Alone, it was the subject of my theme;
In company, I often glanced it;

Still did I tell him it was vile and bad.

Abb. And thereof came it, that the man was mad : The venom clamours of a jealous woman

Poison more deadly than a mad dog's tooth.

It seems, his sleeps were hinder'd by thy railing:
And therefore comes it, that his head is light.

Thou say'st, his meat was sauc'd with thy upbraidings:
Unquiet meals make ill digestions,

Thereof the raging fire of fever bred;

And what's a fever but a fit of madness?

Thou say'st, his sports were hinder'd by thy brawls:
Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue,
But moody and dull melancholy,

(Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair ;)
And, at her heels, a huge infectious troop
Of pale distemperatures, and foes to life?
In food, in sport, and life-preserving rest
To be disturb'd, would mad or man, or beast:
The consequence is then, thy jealous fits
Have scared thy husband from the use of wits.

Luc. She never reprehended him but mildly,
When he demean'd himself rough, rude and wildly.-
Why bear you these rebukes, and answer not?
Adr. She did betray me to my own reproof.-

Good people, enter, and lay hold on him.

Abb. No, not a creature enters in my house.

Adr. Then, let your servants bring my husband forth. Abb. Neither; he took this place for sanctuary,

And it shall privilege him from your hands,

Till I have brought him to his wits again,

Or lose my labour in assaying it.

Adr. I will attend my husband, be his nurse,

Diet his sickness, for it is my office,
And will have no attorney but myself;

And therefore let me have him home with me.
Abb. Be patient; for I will not let him stir,
Till I have used the approved means I have,
With wholesome syrups, drugs, and holy prayers,
To make of him a formal man again :5

It is a branch and parcel of mine oath,

[5] i.e. to bring him back to his senses, and the forms of sober behaviour. So, in Measure for Measure, "informal women," for just the contrary. STE.

A charitable duty of my order;

Therefore depart, and leave him here with me.

Adr. I will not hence, and leave my husband here; And ill it doth beseem your holiness,

To separate the husband and the wife.

Abb. Be quiet, and depart, thou shalt not have him.

[Exit Abbess. Luc. Complain unto the duke of this indignity. Adr. Come, go; I will fall prostrate at his feet, And never rise until my tears and prayers Have won his grace to come in person hither, And take perforce my husband from the abbess. Mer. By this, I think, the dial points at five: Anon, I am sure, the duke himself in person Comes this way to the melancholy vale; The place of death and sorry execution, Behind the ditches of the abbey here. Ang. Upon what cause?

6

Mer. To see a reverend Syracusan merchant,

Who put unluckily into this bay

Against the laws and statutes of this town,

Beheaded publicly for his offence.

Ang. See, where they come; we will behold his death. Luc. Kneel to the duke, before he pass the abbey. Enter Duke attended; ÆGEON bare-headed; with the Headsman, and other Officers.

Duke. Yet once again proclaim it publicly, If any friend will pay the sum for him,

He shall not die, so much we tender him.

Adr. Justice, most sacred duke, against the abbess! Duke. She is a virtuous and a reverend lady ;

It cannot be, that she hath done thee wrong.

Adr. May it please your grace, Antipholus, my husband, Whom I made lord of me and all I had,

At your important7 letters, this ill day

A most outrageous fit of madness took him ;

That desperately he hurried through the street, (With him his bondman, all as mad as he)

Doing displeasure to the citizens

By rushing in their houses, bearing thence

[6] Sorry had anciently a stronger meaning than at present. Mr. Douce

is of opinion, that it is put for sorrowful. STEEVENS.

. [7] Important seems to be used for importunate. JOHNSON.

Rings, jewels, any thing his rage did like.
Once did I get him bound, and sent him home,
Whilst to take order for the wrongs I went,
That here and there his fury had committed.
Anon, I wot not by what strong escape,

He broke from those that had the guard of him;
And, with his mad attendant and himself,
Each one with ireful passion, with drawn swords,
Met us again; and, madly bent on us,

Chased us away; till, raising of more aid,
We came again to bind them: then they fled
Into this abbey, whither we pursued them ;
And here the abbess shuts the gates on us,
And will not suffer us to fetch him out,

Nor send him forth, that we may bear him hence.
Therefore, most gracious duke, with thy command,
Let him be brought forth, and borne hence for help.
Duke. Long since, thy husband serv'd me in my wars;
And I to thee engag'd a prince's word,

When thou didst make him master of thy bed,
To do him all the grace and good I could.—
Go, some of you, knock at the abbey-gate,
And bid the lady abbess come to me;

I will determine this, before I stir.

Enter a Servant.

