235

Luc. Self-harming jealoufy!—fie, beat it hence.
ADR. Unfeeling fools can with fuch wrongs dif
pense.

I know his eye doth homage otherwhere;
Or elfe, what lets it but he would be here?
Sifter, you know, he promis'd me a chain ;—
Would that alone alone he would detain,'

ufed as a fubftantive, means not fomething offered to allure or attract, but fomething vitiated with ufe, fomething of which the beft part has been enjoyed and confumed. JOHNSON.

I believe my learned coadjutor mistakes the ufe of the word ftale on this occafion. "Stale to catch thefe thieves," in The Tempest, undoubtedly means a fraudulent bait. Here it feems to imply the fame as ftalking-harfe, pretence. I am, fays Adriana, but his pretended wife, the mask under which he covers his amours. K. John and Matilda, by Robert Davenport, 1655, the queen says to Matilda:

Again,

I am made your ftale,

"The king, the king your ftrumpet," &c.

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I knew I was made

"Aftale for her obtaining."

Again, in The Misfortunes of Arthur, 1587:

"Was I then chofe and wedded for his ftale,

"To looke and gape for his retireless fayles

"Puft back and flittering spread to every winde ?"

So, in

Again, in the old tranflation of the Menæchmi of Plautus, 1595, from whence, perhaps, Shakspeare borrowed the expreffion :

"He makes me a ftale and a laughing-ftock." STEEVENS. In Greene's Art of Coney-catching, 1592. A ftale is the confederate of a thief;" he that faceth the man, Again, in another place, wifhing all, of what eftate foever, to or holds him in difcourfe. beware of filthy luft, and fuch damnable ftales," &c. A fale in this last instance means the pretended wife of a cross-biter.

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Perhaps, however, ftale may here have the fame meaning as the French word chaperon. Poor I am but the cover for his infidelity,

COLLINS,

3 Would that alone alone he would detain,] The first copy reads: Would that alone a love, &c.

The correction was made in the fecond folio. MALONE.

So he would keep fair quarter with his bed!
I fee, the jewel, beft enamelled,

Will lofe his beauty; and though gold 'bides ftill,
That others touch, yet often touching will
Wear gold: and fo no man, that hath a name,
But falfhood and corruption doth it flame.+
Since that my beauty cannot please his eye,
I'll weep what's left away, and weeping die.
Luc. How many fond fools ferve mad jealoufy!

▲ I fee, the jewel, beft enamelled,

Will lofe kis ben; and though gold 'bides ftill,
That others touch, yet often touching will

Wear gold and so no man, that hath a name,

[Exeunt.

But falfbood and corruption doth it fhame.] The fenfe is this, Gold, indeed, will long bear the handling; however, often touching will wear even gold; juft fo the greatest character, though as pure as gold itfelf, may, in time, be injured, by the repeated attacks of talihood and corruption." WARBURTON.

Mr. Heath reads thus:

--yet the gold 'bides ftill,

That others touch, though often touching will
Wear gold: and fo a man that hath a name,

By falfhood and corruption doth it fbane. STEEVENS. This paffage in the original copy is very corrupt. It reads―― - yet the gold 'bides still

That others touch; and often touching will
Where gold; and no man, that hath a name
By falfhood &c.

The word though was fuggefted by Mr. Steevens; all the other emendations by Mr. Pope and Dr. Warburton. Wear is ufed as a diffyllable. The commentator laft mentioned, not perceiving this, reads and fo no man, &c. which has been followed, I think improperly, by the fubfequent editors.

The obfervation concerning gold is found in one of the early dramatick pieces, Damon and Pithias, 1582:

-gold in time does wear away,

"And other precious things do fade: friendship does ne'er decay." MALONE.

SCENE II.

The fame.

Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracufe.

ANT. S. The gold, I gave to Dromio, is laid up Safe at the Centaur; and the heedful flave Is wander'd forth, in care to feek me out. By computation, and mine hoft's report, I could not fpeak with Dromio, since at first I fent him from the mart: See, here he comes.

Enter DROMIO of Syracufe.

How now, fir? is your merry humour alter'd?
As you
love ftrokes, fo jeft with me again.
You know no Centaur? you receiv'd no gold?
Your mistress fent to have me home to dinner?
My house was at the Phoenix? Wast thou mad,
That thus fo madly thou didst answer me?

DRO. S. What anfwer, fir? when spake I such a word?

ANT. S. Even now, even here, not half an hour fince.

DRO. S. I did not fee you fince you fent me hence, Home to the Centaur, with the gold you gave me. ANT. S. Villain, thou didst deny the gold's receipt; And told❜ft me of a mistress, and a dinner; For which, I hope, thou felt'ft I was difpleas'd.

DRO. S. I am glad to fee you in this merry vein: What means this jeft? I pray you, mafter, tell me.

ANT. S. Yea, doft thou jeer, and flout me in the

Think'ft thou, I jeft? Hold, take thou that, and

that.

[beating him. DRO. S. Hold, fir, for God's fake: now your jeft is earnest:

Upon what bargain do you give it me?

ANT. S. Because that I familiarly fometimes
Do use you for my fool, and chat with you,
Your faucinefs will jeft upon my love,

And make a common of my serious hours.+
When the fun fhines, let foolish gnats make sport,
But creep in crannies, when he hides his beams.
If you will jeft with me, know my aspéct,'
And fashion your demeanour to my looks,
Or I will beat this method in your fconce.

DRO. S. Sconce, call you it? fo you would leave battering, I had rather have it a head: an you use thefe blows long, I muft get a fconce for my head, and infconce it too; or elfe I fhall feek my wit in my shoulders. But, I pray, fir, why am I beaten? ANT. S. Doft thou not know?

6

DRO. S. Nothing, fir; but that I am beaten.
ANT. S. Shall I tell you why?

DRO. S. Ay, fir, and wherefore; for, they fay, every why hath a wherefore.

4 And make a common of my ferious hours.] i. e. intrude on them when you please. The allufion is to those tracts of ground destined to common ufe, which are thence called commons. STEEVENS.

6

know my afpe&t,] i.. e.

e. ftudy my countenance. STEEVENS. - and infconce it too ;] A fconce was a petty fortification. So, in Orlando Furiofo, 1599:

Again:

Again:

"Let us to our fconce, and you my lord of Mexico."

Ay, firs, enfconce you how you can."

"And here enfonce myself, defpite of thee." STEEVENS.

ANT. S. Why, firft,-for flouting me; and then, wherefore,

For urging it the fecond time to me.

DRO. S. Was there ever any man thus beaten out of feafon?

When, in the why, and the wherefore, is neither rhyme nor reason ?—

Well, fir, I thank you.

ANT. S. Thank me, fir? for what?

DRO. S. Marry, fir, for this fomething that you gave me for nothing.

ANT. S. I'll make you amends next," to give you. nothing for fomething. But fay, fir, is it dinnertime?

DRO. S. No, fir; I think, the meat wants that I have.

ANT. S. In good time, fir, what's that?

DRO. S. Bafting.

ANT. S. Well, fir, then 'twill be dry.

DRO. S. If it be, fir, I pray you eat none of it. ANT. S. Your reafon?

DRO. S. Left it make you cholerick, and purchase me another dry basting.

ANT. S. Well, fir, learn to jeft in good time; There's a time for all things.

DRO. S. I durft have denied that, before you were fo cholerick.

7 next,] Our author probably wrote-next time.

MALONE.

Left it make you cholerick, &c.] So, in The Taming the Shrew:
"I tell thee Kate, 'twas burnt and dried away,
"And I exprefsly am forbid to touch it,
"For it engenders choler, planteth anger," &c.