Page images
PDF
EPUB

S. Ant. Thy fifter's fifter.

Luc. That's my sister.
S. Ant. No;

It is thyfelf, mine own felf's better part;
Mine eye's clear eye, my dear heart's dearer heart;
My food, my fortune, and my fweet hope's aim,
My fole earth's heaven, and my heaven's claim.
Luc. All this my fifter is, or else fhould be.
Ant. Call thyfelf fifter, fweet, for I mean thee:
Thee will I love, and with thee lead my life;
Thou haft no husband yet, nor I no wife :
Give me thy hand.

Luc. Oh, foft, fir, hold you ftill;

I'll fetch my fifter, to get her good-will.

[Exit LUCIANA.

Enter DROMIO of Syracufe.

Dromio where run'ft

S. Ant. Why, how now,

thou fo faft?

S. Dro. Do you know me, fir? am I Dromio? am I your man? am I myself?

S. Ant. Thou art Dromio, thou art my man, thou art thyself.

S. Dro. I am an ass, I am a woman's man, and befides myself.

S. Ant. What woman's man? and how befides thyfelf.

S. Dro. Marry, fir, befides myself, I am due to a woman; one that claims me, one that haunts me, one that will have me.

S. Ant. What claim lays fhe to thee?

S. Dro. Marry, fir, fuch a claim as you would lay to your horfe; and fhe would have me as a beast: not that, I being a beast, she would have

me

me;

but that she, being a very beaftly creature, lays claim to me.

S. Ant. What is fhe?

S. Dro. A very reverent body; ay, fuch a one as a man may not fpeak of, without he fay, fir-reve rence: I have but lean luck in the match, and ye is fhe a wondrous fat marriage.

S. Ant. How doft thou mean, a fat marriage? S. Dro. Marry, fir, fhe's the kitchen-wench, and all grease; and I know not what use to put her to but to make a lamp of her, and run from her by her own light. I warrant, her rags, and the tal low in them, will burn a Poland winter: if fhe lives 'till doomsday, fhe'll burn a week longer than the whole world.

S. Ant. What complexion is fhe of?

S. Dro. Swart like my fhoe, but her face nothing like fo clean kept; For why? fhe fweats, a man may go over fhoes in the grime of it.

S. Ant. That's a fault that water will mend. S. Dro. No, fir, 'tis in grain; Noah's flood could not do it.

S. Ant. What's her name?

S. Dro. Nell, fir;-but her name and three quarters (that is an ell and three quarters) will not measure her from hip to hip.

S. Ant. Then fhe bears fome breadth?

S. Dro. No longer from head to foot, than from hip to hip: fhe is spherical, like a globe; I could find out countries in her.

S. Ant. In what part of her body stands Ireland? S. Dro. Marry, fir, in her buttocks; I found it out by the bogs.

S. Ant. Where Scotland?

S. Dre

S. Dro. I found it by the barrennefs; hard, in the palm of the hand.

S. Ant. Where France?

S. Dro. In her forehead; arm'd and reverted, making war against her hair.

S. Ant. Where England?

S. Dro. I look'd for the chalky cliffs, but I could find no whitenefs in them: but I guess it stood in her chin, by the falt rheum that ran between France and it.

S. Ant. Where Spain?

S. Dro. Faith, I faw it not; but I felt it, hot in her breath.

S. Ant. Where America, the Indies?

S. Dro. Oh, fir upon her nofe, all o'er embellifh'd with rubies, carbuncles, fapphires declining their rich afpect to the hot breath of Spain; who fent whole armadoes of carracks to be ballafted at her nofe.

S. Ant. Where stood Belgia, the Netherlands? S. Dro. Oh, fir, I did not look fo low. To conclude, this drudge, or diviner, laid claim to me; call'd me Dromio, fwore, I was affur'd to her; told me what privy marks I had about me, as the mark of my fhoulder, the mole in my neck, the great wart on my left arm, that I, amaz'd, ran from her as a witch: And, I think if my breast had not been made of faith, and my heart of steel, fhe had transform'd me to a curtail-dog, and made me turn i' the wheel.

S. Ant. Go, hie thee presently, poft to the road; And if the wind blow any way from fhore, I will not harbour in this town to-night. If any bark put forth, come to the mart,

D

Where

Where I will walk, 'till thou return to me.
If every one know us, and we know none,
'Tis time, I think, to trudge, pack, and be gone.
S.Dro. As from a bear a man would run for life
So fly I from her that would be my wife. [Exit.

S. Ant. There's none but witches do inhabit here;
And therefore 'tis high time that I were hence.
She, that doth call me hufband, even my foul
Doth for a wife abhor: but her fair sister,
Poffefs'd with fuch a gentle fovereign grace,
Of fuch inchanting prefence and difcourfe,
Hath almoft made me traitor to myself:
But, left myself be guilty of felf-wrong,
I'll ftop mine ears against the mermaid's fong.
Enter ANGELO, with a Chain.

Ang. Mafter Antipholis ?

S. Ant. Ay, that's my name.

Ang. I know it well, fir: Lo, here is the chain; I thought to have ta'en you at the Porcupine: The chain unfinith'd made me ftay thus long. S. Ant. What is your will, that I fhall do with this? Ang. What pleafe yourself, fir; I have made it for you.

S. Ant. Made it for me, fir! I bespoke it not. Ang. Not once, nor twice, but twenty times you have.

Go home with it, and please your wife withal;
And foon at fupper-time I'll vifit you,
And then receive my money for the chain.

S. Ant. I pray you, fir, receive the money now, For fear you ne'er fee chain, nor money, more. Ang. You are a merry man, fir; fare you well.

Exit. S. Ant

S. Ant. What I fhould think of this, I cannot tell: But this I think, there's no man so vain, That would refuse so fair an offer'd chain. I fee, a man here needs not live by shifts, When in the streets he meets fuch golden gifts. I'll to the mart, and there for Dromio stay; If any fhip put out, then ftraight away.

[Exit.

ACT IV.

SCENE I. The Street.

Enter a Merchant, ANGELO, and an Officer.
Merchant.

You know, fince Pentecoft the fúm is due,
And fince I have not much importun'd you;
Nor now I had not, but that I am bound
To Perfia, and want gilders for my voyage:
Therefore make prefent fatisfaction,

Or I'll attach you by this officer.

Ang. Even juft the fum, that I do owe to you, Is growing to me by Antipholis :

And, in the inftant that I met with you,
He had of me a chain; at five o'clock,
I fhall receive the money for the fame:
Please you but walk with me down to his house,
I will discharge my bond, and thank you too."
Enter ANTIPHOLIS of Ephefus, and DROMIO of Ephe-
fus, as from the Courtezan's.

Off. That labour you may fave; fee where he

comes.

D 2

E. Ant,

« PreviousContinue »