Ant. E. A man is well holp up, that trusts to you I promised your presence, and the chain, But neither chain, nor goldsmith, came to me: Belike, you thought our love would last too long, If it were chain'd together, and therefore came not. Ang. Saving your merry humour, here's the note How much your chain weighs to the utmost carat, The fineness of the gold, and chargeful fashion; Which doth amount to three odd ducats more Than I stand debted to this gentleman : I pray you, see him presently discharg'd, For he is bound to sea, and stays but for it.

Ant. E. I am not furnish'd with the present money ; Besides, I have some business in the town: Good signior, take the stranger to my house, And with you take the chain, and bid my wife Disburse the sum on the receipt thereof:

Perchance I will be there as soon as you.

Ang. Then you will bring the chain to her yourself?

Ant. E. No; bear it with you, lest I come not time enough.

Ang. Well, sir, I will: Have you the chain about you?

Ant. E. An if I have not, sir, I hope you have,
Or else you may return without your money.
Ang. Nay, come, I pray you, sir, give me the
chain:

Both wind and tide stays for this gentleman,
And I, to blame, have held him here too long.
Ant. E. Good Lord! you use this dalliance, to

excuse

Your breach of promise to the Porpentine.

I should have chid you for not bringing it,
But like a shrew, you first begin to brawl.

Mer. The hour steals on: I pray you, sir, despatch.

L

Ang. You hear, how he importunes me: the chain

Ant. E. Why, give it to my wife, and fetch your money.

Ang. Come, come; you know I gave it you even

now:

Either send the chain, or send me by some token.
Ant. E. Fie! now you run this humour out of

breath:

Come, where's the chain? I pray you let me see it.
Mer. My business cannot brook this dalliance:
Good sir, say whe'r you'll answer me, or no;
If not, I'll leave him to the officer.
Ant. E. I answer you?

you?

What should I answer

Ang. The money, that you owe me for the chain.
Ant. E. I owe you none, till I receive the chain.
Ang. You know I gave it you half an hour since.
Ant. E. You gave me none: you wrong me much

to say so.

Ang. You wrong me more, sir, in denying it:
Consider how it stands upon my credit.

Mer. Well, officer, arrest him at my suit.
Offi. I do, and charge you in the duke's name to
obey me.

Ang. This touches me in reputation :
Either consent to pay this sum for me,
Or I attach you by this officer.

Ant. E. Consent to pay thee that I never had?
Arrest me, foolish fellow, if thou dar'st.

Ang. Here is thy fee; arrest him, officer:
I would not spare my brother in this case,
If he should scorn me so apparently.

Offi. I do arrest you, sir: you hear the suit.
Ant. E. I do obey thee, till I give thee bail :

But, sirral, you shall buy this sport as dear
As all the metal in your shop will answer.

Ang. Sir, sir, I shall have law in Ephesus, To your notorious shame, I doubt it not.

Enter DROMIO of Syracuse.

Dro. S. Master, there is a bark of Epidamnum, That stays but till her owner comes aboard,

And then, sir, she bears away: Our fraughtage, sir, I have convey'd aboard, and I have bought

The oil, the balsamum, and aqua-vitæ.

The ship is in her trim; the merry wind
Blows fair from land: they stay for nought at all,
But for their owner, master, and yourself.

Ant. E. How now! a madman! Why thou peev ish2 sheep,

What ship of Epidamnum stays for me?

Dro. S. A ship you sent me to, to hire waftage.' Ant. E. Thou drunken slave, I sent thee for a rope, And told thee to what purpose and what end.

Dro. S. You sent me for a rope's end as soon: You sent me to the bay, sir, for a bark.

Ant. E. I will debate this matter at more leisure And teach your ears to list me with more heed. To Adriana, villain, hie thee straight; Give her this key, and tell her, in the desk That's cover'd o'er with Turkish tapestry, There is a purse of ducats; let her send it:

2 Peevish was used for mad, or foolish. Shakespeare has it again in this sense in King Henry V : "What a wretched peevish fellow is this King of England to mope with his fat-brain'd followers so far out of his knowledge." Minsheu explains peerish by foolish. And so in Gosson's School of Abuse, 1579: “We have infinit poets, and pipers, and such peerishe cattle among us in Englande, that live by merry begging."

H.

3 That is, carriage; hire is here a dissyllable, and is spelt hier in the old copy.

Tell her I am arrested in the street,

And that shall bail me. Hie thee, slave; be gone On, officer, to prison till it come.

[Exeunt Mer., ANG., Off., and ANT. E

Dro. S. To Adriana? that is where we din'd, Where Dowsabel did claim me for her husband: She is too big, I hope, for me to compass. Thither I must, although against my will, For servants must their masters' minds fulfil. [Exit.

SCENE II. The same.

Enter ADRIANA and LUCIANA. ·

Adr. Ah! Luciana, did he tempt thee so?
Might'st thou perceive austerely in his eye
That he did plead in earnest, yea or no?
Look'd he or red, or pale? or sad, or merrily?
What observation mad'st thou in this case,
Of his heart's meteors tilting in his face?'

2

Luc. First, he denied you had in him no right. Adr. He meant he did me none; the more my

spite.

Luc. Then swore he, that he was a stranger here.

The allusion is to those meteors which have sometimes been thought to resemble armies meeting in the shock of battle. The following in the second book of Paradise Lost best explains it:

"As when, to warn proud cities, war appears,
Wag'd in the troubled sky, and armies rush
To battle in the clouds, before each van

Prick forth the aery knights, and couch their spears,
Till thickest legions close; with feats of arms

From either end of heaven the welkin burns."

? This double negative had the force of a stronger affirmative in the language of that age. So in Richard III. :

"You may deny that God were not the cause

Of my lord Hastings' late imprisonment."

Ant. E. A man is well holp up, that trusts to you I promised your presence, and the chain, But neither chain, nor goldsmith, came to me: Belike, you thought our love would last too long, If it were chain'd together, and therefore came not. Ang. Saving your merry humour, here's the note How much your chain weighs to the utmost carat, The fineness of the gold, and chargeful fashion; Which doth amount to three odd ducats more Than I stand debted to this gentleman : I pray you, see him presently discharg'd, For he is bound to sea, and stays but for it.

Ant. E. I am not furnish'd with the present money; Besides, I have some business in the town: Good signior, take the stranger to my house, And with you take the chain, and bid my wife Disburse the sum on the receipt thereof: Perchance I will be there as soon as you.

Ang. Then you will bring the chain to her your. self?

Ant. E. No; bear it with you, lest I come not time enough.

Ang. Well, sir, I will: Have you the chain about you?

Ant. E. An if I have not, sir, I hope you have,
Or else you may return without your money.
Ang. Nay, come, I pray you, sir, give me the
chain:

Both wind and tide stays for this gentleman,
And I, to blame, have held him here too long.
Ant. E. Good Lord! you use this dalliance, tc

excuse

Your breach of promise to the Porpentine.
I should have chid you for not bringing it,
But like a shrew, you first begin to brawl.

Mer. The hour steals on : I pray you, sir, despatch