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ACT III.

SCENE I. The same.

Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus, DROMIO of Ephesus, ANGELO, and BALTHAZAR.

Ant. E. Good signior Angelo, you must excuse us all:

My wife is shrewish when I keep not hours:
Say, that I linger'd with you at your shop,
To see the making of her carkanet1,
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?
Dro. E. 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 handwriting would tell you what I think. Ant. E. I think, thou art an ass.

Dro. E. Marry so it doth appear By the wrongs I suffer, and the blows I bear. I should kick, being kick'd; and, being at that pass, You would keep from my heels, and beware of an ass. Ant. E. You are sad, signior Balthazar: 'Pray

God, our cheer

May answer my good will, and your good welcome

here.

Bal. I hold your dainties cheap, sir, and your welcome dear.

A carcanet or chain for a lady's neck; a collar or chain of gold and precious stones; from the French carcan. It was sometimes spelled karkanet and quarquenet.

Ant. E. O, 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.

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

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

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

guest;

But though my cates be mean, take them in good part; Better cheer may you have, but not with better heart. But, soft; my door is lock'd; Go bid them let us in. Dro. E. Maud, Bridget, Marian, Cicely, Gillian, Jen'!

Dro. S. [within.] Mome 2, malt-horse, capon, coxcomb, idiot, patch3!

Either get thee from the door, or sit down at the hatch:

Dost thou conjure for wenches, that thou call'st for such store,

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

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

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

Ant. E. Who talks within there? ho, open the door. Dro. S. Right, sir, I'll tell you when, an you'll tell me wherefore.

Ant. E. Wherefore? for my dinner; I have not din'd to-day.

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

2 A mome was a fool or foolish jester. Momar is used by Plautus for a fool; whence the French mommeur. The Greeks ton had μομος and μορμος in the same sense.

3 Patch was a term of contempt often applied to persons of low condition. and sometimes applied to a fool. Vide Midsummer Night's Dream, Act iii. Sc. 2.

Ant. E. What art thou, that keep'st me out from the house I owe4?

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

Dro. E. O villain, thou hast stolen 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 ass.

Luce. [within.] What a coil is there? Dromio, who are those at the gate?

Dro. E. Let my master in, Luce.

Luce.

'Faith, no; he comes too late: And so tell your master. Dro. E. 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?

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

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

Luce. I thought to have ask'd you.

Dro. S.

And you said, no.

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

blow for blow.

Ant. E. Thou baggage, let me in.

Luce.

Can you tell for whose sake?

Let him knock till it ake.

Dro. E. Master, knock the door hard.
Luce.
Ant. E. You'll cry for this, minion, if I beat the
door down.

4 I own, am owner of.

5 Bustle, tumult.

6 It seems probable that a line following this has been lost; in which Luce might be threatened with a rope; which would have furnished the rhyme now wanting. In a subsequent scene Dromio is ordered to go and buy a rope's end, for the purpose of using it on Adriana and her confederates.

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?

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

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

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

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

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

Bal. In debating which was best, we shall part with neither.

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

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

Dro. E. 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 sold8.

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

the gate.

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

Dro. E. A man may break a word with you, sir r; and words are but wind;

Ay, and break it in your face, so he break it not behind.

Dro. S. It seems, thou wantest breaking; Out upon thee, hind!

↑ Have part.

8 A proverbial phrase, meaning to be so overreached by foul and secret practices.

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

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

Ant. E. Well, I'll break in; Go borrow me a crow. Dro. E. A crow without feather; master, mean

you so?

For a fish without a fin, there's a fowl without a feather:

If a crow help us in, sirrah, we'll pluck a crow together9.

Ant. E. Go, get thee gone, fetch me an iron crow. Bal. Have patience, sir: 0, let it not be so; Herein you war against your reputation,

And draw within the compass

of suspect The unviolated honour of your wife.

Once1o this; your long experience of her wisdom,
Her sober virtue, years, and modesty,

Plead on her part some cause to you unknown ;
And doubt not, sir, but she will well excuse
Why at this time the doors are madell against you.
Be rul'd by me; depart in patience,
And let us to the Tiger all 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

9 The same quibble is to be found in one of the comedies of Plautus. Children of distinction among the Greeks and Romans had usually birds given them for their amusement. This custom

Tyndarus, in The Captives, mentions, and says that, for his part, he had tantum upupam. Upupa signifies both a lapwing and a mattock, or some instrument with which stone was dug from the quarries.

10 Once this; here means once for all; at once. See much Ado about Nothing, vol. ii. p. 122, note 35. I see no reason for supposing this passage corrupt, with Malone. Numberless examples may be adduced of the use of once in this sense. It is so used by Massinger and Ben Jonson. Thus also Sir Philip Sydney, in his Arcadia, b. i.:-Some perchance loving my estate, others my person. But once, I know all of them."

1 i. e. made fast. The expression is still in use in some counties.

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