1

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 Syracuse.
Duke. Stay, ftand apart; I know not which is which.
E. Ant. I came from Corinth, my moft gracious
lord.

E. Dro. And I with him.

E. Ant. Brought to this town by that moft 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 you not my husband?

E. Ant. No, I fay, nay to that.

S. Ant. And fo do I, yet fhe did 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 fee, and hear.

Ang. That is the chain, fir, which you had of me.
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.
S. Dro. No, none by me.

S. Ant. This purse 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 arofe.

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

R. 3

Abb

Abb. Renowned duke, vouchsafe to take the pains To 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 ye fhall have full fatisfaction.—
"Twenty-five years have I but

have I but gone in travel Of you, my fons; and, till this present hour, My heavy burden not delivered :

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

Go to a goffip's feaft, and? go

• Twenty-five years
Thirty-three years.

with me;

•] In former editions:

After

'Tis impoffible the poet could 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 demonstration. The number, I prefume, was at firft wrote in figures, and, perhaps, blindly; and thence the mistake might arife. Egeon, in the first scene 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 Egeon, mistakenly, recognizes the twin-brother, for him, we as precisely learn from another paffage in the fifth act:

A

Ege. But feven years fince, in Syracufa-bay,
Thou knoweft we parted;

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

7

-and go with me;] We should read;

and GAUDE with me;

i. e. rejoice, from the French, gaudir. WARBURTON. The fenfe is clear enough without the alteration. The Revifal offers to read, more plaufibly, I think:

joy with me.

Dr. Warburton's conjecture may, however, be countenanced by the following paffage in Acolaflus a comedy, 1529:-" I have good caufe to fet the cocke on the hope, and make gaudye chere."

After fo long grief fuch nativity!

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

[Exeunt.

Manent the two Antipholis's, and two Dromio's.

S. Dro. Mafter, fhall I fetch your stuff from ship

board?

E. Ant. Dromio, what ftuff of mine haft thou im

bark'd?

S. Dro. Your goods, that lay at hoft, fir, 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.

[Exeunt Antipholis S. and E.
S. Dro. There is a fat friend at your master's house,
That kitchen'd me for you to-day at dinner;
She now fhall be my 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 fee their goffiping?
S. Dro. Not I, fir; you are my elder,
E. Dro. That's a question;

How shall we try it?

S. Dro. We will draw

Cuts for the fenior: till then lead thou first.

Again, in Antony and Cleopatra, act III:

"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 speciallye olde men, &c." Palace of Pleasure, 1582. T. 1, fol. 60. STEEVENS. After fo long grief, fuch nativity!] We fhould furely read: After fo long grief, fuch feftivity,

8

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

The old reading may be right. She has just said, that to her, her fons were not born till now. STEEVENS.

R 4

E. Dro.

E. Dro. Nay, then thus ;

We came into the world, like brother and brother; And now let's go hand in hand, not one before an

other 9.

[Exeunt.

In this comedy we find more intricacy of plot than distinction of character; and our attention is lefs forcibly engaged, because we can guess in great measure how the denouement will be brought about. Yet the poet feems unwilling to part with his fubject, even in this laft and unneceffary scene, where the same mistakes are continued, till their power of affording entertaiment is entirely loft. STEEVENS.

MUCH

MUCH A DO

ABOUT

NOTHING.