DRO. S. Run, master, run; for God's sake, take a

house!

This is some priory. In, or we are spoiled!

[Exeunt Ant. S. and Dro. S. to the Priory.

Enter the Lady Abbess

ABB. Be quiet, people.

hither?

Wherefore throng you

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.

SEC. 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 break into extremity of rage.

ABB. Hath he not lost much wealth by wreck of sea?

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?

36 take a house] enter, as in the phrase "a dog takes the water."
46 much] The Second Folio improves the metre by reading much
much. The reading is worth adoption.

51 Stray'd his affection] Caused to stray, led astray; the transitive use of the word is extremely rare, if not unique.

40

50

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.

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 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

Poisons more deadly than a mad dog's tooth.

It seems his sleeps were hinder'd by thy railing:

And thereof comes it that his head is light.

Thou say'st his meat was sauced with thy upbraid

ings:

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:

62 copy] repeated theme.

69 venom] The noun is constantly used adjectivally for "venomous." Cf. Rich. III, I, iii, 291: "His venom tooth."

60

70

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 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 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.

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90

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 assaying 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.

79 moody, etc.] The line is defective. Suggested interpolations are "sadness or "madness" after "moody," of which the latter is the more reasonable. Others insert "moping" after "moody," or substitute "dull-visaged" for " dull.”

100

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 beseem your holiness

To separate the husband and the wife.

ABB. Be quiet, and depart: thou shalt not have

him.

[Exit.

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.
SEC. 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 sorry execution,
Behind the ditches of the abbey here.
ANG. Upon what cause?

SEC. MER. To see a reverend Syracusian merchant,
Who put unluckily into this bay

105 formal] in a normal state of mind, sane. Cf. Meas. for Meas., V. i, 236: "Poor informal women," i. e. women out of their senses. 121 death] The Third Folio's correction of the First and Second Folios'

reading depth.

110

120

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 bareheaded; 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 my 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

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.

146 take order for] take measures for settling, or dealing with. Cf. Rich. III, IV, ii, 53: "I will take order for her keeping close."

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140