Ant. S. What, thou mean'st an officer?

Dro. S. Ay, sir, the serjeant 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 says, "God give you good rest!"

Ant. S. Well, sir, there rest in your foolery. Is there any ship puts forth to-night? may we be gone?

Dro. S. Why, sir, I brought you word an hour since, that the bark Expedition put forth to-night; and then were you hindered by the serjeant to tarry for the hoy Delay. Here are the angels that you sent for to deliver

you.

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

Some blessed power deliver us from hence!

Enter a Courtezan.

Cour. Well met, well met, master Antipholus.

I see, sir, you have found the goldsmith now:
Is that the chain, you promis'd me to-day?

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

Ant. S. It is the devil.

Dro. S. Nay, she is worse, she is the devil's dam; and here she comes in the habit of a light wench: and thereof comes that the wenches say, "God damn me," that's as much as to say, "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, sir. Will you go with me? we'll mend our dinner here. Dro. S. Master, if you do, expect spoon-meat, or bespeak a long spoon.

• Master, if you do, expect spoon-meat, or bespeak a long spoon.] For "or" we ought, perhaps, to read and: "you" has been supplied from the folio, 1632, which makes no other correction.

Ant. S. Why, Dromio?

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

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

supping?

Thou art, as you are all, a sorceress 7:

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, sir, and not trouble you.

Dro. S. Some devils ask but the parings of one's nail.

A rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin,

A nut, a cherry-stone ;

But she, more covetous, would have a chain.
Master, be wise: an if you give it her,

The devil will shake her chain, and fright us with it.
Cour. I pray you, sir, my ring, or else the chain.

I hope you do not mean to cheat me so.

Ant. S. Avaunt, thou witch! Come, Dromio, let us

go.

Dro. S. Fly pride, says the peacock: mistress, that you know. [Exeunt ANT. and DRO. Cour. Now, out of doubt, Antipholus is mad,

Else would he never so demean himself.

A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats,
And for the same he promis'd me a chain :
Both one and other he denies me now.
The reason that I gather he is mad,
Besides this present instance of his rage,
Is a mad tale he told to-day at dinner

Of his own doors being shut 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,

7 Thou art, as you ARE ALL, a sorceress :] Malone transposed the words "are all," and read all are.

And tell his wife, that, being lunatic,

He rush'd into my house, and took perforce
My ring away. This course I fittest choose,
For forty ducats is too much to lose.

[Exit.

SCENE IV.

The Same.

Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus, and a Jailor 3.

Ant. E. Fear me not, man; I will not break away: I'll give thee, ere I leave thee, so much money,

To warrant thee, as I am 'rested for.

My wife is in a wayward mood to-day,
And will not lightly trust the messenger:
That I should be attach'd in Ephesus,

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

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

Here comes my man: I think he brings the money.— How now, sir? have you that I sent you for?

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

all.

Ant. E. But where's the money?

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

Ant. E. And to that end, sir, I will welcome you.

Jail. Good sir, be patient.

[Beating him.

8 a Jailor.] This is the old stage-direction; and as Adriana and Antipholus subsequently call him so, there is reason for retaining it, instead of "an officer," as it stands in the modern editions.

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

Jail. Good now, hold thy tongue.

Dro. E. Nay, rather persuade him to hold his hands. Ant. E. Thou whoreson, senseless villain!

Dro. E. I would I were senseless, sir; that I might not feel your blows.

Ant. E. Thou art sensible in nothing but blows, and so is an ass.

Dro. E. I am an ass, indeed: you may prove it by my long ears. I have serv'd him from the hour of my nativity to this instant, and have nothing at his hands for my service, 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 sleep; rais'd with it, when I sit; driven out of doors with it, when I go from home; welcomed home with it, when I return nay, I bear it on my shoulders, as a beggar wont her brat; and, I think, when he hath lamed me, I shall beg with it from door to door.

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

Enter ADRIANA, LUCIANA, the Courtezan, and a Schoolmaster called PINCH.

Dro. E. Mistress, respice finem 10, respect your end; or rather the prophecy, like the parrot, "Beware the rope's end."

9

by my LONG EARS.] Meaning, probably, that his master had lengthened his ears by pulling them.

10 Mistress, RESPICE FINEM,] Shakespeare may have seen this familiar phrase in Ulpian Fulwell's excellent work" The First Parte of the Eighth Liberall Science," 1579, 4to. "Wherefore, gentle maister Philodoxus, I bid you adew, with this motion or caveat, Respice finem." It is to be observed that a marginal note is added in these words :-" All is well that ends well;" which may still farther connect the passage with Shakespeare.

1 — or rather the prophecy, like the parrot, Beware the rope's end.] In the comedy of "Englishmen for my Money," by W. Haughton, 1616, one of the characters exclaims, "An almond for a parrot a rope for a parrot ;" and the same words are to be found in Dekker's "Honest Where," A. i. sc. 12. The parrot's prophecy would seem to be, by crying "rope," to predict an infliction

Ant. E. Wilt thou still talk?

[Beats him.

Cour. How say you now? is not your husband mad?

Adr. His incivility confirms no less.—
Good doctor Pinch, you are a conjurer;
Establish him in his true sense again,

And I will please you what you will demand.
Luc. Alas, how fiery and how sharp he looks!
Cour. Mark, how he trembles in his ecstacy!

Pinch. Give me your hand, and let me feel your pulse.

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

And to thy state of darkness hie thee straight:

I conjure thee by all the saints in heaven.

Ant. E. Peace, doting wizard, peace! I am not mad.

Adr. O, that thou wert not, poor distressed soul! Ant. E. You minion, you; are these your customers? Did this companion with the saffron face

Revel and feast it at my house to-day,

Whilst upon me the guilty doors were shut,

And I denied to enter in my house?

Adr. O, husband, God doth know, you din'd at home;

Where 'would you had remain'd until this time,
Free from these slanders, and this open shame!

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

Dro. E. Sir, sooth to say, you did not dine at home. Ant. E. Were not my doors lock'd up, and I shut out?

to some person. Hudibras:

Warburton quotes the following lines very appositely from

"Could tell what subtlest parrots mean,

That speak and think contrary clean;

What member 'tis of whom they talk,

When they cry Rope, and Walk, knare, walk.”