Open Source Shakespeare

Measure for Measure

Act IV

Scene 1. The moated grange at ST. LUKE’s.

Scene 2. A room in the prison.

Scene 3. Another room in the same.

Scene 4. A room in ANGELO’s house.

Scene 5. Fields without the town.

Scene 6. Street near the city gate.

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Act IV, Scene 1

The moated grange at ST. LUKE’s.

       

[Enter MARIANA and a Boy] [p][Boy sings] [p]Take, O, take those lips away, [p]That so sweetly were forsworn; [p]And those eyes, the break of day, [p]Lights that do mislead the morn: [p]But my kisses bring again, bring again; [p]Seals of love, but sealed in vain, sealed in vain.

  • Mariana. Break off thy song, and haste thee quick away:
    Here comes a man of comfort, whose advice
    Hath often still'd my brawling discontent.
    [Exit Boy]
    [Enter DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as before] 1805
    I cry you mercy, sir; and well could wish
    You had not found me here so musical:
    Let me excuse me, and believe me so,
    My mirth it much displeased, but pleased my woe.
  • Vincentio. 'Tis good; though music oft hath such a charm 1810
    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 promised here to meet.
  • Mariana. You have not been inquired after: 1815
    I have sat here all day.

[Enter ISABELLA]

  • Vincentio. 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, for some advantage to yourself. 1820
  • Mariana. I am always bound to you.

[Exit]

  • Vincentio. Very well met, and well come.
    What is the news from this good deputy?
  • Isabella. He hath a garden circummured with brick, 1825
    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; 1830
    There have I made my promise
    Upon the heavy middle of the night
    To call upon him.
  • Vincentio. But shall you on your knowledge find this way?
  • Isabella. I have ta'en a due and wary note upon't: 1835
    With whispering and most guilty diligence,
    In action all of precept, he did show me
    The way twice o'er.
  • Vincentio. Are there no other tokens
    Between you 'greed concerning her observance? 1840
  • Isabella. No, none, but only a repair i' the dark;
    And that I have possess'd him my most stay
    Can be but brief; for I have made him know
    I have a servant comes with me along,
    That stays upon me, whose persuasion is 1845
    I come about my brother.
  • Vincentio. 'Tis well borne up.
    I have not yet made known to Mariana
    A word of this. What, ho! within! come forth!
    [Re-enter MARIANA] 1850
    I pray you, be acquainted with this maid;
    She comes to do you good.
  • Isabella. I do desire the like.
  • Vincentio. Do you persuade yourself that I respect you?
  • Mariana. Good friar, I know you do, and have found it. 1855
  • Vincentio. 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.
  • Mariana. Will't please you walk aside? 1860

[Exeunt MARIANA and ISABELLA]

  • Vincentio. 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 escapes of wit 1865
    Make thee the father of their idle dreams
    And rack thee in their fancies.
    [Re-enter MARIANA and ISABELLA]
    Welcome, how agreed?
  • Isabella. She'll take the enterprise upon her, father, 1870
    If you advise it.
  • Vincentio. It is not my consent,
    But my entreaty too.
  • Isabella. Little have you to say
    When you depart from him, but, soft and low, 1875
    'Remember now my brother.'
  • Mariana. Fear me not.
  • Vincentio. Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all.
    He is your husband on a pre-contract:
    To bring you thus together, 'tis no sin, 1880
    Sith that the justice of your title to him
    Doth flourish the deceit. Come, let us go:
    Our corn's to reap, for yet our tithe's to sow.

[Exeunt]


       

Act IV, Scene 2

A room in the prison.

       

[Enter Provost and POMPEY]

  • Provost. Come hither, sirrah. Can you cut off a man's head?
  • Pompey. If the man be a bachelor, sir, I can; but if he be a
    married man, he's his wife's head, and I can never
    cut off a woman's head.
  • Provost. Come, sir, leave me your snatches, and yield me a 1890
    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 gyves; if not, you shall have 1895
    your full time of imprisonment and your deliverance
    with an unpitied whipping, for you have been a
    notorious bawd.
  • Pompey. Sir, I have been an unlawful bawd time out of mind;
    but yet I will be content to be a lawful hangman. I 1900
    would be glad to receive some instruction from my
    fellow partner.
  • Provost. What, ho! Abhorson! Where's Abhorson, there?

