University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

A ROOM IN THE HOUSE OF ANTIPHOLIS OF EPHESUS.
Enter Adriana and Luciana.
Adr.
What, Luciana, did he tempt thee so?
Didst thou mark,
Look'd he or pale or red, or sad or merry?

Luc.
First, he denied you had in him a right.

Adr.
He meant, he did me none: the more my wrong.

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

Adr.
And true he swore; though yet forsworn he be.

Luc.
Then pleaded I for you.

Adr.
What said he then?

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, did he praise my beauty, then my speech.

Adr.
Didst speak him fair?

Luc.
Have patience, I beseech you.

Adr.
I cannot, nor I will not, hold me still.
My tongue, though not my heart, must have its scope.
O, he is shapeless, crooked, old, and seer,
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, rude, unkind,
Deform'd in person, more deform'd in soul!

Luc.
Yet do not give such way to your affliction,
But call your better reason to your aid:
O, did my brother's mind but mate his person,
Were but his conduct graceful as his visage,
What woman might with Adriana boast
So vast a fund of hymeneal bliss!
Trust then to time, and fault-repairing wisdom,
To change his mind; nor soil, with partial breath,
A form in nature's fairest colours drest.

Adr.
O, but I think him better than I say,
And wish him kind and fair to me alone,
Thus, lap-wing like, far from my nest I cry,
To puzzle and mislead intruding eyes
That seek to rob me of my treasur'd bliss.
Oh! would that he'd return!

Luc.
And if he did, you would upbraid him, sister,

Adr.
Not much—I'd say to him—
SONG.

Enter Dromio of Syracuse.
Dr. of Syr.
Here, go:—the desk,—the purse—now make haste.

Luc.
How hast thou lost thy breath?

Dr. of Syr.
By running fast.

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

Dr. of Syr.
No, he's in Tartar-limbo,—a devil hath him,
One whose hard heart is button'd up with steel;
A fiend, a fury, pitiless and rough;
A back-friend; one that commands
The passages of alleys, creeks and lanes.

Adr.
Why, man, what is the matter?

Dr. of Syr.
I do not know the matter; but he is arrested.

Adr.
Arrested is he?—in debt unknown to me!
Tell me at whose suit?

Dr. of Syr.

I do not know at whose suit he is

arrested, but arrested he is: and his suit to you is,
that you will send him, mistress, redemption, the
money in his desk.

Adr.
Go fetch it, sister.—
[Exit Luciana.
This I wonder at—and—
(turning to Dromio, who is fanning himself)
Why how now? Thou art faint!

Dr.
To be sure I am.

Adr.
Go—refresh thyself—
(Dromio smiles and bows.)
Haste—repair thee to the kitchen.

Dro.
The kitchen! O Lord!—don't mention it—
I'm quite well, ma'am—quite!

Enter Luciana with a Purse.
Adr.
Go, Dromio; there's the money; bear it strait;
And bring thy master home immediately.
[Exit Dromio.
Yet, wherefore bring him home, since he has lost
All token of regard, and slights the place,
Where once, he said, his every comfort dwelt?
Why should I wish him here? and yet without him
What is this home to me!

Luc.
Some vague conceit,
The phantom of the moment, hath possess'd him:
It will away as soon.

Adr.
'Pray heaven, it may,
For, 'till he shake it of, no mate have I,
But jealous doubt—Oh Luciana!
Do you not remember well the day,
When first these fears arose—
'Twas in yon grove!

(pointing off.)
Luc.
I know—
On that bright summer morn, when all around,
Save you and Philomel, who warbl'd near,
Were blithsome, joyous!


DUET.—(Sonnets.)
As it fell upon a day
In the merry month of May,
Sitting in a pleasant shade,
With a grove of myrtles made,
Beasts did leap, and birds did sing,
Trees did grow, and plants did spring;
Every thing did banish moan,
Save the nightingale alone;
She, poor bird, as all forlorn,
Lean'd her breast up-till a thorn;
“Fie, fie, fie!” now she would cry:
“Teren, teren!” by and by.
That to hear her so complain,
Scarce I could from tears refrain;
For her griefs, so lovely shewn,
Made me think upon my own.

[Exeunt.