Mer.Thefe ears of mine, thou knoweft did hear thee; Fie on thee, wretch ! 'tis pity that thou liv'ft

To walk where any honeft men refort.

I'll

S. Ant. Thou art a villain, to impeach me thus. prove mine honour and my honesty

Against thee prefently, if thou dar'st stand.

Mer. I dare, and do defy thee for a villain.

SCENE

[They draw

II.

Enter Adriana, Luciana, Courtezan, and others. Adr. Hold, hurt him not, for God's fake; he is mad Some get within him, take his fword away: Bind Dromio too, and bear them to my houfe.

S. Dra. Run, Mafter, run; for God's fake take a This is fome priory; in, or we are fpoil'd.

[houfe; [Exeunt to the priory...

Enter Lady Abbefs.

Abb. Be quiet, people; wherefore throng you hither? Adr. To fetch my poor distracted husband hence

Let us come in, that we may bind him fast,

And bear him home for his recovery.

Ang. I knew he was not in his perfect wits. Mer. I'm forry now that I did draw on him. Abb. How long hath this poffeffion held the man Adr. This week he hath been heavy, four, fad, And much much different from the man he was: But, till this afternoon, his paffion

Ne'er brake into extremity of rage.

eye

Abb. Hath he not loft much wealth by wreck at fea Bury'd fome dear friend? hath not elfe his Stray'd his affection in unlawful love? A fin, prevailing much in youthful men, Who give their eyes the liberty of gazing., Which of thefe forrows is he fubject to?

Adr. To none of thefe, except it be the laft; Namely, fome love that drew him oft from home. Abb. You fhould for that have reprehended him. Adr. Why, fo I did.

Abb. Ay, but not rough enough.

?

Adr. As roughly as my modefty would let me.
Abb. Haply, in private.

Adr. And in affemblies too.

Abb. Ay, but not enough.

*

Adr. It was the copy of our conference.
In bed, he flept not for my urging it;
At board, he fed not for my urging it;
Alone, it was the fubject of

my

theme;

In company, I often glance'd at it;

Still did I tell him it was vile and bad.

Abb. And therefore came it that the man was mad.

The venom clamours of a jealous woman

Poifon more deadly, than a mad dog's tooth.

It seems his fleeps were hinder'd by thy railing;
And thereof comes it that his head is light.

Thou fay'ft, his meat was fauce'd with thy upbraidings;
Unquiet meals make ill digeftions;

Thereof the raging fire of fever bred;

And what's a fever, but a fit of madness?
Thou fay'ft, his sports were hinder'd by thy brawls.
Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth enfue,
But moody and dull melancholy,

[Kinfman to grim and comfortless despair +],
And at her heels a huge infectious troop
Of pale diftemperatures, and foes to life?
In food, in fport, and life-preferving reft,
To be difturb'd, would mad or man or beast:
The confequence is then, thy jealous fits
Have fear'd thy hufband from the ufe 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 enter in my houfe.
Adr. Then, let your fervants bring my husband forth,
Abb. Neither; he took this place for fanctuary,
And it fhall privilege him from your hands;

* By copy here is to be understood abundance, fulness, as copia fignifies in Latin.

This line feems to be spurious.

VOL. III.

B,b

Till

Till I have brought him to his wits again,
Or lofe my labour in affaying it.

Adr. I will attend my husband, be his nurse,
Diet his fickness, 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 ftir,
Till I have us'd th' approved means I have,
With wholfome fyrups, drugs, and holy prayers,
To make of him a formal man again;

It is a branch and parcel of mine oath,

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 feparate the hufband and the wife.

Abb. Be quiet, and depart; thou shalt not have him. Luc. Complain unto the Duke of this indignity.s [Exit Abbefs.

