ANT. E. You have prevail'd; I will depart in

quiet,

And, in despight 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.-Get you home,
And fetch the chain; by this, I know, 'tis made:
Bring it, I pray you, to the Porcupine;

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.
ANG. I'll meet you at that place, some hour
hence.

ANT. E. Do so; this jest shall cost me some [Exeunt.

expence.

The second folio has once; which rather improves the sense, and is not inconsistent with the metre. TYRWHITT.

And, in despight of mirth,] Mr. Theobald does not know what to make of this; and, therefore, has put wrath instead of mirth into the text, in which he is followed by the Oxford editor. But the old reading is right, and the meaning is,—I will be merry, even out of spite to mirth, which is now, of all things, the most unpleasing to me. WARBURTON.

Though mirth has withdrawn herself from me, and seems determined to avoid me, yet in despight of her, and whether she will or not, I am resolved to be merry. HEATH.

SCENE II.

The same.

Enter LUCIANA and ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse.

Luc. And may it be that you have quite forgot A husband's office? shall, Antipholus, hate, Even in the spring of love, thy love-springs rot? Shall love, in building, grow so ruinate ?2

Enter Luciana-] Here, in the old blundering first folio, we find," Enter Juliana." Corrected in the second folio. STEEVENS.

that you have quite forgot &c.] In former copies : And may it be that you have quite forgot

A husband's office?" Shall, Antipholus,

Even in the spring of love, thy love-springs rot?
Shall love in buildings grow so ruinate?

This passage has hitherto laboured under a double corruption. What conceit could our editors have of love in buildings growing ruinate? Our poet meant no more than this: Shall thy lovesprings rot, even in the spring of love? and shall thy love grow ruinous, even while 'tis but building up? The next corruption is by an accident at press, as I take it. This scene for fifty-two lines successively is strictly in alternate rhymes; and this measure is never broken, but in the second and fourth lines of these two couplets. 'Tis certain, I think, a monosyllable dropt from the tail of the second verse; and I have ventured to supply it by, I hope, a probable conjecture. THEOBALD.

Mr. Theobald's emendations are-the word-hate, supplied at the end of the second line, and, in the fourth, building given instead of buildings. STEEVENS.

Love-springs are young plants or shoots of love. Thus, in The Faithful Shepherdess of Fletcher:

"The nightingale among the thick-leav'd springs
"That sits alone in sorrow."

If you did wed my sister for her wealth,
Then, for her wealth's sake, use her with more
kindness:

Or, if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth;
Muffle your false love with some show of blind-

ness:

See a note on the second scene of the fifth Act of Coriolanus, and Mr. Malone's edition of our author's works, Vol. X. p. 44, n. 9, where the meaning of this expression is more fully dilated. The rhyme which Mr. Theobald would restore, stands thus in the old edition:

shall Antipholus

If, therefore, instead of ruinate, we should read ruinous, the passage may remain as it was originally written; and perhaps, indeed, throughout the play we should read Antiphilus, a name which Shakspeare might have found in some quotations from Pliny, B. XXXV. and XXXVII. Antiphilus is also one of the heroes in Sidney's Arcadia.

Ruinous is justified by a passage in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act V. sc. iv:

"Lest growing ruinous the building fall."

Throughout the first folio, Antipholus occurs much more often than Antipholis, even where the rhyme is not concerned; and were the rhyme defective here, such transgressions are accounted for in other places. STEEVENS.

The word-hate, in the first line, is introduced by Theobald, without authority, and certainly injures the sense of the passage. Hate rotting the springs of love, is a strange idea. It appears to me that the true reading is that suggested, though not adopted, by Steevens:

shall, Antipholus,

Even in the spring of love, thy love-springs rot?
Shall love, in building, grow so ruinous?

Which preserves both the sense and the rhyme.

M. MASON.

Antipholis occurs, I think, but thrice in the original copy. I have therefore adhered to the other spelling. MALONE.

Shall love, in building, grow so ruinate?] So, in our author's 119th Sonnet:

"And ruin'd love, when it is built anew.

Let not my sister read it in your eye;

Be not thy tongue thy own shame's orator;
Look sweet, speak fair, become disloyalty;
Apparel vice like virtue's harbinger:

Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted;
Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint;
Be secret-false: What need she be acquainted?
What simple thief brags of his own attaint?3
'Tis double wrong, to truant with your bed,
And let her read it in thy looks at board:
Shame hath a bastard fame, well managed;
Ill deeds are doubled with an evil word.
Alas, poor women! make us but believe,"
Being compact of credit,5 that you love us;
Though others have the arm, show us the sleeve;
We in your motion turn, and you may move us.

In support of Mr. Theobald's first emendation, a passage in our author's 10th Sonnet may be produced:

thou art so possess'd with murderous hate,
"That 'gainst thyself thou stick'st not to conspire,
"Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate,
"Which to repair should be thy chief desire."

Again, in The Rape of Lucrece:

"To ruinate proud buildings with thy hours." Stowe uses the adjective ruinate, in his Annales, p. 892: "The last year at the taking down of the old ruinate gate-."

3

MALONE.

his own attaint?] The old copy has-attaine. The emendation is Mr. Rowe's. MALONE.

4

Alas, poor women! make us but believe, &c.] The old copy-not. STEEVENS.

From the whole tenour of the context it is evident, that this negative (not) got place in the first copies instead of but. And these two monosyllables have by mistake reciprocally dispossessed one another in many other passages of our author's works. THeobald.

5

Being compact of credit,] Means, being made altogether of credulity. So, in Heywood's Iron Age, Part II. 1632:

she's compact

66

66

Merely of blood

Then, gentle brother, get you in again; Comfort my sister, cheer her, call her wife: 'Tis holy sport, to be a little vain,

6

When the sweet breath of flattery conquers strife. ANT. S. Sweet mistress, (what your name is else, I know not,

Nor by what wonder you do hit on mine,) Less, in your knowledge, and your grace, you show

not,

Than our earth's wonder; more than earth divine. Teach me, dear creature, how to think and speak; Lay open to my earthy gross conceit, Smother'd in errors, feeble, shallow, weak,

The folded meaning of your words' deceit. Against my soul's pure truth why labour you, To make it wander in an unknown field? Are you a god? would you create me new? Transform me then, and to your power I'll yield. But if that I am I, then well I know,

Your weeping sister is no wife of mine, Nor to her bed no homage do I owe; Far more, far more, to you do I decline. O, train me not, sweet mermaid,' with thy note, To drown me in thy sister's flood of tears; Sing, siren, for thyself, and I will dote:

Spread o'er the silver waves thy golden hairs,

Again, in our author's Venus and Adonis:

6

7

"Love is a spirit all compact of fire." STEEVENS.

vain,] Is light of tongue, not veracious. JOHNSON. sweet mermaid,] Mermaid is only another name for syren. So, in the Index to P. Holland's translation of Pliny's Natural History: "Mermaids in Homer were witches, and their songs enchauntements." STEEVENS.

8

in thy sister's flood-] The old copy reads--sister. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. MALONE.