will, it will;
On whom it will not, so; yet still 'tis just.

Lucio. Why, how now, Claudio? whence comes this restraint?

Claud. From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty:
As surfeit is the father of much fast,
So every scope by the immoderate use
Turns to restraint: our natures do pursue
(Like rats that ravin2 down their proper bane,)
A thirsty evil; and when we drink, we die.

Lucio. If I could speak so wisely under an arrest, I would send for certain of my creditors: and yet, to say the truth, I had as lief have the foppery of freedom, as the morality of imprisonment.-What's thy offence, Claudio?

Claud. What, but to speak of would offend again.
Lucio. What is it? murder?
Claud. No.

Lucio. Lechery?
Claud. Call it so.

Prov. Away, sir; you must go.

Implore her, in my voice, that she make friends
To the strict deputy; bid herself assay him;
I have great hope in that: for in her youth
There is a prone and speechless dialect,
Such as moves men; besides, she hath prosperous

art

When she will play with reason and discourse.

Lucio. I pray she may: as well for the encouragement of the like, which else would stand under grievous imposition; as for the enjoying of thy life, who I would be sorry should be thus foolishly lost at a game of tick-tack. I'll to her.

Claud. One word, good friend:-Lucio, a word with you. [Takes him aside. Lucio. A hundred, if they'll do you any good.-I Is lechery so look'd after?

Claud. I thank you, good friend Lucio.
Lucio. Within two hours,-
Claud. Come, officer, away.

[Exeunt.

May your grace speak of it?
Duke. My holy sir, none better knows than you
And held in idle price to haunt assemblies,
How I have ever lov'd the life remov'd;"
have delivered to lord Angelo
Where youth, and cost, and witless bravery keeps.'

(A man of stricture, 10 and firm abstinence,)

Claud. Thus stands it with me:-Upon a true My absolute power and place here in Vienna,

contract,

I got possession of Julietta's bed;
You know the lady; she is fast my wife,
Save that we do the denunciation lack
Of outward order: this we came not to,
Only for propagation of a dower
Remaining in the coffer of her friends;
From whom we thought it meet to hide our love,
Till time had made them for us. But it chances,
The stealth of our most mutual entertainment,
With character too gross, is writ on Juliet.
Lucio. With child, perhaps?

Claud. Unhappily, even so.

And the new deputy now for the duke,-
Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness;
Or whether that the body public be
A horse whereon the governor doth ride,
Who, newly in the seat, that it may know
He can command, lets it straight feel the spur:
Whether the tyranny be in his place,
Or in his eminence that fills it up,
I stagger in:-But this new governor
Awakes me all the enrolled penalties,
Which have, like unscour'd armour, hung by the
wall

So long, that nineteen zodiacs have gone round,
And none of them been worn; and, for a name,
Now puts the drowsy and neglected act
Freshly on me :-'tis surely for a name.

And he supposes me travell'd to Poland;
For so I have strew'd it in the common ear,
And so it is receiv'd: now, pious sir,
You will demand of me, why I do this?
Fri. Gladly, my lord.

Duke. We have strict statutes, and most biting

laws

(The needful bits and curbs for headstrong steeds,)
Which for these fourteen years we have let sleep;
Even like an over-grown lion in a cave,

That goes not out to prey: now, as fond fathers
Having bound up the threat'ning twigs of birch,
Only to stick it in their children's sight,
For terror, not to use; in time the rod
Becomes more mock'd, than fear'd: so our decrees,
Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead;
And liberty plucks justice by the nose

The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart
Goes all decorum.

Fri.
It rested in your grace
To unloose this tied-up justice, when you pleas'd:
And it in you more dreadful would have seem'd,
Than in lord Angelo.

Duke.

I do fear, too dreadful; "Twould be my tyranny to strike, and gall them Sith 'twas my fault to give the people scope, For what I bid them do: for we bid this be done, When evil deeds have their permissive past, And not the punishment. Therefore, indeed, my father,

Lucio. I warrant it is: and thy head stands so tickle on thy shoulders, that a milk-maid, if she I have on Angelo impos'd the office; be in love, may sigh it off. Send after the duke, Who may, in the ambush of my name, strike home, and appeal to him. And yet my nature never in the sight,

(1) Gaoler. (2) Voraciously devour. (3) Yearly circles. (4) Ticklish. Enter on her probation. (6) Prompt,

(7) Completely armed.
(9) Showy dress resides.
(11) Since,

(8) Retired.
(10) Strictness,