Adr. Come, go; I will fall proftrate at his feet, A And never rife, until my tears and prayers Have won his Grace to come in perfon hither; And take perforce my husband from the Abbefs. Mer. By this, I think, the dial points at five : Anon, I'm furé, the Duke himfelf in perfon Comes this way to the melancholy vale; The place of death and forry execution, Behind the ditches of the abbey here. Ang. Upon what caufe?

Mer. To fee a reverend Syracufan 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 pafs the abbey.

Enter the Duke, and Egeon bare-headed; with the headfman, and other officers.

Duke. Yet once again proclaim it publicly,

If

If

any friend will pay the fum for him, He fhall not die, fo much we tender him.

Adr. Juftice, most facred Duke, against the Abbels. Duke. She is a virtuous and a reverend lady; It cannot be that the hath done thee wrong.

[band,

Adr. May it please your Grace, Antipholis my huf(Whom I made lord of me and all I had, At your important letters), this ill day

A moft outrageous fit of madness took him;
That defp'rately he hurry'd through the street,
With him his bondman all as mad as he,
Doing difpleasure to the citizens,

By rushing in their houfes; bearing thence
Rings, jewels, any thing his rage did like.
Once did I get him bound, and fent him home,
Whilft to take order for the wrongs I went,
That here and there his fury had committed:
Anon, I wot not by what ftrong escape,

He broke from those that had the guard of him:
And, with his mad attendant mad himself,
Each one with ireful paffion, with drawn fwords,
Met us again, and, madly bent on us,
Chas'd us away; till raifing of more aid,
We came again to bind them; then they fled
Into this abbey, whither we purfu'd them;
And here the Abbefs fhuts the gates on us,
And will not fuffer us to fetch him out,

Nor fend him forth, that we may bear him hence.
Therefore, moft gracious Duke, with thy command,
Let him be brought forth, and borne hence for help.
Duke. Long fince thy husband ferv'd me in my wars,
And I to thee engage'd a prince's word,
When thou didft make him mafter of thy bed,
To do him all the grace and good I could.
Go, fome of you, knock at the abbey-gate;
And bid the Lady Abbefs come to me.
I will determine this before I ftir.

SCENE IV. Enter a Meffenger.
Me. O miftrefs, miftrefs, fhift and fave yourself;
My mafter and his men are both broke loose,
Beaten the maids a-row, and bound the Doctor,

Bb 2

Whofe

Whose beard they have fing'd off with brands of fire,
And ever as it blaz'd, they threw on him

Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair;
My mafter preaches patience to him, and the while
His man with fciffars nicks him like a fool :
And, fure, unless you fend fome present help,
Between them they will kill the conjurer.

Adr. Peace, fool, thy master and his man are here, And that is falfe thou doft report to us.

Me. Miftrefs, upon my life, I tell you true;
I have not breath'd almoft fince I did fee it.
He cries for you, and vows if he can take you,
To fcotch your face, and to disfigure you.

[Cry within. Hark, hark, I hear him, miftrefs; fly, be gone. Duke. Come, ftand by me, fear nothing: guard with

halberds.

Adr. Ay me, it is my hufband; witness you,

That he is borne about invisible!

Ev'n now we hous'd him in the abbey here,
And now he's there, paft thought of human reason.

SCEN E V.

Enter Antipholis and Dromio of Ephefus.

E. Ant. Juftice, moft gracious Duke, oh, grant me justice.

Even for the fervice that long fince I did thee,
When I beftrid thee in the wars, and took

Deep fears to fave thy life, even for the blood
That then I loft for thee, now grant me justice.
Egeon. Unless the fear of death doth make me doat,
I fee my fon Antipholis and Dromio.

E. Ant. Juftice, fweet Prince, against that womán there :

She whom thou gav'ft to me to be my wife;

That hath abused and difhonour'd me,

Ev'n in the ftrength and height of injury.

Beyond imagination is the wrong,

That the this day hath fhameless thrown on me.

Duke, Difcover how, and thou fhalt find me juft.

E. Ant.