That stays but till her owner comes aboard,
And then, sir, she bears away. Our fraughtage, sir,
I have convey'd aboard, and I have bought
The oil, the balsamum, and aqua-vitæ.
The ship is in her trim: the merry wind
Blows fair from land; they stay for nought at all,
But for their owner, master, and yourself.

Ant. E. How now? a madman! Why, thou peevish1
sheep,

What ship of Epidamnum stays for me?

Dro. S. A ship you sent me to, to hire waftage.

Enter DROMIO of Syracuse, running.
Dro. S. Here, go: the desk! the purse! swift3, now
make haste.

Luc. How hast thou lost thy breath?
Dro. S.

By running fast.
Adr. Where is thy master, Dromio? is he well?
Dro. S. No, he's in Tartar limbo, worse than hell :
A devil in an everlasting garment* hath him fell5,
One whose hard heart is button'd up with steel ;
Who knows no touch of mercy, cannot feel;
A fiend, a fury', pitiless and rough ;

Ant. E. Thou drunken slave, I sent thee for a A wolf, nay, worse, a fellow all in buff;

rope;

And told thee to what purpose, and what end.

Dro. S. You sent me for a rope's end as soon.
You sent me to the bay, sir, for a bark.

Ant. E. I will debate this matter at more leisure,
And teach your ears to list me with more heed.
To Adriana, villain, hie thee straight;
Give her this key, and tell her, in the desk
That's cover'd o'er with Turkish tapestry,
There is a purse of ducats: let her send it.
Tell her, I am arrested in the street,
And that shall bail me. Hie thee, slave, be gone.
On, officer, to prison till it come.

[Exeunt Merchant, ANGELO, Officer, and ANT. E.
Dro. S. To Adriana? that is where we din'd,
Where Dowsabel did claim me for her husband:
She is too big, I hope, for me to compass.
Thither I must, although against my will,
For servants must their masters' minds fulfil.

SCENE II.-The Same.
Enter ADRIANA and LUCIANA.

Adr. Ah! Luciana, did he tempt thee so?
Mightst thou perceive austerely in his eye
That he did plead in earnest? yea or no?

Look'd he or red, or pale? or sad, or merry?
What observation mad'st thou in this case,
Of his heart's meteors tilting in his face?

A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper, one that counter-
mands

The passages and alleys, creeks and narrow lands:
A hound that runs counter, and yet draws dry-foot
well;9

One that, before the judgment, carries poor souls to
hell1o.

Adr. Why, man, what is the matter?

Dro. S. I do not know the matter: he is 'rested on

the case.

Adr. What, is he arrested? tell me, at whose suit. Dro. S. I know not at whose suit he is arrested well; But he's in a suit of buff which 'rested him, that can I tell. Will you send him, mistress, redemption? the money in his desk?

Adr. Go fetch it, sister.-This I wonder at ;

[Exit LUCIANA. That he, unknown to me, should be in debt :-[Exit. Tell me, was he arrested on a band11?

Luc. First he denied you had in him no right.
Adr. He meant, he did me none: the more my spite.
Luc. Then swore he, that he was a stranger here.
Adr. And true he swore, though yet forsworn he

were.

Luc. Then pleaded I for you.
Adr.
And what said he?
Luc. That love I begg'd for you, he begg'd of me.
Adr. With what persuasion did he tempt thy love?
Luc. With words, that in an honest suit might move.
First, he did praise my beauty; then, my speech.
Adr. Didst speak him fair?
Luc.
Have patience, I beseech.
Adr. I cannot, nor I will not hold me still:
My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will.
He is deformed, crooked, old, and sere,
Ill-fac'd, worse bodied, shapeless everywhere;
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind,
Stigmatical2 in making, worse in mind.

Luc. Who would be jealous, then, of such a one?
No evil lost is wail'd when it is gone.

Adr. Ah! but I think him better than I say,
And yet would herein others' eyes were worse.

Far from her nest the lapwing cries away:

Dro. S. Not on a band, but on a stronger thing
A chain, a chain: do you not hear it ring!
Adr. What, the chain?

Dro. S. No, no, the bell. 'Tis time that I were gone:
It was two ere I left him, and now the clock strikes one.
Adr. The hours come back! that did I never hear.
Dro. S. O yes; if any hour meet a serjeant, 'a turns
back for very fear.

