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DRO. E. Mistress, refpice finem, refpect your end; or rather the prophecy, like the parrot, Beware the rope's end.2

ANT. E. Wilt thou ftill talk?

[beats bim.

COUR. How fay you now? is not your husband

mad?

ADR. His incivility confirms no lefs.Good doctor Pinch, you are a conjurer; Establish him in his true sense again, And I will please you what you will demand. Luc. Alas, how firy and how sharp he looks! COUR. Mark, how he trembles in his extacy! PINCH. Give me your hand, and let me feel your pulse.

ANT. E. There is my hand, and let it feel your

ear.

Schoolmafter called Pinch." In many country villages the pedagogue is ftill a reputed conjurer. So, in Ben Jonfon's Staple of News: "I would have ne'er a cunning school-mafter in England, I mean a cunning man as a schoolmaster; that is, a conjurour," &c.

STEEVENS.

2 Miftrefs, refpice finem, refpect your end; or rather the prophecy, like the parrot, Beware the rope's end.] These words feem to allude to a famous pamphlet of that time, wrote by Buchanan against the lord of Liddington; which ends with thefe words, Refpice finem, refpice funem. But to what purpose, unless our author could fhow that he could quibble as well in English, as the other in Latin, I confefs I know not. As for prophefying like the parrot, this alludes to people's teaching that bird unlucky words; with which, when any paffenger was offended, it was the ftanding joke of the wife owner to fay, Take heed, fir, my parrot prophesies. To this, Butler hints, where, fpeaking of Ralpho's skill in augury, he says: "Could tell what subtleft parrots mean,

"That Speak and think contrary

clean;

"What member 'tis of whom they talk,

"When they cry rope, and walk, knave, walk."

"But come, refpice funem." STEEVENS.

So, in Decker's Satiromaftix:

WARBURTON.

PINCH. I charge thee, Satan, hous'd within this

man,

To yield poffeffion to my holy prayers,

And to thy ftate of darkness hie thee ftraight;
I conjure thee by all the faints in heaven.

ANT. E. Peace, doting wizard, peace; I am not
mad.

ADR. O, that thou wert not, poor diftreffed foul!
ANT. E. You minion, you, are these your cuf-
tomers? 3

Did this companion with the faffron face
Revel and feast it at my house to day,
Whilft upon me the guilty doors were fhut,
And I denied to enter in my house?

ADR. O, husband, God doth know, you din'd
at home,

Where 'would you had remain'd until this time,
Free from these flanders, and this open fhame!

3

ANT. E. I din'd at home! Thou villain, what fay'st thou?

DRO. E. Sir, footh to fay, you did not dine at home. ANT. E. Were not my doors lock'd up, and I fhut out?

DRO. E. Perdy, your doors were lock'd, and you shut out.

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-your customers?] A cuftomer is used in Othello for a comHere it seems to fignify one who vifits fuch women. MALONE.

mon woman.

companion -] A word of contempt, anciently used as we now use-fellow.

STEEVENS.

5 I din'd at home!] I is not found in the old copy. It was inferted by Mr. Theobald. MALONE.

6 Perdy,] A corruption of the common French oath-Pardien Chaucer's perfonages are frequent in their ufe of it. STEEVENS.

:

ANT. E. And did not fhe herself revile me there? DRO. E. Sans fable, fhe herfelf revil'd you there. ANT. E. Did not her kitchen-maid rail, taunt, and fcorn me?

DRO. E. Certes,' fhe did; the kitchen-veftal fcorn'd you.

ANT. E. And did not I in rage depart from thence? DRO. E. In verity, you did ;-my bones bear witnefs,

That fince have felt the vigour of his rage.

ADR. Is't good to footh him in thefe contraries? PINCH. It is no fhame; the fellow finds his vein, And, yielding to him, humours well his frenzy. ANT. E. Thou haft fuborn'd the goldsmith to arreft me.

ADR. Alas, I fent you money to redeem you, By Dromio here, who came in hafte for it.

DRO. E. Money by me? heart and good-will you might,

But, furely, master, not a rag of money.

ANT. E. Went'ft not thou to her for a purfe of ducats?

ADR. He came to me, and I deliver'd it.

Luc. And I am witness with her, that she did. DRO. E.God and the rope-maker, bear me witness, That I was fent for nothing but a rope!

PINCH. Miftrefs, both man and mafter is poffefs'd;

I know it by their pale and deadly looks:
They must be bound, and laid in fome dark room.

5 Certes,] i. e. certainly. So, in The Tempeft:

"For certes, these are people of the island." STEEVENS. -kitchen-veftal-] Her charge being like that of the veftal virgins, to keep the fire burning. JOHNSON,

6

ANT. E. Say, wherefore didft thou lock me forth to-day,

And why doft thou deny the bag of gold?

ADR. I did not, gentle husband, lock thee forth. DRO. E. And, gentle master, I receiv'd no gold; But I confefs, fir, that we were lock'd out.

ADR. Diffembling villain, thou speak'ft falfe in

both.

ANT. E. Diffembling harlot, thou art falfe in all; And art confederate with a damned pack, To make a loathfome abject fcorn of me: But with these nails I'll pluck out thefe falfe eyes, That would behold in me this fhameful fport.

[PINCH and his affiftants bind ANT. and DROMIO. ADR. O, bind him, bind him, let him not come

near me.

PINCH. More company;-the fiend is ftrong within him.

Luc. Ah me, poor man, how pale and wan he looks!

ANT. E. What, will you murder me? Thou gaoler, thou,

I am thy prifoner; wilt thou fuffer them

To make a rescue?

OFF.

Masters, let him go:

He is my prifoner, and you shall not have him.
PINCH. Go, bind this man, for he is frantick too.
ADR. What wilt thou do, thou peevish officer??
Haft thou delight to fee a wretched man
Do outrage and displeasure to himself?

OFF. He is my prifoner; if I let him go,
The debt he owes, will be requir'd of me.

7-thou peevish officer?] This is the fecond time that in the courfe of this play, peevish has been used for foolish. STEEVENS.

ANT. E. And did not fhe herself revile me there? DRO. E. Sans fable, fhe herfelf revil'd you there. ANT. E. Did not her kitchen-maid rail, taunt, and fcorn me?

DRO. E. Certes,' fhe did; the kitchen-vestal fcorn'd you.

ANT. E. And did not I in rage depart from thence? DRO. E. In verity, you did ;-my bones bear witnefs,

That fince have felt the vigour of his rage.

ADR. Is't good to footh him in thefe contraries? PINCH. It is no fhame; the fellow finds his vein, And, yielding to him, humours well his frenzy. ANT. E. Thou haft fuborn'd the goldfmith to arreft me.

ADR. Alas, I fent you money to redeem you, By Dromio here, who came in hafte for it.

DRO. E. Money by me? heart and good-will you might,

But, furely, mafter, not a rag of money.

ANT. E. Went'ft not thou to her for a purse of ducats?

ADR. He came to me, and I deliver'd it.

Luc. And I am witnefs with her, that fhe did. DRO. E.God and the rope-maker, bear me witness, That I was fent for nothing but a rope!

PINCH. Miftrefs, both man and mafter is poffefs'd;

I know it by their pale and deadly looks:
They must be bound, and laid in fome dark room.

5 Certes,] i. e. certainly. So, in The Tempeft:

"For certes, thefe are people of the ifland." STEEVEA -kitchen-veftal-] Her charge being like that of the vei virgins, to keep the fire burning. JOHNSON,

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