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Tho' now this grained face of mine be hid
In fap-confuming winter's drizled snow,
And all the conduits of my blood froze up;
Yet hath my night of life fome memory,
My wafting lamp fome fading glimmer left,
My dull deaf ears a little ufe to hear:
3 All these old witneffes, (I cannot err)
Tell me thou art my fon Antipholis.

E. Ant. I never faw my father in my life.
Egeon. But feven years fince, in Syracufa, boy,
Thou knoweft, we parted: but, perhaps, my fon,
Thou fham'ft to acknowledge me in mifery.

E. Ant. The Duke, and all that know me in the city,

Can witnefs with me that it is not fo:

I ne'er faw Syracufa in my life.

Duke. I tell thee, Syracufan, twenty years Have I been patron to Antipholis,

During which time he ne'er faw Syracufa :

I fee, thy age and dangers make thee doat.

Enter the Abbess, with Antipholis Syracufan and Dromia Syracufan.

wrong'd.

Abb. Most mighty Duke, behold a man much [All gather to fee him. Adr. I fee two hufbands, or mine eyes deceive me. Duke. One of these men is genius to the other And fo of thefe: Which is the natural man, And which the fpirit? who deciphers them?

3 All thofe OLD witnesses, I cannot err,] I believe fhould read, All thefe HOLD witnesses I cannot err,

i. e. all these continue to testify that I cannot err, and tell me, &c. WARBURTON.

The old reading is the true one, as well as the most poetical. The words I cannot err fhould be thrown into a parenthefis. By old witnes I believe he means experienced, accuftom'd ones, which are therefore lefs likely to err.

STEEVENS.

S. Dro.

S. Dro. I, fir, am Dromio; command him away.
E. Dro. I, fir, am Dromio; pray, let me stay.
S. Ant. Ægeon, art thou not? or else his ghoft?
S. Dro. O, my old master! who hath bound him
here?

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Abb. Whoever bound him, I will loofe his bonds, And gain a husband by his liberty:

Speak, old geon, if thou be'ft the man,
That hadft a wife once call'd Æmilia,
That bore thee at a burden two fair fons ?
Oh, if thou be'ft the fame Ægeon, speak,
And fpeak unto the fame Emilia.

Duke. Why, here begins his morning ftory right:
Thefe two Antipholis's, these two so like,
And those two Dromio's, one in femblance;
Befides her urging of her wreck at fea,
These plainly are the parents of these children,
Which accidentally are met together.

Egeon. If I dream not, thou art Æmilia;
If thou art fhe, tell me where is that fon
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 fon from them,
And me they left with thofe of Epidamnum.
What then became of them, I cannot tell;
1, to this fortune that you see me in.

Duke. Antipholis, thou cam'ft from Corinth first.
S. Ant. No, fir, not I, I came from Syracufe.
Duke. Stay, ftand apart; I know not which is which.
E. Ant. I came from Corinth, my most gracious.
lord.

E. Dro. And I with him.

E. Ant. Brought to this town by that most famous

warrior,

Duke Menaphon, your most renowned uncle.

Adr.

Adr. Which of you two did dine with me to-day? S. Ant. I, my gentle mistress.

Adr. And are you not my husband?

E. Ant. No, I fay, nay to that.

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

Ang. That is the chain, fir, which you had of me.
S. Ant. I think it be, fir; I deny it not.

E. Ant. And you, fir, for this chain arrested me. Ang. I think, I did, fir; I deny it not.

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

S. Ant. This purfe of ducats I receiv'd from you,
And Dromio my man did bring them me:
I fee, we ftill did meet each other's man,
And I was ta'en for him, and he for me,
And thereupon thefe Errors all arofe.

E. Ant. Thefe ducats pawn I for my father here.
Duke. It fhall not need, thy father hath his life.
Cour. Sir, I muft have that diamond from you.
E. Ant. 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 difcourfed all our fortunes:

And all that are affǝmbled in this place,
That by this fympathized one day's Error
Have fuffer'd wrong, go, keep us company,
And ye fhall have full fatisfaction.

5 Twenty-five years have I but gone in travel

5 Twenty-five years

Thirty-three years.

In former editions,

Of

'Tis impoffible the poet could be fo forgetful, as to defign this num

ber

Of you, my fons; nor, till this prefent hour,
My heavy burdens are delivered:-

The Duke, my husband, and my children both,
And you
you the calendars of their nativity,
Go to a goffip's feaft, and go with me:
After fo long grief fuch nativity! 7

6

Duke. With all my heart, I'll goffip at this feaft. [Exeunt.

Manent the two Antipholis's, and two Dromio's.

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S. Dro. Mafter, fhall I fetch your stuff from shipboard?

E. Ant. Dromio, what stuff of mine haft thou im

bark'd?

ber here and therefore I have ventured to alter it to twenty-five, upon a proof, that, I think, amounts to demonítration. The number, I perfume, was at firft wrote in figures, and, perhaps, blindly; and thence the mistake might arife. Ægeon, in the firft fcene of the first act, is precise as to the time his fon left him, in queft of his brother:

My youngest boy, and yet my eldest care,

At eighteen years became inquifitive
After his brother, &c.

And how long it was from the fon's thus parting from his father, to their meeting again at Ephefus, where Egeon, miftakenly, recognizes the twin-brother, for him, we as precifely learn from another paffage in the fifth act.

Ege. But leven years fince, in Syracufa-bay,
Thou knoweft we parted;

So that these two numbers, put together, fettle the date of their birth beyond difpute. THEOBALD,

-and go with me :] We fhould read,

and GAUDE with me:

i. e. rejoice, from the French, gaudir. WARBURTON.

The fenfe is clear enough without the alteration. The Revifal offers to read, more plaufibly, I think,

7

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After fo long grief, fuch nativity.] We fhould furely read,

After fo long grief, fuch feftivity.

Nativity lying fo near, and the termination being the fame of both words, the mistake was easy.

JOHNSON.

S. Dro.

S. Dro. Your goods, that lay at hoft, fir, in the Centaur.

S. Ant. 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 Antipholis S. and E. S. Dro. 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 fifter, not my wife.

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E. Dro. Methinks, you are my glass, and not my brother:

I fee by you, I am a fweet-fac'd youth:
Will you walk in to fee their goffiping?
S. Dro. Not I, fir; you are my elder.
E. Dro. That's a question:

How shall I try it?

S. Dro. We'll draw cuts for the senior:

Till then, lead thou first.

E. Dro. Nay, then thus

[Embracing.

We came into the world, like brother and brother: And now let's go hand in hand, not one before ano

ther.

[Exeunt:

IN this play we find more intricacy of plot than diftinction of character; and our attention is lefs forcibly engaged, because we can guess in great measure how it will conclude. Yet the poet feems unwilling to part with his fubject, even in this last and unneceffary fcene, where the fame mistakes are continued, till they have loft the power of affording any entertainment at all.

STEEVENS.

MUCH

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