Our helpless ship was splitted in the midst:

So that, in this unjust divorce of us,
Fortune had left to both of us alike
What to delight in, what to forrow for.
Her part, poor foul! feeming as burdened
With leffer weight, but not with leffer woe,
Was carry'd with more speed before the wind,
And in our fight they three were taken up
By fifhermen of Corinth, as we thought.
At length, another ship had fiez'd on us ;
And knowing whom it was their hap to fave,
Gave helpful welcome to their fhipwrackt guests;
And would have reft the fishers of their prey,
Had not their bark been very flow of fail;
And therefore homeward did they bend their courfe.
Thus have you heard me fever'd from my bliss;
That by misfortunes was my life prolong'd,
To tell fad ftories of my own mishaps.

Duke. And, for the fakes of them thou forrow'ft for, Do me the favour to dilate at full

What hath befall'n of them, and thee, 'till now.
Egeon. My youngest boy, and yet my eldest care,
At eighteen years became inquifitive
After his brother, and importun'd me,
That his attendant, (for his cafe was like,
Reft of his brother, but retain'd his name,)
Might bear him company in queft of him:
Whom whilft I labour'd of a love to fee,
I hazarded the lofs of whom I lov'd.
Five fummers have I spent in farthest Greece,
Roaming clean through the bounds of Afia,
And coafting homeward, came to Ephesus:
Hopeless to find, yet loth to leave unfought,
Or that, or any place that harbours men.
But here muft end the story of my life;
And happy were I in my timely death,
Could all my travels warrant me, they live.

Duke. Haplefs Egeon, whom the fates have markt To bear th' extremity of dire mishap ;

Now, trust me, were it not against our laws (3),
(Which Princes, would they, may not difannul)
Against my crown, my oath, my dignity,
My foul should fue as advocate for thee.
But, tho' thou art adjudged to the death,
And paffed fentence may not be recall'd,
But to our honour's great difparagement;
Yet will I favour thee in what I can;
I therefore, merchant, limit thee this day,
To feek thy life by beneficial help:
Try all the friends thou haft in Ephefus,
Beg thou, or borrow, to make up the fum,
And live; if not, then thou art doom'd to die.
Jailor, take him to thy cuftody.

Jail. I will, my Lord.

[Exeunt Duke, and Train.

Egeon. Hopeless and helplefs doth Egeon wend, But to procraftinate his liveless end.

[Exeunt Ægeon, and Failors

SCENE changes to the Street.

Enter Antipholis of Syracufe, a Merchant, and Dromie.

Mer.

T

Herefore give out, you are of Epidamnum, Left that your goods too foon be confiscate. This very day, a Syracufan merchant

Is apprehended for arrival here;
And not being able to buy out his life,
According to the ftatute of the town,
Dies ere the weary fun fet in the weft:
There is your money, that I had to keep.

Ant. Go bear it to the Centaur, where we hoft,
And stay there, Dromio, 'till I come to thee:
Within this hour it will be dinner-time;

(3) Now truft me, were it not againft our laws,
Against my crown, my oath, my dignity,

Which Princes would, they may not difannul,] Thus are these lines placed in all the former editions. But as the fingle verb does not agree with all the fubftantives, which should be govern'd of it, I have ventur'd to make a tranfpofition; and by a change in the pointing, clear'd up the perplexity of the sense,

'Till that I'll view the manners of the town,
Perufe the traders, gaze upon the buildings,
And then return and fleep within mine inn;
For with long travel I am stiff and weary.

Get thee away.

Dro. Many a man would take you at your word, And go indeed, having fo good a means. [Exit Dromio.

Ant. "A trufty villain, Sir, that very oft, When I am dull with care and melancholy, Lightens my humour with his merry jefts. What, will you walk with me about the town, And then go to the inn and dine with me?

Mer. I am invited, Sir, to certain merchants,
Of whom I hope to make much benefit:
I crave your pardon. Soon at five o'clock,
Please you, I'll meet with you upon the mart,
And afterward confort you 'till bed-time:
My prefent business calls me from you now.
Ant. Farewel 'till then; I will go lofe myself,
And wander up and down to view the city.
Mer. Sir, I commend you to your own content.
[Exit Mer.

Ant. He that commends me to my own content,
Commends me to the thing I cannot get.
I to the world am like a drop of water,
That in the ocean feeks another drop,
Who falling there to find his fellow forth,
Unfeen, inquifitive, confounds himself:
So I, to find a mother and a brother,
In quest of them, unhappy, lofe myself.

