SCENE III. Changes to E. Antipholis's house.
Enter Adriana and Luciana.

Adr. Ah, Luciana, did he tempt thee fo?
Might'ft thou perceive aufterely in his eye
That he did plead in earnest, yea or no?
Look'd he or red or pale, or fad or merrily?
What obfervation mad'ft thou in this cafe,
Of his heart's meteors tilting in his face * ?

Luc. First he deny'd you had in him a right.
Adr. He meant, he did me none, the more my fpight.
Luc. Then fwore he that he was a stranger here.
Aldr. And true he fwore, though yet forefworn he

were.

Luc. Then pleaded I for you.

Adr. And what faid he?

Luc. That love I begg'd for you, he begg'd of me. Adr. With what perfuafion did he tempt thy love? Luc. With words that in an honeft fuit might move. First he did praife my beauty, then my speech. Adr. Did'ft fpeak him fair?

Luc. Have patience, I befeech.

Adr. I cannot, nor I will not, hold me still; My tongue, though not my heart, fhall have its will. He is deformed, crooked, old, and fere, . Ill-face'd, worfe-body'd, fhapelefs every where; Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind, Stigmatical in making, worfe in mind.

Luc. Who would be jealous then of such a one?
No evil loft is wail'd when it is gone.

Adr. Ah! but I think him better than I fay,
And yet would he in others' eyes were worse:

Far from her neft the lapwing cries away;

My heart prays for him, tho' my tongue do curfe.

SCENE IV. Enter Dromio of Syracufe.

S. Dro. Here, go; the desk, the purfe; sweet now, make hafte.

Luc. How haft thou loft thy breath?

S. Dro. By running faft.

Alluding to thofe meteors in the sky which have the appearance

of lines of armies meeting in the shock.

Adr.

Adr. Where is thy mafter, Dromio? Is he well? S. Dro. No, he's in Tartar Limbo, worse than hell? A devil in an everlafling garment hath him,

One whofe hard heart is button'd up with steel :
A fiend, a fury, pitilefs and rough,

A wolf, nay, worfe, a fellow all in buff;

A back friend, a fhoulder-clapper, one that commands
The paffages of allies, creeks, and narrow lands:
A hound that runs counter, and yet draws dry-foot well;
One that, before the judgment, carries poor fouls to

hell.

Adr. Why, man, what is the matter?

S. Dro. I do not know the matter; he is 'refted on the cafe.

Adr. What, is he arrested? tell me, at whose fuit. S. Dro. I know not at whofe fuit he is arrested, well; but he's in a fuit of buff which 'refted him, that I can tell. Will you fend him, Mistress, redemption, the money in his desk ?

Adr. Go fetch it, fifter. This I wonder at,

[Exit Luciana. That he, unknown to me, should be in debt! Tell me, was he arrested on a bond?

S. Dro. Not on a bond, but on a stronger thing, A chain, a chain; do you not hear it ring?

Adr. What, the chain?

S. Dro. No, no; the bell; 'tis time that I were gone

that I were gone.

It was two ere I left him, and now the clock ftrikes one.

Aar. The hours come back! that I did never hear.

S. Dro. O yes, if any hour meet a fergeant, a' turns back for very fear.

Adr. As if time were in debt! how fondly doft thou reafon?

S. Dro. Time is a very bankrout, and owes more than he's worth

to feafon.

Nay, he's a thief too: have you not heard men fay,

That time comes tealing on by night and day?

If Time be in debt and theft, and a ferjeant in the way,

Hath he not reafon to turn back an hour in a day.

Enter, &c.

Enter

Enter Luciana.

Adr. Go, Dromio; there's the money, bear it straight. And bring thy master home inmediately. Come, fifter, I am prefs'd down with conceit;

Conceit, my comfort and my injury. [Exeunt.

SCENE V.

Changes to the street.

Enter Antipholis of Syracufe.

S. Ant. There's not a man I meet but doth falute me, As if I were their well-acquainted friend;

And every one doth call me by my name.
Some tender money to me, fome invite me ;
Some other give me thanks for kindnesses;
Some offer me commodities to buy.

Ev'n now a tailor call'd me in his shop,
And show'd me filks that he had bought for me,
And therewithal took measure of my body.
Sure these are but imaginary wiles,

And Lapland forcerers inhabit here.

Enter Dromio of Syracuse.

S. Dro. Mafter, here's the gold you fent me for; what have you got rid of the picture of old Adam newapparell❜d * ?

S. Ant. What gold is this? what Adam doft thou mean?

S. Dro. Not that Adam that kept the paradise, but that Adam that keeps the prison; be that goes in the calves skin that was kill'd for the prodigal; he that came behind you, Sir, like an evil angel, and bid you forfake your liberty.