[Enter ABHORSON]

  • Abhorson. Do you call, sir? 1905
  • Provost. Sirrah, here's a fellow will help you to-morrow 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. 1910
  • Abhorson. A bawd, sir? fie upon him! he will discredit our mystery.
  • Provost. Go to, sir; you weigh equally; a feather will turn
    the scale.

[Exit]

  • Pompey. Pray, sir, by your good favour,—for surely, sir, a 1915
    good favour you have, but that you have a hanging
    look,—do you call, sir, your occupation a mystery?
  • Abhorson. Ay, sir; a mystery
  • Pompey. Painting, sir, I have heard say, is a mystery; and
    your whores, sir, being members of my occupation, 1920
    using painting, do prove my occupation a mystery:
    but what mystery there should be in hanging, if I
    should be hanged, I cannot imagine.
  • Abhorson. Sir, it is a mystery.
  • Pompey. Proof? 1925
  • Abhorson. Every true man's apparel fits your thief: 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 thief. 1930

[Re-enter Provost]

  • Provost. Are you agreed?
  • Pompey. Sir, I will serve him; for I do find your hangman is
    a more penitent trade than your bawd; he doth
    oftener ask forgiveness. 1935
  • Provost. You, sirrah, provide your block and your axe
    to-morrow four o'clock.
  • Abhorson. Come on, bawd; I will instruct thee in my trade; follow.
  • Pompey. I do desire to learn, sir: and I hope, if you have
    occasion to use me for your own turn, you shall find 1940
    me yare; for truly, sir, for your kindness I owe you
    a good turn.
  • Provost. Call hither Barnardine and Claudio:
    [Exeunt POMPEY and ABHORSON]
    The one has my pity; not a jot the other, 1945
    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? 1950
  • Claudio. As fast lock'd up in sleep as guiltless labour
    When it lies starkly in the traveller's bones:
    He will not wake.
  • Provost. Who can do good on him?
    Well, go, prepare yourself. 1955
    [Knocking within]
    But, hark, what noise?
    Heaven give your spirits comfort!
    [Exit CLAUDIO]
    By and by. 1960
    I hope it is some pardon or reprieve
    For the most gentle Claudio.
    [Enter DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as before]
    Welcome father.
  • Vincentio. The best and wholesomest spirts of the night 1965
    Envelope you, good Provost! Who call'd here of late?
  • Provost. None, since the curfew rung.
  • Vincentio. Not Isabel?
  • Provost. No.
  • Vincentio. They will, then, ere't be long. 1970
  • Provost. What comfort is for Claudio?
  • Vincentio. There's some in hope.
  • Provost. It is a bitter deputy.
  • Vincentio. Not so, not so; his life is parallel'd
    Even with the stroke and line of his great justice: 1975
    He doth with holy abstinence subdue
    That in himself which he spurs on his power
    To qualify in others: were he meal'd with that
    Which he corrects, then were he tyrannous;
    But this being so, he's just. 1980
    [Knocking within]
    Now are they come.
    [Exit Provost]
    This is a gentle provost: seldom when
    The steeled gaoler is the friend of men. 1985
    [Knocking within]
    How now! what noise? That spirit's possessed with haste
    That wounds the unsisting postern with these strokes.

[Re-enter Provost]

  • Provost. There he must stay until the officer 1990
    Arise to let him in: he is call'd up.
  • Vincentio. Have you no countermand for Claudio yet,
    But he must die to-morrow?
  • Provost. None, sir, none.
  • Vincentio. As near the dawning, provost, as it is, 1995
    You shall hear more ere morning.
  • Provost. Happily
    You something know; yet I believe there comes
    No countermand; no such example have we:
    Besides, upon the very siege of justice 2000
    Lord Angelo hath to the public ear
    Profess'd the contrary.
    [Enter a Messenger]
    This is his lordship's man.
  • Vincentio. And here comes Claudio's pardon. 2005
  • Messenger. [Giving a paper]
    My lord hath sent you this note; and by me this
    further charge, that you swerve not from the
    smallest article of it, neither in time, matter, or
    other circumstance. Good morrow; for, as I take it, 2010
    it is almost day.
  • Provost. I shall obey him.

