If we obey them not, this will ensue,
They'll suck our breath, or pinch us black and blue.
Luce. Why pratst thou to thyself, and answer'st

not ? Dromio, thou drone, thou snail, thou slug, thou sot !3

Sunt avidæ volucres ; non quce Phineïa mensis

Guttura fraudabant; sed genus inde trahunt. -
Grande caput; ftantes oculi; roftra apta rapinæ ;

Canities pennis, unguibus hamus ineft.
Nozte volant, puerosque petunt nutricis egentes,

Et vitiant cunis corpora rapta fuis.
Carpere dicuntur luctantia viscera roftris,

Et plenum poto fanguine guttur habent.

Ef illis ftrigibus nomen :- Lib. vi. Faft. WARBURTON. Ghasily owls accompany elvih ghosts in Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar for June. So, in Sherringham's Discerptatio de Anglorum Gentis Origine, p. 333. " Lares, Lemures, Stryges, Lamiæ, Manes (Gastæ dicti) et similes monstrorum Greges, Élvarum Chorea dicebatur.” Much the same is said in Olaus Magnus de Gentibus Septentrionalibus, p. 112, 113. TOLLET.

Owls are also mentioned in Cornucopiæ, or Pasquil's Night-cap, or Antidote for the Headach, 1623, p. 38:

“ Dreading no dangers of the darksome night,
“ No oules, hobgoblins, ghosts, nor water-spright.”

Steevens. How, it is ohjected, should Shakspeare know that ftriges or scrietch-owls were considered by the Romans as witches? The notes of Mr. Tollet and Mr. Steevens, as well as the following paffage in The London Prodigal, a comedy, 1605, afford the best answer to this question : « Soul, I think, I am sure cross'd or witch'd with an owl.” MALONE.

The epithet elvih is not in the first folio, but the second has elves, which certainly was meant for elvish. STEEVENS.

All the emendations made in the second folio having been merely arbitrary, any other suitable epithet of two syllables may have been the poet's word. Mr. Rowe first introduced-elvish. MALONE.

I am satisfied with the epithet-elvih. It was probably inserted in the second folio on some authority which cannot now be ascer. tained. It occurs again, in King Richard III:

« Thou elvilh-mark'd abortive, rooting hog." Why should a book which has often judiciously filled such vacuities, and rectified such errors, as disgrace the folio 1623, be fo perpetually distrusted ? STEEVENS.

Dro. S. I am transformed, master, am not I?" Ant. S. I think, thou art, in mind, and so am I. Dro. S. Nay, master, both in mind, and in my

shape. Ant. S. Thou hast thine own form. Dro. S.

No, I am an ape. Luc. If thou art chang'd to aught, 'tis to an ass. Dro. S. 'Tis true; she rides me, and I long for

grass. 'Tis so, I am an ass ; else it could never be, But I should know her as well as she knows me. · ADR. Come, come, no longer will I be a fool, To put the finger in the eye and weep, Whilst man, and master, laugh my woes to scorn, Come, sir, to dinner; Dromio, keep the gate :Husband, I'll dine above with you to-day, And shrive you' of a thousand idle pranks : Sirrah, if any ask you for your master, Say, he dines forth, and let no creature enter. Come, fifter :-Dromio, play the porter well.

Ant. S. Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell ?

3 Dromio, thou drone, &c.] The old copy reads

Dromio, thou Dromio, frail, thou flug, thou for! STBEVENS. This verse is half a foot too long; my correction cures that fault: besides drone corresponds with the other appellations of reproach. THEOBALD.

Drone is also a term of reproach applied by Shylock to Launcelot in The Merchant of Venice :

" he sleeps by day
“ More than the wild cat; drones hive not with me.”

STEBVENS. - am not I?] Old copy-am I not. Corrected by Mr. Theobald. MALONE.

5 And fhrive you ] That is, I will call you to confefion, and make you tell your tricks. Johnson.

So, in Hamlet: “ ~ not fibriting time allow'd.” STEBVENS.

