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First, he did praife my beauty, then my speech.
Adr. Did'ft fpeak him fair?

Luc. Have patience, I befeech.

Adr. I cannot, nor I will not, hold me ftill; My tongue, though not my heart, fhall have its will. He is deformed, crooked, old and * fere, Ill-fac'd, worfe-body'd, fhapelefs every where; Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind, Stigmatical in making, worfe in mind.

Luc. Who would be jealous then of fuch a one?
No evil loft is wail'd, when it is gone.

Adr. Ah! but I think him better than I fay,
And yet, would herein others' eyes were worse :

For from her neft the lapwing cries away;

My heart prays for him, tho' my tongue do curfe.

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Enter Dromio of Syracufe.

S. Dro. Here, go: the defk, the purfe; fweet now

make hafte.

Luc. How haft thou loft thy breath?

S. Dro. By running faft.

Adr. Where is thy mafter, Dromio? is he well?

S. Dro. No, he's in Tartar Limbo, worfe than hell;

A devil in an everlafting garment hath him,
One, whofe hard heart is button'd up with steel:
A fiend, a fairy, pitilefs and rough 3,

A wolf, nay, worfe, a fellow all in buff;

*Sere, that is, dry, withered. + Stigmatical in making-] That is, marked or ftigmatized by nature with deformity, as a token of his vicious difpofition.

3 A Fiend, a Fairy, pitilafs and rough,] Dromio here bringing word in hafte that his Master is arrefted, describes the Bailiff by Names proper to raife Horror and Deteftation of fuch

a Creature, fuch as, a Devil, a
Fiend, a Welf, &c. But how
does Fairy come up to these ter-
rible Ideas? We should read -
a Fiend, a Fury, &c. THEOB.

Mr. Theobald teems to have forgotten that there were fairies like bobgoblins, pitiless and rough, and defcribed as malevolent and mifchievous His emendation is, however, plaufible.

A

A back-friend, a fhoulder-clapper, one that commands
The paffages of allies, creeks, and narrow lands;
A hound that runs counter, and yet draws dry-foot
well;

One, that before the judgment carries poor fouls to hell.
Adr. Why, man, what is the matter?

S. Dro. I do not know the matter; he is 'refted on the cafe.

Adr. What, is he arrefted? tell me, at whofe fuit ? S. Dro. I know not at whofe fuit he is arrefted, well; but he's in a fuit of buff, which 'refted him, that I can tell. Will you fend him, mistress, redemption, the mony in his dek?

Adr. Go fetch it, fifter. This I wonder at.

[Exit Luciana. That he, unknown to me, fhould be in debt! Tell me, was he arrelted on a bond?

S. Dro. Not on a bond, but on a stronger thing, A chain, a chain; do you not hear it ring?

Adr. What, the chain?

S. Dro. No, no, the bell; 'tis time that I were gone, It was two ere I left him, and now the clock ftrikes one. Adr. The hours come back! that I did never hear. S. Dro. O yes, if any hour meet a ferjeant, a' turns back for very fear.

Adr. As if time were in debt! how fondly doft thou reafon ?

S. Dro. Time is a very bankrout, and owes more than he's worth, to feafon.

Nay, he's a thief too; have you not heard men say, That time comes ftealing on by night and day?

* A bound that runs counter, and yet draws dry foot well;] To run counter, is to run back ward, by miftaking the courfe of the animal purfued; to draw dry foot is, I believe, to purfue by the track or prick of the foot; to run counter and draw dry foot wl are, therefore, inconfiftent.

The jeft confifts in the ambiguity of the word counter, which means the wrong way in the chafe, and a trifon in London. The officer that arrefted him was a ferjeant of the counter. For the congruity of this jeft with the Scene of action, let our author anfwer.

If Time be in debt and theft, and a ferjeant in the way, Hath he not reason to turn back an hour in the day?

Enter Luciana.

Adr. Go, Dromio; there's the mony, bear it ftrait, And bring thy mafter home immediately. Come, fifter, I am preft down with conceit; Conceit, my comfort and my injury.

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[Exeunt.

S. Ant. There's not a man I meet, but doth falute

me,

As if I were their well-acquainted friend;
And every one doth call me by my name.
Some tender mony to me, fome invite me;
Some other give me thanks for kindneffes ;
Some offer me commodities to buy.
Even now a taylor call'd me in his shop,
And show'd me filks that he had bought for me,
And therewithal took measure of

my body. Sure, these are but imaginary wiles,

And Lapland forcerers inhabit here.

