Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse, with his rapier drawn, and DROMIO of Syracuse. Luc. God, for thy mercy! they are loose again! ADR. And come with naked swords: let's call more help, To have them bound again. Away; they'll kill us. [Exeunt Officer, ADR. and Luc.b ANT. S. I see these witches are afraid of swords. DRO. S. She that would be your wife now ran from you. ANT. S. Come to the Centaur; fetch our stuff from thence: I long that we were safe and sound aboard. DRO. S. Faith, stay here this night; they will surely do us no harm.-You saw, they speak us fair, give us gold: methinks they are such a gentle nation, that, but for the mountain of mad flesh that claims marriage of me, I could find in my heart to stay here still, and turn witch. ANT. S. I will not stay to-night for all the town; Therefore away, to get our stuff aboard. as fast as may be, frighted." с [Exeunt. e To get our stuff aboard.] One of the meanings attached to this commonly-used word, stuff, in early times, was luggage. In the orders issued for the royal progresses, Malone says, the king's baggage was always thus denominated. Enter Merchant and ANGELO. ANG. I am sorry, sir, that I have hinder'd you; But, I protest, he had the chain of me, Though most dishonestly he doth deny it. MER. How is the man esteem'd here in the city? ANG. Of very reverent reputation, sir,Of credit infinite,-highly belov'd,Second to none that lives here in the city; His word might bear my wealth at any time. MER. Speak softly; yonder, as I think, he walks. Enter ANTIPHOLUS and DROMIO of Syracuse. ANG. 'Tis so; and that self chain about his neck, Which he forswore most monstrously to have. Signior Antipholus, I wonder much ANT. S. I think I had; I never did deny it. too. ANT. S. Who heard me to deny it, or forswear it? MER. These ears of mine, thou knowest, did hear thee: Fie on thee, wretch! 'tis pity that thou liv'st ANT. S. Thou art a villain to-impeach me thus! man? ADR. This week he hath been heavy, sour, sad, And much different from the man he was; But, till this afternoon, his passion Ne'er brake into extremity of rage. ABB. Hath he not lost much wealth by wreck of sea? Buried some dear friend? Hath not, else, his eye ADR. To none of these, except it be the last : Namely, some love that drew him oft from home. ABB. You should, for that, have reprehended him. ABB. And thereof came it that the man was mad. Unquiet meals make ill digestions,— And what's a fever but a fit of madness? wildly. Why bear you these rebukes and answer not? 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 approved 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 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. b A formal man-] This seems to mean, A reasonable man. A well regulated man. ACT V.] COMEDY OF ERRORS. MER. By this, I think, the dial points at five: Anon, I'm 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 Syracusian merchant, Who put unluckily into this bay Against the laws and statutes of this town, ANG. See where they come; we will behold his Luc. Kneel to the duke before he abbey. pass the Enter DUKE, attended; ÆGEON, bare-headed; with the Headsman and other Officers. DUKE. Yet once again proclaim it publicly, ADR. Justice, most sacred duke, against the 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 Whom I made lord of me and all I had, By rushing in their houses, bearing thence, Chas'd us away; till, raising of more aid, Nor send him forth, that we may bear him hence. my wars; And I to thee engag'd a prince's word, I will determine this before I stir. a The place of death-] The original has depth instead of death; and, as the Rev. Mr. Hunter thinks, rightly. According to his view, "New Illustrations of Shakespeare," vol. i. p. 225, "The place of depth,' in the Greek story, the Barathrum, means the deep pit, into which offenders were cast." b And sorry execution,-] Meaning disn. al, sorrowful execution. e At your important letters,-] That is, in the language of our old writers, your importunate letters. Thus, in "Much Ado about Nothing," Act II. Sc. 1:-"-if the Prince be too important, tell him there is measure in everything," &c. So in King Lear," Act IV. Sc. 4: "Therefore great France My mourning and important tears hath pitied." d Beaten the maids a-row,--] A-row is explained by the commentators, one after another, successively. "A thousand time a-row he gan hire kisse." CHAUCER, Wife of Bathes Tale, v. 6386, Tyrwhitt's Ed. "The curtal Friar in Fountain Abbey Old Ballads, Evans, vol.ii..! e Nicks him like a fool;] The custom of shaving and nicking the head of a fool is very old. Tollet says there is a penalty of ten shillings, in one of Alfred's ecclesiastical laws, if one opprbriously shave a common man like a fool; and Malone cites a passage from "The Choice of Change," &c., 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." f To scorch our face,-] So the old copy. The same spelling occurs in the folio, 1623, Act III. Sc. 2, of Macbeth:""We have scorch'd the snake, not killed it; where, however, the word meant is probably scotch'd. L 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, Deep scars to save thy life; even for the blood I see my son Antipholus, and Dromio. a While she with harlots-] Antipholus does not mean courtexans, but base companions, villains. So in the "Winter's Tale," Act II. Sc. 3: ANT. E. Justice, sweet prince! against that woman there. She whom thou gav'st to me to be my wife ;- 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, thou so? didst 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! for the harlot king Is quite beyond mine arm." |