E. Dro. I buy a thousand pound a year! I buy a rope! [Exit Dromio. E. Ant. A man is well holp up, that trufts to you: I promised your prefence, 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; therefore came not.

Ang. Saving your merry humour, here's the note, How much your chain weighs to the utmost carrat; The fineness of the gold, the chargeful fashion; Which do amount to three odd ducats more, Than I stand debted to this gentleman; I pray you, fee him presently discharg'd; For he is bound to fea, and stays but for it.

E. Ant. I am not furnish'd with the prefent money; Besides, I have fome business in the town; Good Signior, take the stranger to my house, And with you take the chain, and bid my wife Disburse the fum on the receipt thereof; Perchance, I will be there as foon as you.

Ang. Then you will bring the chain to her your

felf ?

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

Ang. Well, Sir, I will: have you the chain about you?

E. Ant. An if I have not, Sir, I hope, you have: Or else you may return without your money. Ang. Nay, come, I prey you, Sir, give me the chain; Both wind and tide stay for this gentleman; And J, to blame, have held him here too long.

E. Ant. Good lord, you use this dalliance to excuse Your breach of promise to the Porcupine; I should have chid you for not bringing it; But, like a fhrew, you first begin to brawl. Mer. The hour steals on; I pray you, Sir, dispatch. Ang. You hear, how he importunes me; the

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

money.

Ang. Come, come, you know, I gave it you, ev'n

now.

Or fend the chain, or fend me by fome token.

E. Ant. Fie, now you run this humour out of

breath:

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

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

to say fo.

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

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

Ang. This touches me in reputation. Either consent to pay the sum for me, ■Or I attach you by this officer.1988

E. Ant. Consent to pay for 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 cafe,
If he should fcorn me so apparently.

Offi. I do arrest you, Sir; you hear the fuit.
E. Ant. I do obey thee, 'till I give thee bail.
But, firrah, you shall buy this sport as dear
As all the metal in your shop will anfwer.
Ang. Sir, Sir, I shall have law in Ephesus,
To your notorious shame, I doubt it not.

S.

SCENE II.

Enter Dromio of Syracuse, from the Bay.

Dro. MASTER, there is a

bark of Epidamnum,

That stays but till her owner comes

aboard;

Then, Sir, she bears away. Our fraughtage, Sir,

I have convey'd aboard; and I have bought
The Oil, the Balfamum, and Aqua-vita.
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.

E. Ant. How now! a mad man! why, thou peevish

sheep,

What ship of Epidamnum stays for me?

S. Dro. A ship you fent me to, to hire waftage.
E. Ant. Thou drunken slave, I fent thee for a rope;

And told thee to what purpose, and what end.
S. Dro. You fent me for a rope's-end as foon:
You fent me to the bay, Sir, for a bark.

E. Ant. I will debate this matter at more leifure,
And teach your ears to lift 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,

And that shall bail me; hie thee, slave; be gone :

On, officer, to prison 'till it come.

[Exeunt.

S. Dro. To Adriana! that is where we din'd, Where Dowfabel did claim me for her husband ; She is too big, I hope, for me to compass.

Thither I must, altho' against my will,

For fervants must their masters' minds fulfil. [Exit.

SCENE

Adr.

A

Enter Adriana and Luciana.

fo?

H, Luciana, did he tempt thee
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 fad or merrily?
What observation mad'st thou in this cafe,
Of his heart's meteors tilting in his face?

Luc. First he deny'd, you had in him no right.
Adr. He meant, he did me none, the more my spight.
Luc. Then swore he, that he was a stranger here.
Adr. And true he swore, though yet forsworn he

Luc. That love I begg'd for you, he begg'd of me.
Adr. With what perfuafion did he tempt thy love?
Luc. With words, that in an honest fuit might move.

First, he did praise my beauty, then my speech.

Adr. Did'st 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 its will. He is deformed, crooked, old and fere, I'll-fac'd, worse-body'd, shapless every where; Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind, Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.

Luc. Who would be jealous then of fuch 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 neft the lapwing cries away;

My heart prays for him, tho' my tongue do curse.

10

Luc. How haft thou lost thy breath?

S. Dro. By running fast.

Adr. Where is thy master, Dromio? is he well?
S. Dro. 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 rought,
A wolf, nay, worse, a fellow all in buff;
A back-friend, ashoulder-clapper, one that commands
The passages of allies, creeks, and narrow lands;
A hound that runs counter, and yet draws dry-foot

well;

One, that, before the judgment, carries poor fouls to hell.

Adr. Why, man, what is the matter?

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

Adr. What, is he arrested? tell me, at whose suit. S. Dro. I know not at whose suit he is arrested, well; but he's in a fuit of buff, which 'rested him, that I can tell. Will you fend him, mistress, redemption, the money in his desk ?

Adr. Go fetch it, fister. This I wonder at,

[Exit Luciana.

That he, unknown to me, should be in debt!
Tell me, was he arrested on a bond?

S. Dro. Not on a bond, but on a stronger thing,

A chain, a chain; do you not hear it ring?

Adr. What, the chain?

S. Dro. No, no; the bell; 'tis time that I were gone. The