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on my left arm, that I, amazed, ran from her as a 145 witch:

And, I think, if my breast had not been made of flint, and my heart of steel,

She had transformed me to a curtal dog, and made me

turn i' the wheel.

Ant. S. Go hie thee presently, post to the road;

147, 148. Printed as prose in Ff; as verse first by Knight; S. Walker would begin the verse with if my. 147. flint] Hanmer; faith Ff. 148. curtal] F4; curtull F 1; curtall Ff 2, 3; cur-tail Hanmer. 149. Go hie] Go, hie Theobald. presently, post] presently post Malone.

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"Rich. Then, Clifford, were thy
heart as hard as steel,
As thou hast shown it flinty by
thy deeds."

148. curtal dog] The reference is to the turnspit dog with the tail cut short. "A curtal dog," says Nares, Glossary," was originally the dog of an unqualified person, which, by the forest laws, must have its tail cut short, partly as a mark and partly from a notion that the tail of a dog is necessary to him in running." ["Not in running," says Phin, Glossary, p. 89 (s.v. curtal), "but in turning. A greyhound could not course if his tail were cut off, and one with a weak or light tail is sure to fail at the turn."] "In later usage curtal dog means either a common dog not meant for sport, or a dog that missed his game. It has the latter sense in this passage" [i.e. Merry Wives of Windsor, II. i. 114: "Hope is a curtal

dog in some affairs "]. Compare Passionate Pilgrim, 273: 'My curtal [curtail in Globe ed.] dog plays not at all"; and the bobtail tyke of King Lear, III. vi. 73. Compare also Slender's phrase in Merry Wives of Windsor, III. iv. 47: "Ay, that I will, come cut and long tail"; meaning all kinds, used here, of course, metaphorically of men. The word is used of a horse in All's Well that Ends Well, II. iii. 65: "I'd give bay Curtal and his furniture." Greene, Orlando Furioso (Dyce, 1831, vol. i. p. 43), uses it of a sword: "the blade is curtal short."

148. turn i' the wheel] The curtal sometimes served as a turnspit. "There is comprehended," says Topsell, History of Four-footed Beasts, 1607, "under the curs of the coarsest kind, a certain dog in kitchen service excellent; for when any meat is to be roasted they go into a wheel, which they turning round about with the weight of their bodies, so diligently look to their business, that no drudge nor scullion can do the feat more cunningly." Compare Marston and Dekker's Eastward Ho, II. iii. 282 (Bullen, iii. 41): "Nay there is no turnspit dog bound to his wheel more servilely than you shall be to her wheel."

149. road] roadstead or harbour.

An if the wind blow any way from shore,
I will not harbour in this town to-night:
If any bark put forth, come to the mart,
Where I will walk till thou return to me.
If every one knows us, and we know none,
'Tis time, I think, to trudge, pack, and be gone.
Dro. S. As from a bear a man would run for life,

So fly I from her that would be my wife.
Ant. S. There's none but witches do inhabit here;
And therefore 'tis high time that I were hence.
She that doth call me husband, even my soul
Doth for a wife abhor; but her fair sister,
Possess'd with such a gentle sovereign grace,
Of such enchanting presence and discourse,
Hath almost made me traitor to myself:
But, lest myself be guilty to self-wrong,

I'll stop mine ears against the mermaid's song.
Enter ANGELO, with the chain.

150

155

[Exit.

160

165

Ang. Master Antipholus,—

Ant. S. Ay, that's my name.

Ang. I know it well, sir. Lo, here is the chain.
I thought to have ta'en you at the Porpentine;
The chain unfinish'd made me stay thus long.

170

165. to] of Pope. 167. Antipholus,—] 169. here is]

150. An] Capell; And Ff. 154. knows us] know us Johnson. 158. SCENE IV. Pope. 159. high] F 4; hie Ff 1, 2, 3. Enter . ]Enter the Goldsmith Capell. Antipholis, Theobald; Antipholus. Ff; Antipholus? Capell. Pope; here's Ff. 170. Porpentine] Porcupine Rowe.

158. witches] Compare Iv. iv. 146. In Shakespeare's time the word was applied to persons of either sex; as in Antony and Cleopatra, 1. ii. 40, and Cymbeline, 1. vi. 166.

165. guilty to] i.e. of. Winter's Tale, Iv. iv. 549:

Compare

"But as the unthought-on accident is guilty

To what we wildly do." 166. mermaid's] Compare line 45 ante.

170. Porpentine] See III. i. 116 ante.

Ant. S. What is your will that I shall do with this?
Ang. What please yourself, sir: I have made it for you.
Ant. S. Made it for me, sir! I bespoke it not.

