After you first forswore it on the mart,
And, thereupon, I drew my sword on you ;
And then you fled into this abbey here,
From whence, I think, you are come by miracle.

Ant.E. I never came within these abbey walls,
Nor ever didst thou draw thy sword on me:
I never saw the chain, so help me heaven !
And this is false, you burden me withal.

Duke. What an intricate impeach is this !
I think, you all have drank of Circe's cup.
If here you hous'd him, here he would have been ;
If he were mad, he would not plead so coldly :-
You say, he dined at home ; the goldsmith here
Denies that saying:—Sirrah, what say you ?

Dro.E. Sir, he dined with her there, at the Porcupine.
Cour. He did ; and from my finger snatch'd that ring.
Ant.E. 'Tis true, my liege, this ring I had of her.
Duke. Saw'st thou him enter at the abbey here?
Cour. As sure, my liege, as I do see your grace.
Duke. Why, this is strange :-Go call the abbess hi-
ther ;

[Exit an Attendant. I think, you are all mated, 2 or stark mad.

Ægcon.Most mighty duke,vouchsafe me speak a word; Haply, I see a friend will save my life, And pay the sum that may deliver me.

Duke. Speak freely, Syracusan, what thou wilt.

Ægeon. Is not your name, sir, callid Antipholus ? And is not that your bondman Dromio ?

Dro.E. Within this hour I was his bondman, sir, But he, I thank him, gnaw'd in two my cords ; Now am I Dromio, and his man, unbound.

Ægeon. I am sure, you both of you remember me

Dro.E. Ourselves we do remember, sir, by you ;
For lately we were bound, as you are now.
You are not Pinch's patient, are you, sir ?

Æg. Why look you strange on me? you know me well.
Ant.E. I never saw you in my life, till now.
Ægeon. Oh ! grief hath chang'd me, since you saw

me last;
And careful hours, with time's deformed hand
Have written strange defeatures in my face :3

[2] Mated, i.e. confounded. [3] De features are certainly neither more nor less than features; as demerits are neither more nor less than merits. Time, says Ægeon, hath placed new and strange features in my face ; i. e. given it quite a different appeas. ance : no wonder therefore thou dost not know iħe. RITSON.

STEEVENS.

But tell me yet, dost thou not know my voice ?
Ant. E. Neither.

i.
Ægeon. Dromio, nor thou !
Dro.E. No, trust me, sir, nor I.
Ægeon. I am sure, thou dost.

Dro.E. Ay, sir ? but I am sure, I do not; and whatsoever a man denies, you are now bound to believe him

Ægeon. Not know my voice ! O, time's extremity !
Hast thou so crack'd and splitted my poor tongue,
In seven short years, that here my only son
Knows not my feeble key of untun'd cares? 4
Though now this grained 5 face of mine be hid
In sap-consuming winter's drizzled snow,
And all the conduits of my blood froze up ;
Yet hath my night of life some memory,
My wasting lamps some fading glimmer left,
My dull deaf ears a little use to hear:
All these old witnesses (I cannot err)
Tell me, thou art my son Antipholus.

Ant.E. I never saw my father in my life.
Ægeon. But seven years since, in Syracusa, boy,
Thou know'st, we parted : but, perhaps, my son,
Thou sham'st to acknowledge me in misery.

Ant.E. The duke, and all that know me in the city,
Can witness with me that it is not so ;
I ne'er saw Syracusa in my life.

Duke. I tell thee, Siracusan, twenty years Have I been patron to Antipholus, During which time he ne'er saw Syracusa : I see, thy age and dangers make thee dote. Enter the Abbess, with ANTIPHOLUS Syracusan, and

DROM10 Syracusan. Abb. Most mighty duke, behold a man much wrong'd.

[All gather to see him. Adr. I see two husbands, or mine eyes deceive me.

Duke. One of these men is Genius to the other ;
And so of these : Which is the natural man,
And which the spirit ? Who deciphers them ?

Dro. S. I, sir, am Dromio ; command him away.
Dro.E. I, sir, am Dromio ; pray, let me stay.
Ant.S. Ægeon, art thou not? or else his ghost?
[4] i. e. the weak and discordant tone of my voice, that is changed

Dro. S. O, my old master! who hath bound him here? Abb. Whoever bound him, I will loose his bonds, And gain a husband by his liberty : -Speak, old Ægeon, if thou be'st the man That hadst a wife once called Æmilia, That bore thee at a burden two fair sons : O, if thou be'st the same Ægeon, speak, And speak unto the same Æmilia !

