Abb Hath he not lost much wealth by wreck at sea? [eye Bury'd some dear friend? Hath not else his Stray'd his affection in unlawful love? A sin prevailing much in youthful men, Who give their eyes the liberty of gazing. Which of these sorrows is he subject to? Adr. To none of these, except it be the last; Namely, some love, that drew him oft from [him. Abb. You should for that have reprehended Adr. Why, so I did. Abb. Ay, but not rough enough. Adr. As roughly as my modesty would let Abb. Haply, in private. [meAdr. home. And in assemblies too. Abb. Ay, but not enough. Still did I tell him it was vile and bad. [mad: Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue, Why bear you these rebukes, and answer not? band forth. Abb. No, not a creature enters in my house. Adr. Then, let your servants bring my hus[tuary. Abb. Neither; he took this place for sancAnd it shall privilege him from your hands, Till I have brought him to his wits again, Or lose my labour in assaying it. Adr. I will attend my husband, be his nurse, Diet his sickness, for it is my office, And will have no attorney but myself; And therefore let me have him home with me. Abb. Be patient: for I will not let him stir, Till I bave us'd the approved means I have, With wholesome syrups, drugs, and holy prayers. To make of him a formal man again+: It is a branch and parcel of mine oath, him. Adr. 1 will not hence, and leave my husband And ill it doth beseem your holiness, [here; To separate the husband and the wife. Abb. Be quiet, and depart, thou shalt not have [Exit Abbess. Luc. Complain unto the duke of this indignity. [feet, Adr. Čome, go; I will fall prostrate at his And never rise until my tears and prayers Have won his grace to come in person hither, And take perforce my husband from the abbese. Mer. By this, I think, the dial points at five: Anon, I am sure, the duke himself in person Comes this way to the melancholy vale; The place of death and sorry ý execution, Behind the ditches of the abbey here. Ang. Upon what cause? the Mer. To see a reverend Syracusan mer. Who put unluckily into this bay [chant, Against the laws and statutes of this town, Beheaded publicly for his offence. Ang. See, where they come; we will behold his death. [abbey. Luc. Kneel to the duke, before he pass Enter Duke attended; ÆGEON bare-headed, with the Headsman and other Officers. Duke. Yet once again proclaim it publicly, It any friend will pay the sum for him, He shall not die, so much we tender him. Adr. Justice, most sacred duke, against the abbess! [lady; Duke. She is a virtuous and a reverend It cannot be, that she hath done thee wrong. Adr. May it please your grace, Antipholus, my husband, Whom I made lord of me and all I had, Let him be brought forth, and borne hence for Duke. Long since, thy husband served me in my wars; • The theme. + i. e., To bring him back to his senses. i. e., To take measures. Importunate. 1 Part. **Know. Sad. Serv. O mistress, mistress, shift and save yourself! My master and his man are both broke loose, Beaten the maids a-row *, and bound the doctor, Whose beard they have singed off with brands And ever as it blazed they threw on him [of fire; Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair: My master preaches patience to him, while His man with scissors nicks him like a fool: And, sure, unless you send some present help, Between them they will kill the conjurer. Adr. Peace, fool, thy master and his man are here; And that is false thou dost report to us. Serv. Mistress, upon my life, I tell you true; I have not breathed almost, since I did see it. He cries for you, and vows, if he can take you, To scorch your face and to disfigure you: [Cry within. Hark, hark, I hear him, mistress; fly, be gone. Duke. Come, stand by me, fear nothing: Guard with halberds. Adr. Ah me, it is my husband! Witness you, That he is borne about invisible: Even now we housed him in the abbey here; And now he's there, past thought of human reason. Enter ANTIPHOLUS and DROMIO of Ant. E. Justice, most gracious duke, oh, grant me justice! Even for the service that long since I did thee, She whom thou gavest to me to be my wife; sworn. In this the madman justly chargeth them. Ant. E. My liege, I am advised what I say; I did obey; and sent my peasant home My wife, her sister, and a rabble more with him; That he dined not at home but was lock'd out. Duke. But had he such a chain of thee, or no? Ang. He had, my lord: and when he ran in here, These people saw the chain about his neck. Mer. Besides, I will be sworn; these ears of mine Heard you confess you had the chain of him, Nor ever didst thou draw thy sword on me: Duke. Why, what an intricate impeach is I think, you all have drank of Circe's cup. If here you housed him, here he would have been; [coldly :If he were mad, he would not plead so +. e., Cuts his hair close. + Harlot • i. e., Successively, one after another. was a term of reproach applied to cheats among men, as well as to wantons among women. You say, he dined at home; the goldsmith here Denies that saying:-Sirrah, what say you? Dro. E. Sir, he dined with her there, at the Porcupine. [that ring. Cour. He did; and from my finger snatch'd Ant. E. 