And I deny'd to enter in my house? ADR. O, husband, God doth know, you din'd at home, Where 'would you had remain'd until this time, Free from these slanders, and this open shame! ANT. E. Din'd at home 2! Thou villain, what say'st thou ? DRO. E. Sir, sooth to say, you did not dine at home. ANT. E. Were not my doors lock'd up, and I shut out ? 3 DRO. E Perdy 3, your doors were lock'd, and you shut out. ANT. E. And did not she herself revile me there? DRO. E. Sans fable, she herself revil'd you there. ANT. E. Did not her kitchen-maid rail, taunt, and scorn me ? DRO. E. Certes, she did; the kitchen-vestal 5 scorn'd you. ANT. E. And did not I in rage depart from thence ? DRO. E. In verity, you did ;-my bones bear wit ness, That since have felt the vigour of his rage. ADR. Is't good to sooth him in these contraries? 2 Din'd at home! &c.] Thus the ancient copy. Mr. Theobald and subsequent editors read—I din'd, &c. which might be admitted, were we sure that a verse was intended. But Shakspeare, throughout his plays, frequently introduces short speeches in prose, in the midst of verse. I have therefore adhered to the old copy. MALONE. STEEVENS. 3 Perdy,] A corruption of the common French oath-Pardieu. Chaucer's personages are frequent in their use of it. 4 Certes,] i. e. certainly. So, in The Tempest : "For certes, these are people of the island." Again, in Othello: 66 STEEVENS. Certes, I have already chosen mine officer." MALONE. 5 -kitchen-vestal ] Her charge being, like that of the vestal virgins, to keep the fire burning. JOHNSON. 1 PINCH. It is no shame; the fellow finds his vein, And, yielding to him, humours well his frenzy. ANT. E. Thou hast suborn'd the goldsmith to arrest me. ADR. Alas, I sent you money to redeem you, By Dromio here, who came in haste for it. DRO. E. Money by me? heart and good-will you might, But, surely, master, not a rag of money. ANT. E. Went'st not thou to her for a purse of ducats ? ADR. He came to me, and I deliver'd it. Luc. And I am witness with her, that she did. DRO. E. God and the rope-maker, bear me wit ness, That I was sent for nothing but a rope! PINCH. Mistress, both man and master is possess'd; I know it by their pale and deadly looks: They must be bound, and laid in some dark room. ANT. E. Say, wherefore didst thou lock me forth to-day, And why dost thou deny the bag of gold? ADR. I did not, gentle husband, lock thee forth. DRO. E. And, gentle master, I receiv'd no gold; But I confess, sir, that we were lock'd out. ADR. Dissembling villain, thou speak'st false in both. ANT. E. Dissembling harlot, thou art false in all; And art confederate with a damned pack, To make a loathsome abject scorn of me: But with these nails I'll pluck out these false eyes, That would behold in me this shameful sport. [PINCH and his assistants bind ANT. and DRO. ADR. O, bind him, bind him, let him not come PINCH. More company;-the fiend is strong within him. Luc. Ah me, poor man, how pale and wan he looks! ANT. E. What, will you murder me? Thou jailer, thou, I am thy prisoner; wilt thou suffer them OFF. Masters, let him go: He is my prisoner, and you shall not have him. 6 PINCH. Go, bind this man, for he is frantick too. ADR. What wilt thou do, thou peevish officer ? Hast thou delight to see a wretched man Do outrage and displeasure to himself? OFF. He is my prisoner; if I let him go, The debt he owes, will be requir'd of me. ADR. I will discharge thee, ere I go from thee: Bear me forthwith unto his creditor, And, knowing how the debt grows, I will pay it. 6 DRO. E. Master, I am here enter'd in bond for you. ANT. E. Out on thee, villain! wherefore dost thou mad me? DRO. E. Will you be bound for nothing? be mad, -thou PEEVISH officer?] This is the second time that in the course of this play, peevish has been used for foolish. STEEVENS. So, in The Curse of Corne-horders, by Charles Fitz Geffry, 4to. 1633, p. 14: "The Egyptians relieved the Israelites in the famine, though it were an abomination to the Egyptians, in their peevish superstition, to eat bread with the Hebrewes.' MALONE. 7 UNHAPPY strumpet!] Unhappy is here used in one of the senses of unlucky; i. e. mischievous. STEEVENs. Good master; cry, the devil. Luc. God help, poor souls, how idly do they talk! ADR. Go bear him hence.-Sister, go you with me. [Exeunt PINCH and assistants with ANT. and DRO. Say now, whose suit is he arrested at? 1 OFF. One Angelo, a goldsmith; Do you know him? ADR. I know the man: What is the sum he owes ? OFF. Two hundred ducats. ADR. Say, how grows it due? OFF. Due for a chain, your husband had of him. ADR. He did bespeak a chain for me, but had it 8 not COUR. When as your husband, all in rage, to-day Came to my house, and took away my ring, (The ring I saw upon his finger now,) Straight after did I meet him with a chain. ADR. It may be so, but I did never see it.Come, jailer, bring me where the goldsmith is, I long to know the truth hereof at large. Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse, with his rapier drawn, and DROMIO of Syracuse. Luc. God, for thy mercy! they are loose again. ADR. And come with naked swords; let's call more help, To have them bound again. OFF. Away, they'll kill us. [Exeunt Officer, ADRIANA, and LUCIANA. ANT. S. I see, these witches are afraid of swords. suppose, 8 He did bespeak a chain FOR ME, but had it not.] I the words--for me, which spoil the metre, might fairly be omitted. STEEVENS. DRO. S. She, that would be your wife, now ran from you. ANT. S. Come to the Centaur; fetch our stuff from thence : I long, that we were safe and sound aboard. DRO. S. Faith, stay here this night, they will surely do us no harm; you saw, they speak us fair, give us gold': methinks, they are such a gentle nation, that but for the mountain of mad flesh that claims marriage of me, I could find in my heart to . stay here still, and turn witch. ANT. S. I will not stay to-night for all the town ; Therefore away, to get our stuff aboard. [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. The Same. Before an Abbey. Enter Merchant and ANGELO. ANG. I am sorry, sir, that I have hinder'd you; MER. How is the man esteem'd here in the city? Of credit infinite, highly belov'd, our STUFF] i. e. our baggage. In the orders that were issued for the royal Progresses in the last century, the king's baggage was always thus denominated. MALONE. I - you saw, they speak us fair, give us gold: &c.] They speak as fair, give us gold as you yourself saw, or have seen. An ingenious correspondent, Colonel Roberts, proposes to read -either you see, or else spake and gave; but I think the text is as the author wrote it. He did not, I conceive, mean that either of the Dromios should be very correct in language. MALONE. |