[Exit Messenger]

  • Vincentio. [Aside] This is his pardon, purchased by such sin
    For which the pardoner himself is in. 2015
    Hence hath offence his quick celerity,
    When it is born in high authority:
    When vice makes mercy, mercy's so extended,
    That for the fault's love is the offender friended.
    Now, sir, what news? 2020
  • Provost. I told you. Lord Angelo, belike thinking me remiss
    in mine office, awakens me with this unwonted
    putting-on; methinks strangely, for he hath not used it before.
  • Vincentio. Pray you, let's hear.
  • Provost. [Reads] 2025
    'Whatsoever you may hear to the contrary, let
    Claudio be executed by four of the clock; and in the
    afternoon Barnardine: for my better satisfaction,
    let me have Claudio's head sent me by five. Let
    this be duly performed; with a thought that more 2030
    depends on it than we must yet deliver. Thus fail
    not to do your office, as you will answer it at your peril.'
    What say you to this, sir?
  • Vincentio. What is that Barnardine who is to be executed in the
    afternoon? 2035
  • Provost. A Bohemian born, but here nursed un and bred; one
    that is a prisoner nine years old.
  • Vincentio. How came it that the absent duke had not either
    delivered him to his liberty or executed him? I
    have heard it was ever his manner to do so. 2040
  • Provost. His friends still wrought reprieves for him: and,
    indeed, his fact, till now in the government of Lord
    Angelo, came not to an undoubtful proof.
  • Vincentio. It is now apparent?
  • Provost. Most manifest, and not denied by himself. 2045
  • Vincentio. Hath he born himself penitently in prison? how
    seems he to be touched?
  • Provost. A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully but
    as a drunken sleep; careless, reckless, and fearless
    of what's past, present, or to come; insensible of 2050
    mortality, and desperately mortal.
  • Vincentio. He wants advice.
  • Provost. He will hear none: he hath evermore had the liberty
    of the prison; give him leave to escape hence, he
    would not: drunk many times a day, if not many days 2055
    entirely drunk. We have very oft awaked him, as if
    to carry him to execution, and showed him a seeming
    warrant for it: it hath not moved him at all.
  • Vincentio. More of him anon. There is written in your brow,
    provost, honesty and constancy: if I read it not 2060
    truly, my ancient skill beguiles me; but, in the
    boldness of my cunning, I will lay myself in hazard.
    Claudio, whom here you have warrant to execute, is
    no greater forfeit to the law than Angelo who hath
    sentenced him. To make you understand this in a 2065
    manifested effect, I crave but four days' respite;
    for the which you are to do me both a present and a
    dangerous courtesy.
  • Provost. Pray, sir, in what?
  • Vincentio. In the delaying death. 2070
  • Provost. A lack, how may I do it, having the hour limited,
    and an express command, under penalty, to deliver
    his head in the view of Angelo? I may make my case
    as Claudio's, to cross this in the smallest.
  • Vincentio. By the vow of mine order I warrant you, if my 2075
    instructions may be your guide. Let this Barnardine
    be this morning executed, and his head born to Angelo.
  • Provost. Angelo hath seen them both, and will discover the favour.
  • Vincentio. O, death's a great disguiser; and you may add to it.
    Shave the head, and tie the beard; and say it was 2080
    the desire of the penitent to be so bared before his
    death: you know the course is common. If any thing
    fall to you upon this, more than thanks and good
    fortune, by the saint whom I profess, I will plead
    against it with my life. 2085
  • Provost. Pardon me, good father; it is against my oath.
  • Vincentio. Were you sworn to the duke, or to the deputy?
  • Provost. To him, and to his substitutes.
  • Vincentio. You will think you have made no offence, if the duke
    avouch the justice of your dealing? 2090
  • Provost. But what likelihood is in that?
  • Vincentio. Not a resemblance, but a certainty. Yet since I see
    you fearful, that neither my coat, integrity, nor
    persuasion can with ease attempt you, I will go
    further than I meant, to pluck all fears out of you. 2095
    Look you, sir, here is the hand and seal of the
    duke: you know the character, I doubt not; and the
    signet is not strange to you.
  • Provost. I know them both.
  • Vincentio. The contents of this is the return of the duke: you 2100
    shall anon over-read it at your pleasure; where you
    shall find, within these two days he will be here.
    This is a thing that Angelo knows not; for he this
    very day receives letters of strange tenor;
    perchance of the duke's death; perchance entering 2105
    into some monastery; but, by chance, nothing of what
    is writ. Look, the unfolding star calls up the
    shepherd. Put not yourself into amazement how these
    things should be: all difficulties are but easy
    when they are known. Call your executioner, and off 2110
    with Barnardine's head: I will give him a present
    shrift and advise him for a better place. Yet you
    are amazed; but this shall absolutely resolve you.
    Come away; it is almost clear dawn.