Adr. As if time were in debt! how fondly dost thou reason!

Dro. S. Time is a very bankrupt, and owes more
than he's worth, to season.

Nay, he's a thief too: have you not heard men say,
That time comes stealing on by night and day?
If he be in debt and theft, and a serjeant in the way,
Hath he not reason to turn back any hour in a day?
Re-enter LuCIANA.

Adr. Go, Dromio: there's the money, bear it straight,
And bring thy master home immediately.-
Come, sister; I am press'd down with conceit,
Conceit, my comfort, and my injury.

SCENE III.-The Same.

[Exeunt.

Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse, wearing the chain.
Ant. S. There's not a man I meet but doth salute me,
As if I were their well acquainted friend;
And every one doth call me by my name.
Some tender money to me, some invite me;
Some other give me thanks for kindnesses;
Some offer me commodities to buy:
Even now a tailor call'd me in his shop,
And show'd me silks that he had bought for me,
And, therewithal, took measure of my body.

My heart prays for him, though my tongue do Sure, these are but imaginary wiles,

curse.

1 Silly. 2 Disfigured. 3 sweet in f. e. 4 Serjeants wore buff. fairy; Theobald suggested the change made by the MS. emendator. 9 A hunting phrase, meaning to hunt by the scent of the animal's foot. chequer chamber, for the debtors of the crown. 11 Bond.

And Lapland sorcerers inhabit here.

5 Not in f. e. 6 This line is not in f. e. 7 The old copies have

8 An allusion to his taking persons arrested to the Counter prison. 10 This was the name of a place of confinement under the Ex

Enter DROMIO of Syracuse.

Dro. S. Master, here's the gold you sent me for. What have you got1 the picture of old Adam new apparell'd2?

Ant. S. What gold is this? What Adam dost thou mean?

Dro. S. Not that Adam that kept the paradise, but that Adam that keeps the prison: he that goes in the calf's-skin that was kill'd for the prodigal: he that came behind you, sir, like an evil angel, and bid you forsake your liberty.

Ant. S. I understand thee not.

Dro. S. No? why, 't is a plain case: he that went, like a base-viol, in a case of leather: the man, sir, that, when gentlemen are tired, gives them a fob, and 'rests them: he, sir, that takes pity on decayed men, and gives them suits of durance; he that sets up his rest to do more exploits with his mace, than a morris-pike.3 Ant. S. What, thou mean'st an officer?

Dro. S. Ay, sir, the serjeant of the band; he that brings any man to answer it, that breaks his band; one that thinks a man always going to bed, and says, "God give you good rest!"

Ant. S. Well, sir, there rest in your foolery. Is there any ship puts forth to-night? may we be gone?

Dro. S. Why, sir, I brought you word an hour since, that the bark Expedition put forth to-night; and then were you hindered by the serjeant to tarry for the hoy Delay. Here are the angels that you sent for to deliver you.

Ant. S. The fellow is distract, and so am I,
And here we wander in illusions.

Some blessed power deliver us from hence!
Enter a Courtezan.

Cour. Well met, well met, master Antipholus.
I see, sir, you have found the goldsmith now:

Is that the chain, you promis'd me to-day?

Ant. S. Satan, avoid! I charge thee, tempt me not!
Dro. S. Master, is this mistress Satan?
Ant. S. It is the devil.

Dro. S. Nay, she is worse, she is the devil's dam; and here she comes in the habit of a light wench and thereof comes that the wenches say, “God damn me,” | that's as much as to say, "God make me a light wench." It is written, they appear to men like angels of light : light is an effect of fire, and fire will burn; ergo, light wenches will burn. Come not near her.

Cour. Your man and you are marvellous merry, sir. Will you go with me? we'll mend our dinner here. Dro. S. Master, if you do expect spoon-meat, bespeak a long spoon.

Ant. S. Why, Dromio?

Dro. S. Marry, he must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil.

Ant. S. Avoid, thou* fiend! what tell'st thou me of supping?

Thou art, as you are all, a sorceress :

I conjure thee to leave me, and be gone.

