Was carry'd with more fpeed before the wind, And therefore homeward did they bend their course.- 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. After his brother, and importun'd me, Five fummers have I spent in fartheft Greece, Duke. Haplefs Egeon, whom the fates haye markt To bear th' extremity of dire mishap; Now, truft me, were it not against our laws, (3) (3) Now trust me, were it not against our Laws, Against my Crown, my Oath, my Dignity, Which Princes would, they may not difannul,] Thus are thefe Lines placed in all the former Editions. But as the fingle Verb does not agree with all the Subftantives, which fhould 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. B 4 (Which Which Princes, would they, may not difanul;) Jail. I will, my lord. [Exeunt Duke, and Train, Egeon. Hopeless and helplefs doth Egeon wend, But to procraftinate his livelefs end. [Exeunt Egeons and Failor. SCENE changes to the Street. Enter Antipholis of Syracufe, a Merchant, and Dromio. Mer. There that your goods too foon be confifcate. Herefore give out, you are of Epidamnum, This very day, a Syracufan merchant Is apprehended for arrival here; And, not being able to buy out his life: Dies ere the weary Sun fet in the weft: Ant. Go bear it to the Centaur, where we hoft, Dro. 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 present business calls me from you now. Ant. Farewel 'till then, I will go lofe my felf, And wander up and down to view the city. Mer. Sir, I commend you to your own content. [Ex. 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 queft of them, unhappy, lofe my felf, Enter Dromio of Ephefus. Here comes the almanack of my true date. late: pie falls fro 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 come not home, because you have no ftomach; You have no ftomach, having broke your faft: But we, that know what 'tis to faft and pray, Are penitent for your default to day. Aut Ant. Stop in your wind, Sir; tell me this, I pray, Ant. I am not in a sportive humour now; as you fit at dinner E. Dro. I pray you, jeft, Sir 4 For fhe will score your fault upon my pate: Methinks, your maw, like mine, fhould be your clock; Ant. Come, Dromio, come, thefe jefts are out of Reserve them 'till a merrier hour than this: E. Dro. To me, Sir? why, you gave no gold to me. 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 Phenix, Sir, to dinner; Ant. Now, as I am a chriftian, answer me, Ant. Thy miftrefs' marks? what mistress, flave, haft E. Dro. Your worship's wife, my miftrefs at the 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 fake hold your hands; Nay, an you will not, Sir, I'll take my heels. [Ex. Dromio Ant. Upon my life, by fome device or other, The villain is o'er-wrought of all my mony. They fay, this town is full of couzenage; As, nimble jugglers, that deceive the eye; (4) (4) As, nimble Jugglers, that deceive the Eye; Dark-working Sorcerers, that change the Mind; 66 Soul-killing Witches, that deform the Body;] Tho' I have not dif. turb'd the Text, the ingenious Conjecture, Mr. Warburton made to me upon this Paffage, has fuch an Appearance of Juftnefs and Likelihood, that I fhall fubjoin it in his own Words. Thofe, who attentively con"fider these three Lines, must confefs, that the Poet intended, the Epi"thet given to each of these Mifcreants fhould declare the Power by "which they perform their Feats, and which would therefore be a *juft Characteristick of each of them. Thus, by nimble Jugglers, we are taught that they perform their Tricks by flight of hand: and by "Soul killing Witches, we are inform'd, the Mifchief they do is by the "Affiftance of the Devil to whom they have given their Souls: But then, "by dark-working Sorcerers, we are not inftructed 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 their Characteristick. I am confident, we should "read; Drug-working Sorcerers, that change the Mind; "And we know by the whole Hiftory of antient and modern Super"ftition, that these kind of Jugglers always pretended to work Changes "of the Mind by thefe Applications. Hence all the Superftition 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 Eidyl"lium, whofe Subject is built on this kind of Sorcery, Papuancúтed. Mr. Warburton, Brabantio, I remember, in Orbello, where he thinks his Daughter's Senfes and Inclinations must have been perverted by the Moor's Practices, speaks not a little in Confirmation of my Friend's Conjecture. Judge me the World, if 'tis not grofs in Senfe, Dark |