[Exeunt]


       

Act IV, Scene 3

Another room in the same.

       

[Enter POMPEY]

  • Pompey. I am as well acquainted here as I was in our house
    of profession: one would think it were Mistress
    Overdone's own house, for here be many of her old
    customers. First, here's young Master Rash; he's in 2120
    for a commodity of brown paper and old ginger,
    ninescore and seventeen pounds; of which he made
    five marks, ready money: marry, then ginger was not
    much in request, for the old women were all dead.
    Then is there here one Master Caper, at the suit of 2125
    Master Three-pile the mercer, for some four suits of
    peach-coloured satin, which now peaches him a
    beggar. Then have we here young Dizy, and young
    Master Deep-vow, and Master Copperspur, and Master
    Starve-lackey the rapier and dagger man, and young 2130
    Drop-heir that killed lusty Pudding, and Master
    Forthlight the tilter, and brave Master Shooty the
    great traveller, and wild Half-can that stabbed
    Pots, and, I think, forty more; all great doers in
    our trade, and are now 'for the Lord's sake.' 2135

[Enter ABHORSON]

  • Abhorson. Sirrah, bring Barnardine hither.
  • Pompey. Master Barnardine! you must rise and be hanged.
    Master Barnardine!
  • Abhorson. What, ho, Barnardine! 2140
  • Barnardine. [Within] A pox o' your throats! Who makes that
    noise there? What are you?
  • Pompey. Your friends, sir; the hangman. You must be so
    good, sir, to rise and be put to death.
  • Barnardine. [Within] Away, you rogue, away! I am sleepy. 2145
  • Abhorson. Tell him he must awake, and that quickly too.
  • Pompey. Pray, Master Barnardine, awake till you are
    executed, and sleep afterwards.
  • Abhorson. Go in to him, and fetch him out.
  • Pompey. He is coming, sir, he is coming; I hear his straw rustle. 2150
  • Abhorson. Is the axe upon the block, sirrah?
  • Pompey. Very ready, sir.

[Enter BARNARDINE]

  • Barnardine. How now, Abhorson? what's the news with you?
  • Abhorson. Truly, sir, I would desire you to clap into your 2155
    prayers; for, look you, the warrant's come.
  • Barnardine. You rogue, I have been drinking all night; I am not
    fitted for 't.
  • Pompey. O, the better, sir; for he that drinks all night,
    and is hanged betimes in the morning, may sleep the 2160
    sounder all the next day.
  • Abhorson. Look you, sir; here comes your ghostly father: do
    we jest now, think you?

[Enter DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as before]

  • Vincentio. Sir, induced by my charity, and hearing how hastily 2165
    you are to depart, I am come to advise you, comfort
    you and pray with you.
  • Barnardine. Friar, not I. I have been drinking hard all night,
    and I will have more time to prepare me, or they
    shall beat out my brains with billets: I will not 2170
    consent to die this day, that's certain.
  • Vincentio. O, sir, you must: and therefore I beseech you
    Look forward on the journey you shall go.
  • Barnardine. I swear I will not die to-day for any man's
    persuasion. 2175
  • Vincentio. But hear you.
  • Barnardine. Not a word: if you have any thing to say to me,
    come to my ward; for thence will not I to-day.

[Exit]

  • Vincentio. Unfit to live or die: O gravel heart! 2180
    After him, fellows; bring him to the block.

