Luciana.
Adr.
Neither my husband, nor the slave return'd,
That in such haste I sent to seek his master!
Sure, Luciana, it is two o'clock.
Luc.
Perhaps, some merchant hath invited him,
And from the mart he's somewhere gone to dinner.
Good sister, let us dine, and never fret:
A man is master of his liberty:
Time is their master; and, when they see time,
They'll go, or come: If so, be patient, sister.
Adr.
Why should their liberty than ours be more?
Luc.
Because their business still lies out o'door.
Adr.
Look, when I serve him so, he takes it ill5 note.
Luc.
O, know, he is the bridle of your will.
-- 168 --
Adr.
There's none, but asses, will be bridled so.
Luc.
Why head-strong liberty is lash'd with woe6 note
.
There's nothing, situate under heaven's eye,
But hath his bound, in earth, in sea, in sky:
The beasts, the fishes, and the winged fowls,
Are their males' subjects7 note, and at their controls:
Men, more divine, the masters of all these8 note,
-- 169 --
Lords of the wide world, and wild watry seas,
Indued with intellectual sense and souls,
Of more pre-eminence than fish and fowls,
Are masters to their females, and their lords:
Then let your will attend on their accords.
Adr.
This servitude makes you to keep unwed.
Luc.
Not this, but troubles of the marriage-bed.
Adr.
But, were you wedded, you would bear some sway.
Luc.
Ere I learn love, I'll practise to obey.
Adr.
How if your husband start some other where9 note
?
Luc.
Till he come again, I would forbear.
Adr.
Patience, unmov'd, no marvel though she pause1 note;
They can be meek, that have no other cause2 note.
-- 170 --
A wretched soul, bruis'd with adversity,
We bid be quiet, when we hear it cry3 note
;
But were we burden'd with like weight of pain,
As much, or more, we should ourselves complain:
So thou, that hast no unkind mate to grieve thee,
With urging helpless patience4 note
would'st relieve me:
But, if thou live to see like right bereft,
This fool-begg'd5 note patience in thee will be left.
Luc.
Well, I will marry one day, but to try;—
Here comes your man, now is your husband nigh.
Enter Dromio of Ephesus.
Adr.
Say, is your tardy master now at hand?
Dro. E.
Nay, he is at two hands with me, and
that my two ears can witness.
Adr.
Say, didst thou speak with him? Know'st
thou his mind?
Dro. E.
Ay, ay, he told his mind upon mine ear:
Beshrew his hand, I scarce could understand it.
Luc.
Spake he so doubtfully, thou couldst not
feel his meaning?
Dro. E.
Nay, he struck so plainly, I could too
-- 171 --
well feel his blows; and withal so doubtfully, that
I could scarce understand them6 note.
Adr.
But say, I pr'ythee, is he coming home?
It seems, he hath great care to please his wife.
Dro. E.
Why, mistress, sure my master is horn-mad.
Adr.
Horn-mad, thou villain?
Dro. E.
I mean not cuckold-mad; but, sure, he is stark mad:
When I desir'd him to come home to dinner,
He ask'd me for a thousand marks in gold7 note:
'Tis dinner-time, quoth I; My gold, quoth he:
Your meat doth burn, quoth I; My gold, quoth he:
Will you come home, quoth I8 note? My gold, quoth he:
Where is the thousand marks I gave thee, villain?
The pig, quoth I, is burn'd; My gold, quoth he:
My mistress, sir, quoth I; Hang up thy mistress;
I know not thy mistress; out on thy mistress9 note
!
Luc.
Quoth who?
Dro. E.
Quoth my master:
-- 172 --
I know, quoth he, no house, no wife, no mistress;—
So that my errand, due unto my tongue,
I thank him, I bear home upon my shoulders;
For, in conclusion, he did beat me there.
Adr.
Go back again, thou slave, and fetch him
home.
Dro. E.
Go back again, and be new beaten home?
For God's sake, send some other messenger.
Adr.
Back, slave, or I will break thy pate across.
Dro. E.
And he will bless that cross with other beating:
Between you I shall have a holy head.
Adr.
Hence, prating peasant; fetch thy master home.
Dro. E.
Am I so round with you, as you with me1 note,
That like a foot-ball you do spurn me thus?
You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither:
If I last in this service, you must case me in leather2 note.
[Exit.
Luc.
Fye, how impatience lowreth in your face!
Adr.
His company must do his minions grace,
Whilst I at home starve for a merry look3 note
.
Hath homely age the alluring beauty took
From my poor cheek? then he hath wasted it:
Are my discourses dull? barren my wit?
-- 173 --
If voluble and sharp discourse be marr'd,
Unkindness blunts it, more than marble hard.
Do their gay vestments his affections bait?
That's not my fault, he's master of my state:
What ruins are in me, that can be found
By him not ruin'd? then is he the ground
Of my defeatures4 note
: My decayed fair5 note
A sunny look of his would soon repair:
But, too unruly deer6 note
, he breaks the pale,
And feeds from home; poor I am but his stale7 note
.
-- 174 --
Luc.
Self-harming jealousy!—fye, beat it hence.
Adr.
Unfeeling fools can with such wrongs dispense.
-- 175 --
I know his eye doth homage otherwhere;
Or else, what lets it but he would be here?
Sister, you know, he promis'd me a chain;—
Would that alone alone he would detain8 note
,
So he would keep fair quarter with his bed!
I see, the jewel, best enamelled,
Will lose his beauty; and though gold 'bides still,
That others touch, yet often touching will
Wear gold: and no man, that hath a name,
But falshood and corruption doth it shame9 note
:
-- 176 --
Since that my beauty cannot please his eye,
I'll weep what's left away, and weeping die.
Luc.
How many fond fools serve mad jealousy!
[Exeunt.
James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
