Dro. E. My charge was but to fetch you from

the mart

Home to your house, the Phoenix, sir, to dinner;
My mistress, and her sister, stay for you.

Ant. S. Now, as I am a christian, answer me,
In what safe place you have bestow'd my money;
Or I shall break that merry sconce of yours,
That stands on tricks when I am undispos'd:
Where is the thousand marks thou hadst of me?
Dro. E. I have some marks of yours upon my pate,
Some of
my mistress' marks upon my shoulders,
But not a thousand marks between you both.-
If I should pay your worship those again,
Perchance, you will not bear them patiently.

Ant. S. Thy mistress' marks! what mistress, slave, hast thou?

Dro. E. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the
Phoenix;

She that doth fast, 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, sir knave.
[Strikes him.

Dro. E. What mean you, sir? for God's sake,
hold your hands;

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

[Exit DROMIO. E. Ant. S. Upon my life, by some device or other, The villain is o'er-raught of all my money. They say, this town is full of cozenage3:

6 Sconce is head. So in Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 1 :-'Why does he suffer this rude knave to knock him about the sconce.' A sconce signified a blockhouse, or strong fortification, for the most part round, in fashion of a head,' says Blount. I suppose that it was anciently used for a lantern also, on account of the round form of that implement.

7 i. e. overreached.

8 This was the character which the ancients gave of it. 'Epɛola αλεξιφαρμακα was proverbial among them. Thus Menander

As, nimble jugglers, that deceive the eye;
Dark-working sorcerers, that change the mind;
Soul-killing witches, that deform the body;
Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks,
such like liberties of sin 9:

And many
If it prove so, I will be gone the sooner.
I'll to the Centaur, to go seek this slave;
I greatly fear my money is not safe.

[Exit.

ACT II.

SCENE I. A publick Place.

Enter ADRIANA, and LUCIANA.

Adr. Neither my husband, nor the slave return'd, That in such haste I sent to seek his master!

Sure, Luciana, it is two o'clock.

Luc. Perhaps, some merchant hath invited him, And from the mart he's somewhere gone to dinner; Good sister, let us dine, and never fret :

A man is master of his liberty:

Time is their master; and, when they see time,
They'll go, or come: If so, be patient, sister.

Adr. Why should their liberty than ours be more?
Luc. Because their business still lies out o'door.
Adr. Look, when I serve him so,
Luc. O, know, he is the bridle of

he takes it ill.
your will.
Adr. There's none, but asses, will be bridled so.
Luc. Why, headstrong liberty is lash'd with woe1.

uses Εφεσια γράμματα in the same sense. The hint for the enumeration of cheats, &c. Shakspeare might have received from the Menæchmi, published in English in 1595.

9 That is licentious actions, sinful liberties.

1 The meaning of this passage may be, that those who refuse the bridle must bear the lash, and that woe is the punishment of headstrong liberty.

There's nothing, situate under Heaven's eye,
But hath his bound, in earth, in sea, in sky:
The beasts, the fishes, and the winged fowls,
Are their males' subjects, and at their controls:
Men, more divine, the masters of all these,
Lords of the wide world, and wild watry seas,
Indued with intellectual sense and souls,
Of more pre-eminence than fish and fowls,
Are masters to their females, and their lords:
Then let your will attend on their accords.

Adr. This servitude makes you to keep unwed.
Luc. Not this, but troubles of the marriage bed.
Adr. But, were you wedded, you would bear
some sway.

Luc. Ere I learn love, I'll practise to obey.
Adr. How if your husband start some other where??
Luc. Till he come home again, I would forbear.
Adr. Patience, unmov'd, no marvel though she
pause3;

They can be meek, that have no other cause*.
A wretched soul, bruis'd with adversity,
We bid be quiet, when we hear it cry;

But were we burden'd with like weight of pain,
As much, or more, we should ourselves complain :
So thou, that hast no unkind mate to grieve thee,
With urging helpless patience would'st relieve me:
But, if thou live to see like right bereft,

This fool-begg'd patience in thee will be left.

2 Elsewhere, other where; in another place, alibi,' says Baret. The sense is, How if your husband fly off in pursuit of some other woman?'

3 To pause is to rest, to be quiet.

4 i. e. no cause to be otherwise.

5 That is, by urging me to patience which affords no help. So in Venus and Adonis:

As those poor birds that helpless berries saw.'

6 Fool-begg'd patience' is that patience which is so near to idiotical simplicity, that you might be represented to be a fool, and your guardianship begg'd accordingly.

Luc. Well, I will marry one day, but to try ;Here comes your man, now is your husband nigh.

Enter DROMIO of Ephesus.

Adr. Say, is your tardy master now at hand? Dro. E. Nay, he is at two hands with me, and that my two ears can witness.

Adr. Say, didst thou speak with him? know'st thou his mind?

Dro. E. Ay, ay, he told his mind upon mine ear: Beshrew his hand, I scarce could understand it.

Luc. Spake he so doubtfully, thou could'st not feel his meaning?

Dro. E. Nay, he struck so plainly, I could too well feel his blows; and withal so doubtfully, that I could scarce understand them.

Adr. But say, I pr'ythee, is he coming home? It seems he hath great care to please his wife. Dro.E. Why,mistress, sure my master is horn-mad. Adr. Horn-mad, thou villain?

Dro. E. I mean not cuckold-mad; but, sure, he's stark mad;

When I desir'd him to come home to dinner,
He ask'd me for a thousand marks in gold:
'Tis dinner-time, quoth I; My gold, quoth he:
Your meat doth burn, quoth I; My gold, quoth he:
Will you come home? quoth I; My gold, quoth he:
Where is the thousand marks I gave thee, villain?
The pig, quoth I, is burn'd; My gold, quoth he:
My mistress, sir, quoth I; Hang up thy mistress ;
I know not thy mistress; out on thy mistress?!

7 i. e. scarce stand under them. This quibble is repeated in the Two Gentlemen of Verona:

My staff understands me.'

8 Home is not in the old copy: it was supplied to complete the verse by Capell.

9 We have an equally unmetrical line in the first Act:

'Therefore, merchant, I'll limit thee this day.'

Luc. Quoth who?

Dro. E. Quoth my master:

I know, quoth he, no house, no wife, no mistress;-
So that my errand, due unto my tongue,

I thank him, I bear home upon my shoulders;
For, in conclusion, he did beat me there.

Adr. Go back again, thou slave, and fetch him home.

Dro. E. Go back again, and be new beaten home? For God's sake, send some other messenger.

Adr. Back, slave, or I will break thy pate across. Dro. E. And he will bless that cross with other beating:

Between you I shall have a holy head.

Adr. Hence, prating peasant; fetch thy master home.

Dro. E. Am I so round 10 with you, as you with me, That like a football you do spurn me thus? You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither: If I last in this service, you must case me in leather. [Exit. Luc. Fie, how impatience loureth in your face! Adr. His company must do his minions grace, Whilst I at home starve for a merry look 11. Hath homely age the alluring beauty took From my poor cheek? then he hath wasted it: Are my discourses dull? barren my wit? If voluble and sharp discourse be marr'd, Unkindness blunts it, more than marble hard.

10 He plays upon the word round, which signifies spherical, as applied to himself; and unrestrained, or free in speech or action, as regards his mistress. The King in Hamlet desires the Queen to be round with her son.

11 So in Shakspeare's Sonnets, the forty-seventh and seventyfifth:

'When that mine eye is famish'd for a look.' 'Sometimes all full with feeding on his sight, And by and by clean starved for a look.'