During which time he ne'er faw Syracufa :
I fee, thy age and dangers make thee dote.

Enter the Abbefs, with ANTIPHOLUS Syracufan and DROMIO Syracufan.

ABB. Moft mighty Duke, behold a man much
wrong'd.
[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 spirit? Who deciphers them?

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

ABB. Whoever bound him, I will loose his bonds,
And gain a husband by his liberty:-
Speak, old Ægeon, if thou be'ft the man
That had'st a wife once call'd Æmilia,
That bore thee at a burden two fair fons:
O, if thou be'ft the fame Ægeon, fpeak,
And speak unto the fame Æmilia!

EGE. If I dream not, thou art Æmilia;

2 If I dream not,] In the old copy this fpeech of Ægaon, and the fubfequent one of the Abbefs, follow the fpeech of the Duke, beginning with the words "Why, here" &c. The tranfpofition was fuggefted by Mr. Steevens. It fcarcely requires any juftification. Ægeon's answer to Æmilia's adjuration would neceffarily immediately fucceed to it. Befides, as Mr. Steevens has obferved, as thefe fpeeches ftand in the old copy, the Duke comments on Æmilia's words, before she has uttered them: The flight change now made renders the whole clear. MALONE.

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 son from them,
And me they left with thofe of Epidamnum:
What then became of them, I cannot tell;
I, to this fortune that you fee me in.

DUKE. Why, here begins his morning story right:3

These two Antipholus's, these two so like,
And these two Dromio's, one in femblance,*--
Befides her urging of her wreck at sea,'—
Thefe are the parents to these children,
Which accidentally are met together.
Antipholus, thou cam'ft from Corinth firft.

ANT. S. No, fir, not I; I came from Syracufe.

That however will fcarcely remove the difficulty: the next fpeech is Ægeon's. Both it and the following one fhould precede the duke's; or there is poffibly a line loft. RITSON.

If this be the right reading, it is, as Steevens justly remarks; one of Shakspeare's overfights, as the Abbefs had not hinted at her fhipwreck. But poffibly we fhould read-

Befides his urging of her wreck at fea. M. MASON. 3 Why, here begins his morning ftory right:] "The morning ftory" is what Ageon tells the Duke in the first scene of this play. HOLT WHITE. femblance,] Semblance (as Mr. Tyrwhitt has obferved) is here a trifyllable. STEEVENS.

--

5 of her wreck at fea,] I fufpect that a line following this has been loft; the import of which was, that Thefe circumfiances all concurred to prove that Thefe were the parents, &c. The line which I fuppofe to have been loft, and the following one, beginning perhaps with the fame word, the omiffion might have been occa Honed by the compofitor's eye glancing from one to the other.

MALONE.

DUKE. Stay, ftand 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 by 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 fay nay to that.

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

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

DRO. E. No, none by me.

ANT. S. 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 are arose.

ANT. E. Thefe 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.

ANT. E. There, take it; and much thanks for my good cheer.

ABB. Renowned duke, vouchsafe to take the pains

Το go with us into the abbey here,

And hear at large difcourfed all our fortunes :-
And all that are affembled in this place,
That by this fympathized one day's error
Have fuffer'd wrong, go, keep us company,
And we shall make full fatisfaction.-

7

Twenty-five years have I but gone in travail
Of you, my fons; nor, till this present hour,
My heavy burdens are delivered:-

The duke, my husband, and my children both,
And you the calendars of their nativity,

7 Twenty-five years] In former editions:

Thirty-three years.

'Tis impoffible the poet fhould be fo forgetful, as to defign this number here; and therefore I have ventured to alter it to twentyfive, upon a proof, that, I think, amounts to demonftration. The number, I prefume, was at firft wrote in figures, and, perhaps, blindly; and thence the mistake might arife. Egeon, 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 eldeft 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 Ageon, mistakenly, recognizes the twin-brother, for him, we as precifely learn from another paffage in the fifth act:

Age. But feven years fince, in Syracufa bay,

Thou know'st we parted;

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

8

nor, till this prefent hour,] The old copy reads and till. The emendation was made by Mr. Theobald. Burden, in the next line, was corrected by the editor of the fecond folio.

MALONE.

Go to a goffip's feaft, and go with me;"
After fo long grief, fuch nativity! *

2

DUKE. With all my heart, I'll goffip at this feaft. [Exeunt Duke, Abbefs, ÆGEON, Courtezan, Merchant, ANGELO, and Attendants.

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

ANT. E. Dromio, what ftuff of mine haft thou
embark'd?

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

ANT. S. He fpeaks 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,

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 Revifak
offers to read, more plaufibly, I think:

-joy with me.

Dr. Warburton's conjecture may, however, be countenanced by the following paffage in Acolaftus, a comedy, 1540:-" I have good caufe to fet the cocke on the hope, and make gaudye chere." Again, in Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. fc. xi:"

"Let's have one other gaudy night."

In the novel of M. Alberto of Bologna, the author adviseth gentlewomen" to beware how they contrive their holyday talke, by wafte wordes iffuing forth their delicate mouths in carping, gauding, and jefting at young gentlemen, and fpeciallye old men,' Palace of Pleasure, 1582. Vol. I. fol. 60. STEEVENS. After fo long grief, fuch nativity!] We fhould furely read: After fo long grief, fuch feftivity.

&c.

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

The old reading may be right. her fons were not born till now.

She has juft faid, that to her,
STEEVENS.