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Adr. Ah! but I think him better than I say, And yet would herein others' eyes were worse. Far from her nest the lapwing cries away":

6

My heart prays for him, though my tongue do curse.

Enter DROMIO of Syracuse, running.

Dro. S. Here, go: the desk! the purse! swift now, make

haste".

Luc. How hast thou lost thy breath?

Dro. S. By running fast. Adr. Where is thy master, Dromio? is he well? Dro. S. No, he's in Tartar limbo, worse than hell: A devil in an everlasting garment hath him fell3, One whose hard heart is button'd up with steel; Who knows no touch of mercy, cannot feel;

6 Far from her nest the lapwing cries away:] Shakespeare has employed this allusion in "Measure for Measure," A. i. sc. 5, and it was used by many old writers from Chaucer downwards. Rowley, in his "Search for Money," 1609, has, "This sir dealt like a lapwing with us, and cried furthest off the nest," which comes nearer to Shakespeare, in the scene before us, than any of the numerous quotations collected by the commentators.

7 SWIFT now, make haste.] "Sweet, now make haste" in the folios; but Dromio was not likely to call either his mistress or Luciana sweet, and the old annotator on the fo. 1632 states that "swift" (denoting the slave's hurry) had been misprinted sweet. In Marlowe's "Edward II." (edit. Dyce, ii. 238) we meet with the same blunder, although the editor has not perceived it. Kent is eagerly

awaiting the escape of Mortimer from the Tower, and what is he made to say? "Mortimer, I stay

Thy sweet escape,"

instead of "thy swift escape." In a poem by G. Gascoigne, quoted in “England's Parnassus," we encounter the opposite error; for the line

"And as swift baits do fleetest fish intice"

ought unquestionably to be,

"And as sweet baits do fleetest fish intice."

8 A devil in an everlasting garment hath him FELL,] Serjeants, such as the one who had arrested Antipholus, were clad in buff, (Dromio just afterwards calls him "a fellow all in buff,") and, on account of its durability, that dress is here termed "an everlasting garment.' The whole speech, as we may reasonably believe, was originally in irregular rhyme, and "fell," as well as the line,

"Who knows no touch of mercy, cannot feel,"

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are from the corr. fo. 1632. On the same evidence we print fairy "fury," in the next line, and such was Theobald's emendation. "Fiends and fairies are placed just in the same connexion in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Woman's Prize" (edit. Dyce, vii. p. 181), and “fairies" there ought as certainly to be furies: this is proved not only by the context, but by an extant MS. of the play, the existence of which was not known to the Rev. Mr. Dyce, or he would surely have remedied the defect. For " passages of alleys," lower down, the corrected reading is "passages and alleys," which can also hardly be doubted; and thus, in our judgment, every thing is rendered clear and consistent.

A fiend, a fury, pitiless and rough;

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

A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper, one that countermands
The passages and alleys, creeks, and narrow lands:

A hound that runs counter', and yet draws dry-foot well;
One that, before the judgment, carries poor souls to hell'.
Adr. Why, man, what is the matter?

Dro. S. I do not know the matter: he is 'rested on the case. Adr. What is he arrested? tell me, at whose suit? Dro. S. I know not at whose suit he is arrested well; But he's in a suit of buff which 'rested him, that can I tell : Will you send him, mistress, redemption? the money in his

desk?

Adr. Go fetch it, sister.-This I wonder at;

That he', unknown to me, should be in debt :-
Tell me, was he arrested on a band?

[Exit LUCIANA.

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

Adr. What, the chain?

Dro. S. No, no, the bell. 'Tis time that I were gone: It was two ere I left him, and now the clock strikes one. Adr. The hours come back! that did I never hear.

Dro. S. Oh yes; if any hour meet a serjeant, 'a turns back for very fear.

Adr. As if time were in debt! how fondly dost thou

reason!

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

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

That time comes stealing on by night and day?

3

If he be in debt and theft, and a serjeant in the way,
Hath he not reason to turn back an hour in a day?

? A hound that RUNS COUNTER,] i. e. The contrary, or wrong way in a chase. The serjeant is said "to run counter," from his carrying debtors to the prison called the Counter. To draw dry-foot is technical, and means to hunt by the scent of the animal's foot.

1 One that, before the judgment, carries poor souls to hell.] i. e. Carries them to prison (for which hell was the cant term) before judgment had been given against them; or, as Malone truly explains it, upon mesne process.

2 THAT he,] The original copy has-Thus he. The emendation was made in the second folio. Above, for "But is in a suit of buff," the change in the corr. fo. 1632 is what we have given in our text.

3 If HE be in debt] The old editions read, "If I be in debt:" corrected by

VOL. I.

D d

Re-enter LUCIANA.

Adr. Go, Dromio: there's the money, bear it straight,
And bring thy master home immediately.—
Come, sister; I am press'd down with conceit,
Conceit, my comfort, and my injury.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

The Same.

Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse'.

