7819

ANT. E. Fie, now you run this humour out of breath.
Come, where's the chain? I pray you, let me see it.
SEC. MER. My business cannot brook this dalliance.
Good sir, say whether you'll answer me or no :
If not, I'll leave him to the officer.

ANT. E. I answer you! what should I answer you?
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.

SEC. MER. Well, officer, arrest him at my suit.

60

OFF. I do; and charge you in the duke's name to 70

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 darest.

ANG. Here is thy fee; arrest him, officer.

I would not spare my brother in this case,
If he should scorn me so apparently.

OFF. I do arrest you, sir: you hear the suit.
ANT. E. I do obey thee till I give thee bail.
But, sirrah, 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, from the bay

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 peevish

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:
Tell her I am arrested in the street,

94-95 sheep.

ship] For confusion in pronunciation of these words, see note on L. L. L., II, i, 218.

99 a rope's end] Steevens completed the metre by inserting sir after end, but Malone deemed rope's a dissyllable.

90

100

And that shall bail me: hie thee, slave, be gone!
On, officer, to prison till it come.

[Exeunt Sec. Merchant, Angelo, Officer, and Ant. E.
DRO. S. To Adriana! that is where we dined,
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.

110

SCENE II-THE HOUSE OF ANTIPHOLUS
OF EPHESUS

Enter ADRIANA and LUCIANA

ADR. Ah, Luciana, did he tempt thee so? Mightst 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 madest thou, in this case,
Of his heart's meteors tilting in his face?

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.

ADR. And true he swore, though yet forsworn he

were.

Luc. Then pleaded I for you.

111 Dowsabel] A common name for a country wench.

10

ADR.

And what said he?

Luc. That love I begg'd for you he begg'd of me. ADR. With what persuasion did he tempt thy love? Luc. With words that in an honest suit might move, First he did praise my beauty, then my speech.

ADR. Didst speak him fair?
Luc.

Have patience, I beseech.

ADR. I cannot, nor I will not, hold me still;

My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will.
He is deformed, crooked, old, and sere,

Ill-faced, worse bodied, shapeless everywhere;
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind;
Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.

Luc. Who would be jealous, then, of such a one?

No evil lost is wail'd when it is gone.

ADR. Ah, but I think him better than I say,
And yet would herein others' eyes were worse.

Far from her nest the lapwing cries away:

My heart prays for him, though my tongue do curse.

Enter DROMIO of Syracuse

DRO. S. Here! go; the desk, the purse! sweet, now, make.haste.

Luc. How hast thou lost thy breath?

DRO. S.

20

By running fast. 30

ADR. Where is thy master, Dromio? is he well?

27 Far from her nest, etc.] A very common proverbial expression. Cf. Lyly's Campaspe, II, ii, 12, 13: "You resemble the lapwing, who crieth most where her nest is not."

DRO. S. No, he's in Tartar limbo, worse than hell.
A devil in an everlasting garment hath him;
One whose hard heart is button'd up with steel;
A fiend, a fury, pitiless and rough;

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

A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper, one that countermands The passages of alleys, creeks, and narrow lands;

A hound that runs counter, and yet draws dry-foot well; One that, before the Judgment, carries poor souls to hell. 40 ADR. Why, man, what is the matter?

DRO. S. I do not know the matter: he is 'rested on

the case.

ADR. What, is he arrested? Tell me at whose suit. DRO. S. I know not at whose suit he is arrested well; But he's in a suit of buff which 'rested him, that can

Will you

I tell.

send him, mistress, redemption, the money in his desk?

32 in Tartar limbo] in gaol.

33 A devil, etc.] a bailiff or sergeant, whose buff jerkin was usually made of stuff called "durance," which was reputed never to wear out. 35 fury] Theobald's alteration of the old reading fairy, which is so

often found in the sense of elf or hobgoblin that it might well be retained.

38 lands] Possibly lands is here identical with "launds," i. e. "glades." The rhyme forbids the acceptance of the alternative reading lanes. 39 A hound that runs counter] To "run counter" is to run backwards or on a false scent. Here there is a punning reference to the counter, i. e. prison whither the sergeant carried his victims. To "draw dry-foot" is to follow the scent on dry ground.

40 hell] a cant term for "prison."