ACT III.

SCENE I.

The Street before Antipholis's houfe.

Enter Antipholis of Ephefus, Dromio of Ephefus, Angelo, and Balthazar.

G

E. ANTIPHOLIS.

WOOD fignior Angelo, you must excuse us;
My wife is fhrewith, when I keep not hours:
Say, that I linger'd with you at your shop
To fee the making of her carkanet, 2

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?
E. Dro. Say what you will, fir, but I know what I

know;

That you beat me at the mart, I have your hand to fhow:

If the skin were parchment, and the blows you gave were ink,

Your own hand-writing would tell you what I think. E. Ant. I think, thou art an afs.

2 Carkanet] feems to have beer. a necklace or rather chain, perhaps hanging down double from the neck. So Lovelace in his poem,

JOHNSON.

The empress spreads her carcanets.
Quarquan, ornement d'or qu'on mit au col des damoifelles.

Le grand Dict. de Nicod.
STEEVENS.

E. Dro.

E. Dro. Marry, fo it doth

appear

3

By the wrongs I fuffer, 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.
E. Ant. Y'are fad, fignior Balthazar. Pray God,

our cheer

May answer my good-will, and your good welcome here.

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

E. Ant. Ah, fignior Balthazar, either at flesh or fish,

A table-full of welcome makes fcarce one dainty difh. Bal. Good meat, fir, is common; that every churl

affords.

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

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

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

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

3 Marry, fo it doth appear

By the wrongs I fuffer, and the blows I bear ;]

Thus all the printed copies; but certainly, This is cross-purpofes in reasoning. It appears, Dromio is an afs by his making no refiftance; because an afs, being kick'd, kicks again. Our author never argues at this wild rate, where his text is genuine. THEOBALD.

I do not think this emendation neceffary. He firft fays, that his wrongs and blows prove him an afs; but immediately, with a correction of his former fentiment, fuch as may be hourly observed in conversation, he observes that, if he had been an ass, he should, when he was kicked, have kicked again.

JOHNSON.

S. Dro.

S.Dro. (within) Mome, malt-horfe, capon, coxcomb, idiot, patch!

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

Doft thou conjure for wenches, that thou call'ft for fuch ftore,

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

E. Dro. What patch is made our porter? my mafter ftays in the street.

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

E. Ant. Who talks within there? ho, open the

door.

S. Dro. Right, fir, I'll tell you when, an you'll tell me wherefore,

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

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

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

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

E. Dro. O villain, thou haft ftoll'n 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't 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?

E. Dro. Let my mafter in, Luce.

Luce. Faith no; he comes too late;

And to tell your master.

E. Dro. O Lord, I muft laugh

Have at you with a proverb.-Shall I fet in my staff?

2

Luce.

Luce. Have at you with another: that's, When? can you tell?

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

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

Luce. I thought to have ask❜d you.

S. Dro. And you faid, no.

1

E. Dro. So, come, help; well ftruck; there was blow for blow.

E. Ant. Thou baggage, let me in.
Luce. Can you tell for whofe fake?
E. Dro. Master, knock the door hard. "
Luce. Let him knock, 'till it ake.

E. Ant. You'll cry for this, minion, if I beat the door down.

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 noife?

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

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

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

door.

E. Dro. If you went in pain, mafter, this knave would go go fore.

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

Bal. In debating which was beft, we fhall have part with neither. +

-we shall have part with neither.] The reading was thus. -rwe shall part with neither.

Common fenfe requires us to read,

——we shall HAVE part with neither.`

WARB.

E. Dro.

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

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

E. Dro. You would fay fo, mafter, if your garments were thin.

Your cake here is warm within; you ftand here in the cold:

It would make a man mad as a buck to be fo bought and fold.

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

the gate.

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

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

Ay, and break it in your face, fo he break it not

behind.

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

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

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

E. Ant. Well, I'll break in; Go borrow me a

crow.

E. Dro. A crow without feather; mafter, mean

you fo?

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

feather;

If a crow help us in, firrah, we'll pluck a crow toge

ther. s

E. Ant.

we'll pluck a crow together, &c.] We find the fame quibble on a like occafion in one of the comedies of Plautus.

The children of quality among the Geeeks and Romans had ufually birds of different kinds given them for their amusement.

This