Duke. Stay, stand 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 with 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 say nay to that.

Ant. S. And so do I, yet did she call me so;
And this fair gentlewoman, her sister 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 see and hear.

Ang. That is the chain, sir, which you had of me.
Ant. S. I think it be, sir; I deny it not.
Ant. E. And you, sir, for this chain arrested me.
Ang. I think I did, sir; I deny it not.

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 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 are arose.

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

Abb. Renowned duke, vouchsafe to take the pains To go with us into the abbey here,

And hear at large discoursed all our fortunes :-
And all that are assembled in this place,
That by this sympathized one day's error
Have suffer'd wrong, go, keep us company,
And we shall make full satisfaction.-
Twenty-five years have I but gone in travail
Of you, my sons, and till this present hour;
My heavy burden here delivered 29.

The duke, my husband, and my children both,
And the calendars of their nativity 30,

you

31

Go to a gossip's feast, and go31 with me;
After so long grief, such nativity!

Duke. With all my heart, I'll gossip at this feast.
[Exeunt Duke, Abbess, ÆGEON, Courtezan,

Merchant, ANGELO, and Attendants. Dro. S. Master, shall I fetch your stuff from shipboard?

Ant. E. Dromio, what stuff of mine hast thou embark'd?

29 The old copy reads, erroneously, thus:

Thirty-three years have I but gone in travail
Of you, my sons; and till this present hour
My heavy burthen are delivered.'

Theobald corrected it in the following manner:
'Twenty-five years have I but gone in travail
Of you, my sons; nor till this present hour
My heavy burdens are delivered.'

Malone, after much argument, gives it thus:

'Of you, my sons; until this present hour
My heavy burden not delivered.'

Thirty-three years are an evident error for twenty-five; this was corrected by Theobald. The reader will choose between the simple emendation which I have made in the text, and those made by Theobald and Malone.

.

30 i. e. the two Dromioes. Antipholus of Syracuse has already called one of them the Almanack of my true date.' See note on p. 137, Act 1. Sc. 2.

31 Heath thought that we should read, and joy with me.' Warburton proposed gaud, but the old reading is probably right.

Dro. S. Your goods, that lay at host, sir, in the Centaur.

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 ANT. S. and ANT. E. ADR. and Luc.
Dro. S. 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 sister, not my wife.

Dro. E. Methinks, you are my glass, and not my brother:

I see by you, I am a sweet-faced youth.
Will you walk in to see their gossiping?

Dro. S. Not I, sir; you are my elder.

Dro. E. That's a question: how shall we try it? Dro. S. We will draw cuts for the senior: till then, lead thou first.

Dro. E. Nay; then thus:

We came into the world, like brother and brother: 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 Benedict says) "fire 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.

Macduff.
My voice is in my sword; thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out!

ACT v. Sc. 7.

FROM THE CHISWICK PRESS.

1826.