the postilion had not been able to sound his
horn; his tunes were frozen up in the horn, and came out now by
thawing, plain enough, and much to the credit of the driver; so that
the honest fellow entertained us for some time with a variety of
tunes, without putting his mouth to the horn,--"The King of Prussia's
March," "Over the Hill and over the Dale," with many other favorite
tunes; at length the thawing entertainment concluded, as I shall this
short account of my Russian travels.

TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

_By Charles and Mary Lamb_

The states of Syracuse and Ephesus being at variance, there was a
cruel law made at Ephesus, ordaining that if any merchant of Syracuse
was seen in the city of Ephesus, he was to be put to death, unless he
could pay a thousand marks for the ransom of his life.

AEgeon, an old merchant of Syracuse, was discovered in the streets of
Ephesus and brought before the duke, either to pay this heavy fine or
to receive sentence of death.

AEgeon had no money to pay the fine, and the duke, before he pronounced
the sentence of death upon him, desired him to relate the history of
his life, and to tell for what cause he had ventured to come to the
city of Ephesus, which it was death for any Syracusan merchant to
enter.

AEgeon said that he did not fear to die, for sorrow had made him weary
of his life, but that a heavier task could not have been imposed upon
him than to relate the event of his unfortunate life. He then began
his own history, in the following words:--

"I was born at Syracuse, and brought up to the profession of a
merchant. I married a lady with whom I lived very happily, but being
obliged to go to Epidamnum, I was detained there by my business six
months, and then, finding I should be obliged to stay some time
longer, I sent for my wife, who, as soon as she arrived, was brought
to bed of two sons, and what was very strange, they were both so
exactly alike that it was impossible to distinguish the one from the
other. At the same time that my wife was brought to bed of these twin
boys, a poor woman in the inn where my wife lodged was brought to bed
of two sons, and these twins were as much like each other as my two
sons were. The parents of these children being exceeding poor, I
bought the two boys, and brought them up to attend upon my sons.

"My sons were very fine chil