Enter Dromio of Ephefus.

Here comes the almanack of my true date.

What now? how chance, thou art return'd fo foon ?
E. Dro. Return'd fo foon! rather approach'd too late :
The capon burns, the pig falls from the fpit,

The clock has ftrucken twelve upon the bell;
My mistress made it one upon my
cheek;

She is fo hot, because the meat is cold;
The meat is cold, because you come not home;

You

You come not home, because you have no ftomach;
You have no ftomach, having broke your faft:
But we, that know what 'tis to fast and pray,
Are penitent for your default to-day.

Ant. Stop in your wind, Sir; tell me this, I pray,
Where you have left the money that I gave you?
E. Dro. Oh,-fix pence, that I had a Wednesday laft,
To pay the fadler for my miftrefs' crupper?
The fadler had it, Sir; I kept it not.

Ant. I am not in a sportive humour now; Tell me and dally not, where is the money? We being strangers here, how dar'ft thou truft So great a charge from thine own custody?

E. Dro. I pray you, jeft, Sir, as you fit at dinner:
I from my mistrefs come to you in post;
If I return, I fhall be poft indeed;

For she will score your fault upon my pate:
Methinks, your maw, like mine, fhould be
And ftrike you home without a messenger.

your

clock;

Ant. Come, Dromio, come, these jests are out of season ; Referve them 'till a merrier hour than this: Where is the gold I gave in charge to thee?

E. Dro. To me, Sir? why, you gave no gold to me. Ant. Come on, Sir knave, have done your foolishness; And tell me how thou haft difpos'd thy charge?

E. Dro. My charge was but to fetch you from the mart
Home to your houfe, the Phoenix, Sir, to dinner;
My mistress and her fifter stay for you.

Ant. Now, as I am a christian, answer me,
In what fafe place you have bestow'd my money;
Or I fhall break that merry fconce of yours,
That ftands on tricks when I am undifpos'd:
Where are the thousand marks thou hadst of me?

E. Dro. I have fome marks of yours upon my pate;
Some of my miftrefs' marks upon my shoulders;
But not a thousand marks between you both.
If I should pay your worship thofe again,
Perchance, you will not bear them patiently.

Ant. Thy miftrefs' marks? what misrefs, flave haft thou?

E. Dro

E. Dro. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the Phenix. She, that doth faft, 'till you come home to dinner ; And prays, that you will hie you home to dinner. Ant. What wilt thou flout me thus unto my face, Being forbid there take you that, Sir knave.

E. Dro. What mean you, Sir? for God's fake hold your hands;

Nay, an you will not, Sir, I'll take my heels.

[Exit Dromio Ant. Upon my life, by fome device or other, The villain is o'er-wrought of all my money. They fay, this town is full of couzenage; As, nimble jugglers, that deceive the eye (4); Dark-working forcerers, that change the mind; Soul-killing witches, that deform the body; Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanke,

(4) As, nimble jugglers, that deceive the eye;

Dark-working forcerers, that change the mind;

And

Soul-killing witches, that deform the body;] Tho' I have not difturb'd the text, the ingenious conjecture, Mr. Warburton made to me upon this paffage, has fuch an appearance of juftness and likelihood, that I fhall fubjoin it in his own words. "Thofe, who attentively "confider these three lines, muft confefs, that the Poet intended, "the epithet given to each of these mifcreants fhould declare the "power by which they perform their feats, and which would there"fore be a just characteristick of each of them. Thus, by nimble “jugglers, we are taught that they perform their tricks by flight of "band: and by foul-killing witches, we are inform'd, the mischief they do is by the affiftance of the devil to whom they have given their fouls: But then, by dark-working forcerers, we are not in "Atructed in the means by which they perform their ends. Befides, "this epithet agrees as well to witches, as to them; and therefore, "certainly, our Author could not defign this in the characteristick. "I am confident, we should read;

Drug-working forcerers, that change the mind;

And we know by the whole hiftory of ancient and modern super"ftition, that these kind of jugglers always pretended to work changes "of the mind by these applications. Hence all the fuperftition of "love-potions, which in this line is alluded to: And this practice "was fo common amongst the Greeks, that they gave the name of "papuanos to this operator: and therefore has Theocritus call'd his "fecond Eidyllium, whofe fubject is built on this kind of forcery, σε φαρμακεύτρια. Mr. Warburton. Brabantio, I remember, in Othello, where he thinks his daughter s VOL. II.

fen.es