13: _What, have_] Pope. _What have_ Ff.
_got_] _got rid of_ Theobald. _not_ Anon. conj.
16: _calf’s skin_] _calves-skin_ Ff.
22: _sob_] _fob_ Rowe. _bob_ Hanmer. _sop_ Dyce conj.
_stop_ Grant White.
_’rests_] Warburton. _rests_ Ff.
25: _morris_] _Moris_ Ff. _Maurice_ Hanmer (Warburton).
28: _band_] _bond_ Rowe.
29: _says_] Capell. _saies_ F1. _saieth_ F2. _saith_ F3 F4.
32: _ship_] F2 F3 F4. _ships_ F1.
34: _put_] _puts_ Pope.
40: SCENE VI. Pope.
44-62: Put in the margin as spurious by Pope.
47-49: _and ... wench.’_] Marked as spurious by Capell, MS.
48, 49: _as much_] _as much as_ Pope.
54: _me? ... here?_] _me, ... here?_ Ff. _me? ... here._ Steevens.
55: _if you do, expect_] F2 F3 F4. _if do expect_ F1.
_or_] om. Rowe. _so_ Capell. _either stay away, or_ Malone conj.
_and_ Ritson conj. _Oh!_ Anon. conj.
60: _then_] F1 F2 F3. _thou_ F4. _thee_ Dyce.
61: _are all_] _all are_ Boswell.
66-71: Printed as prose by Ff, as verse by Capell, ending the
third line at _covetous_.
75: Put in the margin as spurious by Pope.
76: SCENE VII. Pope.
84: _doors_] _door_ Johnson.
_SCENE IV. A street._
_Enter _ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus_ and the _Officer_._
_Ant. E._ Fear me not, man; I will not break away:
I’ll give thee, ere I leave thee, so much money,
To warrant thee, as I am ’rested for.
My wife is in a wayward mood to-day,
And will not lightly trust the messenger. 5
That I should be attach’d in Ephesus,
I tell you, ’twill sound harshly in her ears.
_Enter _DROMIO of Ephesus_ with a ropes-end._
Here comes my man; I think he brings the money.
How now, sir! have you that I sent you for?
_Dro. E._ Here’s that, I warrant you, will pay them all. 10
_Ant. E._ But where’s the money?
_Dro. E._ Why, sir, I gave the money for the rope.
_Ant. E._ Five hundred ducats, villain, for a rope?
_Dro. E._ I’ll serve you, sir, five hundred at the rate.
_Ant. E._ To what end did I bid thee hie thee home? 15
_Dro. E._ To a rope’s-end, sir; and to that end am I
returned.
_Ant. E._ And to that end, sir, I will welcome you.
[_Beating him._
_Off._ Good sir, be patient.
_Dro. E._ Nay, ’tis for me to be patient; I am in adversity. 20
_Off._ Good, now, hold thy tongue.
_Dro. E._ Nay, rather persuade him to hold his hands.
_Ant. E._ Thou whoreson, senseless villain!
_Dro. E._ I would I were senseless, sir, that I might not
feel your blows. 25
_Ant. E._ Thou art sensible in nothing but blows, and
so is an ass.
_Dro. E._ I am an ass, indeed; you may prove it by my
long ears. I have served him from the hour of my nativity
to this instant, and have nothing at his hands for my service 30
but blows. When I am cold, he heats me with beating;
when I am warm, he cools me with beating: I am waked
with it when I sleep; raised with it when I sit; driven out
of doors with it when I go from home; welcomed home
with it when I return: nay, I bear it on my shoulders, as 35
a beggar wont her brat; and, I think, when he hath lamed
me, I shall beg with it from door to door.
_Ant. E._ Come, go along; my wife is coming yonder.
