After you first forswore it on the mart, From whence, I think, you are come by miracle. Duke. What an intricate impeach is this! 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[Exit an Attendant ther; I think, you are all mated,2 or stark mad. Egeon.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. And is not that your bondman Dromio ? Dro.E. Within this hour I was his bondman, sir, Egeon. I am sure, you both of you remember me. Eg. Why look you strange on me? you know me well. Egeon. Oh! grief hath chang'd me, since you saw me last; And careful hours, with time's deformed hand [2] Mated, i.e. confounded. STEEVENS. [3] Defeatures are certainly neither more nor less than features; as demerits are neither more nor less than merits. Time, says Egeon, hath placed new and strange features in my face; i. e. given it quite a different appearance no wonder therefore thou dost not know me. RITSON. But tell me yet, dost thou not know my voice? Ant. E. Neither. Egeon. Dromio, nor thou? Dro.E. No, trust me, sir, nor I. Dro.E. Ay, sir? but I am sure, I do not; and what- Ant.E. I never saw my father in my life. 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 : Enter the Abbess, with ANTIPHOLUS Syracusan, and 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. [4] i. e. the weak and discordant tone of my voice, that is changed by grief. DOUCE. [5] i. e. furrowed like the grain of wood. STEEV. 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 beʼst 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 geon, speak, And speak unto the same Emilia ! Egeon. If I dream not, thou art Æmilia ; Abb. By men of Epidamnum, he, and I, Duke. Why, here begins his morning story right: And these two Dromio's, one in semblance,- Ant. S. No, sir, not I; I came from Syracuse. Ant. E. Brought to this town by that most famous warrior Duke Menaphon, your most renowned uncle. Adr. Which of you two did dine with me to-day? 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, If this be not a dream, I see, and hear. Ang. That is the chain, sir, which you had of me. Ant.E. And you, sir, for this chain arrested me. Ang. I think I did, sir; I deny it not. Ant. S. This purse of ducats I receiv'd from you, And thereupon these Errors are arose. Ant. E. These ducats pawn I for my father here. Abb. Renowned duke, vouchsafe to take the pains And hear at large discoursed all our fortunes :- The duke, my husband, and my children both, Go to a gossip's feast, and go with me; 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 embark'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; She now shall be my sister, not my wife. Dro.E. Methinks, you are my glass, and not my bro ther: I see by you, I am a sweet-faced youth. 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 ; [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 (retractata et expolitata) retouched and polished by him. STEEVENS. END OF VOL. I. Munroe, Francis & Parker's 1 |