To be disturb'd, would mad or man, or beast: Abb. No, not a creature enters in my house. And it shall privilege him from your hands, Till I have brought him to his wits again, Adr. I will attend my husband, be his nurse, And therefore let me have him home with me. 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 am sure, the duke himself in person Comes this way to the melancholy vale e; • a formal man again :] i. e. To bring him back to his senses, and the forms of sober behaviour.-STEEVENS. The place of death and sorry execution," 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. Enter Duke attended; EGEON bare-headed: with the Duke. Yet once again proclaim it publickly, Adr. Justice, most sacred duke, against the abbess! Adr. May it please your grace, Antipholus, my husband, Whom I made lord of me and all I had, By rushing in their houses, bearing thence Each one with ireful passion, with drawn swords, P sorry execution,] Mr. Douce is of opinion, that sorry in the text is put for sorrowful.-STEEVENS. a At your important letters,], Important seems to be used for importunate.— JOHNSON. — to take order-] i. e. To take measures.-STEEVENS, Chased us away; till, raising of more aid, Nor send him forth, that we may bear him hence. When thou didst make him master of thy bed, To do him all the grace and good I could.- 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; Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair: Adr. Peace, fool, thy master and his man are here; s Beaten the maids a-row,] i. e. Successively, one after another. like a fool :] The force of this allusion I am Perhaps it was once the custom to cut the There is a proverbial simile-" Like crop been ironically applied to these unfortunate There is a penalty of ten shillings in one of King Alfred's ecclesiastical laws, if one opprobriously shave a common man like a fool.-TOLLET. Fools, undoubtedly, were shaved and nicked in a particular manner, in our author's time, as is ascertained by the following passage in The Choice of Change, containing the Triplicitie of Divinitie, Philosophie, and Poetrie, 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.”— MALONE. I have not breath'd almost, since I did see it. He cries for you, and vows, if he can take you, Duke. Come, stand by me, fear nothing: Guard with halberds. Adr. Ah me, it is my husband! Witness you 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, When I bestrid thee in the wars, and took Deep scars to save thy life; even for the blood Ege. Unless the fear of death doth make me dote, Ant. E. Justice, sweet prince, against that woman 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. me, While she, with harlots" 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 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! u with harlots-] Antipholus did not suspect his wife of having entertained courtesans, but of having been confederate with cheats to impose on him and abuse him. Harlot was a term of reproach applied to cheats among men, as well as to wantons among women.-STEEVENS. Ang. O perjur'd woman! they are both forsworn. 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. 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-faced villain, A thread-bare juggler, and a fortune-teller; There left me and my man, both bound together: I am advised-] i. e. I am not going to speak precipitately or rashly, but onreflection and consideration.-STEEVENS. |