My wife, more careful for the latter-born, Duke. Nay, forward, old man, do not break For we may pity, though not pardon thee. We were encounter'd by a mighty rock; Our helpful ship was splitted in the midst, guests; And would have reft* the fishers of their prey, Course. Duke. And, for the sake of them thou sorrowest for, [care, Do me the favour to dilate at full mark'd To bear the extremity of dire mishap! ♦ Deprived. And passed sentence may not be recall'd, Ege. Hopeless, and helpless, doth Ægeon But to procrastinate his lifeless end. [Exeunt. Enter ANTIPHOLUS and DROMIO of Syracuse, Mer. Therefore, give out, you are of Epi- Lest that your goods too soon be confiscate. Ant. S. Go bear it to the Centaur, where And stay there, Dromio, till I come to thee. Till that, I'll view the manners of the town, Dro. S. Many a man would take you at your And go indeed, having so good a mean. When I am dull with care and melancholy, Mer. I am invited, Sir, to certain merchants, crave your pardon. Soon, at five o'clock, Please you, I'll meet with you upon the mart,§ And afterwards consort you till bed-time; My present business calls me from you now. Ant. S. Farewell till then: I will go lose myself, And wander up and down, to view the city. Mer. Sir, I commend you to your own con[Exit MERCHANT Ant. S. He that commends me to mine own tent. content, Commends me to the thing I cannot get. Enter DROMIO of Ephesus. Here comes the almanack of my true date,- soon? She is so hot, because the meat is cold; You have no stomach, having broke your fast; Ant. S. Stop in your wind, Sir; tell me this, I pray ; [you? Where have you left the money that I gave Dro. E. 0,-sixpence, that I had o'Wednesday last, To pay the saddler for my mistress' crupper ;The saddler had it, Sir, I kept it not. Ant. S. I am not in a sportive humour now: Tell me, and dally not, where is the money? We being strangers here, how dar'st thou trust So great a charge from thine own custody? Dro. E. I pray you, jest, Sir, as you sit at dinner: I from my mistress come to you in post; And strike you home without a messenger. Ant. S. Come, Dromio, come, these jests are out of season; Reserve them till a merrier hour than this: Where is the gold I gave in charge to thee? Dro. E. To me, Sir? why you gave no gold to me. Ant. S. Come on, sir knave, have done your foolishness, And tell me, how thou hast dispos'd thy charge. Dro. E. My charge was but to fetch you from the mart [ner; Home to your house, the Phoenix, Sir, to din. My mistress, and her sister, stay for you. Ant. S. Now, as I am a Christian, answer me, [ney; In what safe place you have bestow'd my moOr I will break that merry sconce of yours, That stands on tricks when I am indispos'd: Where is the thousand marks thou hadst of me? Dro. E. I have some marks of yours upon my pate, Some of my mistress' marks upon my shoulders, But not a thousand marks between you both.-If I should pay your worship those again, Perchance, you will not bear them patiently. Ant. S. Thy mistress' marks! what mistress, slave, hast thou? Dro. E. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the Phoenix; [ner, She that doth fast, till you come home to dinAnd prays, that you will hie you home to dinner. Ant. S. What, wilt thou flout me thus unto my face, Being forbid? There, take you that, sir knave. Dro. E. What mean you, Sir? for God's sake, hold your hands; Nay, an you will not, Sir, I'll take my heels. [Exit DROMIO, E. Ant. S. Upon my life, by some device or other, The villain is o'er-raughtt of all my money. SCENE I.-A public Place. Enter ADRIANA, and LUCIANA. Adr. Neither my husband, nor the slave return'd, That in such haste I sent to seek his master! Sure, Luciana, it is two o'clock. Luc. Perhaps, some merchant hath invited him, [dinner, And from the mart he's somewhere gone to Good sister, let us dine, and never fret: A man is master of his liberty: Time is their master; and, when they see time, They'll go, or come: If so, be patient, sister. Adr. Why should their liberty than ours be more? Luc. Because their business still lies out o'door. Adr. Look, when I serve him so, he takes it ill. Luc. O, know, he is the bridle of your will. Adr. There's none, but asses, will be bridled So. Luc. Why, headstrong liberty is lash'd with woe. There's nothing, situate under heaven's eye, wed. Luc. Till he come home again, I would forbear. Adr. Patience, unmov'd, no marvel though They can be meek, that have no other cause. she pause; A wretched soul, bruis'd with adversity, We bid be quiet, when we hear it cry; But were we burthen'd with like weight of pain, [plain: As much, or more, we should ourselves comSo thou, that hast no unkind mate to grieve thee, [me: With urging helpless patience would'st relieve But, if thou live to see like right bereft, This fool-begg'd patience in thee will be left. Luc. Well, I will marry one day, but to try ;Here comes your man, now is your husband nigh. Enter DROMIO of Ephesus. Adr. Say is your tardy master now at hand Dro. E. Nay, he is at two hands with me, and that my two ears can witness. Adr. Say, didst thou speak with him? know'st thou his mind? Dro. E. Ay, ay, he told his mind upon mine [it. ear: Beshrew his hand, I scarce could understand he's stark mad: When I desir'd him to come home to dinner, The pig, quoth I, is burn'd; My gold, quoth he: I know not thy mistress; out on thy mistress! Dro. E. Quoth my master: Sister, you know, he promis'd me a chain;- SCENE II.--The same. Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse. Ant. S. The gold,' I gave to Dromio, is laid How now, Sir? is your merry humour alter'd? [tress; Adr. Go back again, thou slave, and fetch Dro. E. Go back again, and be new beaten grace, Whilst I at home starve for a merry look. Adr. Unfeeling fools can with such wrongs dispense. I know his eye doth homage otherwhere; * I. e. Scarce stand under them. 1 Fair, for fairness. mad, And told'st me of a mistress, and a dinner; For which, I hope, thou felt'st I was displeas'd. vein: Dro. S. I am glad to see you in this merry [me. What means this jest? I pray you, master, tell Ant. S. Yea, dost thou jeer, and flout me in the teeth? Think'st thou, I jest? Hold, take thou that, Upon what bargain do you give it me? Ant. S. Because that I familiarly sometimes Dro. S. Sconce, call you it? so you would leave battering, I had rather have it a head: an you use these blows long, I must get a sconce for my head, and insconcet it too; or else I shall seek my wit in my shoulders. But, I pray, Sir, why am I beaten? Ant. S. Dost thou not know? Dro. S. Nothing, Sir; but that I am beaten. Dro. S. Ay, Sir, and wherefore; for, they say, every why hath a wherefore. I. e. Intrude on them when you please. + Study my countenance. A sconce was a fortification. Ant. S. Why, first,--for flouting me; and | Some other mistress hath thy sweet aspects, then, wherefore, For urging it the second time to me. Dro. S. Was there ever any man thus beaten out of season? When, in the why, and the wherefore, is neither rhyme nor reason? Well, Sir, I thank you. Ant. S. Thank me, Sir? for what? Dro. S. Marry, Sir, for this something that you gave me for nothing. Ant. S. I'll make you amends next, to give you nothing for something. But say, Sir, is it dinner-time? Dro. S. No, Sir; I think, the meat wants that I have. Ant. S. In good time, Sir, what's that? Ant. S. Well, Sir, then 'twill be dry. Dro. S. Lest it make you choleric, and purchase me another dry basting. Ant. S. Well, Sir, learn to jest in good time; There's a time for all things. Dro. S. I durst have denied that, before you were so choleric. Ant. S. By what rule, Sir? I am not Adriana, nor thy wife. How comes it now, my husband, oh, how comes it, That thou art then estranged from thyself? Am better than thy dear self's better part. As take from me thyself, and not me too. Dro. S. Marry, Sir, by a rule as plain as the And from my false hand cut the wedding ring, plain bald pate of father Time himself. Ant. S. Let's hear it. Dro. S. There's no time for a man to recover his hair, that grows bald by nature. Ant. S. May he not do it by fine and recovery? Dro. S. Yes, to pay a fine for a peruke, and recover the lost hair of another man. Ant. S. Why is time such a niggard of hair, being, as it is, so plentiful an excrement? Dro. S. Because it is a blessing that he bestows on beasts: and what he hath scanted men in hair, he hath given them in wit. Ant. S. Why, but there's many a man hath more hair than wit. Dro. S. Not a man of those, but he hath the wit to lose his hair, Ant. S. Why, thou didst conclude hairy men plain dealers without wit. 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 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 concluBut soft! who wafts us yonder? [sion: [it. And break it with a deep-divorcing vow? In Ephesus I am but two hours old, Luc. Fie, brother! how the world is chang'd That he did buffet thee, and, in his blows What is the course and drift of your compact? [names, Adr. How ill agrees it with your gravity, Come, I will fasten on this sleeve of thine: Thou art an elm, my husband, I a vine; Whose weakness, married to my stronger state, Makes me with thy strength to communicate: Adr. Ay, ay, Antipholus, look strange, and If aught possess thee from me, it is dross, Enter ADRIANA and LUCIANA. frown; * Beckons. Usurping ivy, brier, or idle moss; * Unfertile. Who, all for want of pruning, with intrusion What, was I married to her in my dream? Luc. Dromio, go bid the servants spread for Dro. S. O, for my beads! I cross me for a This is the fairy land ;-O, spite of spites!- swer'st not? [sot! Dromio, thou drone, thou snail, thou slug, thou Dro. S. I am transformed, master, am not I? Ant. S. I think, thou art, in mind, and so am I. Dro. S. Nay, master, both in mind, and in Ant. S. Thou hast thine own form. Luc. If thou art chang'd to aught, 'tis to an ass. scorn. Come, Sir, to dinner; Dromio, keep the gate :- Ant. S. Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell? Dro. S. Master, shall I be porter at the gate? Luc. Come, come, Antipholus, we dine too ACT III. SCENE I.-The same. Ant. E. Good signior Angelo, you must ex- My wife is shrewish, when I keep not hours: And that to-morrow you will bring it home. And that I did deny my wife and house :- this? Dro. E. Say what you will, Sir, but I know what I know: Ant. E. You are sad, signior Balthazar : May answer my good will, and your good wel'Pray God, our cheer come here. A Bal. I hold your dainties cheap, Sir. and your welcome dear. Ant. E. O, signior Balthazar, either at flesh or fish, 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 But though my cates be mean, take them in us in. Dro. E. Maud, Bridget, Marian, Cicely, Dro. S. [Within.] Mome,+ malt-horse, capon, Dost thou conjure for wenches, that thou call'st 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, and 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 Dro. E. O Lord, I must laugh :-- my staff? |