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 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.
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.
Abb. Be patient; for I will not let him stir,
Till I have us❜d the approv'd 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,

* i. e. To bring him back to his senses.

+ Part.

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 am 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?

Mer. To see a reverend Syracusan merchant,

Who put unluckily into this bay

Against the laws and statutes of this town,
Beheaded publickly for his offence.

If

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 publickly, 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.
Anon, I wot† not by what strong 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.

Serv. O mistress, mistress, shift and save yourself! My master and his man are both broke loose, Beaten the maids a-row, and bound the doctor, Whose beard they have singed 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, while
His man with scissars nicks § him like a fool:
And, sure, unless you send some present help,

* i. e. To take measures.

+ Know.

i. e. Successively, one after another. § i. e. Cuts his hair close.

Between them they will kill the conjurer.

Adr. Peace, fool, thy master and his man are here; And that this 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, oh, 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 life; even for the blood
> That then I lost for thee, now grant me justice.
Ege. Unless the fear of death doth make me dote,
I see my son Antipholus, and Dromio.

Ant. E. Justice, sweet prince, against that wo-
man there.

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,

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,

While she with harlots* feasted in my house.

Duke. A grievous fault: Say, woman, didst thou so?

*Harlot was a term of reproach applied to cheats among men, as well as to wantons among women.

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, provók'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.

I did obey; and sent my peasant home

For certain ducats: he with none return'd.

Then fairly I bespoke the officer,

To 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;
A needy, hollow-ey'd, sharp-looking wretch,
A living dead man: this pernicious slave,
Forsooth, took on him as a conjurer;
And, gazing in mine eyes, feeling my pulse,