And bid the lady abbess come to me; Enter a Servant. Serv. O mistress, mistress, shift and save yourself! My master and his man are both broke loose, And ever as it blazed, they threw on him 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 breath'd almost, since I did see it. He cries for you, and vows, if he can take you, * Beaten the maids a-row,] i. e. successively, one after another. 9 His man with scissars nicks him like a fool:] The force of this allusion I am unable to explain with certainty. Perhaps it was once the custom to cut the hair of idiots close to their heads. There is a proverbial simile-"Like crop the conjuror;" which might have been ironically applied to these unfortunate beings. STEEVENS. There is a penalty of ten shillings in one of King Alfred's ecclesiastical laws, if one opprobriously shave a common man like a fool. TOLLET. Fools, undoubtedly, were shaved and nicked in a particular manner, in our author's time, as is ascertained by the following passage in The Choice of Change, containing the Triplicitie of Divinitie, Philosophie and Poetrie, 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." MALONE. 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 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, Deep scars to save thy life; even for the blood I see my son Antipholus, and Dromio. Ant. E. Justice, sweet prince, against that woman there. She whom thou gav'st to me to be my wife; That she this day hath shameless thrown on me. just. Ant. E. This day, great duke, she shut the doors upon me, While she, with harlots1 feasted in my house. Duke. A grievous fault: Say, woman, didst thou so? with harlots-] Harlot was a term of reproach applied to cheats among men, as well as to wantons among women. Adr. No, my good lord;-myself, he, and my sister, To-day did dine together: So befal my soul, Luc. Ne'er may I look on day, nor sleep on night, But she tells to your highness simple truth! Ang. O perjur'd woman! they are both forsworn. In this the madman justly chargeth them. Ant. E. My liege, I am advised' what I say; There did this perjur'd goldsmith swear me down, He did arrest me with an officer. I did obey; and sent my peasant home For certain ducats: He with none return'd. To go in person with me to my house. By the way we met My wife, her sister, and a rabble more They brought one Pinch; a hungry lean-faced villain, 5 I am advised -] i. e. I am not going to speak precipitately or rashly, but on reflection and consideration. A meer anatomy, a mountebank, A thread-bare juggler, and a fortune-teller; And, gazing in mine eyes, feeling my pulse, Ran hither to your grace; whom I beseech For these deep shames, and great indignities. 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, Duke. What an intricate impeach is this! You say, he dined at home; the goldsmith here Dro. E. Sir, he dined with her there, at the Porcupine. Cour. He did; and from my finger snatch'd that ring. Ant. E. 'Tis true, my liege, this ring I had of her. Duke. Saw'st thou him enter at the abbey here? Cour. As sure, my liege, as I do see your grace. Duke. Why, this is strange :-Go call the abbess hither; I think, you are all mated, or stark mad. [Exit an Attendant. Ege. Most mighty duke, vouchsafe me speak a word, Haply, I see a friend will save my life, Duke. Speak freely, Syracusan, what thou wilt. Æge. Is not your name, sir, call'd Antipholus? And is not that your bondman, Dromio? Dro. E. Within this hour I was his bondman, sir, But he, I thank him, gnaw'd in two my cords: Æge. I am sure, you both of you remember me. Ege. Why look you strange on me? you know me well. Ant. E. I never saw you in my life, till now. Ege. Oh! grief hath chang'd me, since you saw me last; And careful hours, with Time's deformed3 hand, |