Now, trust me, were it not against our laws, (3)
(Which Princes, would they, may not difannul;)
Against my crown, my oath, my dignity,
My foul fhould fue as advocate for thee.
But, tho' thou art adjudged to the death,
And paffed fentence may not be recall'd,
But to our honour's great difparagement;
Yet will I favour thee in what I can;
I therefore, merchant, limit thee this day,
To feek thy life by beneficial help:
Try all the friends thou haft in Ephefus,
Beg thou, or borrow, to make up the fum,
And live; if not, then thou art doom'd to die.
Jailor, take him to thy cuftody.

Jail. I will, my Lord.

[Exeunt Duke, and Train.

Egeon. Hopelefs and helpless doth geon wend, But to procrastinate his liveless end.

[Exeunt Egeon, and Jailor.

SCENE changes to the Street.

Enter Antipholis of Syracufe, a Merchant, and Dromio.

Mer.

Left that your goods too foon be confifcate.
Herefore give out, you are of Epidamnum,

This very day, a Syracufan merchant

Is apprehended for arrival here;

And not being able to buy out his life,
According to the ftatute of the town,
Dies ere the weary fun fet in the weft:
There is your money, that I had to keep.

Ant. Go bear it to the Centaur, where we host,
And stay there, Dromio, 'till I come to thee:
Within this hour it will be dinner-time;

(3) Now trust me, were it not against our laws,
Against my crown, my oath, my dignity,

Which Princes would, they may not difannul,] Thus are these linés placed in all the former editions. But as the fingle verb does not agree with all the fubftantives, which fhould be govern'd of it, I have ventur'd to make a tranfpofition; and by a change in the pointing, clear'd up the perplexity of the fenfe.

Tili that I'll view the manners of the town,
Perufe the traders, gaze upon the buildings,
And then return and fleep within mine inn;
For with long travel I am stiff and weary.
Get thee away.

Dro. Many a man would take you at your word, And go indeed, having fo good a means. [Exit Dromio. Ant. A trufty villian, Sir, that very oft, When I am dull with care and melancholy, Lightens my humour with his merry jefts. What, will you walk with me about the town, And then go to the inn and dine with me? Mer. I am invited, Sir, to certain merchants, Of whom I hope to make much benefit: I crave your pardon. Soon at five o'clock, Please you, I'll meet with you upon the mart, And afterward confort you 'till bed-time: My present bufinefs calls me from you now. Ant. Farewel 'till then; I will go lofe myself, And wander up and down to view the city.

Mer. Sir, I commend you to your own content. [Exit Mer. Ant. He that commends me to my own content, Commends me to the thing I cannot get. I to the world am like a drop of water, That in the ocean feeks another drop, Who falling there to find his fellow forth, Unfeen, inquifitive, confounds himself; So I, to find a mother and a brother, In queft of them, unhappy, lofe myself.

Enter Dromio of Ephefus.

Here comes the almanack of my true date.

What now? how chance, thou art return'd fo foon?
E. Dro. Return'd fo foon! rather approach'd too late:
The capon burns, the pig falls from the fpit,
The clock has ftrucken twelve upon the bell;
My mistress made it one upon my cheek;
She is fo hot, because the meat is cold;
The meat is cold, because you come not home;

You

You come not home, because you have no ftomach;
You have no ftomach, having broke your faft:
But we, that know what 'tis to faft and pray,
Are penitent for your default to-day.

Ant. Stop in your wind, Sir; tell me this, I pray, Where you have left the money that I gave you? E. Dro. Oh,-fix pence, that I had a Wednesday last, To the fadler for my mistress' crupper? The fadler had it, Sir; I kept it not.

pay

Ant. I am not in a sportive humour now; Tell me and dally not, where is the money? We being strangers here, how dar'ft thou truft So great a charge from thine own custody?

E. Dro. I pray you, jeft, Sir, as you fit at dinner: I from my miftrefs come to you in poft;

If I return, I fhall be poft indeed;

For the will score your fault upon my pate:
Methinks, your maw, like mine, fhould be your clock;
And strike you home without a meffenger.

Ant. Come, Dromio, come, thefe jefts are out of season;
Reserve them 'till a merrier hour than this:
Where is the gold I gave in charge to thee?

E. Dro. To me, Sir? why, you gave no gold to me. Ant. Come on, Sir knave, have done your foolishness; And tell me how thou haft difpos'd thy charge?

