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; AEGEON bare-headed; with the Headsman and other Officers. Duke. Yet once again proclaim it publicly, Whom I made lord of me and all I had, By rushing in their houses, bearing thence 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. 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. We came again to bind them: then they fled wars; And I to thee engag'd a prince's word, When thou didst make him master of thy bed, Enter a Servant. Serv. O mistress, mistress, shift and save yourself! My master and his man arell both broke loose, Beaten the maids a-row12, and bound the doctor, Whose beard they have singed off with brands of fire; And ever as it blaz'd, they threw on him Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair: Ser. Mistress, upon my life, I tell you true; 11 Are is here inaccurately put for have. 12 i. e. successively, one after another. 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.' 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, 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 wars14, and took Deep scars to save thy life; even for the blood That then I lost for thee, now grant me justice. Aege. Unless the fear of death doth make me dote, I see my son Antipholus, and Dromio. Ant. E. Justice, sweet prince, against woman that 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 harlots15 feasted in my house. me 14 This act of friendship is frequently mentioned by Shakspeare. Thus in King Henry IV. Part 1.:-'Hal, if thou see down in the battle and bestride me so: it is an act of friendship. Again in King Henry VI. Part 111.:— "Three times to-day I holp him to his horse, 15 Harlot was a term anciently applied to a rogue or base person among men, as well as to wantons among women. See Todd's Johnson. 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, Ant. E. My liege, I am advised16 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, Promising to bring it to the Porcupine, Where Balthazar and I did dine together. Our dinner done, and he not coming thither, I went to seek him: in the street I met him; And in his company, that gentleman, There did this perjur'd goldsmith swear me down I did obey; and sent my peasant home 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-fac'd villain, A thread-bare juggler, and a fortune-teller; 16 I speak with consideration and circumspectly, not rashly and precipitately,' A living dead man1: this pernicious slave, Ran hither to your grace; whom I beseech For these deep shames and great indignities. Mer. Besides, I will be sworn, these ears of mine 17. --but as a living death, So ded alive of life he drew the breath.' Sackville's Induction to the Mirror of Magistrates. |