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.

ACT

N

II.

[Exit.'

SCENE I,

The House of Antipholis of Ephefus,

Enter Adriana and Luciana,

ADRIANA.

EITHER my husband, nor the flave return'd, That in fuch hafte I fent to feek his master! 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 master of his liberty:

Time is their mafter; and when they fee time,
They'll go or come; If fo,

work Changes of the Mind by
thefe Applications.

WARBURTON.

be patient, fifter.

fhould be read thus,
Soul-killing forcerers, that change
the mind;
Dark-working witches, that de-
form the body.
This change feems to remove
all difficulties.

By foul-killing I understand defroying the rational faculties by fuch means as make men fancy themselves beasts.

4

liberties of fin:] Sir T. Hanmer reads, Libertines, which, as the author has been enumerating not acts but perfons, feems right.

Adr.

Adr. Why fhould their liberty than ours be more?
Luc. Because their business ftill lies out a-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 lafht with woe.
There's nothing fituate under heaven's eye,
But hath its bound in earth, in fea, in fky:
The beafts, the fishes, and the winged fowls,
Are their males' fubjects, and at their controuls:
Man, more divine, the mafter of all these,
Lord of the wide world, and wide wat❜ry feas,
Indu'd with intellectual sense and soul,
Of more preheminence than fifh and fowl,
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 fome other where? Luc. 'Till he come home again, I would forbear. Adr. Patience unmov'd!-no marvel tho' fhe paufe"; They can be meek, that have no other caufe: 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 helplefs patience wouldst relieve me: But if thou live to fee like right bereft, This fool-begg'd patience in thee will be left.

5-ftart fome other where?] I cannot but think that our author wrote,

-ftart fome other hare. So in Much ado about nothing, CuVOL. III.

I

Luc.

pid is faid to be a good hare-finder. To pause is to rest, to be in quiet.

7-fool-begg'd] She feems to mean by fool-begg'd patience,

that

Luc. Well, I will marry one day but to try:

Here comes your man, now is your husband nigh.

SCENE II.

Enter Dromio of Ephefus.

Adr. Say, is your tardy mafter now at hand? E. Dro. Nay, he's at two hands with me, and that my two ears can witness.

Adr. Say, did'ft thou fpeak with him? know'ft thou his mind?

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

Luc. Spake he fo doubtfully, thou couldst 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 fcarce understand them.

Adr. But fay, I pry'thee, is he coming home?

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

E. Dro. Why, mistress, fure, my master is hornmad.

Adr. Horn-mad, thou villain?

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

When I defired 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 home, quoth I? my gold, quoth he:
Where is the thofand marks I gave thee, villain?
The pig, quoth I, is burn'd; my gold, quoth he.
My mistress, Sir, quoth I; hang up thy mistress;
I know not thy miftrefs; out on thy mistress!

that patience which is fo near to idiotical fimplicity, that your next relation would take advantage

from it to reprefent you as a fool and beg the guardianship of your fortune.

Luc.

Luc. Quoth who?

E. Dro. Quoth my master:

I know, quoth he, no house, 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 acrofs.
E. Dro. And he will blefs that crofs with other beat-

ing:

Between you I fhall have a holy head.

Adr. Hence, prating peafant, fetch thy mafter 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 laft in this fervice, you must cafe me in leather.

[Exit.

Luc. Fy, how impatience lowreth in your face!
Ard. His company must do his minions grace,
Whilft I at home ftarve for a merry look:
Hath homely age th' alluring beauty took
From my poor cheek? then, he hath wafted it.
Are my difcourfes dull? barren my wit?
If voluble and fharp difcourfe be mar'd,
Unkindness blunts it, more than marble hard.
Do their gay veftments 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

Am I fo round with you as you with me,] He plays upon the word round, which fignifieth fpherical applied to him

felf, and unrestrained, or free in Speech or action, spoken of his miftrefs. So the king in Hamlet bids the queen be round with her fon.

Of my defeatures. My decayed fair
A funny look of his would foon repair.
But, too unruly* deer, he breaks the pale,

And feeds from home; poor I am but his ftale .
Luc. Self-harming jealoufy!-fy, bear it hence.
Adr. Unfeeling fools can with fuch wrongs difpenfe:
I know, his eye doth homage other-where;
Or elfe what lets it, but he would be here?
Sifter you know he promis'd me a chain;
Would that alone, alone, he would detain,
So he would keep fair quarter with his bed.
I fee, the jewel, best enamelled',

Will lofe his beauty; and the gold 'bides ftill,
That others touch; yet often touching will
Wear gold and fo no man, that hath a name,
But falfhood, and corruption, doth it shame.
Since that my beauty cannot pleafe his eye,
I'll weep what's left away, and weeping die.
Luc. How many fond fools ferve mad jealoufy!
[Exeunt.

The ambiguity of deer and dear is borrowed, poor as it is, by Waller in his poem on the Ladies Girdle.

This was my heav'n's extoemeft
Sphere,

The pale that held my lovely deer,
am but his ftale.]
-poor
The word ftale, in our authour.
ufed as a Subftantive, means, not
fomething offered to allure or at-
tract, but fomething vitiated with
ufe, fomething of which the bett
part has been enjoyed and con-
fumed.

I fee, the jewel, best ena-
melled,

Will lofe his beauty; YET the

"

gold bides ftill.
That others touch, AND often
touching will:
WHERE gold and no man, that
bath a name,

}

BY falfhood and corruption doth

it fhame.] In this miferable condition is this paffage given us. It should be read thus,

I fee, the jewel, beft enamelled. Will lofe his beauty; and the gold bides ftill,

That others touch; yet often touching will

Wear gold: and so no man, that kath a name,

But falfhood, and corruption, doth

it fhame. The fenfe is this, "Gold, in. "deed, will long bear the hand"ling; however, often touching, "will wear even gold; just fo "the greatest character, tho' as "pure as gold itself, may, in "time, be injured, by the repeated attacks of falfhood and corruption.

WARBURTON.

SCENE