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Mer. These ears of mine, thou knoweft, did hear

thee;

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

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

SCENE II.

[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, master, run; for God's fake, take a houfe.

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 diftracted 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, tha 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 fea? Bury'd fome dear friend? hath not elfe his eye Stray'd his affection in unlawful love?

A

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

Abt. 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 slept not for my urging it;
At board, he fed not for my urging it;
Alone, it was the fubject of my theam;
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;

8

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,

• Kinsman to grim and comfortless defpair?
And at her heels a huge infectious troop
Of pale diftemperatures, and foes to life.
In food, in fport, and life-preferving reft,

* Kinfman to grim and comfortlefs defpair?] Shakespeare could never make melancholy a male in this line, and a female in

the next. This was the foolish infertion of the firft Editors. I have therefore put it into hooks, as spurious. WARBURTON.

Το

To be disturb'd, would mad or man or beaft:
The confequence is then, thy jealous fits
Have scared thy husband from the ufe of wits.
Luc. She never reprehended him but mildly,
When he demean'd himfelt 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,
'Till I have brought him to his wits again,
Or lose my labour in afsaying 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 firups, 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 holiness
To separate the husband and the wife.

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

Adr. Come, go; I will fall proftrate at his feet, And never rife, until my tears and and prayers Have won his Grace to come in perfon hither; And take perforce my husband from the Abbess. Mer. By this, I think, the dial points at five: Anon, I'm fure, the Duke himself in person Comes this way to the melancholy vale;

The

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The place of death and forry execution,
Behind the ditches of the abbey here.
Ang. Upon what cause?

Mer. To fee a reverend Syracufan merchants
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
death.

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

SCENE III.

Enter the Duke, and Egeon bare-beaded; with the
Headfman, 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, moft facred Duke, against the Abbels.
Duke. She is a virtuous and a reverend Lady;
It cannot be, that fhe hath done thee wrong.
Adr. May it please your Grace, Antipholis my
husband,

(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 ftreet,
With him his bondman all as mad as he,

Doing displeasure to the citizens,

By rufhing in their houses; 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 strong efcape,
He broke from thofe that had the guard of him:

And,

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, raising of more aid,
We came again to bind them; then they fled
Into this abbey, whither we purfu'd them;
And here the Abbess 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 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, fome of you, knock at the abbey-gate;
And bid the lady Abbefs come to me.
I will determine this, before I ftir.

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Mell. O mistress, mistress, shift and fave yourself; My master and his man are both broke loose,

Beaten the maids a-row, and bound the doctor,
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 mafter and his man are here, And that is falfe, thou doft report to us.

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