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If I return, I shall be 'poft indeed,
For fhe will score your fault upon my pate.

Methinks, your maw, like mine, fhould be your clock, And strike you home without a meffenger.

Ant. Come, Dromio, come, these jests are out of season; Reserve them till a merrier hour than this:

Where is the gold I gave in charge to thee?

E. Dro. To me, fir? why you gave no gold to me. Ant. Come on, fir knave, have done your foolishness, And tell me, how thou haft difpos'd thy charge.

E. Dro. My charge was but to fetch you from the mart Home to your house, the Phoenix, fir, to dinner; My mistress, and her fifter, stay for you.

Ant. Now, as I am a chriftian, answer me, In what fafe place you have difpos'd my money; Or I fhall break that merry 'fconce of yours, That ftands on tricks when I am undifpos'd: Where are the thousand marks thou hadst of me? E. Dro. I have fome marks of yours upon my pate, Some of my mistress' marks upon my shoulders, But not a thousand marks between you both.If I should pay your worship thofe again, Perchance, you will not bear them patiently.

Ant. Thy miftrefs' marks! what miftrefs, flave, haft thou? E. Dro. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the Phoenix; She, that doth fast, till you come home to dinner, prays, that you will hie you home to dinner. Ant. What, wilt thou "flout me thus unto my face, Being forbid? There, take you that, fir knave.

And

E. Dro. What mean you, fir? for God's fake, hold your hands;

Nay, an you will not fir, I'll take my heels. [Exit Dromio.

poft indeed,]-like a poft, ftanding in a warehouse, to keep rough

accounts upon.

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fconce]-pate.

"flout]-mock.

Ant,

W

Ant. Upon my life, by fome device or other,
The villain is o'er-raught of all my money.
They fay, this town is full of cozenage;
As, nimble jugglers, that deceive the eye,
* Dark-working forcerers, that change the mind,
"Soul-killing witches, that deform the body;
Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks,
And many fuch like liberties of fin:
If it prove fo, I will be gone the fooner.
I'll to the Centaur, to go feek this flave;
I greatly fear, my money is not fafe.

[Exit.

ACT

II.

SCENE I.

The House of Antipholis of Ephefus.

Enter Adriana and Luciana.

Adr. Neither my husband, nor the flave return'd, That in fuch hafte I fent to feek his mafter!

Sure, Luciana, it is two o'clock.

Luc. Perhaps, fome merchant hath invited him, And from the mart he's fomewhere gone to dinner. Good fifter, let us dine, and never fret:

A man is mafter of his liberty;

Time is their mafter; and, when they fee time,
They'll go or come: If so, be patient, sister.
Adr. Why should their liberty than our's be more?

"o'er-raught]-over reached, choufed.

Dark-working]-that work by hidden powers, charms, fpells, talifmans, &c.

Y Soul-killing]-that deftroy the fouls of their employers, and forfeit

their own.

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liberties]-licentious practices-libertines of fin-finful libertines.

Luc.

Luc. Because their business still lies out o' door.
Adr. Look, when I ferve him fo, he takes it ill.
Luc. Oh, know, he is the bridle of your will.
Adr. There's none, but affes, will be bridled fo.
Luc. Why head-ftrong liberty is 'lash'd with woe.
There's nothing, fituate under heaven's eye,
But hath his bound, in earth, in fea, in fky:
The beafts, the fifhes, and the winged fowls,
Are their males' fubject, and at their controuls:
Men, more divine, the mafters of all thefe,
Lords of the wide world, and wild watry feas,
Indu'd with intellectual fenfe and fouls,
Of more pre-eminence than fifh and fowls,
Are masters to their females, and their lords :
Then let your will attend on their accords.

Adr. This fervitude makes you to keep unwed.
Luc. Not this, but troubles of the marriage-bed.
Adr. But, were you wedded, you would bear fome fway.
Luc. Ere I learn love, I'll practise to obey.

Adr. How if your husband start some other where?
Luc. Till he come home again, I would forbear.

Adr. Patience, unmov'd, no marvel though fhe 'pause; They can be meek, that have no other caufe.

d

A wretched foul, bruis'd with adversity,
We bid be quiet, when we hear it cry;

But were we burden'd with like weight of pain,
As much, or more, we fhould ourselves complain :
So thou, that haft no unkind mate to grieve thee,
With urging helpless patience would'st relieve me :
But, if thou live to fee like right bereft,

lafh'd]-punished-leafb'd-coupled like a headstrong hound.
bbare make fome other woman the object of his pursuit.
paufe ;]-be at eafe.

d

no other caufe.]-no caufe to be otherwise.

bereft,]-infringed, invaded.

This 'fool-begg'd patience in thee will be left.
Luc. Well, I will marry one day, but to try ;-

Here comes your man, now is

your husband nigh.

Enter Dromio of Ephefus.

Adr. Say, is your tardy mafter now at hand?

E. Dro. Nay, he is at two hands with me, and that my two ears can witness.

Adr. Say, didft thou speak with him? know'ft thou his mind?

E. Dro. Ay, ay, he told his mind upon mine ear: Befhrew his hand, 1 fcarce could understand it.

Luc. Spake he fo doubtfully, thou couldft not feel his meaning?

E. Dro. Nay, he ftruck fo plainly, I could too well feel his blows; and withal fo doubtfully, that I could scarce bunderstand them.

Adr. But fay, I pr'ythee, is he coming home?

It seems, he hath great care to please his wife.

E. Dro. Why, mistress, fure my master is horn-mad. Adr. Horn-mad, thou villain?

E. Dro. I mean not cuckold-mad; but, fure, he's stark

mad:

When I defir'd him to come home to dinner,
He afk'd me for a thousand marks in gold:
'Tis dinner-time, quoth I: My gold, quoth he:
Your meat doth burn, quoth I; My gold, quoth he:
Will you come? quoth I; My gold, quoth he:
Where is the thousand marks I gave thee, villain?
The pig, quoth I, is burn'd; My gold, quoth he:

f fool-begg'd]-fit only for idiots.

doubtfully,]-redoubtedly, violently.
underftand]-stand under.

"my staff understands me."

Two GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, A&t II, S. 5. Laun.

My

My mistress, fir, quoth I; Hang up thy mistress;
I know not thy mistress; out on thy mistress!
Luc. Quoth who?

E. Dro. Quoth my master:

I know, quoth he, no boufe, no wife, no mistress ;—
So that my errand, due unto my tongue,

I thank him, I bare home upon my fhoulders;
For, in conclufion, he did beat me there.

Adr. Go back again, thou flave, and fetch him home. E. Dro. Go back again, and be new beaten home?

For God's fake, fend fome other meffenger.

Adr. Back, flave, or I will break thy pate across. E. Dro. And he will bless that cross with other beating: Between you I fhall have a holy head.

Adr. Hence, prating peasant; fetch thy master home. E. Dro. Am I fo round with you, as you with me, That like a foot-ball you do fpurn me thus ?

You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither:
If I last in this service, you must case me in leather. [Exit.
Luc. Fye, how impatience low'reth in your face!
Adr. His company must do his minions grace,
Whilft I at home *ftarve for a merry look.
Hath homely age the alluring beauty took
From my poor cheek? then, he hath wafted it:
Are my discourses dull? barren my wit?
If voluble and sharp discourse be marr'd,
Unkindness blunts it, more than marble hard.
Do their gay vestments his affections bait?
That's not my fault, he's master of my state:
What ruins are in me, that can be found
By him not ruin'd? then is he the ground

i round]-a pun, free spoken, and formed like a foot ball.
farve for a merry look.]-" clean ftarved for a look."

POEMS, 641.

Of

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