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Duke. Haplefs geon, whom the fates have mark'd

To bear the extremity of dire mishap;

Now, truft me, were it not against our laws,
(Which princes, would they, may not difannul ;)
Against my crown, my oath, my dignity,
My foul fhould fue as advocate for thee.
But, tho' thou art adjudged to the death,
And paffed fentence may not be recall'd,
But to our honour's great difparagement,
Yet will I favour thee in what I can :
Therefore, merchant, I'll limit thee this day,
To feek thy life by beneficial help:
Try all the friends thou haft in Ephefus;
Beg thou, or borrow, to make up the fum,
And live; if not, then thou art doom'd to die :-
Jailor, take him to thy cuftody.

fail. I will, my lord.

[Exeunt Duke and train.

Egeon. Hopeless, and helplefs, doth Ægeon wend,

But to procraftinate his liveless end.

[Exeunt Egeon and Jailor.

SCENE II.

Changes to the Strect.

Enter Antipholis of Syracufe, a Merchant, and Dromio.

Mer. Therefore give out, you are of Epidamnum,
Left that your goods too foon be confifcate.
This very day, a Syracufan merchant

Is apprehended for arrival here;
And, not being able to buy out his life,
According to the ftatute of the town,
Dies ere the weary fun fet in the west.
There is your money, that I had to keep.

Ant.

Ant. Go bear it to the Centaur, where we hoft;
And stay there, Dromio, till I come to thee.
Within this hour it will be dinner-time:
'Till that, I'll view the manners of the town,
Perufe the traders, gaze upon the buildings,
And then return, and fleep within mine inn;
For with long travel I am stiff and weary.

Get thee away.

Dro. Many a man would take you at your word, And go indeed, having fo good a means.

[Exit Dromio. Ant. A trufty villain, fir; that very oft, When I am dull with care and melancholy, Lightens my humour with his merry jefts. What, will you walk with me about the town, And then go to my inn and dine with me? Mer. I am invited, fir, to certain merchants, Of whom I hope to make much benefit: I crave your pardon. Soon, at five o'clock, Please you, I'll meet with you upon the mart, And afterwards confort you till bed-time: My present business calls me from you now. Ant. Farewell till then: I will go lose myself, And wander up and down to view the city. Mer. Sir, I commend you to your own content. [Exit Merchant: Ant. He that commends me to mine own content, Commends me to the thing I cannot get. I to the world am like a drop of water, That in the ocean feeks another drop; Who, falling there to find his fellow forth, Unfeen, inquifitive, confounds himself: So I, to find a mother, and a brother, In queft of them, unhappy, lofe myself. Enter Dromio of Ephefus.

Here comes the almanack of my true date.

What

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What now? How chance, thou art return'd fo foon?
E. Dro. Return'd fo foon! rather approach'd too
late:

The capon burns, the pig falls from the fpit.
The clock has ftrucken twelve upon the bell,
My mistress made it one upon my cheek:
She is fo hot, because the meat is cold;

The meat is cold, because you come not home;
You come not home, because you have no stomach;
You have no ftomach, having broke your faft:
But we, that know what 'tis to faft and
Are penitent for your default to-day.

pray,

Ant. Stop in your wind, fir: tell me this, I pray;
Where you have left the mony that I gave you?
E. Dro. Oh,-fix-pence, that I had o' Wednesday
laft,

To pay the fadler for my mistress' crupper ;-
The fadler had it, fir; I kept it not.

Ant. I am not in a sportive humour now;
Tell me, and dally not, where is the mony?
We being strangers here, how dar'ft thou truft
So great a charge from thine own cuftody?

E. Dro. I pray you, jeft, fir, as you fit at dinner;
I from my mistrefs come to you in post;

If I return, 1 fhall be poft indeed,

For she 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, thefe jefts are out of
feafon;

Referve 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 foolish-

nefs;

And tell me, how thou haft difpos'd thy charge.

E. Dro

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you

from the

E. Dro. My charge was but to fetch

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Home to your houfe, the Phoenix, fir, to dinner;
My miftrefs, and her fifter, ftay for you.

Ant. Now, as I am a chriftian, answer me,
In what fafe place you have difpos'd my mony;
Or fhall break that merry fconce of yours,
That stands on tricks when I am undifpos'd:
Where are the thoufand marks thou had'ft of me?
E. Dro. I have fome marks of yours upon my
pate,

Some of my miftrefs' 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 mistress, flave, haft thou?

E. Dro. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the
Phoenix;

She, that doth faft, till you come home to dinner;
And 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.
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. Ant. Upon my life, by fome device or other, The villain is o'er-raught of all my mony. They fay, this town is full of cozenage;

3-o'er-raught-] That is, over-reached. JOHNSON.

They fay, this town is full of cozenage;] This was the character the ancients give of it. Hence Eperia antipaguana was proverbial amongst them. Thus Menander ufes it, and 'Epia yequuara, in the fame fenfe. WARBURTON.

As,

As, nimble jugglers, that deceive the eye, s
Dark-working forcerers, that change the mind,
Soul-killing witches, that deform the body;
Difguifed cheaters, prating mountebanks,

5 As, nimble jugglers, that deceive the eye;
Dark-working forcerers, that change the mind:
Soul-killing witches, that deform the body;]

Thofe, who attentively confider these three lines, must confefs, that the poet intended the epithet given to each of these miscreants, should declare the power by which they perform their feats, and which would therefore be a juft characteristic of each of them. Thus, by nimble jugglers, we are taught, that they perform their tricks by flight of hand: and by foul-killing witches, we are informed, the mischief they do is by the affiftance of the devil, to whom they have given their fouls: but then, by dark-working forcerers, we are not inftructed in the means by which they perform their ends. Befides, this epithet agrees as well to witches as to them; and therefore certainly our author could not defign this in their characteristick. We should read,

Drug-working forcerers, that change the mind;

and we know by the hiftory of ancient and modern fuperftition, that thefe kind of jugglers always pretended to work changes of the mind by thefe applications. WARBURTON.

The learned commentator has endeavoured with much earnestnefs to recommend his alteration; but, if I may judge of other apprehenfions by my own, without great fuccefs. This interpretation of foul-killing is forced and harsh. Sir T. Hanmer reads foul-felling, agreeable enough to the common opinion, but without fuch improvement as may juftify the change. Perhaps the epithets have only been misplaced, and the lines fhould be read thus, Soul killing forcerers, that change the mind; Dark-working witches that deform the body.

This change feems to remove all difficulties.

By foul-killing I understand destroying the rational faculties by fuch means as make men fancy themselves beafts. JOHNSON.

Witches or forcerers themfelves, as well as thofe who employed them, were fuppofed to forfeit their fouls by making ufe of a forbidden agency. In that fenfe, they may be faid to destroy the fouls of others as well as their own. I believe Dr. Johnfon has done as much as was neceffary to remove all difficulty from the paffage. STEEVENS.

And

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