A cherry-ftone; but fhe, more covetous,
Would have a chain.

Mafter, 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 [Exeunt. Ant. and Dro.

know.

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,
(Besides 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 house,
And tell his wife, that, being lunatic,
He rush'd into my house, and took perforce
My ring away: This course I fittest chuse;
For forty ducats is too much to lofe,

SCENE IV.

The Street.

Enter Antipholis of Ephefus, with a Jailor.

[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

My wife is in a wayward mood to-day;
And will not lightly truft the messenger,
That I fhould be attach'd in Ephefus:

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

Enter Dromio of Ephefus 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
E. Ant. But where's the money?

pay them all.

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.

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

fity.

Offi. Good now, hold thy tongue.

E. Dro. Nay, rather persuade him to hold his hands.
E. Ant. Thou whorefon, fenfeless 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 ass, 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; dri

ven out of doors with it, when I go from home; welcom'd home with it, when I return: nay, I bear it on my fhoulders, as a beggar wont her brat; and, I think, when he hath lam'd me, I fhall beg with it from door to door.

Enter Adriana, Luciana, and the Courtezan, with a schoolmafter called Pinch, and others.

E. Ant. Come, go along; my wife is coming yonder. E. Dro. Mistress, refpice finem, refpect your end; or rather the prophecy, like the parrot, Beware the rope's end. E. Ant. Wilt thou ftill talk? [Beats Dromie. Cour. How fay you now? is not your husband mad? Adr. His incivility confirms no lefs.

P

Good doctor Pinch, you are a conjurer;

Establish him in his true fenfe again,

And I will please you what you will demand.

Luc. Alas, how fiery and how fharp 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, To yield poffeffion to my holy prayers,

And to thy state of darkness hie thee strait;

I conjure thee by all the faints in heaven.

E. Ant. Peace, doting wizard, peace; I am not mad. Adr. Oh, that thou wert not, poor diftreffed foul! E. Ant. You minion, you, are these your customers? Did this companion with the faffron face

Revel and feast it at my houfe to day,

the prophecy, I'll prophefy-when the owners had taught their parrots fome fuch unlucky phrafe as "a rope, a rope," they wittily termed the use of it a prophecy.

a trembles,]

Pa conjurer ;]-in fome villages the school-mafter is ftill deemed one. "I know it by thy trembling." TEMPEST, A&t II, S. 2. Cal.

Whilft upon me the guilty doors were shut,

And I deny'd to enter in my house?

Adr. Oh, husband, God doth know, you din'd at home, Where 'would you had remain'd until this time, Free from these flanders, and this open shame!

E. Ant. I din'd at home! Thou villain, what say'st
thou?

E. Dro. Sir, footh to fay, you did not dine at home.
E. Ant. Were not my doors lock'd up, and I fhut out?
E. Dro. Perdy, your doors were lock'd, and you shut out.
E. Ant. And did not fhe herself revile me there?
E. Dro. Sans fable, fhe herself revil'd you there.

E. Ant. Did not her kitchen-maid rail, taunt, and scorn
me?

E. Dro. Certes, fhe did; the kitchen-vestal scorn'd E. Ant. And did not I in rage depart from thence? E. Dro. In verity, you did; my bones bear witness, That fince have felt the vigour of his rage.

Adr. Is't good to footh him in these contraries? Pinch. It is no shame; the fellow finds his vein, And, yielding to him, humours well his frenzy.

you.

E. Ant. Thou haft fuborn'd the goldsmith to arrest me. Adr. Alas, I fent you money to redeem you,

By Dromio here, who came in hafte for it.

E. Dro. Money by me? heart and good-will you might, But, furely, mafter, not a rag of money.

E. Ant. Went'ft not thou to her for a purse of ducats? Adr. He came to me, and I deliver'd it.

Luc. And I am witnefs with her, that fhe did.

E. Dro. God and the rope-maker bear me witness, That I was fent for nothing but a rope!

Pinch. Miftrefs, both man and mafter is poffefs'd;
I know it by their pale and deadly looks:

They must be bound, and laid in fome dark room.
VOL. I.

Ee

E. Ant.

E. Ant. Say, wherefore didft thou lock me forth to-day, And why dost thou deny the bag of gold?

Adr. I did not, gentle husband, lock thee forth.
E. Dro. And, gentle mafter, I receiv'd no gold;
But I confefs, fir, that we were lock'd out.

Adr. Diffembling villain, thou fpeak'ft falfe in both.
E. Ant. Diffembling harlot, thou art false in all;
And art confederate with a damned pack,
To make a loathsome abject scorn of me:
But with these nails I'll pluck out thefe falfe eyes,
That would behold me in this shameful sport.

Enter three or four, and offer to bind him: be ftrives.
Adr. Oh, bind him, bind him, let him not come near me.
Pinch. More company;-the fiend is ftrong within him.
Luc. Ay me, poor man, how pale and wan he looks!
E. Ant. What, will you murder me? Thou jailor, thou,
I am thy prifoner; wilt thou fuffer them

To make a rescue?

Offi. Masters, let him go :

He is my prifoner, and you fhall not have him.
"Pinch. Go, bind this man, for he is frantick too.
Adr. What wilt thou do, thou ' peevish officer?
Haft thou delight to see a wretched man
Do outrage and displeasure to himself?

Offi. He is my prisoner; if I let him go,
The debt he owes, will be requir'd of me.
Adr. I will discharge thee, ere I go from thee:
Bear me forthwith unto his creditor,

[They bind Antipholis and Dromio. And, knowing how the debt 'grows, I will pay it.

Good master doctor, fee him fate convey'd

Home to my house.-Oh, most unhappy day!

t

E. Ant. Oh, moft unhappy ftrumpet!

* peevish]-stupid. $ grows,]-arifes.

unhappy-mifchievous. E. Dro.