Would you not deem, it breath'd? and that those Pol. veins Quit presently the chapel; For more amazement: If you can behold it, Leon. What you can make her do, To make her speak, as move. It is requir'd, You do awake your faith: Then, all stand still; Leon. No foot shall stir. Paul. Proceed; Music: awake her: strike 'T's time; descend; be stone no more; approach; [Music. Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come; I'll fill your grave up: stir; nay, come away; Bequeath to death your numbness, for from him Dear life redeems you.-You perceive, she stirs : [Hermione comes down from the pedestal. Start not: her actions shall be holy, as, You hear, my spell is lawful: do not shun her, Until you see her die again; for then You kill her double: Nay, present your hand: When she was young, you woo'd her; now, in age, Is she become the suitor. Leon. O, she's warm! [Embracing her. If this be magic, let it be an art Lawful as eating. (1) i. e. Though her eye be fixed, it seems to have motion in it. (2) As if. She embraces him. Cam. She hangs about his neck; Or, how stol'n from the dead. Our Perdita is found. [Presenting Per. who kneels to Her. Her. You gods, look down, And from your sacred vials pour your graces Upon my daughter's head!-Tell me, mine own, Where hast thou been preserv'd? where liv'd? how found Thy father's court? for thou shalt hear, that I,— Paul. There's time enough for that; Lest they desire, upon this push to trouble Your joys with like relation.-Go together, You precious winners all; your exultation Partake to every one. I, an old turtle, Will wing me to some wither'd bough, and there My mate, that's never to be found again, Lament till I am lost. Leon. Thou should'st a husband take by my consent, And made between's by vows. Thou hast found mine; But how, is to be question'd: for I saw her, As I thought, dead; and have, in vain, said many A prayer upon her grave: I'll not seek far (For him, I partly know his mind,) to find thee An honourable husband:-Come, Camillo, And take her by the hand: whose worth, and honesty, Is richly noted; and here justified By us, a pair of kings.-Let's from this place.What?-Look upon my brother :-both your pardons, My ill suspicion.-This your son-in-law, COMEDY OF ERRORS. Solinus, duke of Ephesus. Egeon, a merchant of Syracuse. Antipholus of Ephesus, Antipholus of Syracuse, Dromio of Ephesus, Dromio of Syracuse, Balthazar, a merchant. Angelo, a goldsmith. PERSONS REPRESENTED. twin brothers, and sons A merchant, friend to Antipholus of Syracuse. to Egeon and Emi-Emilia, wife to Egeon, an abbess at Ephesus. twin brothers, and atten- Luce, her servant. dants on the two Anti-A courtezan. pholus's. CT I. SCENE I-A hall in the Duke's Palace. Dike, Ægeon, Gaoler, officer, and other ants. Ægeon. PROCEED, Solinus, to procure my fall, Gaoler, officers, and other attendants. Scene, Ephesus. Unto a woman, happy but for me, And by me too, had not our hap been bad. To Epidamnum, till my factor's death; And, which was strange, the one so like the other, And, by the doom of death, end woes and all. If any, born at Ephesus, be seen His goods confiscate to the duke's dispose: My woes end likewise with the evening sun. Than I to speak my griefs unspeakable: Of such a burden, male twins, both alike: A league from Epidamnum had we sail'd, A doubtful warrant of immediate death; Fixing our eyes on whom our care was fix'd, But ere they came,-0, let me say no more! Try all the friends thou hast in Ephesus; Gaol. I will, my lord. Ege. Hopeless, and helpless, doth Ægeon wend, But to procrastinate his lifeless end. [Exeunt. SCENE II-A public place. Enter Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse, and a Merchant. Mer. Therefore, give out you are of Epidamnum, Lest that your goods too soon be confiscate. Duke. Nay, forward, old man, do not break off This very day, a Syracusan merchant For we may pity, though not pardon thee. Ege. O, had the gods done so, I had not now Worthily term'd them merciless to us! For, ere the ships could meet by twice five leagues, We were encounter'd by a mighty rock; Which being violently borne upon, Our helpful 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 sorrow for. Her part, poor soul! seeming as burdened With lesser weight, but not with lesser wo, Was carried with more speed before the wind; And in our sight they three were taken up By fishermen of Corinth, as we thought. At length, another ship had seized on us; And, knowing whom it was their hap to save, Gave helpful welcome to their shipwreck'd And would have reft' the fishers of their prey, Had not their bark been very slow of sail, And therefore homeward did they bend their course. Thus have you heard me sever'd from my bliss; That by misfortunes was my life prolong'd, To tell sad stories of my own mishaps. guests; Duke. And, for the sake of them thou sorrowest for, Do me the favour to dilate at full What hath befall'n of them, and thee, till now. Ege. My youngest boy, and yet my eldest care, At eighteen years became inquisitive After his brother; and impórtun'd me, That his attendant, (for his case was like, Reft of his brother, but retain'd his name,) Might bear him company in the quest of him: Whom whilst I labour'd of a love to see, I hazarded the loss of whom I lov'd. Five summers have I spent in furthest Greece, Roaming clean2 through the bounds of Asia, And, coasting homeward, came to Ephesus; Hopeless to find, yet loth to leave unsought, Or that, or any place that harbours men. But here must end the story of my life; And happy were I in my timely death, Could all my travels warrant me they live. Is apprehended for arrival here; Ant. S. Go bear it to the Centaur, where we host, Dro. S. Many a man would take you at your word, And go indeed, having so good a mean. Mer. I am invited, sir, to certain merchants, content, Commends me to the thing I cannot get. Enter Dromio of Ephesus. Here