The Comedy of Errors, William Shakespeare [love letters to the dead TXT] 📗
- Author: William Shakespeare
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Ant. S. No, sir, not I; I came from Syracuse.
Duke. Stay, stand apart; I know not which is which.
Ant. E. I came from Corinth, my most gracious lord,—
365 Dro. E. And I with him.
Ant. E. Brought to this town by that most famous warrior.
Duke Menaphon, your most renowned uncle.
Adr. Which of you two did dine with me to-day?
Ant. S. I, gentle mistress.
Adr.
And are not you my husband?
370 Ant. E. No; I say nay to that.
Ant. S. And so do I; yet did she call me so:
And this fair gentlewoman, her sister here,
Did call me brother. [To Lucia.] What I told you then,
I hope I shall have leisure to make good;
375 If this be not a dream I see and hear.
Ang. That is the chain, sir, which you had of me.
Ant. S. I think it be, sir; I deny it not.
Ant. E. And you, sir, for this chain arrested me.
Ang. I think I did, sir; I deny it not.
380 Adr. I sent you money, sir, to be your bail,
By Dromio; but I think he brought it not.
Dro. E. No, none by me.
Ant. S. This purse of ducats I received from you,
And Dromio my man did bring them me.
385 I see we still did meet each other’s man;
And I was ta’en for him, and he for me;
And thereupon these ERRORS are arose.
Ant. E. These ducats pawn I for my father here.
Duke. It shall not need; thy father hath his life.
390 Cour. Sir, I must have that diamond from you.
Ant. E. There, take it; and much thanks for my good cheer.
Abb. Renowned Duke, vouchsafe to take the pains
To go with us into the abbey here,
And hear at large discoursed all our fortunes;—
395 And all that are assembled in this place,
That by this sympathized one day’s error
Have suffer’d wrong, go keep us company,
And we shall make full satisfaction.—
Thirty-three years have I but gone in travail
400 Of you, my sons; and till this present hour
My heavy burthen ne’er delivered.
The Duke, my husband, and my children both,
And you the calendars of their nativity,
Go to a gossips’ feast, and go with me;
405 After so long grief, such nativity!
Duke. With all my heart, I’ll gossip at this feast.
Exeunt all but Ant. S., Ant. E., Dro. S., and Dro. E.
Dro. S. Master, shall I fetch your stuff from ship-board?
Ant. E. Dromio, what stuff of mine hast thou embark’d?
Dro. S. Your goods that lay at host, sir, in the Centaur.
410 Ant. S. 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 Ant. S. and Ant. E.
Dro. S. There is a fat friend at your master’s house,
That kitchen’d me for you to-day at dinner:
415 She now shall be my sister, not my wife.
Dro. E. Methinks you are my glass, and not my brother:
I see by you I am a sweet-faced youth.
Will you walk in to see their gossiping?
Dro. S. Not I, sir; you are my elder.
420 Dro. E. That’s a question: how shall we try it?
Dro. S. We’ll draw cuts for the senior: till then lead thou first.
Dro. E. Nay, then, thus:—
We came into the world like brother and brother;
And now let’s go hand in hand, not one before another.
Exeunt.
In the spelling of the name of ‘Solinus’ we have followed the first Folio. In the subsequent Folios it was altered, most probably by an accident in F2 to ‘Salinus.’ The name occurs only once in the copies, and that in the first line of the text. The name which we have given as ‘Antipholus’ is spelt indifferently thus, and ‘Antipholis’ in the Folios. It will hardly be doubted that the lines in the rhyming passage, III. 2. 2, 4, where the Folios read ‘Antipholus,’ are correctly amended by Capell, and prove that ‘Antipholus’ is the spelling of Shakespeare. Either word is evidently corrupted from ‘Antiphilus.’ These names are merely arbitrary, but the surnames, ‘Erotes’ and ‘Sereptus,’ are most probably errors for ‘Errans,’ or ‘Erraticus’ and ‘Surreptus,’ of which the latter is plainly derived from Plautus’ Menæchmus Surreptus, a well-known character in Shakespeare’s day: see Brian Melbancke’s Philotimus (1582), p. 160: ‘Thou art like Menechmus Subreptus his wife ... whose “husband shall not neede to be justice of peace” for she “will have a charter to make her justice of coram.”’ See Merry Wives, I. 1. 4, 5. In spelling ‘Syracusian’ instead of ‘Syracusan’ we follow the practice of the Folios in an indifferent matter. ‘Epidamnum’ not ‘Epidamium’ is found in the English translation of the Menæchmi, 1595, so the latter form in F1 is probably a printer’s error.
Note II.I. 2. 1. That this scene is laid at the Mart appears from Antipholus’s allusion to this place in II. 2. 5, 6:
‘I could not speak with Dromio since at first
I sent him from the mart.’
