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

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

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

Luce. (within) What a coil is there, Dromio? who are thofe 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 muft 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 haft anfwer'd him well.

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

trow?

Luce. I thought to have afkt

S. Dro. And you faid, no.

you.

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. 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

door.

VOL. IV.

E. Dro. If you went in pain, mafter, 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. Dre. 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 fay fo, mafter, 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, and I'll break ope

the gate.

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

knave's pate.

E. Dro. 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 wanteft 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 Pil 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..

(3) The reading was thus:

to read,

we shall part with neither.] Common. fenfe requires us we shall HAVE part with neither. WARBURTON.

Thun

Th'unviolated honour of your wife.

Once, this; your long experience of her Wisdom, Her fober virtue, years, and modefty,

Plead on her part fome caufe to you

unknown;

And doubt not, Sir, but the 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 yourfelf alone,
To know the reafon of this ftrange reftraint.
If by ftrong hand you offer to break in,
Now in the firring paffage of the day,
A vulgar comment will be made of it;
And that fuppofed, by the common rout
Against your yet ungalled eftimation,
That may with foul intrufion enter in,
And dwell upon your grave when you are dead:
For flander lives upon fucceffion +;

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

E. Ant. You have prevail'd; I will depart in quiet,
And, in defpight of mirth (4), mean to be merry.
I know a wench of excellent difcourfe,

Pretty and witty, wild, and, yet too, gentle;
There will we dine: this woman that I mean,
My wife (but, I proteft, without defert,)
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;

Suppofed by the common rout.] For fuppofe I once thought it might be more commodious to fubftitute fupported; but there is no need of change: fuppofed is founded on fuppofition, made by conjecture.

For flander lives upon fucceffion;] The line apparently wants two fyllables: what they were cannot now be known. The line may be filled up according to the reader's fancy, as thus: For lashing flander lives upon fucceffion (4) And, in defpight of mirth, -] Mr. Theobald does not know what to make of this; and, therefore, has put wrath instead of mirth into the text, in which he is followed by the Oxford Editor. But the old reading is right; and the meaning is, I will be merry, even out of fpite to mirth, which is, now, of all things, the most unpleafing to me. WARBURTON.

B 2

For

For there's the house: that chain will I bestow
(Be it for nothing but to fpight my wife)
Upon mine hoftess there.

Good Sir, make hafte :

Since my own doors refuse to entertain me,

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

E. Ant. Do fo; this jeft shall coft me fome expence. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

The Houfe of Antipholis of Ephefus.

Enter Luciana, with Antipholis of Syracufe.

Luc. And may it be, that you have quite forgot (5)
A hufband's office? fhall, Antipbolis, hate,

Even in the spring of love, thy love-fprings rot?
Shall love, in building grow fo ruinate,

If

you did wed my fifter for her wealth,

Then, for her wealth's fake use her with more kind

nefs;

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;

(5) In former copies,

And may

it be, that you have quite forgot An bufband's office? Shall Antipholis,

Ev'n in the spring of love, thy love-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 accident at Preft, as I take it; This Scene for Fifty two Lines fucceffively is strictly in alternate Rhimes: and this Measure is never broken, but in the Second and Fourtb Lines of these two Couplets. 'Tis certain, I think, a Monofyllable dropt from the Tail of the Second Verfe; and I have ventur'd to fupply it by, I hope, a probable ConjecTHEOBALD.

ture.

Bear

Bear a fair prefence, tho' your heart be tainted;
Teach fin the carriage of a holy faint;
Be fecret falfe: what need the 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 baftard 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.
Then, gentle brother, get you in again;
Comfort my fifter, chear her, call her wife;
'Tis holy fport to be a little vain,

*

29

When the fweet breath of flattery conquers ftrife. S. Ant. Sweet miftrefs, (what your name is elfe, I know not;

Nor by what wonder you do hit on mine :) Lefs in your knowledge and your grace you fhow not Than our earth's wonder, more than earth, divine. Teach me, dear creature, how to think and speak; Lay open to my earthy grofs conceit,

Smother'd in errors, feeble, fhallow, weak,

The folding meaning of your words' deceit ;: Against my foul's pure truth why labour you, To make it wander in an unknown field?. Are

you a God? would you create me new ? Transform me then, and to your pow'r I'll yield. But if that I am I, then, well I know,

Your weeping fifter is no wife of mine; Nor to her bed no homage do I owe;

Far more, far more, to you do I decline.

Oh, train me not, fweet mermaid, with thy note,
To drown me in thy fifter's flood of tears;
Sing, Siren, for thyfelf, and I will dote;

Spread o'er the filver waves thy golden hairs,,

(6) Alas, poor Women! make us not believe, &c.] From the whole Tenour of the Context it is evident that this Negative (not,) got place in the firft Copies inftead of but. And these two Monofyllables have by Mistake reciprocally difpoffefs'd one another in many other Paffages of our Author's Works. THEOBALD Vain is light of tongue, not veracious.

B 3

And