Cour. I pray you, sir, my ring, or else the chain.
I hope you do not mean to cheat me so.
Ant. S. Avaunt, thou witch! Come, Dromio, let

us go.

Dro. S. Fly pride, says the peacock: mistress, that
you know.
[Exeunt ANT. and DRO.
Cour. Now, out of doubt, Antipholus is mad,
Else would he never so demean himself.
A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats,
And for the same he promis'd me a chain :
Both one and other he denies me now.
The reason that I gather he is mad,
Besides this present instance of his rage,
Is a mad tale he told to-day at dinner
Of his own doors being shut against his entrance.
Belike, his wife, acquainted with his fits,
On purpose shut the doors against his way.
My way is now, to hie home to his house,
And tell his wife, that, being lunatic,
He rush'd into my house, and took perforce
My ring away. This course I fittest choose,
For forty ducats is too much to lose.

SCENE IV.-The Same.

[Exit.

Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus, and a Jailor.
Ant. E. Fear me not, man; I will not break away:
I'll give thee, ere I leave thee, so much money,
To warrant thee, as I am 'rested for.
My wife is in a wayward mood to-day,
And will not lightly trust the messenger:
That I should be attach'd in Ephesus,

I tell you, 't will sound harshly in her ears.
Enter DROMIO of Ephesus with a rope's-end.
Here comes my man: I think he brings the money.
How now, sir? have you that I sent you for?

Dro. E. Here's that, I warrant you, will pay them all.
Ant. E. But where's the money?

Dro. E. Why, sir, I gave the money for the rope.

Ant. E. Five hundred ducats, villain, for a rope?
Dro. E. I'll serve you, sir, five hundred at the rate.
Ant. E. To what end did I bid thee hie thee
home?

Dro. E. To a rope's end, sir; and to that end am I return'd.

Ant. E. And to that end, sir, I will welcome you.
[Beating him.

Jail. Good sir, be patient.

Dro. E. Nay, 't is for me to be patient; I am in adversity.

Jail. Good now, hold thy tongue.

Dro. E. Nay, rather persuade him to hold his hands.
Ant. E. Thou whoreson, senseless villain!
Dro. E. I would I were senseless, sir; that I might
not feel your blows.

Ant. E. Thou art sensible in nothing but blows, and so is an ass.

Dro. E. I am an ass, indeed: you may prove it by my long ears. I have serv'd him from the hour of my nativity to this instant, and have nothing at his

Cour. Give me the ring of mine you had at dinner, hands for my service, but blows. When I am cold, he

Or for my diamond the chain you promised,
And I'll be gone, sir, and not trouble you.

Dro. S. Some devils ask but the parings of one's
nail,

A rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin, a nut, a cherry-
stone;

But she, more covetous, would have a chain.
Master, be wise: an if you give it her,

The devil will shake her chain, and fright us with it.

heats me with beating; when I am warm, he cools me with beating: I am wak'd with it, when I sleep; rais'd with it, when I sit; driven out of doors with it, when I go from home; welcomed home with it, when I return: nay, I bear it on my shoulders, as a beggar wont her brat; and, I think, when he hath lamed me, I shall beg with it from door to door.

Ant. E. Come, go along my wife is coming yonder.

1 What have you done with. 2 A reference to the serjeant's suit of buff.

3 A Moorish pike.

:

4 then in f. e.

Enter ADRIANA, LUCIANA, the Courtezan, and a
Schoolmaster called PINCH.

Dro. E. Mistress, respice finem,1 respect your end: or rather the prophecy, like the parrot, "beware the rope's end."

Ant. E. Wilt thou still talk?

[Beats him.
Cour. How say you now? is not your husband mad?
Adr. His incivility confirms no less.-
Good doctor Pinch, you are a conjurer;
Establish him in his true sense again,
And I will please you what you will demand.

Luc. Alas, how fiery and how sharp he looks !
Cour. Mark, how he trembles in his ecstasy !
Pinch. Give me your hand, and let me feel your
pulse.

Ant. E. There is my hand, and let it feel your ear.
Pinch. I charge thee, Satan, hous'd within this man,
To yield possession to my holy prayers,
And to thy state of darkness hie thee straight:
I conjure thee by all the saints in heaven.

