The Dramatic Works of Shakespeare

Abb. Ay, but not enough.

Adr. It was the copy of our conference:

In bed, he slept not for my arging it;
At board, he fed not for my urging it;
Alone, it was the subject of my theme;
In company, I often glanced it;
Still did I tell him it was vile and bad. [mad:
Abb. And thereof came it, that the man was

The venom clamours of a jealous woman
Poison more deadly than a mad dog's tooth.
It seems his sleeps were hinder'd by thy railing:
And thereof comes it that his head is light.
Thou say'st, his meat was sauced with thy up-
Unquiet meals make ill digestions, [braidings:
Thereof the raging fire of fever bred;
And what's a fever but a fit of madness?

Thou say'st, his sports were hinder'd by thy brawls:

Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue,
But moody and dull melancholy,
(Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair;)
And, at her heels, a huge infectious troop
Of pale distemperatures, and foes to life?
In food, in sport, and life-preserving rest
To be disturb'd, would mad or man, or beast;
The consequence is then, thy jealous fits
Have scared thy husband from the use of wits.
Luc. She never reprehended him but mildly,
When he demean'd himself rough, rude, and

wildly,

Why bear you these 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 house. Adr. Then, let your servants bring my hus[tuary.

band forth.

Abb. Neither; he took this place for sancAnd 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 againt:

It is a branch and parcel of mine oath,
A charitable duty of my order;
Therefore depart, and leave him here with me.

Adr. 1 will not hence, and leave my husband And ill it doth beseem your holiness, [here; 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. [feet,

Adr. Come, go; I will fall prostrate at his And never rise until my tears and prayers Have won his grace to come in person hither, And take perforce my husband from the abbese. 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; The place of death and sorry ý execution, Behind the ditches of the abbey here.

Ang. Upon what cause? Mer. To see a reverend Syracusan merWho put unluckily into this bay [chant, Against the laws and statutes of this town, Beheaded publicly for his offence. Ang. See, where they come; we will behold his death. [abbey. Luc. Kneel to the duke, before he pass the Enter Duke attended; ÆGEON bare-headed, with the Headsman and other Officers. Duke. Yet once again proclaim it publicly, If any friend will pay the sum for him, He shall not die, so much we tender him. Adr. Justice, most sacred duke, against the [lady; Duke. She is a virtuous and a reverend It cannot be, that she hath done thee wrong. Adr. May it please your grace, Antipholus,

abbess!

my husband,

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 desperately he hurried through the street,
(With him his bondman, all as mad as he,)
Doing displeasure 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 sent him home,
Whilst to take order for the wrongs I went,
That here and there his fury had committed.
Anon, I wot** not by what strong escape,
He broke from those that had the guard of him;
And, with his mad attendant and himself,
Each one with ireful passion, with drawn
Met us again, and, madly bent on us, [swords,
Chased us away; till raising of more aid,
We came again to bind them: then they fled
Into this abbey, whither we pursued them;
And here the abbess shuts the gates on us,
And will not suffer us to fetch him out, [hence.
Nor send him forth, that we inay bear him
Therefore, most gracious duke, with thy com
[help.
Let him be brought forth, and borne hence for
Duke. Long since, thy husband served me
in my wars;

mand,

• The theme. + i. e., To bring him back to his senses. { Importunate. 1 i. e., To take measures.

I Part. ** Know.

Sad.

And I to thee engaged a prince's word,
When thou didst make him master of thy bed,
To do him all the grace and good I could.-
Go, some of you, knock at the abbey gate,
And bid the lady abbess come to me;
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
And ever as it blazed they threw on him [of fire;
Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair:
My master preaches patience to him, while
His man with scissors nicks him + like a fool:
And, sure, unless you send some present help,
Between them they will kill the conjurer.

Adr. Peace, fool, thy master and his man
are here;

And that is false thou dost report to us.

Serv. Mistress, upon my life, I tell you true; I have not breathed almost, since I did see it. 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,
That he is borne about invisible:

Even now we housed him in the abbey here;
And now he's there, past thought of human

reason.

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
That then I lost for thee, now grant me justice.
Æge. Unless the fear of death doth make me
I see my son Antipholus and Dromio. [dote,
Ant. E. Justice, sweet prince, against that
woman there.

She whom thou gavest 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,

just.

That she this day hath shameless thrown on me.
Duke. Discover how, and thou shalt find ine
[doors upon me,
Ant. E. This day, great duke, she shut the
While she with harlots feasted in my house.
Duke. A grievous fault: Say, woman, didst
thou so?
[my sister,

Adr. No, my good lord;-myself, he, and
To-day did dine together: So befal my soul,
As this is false, he burdens me withal! [night,
Luc. Ne'er may I look on day, nor sleep on
But she tells to your highness simple truth!
Ang. O perjured woman! They are both for-

sworn.

