Adr. No, my good, lord -myself, he, and my sister, To-day did dine together: So befal my soul, Luc. Ne'er may I look on day, nor sleep on night, But she tells to your highness simple truth! Ang. O perjur'd woman! they are both forsworn. In this the madman justly chargeth them. Ant. E. My liege, I am advised' what I say; There did this perjur'd goldsmith swear me down, I did obey; and sent my peasant home For certain ducats: He with none return'd. Then fairly I bespoke the officer, Το go in person with me to my house. By the way we met My wife, her sister, and a rabble more Of vile confederates; along with them They brought one Pinch; a hungry lean-faced villain, I am advised] i. e. I am not going to speak precipitately or rashly, but on reflection and consideration. A meer anatomy, a mountebank, A thread-bare juggler, and a fortune-teller; There left me and my man, both bound together; Ran hither to your grace; whom I beseech For these deep shames, and great indignities. That he dined not at home, but was lock'd out. Duke. But had he such a chain of thee, or no? Ang. He had, my lord: and when he ran in here, These people saw the chain about his neck. Mer. Besides, I will be sworn, these ears of mine Heard you confess you had the chain of him, From whence, I think, you are come by miracle. Duke. What an intricate impeach is this! You say, he dined at home; the goldsmith here Dro. E. Sir, he dined with her there, at the Cour. He did; and from my finger snatch'd that ring. Ant. E. 'Tis true, my liege, this ring I had of her. Duke. Saw'st thou him enter at the abbey here? Cour. As sure, my liege, as I do see your grace. Duke. Why, this is strange :-Go call the abbess hither; I think, you are all mated, or stark mad. [Exit an Attendant. Ege. Most mighty duke, vouchsafe me speak a word, Haply, I see a friend will save my life, Duke. Speak freely, Syracusan, what thou wilt. Ege. Is not your name, sir, call'd Antipholus ? And is not that your bondman, Dromio?! Dro. E. Within this hour I was his bondman, sir, But he, I thank him, gnaw'd in two my cords: Æge. I am sure, you both of you remember me. Ege. Why look you strange on me? you know me well. Ant. E. I never saw you in my life, till now. Ege. Oh! grief hath chang'd me, since you saw me last; And careful hours, with Time's deformed hand, 5 deformed] For deforming. Have written strange defeatures in my face: Ege. Dromio, nor thou? Dro. E. No, trust me, sir, nor I. Ege. I am sure, thou dost. Dro. E. Ay, sir? but I am sure, I do not; and whatsoever a man denies, you are now bound to bélieve him. Ege. Not know my voice! O, times extremity! Hast thou so crack'd and splitted my poor tongue, In seven short years, that here my only son Knows not my feeble key of untun'd cares?' Though now this grained face of mine be hid In sap-consuming winter's drizzled snow, And all the conduits of my blood froze up; Yet hath my night of life some memory, My wasting lamps some fading glimmer left, My dull deaf ears a little use to hear: All these old witnesses (I cannot err,) Tell me, thou art my son Antipholus. Ant. E. I never saw my father in my life.d Ege. But seven years since, in Syracusa, boy, Thou know'st, we parted: but, perhaps, my son, Thou sham'st to acknowledge me in misery. Ant. E. The duke, and all that know me in the city, Can witness with me that it is not soy I ne'er saw Syracusa in my life. A strange defeatures] Defeatures are certainly neither more nor less than features; as demerits are neither more nor less than merits. Time, says Egeon, hath placed new and strange. features in my face; i. e. given it quite a different appearance no wonder therefore thou dost not know me. RITSON. 7 " — my feeble key of untun'd cares?] i. e. the weak and discordant tone of my voice, that is changed by grief. DOUCE. 8 wood. this grained face-] i. e. furrowed, like the grain of Duke. I tell thee, Syracusan, twenty years During which time he ne'er saw Syracusa : Enter the Abbess, with ANTIPHOLUS Syracusan, and DROMIO Syracusan. wrong'd. Abb. Most mighty Duke, behold a man much [All gather to see him. Adr. I see two husbands, or mine eyes deceive me. away. Duke. One of these men is Genius to the other; And so of these: Which is the natural man, And which the spirit? Who deciphers them? Dro. S. I, sir, am Dromio; command him Dro. E. I, sir, am Dromio; pray, let me stay. Ant. S. Ægeon, art thou not? or else his ghost? Dro. S. O, my old master, 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'st the man That had'st a wife once called Æmilia, That bore thee at a burden two fair sons : O, if thou be'st the same Ægeon, speak, And speak unto the same Æmilia! Ege. If I dream not, thou art Æmilia; Abb. By men of Epidamnum, he, and I, |