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ACT IIІ.

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SCENE I.

The Street before Antipholis's House.

Enter Antipholis of Ephefus, Dromio of Ephefus, Angelo, and Balthazar.

Ε. ΑΝΤΙPHOLIS.

OOD Signior Angelo, you must excuse us;
My wife is shrewish, when I keep not hours;

Say, that I linger'd with you at your shop
To fee the making of her carkanet';
And that to-morrow you will bring it home.
But here's a villain, that would face me down
He met me on the mart, and that I beat him;
And charg'd him with a thousand marks in gold;
And that I did deny my wife and house :
Thou drunkard, thou, what didst thou mean by this?
E. Dro. Say what you will, Sir; but I know what
I know;

That you beat me at the mart, I have your hand to show;

If the skin were parchment, and the blows you gave

were ink,

Your own hand-writing would tell you what I think. E. int. I think, thou art an afs.

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E. Dro. Marry, so it doth appear
By the wrongs I fuffer, and the blows I bear;

Carkanei seems to have been a necklace, or rather chain, perhaps hanging down double from the neck. So Lovelace in his poem, The Emprels fpreads her carcanets. Marry, so it doth appear By the corongs I fuffer, and the Blows I bear; Thus all the printed copies; but, cer

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I should

tainly, This is Cross-purposes in Reasoning. It appears, Dromio is an Ass by his making no Resistance: because an Afs, being kick'd, kicks again. Our Author never argues at this wild Rate, where his Text is genuine.

THEOBALD. I do not think this emenda.

I should kick, being kickt; and, being at that pass,
You would keep from my heels, and beware of an afs.
E. Ant. Y'are sad, Signior Balthazar. Pray God,
our cheer

May anfwer my good will, and your good welcome here.
Bal. I hold your dainties cheap, Sir, and your
welcome dear.

E. Ant. Ah, Signior Balthazar, either at flesh or fish, A table-full of welcome makes scarce one dainty dish. Bal. Good meat, Sir, is common: that every churl affords.

E. Ant. And welcome more common; for that's nothing but words.

Bal. Small cheer, and great welcome, makes a merry feaft.

E. Ant. Ay, to a niggardly host, and more sparing
guest :

But tho' my cates be mean, take them in good part;
Better cheer may you have, but not with better heart.
But, foft; my door is lockt; go bid them let us in.

E. Dro. Maud, Bridget, Marian, Cicely, Gillian,
Ginn!

S. Dro. (within) Mome, malt-horfe, capon, cox-
comb, idiot, patch!

Either get thee from the door, or fit down at the hatch: Dost thou conjure for wenches, that thou call'ft for fuch store,

When one is one too many? go, get thee from the door.

E. Dro. What patch is made our porter? my master stays in the street.

S. Dro. Let him walk from whence he came, left he catch cold on's feet.

tion necessary. He first says,
that his wrongs and blows prove
him an afs; but immediately,
with a correction of his former
sentiment, such as may be hour-

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ly observed in conversation, he obferves, that, if he had been an ass, he should, when he was kicked, have kicked again.

E. Ant.

E. Ant. Who talks within there? hoa, open the door. S. Dro. Right, Sir, I'll tell you when, an you'll tell

me wherefore.

E. Ant. Wherefore? for my dinner: I have not

din'd to day.

S. Dro. Nor to-day here you must not: come again, when you may.

E. Ant. What art thou, that keep'st me out from the house I owe ?

S. Dro. The porter for this time, Sir, and my name is Dromio.

E. Dro. O villain, thou hast stoll'n both mine office and my name:

The one ne'er got me credit, the other mickle blame.
If thou had'st been Dromio to-day in my place,
Thou would'st have chang'd thy face for a name, or

thy name for an afs.

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Luce. (within) What a coil is there, Dromio? who

are those at the gate ?

E. Dro. Let my master in, Luce.
Luce. Faith, no; he comes too late;

And so tell your master.

E. Dro. O Lord, I must laugh;

Have at you with a Proverb. - Shall I set in my staff? Luce. Have at you with another; that's, when can you tell?

S. Dro. If thy name be call'd Luce, Luce, thou haft answer'd him well.

E. Ant. Do you hear, you minion, you'll let us in, I trow ?

Luce. I thought to have afkt you.

S. Dro. And you faid, no.

E. Dro. So, come, help, well struck; there was

blow for blow.

E. Ant. Thou baggage, let me in.

Luce. Can you tell for whose sake?
E. Dro. Master, knock the door hard.

Luce. Let him knock, till it ake.

E. Ant.

E. Ant. You'll cry for this, minion, if I beat the door down.

Luce. What needs all that, and a pair of stocks in the town?

Adr. (within) Who is that at the door, that keeps all this noise?

S. Dro. By my troth, your town is troubled with unruly boys.

E. Ant. Are you there, wife? you might have come before.

Adr. Your wife, Sir knave! go, get you from the door.

E. Dro. If you went in pain, master, this knave would go fore.

Ang. Here is neither cheer, Sir, nor welcome; we would fain have either.

Bal. In debating which was best, we shall have part

with neither 3.

E. Dro. They stand at the door, master; bid them welcome hither.

E. Ant. There's something in the wind, that we cannot get in.

E. Dro. You would say so, master, if your garments were thin.

Your cake here is warm within: you stand here in

the cold :

It would make a man mad as a buck to be so bought and fold.

E. Ant. Go fetch me something, and I'll break ope the gate.

S. Dro. Break any thing here, and I'll break your knave's pate.

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E. Dro. A man may break a word with you, Sir 3

aud words are but wind:

Ay, and break it in your face, fo he break it not behind. S. Dro It seems, thou wantest breaking; out upon thee, hind!

E. Dro. Here's too much, out upon thee! I pray thee, let me in.

S. Dro. Ay, when fowls have no feathers, and fish have no fin.

E. Ant. Well, I'll break in; go borrow me a crow. E. Dro. A crow without feather, master, mean you fo? For a fish without a fin, there's a fowl without a feather; If a crow help us in, firrah, we'll pluck a crow together. E. Ant. Go, get thee gone, fetch me an iron crow. Bal. Have patience, Sir: oh, let it not be fo.

Herein you war against your reputation,
And draw within the compass of fufpect
Th'unviolated honour of your wife.
Once, this; - your long experience of her wisdom,
Her sober virtue, years, and modefty,
Plead on her part some cause to you unknown;
And doubt not, Sir, but she will well excufe,
Why at this time the doors are barr'd against you.
Be rul'd by me, depart in patience,
And let us to the Tyger ali to dinner;
And about evening come yourself alone,
To know the reason of this strange restraint.
If by strong hand you offer to break in,
Now in the stirring passage of the day,
A vulgar comment will be made of it;
And that supposed by the common rout *,
Against your yet ungalled estimation,
That may with foul intrusion enter in,

And dwell upon your grave when you are dead :

* Supposed by the common rout.] For Suppose I once thought it might be more commodious to substitute Supported; but there is VOL. III.

no need of change: supposed is, founded on fuppofition, made by conjecture.

K

For