Ant. E. My liege, I am advised what I say;
Neither disturb'd with the effect of wine,
Nor heady-rash, provoked 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
Could witness it, for he was with me then; [her
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, [down
There did this perjured goldsmith swear me
That I this day of him received the chain,
Which, God he knows, I saw not: for the which,
He did arrest me with an officer.
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
A mere anatomy, a mountebank,
[villain,
A thread-bare juggler, and a fortune-teller;
A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch,
A living dead man: this pernicious slave,
Forsooth, took on him as a conjurer;
And, gazing in mine eyes, feeling my pulse,
And with no face, as 'twere, outfacing me,
Cries out, I was possess'd: then altogether.
They fell upon me, bound me, bore me thence,
And in a dark and dankish vault at home
There left me and my man, both bound together;
Till gnawing with my teeth my bonds in sunder,
I gain'd my freedom, and immediately
Ran hither to your grace; whom I beseech
To give me ample satisfaction
For these deep shames and great indignities.

Ang. My lord, in truth, thus far I witness
with him;
That he dined not at home but was lock'd out.
Duke. But had he such a chain of thee, or no?
Ang. He had, my lord: and when he ran in
here,

These people saw the chain about his neck.
Mer. Besides, I will be sworn; these ears of
mine

Heard you confess you had the chain of him,
After you first forswore it on the mart,
And, thereupon, I drew my sword on you;
And then you fled into this abbey here,
From whence, I think, you are come by miracle.
Ant. E. I never came within these abbey
walls,

Nor ever didst thou draw thy sword on me:
I never saw the chain, so help me heaven!
And this is false, you burden me withal. [this!

Duke. Why, what an intricate impeach is I think, you all have drank of Circe's cup. If here you housed him, here he would have been; [coldly :If he were mad, he would not plead so + i. e., Cuts his hair close. † Harlot was a term of reproach applied to cheats among men, as well as to wantons among women.

In this the madman justly chargeth them.

• i. e., Successively, one after another.

You say, he dined at home; the goldsmith here |
Denies that saying:-Sirrah, what say you?
Dro. E. Sir, he dined with her there, at the
Porcupine.
[that ring.
Cour. He did; and from my finger snatch'd
Ant. E. 'Tis true, my liege, this ring I had
There?
Duke. Saw'st thou him enter at the abbey
Cour. As sure, my liege, as I do see your
grace.
[abbess hither;
Duke. Why, this is strange: -Go call the
I think you are all inated, or stark mad.
[Exit an Attendant.

of her.

Æge. Most mighty duke, vouchsafe me speak a word; Haply I see a friend will save my life, And pay the sum that may deliver ine. Duke. Speak freely, Syracusan, what thon [pholus? Age. Is not your name, sir, call'd AntiAnd is not that your bondman Dromio?

wilt.

Dro. E. Within this hour I was his bondman, sir,

But he, I thank him, gnaw'd in two my cords; Now am I Dromio, and his man, unbound.

Æge. I am sure, you both of you remember

me.

[by you; Dro. E. Ourselves we do remember, sir, For lately we were bound as you are now. You are not Pinch's patient, are you, sir? Æge. Why look you strange on me? you know me well. [now.

Ant. E. I never saw you in my life, till Æge. Oh! grief hath changed me, since you saw me last;

And careful hours, with Time's deformed hand
Have written strange defeaturest in my face :
But tell me yet, dost thou not know my voice?
Ant. E. Neither.
Æge.

Dromio, nor thou ?

Dro. E. No, trust me, sir, nor I.
Æge.

I am sure, thou dost.

Dro. E. Ay, sir? but I am sure, I do not; and whatsoever a man denies, you are now bound to believe him.

Ege. Not know my voice! O, time's extremity! [tongue, Hast thou so crack'd and splitted my poor In seven short years, that here my only son Knows not my feeble key of untuned cares? Though now this grained I face of mine be hid In sap-consuming winter's drizzled snow, And all the conduits of my blood froze up; Yet hath my night of life some memory, My wasting lamp some fading gliminer left, My dull deaf ears a little use to hear: All these old witnesses (I cannot err) Tell me, thou art my son Antipholus.

boy,

Ant. E. I never saw my father in my life. Æge. But seven years since, in Syracusa, [son, Thou know'st, we parted: but, perhaps, my Thou shamest to acknowledge me in misery. Ant. E. The duke, and all that know me in the city,

• Confounded.

Can witness with me that it is not so; I ne'er saw Syracusa in my life.

Duke. I tell thee, Syracusan, twenty years Have I been patron to Antipholus, During which time he ne'er saw Syracusa : I see, thy age and dangers make thee dote. Enter the Abbess, with ANTIPHOLUS Syracusan, and DROMIO Syracusan. Abb. Most mighty duke, behold a man much wrong'd. [All gather to see him. Adr. I see two husbands, or mine eyes deceive me. [other; Duke. One of these men is Genius to the And so of these: Which is the natural man, And which the spirit? Who deciphers them? Dro. S. I, sir, am Dromio; command him [stay. Dro. E. 1, sir, am Dromio; pray, let me Ant. S. Ægeon, art thou not? or else his ghost? [him here? Dro. S. O, my old master! who hath bound Abb. Whoever bound him, I will loose his bonds,

away.

