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Duke. Why, this is ftrange; go, call the abbefs hither;

I think, you are all mated, or stark mad. [Ex. one to the abbefs.

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Egeon. Moft mighty duke, vouchsafe me speak a word: 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, fir, call'd Antipholis ?
And is not that your bondman Dromio?

E. Dro. Within this hour I was his bond-man, fir,
But he, I thank him, gnaw'd in two my cords,
Now am I Dromio, and his man unbound.

Ægeon. I am fure, both of you remember me.
E. Dro. Ourselves we do remember, fir, by you;
For lately we were bound as you are now.
You are not Pinch's patient, are you, fir?

Egeon. Why look you strange on me? you know me well.
E. Ant. I never faw you in my life 'till now.

Ægeon. O, grief hath chang'd me fince 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?
E. Ant. Neither.

Egeon. Dromio, nor thou?

E. Dro. No, truft me, nor I.
Egeon. I am fure, thou doft.

E. Dro. But I am fure, I do not; and whatsoever
A man denies, you are now bound to believe him.
Egeon. Not know my voice! o 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?
Though now this grained face of mine be hid
In fap-consuming winter's drizled fnow,

And

And all the conduits of my blood froze up;
Yet hath my night of life fome memory,
My wafting lamp fome fading glimmer left ;
My dull deaf ears a little use 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 Syracusa's bay,
Thou know'ft, we parted; but, perhaps, my fon,
Thou sham'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 dote.

SCENE VII.

Enter the Abbefs, with Antipholis Syracufan and
Dromio Syracufan.

Abb. Moft mighty duke, behold a man much wrong'd.
[All gather to fee them.
Adr. I fee two husbands, 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?

S. Dro. I, fir, am Dromio; command him away.
E. Dro. I, fir, am Dromio; pray let me ftay.
S. Ant. Egeon, art thou not? or else his ghost?
S. Dro. O, my old mafter! 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 hadft a wife once call'd Emilia,

VOL. I.

Iii

That

That bore thee at a burthen two fair fons ?
O, if thou be'ft the fame #geon, speak;
And speak unto the fame Emilia.

Duke. Why, here begins his morning story right:
These two Antipholis's, two fo like,

And those two Dromio's, one in femblance;
Both fides emerging from their 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 fee me in.

Duke. Antipholis, thou cam'ft from Corinth first.
S. Ant. No, fir, not I, I came from Syracufe.

Duke. Stay, ftand apart, I know not which is which.
E. Ant. I came from Corinth, my most gracious lord.
E. Dro. And I with him.

E. Ant. 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?

S. Ant. 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 did fhe call me fo:

And this fair gentlewoman her fifter 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 fee and hear.

Ang. That is the chain, fir, which you had of me.

S. Ant.

S. Ant. I think, it be, fir; I deny it not.
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,
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 all arose.

To

E. Ant. Thefe 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.

E. Ant. There, take it, and much thanks for my good cheer. Abb. Renowned duke, vouchsafe to take the pains

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 sympathized one day's error
Have fuffer'd wrong, go, keep us company,
And ye fhall have full fatisfaction.
Twenty five years have I gone in travel
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,
Gato a goffip's feaft and go with me:

After fo long grief fuch felicity!

Duke. With all my heart I'll gossip at this feast.

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[Exeunt.

S. Dro. Master, shall I fetch your stuff from shipboard? E. Ant. Dromio, what ftuff of mine haft thou embark'd?

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S. Dro. Your goods that lay at host, sir, 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. [Exe. the two Antiph.
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
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.
Will you walk in to see their goffiping?
S. Dro. Not I, fir; you're my elder.
E. Dro. That's a question:

How fhall I try it ?

S. Dro. We'll draw cuts for the fenior:

'Till then, lead thou firft.

E. Dro. Nay, then thus

We came into the world like brother and brother:

[Embracing.

And now let's go hand in hand, not one before another. [Exeunt.

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