DRO. S. [within.] Mome, malt-horfe, capon, coxcomb, idiot, patch!"

Either get thee from the door, or fit down at the hatch:

Doft thou conjure for wenches, that thou call'ft for fuch ftore,

When one is one too many? Go, get thee from the

door.

DRO. E. What patch is made our porter? My mafter stays in the street.

DRO. S. Let him walk from whence he came, left he catch cold on's feet.

ANT. E. Who talks within there? ho, open the

door.

DRO. S. Right, fir, I'll tell you when, an you'll tell me wherefore.

ANT. E. Wherefore? for my dinner; I have not din'd to-day.

DRO. S. Nor to-day here you must not; come again, when you may.

8 Mome,] A dull ftupid blockhead, a stock, a poft. This owes its original to the French word Momon, which fignifies the gaming at dice in masquerade, the custom and rule of which is, that a strict filence is to be obferved: whatever fum one stakes, another covers, but not a word is to be fpoken: from hence alfo comes our word mum! for filence. HAWKINS.

So, in Heywood's Rape of Lucrece, 1630:

Important are th' affairs we have in hand;

"Hence with that Mome!"

"Brutus, forbear the prefence." STEEVENS.

patch!] i. e. fool. Alluding to the particoloured coats worn by the licensed fools or jefters of the age. So, in Macbeth: what foldiers, patch ?"

See notes on A Midfummer Night's Dream, A& III. fc. ii. and The Merchant of Venice, Act I. fc. i. STEEVENS.

ANT. E. What art thou, that keep'ft me out from the house I owe? *

DRO. S. The porter for this time, fir, and my name is Dromio.

DRO. E. O villain, thou haft ftolen both mine office and my name;

The one ne'er got me credit, the other mickle blame.

If thou had'ft been Dromio to-day in my place, Thou would't have chang'd thy face for a name, or thy name for an afs.

LUCE. [within.] What a coil is there! Dromio, who are those at the gate?

DRO. E. Let my mafter in, Luce.

LUCE.

Faith no; he comes too late

And fo tell your master.

DRO. E. O Lord, I must laugh :Have at you with a proverb.-Shall I fet in

2

my staff? LUCE. Have at you with another: that's,-When?

can you tell?

DRO. S. If thy name be called Luce, Luce, thou haft answer'd him well.

ANT. E. Do you hear, you minion? you'll let us in, I hope? 3

I owe?] i. e. I own, am owner of. So, in The Four Prentices of London, 1615:

"Who owes that fhield?

"I:-and who owes that ?" STEEVENS,

3I hope?] A line either preceding or following this, has, I believe, been loft. Mr. Theobald and the fubfequent editors read-I trow; but that word, and hope, were not likely to be confounded by either the eye or the ear. MALONE,

The text, I believe, is right, and means-I expect you'll let us in. To hope, in ancient language, has fometimes this fignification.

LUCE. I thought to have afk'd you.

DRO. S.

And

you faid, no.

DRO. E. So, come, help; well ftruck; there was

blow for blow.

ANT. E. Thou baggage, let me in.

LUCE.

Can you tell for whofe fake?

Let him knock till it ake.

DRO. E. Mafter, knock the door hard.

LUCE.

ANT. E. You'll cry for this, minion, if I beat the door down.

LUCE. What needs all that, and a pair of stocks in the town?

ADR. [within.] Who is that at the door, that keeps all this noife?

DRO. S. By my troth, your town is troubled with unruly boys.

ANT. E. Are you there, wife? you might have come before.

ADR. Your wife, fir knave! go, get you from the door.

DRO. E. If you went in pain, mafter, this knave would go fore.

ANG. Here is neither cheer, fir, nor welcome; we would fain have either.

BAL. In debating which was beft, we shall part with neither."

So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

66

I cannot hope

"Cæfar and Antony fhall well greet together."

Again, in Chaucer's Reve's Tale, v. 4027:

“Our manciple I hope he wol be ded." STEEVENS.

we shall part with neither.] In our old language, to part fignified to have part. See Chaucer, Cant. Tales, ver. 9504:

DRO. E. They stand at the door, master; bid them welcome hither.

ANT. E. There is fomething in the wind, that we cannot get in.

DRO. E. You would say so, master, if your garments were thin.

Your cake here is warm within; you ftand here in the cold:

It would make a man mad as a buck, to be fo bought

and fold.'

ANT. E. Go, fetch me something, I'll break

the gate.

ope

DRO. S. Break any breaking here, and I'll break your knave's pate.

DRO. E. A man may break a word with you, fir; and words are but wind;

Ay, and break it in your face, so he break it not behind.

DRO. S. It seems, thou wantest breaking; Out upon thee, hind!

DRO. E. Here's too much, out upon thee! I pray thee, let me in.

DRO. S. Ay, when fowls have no feathers, and fish have no fin.

ANT. E. Well, I'll break in; Go borrow me a

crow.

DRO. E. A crow without a feather; master, mean you fo?

"That no wight with his bliffe parten shall.”

The French use partir in the fame fenfe. TYRWHITT. 5-bought and fold.] This is a proverbial phrafe. "To be bought and fold in a company." See Ray's Collection, p. 179. edit. 1737. STEEVENS.

For a fish without a fin, there's a fowl without a

feather:

If a crow help us in, firrah, we'll pluck a crow to

gether."

ANT. E. Go, get thee gone, fetch me an iron

crow.

BAL. Have patience, fir; O, let it not be fo; Herein you war against your reputation, And draw within the compafs of fufpect The unviolated honour of your wife.

Once this,-Your long experience of her wisdom,
Her fober virtue, years, and modesty,

Plead on her part 8 fome caufe to you unknown;
And doubt not, fir, but fhe will well excufe
Why at this time the doors are made against you.'

we'll pluck a crow together.] We find the fame quibble on a like occafion in one of the comedies of Plautus.

The children of diftinction among the Greeks and Romans had ufually birds of different kinds given them for their amusement. This cuftom Tyndarus in the Captives mentions, and says, that for his part he had

tantum upupam.

Upupa fignifies both a lapwing and a mattock, or fome inftrument of the fame kind, employed to dig ftones from the quarries.

STEEVENS.

Once this,] This expreffion appears to me fo fingular, that I cannot help fufpecting the paffage to be corrupt.

MALONE.

Once this, may mean, once for all, at once. So, in Sydney's Arcadia, Book 1: Some perchance loving my eftate, others my perfon. But once, I know all of them," &c.-Again, ibid. B. III:

She hit him, with his own fworde, fuch a blowe upon the wafte, that fhe almoft cut him afunder: once the fundred his foule from his body, fending it to Proferpina, an angry goddess against ravifhers." STEEVENS.

Your long experience of her wisdom,

Plead on her part-] The old copy reads your, in both places. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

9

the doors are made against you.] Thus the old edition. The modern editors read: