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 hither;

I think, you are all mated 13, or stark mad.

[Exit an Attendant. Aege. 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. Aege. Is not your name, sir, call'd Antipholus? And is not 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.

Aege. 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? Aege. Why look you strange on me? you know

me well.

Ant. E. I never saw you in my life, till now. Aege. Oh! grief hath chang'd me, since you saw me last;

And careful hours, with Time's deformed 19 hand Have written strange defeatures20 in my face: But tell me yet, dost thou not know my voice? Ant. E. Neither.

Aege.

Dromio, nor thou?

I am sure, thou dost.

Dro. E. No, trust me, sir, nor I.

Aege.

18 Mated is confounded. See note on Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 1.

19 Deformed for deforming.

20 See note on Act. ii. Sc. 1, p. 138, note 12.

Dro. E. Ay, sir? but I am sure, I do not; and whatsoever a man denies, you are now bound to believe him 21.

Aege. 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 22? Though now this grained23 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 lamp some fading glimmer left, My dull deaf ears a little use to hear: All these old witnesses24 (I cannot err), Tell me, thou art my son Antipholus.

Ant. E. I never saw my father in my life. Aege. 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, Syracusan, 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 DROMIO 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.

21 Dromio delights in a quibble, and the word bound has before been the subject of his mirth.

22 i. e. the weak and discordant tone of my voice, which is changed by grief.

23 Furrowed, lined.

24 But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,

Grave witnesses of true experience.'

Titus Andronicus, Sc. ult.

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. 1, sir, am Dromio; pray, let me stay. Ant. S. Aegeon, art thou not? or else his ghost? 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 Aegeon, if thou be'st the man
That hadst a wife once call'd Aemilia,
That bore thee at a burden two fair sons:
O, if thou be'st the same Aegeon, speak,
And speak unto the same Aemilia!

Aege. If I dream not, thou art Aemilia25;
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 right26;
These two Antipholuses, these two so alike,
And these two Dromioes, one in semblance27,-
Besides her urging of her wreck at sea,-
These are the parents to these children28,

25 In the old copy this speech of Aegeon, and the subsequent one of the abbess, follow the speech of the Duke. It is evident that they were transposed by mistake.

26 The morning story is what Aegeon tells the Duke in the first scene of this play.

12 Semblance is here a trisyllable. It appears probable that a line has been omitted here, the import of which may have been: These circumstances all concur to prove

These are the parents,' &c.

If it began with the word these as well as the succeeding one, the error would easily happen.

28 Children is here a trisyllable, it is often spelled as it was pronounced then childeren.

Which accidentally are met together.

Antipholus, thou cam'st from Corinth first.

Ant. 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 with that most famous warrior

Duke Menaphon, your most renowned uncle.
Adr. Which of you two did dine with me to-day?
Ant. S. I, gentle mistress.

Adr.

And are not you 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 me.
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, and till this present hour;-
My heavy burden here delivered29.

The duke, my husband, and my children both,
And you the calendars of their nativity 30,
Go to a gossip's feast, and go31 with me;
After so long grief, such nativity!

Duke. With all my heart, I'll gossip at this feast. [Exeunt Duke, Abbess, AEGEON, 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 ANT. S. and ANT. E. ADR. and Luc.

39 The old copy reads, erroneously, thus:

6

Thirty-three years have I but gone in travail
Of you, my sons; and till this present hour
My heavy burthen are delivered.'

Theobald corrected it in the following manner:
Twenty-five years have I but gone in travail
Of you, my sons; nor till this present hour
My heavy burdens are delivered.'

Malone, after much argument, gives it thus:

Of you, my sons; until this present hour
My heavy burden not delivered.'

Thirty-three years are an evident error for twenty-five; this was corrected by Theobald. The reader will choose between the simple emendation which I have made in the text, and those made by Theobald and Malone.

30 i. e. the two Dromioes. Antipholus of Syracuse has already called one of them the Almanack of my true date.' See note од p. 132. Act. 1. Sc. 2.

31 Heath thought that we should read, and joy with me. Warburton proposed gaud, but the old reading is probably right.