Ant. E. You are sad, seignior Balthazar. 'Pray God,

our cheer

May answer my good will, and your good welcome

here.

Bal. I hold your dainties cheap, sir, and your welcome dear.

Ant. E. O seignior Balthazar, either at flesh or fish, A table full of welcome makes scarce one dainty dish. Bal. Good meat, sir, is common; that every churl affords.

Ant. E. And welcome more common; for that's nothing but words.

Bal. Small cheer, and great welcome, makes a merry feast.

Ant. E. Ay, to a niggardly host, and more sparing

guest.

But though my cates be mean, take them in good part;

Better cheer you may have, but not with better heart. But, soft; my door is locked. Go bid them let us in. Dro. E. Maud, Bridget, Marian, Cicely, Gillian, Jen'!

Dro. S. [Within.] Mome,' malt-horse, capon, coxcomb, idiot, patch!

2

Either get thee from the door, or sit down at the hatch. Dost thou conjure for wenches, that thou call'st for such store,

When one is one too many? Go, get thee from the door. Dro. E. What patch is made our porter? my master stays in the street.

Dro. S. Let him walk from whence he came, lest he catch cold on's feet.

Ant. E. Who talks within there? ho, open the door.

Dro. S. Right, sir, I'll tell you when, an you'll tell me wherefore.

1 A mome was a fool or foolish jester. Momar is used by Plautus for a fool; whence the French mommeur.

2 Patch was a term of contempt often applied to persons of low condition, and sometimes applied to a fool.

Ant. E. Wherefore? for my dinner; I have not dined to-day.

Dro. S. Nor to-day here you must not; come again, when you may.

Ant. E. What art thou, that keep'st me out from the house I owe? 1

Dro. S. The porter for this time, sir, and my name is Dromio.

Dro. E. O villain, thou hast stolen both mine office and my name;

The one ne'er got me credit, the other mickle blame.
If thou hadst been Dromio to-day in my place,
Thou wouldst have changed thy face for a name, or
thy name for an ass.

2

Luce. [Within.] What a coil is there? Dromio, who are those at the gate?

Dro. E. Let my master in, Luce.

Luce.

And so tell your master.
Dro. E.

'Faith, no; he comes too late.

O Lord, I must laugh.Have at you with a proverb.-Shall I set in my staff? Luce. Have at you with another; that's,-When? can you tell?

Dro. S. If thy name be called Luce, Luce, thou hast answered him well.

Ant. E. Do you hear, you minion? You'll let us in, I hope?

3

Luce. I thought to have asked you.

Dro. S.

And you said, no.

Dro. E. So, come, help; well struck; there was

blow for blow.

Ant. E. Thou baggage, let me in.

Luce.

Can you tell for whose sake?

Let him knock till it ache.

Dro. E. Master, knock the door hard.
Luce.

1 I own.

2 Bustle, tumult.

3 It seems probable that a line following this has been lost; in which Luce might be threatened with a rope; which would have furnished the rhyme now wanting. In a subsequent scene Dromio is ordered to go and buy a rope's end, for the purpose of using it on Adriana and her confederates.

Ant. E. You'll cry for this, minion, if I beat the

door down.

Luce. What needs all that, and a pair of stocks in the town?

Adr. [Within.] Who is that at the door, that keeps all this noise?

Dro. S. By my troth, your town is troubled with unruly boys.

Ant. E. Are you there, wife? you might have come before.

Adr. Your wife, sir knave! go, get you from the door.

Dro. E. If you went in pain, master, this knave would go sore.

Ang. Here is neither cheer, sir, nor welcome; we would fain have either.

Bal. In debating which was best, we shall part1 with neither.

Dro. E. They stand at the door, master; bid them welcome hither.

Ant. E. There is something in the wind, that we cannot get in.

Dro. E. You would say so, master, if your garments were thin.

Your cake here is warm within; you stand here in the

cold.

It would make a man mad as a buck, to be so bought and sold. 2

Ant. E. Go, fetch me something, I'll break ope the

gate.

Dro. S Break any breaking here, and I'll break your knave's pate.

Dro. E. A man may break a word with you, sir; and words are but wind;

Ay, and break it in your face, so he break it not behind. Dro. S. It seems thou wantest breaking.

upon thee, hind!

1 Have part.

Out

2 A proverbial phrase, meaning to be so overreached by foul and

secret practices.

Dro. E. Here is too much, out upon thee! I pray

thee, let me in.

Dro. S. Ay, when fowls have no feathers, and fish have no fin.

Ant. E. Well, I'll break in. Go borrow me a crow. Dro. E. A crow without feather; master, mean

you so?

For a fish without a fin, there's a fowl without a

feather.

If a crow help us in, sirrah, we'll pluck a crow together.
Ant. E. Go, get thee gone; fetch me an iron crow.
Bal. Have patience, sir. O, let it not be so;
Herein you war against your reputation,
And draw within the compass of suspect
The unviolated honor of your wife.

Once this; your long experience of her wisdom,
Her sober virtue, years, and modesty,

Plead on her part some cause to you unknown;
And doubt not, sir, but she will well excuse
Why at this time the doors are made against you.
Be ruled by me; depart in patience,
And let us to the Tiger all to dinner;
And, about evening, come yourself alone
To know the reason of this strange restraint.
If by strong hand you offer to break in,
Now in the stirring passage of the day,
A vulgar comment will be made of it;
And that supposed by the common rout
Against your yet ungalled estimation,
That may with foul intrusion enter in,
And dwell upon your grave when you are dead.
For slander lives upon succession;

Forever housed, where it gets possession.

Ant. E. You have prevailed; I will depart in quiet,

And, in despite of mirth, mean to be merry.

I know a wench of excellent discourse,-
Pretty and witty; wild, and yet, too, gentle.—

1 Once this, here means once for all; at once.

2 i. e. made fast. The expression is still in use in some counties.

There will we dine: this woman that I mean,
My wife (but, I protest, without desert,)
Hath oftentimes upbraided me withal;
To her will we to dinner.-Get you home,
And fetch the chain; by this,' I know, 'tis made.
Bring it, I pray you, to the Porcupine;

For there's the house; that chain will I bestow
Be it for nothing but to spite my wife)

Upon mine hostess there. Good sir, make haste:
Since mine own doors refuse to entertain me,
I'll knock elsewhere, to see if they'll disdain me.
Ang. I'll meet you at that place, some hour hence.
Ant. E. Do so; this jest shall cost me some expense
[Exeunt

SCENE II. The same.

Enter LUCIANA, and ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse.
Luc. And may it be that you have quite forgot
A husband's office? Shall Antipholus' hate,
Even in the spring of love, thy love-springs rot?
Shall love, in building, grow so ruinous? 2
If you did wed my sister for her wealth,

Then, for her wealth's sake, use her with more kindness;

Or, if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth;

Muffle your false love with some show of blindness; Let not my sister read it in your eye;

Be not thy tongue thy own shame's orator; Look sweet, speak fair, become disloyalty; Apparel vice like virtue's harbinger;

1 By this time.

2 In the old copy the first four lines stand thus:

"And may it be that you have quite forgot

A husband's office? Shall, Antipholus,

Even in the spring of love, thy love-springs rot?
Shall love in buildings grow so ruinate?"

The present emendation was proposed by Steevens, though he admitted Theobald's into his own text. Love-springs are the buds of love, or rather the young shoots. "The spring, or young shoots that grow out of the stems or roots of trees."-Baret.