_Enter ADRIANA, LUCIANA, the _Courtezan_, and PINCH._
_Dro. E._ Mistress, ‘respice finem,’ respect your end; or
rather, the prophecy like the parrot, ‘beware the rope’s-end.’ 40
_Ant. E._ Wilt thou still talk? [_Beating him._
_Cour._ How say you now? is not your husband mad?
_Adr._ His incivility confirms no less.
Good Doctor Pinch, you are a conjurer;
Establish him in his true sense again, 45
And I will please you what you will demand.
_Luc._ Alas, how fiery and how sharp he looks!
_Cour._ Mark how he trembles in his ecstasy!
_Pinch._ Give me your hand, and let me feel your pulse.
_Ant. E._ There is my hand, and let it feel your ear. 50
[_Striking him._
_Pinch._ I charge thee, Satan, housed within this man,
To yield possession to my holy prayers,
And to thy state of darkness his thee straight:
I conjure thee by all the saints in heaven!
_Ant. E._ Peace, doting wizard, peace! I am not mad. 55
_Adr._ O, that thou wert not, poor distressed soul!
_Ant. E._ You minion, you, are these your customers?
Did this companion with the saffron face
Revel and feast it at my house to-day,
Whilst upon me the guilty doors were shut, 60
And I denied to enter in my house?
_Adr._ O husband, God doth know you dined at home;
Where would you had remain’d until this time,
Free from these slanders and this open shame!
_Ant. E._ Dined at home!--Thou villain, what sayest thou? 65
_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?
_Dro. E._ Perdie, 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 reviled you there. 70
_Ant. E._ Did not her kitchen-maid rail, taunt, and scorn me?
_Dro. E._ Certes, she did; the kitchen-vestal scorn’d you.
_Ant. E._ And did not I in rage depart from thence?
_Dro. E._ In verity you did; my bones bear witness,
That since have felt the vigour of his rage. 75
_Adr._ Is’t good to soothe him in these contraries?
_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, 80
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. 85
_Luc._ And I am witness with her that she did.
_Dro. E._ God and the rope-maker bear me witness
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: 90
They must be bound, and laid in some dark room.
_Ant. E._ Say, wherefore didst them 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 received no gold; 95
But I confess, sir, that we were lock’d out.
_Adr._ Dissembling villain, them speak’st false in both.
_Ant. E._ Dissembling harlot, them art false in all,
And art confederate with a damned pack
To make a loathsome abject scorn of me: 100
But with these nails I’ll pluck out these false eyes,
That would behold in me this shameful sport.
_Enter three or four, and offer to bind him. He strives._
_Adr._ O, bind him, bind him! let him not come near me.
_Pinch._ More company! The fiend is strong within him.
_Luc._ Ay me, poor man, how pale and wan he looks! 105
_Ant. E._ What, will you murder me? Thou gaoler, thou,
I am thy prisoner: wilt thou suffer them
To make a rescue?
_Off._ Masters, let him go:
He is my prisoner, and you shall not have him.
_Pinch._ Go bind this man, for he is frantic too. 110
[_They offer to bind Dro. E._
_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 required of me. 115
_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.
Good master doctor, see him safe convey’d
Home to my house. O most unhappy day! 120
_Ant. E._ O most unhappy strumpet!
_Dro. E._ Master, I am here entered 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, good
master: cry, The devil! 125
_Luc._ God help, poor souls, how idly do they talk!
_Adr._ Go bear him hence. Sister, go you with me.
[_Exeunt all but Adriana, Luciana, Officer and Courtezan._]
Say now; whose suit is he arrested at?
_Off._ One Angelo, a goldsmith: do you know him?
_Adr._ I know the man. What is the sum he owes? 130
_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 not.
_Cour._ When as your husband, all in rage, to-day
Came to my house, and took away my ring,-- 135
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, gaoler, bring me where the goldsmith is:
I long to know the truth hereof at large. 140
_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 all but Ant. S. and Dro. S._
_Ant. S._ I see these witches are afraid of swords. 145
_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: 150
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._ 155
NOTES: IV, 4.