thing like so clean kept: For why? she sweats, a man may go over shoes in the grime of it.

Ant. S. That's a fault that water will mend. Dro. S. No, sir, 'tis in grain; Noah's flood could not do it.

Ant. S. What's her name?

Dro. S. Nell, sir;-but her name and three quarters, that is, an ell and three quarters, will not measure her from hip to hip15.

Ant. S. Then she bears some breadth?

Dro. S. No longer from head to foot, than from hip to hip: she is spherical, like a globe; I could find out countries in her.

Ant. S. In what part of her body stands Ireland? Dro. S. Marry, sir, in her buttocks; I found it out by the bogs.

Ant. S. Where Scotland?

Dro. S. I found it by the barrenness; hard, in the palm of the hand16.

Ant. S. Where France?

Dro. S. In her forehead; arm'd and reverted, making war against her heir17.

Ant. S. Where England?

Dro. S. I look'd for the chalky cliffs, but I could find no whiteness in them: but I guess, it stood in her chin, by the salt rheum that ran between France and it.

15 This poor conundrum is borrowed by Massinger in The Old Law.

16 Had this play been revived after the accession of James, it is probable that this passage would have been struck out; as was that relative to the Scotch lord in The Merchant of Venice, Act i. Sc. 1.

17 An equivoque, says Theobald, is intended. In 1589, Henry III. of France, being stabbed, was succeeded by Henry IV. of Navarre, whom he had appointed his successor; but whose claim the states of France resisted on account of his being a protestant. This I take to be what is meant by France making war against her heir. Elizabeth had sent over the Earl of Essex with four thousand men to the assistance of Henry of Navarre, in 1591. This oblique sneer at France was therefore a compliment to the poet's royal mistress. The other allusion is not of a nature to admit of explanation.

Ant. S. Where Spain?

Dro. S. Faith, I saw it not; but I felt it hot in her breath.

Ant. S. Where America, the Indies?

Dro. S. O, sir, upon her nose, all o'er embellish'd with rubies, carbuncles, sapphires, declining their rich aspect to the hot breath of Spain; who sent whole armadas of carracks18 to be ballast at her nose.

Ant. S. Where stood Belgia, the Netherlands? Dro. S. O, sir, I did not look so low. To conclude, this drudge, or diviner, laid claim to me; call'd me Dromio; swore, I was assur'd19 to her; told me what privy marks I had about me, as the mark of my shoulder, the mole in my neck, the great wart on my left arm, that I, amazed, ran from her as a witch: and, I think, if my breast had not been made of faith20, and my heart of steel, she had transform'd me to a curtail-dog, and made me turn i' the wheel21.

Ant. S. Go, hie thee presently, post to the road; And if the wind blow any way from shore, I will not harbour in this town to-night. If any bark put forth, come to the mart, Where I will walk, till thou return to me. If every one knows us, and we know none, "Tis time, I think, to trudge, pack, and be gone. Dro. S. As from a bear a man would run for life, So fly I from her that would be my wife. [Exit. Ant. S. There's none but witches do inhabit here; And therefore 'tis high time that I were hence. She that doth call me husband, even my soul Doth for a wife abhor: but her fair sister,

18 Carracks, large ships of burthen; caraca, Span. Ballast is merely a contraction of balassed; to balase being the old orthography: as we write drest for dressed, embost for embossed, &c. 19 i. e. affianced.

20 Allading to the popular belief that a great share of faith was a protection from witchcraft.

21 A turnspit.

Possess'd with such a gentle sovereign grace,
Of such enchanting presence and discourse,
Hath almost made me traitor to myself:
But, lest myself be guilty to22 self-wrong,
I'll stop my ears against the mermaid's song.
Enter ANGELO.

Ang. Master Antipholus?
Ant. S. Ay, that's my name.

Ang. I know it well, sir: Lo, here is the chain; I thought to have ta'en you at the Porcupine23: The chain unfinish'd made me stay thus long. Ant. S. What is your will, that I shall do with this? Ang. What, please yourself, sir; I have made it for you.