S. Ant. I understand thee not.

S. Dro. No? why, 'tis a plain cafe; he that went like a base-viol in a cafe of leather; the man, Sir, that, when gentlemen are tired, gives them a fob, and 'refts them; he, Sir, that takes pity on decay'd men, and gives 'em fuits of durance; he that fets up his

* Alluding to the coat of kins made for Adam after the fall, and the leathern coat worn by the officer who made the arrest.

reft

reft * to do more exploits with his mace, than a Maurice pike t.

S. Ant. What! thou mean'ft an officer?

S. Dro. Ay, Sir, the ferjeant of the band; he that brings any man to answer it that breaks his bond; one that thinks a man always going to bed, and faith, God give you good rest !

S. Ant. Well, Sir, there reft in your foolery.

Is there any fhip puts forth to-night may we begone? S. Dro. Why, Sir, I brought you word an hour fince, that the bark Expedition puts forth to-night, and then were you hinder'd by the ferjeant, to tarry for the hoy Delay. Here are the angels that you fent for, to deliver you.

S. Ant. The fellow is diftract, and fo am I, And here we wander in illufions;

Some bleffed power deliver us from hence!

SCENE VI. Enter a Courtezan. Cour. Well met, well met, Master Antipholis. Í fee, Sir, you have found the goldsmith now: Is that the chain you promis'd me to-day?

S. Ant. Satan, avoid! I charge thee, tempt me not ‡.

Cour.

Sets up his reft, is phrafe a taken from military exercife. When gunpowder was first invented, its force was very weak compared to that in prefent ufe. This neceffarily required fire arms to be of an extraordinary length. As the artifs improved the ftrength of their powder, the foldiers proportionably shortened their arms and artillery; fó that the cannon which Froifart tells us was once fifty foot long, was contracted to lefs than ten. This proportion likewife held in their muskets; fo that, till the middle of the last century, the muketters always fupported their pieces, when they gave fire, with a reft fuck before them into the ground, which they called fetting up their reft, and is here alluded to. There is another quibbling allufion too to the ferjeant's office of arrefting. Mr. Warburton.

ti. e. a pikeman of prince Maurice's army. He was the greatest General of that age, and the conductor of the Low country wars against Spain, under whom all the English Gentry and Nobility were bred to the fervice. Being frequently ove borne with numbers, he be came famous for his fine retreats, in which a ftand of pikes is of great fervice. Hence the pikes of his army became famous for their

military exploits.

Cour. Give me the ring of mine you had at dinner, Or for my daimond the chain you promis'd, And I'll be gone, Sir, and not trouble you.

S. Dro. Some devils afk but the parings of one's nail, a rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin, a nut, a cherry-stone; but fhe, more covetous, would have a chain. Mafter, be wife; an if you give it her, the devil will fhake her chain, and fright us with it.

Cour. I pray you, Sir, my ring, or else the chain; I hope you do not mean to cheat me fo.

S. Ant. Avaunt, thou witch! come, Dromio, let

Cour. Now, out of doubt, Antipholis is mad;
Elfe would he never fo demean himself.

A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats,
And for the fame he promis'd me a chain;
Both one and other he denies me now.
The reason that I gather he is mad,
(Befides this prefent inftance of his rage),
Is a mad-tale he told to-day at dinner,
Of his own door being shut against his entrance.
Belike his wife, acquainted with his fits,

S. Ant. It is the devil.

S. Dro. Nav, fhe is worse, fhe's the devil's dam, and here the comes in the habit of a light wench, and thereof comes, that the wenches fay, God dam me; that's as much as to fay, God make me a light wench. It is written, they appear to men like angels of light; light is an effect of fire, and fire will burn; ergo, light wenches will burn: come not near her.

Cour. Your man and you are marvellous merry, Sir. with me, we'll mend our dinner here.

Will you go

S. Dro. Mafter, if you do expect fpoon-meat, befpeak a long fpoon.

S. Ant. Why, Dromio?

S. Dro. Mairy, he must have a long spoon that muft eat with

the devil.

S. Ant. Avoid then, fiend! what tell'ft thou me of fupping?

Thou art, as you are all, a forceress :

I conjure thee to leave me, and be gone.

Cour Give me the ring, &c.

+

let us g.

S. Dro. Fly pride, fays the peacock; Miftrefs, that you know.

SCENE, &c.

VOL. III.

Аа

[Exeunt. On