Ser. O mistress, mistress, shift and save yourself! My master and his man are both broke loose,

Beaten the maids a-row, and bound the doctor,

Whose beard they have singed off with brands of fire;

And ever as it blazed, they threw on him

Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair :
My master preaches patience to him, while
His man with scissars nicks him like a fool :
And, sure, unless you send some present help,
Between them they will kill the conjurer.

Adr. Peace, fool, thy master and his man are here ; And that is false, thou dost report to us.

Ser. Mistress, upon my life, I tell you true;

I have not breath'd almost, since I did see it..
He cries for you, and vows, if he can take you,

To scorch your face, and to disfigure you: [Cry within.
Hark, hark, I hear him, mistress; fly, be gone.

[8] A strong escape. I suppose, means an escape effected by strength or violence. STEEVENS.

Duke. Come, stand by me, fear nothing: Guard with

halberds.

Adr. Ah me, it is my husband! Witness you,
That he is borne about invisible :

Even now we hous'd him in the abbey here;
And now he's there, past thought of human reason.
Enter ANTIPHOLUS and DROMIO of Ephesus.
Ant. E.Justice,most gracious duke,oh,grant me just
Even for the service that long since I did thee,
When I bestrid thee in the wars, and took

Deep scars to save thy life; even for the blood
That then I lost for thee, now grant me justice.
Egeon. Unless the fear of death doth make me dote,
I see my son Antipholus, and Dromio.

Ant.E. Justice,sweet prince,against that woman there.
She whom thou gav'st me to be my wife;
That hath abused and dishonour'd me

Even in the strength and height of injury !

Beyond imagination is the wrong,

That she this day hath shameless thrown on me.
Duke. Discover how, and thou shalt find me just.
An.E. This day,great duke,she shut the doors upon me,
Whilst she with harlots feasted in my house.9

Duke. A grievous fault :-Say, women, didst thou so? Adr. No, my good lord ;-myself, he, and my sister, To-day did dine together: So befal my soul,

As this is false, he burdens me withal!

Luc. Ne'er may I look on day, nor sleep on night,

But she tells to your highness simple truth!

Ang. O perjur'd woman! they are both forsworn.

In this the madman justly chargeth them.

Ant.E. My liege, I am advised what I say ; Neither disturb'd with the effect of wine,

Nor heady-rash, provok'd with raging ire,

[9] Antipholus did not suspect his wife of having entertained courtezans, but of having been confederate with cheats to impose on him and abuse him. Therefore, he says to her-Act IV. sc. iv:

are these your customers?

"Did this companion with the saffron face
"Revel and feast it at my house to-day ?"

By this description he points out Pinch and his followers.

Harlots was a

reproach applied to cheats among men as well as to wantons among women. Chaucer uses the word more than once:

"A sturdy harlot went hem ay behind,
"That was hir host's, man," &c.

Sompnoures Tale, v. 7336.

[] ie. I am not going to speak precipitately or rashly, but on reflection and consideration. STEEVENS.

Albeit, my wrongs might make one wiser mad.
This woman lock'd me out this day from dinner :
That goldsmith there, were he not pack'd with her,
Could witness it, for he was with me then ;
Who parted with me to go fetch a chain,
Promising to bring it to the Porcupine,
Where Balthazar and I did dine together.
Our dinner done, and he not coming thither,
I went to seek him: In the street I met him ;
And in his company, that gentleman.

There did this perjur'd goldsmith swear me down,
That I this day of him receiv'd the chain,

Which, God he knows, I saw not: for the which,
He did arrest me with an officer.

I did obey; and sent my peasant home

For certain ducats: he with none return'd.

Then fairly I bespoke the officer,

To go in person with me to my house. By the way we met My wife, her sister, and a rabble more

Of vile confederates; along with them

They brought one Pinch; a hungry lean-faced villain,
A mere anatomy, a mountebank,

A thread-bare juggler, and a fortune-teller;
A needy, hollow-ey'd, sharp-looking wretch,
A living dead man this pernicious slave,
Forsooth, took on him as a conjurer;
And, gazing in mine eyes, feeling my pulse,
And with no face, as 'twere, out facing me,
Cries out, I was possess'd: then altogether
They fell upon me, bound me, bore me thence :
And in a dark and dankish vault at home
There left me and my man, both bound together;
Till gnawing with my teeth my bonds in sunder,
I gain'd my freedom, and immediately

Ran hither to your grace; whom I beseech

To give me ample satisfaction

For these deep shames and great indignities.

Ang. My lord, in truth, thus far I witness with him; That he dined not at home, but was lock'd out. Duke. But had he such a chain of thee, or no? Ang. He had, my lord: and when he ran in here, These people saw the chain about his neck.

Mer. Besides, I will be sworn, these ears of mine Heard you confess you had the chain of him,