Ant. E. Peace, doting wizard, peace! I am not mad.
Adr. O, that thou wert not, poor distressed soul !
Ant. E. You minion, you; are these your customers?
Did this companion with the saffron face
Revel and feast it at my house to-day,
Whilst upon me the guilty doors were shut,
And I denied to enter in my house?

Adr. O, husband, God doth know, you din'd at home;
Where 'would you had remain'd until this time,
Free from these slanders, and this open shame!

Ant. E. Din'd at home? Thou, villain, what say'st
thou?

Dro. E. Sir, sooth to say, you did not dine at home. Ant. E. Were not my doors lock'd up, and I shut out?

Dro. E. Perdy, your doors were lock'd, and you
shut out.

Ant. E. And did not she herself revile me there ?
Dro. E. Sans fable, she herself revil'd you there.
Ant. E. Did not her kitchen-maid rail, taunt, and
scorn me?

Dro. E. Certes, she did; the kitchen-vestal scorn'd

you.

Ant. E. And did not I in rage depart from thence?
Dro. E. In verity, you did :-my bones bear witness,
That since have felt the rigour of his rage.

Adr. Is 't good to soothe him in these contraries?
Pinch. It is no shame: the fellow finds his vein,
And, yielding to him, humours well his frenzy.
Ant. E. Thou hast suborn'd the goldsmith to arrest me.
Adr. Alas, I sent you money to redeem you,

By Dromio here, who came in haste for it.

Dro. E. And, gentle master, I receiv'd no gold;
But I confess, sir, that we were lock'd out.

Adr. Dissembling villain! thou speak'st false in both.
Ant. E. Dissembling harlot ! thou art false in all,
And art confederate with a damned pack
To make a loathsome, abject scorn of me;
But with these nails I'll pluck out those false eyes,
That would behold in me this shameful sport.
Enter three or four, and bind ANTIPHOLUS and
DROMIO.

Adr. O bind him, bind him! let him not come near

me.

Pinch. More company!-the fiend is strong within
him.

Luc. Ah me! poor man, how pale and wan he looks.
Ant. E. What, will you murder me?
Thou jailor,
thou,

Masters, let him go.

I am thy prisoner: wilt thou suffer them
To make a rescue ?
Jail.
He is my prisoner, and you shall not have him.
Pinch. Go, bind this man, for he is frantic too.
Adr. What wilt thou do, thou peevish officer?
Hast thou delight to see a wretched man
Do outrage and displeasure to himself?

Jail. He is my prisoner: if I let him go,
The debt he owes will be requir'd of me.
Adr. I will discharge thee, ere I go from thee.
Bear me forthwith unto his creditor,
And, knowing how the debt grows,
I will pay it.
Good master doctor, see him safe convey'd
Home to my house.-O, most unhappy day!
Ant. E. O, most unhappy strumpet !

Dro. E. Master, I am here enter'd in bond for

Luc. God help, poor souls! how idly do they talk.
Adr. Go bear him hence.-Sister, go you with me.-
[Exeunt PINCH and assistants with ANT. and DRO.
Say now, whose suit is he arrested at ?

Jail. One Angelo, a goldsmith; do you know him?
Adr. I know the man. What is the sum he owes ?
Jail. Two hundred ducats.
Adr.
Say, how grows it due?
Jail. Due for a chain your husband had of him.
Adr. He did bespeak a chain for me, but had it not.
Cour. When as your husband, all in rage, to-day
Came to my house, and took away my ring,

Dro. E. Money by me! heart and good-will you (The ring I saw upon his finger now)
might;

But, surely, master, not a rag of money.

Straight after did I meet him with a chain.
Adr. It may be so, but I did never see it.

Ant. E. Went'st not thou to her for a purse of ducats! Come, jailor, bring me where the goldsmith is :
Adr. He came to me, and I deliver'd it.
Luc. And I am witness with her that she did.
Dro. E. God and the rope-maker now3 bear me
witness,

That I was sent for nothing but a rope!

Pinch. Mistress, both man and master is possessed :

I know it by their pale and deadly looks.
They must be bound, and laid in some dark room.
Ant. E. Say, wherefore didst thou lock me forth
to-day?

And why dost thou deny the bag of gold?