Sleeping or waking? mad, or well-advis'd ?
Known unto these, and to myself disguis’d!
I'll say as they say, and persever fo,
And in this mist at all adventures go

Dro. S. Master, shall I be porter at the gate ?
Adr. Ay; and let none enter, left I break your

pate. Luc. Come, come, Antipholus, we dine too late.

[Exeunt.

ACT III. SCENE I.

The same.

Enter AntiPHOLUS of Ephesus, Dromio of Ephesus,

Angelo, and BALTHAZAR.
Ant. E. Good fignior Angelo, you must excuse

us all;"
My wife is shrewish, when I keep not hours:
Say, that I linger'd with you at your shop,
To see the making of her carkanet,

s Good fignior Angelo, you must excuse us all ;] I suppose, the word -all, which overloads the measure, without improvement of the sense, might be fafely omitted, as an interpolation. Steevens. o c arkanet,) Seems to have been a necklace or rather chain, perhaps hanging down double from the neck. So Lovelace in his poem :

“ The empress spreads her carcanets." Johnson. “ Quarquan, ornement d'or qu’on mit au col des damoiselles."

Le grand Diet, de Nicot. . A Carkanet seems to have been a necklace set with stones, or Atrung with pearls. Thus in Partheneia Sacra, &c. 1633 : “ Seeke not vermillion or ceruse in the face, bracelets of oriental pearls on the wrist, rubie carkanets on the neck, and a most exquisite fan of feathers in the hand."

And that to-morrow you will bring it home.
But here's a villain, that would face me down
He met me on the mart; and that I beat him,
And charg'd him with a thousand marks in gold;
And that I did deny my wife and house:
Thou drunkard, thou, what didst thou mean by

this ? Dro. E. Say what you will, sir, but I know what

I know : That you beat me at the mart, I have your hand to

Thow: If the skin were parchment, and the blows you gave

were ink, Your own handwriting would tell you what I

think. Ant. E. I think, thou art an ass. Dro. E.

Marry, so it doth appear By the wrongs I suffer, and the blows I bear.

Again, in Hiftriomastix, or the Player Whipt, 1610:

“ Nay, I'll be matchless for a carcanet,
" Whose pearls and diamonds plac'd with ruby rocks

“ Shall circle this fair neck to set it forth.”
Again, in Sir W. Davenant's comedy of the Wits, 1636 :

“ - she sat on a rich Persian quilt
“ Threading a carkanet of pure round pearl

“ Bigger than pigeons eggs.”
Again, in The Changes, or Love in a Maze, 1632 :

" the drops

“ Shew like a carkanet of pearl upon it." In the play of Soliman and Perseda, 1599, the word carcanet occurs eight or nine times. STEEVENS. 7 Marry, so it doth appear

By the wrongs I suffer, and the blows I bear.] Thus all the printed copies; but certainly, this is cross-purposes in reasoning. It appears, Dromio is an ass by his making no resistance; because an ass, being kick’d, kicks again. Our author never argues at this wild rate, where his text is genuine. THEOBALD.

Mr. Theobald, instead of doth, reads—don't. MALONE.

I should kick, being kick'd; and, being at that

pass, You would keep from my heels, and beware of an

ass. Ant. E. You are sad, signior Balthazar: 'Pray

god, our cheer May answer my good will, and your good welcome

here. BAL. I hold your dainties cheap, fir, and your

welcome dear. Ant. E. O, signior Balthazar, either at flesh or

fish, A table full of welcome makes scarce one dainty

dish. BAL. Good meat, fir, is common; that every

churl affords. Ant. E. And welcome more common; for that's'

nothing but words. Bal. Small cheer, and great welcome, makes a

merry feast. Ant. E. Ay, to a niggardly host, and more spar

ing guest: But though my cates be mean, take them in good

part; Better cheer may you have, but not with better

heart. But, soft; my door is lock’d; Go bid them let us in. Dro. E. Maud, Bridget, Marian, Cicely, Gillian,

Jen'!

I do not think this emendation necessary. He first says, that his wrongs and blows prove him an ass ; but immediately, with a correction of his former sentiment, such as may be hourly observed in conversation, he observes that, if he had been an ass, he should, when he was kicked, have kicked again. JOHNSON.