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 reverent 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. Signior Antipholus, I wonder much ANT. S. I think I had; I never did deny 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! 'tis pity that thou liv'st ANT. S. Thou art a villain to impeach me thus! Let us come in that we may bind him fast, ANG. I knew he was not in his perfect wits. 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. ABB. Hath he not lost much wealth by wreck of sea? Buried some dear friend? Hath not, else, his eye A sin prevailing much in youthful men, 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. Авв. Ay, but not rough enough. ADR. As roughly as my modesty would let me. ABв. 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 glanced it; Still did I tell him it was vile and bad. a Some get within him;] Gel within his guard; close with him. ABB. And thereof came it that the man was mad. Unquiet meals make ill digestions,— Luc. She never reprehended him but mildly, When he demean'd himself rough, rude, and wildly. Why bear you these rebukes and answer not? ABB. No, not a creature enters in house. 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 assaying it. ADR. I will attend my husband, be his nurse, And ill it doth beseem your holiness 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. b A formal man-] This seems to mean, A reasonable man, A well regulated man. DUKE. Yet once again proclaim it publicly, 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, C Whom I made lord of me and all I had, By rushing in their houses, bearing thence, The place of death-] The original has depth instead of death; and, as the Rev. Mr. Hunter thinks, rightly. According to his view, "New Illustrations of Shakespeare," vol. i. p. 225," The place of depth,' in the Greek story, the Barathrum, means the deep pit, into which offenders were cast." b And sorry execution,-] Meaning dismal, sorrowful execution. At your important letters,-] That is, in the language of our old writers, your importunate letters. Thus, in "Much Ado about Nothing," Act II. Sc. 1:-"-if the Prince be too important, tell him there is measure in everything," &c. So in "King Lear," Act IV. Sc. 4: "Therefore great France My mourning and important tears hath pitied." Beaten the maids a-row,-] A-row is explained by the commentators, one after another, successively. "A thousand time a-row he gan hire kisse." CHAUCER, Wife of Bathes Tale, v. 6386, Tyrwhitt's Ed. 143 Chas'd us away; till, raising of more aid, Nor send him forth, that we may bear him hence. And I to thee engag'd a prince's word, I will determine this before I stir. Enter a Servant. SERV. O mistress, mistress! shift and save yourself! My master and his man are both broke loose, And, ever as it blazed, they threw on him 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. "The curtal Friar in Fountain Abbey Old Ballads, Evans, vol. ii. p. 152. e Nicks him like a fool;] The custom of shaving and nicking the head of a fool is very old. Tollet says there is a penalty of ten shillings, in one of Alfred's ecclesiastical laws, if one opprobriously share a common man like a fool; and Malone cites a passage from "The Choice of Change," &c., by S. R. Gent, 4to. 1598,-"Three things used by monks, which provoke other men to laugh at their follies: 1. They are shaven and notched on the head like fooles." f To scorch your face,-] So the old copy. The same spelling occurs in the folio, 1623, Act III. Sc. 2, of Macbeth:""We have scorch'd the snake, not killed it; ' where, however, the word meant is probably scotch'd. L In this the madman justly chargeth them. ANT. E. My liege, I am advised what I say; There did this perjur'd goldsmith swear me down, I did obey, and sent my peasant home For certain ducats: he with none return'd. То go in person with me to my house. By the way we met My wife, her sister, and a rabble more Of vile confederates; along with them, They brought one Pinch, a hungry lean-fac'd villain, A mere anatomy, a mountebank, A thread-bare juggler, and a fortune-teller ; For these deep shames and great indignities. That he dined not at home, but was lock'd out. DUKE. But had he such a chain of thee or no? ANG. He had, my lord; and when he ran in here These people saw the chain about his neck. MER. Besides, I will be sworn these ears of mine And careful hours,-] Painful, anxious hours. Heard you DUKE. Why, what an intricate impeach is this! DRO. E. Sir, he dined with her there, at the Porcupine. COUR. He did; and from my finger snatch'd that ring. ANT. E. 'Tis true, my liege, this ring I had of her. DUKE. Saw'st thou him enter at the abbey here? COUR. As sure, my liege, as I do see your But he, I thank him, gnaw'd in two my cords. EGE. I am sure you both of you remember me. EGE. Why look you strange on me? You know me well. ANT. E. I never saw you in my life, till now. EGE. Oh! grief hath chang'd me since you saw me last; And careful hours, with Time's deformed hand, ÆGE. Dromio, nor thou? DRO. E. No, trust me, sir, nor I. ÆGE. I am sure thou dost. b Strange defeatures in my face.] See Note (a), p. 121. |