Tho' now this grained face of mine be hid E. Ant. I never faw my father in my life. 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. 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, Duke. Why, here begins his morning ftory right: Egeon. If I dream not, thou art Æmilia; Abb. By men of Epidamnum, he and I, Duke. Antipholis, thou cam'ft from Corinth first. 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: Ang. That is the chain, fir, which you had of me. 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, E. Ant. Thefe ducats pawn I for my father here. 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, 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, The Duke, my husband, and my children both, 6 Duke. With all my heart, I'll goffip at this feaft. [Exeunt. Manent the two Antipholis's, and two Dromio's. 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 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, 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 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. E. Dro. Methinks, you are my glass, and not my brother: I fee by you, I am a fweet-fac'd youth: 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 |