As this play is derived from a classical prototype, Capell has supposed no change of scene, but lays the whole action in ‘a Publick Place;’ evidently with much inconvenience to the Persons.
Note III.II. 1. 30. Johnson’s ingenious conjecture may have been suggested to him by a passage in As you like it, IV. 3. 17:
‘Her love is not the hare that I do hunt.’
But the received reading of the Folios is perhaps confirmed by a line in the present play, III. 2. 7:
‘Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth.’
Note IV.II. 1. 108 sqq. The only correction of this passage which we believe to be quite free from doubt is that in line 112, ‘Wear’ for ‘Where.’ Accordingly, with this exception, we have retained the precise words of the first Folio.
Note V.IV. 2. 38. Grey’s conjecture of ‘lanes’ for ‘lands’ is made somewhat more probable by the existence of copies of F1 in which the word appears ‘lans.’ A corrector would naturally change this rather to ‘lands’ than to ‘lanes,’ because of the rhyme.
Note VI.IV. 2. 46. The Folios have ‘send him Mistris redemption,’ and Rowe, by his punctuation and capital R, made Dromio call Luciana ‘Redemption.’ Pope and Theobald seem to have followed him, though they give the small r. The Folios cannot be made chargeable with this error, for the comma does not regularly follow vocatives in these editions where we expect it. There is no comma, for instance, following the word ‘Mistress’ in IV. 3. 75 or in IV. 4. 39.
Note VII.IV. 4. 29. The word ‘ears’ might probably be better printed ‘’ears’ for ‘years;’ for a pun—hitherto, however, unnoticed—seems to be indicated by the following words. A very farfetched explanation has been offered by Steevens, and accepted by Delius and, we believe, by all the modern editors, namely, that Antipholus has wrung Dromio’s ears so often that they have attained a length like an ass’s.
Note VIII.V. 1. 1. Shakespeare uses the words ‘Priory’ and ‘Abbey’ as synonymous. Compare V. 1. 37 and V. 1. 122.
Note IX.V. 1. 235. It might possibly be better to print this line as two lines, the first being broken:
‘By the way we met
My wife....’
But the place is probably corrupt.
Note X.V. 1. 399. The number Thirty-three has been altered by editors to bring the figures into harmony with other periods named in the play. From I. 1. 126, 133 the age of Antipholus has been computed at twenty-three; from I. 1. 126 and V. 1. 308 we derive twenty-five. The Duke says he has been patron to Antipholus for twenty years, V. 1. 325; but three or five seems too small an age to assign for the commencement of this patronage. Antipholus saved the Duke’s life in the wars ‘long since,’ V. 1. 161, 191. His ‘long experience’ of his wife’s ‘wisdom’ and her ‘years’ are mentioned, III. 1. 89, 90. But Shakespeare probably did not compute the result of his own figures with any great care or accuracy.
A hall ... palace.] Malone. The Duke’s palace. Theobald. A publick Place. Capell.
Ægeon,] Rowe. with the Merchant of Siracusa, Ff.
Officers,] Capell. Officer, Staunton. om. Ff.
1. Solinus] F1. Salinus F2 F3 F4.
10. looks] books Anon. conj.
14. Syracusians] F4. Siracusians F1 F2 F3. Syracusans Pope. See note (I).
16, 17, 18. Nay more If ... seen At any] Malone. Nay, more, if ... Ephesus Be seen at any Ff.
18. any] om. Pope.
23. to ransom] F1. ransom F2 F3 F4.
27. this] ’tis Hanmer.
33. griefs] F1. griefe F2. grief F3 F4.
35. nature] fortune Collier MS.
39. by me] F1. by me too F2 F3 F4.
42. Epidamnum] Pope. Epidamium Ff. Epidamnium Rowe. See note (I).
43. the] then Edd. conj.
the ... care ... left] Theobald. he ... care ... left F1. he ... store ... leaving F2 F3 F4. heed ... caves ... left Jackson conj.
random] F3 F4. randone F1 F2.
50. had she] Ff. she had Rowe.
55. meaner] Delius (S. Walker conj.). meane F1. poor meane F2. poor mean F3 F4.
56. burden, male twins] burthen male, twins F1.
61, 62. So Pope. One line in Ff.
61. soon] soon!] Pope. soon. Capell.
70. gladly] gently Collier MS.
71. weepings] F1. weeping F2 F3 F4.
76. this] thus Collier MS.
79. latter-] elder- Rowe.
86. either end the mast] th’ end of either mast Hanmer.
87, 88. And ... Was] Ff. And ... Were Rowe. Which ... Was Capell.
91. wished] F1. wish’d F2 F3 F4.
92. seas wax’d] seas waxt F1. seas waxe F2. seas wax F3. seas was F4. sea was Rowe.
94. Epidaurus] Epidarus F1. Epidamnus Theobald conj.
103. upon] Pope. up F1 up upon F2 F3 F4.
104. helpful] helpless Rowe.
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