Ant. S. Made it for me, sir! I bespoke it not. Ang. Not once, nor twice, but twenty times you have: 0

Go home with it, and please your wife withal;
And soon at supper-time I'll visit you,

And then receive my money for the chain.it
Ant. S. I pray you, sir, receive the money now,
For fear you ne'er see chain, nor money, more.
Ang, You are a merry man, sir; fare you well.

[Exit. Ant. S. What I should think of this, I cannot tell; But this I think, there's no man is so vain, That would refuse so fair an offer'd chain. I see, a man here needs not live by shifts, see, a man here

22 Pope, not understanding sufficiently the phraseology of Shakspeare, altered this to guilty self-wrong. But guilty to was the construction of that age. So in the Winter's Tale :"But as the unthought of accident is guiltyTo what we wildly do.'

23 Porcupine throughout the old editions of these plays is written porpentine. I find it written porpyn in an old phrase book, called Hormanni Vulgaria, 1519, thus: Porpyns have louger prickels than Yrchins.' But it is also spelt thus in Huloet's Dictionary, 1552. Of the later dictionaries, BARET has it porcupine, and COOPER porkepyne. As porpyn, from the a abbreviated sound of porc-espine, was the old name, it is probable that in the popular language of the time, porpentine was used for porcupine.

When in the streets he meets such golden gifts.
I'll to the mart, and there for Dromio stay;
If any ship put out, then straight away. [Exit.

ACT IV.

SCENE 1. The same.

Enter a Merchant, ANGELO, and an Officer. Mer. You know, since pentecost the sum is due, And since I have not much impórtun'd you; Nor now I had not, but that I am bound To Persia, and want gilders for my voyage: Therefore make present satisfaction,

Or I'll attach you by this officer.

Ang. Even just the sum, that I do owe to you, Is growing to me by Antipholus:

And, in the instant that I met with you,con bitk
He had of me a chain; at five o'clock

I shall receive the money for the same:
Pleaseth you walk with me down to his house,
I will discharge my bond, and thank you too.
Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus, and DROMIO of
Ephesus from the Courtezan's.

Off. That labour, may you save; see where he

comes.

Ant. E. While I go to the goldsmith's house, go thou

་་

And buy a rope's end; that will I bestow
Among my wife and her3 confederates,
For locking me out of my doors by day.-
But soft, I see the goldsmith:-get thee gone:
Buy thou a rope, and bring it home to me.
Dro. E. I buy a thousand pound a year! I buy a
rope!
[Exit DROMIO.

1 i. e. accruing.

2 The old copy reads their.

Ant. E. A man is well holp up, that trusts to you. I promised your presence, and the chain; But neither chain, nor goldsmith, came to me: Belike, you thought our love would last too long, If it were chain'd together; and therefore came not. Ang. Saving your merry humour, here's the note, How much your chain weighs to the utmost carrat; The fineness of the gold, and chargeful fashion, Which doth amount to three odd ducats more Than I stand debted to this gentleman; I pray you, see him presently discharg'd, For he is bound to sea, and stays but for it. Ant. E. I am not furnish'd with the present money; Besides, I have some business in the town: Good signior, take the stranger to my house, And with you take the chain, and bid my wife Disburse the sum on the receipt thereof; Perchance, I will be there as soon as you. Ang. Then you will bring the chain to her yourself?

Ant. E. No! bear it with you, lest I come not time enough.

Ang. Well, sir, I will: Have you the chain about you ?

Ant. E. An if I have not, sir, I hope you have:
Or else you may return without your money.
Ang. Nay, come, I pray you, sir, give me the
chain;

Both wind and tide stays for this gentleman,
And I, to blame, have held him here too long.
Ant. E. Good lord, you use this dalliance, to

excuse

Your breach of promise to the Porcupine:
I should have chid you for not bringing it,
But like a shrew, you first begin to brawl.
Mer. The hour steals on; I pray you, sir, despatch.
Ang. You hear, how he impórtunes me; the chain-

3 I will for I shall is a Scotticism; but it is not unfrequent in old writera on this side of the Tweed.