And gain a husband by his liberty :-
Speak, old Ægeon, if thou be'st the man
That hadst a wife once call'd Æmilia,
That bore thee at a burden two fair sons:
O, if thou be'st the same Ægeon, speak,
And speak unto the same Emilia!

Æge. If I dream not, thou art Æmilia;
If thou art she, tell me, where is that son
That floated with thee on the fatal raft ?

Abb. By men of Epidamnum, he, and I, And the twin Dromio, all were taken up; But, by and by, rude fishermen of Corinth By force took Dromio and my son from them, And ine they left with those of Epidamnum: What then became of them, I cannot tell; I, to this fortune that you see me in. [rights;

Duke. Why, here begins his morning story These two Antipholus's, these two so like, And these two Dromio's, one in semblance,Besides her urging of her wreck at sea,These are the parents to these children, Which accidentally are met together. Antipholus, thou camest from Corinth first. Ant. S. No, sir, not I; I came from Syra[is which. Duke. Stay, stand apart; I know not which Ant. E. I came from Corinth, my most

cuse.

gracious lord.

Dro. E. And I with him. [famous warrior, Ant. E. Brought to this town with that most Duke Menaphon, your most renowned uncle. Adr. Which of you two did dine with me toAnt. S. I, gentle mistress. day? Adr.

And are not you my husband?

Ant. E. No, I say nay to that. Ant. S. And so do I, yet did she call me so; And this fair gentlewoman, her sister here, Did call me brother:-What I told you then, I hope, I shall have leisure to make good; If this be not a dream, I see, and hear. [me. Ang. That is the chain, sir, which you had of Ant. S. I think it be, sir; I deny it not.

+ Alteration of features.

† Furrowed, lined.

The morning story is what Ægeon tells the Duke in the first scene of this play.

Ant. E. And you, sir, for this chain arrested
Ang. I think I did, sir; I deny it not. [me.
Adr. I sent you money, sir, to be your bail,
By Dromio; but I think he brought it not.
Dro. E. No, none by me.
Ant. S. This purse of ducats I received from
And Dromio my man did bring them me: [you,
I see, we still did meet each other's man,
And I was ta'en for him, and he for me,
And thereupon these errors are arose.

Ant. E. These ducats pawn I for my father
here.

[life.
Duke. It shall not need, thy father hath his
Cour. Sir, I must have that diamond from
you.
[my good cheer.
Ant. E. There, take it; and much thanks for
Abb. Renowned duke, vouchsafe to take the
To go with us into the abbey here,
[pains
And hear at large discoursed all our fortunes :-
And all that are assembled in this place,
That by this syınpathized one day's error
Have suffer'd wrong, go, keep us company,
And we shall make full satisfaction.-
Twenty-five years have I but gone in travail
Of you, my sons; nor, till this present hour,
My heavy burdens are delivered :-
The duke, my husband, and my children both,
And you, the calendars of their nativity,
Go to a gossip's feast, and go with me;
After so long grief, such nativity!

my brother:

I see by you, I am a sweet-faced youth.
Will you walk in to see their gossiping?

Dro. S. Not I, sir; you are my elder. [it?
Dro. E. That's a question: how shall we try
Dro. S. We will draw cuts for the senior:
till then, lead thou first.

Dro. E. Nay, then thus: [brother: We came into the world, like brother and And now let's go hand in hand, not one before another. [Exeunt.

On a careful revision of the foregoing scenes, I do not hesitate to pronounce them the composition of two very unequal writers. Shakspeare had undoubtedly a share in them; but that the entire play was no work of his, is an opinion which (as Benedick says) "fire cannot melt oat of me; I will die in it at the stake." Thus, as we are informed by Aulus Gellius, Lib. III. Cap. 3., some plays were absolutely ascribed to Plautus, which in truth had only been (retractatæ et expolita) retouched and polished by him.

In this comedy we find more intricacy of plot than distinction of character; and our attention is less forcibly engaged, because we can guess in great measure how the denoüement will be brought about. Yet the subject appears to have been reluctantly dismissed, even in this last and unnecessary scene, where the same mistakes are continued, till the power of affording entertainment is entirely lost-STEEVENS.

Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, Attendants, and Messengers; the Ghost of Banquo, and several other Apparitions.

Scene, in the end of the fourth act, lies in England.; through the rest of the play, in

Scotland; and, chiefly, at Macbeth's castle.

ACT I.

SCENE I. An open Place. Thunder and Do swarm upon him,) from the western isles

Of Kernes and Gallowglasses is suppliedt;
And fortune, on his damned quarreli smiling,
Show'd like a rebel's whore: But all's too weak:
For brave Macbeth, (well he deserves that

name,)

Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion,

Carved out his passage, till he faced the slave;
And ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to
[chaps,
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.

him,

Dun. O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! Sold. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders [to come, So from that spring, whence comfort seem'd Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland,

break;

ti. e., Supplied with light and heavy-armed troops.
The opposite to comfort.
|| Truth.

‡ Cause.

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