Good Sir, draw near to me, I'll fpeak to him..
Signior Antipholis, I wonder much

That you would put me to this fhame and trouble
And not without some scandal to yourself,
With circumftance and oaths fo to deny
This chain, which now you wear fo openly;
Befides the charge, the fhame, imprisonment,
You have done wrong to this my honeft friend ;
Who, but for ftaying on our controversy,
Had hoifted fail, and put to fea to-day:
This chain you had of me, can you deny it?
S. Ant. I think, I had; I never did deny it.
Mer. Yes, that you did, Sir; and forfwore it too.
S. Ant. Who heard me to deny it, or forfwear it ?
Mer. These ears of mine, thou knoweft, did hear thee:
Fy on thee, wretch! 'tis pity, that thou liv'ft
To walk where any honeft men refort.

S. Ant Thou art a villain, to impeach me thus.
I'll prove mine honour and my honefty
Against thee prefently, if thou dar'ft ftand.

Mer. I dare, and do defy thee for a villain. [They draw.
Enter Adriana, Luciana, Courtezan, and others.
Adr. Hold, hurt him not, for God's fake; he is mad;
Some get within him, take his fword away:
Bind Dromio too, and bear them to my houfe.

S. Dra. Run, mafter, run; for God's fake, take a houfe;: This is fome priory: in, or we are spoil'd.

[Exeunt to the Priory.

Enter Lady Abbefs..

Abb. Be quiet, people; wherefore throng you hither? Adr. To fetch my poor diftracted husband hence ; Let us come in, that we may bind him faft;

And bear him home for his recovery.

Ang. I knew, he was not in his perfect wits.. Mer. I'm forry now, that I did draw on him. Abb. How long hath this poffeffion held the man?Adr. This week he hath been heavy, fower, fad, And much, much different from the man he was:

But

But 'till this afternoon, his paffion

Ne'er brake into extremity of rage:

Abb. Hath he not loft much wealth by wreck at fea??
Bury'd fome dear friend? hath not elfe his eye
Stray'd his affection in unlawful love?

A fin, prevailing much in youthful men,
Who give their eyes the liberty of gazing..
Which of thefe forrows is he fubject to?

Adr. To none of these, except it be the laft;
Namely, fome love, that drew him oft from home..
Abb. You fhould for that have reprehended him..
Adr. Why, fo I did:

Abb. Ay, but not rough enough.

Adr. As roughly, as my modefty would let me..
Abb. Haply, in private.

Adr. And in affemblies too..

Abb. Ay, but not enough.

Adr. It was the copy of our conference. (20); Lead Ceres In bed, he slept not for my urging it;, At board, he fed not for my urging it; Alone, it was the fubject of my theam;: In company, I often glanc'd at it;: Still did. I tell him, it was vile and bad..

(20) It was the copy of our conference.] We are not to understand this word here, as it is now used, in oppofition to an original; any thing done after a pattern; but we are to take it in the nearest fenfe to the Latin word copia, from which it is derived. Adriana would fay, her reproofs were the burden, the fulness of her conference, ail the fubject of her talk. And in these acceptations the word copie was. ufed by writers before our Author's time, as well as by his contem poraries. So Hall, in his reign of King Henry Vth. p. 8, fays;. If you vanquish the Numidians, you shall have copie of beafts.. i. e. plenty.

And lo B. Jonfon in his Every man out of his humour;·

that, being a woman, fhe was bleft with no more copy of wit, but to ferve his humour thus.

And, again, in his Cynthia's Revels..

to be fure to have daily about him copy and variety of co

lours.
And in many other paffages of his works.

