Dro. S. The plainer dealer, the sooner lost: Yet he loseth it in a kind of jollity. Ant. S. For what reason? Dro. S. For two; and sound ones too. Ant. S. Nay, not sound, I pray you. Dro. S. Sure ones then. Ant. S. Nay, not sure, in a thing falsing. Ant. S. Name them. Dro. S. The one, to save the money that he spends in tiring; the other, that at dinner they should not drop in his porridge. Ant. S. You would all this time have proved, there is no time for all things. Dro. S. Marry, and did, sir; namely, no time to recover hair lost by nature. Ant. S. But your reason was not substantial, why there is no time to recover. Dro. S. Thus I mend it: Time himself is bald, and therefore, to the world's end, will have bald followers. Ant. S. I knew, 'twould be a bald conclusion : But soft! who wafts us yonder ?? Enter ADRIANA and LUCIANA. Adr. Ay, ay, Antipholus, look strange, and frown; Some other mistress hath thy sweet aspécts, I am not Adriana, nor thy wife. The time was once, when thou unurg'd wouldst vow That never object pleasing in thine eye, Unless I spake, look'd, touch'd, or carv'd to thee. Am better than thy dear self's better part. For know, my love, as easy may'st thou fall A drop of water in the breaking gulph, [7] i. e. beckons us. So, in Hamlet" It wafts me still," &c. STEEV. As take from me thyself, and not me too. I know thou canst; and therefore, see, thou do it. My blood is mingled with the crime of lust: For, if we two be one, and thou play false, I do digest the poison of thy flesh, Being strumpeted by thy contagiɔn. Keep then fair league and truce with thy true bed; I live dis-stain'd, thou undishonoured. Ant. S. Plead you to me, fair dame? I know you not : In Ephesus I am but two hours old, As strange unto your town, as to your talk; Who, every word by all my wit being scann'd, Want wit in all one word to understand. Luc. Fye, brother! how the world is chang'd with you: When were you wont to use my sister thus ? She sent for you by Dromio home to dinner. Ant. S. By Dromio? Dro. S. By me? Adr. By thee; and this thou didst return from him,— That he did buffet thee, and, in his blows, Denied my house for his, me for his wife. Ant. S. Did you converse, sir, with this gentlewoman? What is the course and drift of your compact? Dro. S. I, sir? I never saw her till this time. Ant. S. Villain, thou liest; for even her very words Didst thou deliver to me on the mart. Dro. S. I never spake with her in all my life. Ant. S. How can she thus then call us by our names, Unless it be by inspiration? Adr. How ill agrees it with your gravity, Come, I will fasten on this sleeve of thine : Who, all for want of pruning, with intrusion Ant. S. To me she speaks; she moves me for her theme: What, was I married to her in my dream? Or sleep I now, and think I hear all this? I'll entertain the offer'd fallacy. Luc. Dromio, go bid the servants spread for dinner. They'll suck our breath, or pinch us black and blue.® Dro. S. No, I am an ape. Luc. If thou art chang'd to aught, 'tis to an ass. Dro. S. 'Tis true; she rides me, and I long for grass. 'Tis so, I am an ass; else it could never be, But I should know her as well as she knows me. : Whilst man, and master, laugh my woes to scorn.- [8] It was an old popular superstition, that the screech-owl sucked out the breath and blood of infants in the cradle. On this account, the Italians called witches, who were supposed to be in like manner mischievously bent against children, stregra, from strix, the screech-owl. This superstition they had derived from their pagan ancestors as appears from a passage in Ovid, Lib. VI. Fast. WARBURTON. [9] That is, I will call you to confession, and make you tell your tricks. JOHNSON Say, he dines forth, and let no creature enter.— Ant. S. Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell? Dro. S. Master, shall I be porter at the gate? [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE I.-The same. Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus DROMIO of Ephesus, ANGELO, and BALTHAZAR. Antipholis E. GOOD signior Angelo, you must excuse us all ; Thou drunkard, thou, what didst thou mean by this? That you beat me at the mart, I have your hand to show: If the skin were parchment, and the blows you gave were ink, Your own hand-writing would tell you what I think. Dro. E. Marry, so it doth appear By the wrongs I suffer, and the blows I bear. I should kick, being kick'd; and, being at that pass, [1] Carkanet seems to have been a necklace, or rather chain, perhaps hanging down double from the neck. So, Lovelace, in his poem: JOHNSON. "The empress spreads her carcanets." May answer my good will, and your good welcome here. Bal. I hold your dainties cheap, sir, and your welcome dear. Ant. E. O, signior Balthazar, either at flesh or fish, A table full of welcome makes scarce one dainty dish. Bal. Good meat, sir, is common; that every churl affords. Ant. E. And welcome more common; for that's nothing but words. Bal. Small cheer, and great welcome, makes a merry feast. Ant. E. Ay, to a niggardly host, and more sparing guest · But though my cates be mean, take them in good part; Better cheer may you have, but not with better heart. But, soft; my door is lock'd:-Go bid them let us in. Dro. E. Maud, Bridget, Marian, Cicely, Gillian, Jen'! Dro. S. [Within.] Mome, malt-horse, capon, coxcomb, idiot, patch! Either get thee from the door, or sit down at the hatch: Dost thou conjure for wenches, that thou call'dst for such store, When one is one too many? Go, get thee from the door. Dro. E. What patch is made our porter? My master stays in the street. Dro. S. Let him walk from whence he came, lest he catch cold on's feet. Ant. E. Who talks within there? ho, open the door. Dro. S. Right, sir, I'll tell you when, an you'll tell me wherefore. Ant. E. Wherefore? for my dinner; I have not din'd to-day. Dro. S. Nor to-day here you must not; come again, when you may. Ant. E. What art thou, that keep'st me out from the house I owe? Dro. S. The porter for this time, sir, and my name is Dromio. Dro. E. O villain, thou hast stolen both mine office and my name; The one ne'er got me credit, the other mickle blame. [2] Mome,-A dull stupid blockhead, a stock, a post. This owes its original to the French word Momon, which signifies the gaming at dice in masquerade, the custom and rule of which is, that a strict silence is to be observed: whatever sum one stakes, another covers, but not a word is to be spoken. From hence also comes our word mum! for silence. HAWK |