Mer. My business cannot brook this dalliance; Ant. E. I answer you! What should I answer you? Ang. The money, that you owe me for the chain. Ant. E. I owe you none, till I receive the chain. Ang. You know, I gave it you half an hour since. Ant. E. You gave me none; you wrong me much to say so. Ang. You wrong me more, sir, in denying it: Consider, how it stands upon my credit. Mer. Well officer, arrest him at my suit. Off. I do; and charge you in the duke's name, to obey me. Ang. This touches me in reputation:Either consent to pay this sum for me, Or I attach you by this officer. Ant. E. Consent to pay thee that I never had! Arrest me, foolish fellow, if thou darʼst. Ang. Here is thy fee; arrest him officer; Off. I do arrest you, sir; you hear the suit. Enter DROMIO of Syracuse. Dro. S. Master, there is a bark of Epidamnum, That stays but till her owner comes aboard, And then, sir, bears away: our fraughtage, sir, I have convey'd aboard; and I have bought The oil, the balsamum, and aqua-vitæ. The ship is in her trim; the merry wind Blows fair from land: they stay for nought at all, But for their owner, master, and yourself. Ant. E. How now! a madman! Why thou peevish sheep, What ship of Epidamnum stays for me? Dro. S. A ship you sent me to, to hire waftage.* Ant. E. Thou drunken slave, I sent thee for a rope; And told thee to what purpose and what end. Dro. S. You sent me, sir, for a rope's end as soon: You sent me to the bay, sir, for a bark. Ant. E. I will debate this matter at more leisure, And that shall bail me: hie thee, slave; be gone. [Exeunt Merchant, ANGELO, Officer, and Dro. S. To Adriana! that is where he din'd, 9 Freight, cargo. ■ Silly. 2 Carriage. Where Dowsabel did claim me for her husband: SCENE II. The same. Enter ADRIANA and LUCIANA. Adr. Ah, Luciana, did he tempt thee so? Might'st thou perceive austerely in his eye That he did plead in earnest, yea or no? T [Exit, Look'd he or red, or pale; or sad, or merrily? What observation mad'st thou in this case, Luc. First, he denied you had in him no right. were. Luc. Then pleaded I for you. Adr. And what said he? Luc. That love I begg'd for you, be begg'd of me. Adr. With what persuasion did he tempt thy love? Luc. With words, that in an honest suit might move. First, he did praise my beauty; then, my speech. Luc. Have patience, I beseech. 3 An allusion to the redness of the northern lights, likened to the appearance of armies. Adr. I cannot, nor I will not, hold me still; My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will. Luc. Who would be jealous then of such a one? No evil lost is wail'd when it is gone. 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. Dro. S. Here, go; the desk, the purse; sweet 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, One, whose hard heart is button'd up with steel; A fiend, a fairy, pitiless and rough; A wolf, nay, worse, a fellow all in buff; A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper, one than countermands The passages of alleys, creeks, and narrow lands; 4 Dry, withered. 5 Marked by nature with deformity. Who crieth most where her nest is not. 7 The officers in those days were clad in buff, which is also a cant expression for a man's skin. A hound that runs counter, and yet draws dry-foot well; One that, before the judgment, carries poor souls to hell.8 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 the desk? Adr. Go fetch it, sister.-This I wonder at, [Exit LUCIANA. That he, unknown to me, should be in debt: Tell me, was he arrested on a band?9 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. O yes, If any hour meet a sergeant, 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. 8 Hell was the cant term for prison. 9 i. e. Bond. |