SCENE II.

A publick Place.

Enter ANTIPHOLUS and DROMIO of Syracufe, and a Merchant.

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 weft.

There is your money that I had to keep.

ANT. S. Go bear it to the Centaur, where we hoft, And stay there, Dromio, till I come to thee. Within this hour it will be dinnertime:

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

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[Exit DRO. S. ANT. S. 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, A trusty villain, ] i. e. fervant.

DOUCE.

the

mart,

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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
And afterwards confort you till bed-time;
My present business calls me from you now.
ANT. S. Farewell till then: I will go lofe myself,
And wander up and down, to view the city.
MER. Sir, I commend you to your own content.
[Exit Merchant.

ANT. S. He that commends me to mine own con

tent,

Commends me to the thing I cannot get
1 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 1, 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 now? How chance, thou art return'd fo foon? DRO. E. Return'd fo foon! rather approach'd too late:

And afterwards confort you till bed-time; ] We should read, I believe,

And afterwards confort with you till bed-time.

So, in Romeo and Juliet:

"Mercutio, thou confort'ft with Romeo. MALONE. There is no need of emendation. The old reading is fupported by the following paffage in Love's Labour's Loft, Ad. II. fc. i. Sweet health and fair defires confort your grace."

Again, in Romeo and Juliet:

"Thou wretched boy, that didft confort him here-."

STEEVENS,

The capon burns, the pig falls from the fpit;
The clock hath 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 ftomach;
You have no ftomach, having broke your faft;
But we, that know what 'tis to faft and pray,
Are penitent for your default to-day.

ANT. S. Stop in your wind, fir; tell me this, I

pray;

Where have you left the money that I gave you? DRO. E. O,-fix-pence, that I had o'Wednesday

laft,

To pay the faddler for my miftrefs' crupper;The faddler had it, fir, I kept it not.

ANT. S. I am not in a sportive humour now; Tell me, and dally not, where is the money? We being ftrangers here, how dar'ft thou truft So great a charge from thine own cuflody?

DRO. E. I pray you, jeft, fir, as you fit at dinner: I from my miftrefs come to you in poft; If I return, I fhall be poft indeed;

For she will score your fault upon my pate,

9 I fhall be poft indeed;

9

For he will Score your fault upon my pate.] Perhaps before writing was a general accomplishment, a kind of rough reckoning concerning wares issued out of a shop, was kept by chack or notches on a pot, till it could be entered on the books of a trader. Kitely the merchant making his jealous enquiries concerning the familiarities ufed to his wife, Cob anfwers:——

66

So

if I saw any body to be kiss'd, unless they would have kifs'd the poft in the middle of the warehouse," &c. STEEVENS. So, in Every Woman in her Humour, 1609: " Hoft. Out of my doors, knave, thou entereft not my doors; I have no chalk in my house; my posts shall not be guarded with a little fing-song."

MALONE,

Methinks, your maw, like mine, fhould be your

clock,

And ftrike you home without a messenger.

ANT. S. 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?
DRO. E. To me, fir? why you gave no gold to

me.

ANT. S. Come on, fir knave, have done your foolishness,

And tell me, how thou haft difpos'd thy charge. DRO. E. My charge was but to fetch you from

the mart'

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

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ANT. S. Now, as I am a chriftian, answer me, In what safe place you have beftow'd my money; Or I fhall break that merry fconce of yours, That ftands on tricks when I am undifpos'd: Where is the thousand marks thou hadft of me? DRO. E. I have fome marks of yours upon my

pate,

Some of my miftrefs' marks upón my fhoulders, But not a thousand marks between you both.— If I should pay your worship those again,

Methinks, your maw, like mine, fhould be your clock,] The old copy reads "your cook.' Mr. Pope made the change. MALONE.

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11

that merry Sconce of yours,] Sconce is head. So, in Hamlet, A& V: "- why does he fuffer this rude knave now to knock him about the sconce?”

Again, in Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks, 1611:

Perchance, you will not bear them patiently. ANT. S. Thy mistress' marks! what mistress, flave, haft thou?

DRO. E. Your worship's wife, my miflrefs at the Phoenix;

She that doth faft, till you come home to dinner, And prays, that you will hie you home to dinner. ANT. S. What, wilt thou flout me thus unto my

face,

Being forbid? There, take you that, fir knave. DRO. E. What mean you, fir? for God's fake, hold your hands;

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

5

[Exit DROMIO. E. ANT. S. Upon my life, by fome device or other, The villain is o'er-raught of all my money. They say, 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;

4 o'er-raught] That is over-reached. JOHNSON. So, in Hamlet:

certain players

"We o'er-raught on the way.'

"

Again, in Spenser's Faery Queen, B. VI. c. iii:

"6 Having by chance a clofe advantage view'd,
"He over-raught him, &c. STEEVENS.

6

They fay, this town is full of cozenage; ] This was the charader the ancients give of it. Hence Εφέσια αλεξιφάρμακα was proverbial amongst them. Thus Menander ufes it, and 'Epecia'y paμuala, in the fame fenfe. WARBURTON.

6 As, nimble jugglers, that deceive the eye,

Dark-working forcerers, that change the mind,

Soul-killing witches, that deform the body; Thofe, who atten tively confider these three lines, must confess, that the poet intended the epithet given to each of these mifcreauts, fhould declare the power by which they perform their feats, and which would there