Ægeon. If I dream not, thou art Æmilia ;
If thou art she, tell me, where is that son
That floated with thee on the fatal raft?

Abb. By men of Epidamnum, he, and I,
And the twin Dromio, all were taken up ;
But, by and by, rude fishermen of Corinth
By force took Dromio, and my son from them,
And me they left with those of Epidamnum :
What then became of them, I cannot tell ;
I, to this fortune that you see me in.

Duke. Why, here begins his morning story right :
These two Antipholus's, these two so like,
And these two Dromio's, one in semblance,
Besides her urging of the wreck at sea,
These are the parents to these children,
Which accidentally are met together.
Antipholus, thou cam'st from Corinth first?

Art.S. No, sir, not I; I came from Syracuse.
Duke. Stay, stand apart; I know not which is which.
Ant.E. I came from Corinth, my most gracious lord.
Dro.E. And I with him.
Ant. E. Brought to this town by that famous

warrior
Duke Menaphon, your most renowned uncle.

Adr. Which of you two gid dine with me to-day?
Ant.S. I, my gentle mistress.
Adr. And are you not my husband ?
Ant. E. No, I say nay to that.

Ant.S. And so do I, yet did she call me so ;
And this fair gentlewoman, her sister here,
Did call me brother :-What I told you then,
I hope, I shall have leisure to make good;
If this be not a dream, I see, and hear.

Ang. That is the chain, sir, which you had of nie.
Ant.S. I think it be, sir ; I deny it not.
Ant.E. And you, sir, for this chain arrested me.

Ang. I think I did, sir ; I deny it not.

Adr. I sent you money, sir, to be your bail,
By Dromio ; but I think he brought it not.
Dro.E. No, none by me.

Ant.S. This purse of ducats I receiv'd from you,
And Dromio, my man, did bring them me.
I see, we still did meet each other's man,
And I was ta'en for him, and he for me,
And thereupon these Errors are arose.

Ant. E. These ducats pawn I for my father here.
Duke. It shall not need, thy father hath his life.
Cour. Sir, I must have that diamond from you.
Ant.E. There, take it; and much thanks for my good

cheer.
Abb. Renowned duke, vouchsafe to take the pains
To go with us into the abbey here,
And hear at large discoursed all our fortunes :-
And all that are assembled in this place,
That by this sympathized one day's error
Have suffer'd wrong, go, keep us company,
And we shall make full satisfaction. -
Twenty-five years have I but gone in travail
Of you my sons ; nor, till this present hour,
My heavy burdens are delivered :-
The duke, my husband, and my children both,
And you the calendars of their nativity,
Go to a gossip's feast, and go with mé;
After so long grief, such nativity !
Duke. With all my heart, I'll gossip at this feast.

[Exeunt Duke, Abbess, ÆGEON, Courtezan,

Merchant, ANGELO, and Attendants. Dro.S. Master shall I fetch your stuff from shipboard ? Ant.E. Dromio, what stuff of mine hast thou em

bark'd ? Dro.s. Your goods, that lay at host, sir, in the Centaur.

Ant.S. He speaks to me; I am your master, Dromio: Come, go with us ; we'll look to that anon : Embrace thy brother there, rejoice with him.

[Exeunt ANTIPHOLUS S. and E. ADR. and Luc. Dro.s. There is a fat friend at your master's house, That kitchen'd me for you to-day at dinner ;

now shall be my sister, not my wife. Dro.E. Methinks, you are my glass, and not my bro

I see by you, I am a sweet-faced youth.
Will you walk in to see their gossiping ?

Drö.S. Not I, sir ; you are my elder.
Dro.E. That's a question : how shall we try it ?

Dro.s. We will draw cuts for the senior: till then lead thou first,

Dro.E. Nay, then thus : We came into the world, like brother and brother ; And now let's go hand in hand, not one before another:

[Exeunt.6

[6] On a careful revision of the foregoing scenes, I do not hesitate to pronounce them the composition of two very unequal writers. Shakspeare had undoubtedly a share in them ; but that the entire play was no work of his, is an opinion which (as Benedick says) “ fire cannot melt out of me ; I will die in it at the stake.” Thus, as we are informed by Aulus Gellius, Lib.III. cap. 3, some plays are absolutely ascribed to Plautus, which in truth had only been (retractat æ et expolitat « ) retouched and polished by him.

STEEVENS.

END OF VOL. I.

Munroe, Francis & Parker's

Third Edition.