Enter Dromio of Syracufe.

S. Dró. Mafter, here's the gold you fent me for * what, have you got the picture of old Adam new apparell❜d?

What, have you got the Picture of old Adam new apparell'd?] A short Word or two must have flipt out here, by fome Accident in copying, or at Prefs; other wife I have no conception of the meaning of the Paffage. The Cafe is this. Dromio's Master had been arrefted, and fent his VOL. III.

S. Ant.

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S. Ant. What gold is this? what Adam doft thou mean?

S. Dro. Not that Adam, that keeps the paradife; but that Adam, that keeps the prison; he that goes in the calves-fkin, that was kill'd for the prodigal; he that came behind you, Sir, like an evil angel, and bid you forfake your liberty.

S. Ant. I understand thee not.

S. Dro. No? why, 'tis a plain cafe. like a base-viol in a cafe of leather;

He that went the man, Sir, that, when gentlemen are tired, gives them a fob, and 'refts them; he, Sir, that takes pity on decay'd men, and gives 'em fuits of durance; he, that fets up his

What, bave you got rid of the Picture of old Adam new appa

rell'd?

For fo have I ventur'd to fupply, by Conjecture. But why is the Officer call'd old Adam new ap. parell'd? The Allufion is to Adam in his State of Innocence going naked; and immediately after the Fall, being cloath'd in a Frock of Skins. Thus he was new apparell'd and, in like manner, the Sergeants of the Counter were formerly clad in Buff, or Calves-fkin, as the Author humorously a little lower calls it. THEOBALD.

The explanation is very good, but the text does not require to be amended.

5 be, that fets up his reft to do more exploits with his mace, than a MORRIS-pike.] Sets up his Reft, is a phrafe taken from military exercife. When gunpowder was first invented, its force was very weak compared to that in prefent use. This neceffarily required fire-arms to be of an ex

reft

traordinary length. As the artifts improved the strength of their powder, the foldiers proportionably fhortned their arms and artillery; fo that the cannon which Froiffart tells us was once fifty foot long, was contracted to lefs than ten. This propor. tion likewife held in their mu skets; fo that, till the middle of the last century, the musketeers always fupported their pieces when they gave fire, with a Reft ftuck before them into the ground, which they called Setting up their Reft, and is here alluded to. There is another quibbling allufion too to the ferjeant's office of arrefting. But what moft wants animadverfion is the morris-pike, which is without meaning, impertinent to the fenfe, and falfe in the allufion; no pike being used amongst the dancers fo called, or at least not fam'd for much execution. In a word, Shakespeare wrote,

a MAURICE-Pike, i. e. a Pikeman of Prince Mau

reft to do more exploits with his mace, than a morrispike.

S. Ant. What! thou mean'ft an officer?

S. Dro. Ay, Sir, the ferjeant of the band; he, that brings any man to answer it, that breaks his bond; one that thinks a man always going to bed, and faith, God give you good reft!

S. Ant. Well, Sir, there reft in your foolery. Is there any fhip puts forth to-night, may we be gone? S. Dro. Why, Sir, I brought you word an hout fince, that the bark Expedition puts forth to-night, and then were you hindered by the ferjeant, to tarry for the hoy Delay; here are the angels that you sent for, to deliver you.

S. Ant. The fellow is diftract, and so am I, And here we wander in illusions;

Some blessed

power deliver us from hence!

SCENE VI.

Enter a Courtezan.

Cour. Well met, well met, master Antipholis: I fee, Sir, you have found the goldfmith now: Is that the chain you promis'd me to-day?

rice's army. He was the greatest general of that age, and the conductor of the Low-country wars against Spain, under whom all the English Gentry and Nobility were bred to the fervice. Being frequently overborn with numbers, he became famous for his fine Retreats, in which a ftand of Pikes is of great fervice. Hence the Pikes of his army became famous for their military exploits. WARBURTON. This conjecture is very ingenious, yet the commentator talks

unneceffarily of the rift of a mxfket, by which he makes the he ro of the fpeech fet up the reft of a musket, to do exploits with a pike. The reft of a pike was a common term, and fignified, I believe, the manner in which it was fixed to receive the rush of the enemy. A morris pike was a pike used in a morris or a military dance, and with which great exploits were done, that is, great feats of dexterity were fhewn. There is no need of change.

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