A thread-bare juggler, and a fortune-teller,
A needy, hollow-ey'd, fharp-looking wretch,
A living dead man. This pernicious slave,
Forfooth, took on him as a conjurer;
And, gazing in my eyes, feeling my pulse,
And with no face, as 'twere, out-facing me,
Cries out, I was poffeft. Then all together
They fell upon me, bound me, bore me thence;
And in a dark and dankish vault at home
There left me and my man, both bound together:
Till, gnawing with my teeth my bonds afunder,
I gain'd my freedom, and immediately
Ran hither to your Grace; whom I beseech
To give me ample fatisfaction
For thefe deep thames and great indignities.
Ang. My lord, in truth, thus far I witness with him;
That he din'd not at home, but was lock'd out.
Duke. But had he fuch a chain of thee, or no?
Ang. He had, my lord; and when he ran in here,
Thefe people faw the chain about his neck.
Mer. Befides, I will be fworn, thefe ears of mine
Heard you confefs, you had the chain of him,
After you firft forfwore it on the mart;
And thereupon I drew my fword on you;
And then you fled into this abbey here,
From whence, I think, you're come by miracle.
E. Ant. I never came within these abbey-walls,
Nor ever didft thou draw thy fword on me;
I never faw the chain, fo help me heav'n!
And this is falfe, you burthen me withal.
Duke. Why, what an intricate impeach is this?
I think, you all have drunk of Circe's cup;
If here you hous'd him, here he would have been?
If he were mad, he would not plead fo coldly:
You fay, he din'd at home; the goldsmith here
Denies that faying. Sirrah, what fay you?
E. Dro. Sir, he din'd with her there, at the Porcupine.
Cour. He did, and from my finger fnatch'd that ring.
E. Ant. 'Tis true, my Liege, this ring I had of her.
Duke. Saw'st thou him enter at the abbey here?
Cour. As fure, my Liege, as I do fee your Grace. Duke. Why, this is ftrange; go call the Abbefs hither; I think, you are all mated, or ftark mad.
[Ex. one to the Abbess. Egeon. Moft mighty Duke, vouchsafe me speak a
Haply, I fee a friend, will fave my life;
And pay the fum that may deliver me.
Duke. Speak freely, Syracufan, what thou wilt.
Egeon. Is not your name, Sir, call'd Antipholis ?
And is not that your bond-man Dromio?
E. Dro. Within this hour I was his bond man, Sir,
But he, I thank him, gnaw'd in two my
cords;
Now am I Dromio, and his man unbound.
Egeon. I am fure, you both of you remember me.
E. Dro. Our felves we do remember, Sir, by you;
For lately we were bound, as you are now.
You are not Pinch's patient, are you, Sir?
Egeon. Why look you ftrange on me? you know me
E. Ant. I never faw you in my life, 'till now.
Egeon. Oh! grief hath chang'd me, fince you faw
me last ;
And careful hours with time's deformed hand
Have written strange defeatures in my face;
But tell me yet, doft thou not know my voice?
E. Ant. Neither.
Egeon. Dromio, nor thou?
E. Dro. No, truft me, Sir, nor I.
Egeon. I am fure, thou doft.
E. Dro. I, Sir? but I am fure, I do not and what-
foever a man denies, you are now bound to believe him.
Egeon. Not know my voice! oh! time's extremity !
Haft thou fo crack'd and splitted my poor tongue
In seven short years, that here my only fon
Knows not my feeble key of untun'd cares?
Tho' now this grained face of mine be hid
In fap-confuming winter's drizled fnow,
And all the conduits of my blood froze up;
Yet hath my night of life some memory;
My wafting lamp fome fading glimmer left,
My dull deaf ears a little ufe to hear:
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-bay,
Thou know'ft, we parted; but, perhaps, my fon,
Thou fham'ft t'acknowledge me in mifery.
E. Ant. The Duke, and all that know me in the city, Can witness 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 Dromig
Syracufan.
Abb. Moft mighty Duke, behold a man much wrong'd [All gather to fee him' Adr. I fee two husbands, or mine eyes deceive me. Duke. One of these men is Genius to the other; And fo of these which is the natural man, And which the fpirit? who deciphers them?
S. Dro. I, Sir, am Dromio; command him away.
E. Dro. I, Sir, am Dromio; pray let me stay.
S. Ant. Egeon, art thou not? or elfe his ghoft?
S. Dro. O, my old master! who hath bound him here?
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 hadit a wife once call'd Æmilia,
That bore thee at a burthen two fair fons?
Oh, if thou be'ft the fame Egeon, speak;
And speak unto the fame Emilia.
Duke. Why, here begins his morning ftory right:
These 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 to 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;
I, to this fortune that you see me in.
Duke. Antipholis, thou cam'ft from Corinth firft.
S. Ant. No, Sir, not I; I came from Syracufe.
Duke. Stay, ftand apart; I know not, which is which.
E. Ant. I came from Corinth, my moft gracious Lord.
E. Dro. And I with him.
E. Ant. Brought to this town by that most famous
warrior,
Duke Menaphon, your moft renowned uncle.
Adr. Which of you two did dine with me to day?
S. Aut. I, gentle mistress.
Adr. And are not you my husband ?
E. Ant. No, I fay nay to that.
S. Ant. And fo do I, yet fhe 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 see and hear.
Ang. That is the chain, Sir, which you had of me.
S. Ant. I think it be, Sir, I deny it not.
E. Ant. And you, Sir, for this chain arrested me.
Ang. I think, I did, Sir; I deny it not.
Adr. I fent you mony, Sir, 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 arose.
A. Ant. These ducats pawn I for my father here.
Duke. It fhall not need, thy father hath his life.
Cour. Sir, I must have that diamond from you.
E. Ant. There, take it; and much thanks for my good cheer.
Abb. Renowned Duke, vouchfafe to take the pains To go with us into the abbey here,
And hear at large difcourfed all our fortunes :
And all that are assembled in this place,
That by this fympathized one day's Error
Have fuffer'd wrong; go, keep us company,
And ye shall have full fatisfaction.
Twenty five years have I but gone in travel (17)
Of you my fons; nor, 'till this present hour,
My heavy burthens are delivered:
The duke, my husband, and my children both,
And you the calendars of their nativity,
Go to a goffip's feast and go with me:
After fo long grief fuch nativity!
Duke. With all my heart, I'll goffip at this feaft.
(17) Thirty-three years.] 'Tis impoffible the Poet could be fo forgetful, as to defign this Number here: and therefore I have ventur'd to alter it to twenty-five, upon a Proof, that, I think, amounts to Demonftration. The Number, I prefume, was at first wrote in figures, and, perhaps, blindly; and thence the Mistake might arife. Egeon, in the first Scene of the firft Act, is precife as to the Time his Son left him, in Quest of his Brother:
My youngest Boy, and yet my eldeft Care,
At eighteen Years became inquifitive
After bis Brother, &c.
And how long it was from the Son's thus parting from his Father, to their meeting again at Ephesus, where Ægeon, miftakenly, recognizes the Twin-brother for him; we as precifely 1 earn from another Paffage in the fifth A&t.
Age. But feven years fince, in Syracufa-bay,
Thou know'st we parted;
So that these two Numbers, put together, fettle the Date of their Birth beyond Dispute.
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