Or else thou art suborn'd against his honour, Stands without blemish :-next, it imports no reason, Isab. And is this all? Then, O, you blessed ministers above, In countenance!-Heaven shield your grace from woe, Duke. I know, you'd fain be gone :-An officer!To prison with her :-Shall we thus permit A blasting and a scandalous breath to fall On him so near us? This needs must be a practice.-Who knew of your intent, and coming hither? Isab. One that I would were here,-friar Lodowick. Duke. A ghostly father, belike:-Who knows that Lodowick? Lucio. My lord, I know him; 't is a meddling friar; I do not like the man: had he been lay, my lord, For certain words he spake against your grace In your retirement, I had swing'd him soundly. Duke. Words against me? This' a good friar be like? And to set on this wretched woman here Peter. Blessed be your royal grace! I have stood by, my lord, and I have heard So vulgarly and personally accus'd, Her shall you hear disproved to her eyes, Duke. Good friar, let's hear it. Take her hence awhile. [Exit Friar PETER. [Exeunt ISABELLA, and two Apparitors. Give us some seats. [Gentlemen fetch two chairs.] Do you not smile at this, lord Angelo? In this I'll be impartial; be you judge Of your own cause. [The Duke and ANGELO sit.] Enter MARIANA veiled, and Friar PETER. Is this the witness, friar? First, let her show her face; and, after, speak. Mari. Pardon, my lord; I will not show my face, Untill my husband bid me. Duke. What, are you marry'd? Mari. No, my lord. Duke. Are you a maid? Mari. No, my lord. Duke. A widow then. Mari. Neither, my lord. Duke. 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 marry'd; 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. In self-same manner doth accuse my husband, Mari. Not that I know. Duke. No?-You say, your husband. Mari. Why, just, my lord, and that is Angelo. This is that face, thou cruel Angelo, Which, once thou swor'st, was worth the looking on: That took away the match from Isabel, In her imagin'd person. Duke. Know you this woman? Lucio. Carnally, she says. Duke. Sirrah, no more. Lucio. Enough, my lord. Ang. My lord, I must confess, I know this woman; And, five years since, there was some speech of marriage Betwixt myself and her which was broke off, Partly, for that her promised proportions Came short of composition; but, in chief, I never spake with her, saw her, nor heard from her, Mari. Noble prince, [Kneels As there comes light from heaven, and words from As there is sense in truth, and truth in virtue, As this is true, Let me in safety raise me from my knees; A marble monument! [Rises.] Ang. I did but smile till now; [ANGELO starts up.] Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justice; My patience here is touch'd: I do perceive, These poor informal women are no more But instruments of some more mightier member, That sets them on: Let me have way, my lord, To find this practice out. Duke. Ay, with my heart; And punish them unto your hight of pleasure.- oaths, Though they would swear down each particular saint, Peter. 'Would he were here, my lord; for he, indeed, Hath set the women on to this complaint: Your provost knows the place where he abides, And he may fetch him. Duke. Go, do it instantly. [Exit Provost. And you, my noble and well-warranted cousin, Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth, you have well Escal. My lord, we'll do it throughly. [Exit Duke.-ANGELO and ESCALUS sit. Signior Lucio, did not you say, you knew that friar Lodowick to be a dishonest person? Lucio. Cucullus not 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. Know you that friar Lodowick, that he speaks of? Peter. I know him for a man divine and holy; Not sawcy, nor a temporary medler, As he 's reported by this gentleman; And, on my trust, a man that never yet Did, as he vouches, misreport his grace. Lucio. My lord, most villainously; believe it. 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, Whensoever he 's convented. Escal. Call that same Isabel here once again.[Exit a Gentleman. 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. Enter the Gentleman, ISABELLA, and two Apparitors. Escal. Come on, mistress: Here's a gentlewoman denies all that you have said. Lucio. My lord, here comes the rascal I spoke of; here with the provost, |