'Tis true, my liege, this ring I had of her. There? Duke. Saw'st thou him enter at the abbey Cour. As sure, my liege, as I do see your grace. [abbess hither; Duke. Why, this is strange :- -Go call the I think you are all mated*, or stark mad. [Exit an Attendant. Ege. Most mighty duke, vcuchsafe me speak a word; Haply I see a friend will save my life, And pay the sum that may deliver ine. Duke. Speak freely, Syracusan, what thon wilt. [pholus? Age. Is not your name, sir, call'd AntiAnd is not that your bondman Dromio? Dro. E. Within this hour I was his bondman, sir, me. But he, I thank him, gnaw'd in two my cords; Now am I Dromio, and his man, unbound. Ege. I am sure, you both of you remember [by you; Dro. E. Ourselves we do remember, sir, For lately we were bound as you are now. You are not Pinch's patient, are you, sir? Ege. Why look you strange on me? you know me well. [now. Ant. E. I never saw you in my life, till Ege. Oh! grief hath changed me, since you saw me last; And careful hours, with Time's deformed hand Have written strange defeatures † in my face: But tell me yet, dost thou not know my voice? Ant. E. Neither. Ege. Dromio, nor thou? Dro. E. No, trust me, sir, nor I. Æge. I am sure, thou dost. Dro. E. Ay, sir? but I am sure, I do not; and whatsoever a man denies, you are now bound to believe him. Ege. Not know my voice! O, time's extremity ! [tongue, Hast thou so crack'd and splitted my poor In seven short years, that here my only son Knows not my feeble key of untuned cares? Though now this grained 1 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 gliminer left, My dull deaf ears a little use to hear: All these old witnesses (I cannot err) Tell me, thou art my son Antipholus. Ant. E. I never saw my father in my life. Ege. But seven years since, in Syracusa, boy, [son, Thou know'st, we parted: but, perhaps, my Thou shamest to acknowledge me in misery. Ant. E. The duke, and all that know me in the city, Confounded. 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 DROM10 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. [other; Duke. One of these men is Genius to the 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. [stay. Dro. E. 1, sir, am Dromio; pray, let me Ant. S. Egeon, art thou not? or else his ghost? [him here? Dro. S. O, my old master! who hath bound Abb. Whoever bound him, I will loose his bonds, And gain a husband by his liberty:- Ege. If I dream not, thou art Æmilia; 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. [rights; Duke. Why, here begins his morning story These two Antipholus's, these two so like, And these two Dromio's, one in semblance,→ Besides her urging of her wreck at sea,These are the parents to these children, Which accidentally are met together. Antipholus, thou camest from Corinth first. Ant. S. No, sir, not I; I came from Syra[is which. Duke. Stay, stand apart; I know not which Ant. E. I came from Corinth, my most gracious lord. cuse. Dro. E. And I with him. [famous warrior, Ant. E. Brought to this town with that most Duke Menaphon, your most renowned uncle. Adr. Which of you two did dine with me toAnt. S. I, gentle mistress. day? Adr. Ant. S. And so do I, yet did she call me so; + Alteration of features. Furrowed, lined. § The morning story is what Ægeon tells the Duke in the first scene of this play. Ant. E. And you, sir, for this chain arrested Ang. I think I did, sir; I deny it not. [me. 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 received from And Dromio my man did bring them me: [you, 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. [life. The duke, my husband, and my children both, Duke. With all my heart, I'll gossip at this ⚫ feast. [Exeunt Duke, Abbess, ÆGEON, Courtezan, Merchant, ANGELO, and Attendants. [shipboard? Dro. S. Master, shall I fetch your stuff from Ant. E. Dromio, what stuff of mine hast thou embark'd? [the Centaur. Dro. S. Your goods, that lay at host, sir, in 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. [house, I see by you, I am a sweet-faced youth. Dro. S. Not I, sir; you are my elder. [it? Dro. E. That's a question: how shall we try Dro. S. We will draw cuts for the senior: till then, lead thou first. [brother: Dro. E. Nay, then thus: We came into the world, like brother and And now let's go hand in hand, not one before another. [Exeunt. 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)" tire 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 were absolutely ascribed to Plautus, which in truth had only been (retractatæ et expolita) retouched and polished by him. In this comedy we find more intricacy of plot than distinction of character; and our attention is less forcibly engaged, because we can guess in great measure how the denouement will be brought about. Yet the subject appears to have been reluctantly dismissed, even in this last and unnecessary scene, where the same mistakes are continued, till the power of affording entertainment is entirely lost.-STEEVENS. Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, Attendants, and Messengers; the Ghost of Banquo, and several other Apparitions. Scene,-in the end of the fourth act, lies in England; through the rest of the play, in Scotland; and, chiefly, at Macbeth's castle. АСТ І. Do swarm upon him,) from the western isles Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel, Carved out his passage, tili he faced the slave; Dun. O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! Sold. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break; [to come, So from that spring, whence comfort seem'd Discomfort ý swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark: No sooner justice had, with valour arm'd, Compell'd these skipping Kernes to trust their heels, But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage, With furbish'd arms, and new supplies of men, Began a fresh assault. Dun. Dismay'd not this Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo? Sold. Yes; As sparrows, eagles; or the hare, the lion. If I say sooth, I must report they were As cannong overcharged with double cracks; So they ti. e., Supplied with light and heavy-armed troops. Truth. Cause. |