To walk where any honeft men refort.

I'll

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

Against thee presently, if thou dar'st stand.

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 sword away : Bind Dromio too, and bear them to my house.

DRO. S. Run, master, run; for God's fake, take a house. This is fome priory ;-In, or we are spoil'd.

[Exeunt ANTIPH. and DROMIO to the Priory. Enter the 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, four, 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 else 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, fome love, that drew him oft from home.

ABB. You should for that have reprehended him.

Qq iiij

ADR. Why, so 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 slept 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 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

Poifon more deadly than a mad dog's tooth.

It feems, his fleeps were hinder'd by thy railing:

And thereof comes it, that his head is light.

Thou fay'st, his meat was fauc'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 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 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 thefe 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 fervants bring my
your
husband forth.
ABB. Neither; he took this place for fanctuary,
And it shall privilege him from your hands,

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 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 :
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. [Exit ABBESS, Luc. Complain unto the duke of this indignity. 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 abbess. 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 forry execution,
Behind the ditches of the abbey here.
ANG. Upon what cause?

MER. To see 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 death.
LUG. Kneel to the duke, before he pafs the abbey.
Enter DUKE attended; EGEON bare-headed; 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. Justice, most facred duke, against the abbess!
DUKE. She is a virtuous and a reverend lady;

It cannot be, that fhe hath done thee wrong.

[band,-
ADR. May it please your grace, Antipholus, 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 defperately he hurried through the street,
(With him his bondman, all as mad as he,)
Doing difpleasure to the citizens

By rufhing in their houfes, bearing thence
Rings, jewels, any thing his rage did like.
Once did I get him bound, and sent 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 and himself,

Each one with ireful paffion, with drawn fwords,

Met us again, and, madly bent on us,
Chafed us away; till, raifing of more aid,
We came again to bind them: then they fled
Into this abbey, whither we pursued 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 engag'd a prince's word,

When thou didst 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.

Enter a SERVANT.

SERV. O mistress, mistress, shift and fave yourself! My mafter and his man are both broke loose,

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

Whose beard they have finged off with brands of fire;
And ever as it blazed, they threw on him

Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair:
My mafter preaches patience to him, 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.

SERV. Mistress, 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 fcorch your face, and to disfigure you: [Cry within.