Act III. Sc 1I1.
Whereto serves mercy,
Bist to confront the visage of offence ?
And what's in prayer, but this two fold force.
To be forestalled, ere we come to fall,
Or pardoned being down ? Then P 11 look up;
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn ? ""Forgive me my foul murder" ?
That cannot be; since I am still possessed
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown., mine own ambition, and my queen,
May one be pardoned, and retain the offence ?
In the corrupted currents of this world
Offenc's gilded hand may shove by justice ;
And off t is seen, the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law : but't is not so above ;
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature, and we ourselves compelled,
Even to the teeth and forehead" of our faults,
To give in evidence. 14