Abb. And thereof came it, that the man was mad.
The venom clamours of a jealous woman
Poison more deadly, than a mad dog's tooth.
It seems, his fleeps were hinder'd by thy railing;
And thereof comes it, that his head is light.
Thou fay'ft, his meat was fauc'd with thy upbraidings
Unquiet meals make ill digeftions;

Thereof the raging fire of fever bred;

And what's a fever, but a fit of madnefs?
Thou fay'ft, his fports were hinder'd by thy brawls.
Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth enfue,
But moody and dull melancholy,
deKinfman to grim and comfortlefs despair?
And at her heels a huge infectious troop
Of pale diftemperatures, and foes to life.
In food, in fport, and life-preferving rest,
To be difturb'd, would mad or man or beaft
The confequence is then, thy jealous fits
Have feared thy husband from the ufe of wits.
Luc. She never reprehended him but mildly,
When he demeaned himself rough, rude and wildly;
Why bear you thefe 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 houfe.
Adr. Then, let your fervants bring my husband forth
Abb. Neither; he took this place for fanctuary,
And it fhall priviledge him from your hands;
"Till I have brought him to his wits again,
Or lose my labour in affaying it.

Adr. I will attend my husband, be his nurse,
Diet his fickness, 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 ftir,
"Till I have us'd th' approved means I have,
With wholfome firups, 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 befeem your holiness

To feparate the husband and the wife.

Abb. Be quiet and depart, thou shalt not have him. Luc. Complain unto the Duke of this indignity.

[Exit Ábbefs. Adr. Come, go; I will fall proftrate at his feet, And never rife, until my tears and prayers Have won his Grace to come in perfon hither; And take perforce my husband from the Abbess. Mer. By this, I think, the dial points at five: Anon, I'm sure, the Duke himself in perfon Comes this way to the melancholy vale; The place of death and forry execution, (21) Behind the ditches of the abbey here. Ang. Upon what cause ?

Mer. To fee a reverent Syracufan merchant,
Who put unluckily into this bay

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

Ang. See, where they come; we will behold his death. Luc. Kneel to the Duke, before he pass the abbey. Enter the Duke, and Ægeon bare-headed; with the Headfman, and other Officers.

Duke. Yet once again proclaim it publickly,
If any friend will pay the fum for him,
He fhall not die, fo much we tender him.

Adr. Juftice, moft facred Duke, against the Abbefs.
Duke. She is a virtuous and reverend Lady;

It cannot be that the hath done thee wrong.
Adr. May it please your Grace, Antipholis my husband,

(21) The place of death and sorry execution.] i. e. dismal, lamentable, to be griev'd at. In the like acceptations our Poet employs it again, where Macbeth, after the murder of Duncan, is looking on his wn bloody hands.

This is a forry fight.

(Whom

(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 defp'rately he hurry'd through the street,
With him his bond-man all as mad as he,
Doing difpleasure 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 fent him home,
Whilft to take order for the wrongs, I went,
That here and there his fury had committed:
Anon, I wot not by what ftrong escape,

He broke from thofe, that had the guard of him
And, with his mad attendant and himself,
Each one with ireful paffion, with drawn fwords
Met us again, and, madly bent on us,
Chas'd us away; 'till, raifing of more aid,
We came again to bind them; then they fled
Into this abbey, whither we purfu'd them;
And here the Abbefs fhuts the gates on us,
And will not fuffer us to fetch him out,

Nor fend him forth, that we may bear him hence.
Therefore, moft gracions Duke, with thy comman
Let him be brought forth, and borne hence for help.
Duke. Long fince thy husband ferv'd me in my wars,
And I to thee engag'd a Prince's word,

(When thou didft make him master of thy bed,)
To do him all the grace and good I could:
Go, fome of you, knock at the abbey-gate ;,
And bid the Lady Abbefs come to me..

I will determine this, before I ftir..

Enter a Messenger.

Me. O miftrefs,. miftrefs,. fhift and fave yourself;; My mafter and his man are both broke loofe, Beaten the maids a-row, and bound the doctor, Whofe beard they have fing'd off with brands of fire; And ever as it blaz'd, they threw on him

Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hairy

My