Mer. My business cannot brook this dalliance;
Good sir, say, whe'r 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.

Mer. Well officer, arrest him at my suit.

Off. I do; and charge you in the duke's name, to 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 darʼst.

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.

Dro. S. Master, there is a bark of Epidamnum, That stays but till her owner comes aboard, And then, sir, 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, sir, 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 listen 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 Merchant, ANGELO, Officer, and
ANT. E.

Dro. S. To Adriana! that is where he din'd,

9 Freight, cargo.

■ Silly.

2 Carriage.

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.

SCENE II.

The same.

Enter ADRIANA and LUCIANA.

Adr. Ah, Luciana, did he tempt thee so? Might'st thou perceive austerely in his eye That he did plead in earnest, yea or no?

T

[Exit,

Look'd he or red, or pale; or sad, or merrily?

What observation mad'st thou in this case,
Of his heart's meteors tilting in his face ?3

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.

Adr.

And what said he? Luc. That love I begg'd for you, be 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. Did'st speak him fair?

Luc.

Have patience, I beseech.

3 An allusion to the redness of the northern lights, likened to the appearance of armies.

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,4
Ill-fac'd, worse-bodied, shapeless every where;
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;6

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. By running fast. Adr. Where is thy master, Dromio? is he well? 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 fairy, pitiless and rough;

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

A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper, one than countermands

The passages of alleys, creeks, and narrow lands;

4 Dry, withered. 5 Marked by nature with deformity.

Who crieth most where her nest is not.

7 The officers in those days were clad in buff, which is also a cant expression for a man's skin.

A hound that runs counter, and yet draws dry-foot

well;

One that, before the judgment, carries poor souls to

hell.8

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 I tell :

Will you send him, mistress, redemption, the money in the desk?

Adr. Go fetch it, sister.-This I wonder at,

[Exit LUCIANA.

That he, unknown to me, should be in debt:

Tell me, was he arrested on a band?9

Dro. S. Not on a band, but on a stronger thing; A chain, a chain; do you not hear it ring?

Adr. What, the chain?

Dro. S. No, no, the bell: 'tis time, that I were gone. It was two ere I left him, and now the clock strikes

one.

Adr. The hours come back! that did I never hear. Dro. S. O yes, If any hour meet a sergeant, a'turns back for very fear.

Adr. As if time were in debt! how fondly dost thou reason?

Dro. S. Time is a very bankrupt, and owes more than he's worth to season.

8 Hell was the cant term for prison.

9 i. e.

Bond.