But if that I am I, then well I know Far more, far more to you do I decline. Spread o'er the silver waves thy golden hairs, And, in that glorious supposition, think He gains by death that hath such means to die: ANT. S. As good to wink, sweet love, as look on night. Luc. Why call you me love? call my sister so. ANT. S. Thy sister's sister. Luc. ANT. S. It is thyself, mine own self's better part, 54 Not mad, but mated] The quibble on "mated" in the double sense of "bewildered" and "having a mate or partner," is common. Cf. V, i, 282, infra, and T. of Shrew, III, ii, 248, where "mated" and "mad" similarly figure together. Mine eye's clear eye, my dear heart's dearer heart, Luc. O, soft, sir! hold you still: I'll fetch my sister, to get her good will. Enter DROMIO of Syracuse ANT. S. Why, how now, Dromio! where runn'st thou so fast? DRO. S. Do you know me, sir? am I Dromio? am I your man? am I myself? ANT. S. Thou art Dromio, thou art my man, thou art thyself. DRO. S. I am an ass, I am a woman's man, and besides myself. ANT. S. What woman's man? and how besides thyself? DRO. S. Marry, sir, besides myself, I am due to a so woman; one that claims me, one that haunts me, one that will have me. 64 heaven's claim] all that I claim of heaven. 66 I am thee] I identify myself with thee. Capell read, "I aim [i. e. mean] thee," duplicating "my sweet hope's aim" (1. 63); but the change does not seem necessary. ANT. S. What claim lays she to thee? DRO. S. Marry, sir, such claim as you would lay to your horse; and she would have me as a beast: not that, I being a beast, she would have me; but that she, being a very beastly creature, lays claim to me. ANT. S. What is she? DRO. S. A very reverent body; ay, such a one as a man may not speak of, without he say Sir-reverence. I 90 have but lean luck in the match, and yet is she a wondrous fat marriage. ANT. S. How dost thou mean a fat marriage? DRO. S. Marry, sir, she's the kitchen-wench, and all grease; and I know not what use to put her to, but to make a lamp of her, and run from her by her own light. I warrant, her rags, and the tallow in them, will burn a Poland winter: if she lives till doomsday, she'll burn a week longer than the whole world. ANT. S. What complexion is she of? DRO. S. Swart, like my shoe, but her face nothing like so clean kept: for why she sweats; a man may go over shoes in the grime of it. ANT. S. That's a fault that water will mend. DRO. S. No, sir, 't is in grain; Noah's flood could not do it. ANT. S. What's her name? 90 Sir-reverence] a vulgar corruption of "save" or "saving your reverence; a derivative from the Latin, salvá reverentiâ, i. e. "asking your pardon." Cf. Much Ado, III, iv, 32: "I think you would have me say, saving your reverence, a husband.” 100 DRO. S. Nell, sir; but her name and three quarters, that's an ell and three quarters, will not measure her from hip to hip. ANT. S. Then she bears some breadth? DRO. S. No longer from head to foot than from hip to hip: she is spherical, like a globe; I could find out countries in her. ANT. S. In what part of her body stands Ireland? DRO. S. Marry, sir, in her buttocks: I found it out by the bogs. ANT. S. Where Scotland? DRO. S. I found it by the barrenness; hard in the palm of the hand. ANT. S. Where France? DRO. S. In her forehead; armed and reverted, making war against her heir. ANT. S. Where England? DRO. S. I looked for the chalky cliffs, but I could find no whiteness in them; but I guess it stood in her chin, by the salt rheum that ran between France and it. ANT. S. Where Spain? DRO. S. 'Faith, I saw it not; but I felt it hot in her breath. ANT. S. Where America, the Indies? 123 heir] The Second Folio reads haire. The quibble refers to the civil war progressing in France at the date of the production of the play, when Henry of Navarre, whom Englishmen regarded as the rightful heir to the French throne, was fighting for the succession. 110 120 130 DRO. S. Oh, sir, upon her nose, all o'er embellished with rubies, carbuncles, sapphires, declining their rich aspect to the hot breath of Spain; who sent whole armadoes of caracks to be ballast at her nose. ANT. S. Where stood Belgia, the Netherlands? DRO. S. Oh, sir, I did not look so low. To conclude, this drudge, or diviner, laid claim to me; called me Dromio; swore I was assured to her; told me what privy marks I had about me, as, the mark of my shoulder, the mole in my neck, the great wart on my left arm, that I, amazed, ran from her as a witch: And, I think, if my breast had not been made of faith, and my heart of steel, She had transform'd me to a curtal dog, and made me turn i' the wheel. ANT. S. Go hie thee presently, post to the road: DRO. S. As from a bear a man would run for life, So fly I from her that would be my wife. [Exit. ANT. S. There's none but witches do inhabit here: 135 ballast] ballasted, loaded. For this participial form cf. Hamlet, III, iv, 207: "Hoist [i. e. "hoisted"] with his own petar." 144 curtal ... wheel] dog with a docked tail that worked the turnspit in the kitchen. 142 150 |