LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOLUME III.

ROBSON AND CRANE AS THE TWO DROMIOS, by N.

Sarony

Comedy of Errors, Act V., Scene I.

SLEEP-WALKING SCENE, by W. von Kaulbach
Macbeth, Act V., Scene I.

Frontispiece.

PRINCE ARTHUR AND HUBERT, by W. von Kaulbach. 148 King John, Act IV., Scene Í.

MR. MACREADY AS RICHARD II.

King Richard II., Act V., Scene V.

CHARLES FISHER AS FALSTAFF, by N. Sarony
First Part of King Henry IV., Act II., Scene V.

FALSTAFF AND HIS PAGE, by E. Grutzner

Second Purt of King Henry IV., Act I., Scene II.

FALSTAFF AND DOLL TEARSHEET, by E. Grutzner
Second Part of King Henry IV., Act II., Scene IV.

KING HENRY, KATHARINE, ETC., by F. Pecht
King Henry V., Act V., Scene II.

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350

473

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

SOLINUS, Duke of Ephesus.
ÆGEON, a Merchant of Syracuse.

ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS,
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE,

DROMIO OF EPHESUS,

DROMIO OF SYRACUSE,
BALTHAZAR, a Merchant.

ANGELO, a Goldsmith.

Twin Brothers, and sons to ÆGEON and EMILIA, but unknown to each other.

Twin Brothers, and Attendants

on the two ANTIPHOLUSES

A Merchant, Friend to ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
PINCH, a Schoolmaster and a Conjurer.

EMILIA, Wife to ÆGEON, an Abbess at Ephesus.

ADRIANA, Wife to ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS.

LUCIANA, her Sister.

LUCE, her Servan

A Courtezan.

Gaoler, Officers, and other Attendants.

SCENE, EPHESUS.

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS.

ACT I.

SCENE L-A Hall in the DUKE's Palace.

Enter DUKE, ÆGEON, Gaoler, Officers, and other
Attendants.

Ege. Proceed, Solinus, to procure my fall,
And, by the doom of death, end woes and all.
Duke. Merchant of Syracusa, plead no more;
I am not partial to infringe our laws:

The enmity and discord which of late

Sprung from the rancorous outrage of your duke
To merchants, our well-dealing countrymen,-
Who, wanting gilders to redeem their lives,

Have sealed his rigorous statutes with their bloods,-
Excludes all pity from our threat'ning looks.
For, since the mortal and intestine jars
"Twixt thy seditious countrymen and us,
It hath in solemn synods been decreed,
Both by the Syracusans and ourselves,
To admit no traffic to our adverse towns:
Nay, more,

If any born at Ephesus be seen
At any Syracusan marts and fairs,—
Again, if any Syracusan born

Come to the bay of Ephesus, he dies,
His goods confiscate to the duke's dispose;
Unless a thousand marks be levied,

To quit the penalty and to ransom him.—
Thy substance, valued at the highest rate,
Cannot amount unto a hundred marks:
Therefore, by law thou art condemn'd to die.

Ege. Yet this my comfort,—when your words are done,

My woes end likewise with the evening sun.

Duke. Well, Syracusan, say, in brief. the cause

Why thou departedst from thy native home,
And for what cause thou cam'st to Ephesus.

Ege. A heavier task could not have been impos'd Than I to speak my griefs unspeakable!

Yet, that the world may witness that my end
Was wrought by nature, not by vile offence,

I'll utter what my sorrow gives me leave.
In Syracusa was I born; and wed
Unto a woman, happy but for me,
And by me too, had not our hap been bad.
With her I liv'd in joy; our wealth increas'd
By prosperous voyages I often made
To Epidamnum, till my factor's death,
And he,-great care of goods at random left,
Drew me from kind embracements of my spouse:
From whom my absence was not six months old,
Before herself,-almost at fainting under
The pleasing punishment that women bear,-
Had made provision for her following me,
And soon and safe arrived where I was.

There she had not been long but she became
A joyful mother of two goodly sons;

--

And, which was strange, the one so like the other
As could not be distinguish'd but by names.
That very hour, and in the self-same inn,

A poor mean woman was delivered

Of such a burden, male twins, both alike:

Those, -for their parents were exceeding poor,-
I bought, and brought up to attend my sons.
My wife, not meanly proud of two such boys,
Made daily motions for our home return:
Unwilling I agreed; alas, too soon!

We came aboard:

A league from Epidamnum had we sail'd
Before the always-wind-obeying deep
Gave any tragic instance of our harm;
But longer did we not retain much hope:
For what obscured light the heavens did grant

Did but convey unto our fearful minds

A doubtful warrant of immediate death;

Which, though myself would gladly have embrac'd,
Yet the incessant weepings of my wife,

Weeping before for what she saw must come,
And piteous plainings of the pretty babes,
That mourn'd for fashion, ignorant what to fear,
Forc'd me to seek delays for them and me.