Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

reft to do more exploits with his mace than a morris pike.

S. Ant. What! thou mean'ft an officer?

S. Dro. Ay, fir, the ferjeant of the band; he, that brings any man to answer it, that breaks his band; one that thinks a man always going to bed, and faith, God give you good reft!

S. Ant. Well, fir, there reft in your foolery. Is there any fhip puts forth to-night, may we be gone? S. Dro. Why, fir, I brought you word an hour fince, that the bark Expedition puts forth to-night; and then were you hindered by the ferjeant, to tarry

fire-arms to be of an extraordinary length. As the artists improved the ftrength of their powder, the foldiers proportionably fhortned their arms and artillery; fo that the cannon which Froiffart tells us was once fifty feet long, was contracted to less than ten. This proportion likewife held in their mufkets; fo that, till the middle of the last century, the musketeers always fupported their pieces when they gave fire, with a reft ftuck before them into the ground, which they called fetting up their reft, and is here alluded to. There is another quibbling allufion too to the ferjeant's office of arrefting But what most wants animadverfion is the morris-pike, which is without meaning, impertinent to the fenfe, and false in the allufion; no pike being used amongst the dancers fo called, or at least not fam'd for much execution. In a word, Shakespeare wrote,

a MAURICE-pike.

i. e. a pikeman of prince Maurice's army. He was the greatest general of that age, and the conductor of the Low-country wars against Spain, under whom all the English gentry and nobility were bred to the fervice. Being frequently overborne with numbers, he became famous for his fine retreats, in which a stand of pikes is of great fervice. Hence the pikes of his army became famous for their military exploits. WARBURTON.

This conjecture is very ingenious, yet the commentator talks unneceffarily of the rest of a musket, by which he makes the hero of the fpeech fet up the reft of a musket, to do exploits with a pike. The ref of a pike was a common term, and fignified, I believe, the manner in which it was fixed to receive the ruth of the enemy. A morris-pike was a pike used in a morris or a military dance, and with which great exploits were done, that is, great feats of dexte rity were fhewn, There is no need of change. JOHNSON.

[blocks in formation]

for the hoy Delay: Here are the angels that you fent for, to deliver you.

S. Ant. The fellow is distract, and so am I, And here we wander in illufions:

Some bleffed power deliver us from hence!

Enter a Courtezan.

Cour. Well met, well met, mafter Antipholis.
I fee, fir, you have found the goldsmith now:
Is that the chain, you promis'd me to-day?

S. Ant. Satan, avoid! I charge thee, tempt me not,
S. Dro. Mafter, is this miftrefs Satan?

S. Ant. It is the devil.

S. Lro. Nay, fhe is worfe, fhe's the devil's dam; and here fhe comes in the habit of a light wench: and therefore comes, that the wenches fay, God damn me, that's as much as to fay, God make me a light wench. It is written, they appear to men like angels of light; light is an effect of fire, and fire will burn; ergo, light wenches will burn: Come not near her.

Cour. Your man and you are marvellous merry, fir, Will you go with me; we'll mend our dinner here? S. Dio. Mafter, if you do expect fpoon-meat, befpeak a long fpoon.

S. Ant. Why, Dromio?

S. Dro. Marry, he muft have a long spoon, that muft eat with the devil.

S. Ant. Avoid then, fiend! what tell'st thou me of
fupping?

Thou art, as you are all, a forceress :

I conjure thee to leave me, and be gone.

Cour. Give me the ring of mine you had at dinner,
Or, for my diamond, the chain you promis'd,
And I'll be gone, fir, and not trouble you.

S. Dro. Some devils afk but the paring of one's nail, a rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin, a nut, a cherry ftone: but fhe, more covetous, would have a

8

chain.

[ocr errors]

chain. Master, be wife; an' if you give it her, the devil will shake her chain, and fright us with it.

Cour. I pray you, fir, my ring, or else the chain; I hope, you do not mean to cheat me fo?

