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Act III.

Scene I.
Before the house of ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. Good Signior 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 carcanet,
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?

DROMIO OF EPH. Say what you will, sir, but I know what I know.
That you beat me at the mart I have your hand to show;
If the skin were parchment, and the blows you gave were ink,
Your own handwriting would tell you what I think.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. I think thou art an ass.

DROMIO OF EPH. Marry, so it doth appear
By the wrongs I suffer and the blows I bear.
I should kick, being kick’d; and being at that pass,
You would keep from my heels, and beware of an ass.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. Y’are sad, Signior Balthazar; pray God our cheer
May answer my good will and your good welcome here.

BALTHAZAR. I hold your dainties cheap, sir, and your welcome dear.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. O, Signior Balthazar, either at flesh or fish,
A table full of welcome makes scarce one dainty dish.

BALTHAZAR. Good meat, sir, is common; that every churl affords.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. And welcome more common; for that’s nothing but words.

BALTHAZAR. Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. Ay, to a niggardly host and more sparing 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.

DROMIO OF EPH. Maud, Bridget, Marian, Cicely, Gillian, Ginn!

DROMIO OF SYR. [Within] Mome, malt-horse, capon, coxcomb, idiot, patch!
Either get thee from the door, or sit down at the hatch.
Dost thou conjure for wenches, that thou call’st for such store,
When one is one too many? Go get thee from the door.

DROMIO OF EPH. What patch is made our porter?
My master stays in the street.

DROMIO OF SYR. [Within] Let him walk from whence he came, lest he catch cold on’s feet.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. Who talks within there? Ho, open the door!

DROMIO OF SYR. [Within] Right, sir; I’ll tell you when, an you’ll tell me wherefore.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. Wherefore? For my dinner;
I have not din’d to-day.

DROMIO OF SYR. [Within] Nor to-day here you must not; come again when you may.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. What art thou that keep’st me out from the house I owe?

DROMIO OF SYR. [Within] The porter for this time, sir, and my name is Dromio.

DROMIO OF EPH. O Villain, thou hast stol’n both mine office and my name!
The one ne’er got me credit, the other mickle blame.
If thou hadst been Dromio to-day in my place,
Thou wouldst have chang’d thy face for a name, or thy name for an ass.

LUCE. [Within] What a coil is there, Dromio? Who are those at the gate?

DROMIO OF EPH. Let my master in, Luce.

LUCE. [Within] Faith, no, he comes too late;
And so tell your master.

DROMIO OF EPH. O Lord, I must laugh!
Have at you with a proverb: Shall I set in my staff?

LUCE. [Within] Have at you with another: that’s—when? can you tell?

DROMIO OF SYR. [Within] If thy name be called Luce—Luce, thou hast answer’d him well.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. Do you hear, you minion? You’ll let us in, I hope?

LUCE. [Within] I thought to have ask’d you.

DROMIO OF SYR. [Within] And you said no.

DROMIO OF EPH. So, Come, help: well struck! there was blow for blow.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. Thou baggage, let me in.

LUCE. [Within] Can you tell for whose sake?

DROMIO OF EPH. Master, knock the door hard.

LUCE. [Within] Let him knock till it ache.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. You’ll cry for this, minion, if I beat the door down.

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

ADRIANA. [Within] Who is that at the door, that keeps all this noise?

DROMIO OF SYR. [Within] By my troth, your town is troubled with unruly boys.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. Are you there, wife? You might have come before.

ADRIANA. [Within] Your wife, sir knave! Go get you from the door.

DROMIO OF EPH. If you went in pain, master, this ‘knave’ would go sore.

ANGELO. Here is neither cheer, sir, nor welcome; we would fain have either.

BALTHAZAR. In debating which was best, we shall part with neither.

DROMIO OF EPH. They stand at the door, master; bid them welcome hither.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. There is something in the wind, that we cannot get in.

DROMIO OF EPH. You would say so, master, if your garments were thin.
Your cake here is warm within; you stand here in the cold;
It would make a man mad as a buck to be so bought and sold.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. Go fetch me something; I’ll break ope the gate.

DROMIO OF SYR. [Within] Break any breaking here, and I’ll break your knave’s pate.

DROMIO OF EPH. A man may break a word with you, sir; and words are but wind— Aye, and break it in your face, so he break it not behind.

DROMIO OF SYR. [Within] It seems thou want’st breaking; out upon thee, hind!

DROMIO OF EPH. Here’s too much ‘out upon thee!’ pray thee let me in.

DROMIO OF SYR. [Within] Aye, when fowls have no feathers and fish have no fin.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. Well, I’ll break in; go borrow me a crow.

DROMIO OF EPH. A crow without feather? Master, mean you so? For a fish without a fin, there’s a fowl without a feather;
If a crow help us in, sirrah, we’ll pluck a crow together.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. Go get thee gone; fetch me an iron crow.

BALTHAZAR. Have patience, sir; O, let it not be so!
Herein you war against your reputation,
And draw within the compass of suspect
Th’ unviolated honour of your wife.
Once this—your long experience of her wisdom,
Her sober virtue, years, and modesty,
Plead on her part some cause to you unknown;
And doubt not, sir, but she will well excuse
Why at this time the doors are made against you.
Be rul’d by me: depart in patience,
And let us to the Tiger all to dinner;
And, about evening, come yourself alone
To know the reason of this strange restraint.
If by strong hand you offer to break in
Now in the stirring passage of the day,
A vulgar comment will be made of it,
And that supposed by the common rout
Against your yet ungalled estimation
That may with foul intrusion enter in
And dwell upon your grave when you are dead;
For slander lives upon succession,
For ever hous’d where it gets possession.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. You have prevail’d. I will depart in quiet,
And in despite of mirth mean to be merry.
I know a wench of excellent discourse,
Pretty and witty; wild, and yet, too, gentle;
There will we dine. This woman that I mean,
My wife—but, I protest, without desert—
Hath oftentimes upbraided me withal;
To her will we to dinner. [To ANGELO] Get you home
And fetch the chain; by this I know ‘tis made.
Bring it, I pray you, to the Porpentine;
For there’s the house. That chain will I bestow—
Be it for nothing but to spite my wife—
Upon mine hostess there; good sir, make haste.
Since mine own doors refuse to entertain me,
I’ll knock elsewhere, to see if they’ll disdain me.

ANGELO. I’ll meet you at that place some hour hence.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPH. Do so; this jest shall cost me some expense.

[Exeunt.]

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