E. Ant. Who talks within there? hoa, open the door. S. Dro. Right, Sir, I'll tell you when, an you'll tell me wherefore.

E. Ant. Wherefore? for my dinner: I have not din'd to day.

S. Dro. Nor to day here you muft not: come again, when you may.

E. Ant. What art thou, that keep'ft me out from the house I owe?

S. Dro. The porter for this time, Sir, and my name is Dromio.

E. Dro. O villain, thou hast stoll'n both mine office
and my name:

The one ne'er got me credit, the other mickle blame.
If thou had'ft been Dromio to day in my place,
Thou would'st have chang'd thy face for a name, or
thy name for an afs.

Luce. (within) What a coil is there, Dromio? who
are those at the gate?

E. Dro. Let my mafter in, Luce.

Luce. Faith, no; he comes too late ;

And fo tell your master.

E. Dro. O Lord, I must laugh;

Have at you with a Proverb.-Shall I fet in my staff? Luce. Have at you with another; that's, when can you tell?

S. Dro. If thy name be call'd Luce, Luce, thou hast anfwer'd him well.

E. Ant. Do you hear, you minion, you'll let us in, I trow?

Luce. I thought to have afkt you.

S. Dro. And you said, no.

E. Dro. So, come, help, well ftruck; there was blow for blow.

E. Ant. Thou baggage, let me in.
Luce. Can you tell for whofe fake?
E. Dro. Mafter, knock the door hard.
Luce. Let him knock, 'till it ake.

E. Ant

E. Ant. You'll cry for this, minion, if I beat the door down.

Luce. What needs all that, and a pair of stocks in the town?

Adr. (within) Who is that at the door, that keeps all this noife?

S. Dro. By my troth, your town is troubled with unruly boys.

E. Ant. Are you there, wife? you might have come before.

Adr. Your wife, Sir knave! go, get you from the door.

E. Dro. If you went in pain, master, this knave would go fore.

Ang. Here is neither cheer, Sir, nor welcome; we would fain have either.

Bal. In debating which was beft, we shall have part with neither. 3

E. Dro. They ftand at the door, mafter; bid them welcome hither.

E. Ant. There's fomething in the wind, that we cannot get in.

E. Dro. You would say so, master, if your garments

were thin.

Your cake here is warm within: you ftand here in the

cold:

It would make a man mad as a buck to be fo bought and fold.

E. Ant. Go fetch me fomething, I'll break ope the

gate.

S. Dro. Break any thing here, and I'll break your knave's pate.

The reading was thus:

we shall part with neither.] Common fenfe

requires us to read,— -we fball HAVE part with me ther.

WARBURTON.

E. Dro.

E. Tro. A man may break a word with you, Sir, and words are but wind;

Ay, and break it in your face, fo he break it not behind. S. Dro. It feems, thou warteft breaking; out upon thee, hind!

E. Dro. Here's too much, out upon thee! I pray thee, let me in.

S. Dro. Ay, when fowls have no feathers, and fish have no fin.

E. Ant. Well, I'll break in; go borrow me a crow.
E.Dro. A crow without feather, mafter, mean you fo?
For a fish without a fin, there's a fowl without a feather;
If a crow help us in, firrah, we'll pluck a crow together.
E. Ant. Go, get thee gone, fetch me an iron crow.
Bal. Have patience, Sir: oh, let it not be fo.
Herein you war against your reputation,
And draw within the compafs of fufpect
Th' unviolated honour of your wife.

Once, this ;-your long experience of her wisdom,
Her fober virtue, years, and modesty,

Plead on her part fome cause to you unknown;
And doubt not, Sir, but fhe will well excufe,
Why at this time the doors are barr'd against you.
Be rul'd by me, depart in patience,
And let us to the Tyger all to dinner;
And about evening come yourself alone,
To know the reafon of this ftrange restraint.
If by ftrong hand you offer to break in,
Now in the stirring paffage of the day,
A vulgar comment will be made of it;
And that fuppofed by the common rout,
Against your yet ungalled estimation,
That may with foul intrufion enter in,
And dwell upon your grave when you are dead :

Supp fed by the common rout.] For fuprofe I once thought it might be more commodious to fubftitute Supported; but there is VOL. III.

K

no need of change: fuprofed is, founded on fuppofition, made by conjecture.

For

For flander lives upon fucceffion;

*

For ever hous'd, where it once gets poffeffion.

4

E. Ant. You have prevail'd; I will depart in quiet,
And, in defpight of mirth, mean to be merry.
I know a wench of excellent discourse,

Pretty and witty, wild, and, yet too, gentle;
There will we dine: this woman that I mean,
My wife (but, I proteft, without desert,)
Hath oftentimes upbraided me withal;

To her will we to dinner. Get you home,
And fetch the chain; by this, I know, 'tis made;
Bring it, I pray you to the Porcupine;

For there's the house: that chain will I beftow,
(Be it for nothing but to fpight my wife,)
Upon mine hoftefs there. Good Sir, make haste:
Since my own doors refufe to entertain me,

I'll knock elfewhere, to fee if they'll difdain me.
Ang. I'll meet you at that place, fome hour, Sir,
hence.

E. Ant. Do fo; this jest shall cost me fome expence.

Luc.

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

The House of Antipholis of Ephefus.
Enter Luciana, with Antipholis of Syracufe.
ND may it be, that you have quite forgot'
A hufband's office? fhall, Antipholis, hate,

A

Even in the spring of love, thy love-springs rot?
Shall love, in building, grow fo ruinate?
If you did wed my fifter for her wealth,

131

Then for her wealth's fake ufe her with more kindnefs;

Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth;

Muffle your falfe love with fome fhew of blindness : Let not my fifter read it in your eye;

Be not thy tongue thy own fhame's orator;
Look fweet, fpeak fair; become disloyalty:
Apparel vice, like virtue's harbinger;
Bear a fair presence, tho' your heart be tainted;
Teach fin the carriage of a holy faint;
Be fecret falfe: what need fhe be acquainted?
What fimple thief brags of his own attaint?
'Tis double wrong, to truant with your bed,
And let her read it in thy looks at board:
Shame hath a bastard fame, well managed;
Ill deeds are double with an evil word:
Alas, poor women! make us but believe, 6
Being compact of credit, that you love us;
Tho' others have the arm, fhew us the fleeve:
We in your motion turn, and you may move us.

An Hufband's Office? Shall, Antipholis, Ev'n in the Spring of Love, thy lo-ve-Springs rot? Shall love in Buildings grow fo ruinate?] This Paffage has hitherto labour'd under a double Corruption. What Conceit could our Editors have of Love in Buildings growing ruinate? Our Poet meant no more than this. Shall thy Love-fprings rot, even in the Spring of Love? and fhall thy Love grow ruinous, ev'n while 'tis but building up? The next Corruption is by an acci

Then,