comes the almanac of my true date,- Duke. Hapless Egeon, whom the fates have Dro. E. Return'd so soon! rather approach'd mark'd To bear the extremity of dire mishap! too late: The capon burns, the pig falls from the spit; Ant. S. Stop in your wind, sir; tell me this, ! pray; Where have you left the money that I gave you? (5) i. e. Servant. (6) Exchange, market-place. Dro. E. 0,—six-pence, that I had o' Wednesday last, To pay the saddler for my mistress' crupper ;- Ant. S. I am not in a sportive humour now: Dro. E. I pray you, jest, sir, as you sit at dinner: I from my mistress come to you in post; If I return, I shall be post indeed: For she will score your fault upon my pate. Methinks, your maw, like mine, should be clock, And strike you home without a messenger. your Luc. Perhaps, some merchant hath invited him, Time is their master; and, when they see time, Aur. Why should their liberty than ours be more? Ant. S. Come, Dromio, come, these jests are Are their males' subj. cts, and at their controls: out of season; Reserve them till a merrier hour than this: Where is the gold I gave in charge to thee? And tell me, how thou hast dispos'd thy charge. Dro. E. My charge was but to fetch you from the mart Home to your house, the Phoenix, sir, to dinner; My mistress, and her sister, stay for you. Ant. S. Now, as I am a Christian, answer me, Some of my mistress' marks upon my shoulders, Dro. E. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the Phoenix; She that doth fast, till you come home to dinner, And prays, that you will hie you home to dinner. Ant. S. What, wilt thou flout me thus unto my face, Being forbid? There, take you that, sir knave. Dro. E. What mean you, sir? for God's sake, hold your hands; Nay, an you will not, sir, I'll take my heels. [Exit Dromio E. Ant. S. Upon my life, by some device or other, The villain is o'er-raught of all my money. They say, this town is full of cozenage; As, nimble jugglers, that deceive the eye, Dark-working sorcerers, that change the mind, So l-killing witches, that deform the body; Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks, And many such like liberties of sin: If it prove so, I will be gone the sooner. I' to the Centaur, to go seek this slave; I greatly fear, my money is not safe. ACT II. [Exit. Men, more divine, and ma ters of all these, Adr. This servitude makes you to keep unwed. Luc. Ere I learn love, I'll practise to obey. Adr. How if your husband start some otherwhere ? Luc. Till he come home again, I would forbear. Adr. Patience unmov'd, no marvel though she pause; They can be meek, that have no other cause. Luc. Well, I will marry one day, but to try;Here comes your man, now is your husband nigh. Enter Dromio of Ephesus. Adr. Say, is your tardy master now at hand? Dro. E. Nay, he is at two hands with me, and that my two ears can witness. Adr. Say, didst thou speak with him? know'st thou his mind? Dro. E. Ay, av, he told his mind upon mine ear: Beshrew his hand, I scarce could understand it. Luc. Spake he so doubtfully, thou couldst not feel his meaning? Dro. E. Nay, he struck so plainly, I could too well feel his blows; and withal so doubtfully, that I could scarce understand them.3 Adr. But say, I pr'ythee, is he coming home? It seems, he hath great care to please his wife. Dro. E. Why, mistress, sure my master is hornmad. Adr. Horn-mad, thou villain? Dro. E. I mean not cuckold-mad; but, sure, he's stark mad: When I desir'd him to come home to dinner, (3) i. e. Searce stand under them. I know not thy mistress; out on thy mistress! Dro. E. Quoth my master: I know, quoth he, no house, no wife, no mistress ;— Adr. Go back again, thou slave, and fetch him Dro. E. Go back again, and be new beaten home? For God's sake, send some other messenger. Adr. Back, slave, or I will break thy pate across. Dro. E. And he will bless that cross with other beating: Between you, I shall have a holy head. Adr. Hence, prating peasant; fetch thy master Dro. E. Am I so round with you, as you with me, I know his eye doth homage otherwhere; Or else, what lets it but he would be here? Will lose his beauty; and though gold 'hides still, SCENE II-The same. [Your mistress sent to have me home to dinner? Ant. S. Even now, even here, not half an hour since. Dro. S. I did not see you since you sent me hence, Home to the Centaur, with the gold you gave me. And told'st me of a mistress and a dinner; teeth ? Think'st thou, I jest? Hold, take thou that, and Upon what bargain do you give it me? Dro. S. Sconce, call you it? so you would leave battering, I had rather have it a head: an you use these blows long, I must get a sconce for my head, and insconce it too; or else I shall seek mi wit in my shoulders. But, I pray, sir, why am I beaten? Ant. S. Dost thou not know? Dro. S. Nothing, sir; but that I am besten. Dro. S. Ay, sir, and wherefore; for, they say, every why hath a wherefore. Ant. S. Why, first,-for flouting me; and then, wherefore, For urging it the second time to me. Dro. S. Was there ever any man thus beaten out of season, When, in the why, and the wherefore, is neither rhyme nor reason? Well, sir, I thank you. Ant. S. Thank me, sir? for what? Dro. S. Marry, sir, for this something that you gave me for nothing. Ant. S. Pil make you amends next, to give you nothing for something. But say, sir, is it dinner time? Syracuse. How now, sir? is your merry humour alter'd? (1) Alteration of features. (2) Fair, for fairness. Dro. S. No, sir; I think, the meat wants that I Ant. S. In good time, sir, what's that? Ant. S. Well, sir, then 'twill be dry. Dro. S. If it be, sir, I pray you eat none of it. Dro. S. Lest it make you choleric, and purchas me another dry basting. Ant. S. Well, sir, learn to jest in good time; There's a time for all things. Dro. S. I durst have denied that, before you were so choleric. Ant. S. By what rule, sir? (6) Study my countenance. (7) A sconce was a fortification. |