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, Adr. I will attend my husband, be his nurse, 1 It is a branch and parcel of mine oath, Therefore depart, and leave him here with me. 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 To bring him back to his senses. And take perforce my husband from the abbess. 1 The place of death and sorry 1 execution, Ang. Upon what cause? Mer. To see a reverend Syracusian merchant, Who put unluckily into this bay Against the laws and statutes of this town, Ang. See, where they come: we will behold his death. Luc. Kneel to the duke, before he pass the abbey. Enter DUKE attended; EGEON 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 important 2 letters,—this ill day A most outrageous fit of madness took him; By rushing in their houses, bearing thence He broke from those that had the guard of him; Chased us away; till, raising of more aid, 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 served me in my wars; And I to thee engaged a prince's word, 1 Measures. 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,1 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. 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 breathed 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. Duke. Come, stand by me; fear nothing. Guard with halberds. Adr. Ah me, it is my husband! Witness you, 1 Successively, one after another. 2 Cuts his hair close. That he is borne about invisible. Even now we housed 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, O, grant me justice! Even for the service that long since I did thee, Deep scars to save thy life; even for the blood dote, I see my son Antipholus, and Dromio. [aside. Ant. E. Justice, sweet prince, against that woman there; She whom thou gavest to me to be my wife, That hath abused and dishonor'd me, Even in the strength and height of injury! That she this day hath shameless thrown on me. Duke. Discover how, and thou shalt find me just. Aat. E. This day, great duke, she shut the doors upon me, While she with harlots 1 feasted in my house. Duke. A grievous fault. Say, woman, didst thou so? 1 Harlot was a term of reproach, applied to cheats among men, as well as to wantons among women. |