[Exeunt ABHORSON and POMPEY]

[Re-enter Provost]

  • Provost. Now, sir, how do you find the prisoner?
  • Vincentio. A creature unprepared, unmeet for death; 2185
    And to transport him in the mind he is
    Were damnable.
  • Provost. Here in the prison, father,
    There died this morning of a cruel fever
    One Ragozine, a most notorious pirate, 2190
    A man of Claudio's years; his beard and head
    Just of his colour. What if we do omit
    This reprobate till he were well inclined;
    And satisfy the deputy with the visage
    Of Ragozine, more like to Claudio? 2195
  • Vincentio. O, 'tis an accident that heaven provides!
    Dispatch it presently; the hour draws on
    Prefix'd by Angelo: see this be done,
    And sent according to command; whiles I
    Persuade this rude wretch willingly to die. 2200
  • Provost. This shall be done, good father, presently.
    But Barnardine must die this afternoon:
    And how shall we continue Claudio,
    To save me from the danger that might come
    If he were known alive? 2205
  • Vincentio. Let this be done.
    Put them in secret holds, both Barnardine and Claudio:
    Ere twice the sun hath made his journal greeting
    To the under generation, you shall find
    Your safety manifested. 2210
  • Provost. I am your free dependant.
  • Vincentio. Quick, dispatch, and send the head to Angelo.
    [Exit Provost]
    Now will I write letters to Angelo,—
    The provost, he shall bear them, whose contents 2215
    Shall witness to him I am near at home,
    And that, by great injunctions, I am bound
    To enter publicly: him I'll desire
    To meet me at the consecrated fount
    A league below the city; and from thence, 2220
    By cold gradation and well-balanced form,
    We shall proceed with Angelo.

[Re-enter Provost]

  • Provost. Here is the head; I'll carry it myself.
  • Vincentio. Convenient is it. Make a swift return; 2225
    For I would commune with you of such things
    That want no ear but yours.
  • Provost. I'll make all speed.

[Exit]

  • Isabella. [Within] Peace, ho, be here! 2230
  • Vincentio. The tongue of Isabel. She's come to know
    If yet her brother's pardon be come hither:
    But I will keep her ignorant of her good,
    To make her heavenly comforts of despair,
    When it is least expected. 2235

[Enter ISABELLA]

  • Isabella. Ho, by your leave!
  • Vincentio. Good morning to you, fair and gracious daughter.
  • Isabella. The better, given me by so holy a man.
    Hath yet the deputy sent my brother's pardon? 2240
  • Vincentio. He hath released him, Isabel, from the world:
    His head is off and sent to Angelo.
  • Isabella. Nay, but it is not so.
  • Vincentio. It is no other: show your wisdom, daughter,
    In your close patience. 2245
  • Isabella. O, I will to him and pluck out his eyes!
  • Vincentio. You shall not be admitted to his sight.
  • Isabella. Unhappy Claudio! wretched Isabel!
    Injurious world! most damned Angelo!
  • Vincentio. This nor hurts him nor profits you a jot; 2250
    Forbear it therefore; give your cause to heaven.
    Mark what I say, which you shall find
    By every syllable a faithful verity:
    The duke comes home to-morrow; nay, dry your eyes;
    One of our convent, and his confessor, 2255
    Gives me this instance: already he hath carried
    Notice to Escalus and Angelo,
    Who do prepare to meet him at the gates,
    There to give up their power. If you can, pace your wisdom
    In that good path that I would wish it go, 2260
    And you shall have your bosom on this wretch,
    Grace of the duke, revenges to your heart,
    And general honour.
  • Isabella. I am directed by you.
  • Vincentio. This letter, then, to Friar Peter give; 2265
    'Tis that he sent me of the duke's return:
    Say, by this token, I desire his company
    At Mariana's house to-night. Her cause and yours
    I'll perfect him withal, and he shall bring you
    Before the duke, and to the head of Angelo 2270
    Accuse him home and home. For my poor self,
    I am combined by a sacred vow
    And shall be absent. Wend you with this letter:
    Command these fretting waters from your eyes
    With a light heart; trust not my holy order, 2275
    If I pervert your course. Who's here?

[Enter LUCIO]

  • Lucio. Good even. Friar, where's the provost?
  • Vincentio. Not within, sir.
  • Lucio. O pretty Isabella, I am pale at mine heart to see 2280
    thine eyes so red: thou must be patient. I am fain
    to dine and sup with water and bran; I dare not for
    my head fill my belly; one fruitful meal would set
    me to 't. But they say the duke will be here
    to-morrow. By my troth, Isabel, I loved thy brother: 2285
    if the old fantastical duke of dark corners had been
    at home, he had lived.

