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Samuel Johnson [1778], The plays of William Shakspeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The second edition, Revised and Augmented (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10901].
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SCENE II. The house of Antipholis of Ephesus. 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?
  Look'd he or red, or pale; or sad, or merrily?
What observation mad'st thou in this case,
Of his heart's meteors tilting in his face2 note











?

Luc.
First he deny'd you had in him no right.

Adr.
He meant, he did me none; the more my spight.

Luc.
Then swore he, that he was a stranger here.

Adr.
And true he swore, though yet forsworn he were.

Luc.
Then pleaded I for you.

-- 215 --

Adr.
And what said he?

Luc.
That love I begg'd for you, he 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.

Adr.
Did'st speak him fair?

Luc.
Have patience, I beseech.

Adr.
I cannot, nor I will not, hold me still;
My tongue, though not my heart, shall have its will.
He is deformed, crooked, old and 3 notesere,
Ill-fac'd, worse-body'd, shapeless every where;
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind;
4 note




Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.

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:
5 note


Far from her nest the lapwing cries away:
  My heart prays for him, though my tongue do curse.

-- 216 --

Enter Dromio of Syracuse.

S. Dro.
Here, go; the desk, the purse; sweet now, make haste.

Luc.
How, hast thou lost thy breath?

S. Dro.
By running fast.

Adr.
Where is thy master, Dromio? is he well?

S. Dro.
No, he's in Tartar limbo, worse than hell:
A devil in an everlasting6 note


garment hath him,
One, whose hard heart is button'd up with steel;
A fiend, a fairy, pitiless and rough7 note

;
A wolf, nay, worse, a fellow all in buff;
8 note



A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper, one that countermands
The passages of alleys, creeks, and narrow lands;
A hound9 note



that runs counter, and yet draws dry-foot well;

-- 217 --


One that, before the judgment, carries poor souls to hell1 note




.

Adr.
Why, man, what is the matter?

S. Dro.
I do not know the matter; he is 'rested on the case2 note.

Adr.
What, is he arrested? tell me, at whose suit.

S. Dro.
I know not at whose suit he is arrested, well;
But he's in a suit of buff, which 'rested him, that I can tell:

-- 218 --


Will you send him, mistress, redemption, the money in his 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 band3 note











?

S. Dro.
Not on a band, but on a stronger thing;
A chain, a chain; do you not hear it ring?

Adr.
What, the chain?

S. Dro.
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 I did never hear.

S. Dro.
O yes, If any hour meet a serjeant, a'turns back for very fear.

Adr.
As if time were in debt! how fondly dost thou reason?

-- 219 --

S. Dro.
Time is a very bankrout, and owes more than he's worth, to season.
Nay, he's a thief too: Have you not heard men say,
That time comes stealing on by night and day?
If time be in debt4 note, and theft, and a serjeant in the way,
Hath he not reason to turn back an hour in a day?
Enter Luciana.

Adr.
Go, Dromio; there's the money, bear it strait;
  And bring thy master home immediately.—
Come, sister: I am press'd down with conceit;
  Conceit, my comfort, and my injury.
[Exeunt.
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Samuel Johnson [1778], The plays of William Shakspeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The second edition, Revised and Augmented (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10901].
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