ACT

V.

SCENE I.

I

A Street, before a Priory.

Enter the Merchant and Angelo.

ANGELO.

AM forry, fir, that I have hinder'd you;
But, I proteft, he had the chain of me,

Tho' most dishonestly he doth deny it.

Mer. How is the man efteem'd here in the city? Ang. Of very reverent reputation, fir,

Of credit infinite, highly belov'd,

Second to none that lives here in the city;
His word might bear my wealth at any time.
Mer. Speak foftly: yonder, as I think, he walks.

Enter Antipholis and Dromio of Syracufe.

Ang. 'Tis fo; and that felf-chain about his neck,
Which he forfwore moft monftrously to have.
Good fir, draw near to me, I'll fpeak to him.-
Signior Antipholis, I wonder much

That you would put me to this fhame and trouble;
And not without fome fcandal to yourself,
With circumstance, and oaths, fo to deny
This chain, which now you wear fo openly:
Befides the charge, the fhame, imprisonment,
You have done wrong to this my honest friend;
Who, but for ftaying on our controversy,
Had hoifted fail, and put to fea to-day :
This chain you had of me, can you deny it?

S. Ant. I think, I had; I never did deny it.
Mer. Yes, that you did, fir: and forfwore it too.
S. Ant. Who heard me to deny it, or forfwear it?
Mer. These ears of mine, thou knoweft, did hear
thee:

Fy

Fy on thee, wretch! 'tis pity, that thou liv'st
To walk where any honest men refort.

S. Ant. Thou art a villain, to impeach me thus.
1'11 prove mine honour and my honefty
Against thee presently, if thou dar'ft ftand.
Mer. I dare, and do defy thee for a villain.

[They draw.

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 house.

S. Dro. Run, mafter, run; for God's fake, take a house.

This is fome priory;-In, or we are spoil'd.

[Exeunt to the priory.

Enter Lady Abbess.

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 am forry now, that I did draw on him? Abb. How long hath this poffeffion held the man? Adr. This week he hath been heavy, fower, fad, And much, much different from the man he was; But, till this afternoon, his paffion

Ne'er brake into extremity of rage.

Abb. Hath he not loft much wealth by wreck at sea? Bury'd fome dear friend? Hath not elfe his eye Stray'd his affection in unlawful love?

A fin, prevailing much in youthful men,
Who give their eyes the liberty of gazing.
Which of these forrows is he fubject to?
Adr. To none of thefe, except it be the last;

Namely,

Namely, fome love, that drew him oft from home. Abb. You should for that have reprehended him. Adr. Why, fo I did.

Abb. Ay, but not rough enough.

Adr. As roughly, as my modeity 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 glanc'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 feems, his fleeps were hinder'd by thy railing:
And therefore comes it, that his head is light.
Thou fay'ft, his meat was fauc'd with thy upbraidings:
Unquiet meals make ill digeftions,

Therefore the raging fire of fever bred;

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

Kinfman to grim and comfortless despair?

4 Kinfman to grim and comfortless defpair?] Shakespeare could never make melancholy a male in this line, and a female in the next. This was the foolish insertion of the first editors. I have therefore put it into hooks, as fpurious. WARBURTON.

The defective metre of the fecond line, is a plain proof that fome diffyllable word hath been dropped there. I think it therefore probable our poet may have written,

Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth enfue,
But moodie [moping] and dull melancholy,
Kinfman to grim and comfortless despair?
And at their heels a buge infectious troop.

REVISAL.
And

And at her heels a huge infectious troop
Of pale diftemperatures, and foes to life.
In food, in fport, and life-preferving rest,
To be difturb'd, would mad or man, or beaft:
The confequence is then, thy jealous fits
Have fcar'd thy husband from the ufe of wits.
Luc. She never reprehended him but mildly,
When he demean'd himself rough, rude and wildly.
-Why bear you thefe rebukes, and anfwer 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 house.
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,
'Till I have brought him to his wits again,
Or lose 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 myfelf;

And therefore let me have him home with me.
Abb. Be patient; for I will not let him ftir,
'Till I have us'd the 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 befeem your holinefs

To feparate the husband and the wife.

5

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

-a formal man again;] i. c. to bring him back to his fenfes, and the forms of fober behaviour. So in Meafure for Measure: -informal women for juft the contrary.

STEEVENS.

Luc.

Luc. Complain unto the Duke of this indignity. [Exit Abbess. Adr. Come, go; I will fall proftrate at his feet, And never rife, until my tears and prayers Have won his grace to come in person hither, And take perforce my husband from the Abbefs. Mer. By this, I think, the dial points at five: Anon, I am fure, 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 ?

Mer. To fee a reverend Syracufan merchant, Who put unluckily into this bay

Against the laws and ftatutes of this town,

Beheaded publickly for his offence.

Ang. See, where they come; we will behold his

Luc. Kneel to the Duke, before he pass the abbey.

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

Duke. Yet once again proclaim it publickly,
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 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, Antipholis my
hufband,

(Whom I made lord of me and all I had, At your important letters,°) this ill day

(Whom I made lord of me and all I had,

At your important letters,)]

Shakespeare, who gives to all nations the customs of his own, feems from this paffage to allude to a court of wards in Ephefus.

Important feems to be for importunate. JOHNSON.

STIEVENS.

A most