Ang. Not once, nor twice, but twenty times you have. 175 Go home with it, and please your wife withal;

And soon at supper-time I'll visit you,

And then receive my money for the chain. Ant. S. I pray you, sir, receive the money now,

For fear you ne'er see chain nor money more.

Ang. You are a merry man, sir. Fare you well.
Ant. S. What I should think of this, I cannot tell;
But this I think, there's no man is so vain
That would refuse so fair an offer'd chain.
I see a man here needs not live by shifts
When in the streets he meets such golden gifts.
I'll to the mart, and there for Dromio stay:
If any ship put out then straight away.

182. Ant. S.] Ant. Ff 1, 4; Dro. Ff 2, 3. conj.

180

[Exit.

185

[Exit.

186. streets] street Capell

177. soon at supper-time] Compare 1. ii. 26: "Soon at five o'clock."

ACT IV

SCENE I.-A Public Place.

Enter Second Merchant, ANGELO, and an Officer.
Sec. Mer. You know since Pentecost the sum is due,
And since I have not much importuned you;
Nor now I had not, but that I am bound
To Persia, and want guilders for my voyage:
Therefore make present satisfaction,

Or I'll attach you by this officer.

Ang. Even just the sum that I do owe to you
Is growing to me by Antipholus;
And, in the instant that I met with you,
He had of me a chain: at five o'clock
I shall receive the money for the same.
Pleaseth you walk with me down to his house,
I will discharge my bond, and thank you too.

Enter ANTIPHOLUS of Ephesus and DROMIO of Ephesus from the courtesan's.

Off. That labour may you save: see where he comes.

Ant. E. While I go to the goldsmith's house, go thou

ΙΟ

ACT IV. SCENE 1. Enter...] Dyce; Enter a Merchant, Goldsmith, and an Officer Ff. 8. growing] owing Pope. Rowe (ed. 2); Please you but Pope.

4. guilders] See 1. i. 8.

12. Pleaseth you] Ff; Please you 14. may you] Ff 1, 2, 3; you may F 4.

8. growing] growing or accruing

6. attach] Another example of due. Compare Iv. iv. 120, 133.

legal phraseology.

of /

And buy a rope's end: that will I bestow
Among my wife and her confederates,
For locking me out of my doors by day.
But soft! I see the goldsmith. Get thee gone;
Buy thou a rope, and bring it home to me.

Dro. E. I buy a thousand pound a year: I buy a rope. [Exit.
Ant. E. A man is well holp up that trusts to you:
I promised your presence and the chain;
But neither chain nor goldsmith came to me.
Belike you thought our love would last too long
If it were chain'd together, and therefore came not.

Ang. Saving your merry humour, here's the note

How much your chain weighs to the utmost carat,
The fineness of the gold, and chargeful fashion,

17. her] Rowe; their Ff; these Collier (ed. 2). 21. rope.] rope! Rowe. 23. I] You Dyce (ed. 2). promised] promised me Collier. 26. it] we Keightley. and] omitted by Pope. 28. carat] Pope; charect F 1; Raccat Ff 2, 3, 4; caract Collier (ed. 1).

21. I buy a thousand . . . rope] The real point of this passage is extremely obscure. Craig explains: "I will as gladly as [? receive] the above annuity help in the scheme of vengeance." Halliwell compares 3 Henry VI. II. ii. 144, where Edward says of Queen Margaret:

"A wisp of straw were worth a thousand crowns

have no true debitor and creditor but it."

26. together] Here a dissyllable, as in v. i. 208. Compare line 60 post.

28. carat] Florio, Dictionary, has "Carato: a weight or degree in Diamonds, Pearls, Rubies, and Metals, called a Charact; also the touch, the loy, or stint of refining of God or Silver." Cotgrave gives "Carat: a

To make this shameless callet carrat : amongst Goldsmiths and

know herself":

the wearing of a wisp of straw on the head being the punishment for a scold, and possibly for a strumpet. But it is not easy to see any connection between the passages. I think Dromio must mean that when he buys a rope (i.e. to hang himself with) he buys the equivalent of a thousand a year. Compare Cymbeline, v. iv. 168: "O the charity of a penny cord! It sums up thousands in a trice! you

Mint-Men is the third part of an ounce; among Jewellers or Stonecutters, but the 19 [sic] part [19 must be an error for 192]; for 8 of them make but one sterlin, and a sterlin is the 24 part of an ounce.' The word only occurs here and in 2 Henry IV. IV. v. 162: "Other, less firm in carat, is more precious."

29. chargeful] full of charge, expensive. Compare "careful" (full of care), v. i. 299.

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