1505Ab. Be quiet people, wherefore throng you hither?

1506Adr. To fetch my poore distracted husband hence,

1507Let vs come in, that we may binde him fast,

1508And beare him home for his recouerie.

1509Gold. I knew he was not in his perfect wits.

1510Mar. I am sorry now that I did draw on him.

1511Ab. How long hath this possession held the man.

1512Adr. This weeke he hath beene heauie, sower sad,

1513And much different from the man he was:

1514But till this afternoone his passion

1515Ne're brake into extremity of rage.

1516Ab. Hath he not lost much wealth by wrack of sea,

1517Buried some deere friend, hath not else his eye

1518Stray'd his affection in vnlawfull loue,

1519A sinne preuailing much in youthfull men,

1520Who giue their eies the liberty of gazing.

1521Which of these sorrowes is he subiect too?

1522Adr. To none of these, except it be the last,

1523Namely, some loue that drew him oft from home.

1524Ab. You should for that haue reprehended him.

1525Adr. Why so I did.

1526Ab. I but not rough enough.

1527Adr. As roughly as my modestie would let me.

1528Ab. Haply in priuate.

1529Adr. And in assemblies too.

1530Ab. I, but not enough.

1531Adr. It was the copie of our Conference.

1532In bed he slept not for my vrging it,

1533At boord he fed not for my vrging it:

1534Alone, it was the subiect of my Theame:

1535In company I often glanced it:

1536Still did I tell him, it was vilde and bad.

1537Ab. And thereof came it, that the man was mad.

1538The venome clamors of a iealous woman,

1539Poisons more deadly then a mad dogges tooth.

1540It seemes his sleepes were hindred by thy railing,

1541And thereof comes it that his head is light.

1542Thou saist his meate was sawc'd with thy vpbraidings,

1543Vnquiet meales make ill digestions,

1544Thereof the raging fire of feauer bred,

1545And what's a Feauer, but a fit of madnesse?

1546Thou sayest his sports were hindred by thy bralles.

1547Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue

1548But moodie and dull melancholly,

1549Kinsman to grim and comfortlesse dispaire,

1550And at her heeles a huge infectious troope

1551Of pale distemperatures, and foes to life?

1552In food, in sport, and life-preseruing rest

1553To be disturb'd, would mad or man, or beast:

1554The consequence is then, thy iealous fits

1555Hath scar'd thy husband from the vse of wits.

1556Luc. She neuer reprehended him but mildely,

1557When he demean'd himselfe, rough, rude, and wildly,

1558Why beare you these rebukes, and answer not?

1559Adri. She did betray me to my owne reproofe,

1560Good people enter, and lay hold on him.

1561Ab. No, not a creature enters in my house.

1562Ad. Then let your seruants bring my husband forth

1563Ab. Neither: he tooke this place for sanctuary,

1564And it shall priuiledge him from your hands,

1565Till I haue brought him to his wits againe,

1566Or loose my labour in assaying it.

1567Adr. I will attend my husband, be his nurse,

1568Diet his sicknesse, for it is my Office,

1569And will haue no atturney but my selfe,

1570And therefore let me haue him home with me.

1571Ab. Be patient, for I will not let him stirre,

1572Till I haue vs'd the approoued meanes I haue,

1573With wholsome sirrups, drugges, and holy prayers

1574To make of him a formall man againe:

1575It is a branch and parcell of mine oath,

1576A charitable dutie of my order,

1577Therefore depart, and leaue him heere with me.

1578Adr. I will not hence, and leaue my husband heere:

1579And ill it doth beseeme your holinesse

1580To separate the husband and the wife.

1581Ab. Be quiet and depart, thou shalt not haue him.

1582Luc. Complaine vnto the Duke of this indignity.

1583Adr. Come go, I will fall prostrate at his feete,

1584And neuer rise vntill my teares and prayers

1585Haue won his grace to come in person hither,

1586And take perforce my husband from the Abbesse.

1587Mar. By this I thinke the Diall points at fiue:

1588Anon I'me sure the Duke himselfe in person

1589Comes this way to the melancholly vale;

1590The place of depth, and sorrie execution,

1591Behinde the ditches of the Abbey heere.

1592Gold. Vpon what cause?

1593Mar. To see a reuerent Siracusian Merchant,

1594Who put vnluckily into this Bay

1595Against the Lawes and Statutes of this Towne,

1596Beheaded publikely for his offence.

1597Gold. See where they come, we wil behold his death

1598Luc. Kneele to the Duke before he passe the Abbey.

1602Duke. Yet once againe proclaime it publikely,

1603If any friend will pay the summe for him,

1604He shall not die, so much we tender him.

1605Adr. Iustice most sacred Duke against the Abbesse.

1606Duke. She is a vertuous and a reuerend Lady,

1607It cannot be that she hath done thee wrong.

1608Adr. May it please your Grace, Antipholus my husbãd,

1609Who I made Lord of me, and all I had,

1610At your important Letters this ill day,

1611A most outragious fit of madnesse tooke him:

1612That desp'rately he hurried through the streete,

1613With him his bondman, all as mad as he,

1614Doing displeasure to the Citizens,

1615By rushing in their houses: bearing thence

1616Rings, Iewels, any thing his rage did like.

1617Once did I get him bound, and sent him home,

1618Whil'st to take order for the wrongs I went,

1619That heere and there his furie had committed,

1620Anon I wot not, by what strong escape

1621He broke from those that had the guard of him,

1622And with his mad attendant and himselfe,

1623Each one with irefull passion, with drawne swords

1624Met vs againe, and madly bent on vs

1625Chac'd vs away: till raising of more aide

1626We came againe to binde them: then they fled

1627Into this Abbey, whether we pursu'd them,

1628And heere the Abbesse shuts the gates on vs,

1629And will not suffer vs to fetch him out,

1630Nor send him forth, that we may beare him hence.

I Therefore