Ant. S. There's not a man I meet but doth salute me,

As if I were their well acquainted friend;

And every one doth call me by my name.
Some tender money to me, some invite me;
Some other give me thanks for kindnesses;
Some offer me commodities to buy:
Even now a tailor call'd me in his shop,
And show'd me silks that he had bought for me,
And therewithal, took measure of my
Sure, these are but imaginary wiles,

And Lapland sorcerers inhabit here.

body.

Enter DROMIO of Syracuse.

Dro. S. Master, here's the gold you sent me for. What, have you got the picture of old Adam new apparell'd' ? Ant. S. What gold is this? What Adam dost thou mean Dro. S. Not that Adam that kept the paradise, but that

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Malone, and supported by the corr. fo. 1632: Rowe read, "If time be in debt." For an hour in a day of the folios, the corr. fo. 1632 reads " any hour in a day:" "to season," above, means this season.

4 Enter Antipholus of Syracuse.] "Wearing the chain," adds the corr. fo. 1632, in order to make sure that the actor displayed it.

5 What, HAVE YOU GOT the picture of old Adam new apparell'd?] The commentators, from Theobald downwards, have interpolated this interrogatory by inserting the words rid of after "What have you got." They do not seem to have been aware that "What have you got?" is still a vulgar phrase for "What have you done with?" or "What is become of?" The words, "the picture of old Adam new apparell'd," refer again to the suit of buff in which the serjeant, who had arrested Antipholus of Ephesus, was dressed.

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Adam that keeps the prison: he that goes in the calf's-skin that was kill'd for the prodigal: he that came behind you, sir, like an evil angel, and bid you forsake your liberty. Ant. S. I understand thee not.

Dro. S. No? why, 'tis a plain case: he that went, like a base-viol, in a case of leather: the man, sir, that, when gentlemen are tired, gives them a fob, and 'rests them: he, sir, that takes pity on decayed men, and gives them suits of durance; he that sets up his rest', to do more exploits with his mace than a morris-pike.

Ant. S. What, thou mean'st an officer?

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

Ant. S. Well, sir, there rest in your foolery. Is there any ship puts forth to-night? may we be gone?

Dro. S. Why, sir, I brought you word an hour since, that the bark Expedition put forth to-night; and then were you hindered by the serjeant to tarry for the hoy Delay. Here are the angels that you sent for to deliver you.

Ant. S. The fellow is distract, and so am I,

And here we wander in illusions.

Some blessed power deliver us from hence!

Enter a Courtezan.

Cour. Well met, well met, master Antipholus.

I see, sir, you have found the goldsmith now:

Is that the chain, you promis'd me to-day?

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

Dro. S. Master, is this mistress Satan?

Ant. S. It is the devil.

Dro. S. Nay, she is worse, she is the devil's dam; and here she comes in the habit of a light wench: and thereof comes that the wenches say, "God damn me," that's as much as to say, "God make me a light wench." It is written, they

6 gives them a FOB,] The old copies have sob for "fob," or perhaps bob. 7 he that SETS UP HIS REST,] This expression became proverbial, and was applied to a person who took up any fixed position. It was generally used in the card-game of Primero, but, we apprehend, had its origin in old musketry or gunnery: see especially Vol. ii. p. 555, and Vol. v. p. 184.

8 than a MORRIS-FIKE.] i. e. "A Moorish pike," a well-known instrument of war, often mentioned.

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 Will you go sir. merry, with me? we'll mend our dinner here. Dro. S. Master, if you do, or expect spoon-meat, bespeak a long spoon9.

Ant. S. Why, Dromio?

Dro. S. Marry, he must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil.

Ant. S. Avoid, thou fiend'! what tell'st thou me of

supping?

Thou art, as you are all, a sorceress :

I conjure thee to leave me, and be gone.

Cour. Give me the ring of mine you had at dinner,

Or for my diamond the chain you promis'd,

And I'll be gone, sir, and not trouble you.

Dro. S. Some devils ask but the parings of one's nail,

A rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin,

A nut, a cherry-stone ;

But she, more covetous, would have a chain.

Master, be wise: an if you give it her,

The devil will shake 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 so.

Ant. S. Avaunt, thou witch! Come, Dromio, let us go.

Dro. S. Fly pride, says the peacock: mistress, that you [Exeunt ANT. S. and DRO. S.

know.

Cour. Now, out of doubt, Antipholus is mad,

Else would he never so demean himself.

A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats,
And for the same he promis'd me a chain :
Both one and other he denies me now.
The reason that I gather he is mad,
Besides this present instance of his rage,
Is a mad tale he told to-day at dinner

9 Master, if you do, OR expect spoon-meat, bespeak a long spoon.] i. e. If you consent to go, or if you expect spoon-meat, bespeak a long spoon: it alludes to the proverb, quoted just afterwards, as well as in "The Tempest," A. ii. sc. 2, this Vol. p. 47. "You" is supplied by the folio, 1632, but "or" became transposed, after "expect spoon-meat" instead of before it.

1 Avoid, THOU fiend!] "Thou" is then in the folios, but amended in the corr. fo. 1632. In "Twelfth-Night," Vol. ii. p. 722, we have had the same easy misprint, but the change is here hardly as necessary.

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