this wretch,
Grace of the duke, revenges to your heart,
And general honour.
I am directed by you.
This letter, then, to Friar Peter give;
'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
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,
If I pervert your course. Who's here?
Good even. Friar, where's the provost?
Not within, sir.
O pretty Isabella, I am pale at mine heart to see
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:
if the old fantastical duke of dark corners had been
at home, he had lived.
Sir, the duke is marvellous little beholding to your
reports; but the best is, he lives not in them.
Friar, thou knowest not the duke so well as I do:
he's a better woodman than thou takest him for.
Well, you'll answer this one day. Fare ye well.
Nay, tarry; I'll go along with thee
I can tell thee pretty tales of the duke.
You have told me too many of him already, sir, if
they be true; if not true, none were enough.
I was once before him for getting a wench with child.
Did you such a thing?
Yes, marry, did I but I was fain to forswear it;
they would else have married me to the rotten medlar.
Sir, your company is fairer than honest. Rest you well.
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.
Every letter he hath writ hath disvouched other.
In most uneven and distracted manner. His actions
show much like to madness: pray heaven his wisdom be
not tainted! And why meet him at the gates, and
redeliver our authorities there
I guess not.
And why should we proclaim it in an hour before his
entering, that if any crave redress of injustice,
they should