[Exit ISABELLA]

  • Vincentio. Sir, the duke is marvellous little beholding to your
    reports; but the best is, he lives not in them. 2290
  • Lucio. Friar, thou knowest not the duke so well as I do:
    he's a better woodman than thou takest him for.
  • Vincentio. Well, you'll answer this one day. Fare ye well.
  • Lucio. Nay, tarry; I'll go along with thee
    I can tell thee pretty tales of the duke. 2295
  • Vincentio. You have told me too many of him already, sir, if
    they be true; if not true, none were enough.
  • Lucio. I was once before him for getting a wench with child.
  • Vincentio. Did you such a thing?
  • Lucio. Yes, marry, did I. but I was fain to forswear it; 2300
    they would else have married me to the rotten medlar.
  • Vincentio. Sir, your company is fairer than honest. Rest you well.
  • Lucio. By my troth, I'll go with thee to the lane's end:
    if bawdy talk offend you, we'll have very little of
    it. Nay, friar, I am a kind of burr; I shall stick. 2305

[Exeunt]


       

Act IV, Scene 4

A room in ANGELO’s house.

       

[Enter ANGELO and ESCALUS]

  • Escalus. Every letter he hath writ hath disvouched other.
  • Angelo. In most uneven and distracted manner. His actions
    show much like to madness: pray heaven his wisdom be 2310
    not tainted! And why meet him at the gates, and
    redeliver our authorities there
  • Escalus. I guess not.
  • Angelo. And why should we proclaim it in an hour before his
    entering, that if any crave redress of injustice, 2315
    they should exhibit their petitions in the street?
  • Escalus. He shows his reason for that: to have a dispatch of
    complaints, and to deliver us from devices
    hereafter, which shall then have no power to stand
    against us. 2320
  • Angelo. Well, I beseech you, let it be proclaimed betimes
    i' the morn; I'll call you at your house: give
    notice to such men of sort and suit as are to meet
    him.
  • Escalus. I shall, sir. Fare you well. 2325
  • Angelo. Good night.
    [Exit ESCALUS]
    This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnant
    And dull to all proceedings. A deflower'd maid!
    And by an eminent body that enforced 2330
    The law against it! But that her tender shame
    Will not proclaim against her maiden loss,
    How might she tongue me! Yet reason dares her no;
    For my authority bears of a credent bulk,
    That no particular scandal once can touch 2335
    But it confounds the breather. He should have lived,
    Save that riotous youth, with dangerous sense,
    Might in the times to come have ta'en revenge,
    By so receiving a dishonour'd life
    With ransom of such shame. Would yet he had lived! 2340
    A lack, when once our grace we have forgot,
    Nothing goes right: we would, and we would not.

[Exit]


       

Act IV, Scene 5

Fields without the town.

       

[Enter DUKE VINCENTIO in his own habit, and FRIAR PETER]

  • Vincentio. These letters at fit time deliver me 2345
    [Giving letters]
    The provost knows our purpose and our plot.
    The matter being afoot, keep your instruction,
    And hold you ever to our special drift;
    Though sometimes you do blench from this to that, 2350
    As cause doth minister. Go call at Flavius' house,
    And tell him where I stay: give the like notice
    To Valentinus, Rowland, and to Crassus,
    And bid them bring the trumpets to the gate;
    But send me Flavius first. 2355
  • Friar Peter. It shall be speeded well.

[Exit]

[Enter VARRIUS]

  • Vincentio. I thank thee, Varrius; thou hast made good haste:
    Come, we will walk. There's other of our friends 2360
    Will greet us here anon, my gentle Varrius.

[Exeunt]


       

Act IV, Scene 6

Street near the city gate.

       

[Enter ISABELLA and MARIANA]

  • Isabella. To speak so indirectly I am loath:
    I would say the truth; but to accuse him so, 2365
    That is your part: yet I am advised to do it;
    He says, to veil full purpose.
  • Mariana. Be ruled by him.
  • Isabella. Besides, he tells me that, if peradventure
    He speak against me on the adverse side, 2370
    I should not think it strange; for 'tis a physic
    That's bitter to sweet end.
  • Mariana. I would Friar Peter—
  • Isabella. O, peace! the friar is come.

[Enter FRIAR PETER]

  • Friar Peter. Come, I have found you out a stand most fit,
    Where you may have such vantage on the duke,
    He shall not pass you. Twice have the trumpets sounded;
    The generous and gravest citizens
    Have hent the gates, and very near upon 2380
    The duke is entering: therefore, hence, away!

[Exeunt]