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Might bear him company in quest of him:
Whom whilft I labour'd of a love to fee,
I hazarded the lofs of whom I lov'd.
Five summers have I spent in fartheft Greece,
Roaming clean through the bounds of Afia,
And, coasting homeward, came to Ephefus:
Hopeless to find, yet loath to leave unfought
Or that, or any place that harbours men.
But here muft end the ftory of my life;
And happy were I in my timely death,
Could all my travels warrant me they live.

Duke. Haplefs Egeon, whom the fates have mark'd
To bear th' extremity of dire mifhap!

Now, trust me, were it not against our laws,
Which princes, would they, may not disannul,
Against my crown, my oath, my dignity,
My foul fhould fue as advocate for thee.
But, though thou art adjudged to the death,
And paffed fentence may not be recall'd,
But to our honour's great difparagement,
Yet will I favour thee in what I can;
I therefore, merchant, limit thee this day
To feek thy life by beneficial help:
Try all thy friends thou haft in Ephefus,
Beg thou, or borrow, to make up the fum,
And live; if not, then thou art doom'd to die:
Jailer, now take him to thy cuftody.

Jail. I will, my lord.

Egeon. Hopeless and helplefs doth Egeon wend, But to procraftinate his livelefs end.

[Exeunt.

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SCENE II.

The Street.

Enter Antipholis of Syracufe, a Merchant, and Dromio. Mer. HEREFORE give out, you are of Epidamnum, Left that your goods too foon be confifcate.

T

This very day a Syracufan merchant

Is apprehended for arrival here;

And, not being able to buy out his life,
According to the statute of the town,
Dies ere the weary fun fet in the west:
There is your money that I had to keep.

Ant. Go, bear it to the centaur, where we hoft,
And stay there, Dromio, 'till I come to thee:
Within this hour it will be dinner-time,
"Till that I'll view the manners of the town,
Peruse 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. Many a man would take you at your word,
And go indeed, having fo good a means.

Ant. A trusty 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 the inn, and dine with me?

Mer. I am invited, fir, to certain merchants,
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 the mart,
And afterward confort with you 'till bed-time:
My present business calls me from you now.

[Exit Dromio.

Ant.

Ant. Farewel '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. [Ex. Mer.

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Ant. He that commends me to mine own content,
Commends me to the thing I cannot get.
I 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 I, to find a mother and a brother,
In queft of them, unhappy, lose myself.

Enter Dromio of Ephefus.

Here comes the almanack of my true date.

What now? how chance thou art return'd fo foon?

E. Dro. Return'd fo foon! rather approach'd too late:

The capon burns, the pig falls from the fpit,
The clock has 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 fast :
But we that know what 'tis to faft and pray,
Are penitent for your default to-day.

Ant. Stop in your wind, fir; tell me this, I pray,
Where you have left the money that I gave you?
E. Dro. O, fix pence that I had o' wednesday last,
To pay the fadler for my mistress' crupper?
The fadler had it, fir; I kept it not.

Ant. I am not in a sportive humour now;
Tell me, and dally not, where is the money?
We being strangers here, how dar'st thou trust

So,

So great a charge from thine own custody?

Ē. Dro. I pray you, jeft, fir, as you fit at dinner : I from my mistress come to you in post;

If I return, I fhall be poft indeed;

For she will score your fault upon my pate:

Methinks, your maw, like mine, fhould be your clock,
And strike you home without a meffenger.

Ant. Come, Dromio, come, these jefts are out of season; Reserve them 'till a merrier hour than this:

Where is the gold I gave in charge to thee?

E. Dro. To me, fir? why, you gave no gold to me.
Ant. Come on, fir knave, have done
your foolishness,
And tell me how thou haft difpos'd thy charge.

E. Dro. My charge was but to fetch you from the mart
Home to your houfe, the phoenix, fir, to dinner;

My mistress and her sister stay for you.

Ant. Now, as I am a chriftian, anfwer me,
In what fafe place you have beftow'd my money;
Or I fhall break that merry sconce of yours,
That stands on tricks when I am undifpos'd:
Where are the thousand marks thou hadft of me?

E. Dro. I have fome 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 thofe again,

Perchance, you will not bear them patiently.

Ant. Thy miftrefs' marks? what miftrefs, flave, haft thou? E. Dro. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the phœnix; She that doth fast 'till you come home to dinner;

And

will hie you

you

home to dinner.

prays that Ant. What, wilt thou flout me thus unto my face, Being forbid? there, take you that, fir knave.

[Ex. Dromio.

E. Dro. What mean you, fir? for god's fake, hold your hands; Nay, an you will not, fir, I'll take my heels. Ant. Upon my life, by fome device or other, The villain is o'er-raught of all my money.

They

They say, this town is full of cozenage;
As, nimble juglers, that deceive the eye;
Dark-working forcerers, that change the mind;
Soul-felling witches, that deform the body;
Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks,
And many fuch like libertines of fin:
If it prove fo, I will be gone the fooner.
I'll to the centaur, to go feek this flave;
I greatly fear my money is not fafe.

[Exit.

N

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EITHER my husband, nor the slave return'd,
That in fuch hafte I sent to feek his master!

Sure, Luciana, it is two o'clock.

Luc. Perhaps, fome merchant hath invited him, And from the mart he's fomewhere gone to dinner: Good fifter, let us dine, and never fret.

A man is mafter of his liberty:

Time is their mafter, and, when they see time,
They'll go, or come; if fo, be patient, sister.

Adr. Why should their liberty than ours be more?
Luc. Because their business still lyes out o' door.
Adr. Look, when I ferve him fo, he takes it ill.
Luc. O, know, he is the bridle of your will.
Adr. There's none but affes will be bridled fo.
Luc. Why, head-ftrong liberty is lash'd with wo.
There's nothing fituate under heav'n's eye,
But hath its bound in earth, in fea, and sky:

The

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