E. Dro. My charge was but to fetch you from the mart Home to your house, the Phenix, Sir, to dinner; My miftrefs and her fifter ftay for you.

Ant. Now, as I am a chriftian, answer me, In what fafe place you have beltow'd my money; Or I fhall break that merry fconce of yours, That ftands on tricks when I am undifpos'd: Where are the thousand marks thou hadst of me? E..Dro. I have fome marks of yours upon my pate; Some of my miftrefs' marks upon my fhoulders; But not a thousand marks between you both, If I fhould pay your worship thofe again, Perchance, you will not bear them patiently.

Ant. Thy miftrefs' marks? what miftrefs, flave haft thou?

E. Dre.

E. Dro. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the Phenix. She, that doth faft, 'till you come home to dinner; And prays, that you will hie you home to dinner. Ant. What wilt thou fout me thus unto my face, Being forbid there take you that, Sir knave.

E. Dro. What mean you, Sir? for God's fake hold your hands;

Nay, an you will not, Sir, I'll take my heels.

[Exit Dromie. Ant. Upon my life, by fome device or other, The villian is o'er-wrought of all my money. They fay, this town is full of couzenage; As, nimble jugglers, that deceive the eye; (4) Dark-working forcerers, that change the mind; Soul-killing witches, that deform the body; Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks,

(4) As, nimble jugglers, that decerve the eye;

Dark-working forcerers, that change the mind;

And

Soul-killing witches, that deform the body;] Tho' I have not dif... turb'd the text, the ingenious conjecture, Mr. Warburton made to me upon this paffage, has fuch an appearance of juftness and likelihood, that I fhall fubjoin it in his own words. "Thofe, who attentively "confider these three lines, muft confefs, that the Poet intended, "the epithet given to each of these mifcreants fhould declare the

power by which they perform their feats, and which would there"fore be a juft characteristic of each of them. Thus, by nimble "jugglers, we are taught that they perform their tricks by flight f "band: and by ful-killing witches, we are inform'd, the mischief

they do is by the affiftance of the devil to whom they have given "their fouls: But then, by dark-working forcerers, we are not inftructed in the means by which they perform their ends. Befider, this epithet agrees as well to witches, as to them; and therefore, "certainly, our Author could not defign this in the characteriflick. "I am confident, we fhould read;

Drug-working forcerers, that charge the mind;

"And we know by the whole hiftory of antient and modern fupei "ftition, that thefe kind of jugglers always preter ded to work changes "of the mind by thefe applications. Hence all the fuperftition of

love potions, which in this line is alluded to: And this practice "was fo common amongst the Greeks, that they gave the name of "pappaxd; to this operator: and therefore has Theocritus call'd his "fecond Eidyllium, whofe fubject is built on this kind of tore-cry. Η φαρμακεύτρια. Mr. Varbi rich. Brabantio, I remember, in Othelle, where he thinks his daughter's VOL. II.

I

And

many fuch like liberties of fin:
If it prove fo, I will be gone the fooner.
I'll to the Centaur, to go feek this flave;
I greatly fear my money is not safe.

[Exit.

SCENE, the House of Antipholis of Ephefus. Enter Adriana and Luciana.

N

ADRIANA.

Either my husband, nor the flave return'd,

That in fuch hafte I fent to feek his mafter! Sure, Luciana, it is two o'clock.

Luc. Perhaps, fome merchant hath invited him, And from the mart he's fomewhere gone to dinner: Good fifter, let us dine, and never fret.

A man is master of his liberty:

Time is their mafter; and when they fee time,
They'll go or come; if fo, be patient, fifter.

Adr. Why should their liberty than ours be more?
Luc. Because their bufinefs ftill lies out a-door.
Adr. Look, when I ferve him fo, he takes it ill.
Luc. Oh, know, he is the bridle of your will.
Adr. There's none, but affes, will be bridled fo.
Luc. Why, head-ftrong liberty is lafht with woe.
There's nothing fituate under heaven's eye,
But hath its bound in earth, in fea, in fky:
The beafts, the fifhes, and the winged fowls,
Are their male's fubjects, and at their controlls:
Man, more divine, the mafter of all these,
Lord of the wide world, and wide wat'ry feas,

fenfes and inclinations must have been perverted by the Moor's practices, fpeaks not a little in confirmation of my friend's conjecture. Judge me the world, if 'tis not grofs in fenfe,

That thou haft practis'd on her with foul charms,
Abus'd her delicate youth with drugs, or minerals,
That weaken notion.-