Adr. I did not, gentle husband, lock thee forth.

I long to know the truth hereof at large.
Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse, with his rapier drawn,
and DROMIO of Syracuse.

Luc. God, for thy mercy! they are loose again.
Adr. And come with naked swords. Let's call more
help,

To have them bound again.
Jail.

Away! they'll kill us.
[Exeunt ADRIANA, LUCIANA, and Jailor.
Ant. S. I see, these witches are afraid of swords.
Dro. S. She, that would be your wife, now ran from

you.

1 In Ulpian Fulwell's First Parte of the Eighth Liberal Science, 1579, these words occur, and are translated in a marginal note, "All's well that ends well." Shakespeare may have borrowed both a phrase and a title from this work. 2 vigour in f. e. 3 Not in f. é.

Ant. S. Come to the Centaur; fetch our stuff1 from but for the mountain of mad flesh that claims marriage thence: of me, I could find in my heart to stay here still, and turn witch.

I long that we were safe and sound aboard.

Dro. S. Faith, stay here this night, they will surely do us no harm; you saw they spake us fair, gave us gold. Methinks they are such a gentle nation, that

Ant. S. I will not stay to-night for all the town; Therefore away, to get out stuff aboard. [Exeunt.

ACT V.

SCENE I-The Same. Before an Abbey.
Enter Merchant and ANGELO.

Ang. I am sorry, sir, that I have hinder'd you;
But, I protest, he had the chain of me,
Though most dishonestly he doth deny it.

Mer. How is the man esteem'd here in the city?
Ang. Of very reverend reputation, sir;

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 softly: yonder, as I think, he walks.
Enter ANTIPHOLUS and DROMIO of Syracuse.
Ang. 'Tis so; and that self chain about his neck,
Which he forswore most monstrously to have.
Good sir, draw near with me, I'll speak to him.-
Signior Antipholus, I wonder much

That you would put me to this shame and trouble;
And not without some scandal to yourself,
With circumstance and oaths so to deny
This chain, which now you wear so openly:
Beside the charge, the shame, imprisonment,
You have done wrong to this my honest friend;
Who, but for staying on our controversy,
Had hoisted sail, and put to sea to-day.
This chain, you had of me: can you deny it?
Ant. S. I think, I had: I never did deny it.
Mer. Yes, that you did, sir; and forswore it too.
Ant. S. Who heard me to deny it, or forswear it?
Mer. These ears of mine, thou knowest, did hear
thee.

Fie on thee, wretch! 't is pity that thou liv'st
To walk where any honest men resort.

Ant. S. Thou art a villain to impeach me thus.
I'll 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 sake! he is mad.
Some get within him2; take his sword away.
Bind Dromio too, and bear them to my house.
Dro. S. Run, master, run; for God's sake take a house!
This is some priory:-in, or we are spoil'd.

[Exeunt ANTIPHOLUS and DROMIO to the Abbey.
Enter the 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 sorry now, that I did draw on him.
Abb. How long hath this possession held the man?
Adr. This week he hath been heavy, sour, sad;
And much different from the man he was;

But, till this afternoon, his passion

Ne'er brake into extremity of rage.

Buried some dear friend? Hath not else his eye
Stray'd his affection in unlawful love?
A sin prevailing much in youthful men,
Who give their eyes the liberty of gazing.
Which of these sorrows is he subject to?

Adr. To none of these, except it be the last ;
Namely, some love, that drew him oft from home.
Abb. You should for that have reprehended him.
Adr. Why, so I did.
Abb.
Ay, but not rough enough.
Adr. As roughly as my modesty would let me.
Abb. Haply, in private.
Adr.

And in assemblies 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 subject of my theme;
In company, I often glanc'd at it:
Still did I tell him it was vile and bad.

3

Abb. And thereof came it that the man was mad:
The venom clamours of a jealous woman
Poison more deadly than a mad dog's tooth.

It seems, his sleeps were hind'red by thy railing,
And thereof comes it, that his head is light.
Thou say'st, his meat was sauc'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 say'st, his sports were hinder'd by thy brawls:
Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue,
But moody and dull melancholy,
Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair,
And at her heels a huge infectious troop
Of pale distemperatures, and foes to life?
In food, in sport, and life-preserving rest
To be disturb'd, would mad or man or beast.
The consequence is, then, thy jealous fits
Have scar'd 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 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 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,
Or lose my labour in essaying it.