S. Ant. Avaunt, thou witch! come Dromio, let us go.

S. Dro. Fly pride, fays the peacock; Mistress, that you know. [Exeunt Ant. and Dro. Cour. Now, out of doubt, Antipholis is mad, Elfe would he never fo demean himself. A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats, And for the fame he promis'd me a chain: Both one, and other, he denies me now. The reason, that I gather, he is mad, (Befides this prefent inftance of his rage)" Is a mad tale he told to-day at dinner,

Of his own doors being fhut against his entrance.
Belike, his wife, acquainted with his fits,
On purpose shut the doors against his way.
My way is now to hie home to his houfe,
And tell his wife, that, being lunatick,
He rush'd into my houfe, and took perforce
My ring away. This courfe I fitteft chufe;
For forty ducats is too much to lofe.

SCENE IV.

THE STREET.

Enter Antipholis of Ephefus, with a Failor.

[Exit.

E. Ant. Fear me not, man, I will not break away; I'll give thee, ere I leave thee, fo much money, To warrant thee, as I am 'refted for. My wife is in a wayward mood to-day; And will not lightly truft the meffenger. That I should be attach'd in Ephefus,

I tell you, 'twill found harthly in her ears.

[ocr errors]

04

Enter

Enter Dromio of Ephesus with a rope's-end.

Here comes my man; I think, he brings the money. How now, fir, have you that I fent you for?

E. Dro. Here's that, I warrant you will pay them

all.

E. Ant. But where's the money?

E. Dro. Why, fir, I gave the money for the rope. E. Ant. Five hundred ducats, villain, for a rope? E. Dro. I'll ferve you, fir, five hundred at the rate. E. Ant. To what end. did I bid thee hie thee home? E. Dro. To a rope's end, fir; and to that end am I return'd.

E. Ant. And to that end, fir, I will welcome you. [Beats Dromio.

Offi. Good fir, be patient.

E. Dro. Nay, 'tis for me to be patient; I am in adverfity.

Offi. Good now, hold thy tongue.

E. Dro. Nay, rather perfuade him to hold his hands.

E. Ant. Thou whorfon, fenfelefs villain!

E. Dro. I would I were fenfelefs, fir, that I might not feel your blows.

E. Ant. Thou art fenfible in nothing but blows, and fo is an afs.

E. Dro. I am an afs, indeed; you may prove it by my long ears. I have ferv'd him from the hour of my nativity to this inftant, and have nothing at his hands for my fervice, but blows. When I am cold, he heats me with beating; when I am warm, he cools me with beating: I am wak'd with it, when I fleep; rais'd with it, when I fit; driven out of doors with it, when I go from home; welcom'd home with it, when I return: nay, I bear it on my shoulders, as a beggar

[blocks in formation]

wont her brat; and, I think, when he hath lam'd me, I fhall beg with it from door to door.

Enter Adriana, Luciana, Courtezan, and Pinch.

E. Ant. Come, go along; my wife is coming yonder.

[ocr errors]

E. Dro. Miftrefs, refpice finem, refpect your end; or rather the prophecy, like the parrot, Beware the rope's end.

E. Ant. Wilt thou ftill talk?

[Beats Dromio, Cour. How fay you now? is not your hufband

mad?.

Adr. His incivility confirms no lefs.

Good doctor Pinch, you are a conjuror;
Eftablish him in his true fense again,

And I will pleafe you what you will demand.
Luc. Alas, how fiery and how sharp he looks!
Cour. Mark, how he trembles in his ecftacy!
Pinch. Give me your hand, and let me feel your
pulfe.

E. Ant. There is my hand, and let it feel your ear. Pinch. I charge thee, Satan, hous'd within this man, Toyield poffeffion to my holy prayers,

2 Miftrefs, refpice finem, refped your end; or rather the prophecy, like the parrot, Beware the rope's end.] Thefe words feem to allude to a famous pamphlet of that time, wrote by Buchanan against the lord of Liddington; which ends with thefe words, Refpice finem, refpice funem. But to what purpofe, unless our author would fhew that he could quibble as well in English, as the other in Latin, I confefs I know not. As for prophefing like the parrot, this alludes to people's teaching that bird unlucky words; with which, when any paffenger was offended, it was the ftanding joke of the wife owner to fay, Take heed, fir, my parrot prophefies. To this, Butler hints, where, fpeaking of Ralpho's kill in augury, he fays,

Could tell what fubilift parrots mean,
That Speak and think contrary clean;
What member 'tis of whom they talk,

When they cry ROPE, and walk, knave, walk.

WARBURTON.

And

« PředchozíPokračovat »