Adr.
To fetch my poor distracted husband hence.
Let us come in, that we may bind him fast,
And bear him home for his recovery.
Ang.
I knew he was not in his perfect wits.
[2. E.] Mer.
I am sorry now that I did draw on him.
Abb.
How long hath this possession held the 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 wrack of sea?
Buried some dear friend? Hath not else his eye
Stray’d his affection in unlawful love—
A sin prevailing much in youthful men,
Who give their eyes the liberty of gazing?
Which of these sorrows is he subject to?
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.
Adr.
Why, so I did.
Abb.
Ay, but not rough enough.
Adr.
As roughly as my modesty would let me.
Abb.
Haply, in private.
Adr.
And in assemblies too.
Abb.
Ay, but not enough.
Adr.
It was the copy of our conference:
In bed he slept not for my urging 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 vild and bad.
Abb.
And thereof came it that the man was mad.
The venom clamors of a jealous woman
Poisons more deadly than a mad dog’s tooth.
It seems his sleeps were hind’red by thy railing,
And thereof comes it that his head is light.
Thou say’st his meat was sauc’d with thy upbraidings:
Unquiet meals make ill digestions,
Thereof the raging fire of fever bred,
And what’s a fever but a fit of madness?
Thou say’st his sports were hind’red 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
Hath scar’d 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 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 labor 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
