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, It is a branch and parcel of mine oath, Therefore depart, and leave him here with me. Abb. Be quiet, and depart, thou shalt not have 5 i. e. substitute. 6 i. e. to bring him back to his senses, and the accustomed forms of sober behaviour. In Measure for Measure' informal women' is used for just the contrary. Comes this way to the melancholy vale; Mer. To see a reverend Syracusan merchant, Against the laws and statutes of this town, 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. If 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! Whom I made lord of me and all I had, By rushing in their houses, bearing thence 7 i. e. dismal :-' dismolde and sorrie, atra funestus.' 8 i. e. importunate. Shakspeare uses this word again in Lear, and in Much Ado about Nothing, in the same sense. The poet gives to Ephesus the custom of wardship, so long considered a grievous oppression in England. Whilst to take order 9 for the wrongs I went, He broke from those that had the guard of him; 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 Nor send him forth, that we may bear him hence. wars; And I to thee engag'd a prince's word, When thou didst make him master of thy bed, Enter a Servant. 11 Serv. O mistress, mistress, shift and save yourself! My master and his man are both broke loose, Beaten the maids a-row 12, and bound the doctor, Whose beard they have singed off with brands of fire; And ever as it blaz'd, they threw on him 9 i. e. to take measures. So in Othello: 'Honest Iago hath ta'en order for it." 10 To wot is to know. Strong escape is an escape effected by strength or violence. 11 Are is here inaccurately put for have. 12 i. e. successively, one after another. VOL. IV. S Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair: Adr. Peace, fool, thy master and his man are here ; And that is false, thou dost report to us. Ser. 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; 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, 13 The heads of fools were shaved, or their hair cut close, as appears by the following passage in The Choice of Change, 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.' Florio explains, zuccone, a shaven pate, a notted poll, a poll-pate, a gull, a ninnie.' 14 This act of friendship is frequently mentioned by Shakspeare. Thus in King Henry IV. Part I. :-' Hal, if thou see me down in the battle and bestride me so it is an act of friendship.' Again in King Henry VI. Part III. :— 'Three times to-day I holp him to his horse, 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 woman there. She whom thou gav'st to me to be my wife; That she this day hath shameless thrown on me. upon me, While she with harlots 15 feasted in my house. 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 befall my soul, 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 16 what I say; Neither disturbed 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, See 15 Harlot was a term anciently applied to a rogue or base person among men, as well as to wantons among women. Todd's Johnson. 16I speak with consideration and circumspectly, not rashly and precipitately." |