Adr. I will attend my husband, be his nurse,
Diet his sickness; 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 us'd the approved means I have,
With wholesome syrups, drugs, and holy prayers,

Abb. Hath he not lost much wealth by wreck of sea? To make of him a formal man again.

Baggage. 2 Close with him. 3 Not in f.e

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 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
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'm sure, the duke himself in person
Comes this way to the melancholy vale,
The place of death and solemn1' execution,
Behind the ditches of the abbey here.
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,
Beheaded publicly for his offence.

Ang. See, where they come: we will behold his death.
Luc. Kneel to the duke before he pass the abbey.
Enter DUKE attended; ÆGEON 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,
husband,

Whom I made lord of me, and all I had,
At your important letters, this ill day
A most outrageous fit of madness took him,
That desperately he hurried through the street,
(With him his bondman, all as mad as he)
Doing displeasure to the citizens

4

My master and his man are both broke loose,
Beaten the maids a-row, and bound the doctor,
Whose beard they have sing'd off with brands of fire;
| And ever as it blazed they threw on him
Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair.
My master preaches patience to him, and the while
His man with scissars nicks him like a fool
And, sure, unless you send some present help,
Between them they will kill the conjurer.

,

.5

Adr. Peace, fool! thy master and his man are here: And that is false, thou dost report to us.

Serv. Mistress, upon my life, I tell you true;

I have not breath'd 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,
That he is borne about invisible:

Even now we hous'd 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,
When I bestrid thee in the wars and took
Deep scars to save thy live; even for the blood
That then I lost for thee, now grant me justice.
Æge. Unless the fear of death doth make me dote,
I see my son Antipholus, and Dromio!

Ant. E. Justice, sweet prince, against that woman
there!

my She whom thou gav'st to me to be my wife,
That hath abused and dishonour'd me,
Even in the strength and height of injury.
Beyond imagination is the wrong,

By rushing in their houses, bearing thence
Rings, jewels, any thing his rage did like.
Once did I get him bound, and sent him home,
Whilst to take order for the wrongs I went,
That here and there his fury had committed.
Anon, I wot not by what strange3 escape,
He broke from those that had the guard of him,
And with his mad attendant and himself,
Each one with ireful passion, with drawn swords,
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 pursued them;
And here the abbess shuts the gates on us,
And will not suffer us to fetch him out,
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 serv'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, some of you, knock at the abbey gate,

And bid the lady abbess come to me.

I will determine this, before I stir.

Enter a Servant.

That she this day hath shameless thrown on me.
Duke. Discover how, and thou shalt find me just.
Ant. E. This day, great duke, she shut the doors
upon me,

Duke. A grievous fault. Say, woman, didst thou so?
Adr. No, my good lord: myself, he, and my sister,
To-day did dine together. So befal my soul,
As this is false he burdens me withal.
Luc. Ne'er may I look on day, nor sleep on night,
But she tells to your highness simple truth.
Ang. O perjur'd woman! They are both forsworn:
In this the madman justly chargeth them.

Ant. E. My liege, I am advised what I say;
Neither disturb'd with the effect of wine,
Nor heady-rash provok'd with raging ire,
Albeit my wrongs might make one wiser mad.
This woman lock'd me out this day from dinner :
That goldsmith there, were he not pack'd with her,
Could witness it, for he was with me then;
Who parted with me to go fetch a chain,
Promising to bring it to the Porcupine,
Where Balthazar and I did dine together.
Our dinner done, and he not coming thither,
I went to seek him in the street I met him,
And in his company, that gentleman.
There did this perjur'd goldsmith swear me down,
That I this day of him receiv'd the chain,
Which, God he knows, I saw not; for the which,
He did arrest me with an officer.

Serv. O mistress, mistress! shift and save yourself. I did obey, and sent my peasant home

4 One after the other.

1 depth and sorry: in f. e. 2 Importunate. 3 strong in f. e. 5 It was the custom to cut the hair of fools in a peculiar fashion 6 This word originally meant hireling, and was applied to either sex.