5

IC

15

Jach. Then, if you can, [Pulling out the bracelet.
Be pale; I beg but leave to air this jewel: See!-35
And now 'tis up again: It must be married
To that your diamond; I'll keep them.

1 i. e. fo near to fpeech. The Italians call a portrait, when the likeness is remarkable, a speaking picture. 2 The meaning is this: The fculptor was as nature, but as nature dumb; he gave every thing that nature gives, but breath and motion. In breath is included speech. 3 i. e. the token; the vifible proof.

The woman's part in me! For there's no motion That tends to vice in man, but I affirm It is the woman's part: Be't lying, note it, The woman's; flattering, hers; deceiving, hers; 5 Luft and rank thoughts, hers, hers; revenges, hers;

And that most venerable man, which I
Did call my father, was I know not where
When I was stamp'd; some coiner with his tools
Made me a counterfeit: Yet my mother feem'd
The Dian of that time: fo doth my wife
The non-pareil of this.-Oh vengeance, vengeance!
Me of my lawful pleasure the restrain'd,
And pray'd me, oft, forbearance: did it with
A pudency fo rofy, the sweet view on't [her
Might well have warm'd old Saturn; that I thought 10
As chafte as unfunn'd fnow: -O, all the devils!-
This yellow Iachimo, in an hour,-was't not?-
Or lefs, at firft: Perchance he spoke not; but,
Like a full-acorn'd boar, a German one,
Cry'd, oh!' and mounted: found no oppofition
But what he look'd for should oppose, and the
Should-from encounter guard. Could I find out

15

Ambitions, covetings, change of prides, difdain,
Nice longings, flanders, mutability,

All faults that may be nam'd, nay, that hell knows,
Why, hers, in part, or all; but, rather, all:

For even to vice

They are not constant, but are changing still
One vice, but of a minute old, for one
Not half fo old as that. I'll write against them,
Deteft them, curfe them:-Yet 'tis greater skill
In a true hate, to pray they have their will:
The very devils cannot plague them better, [Ex.

ACT

SCENE I.
Cymbeline's Palace.

Exter, in fate, Cymbeline, Queen, Cloten, and Lords,
at one door; and at another, Caius Lucius, and
Attendants.

III.

5|As eafily 'gainst our rocks: For joy whereof The fam'd Caffibelan, who was once at point (O, giglet fortune!) to master Cæfar's fword, Made Lud's town with rejoicing fires bright, And Britons ftrut with courage.

30 OW fay, what would Auguftus Cæfar with us?

Cyn. Now

[yet

Luc. When Julius Cæfar (whofe remembrance Lives in men's eyes; and will to ears, and tongues, Be theme, and hearing ever) was in this Britain,

And conquer'd it, Caffibelan, thine uncle,

(Famous in Cæfar's praises, no whit lefs

Than in his feats deferving it) for him,

And his fucceffion, granted Rome a tribute,

35

Clot. Come, there's no more tribute to be paid: Our kingdom is ftronger than it was at that time; and, as I faid, there is no more fuch Cæfars: other of them may have crook'd nofes; but to own fuch ftrait arms, none.

Cym. Son, let your mother end.

Clot. We have yet many among us can gripe as hard as Caffibelan: I do not fay, I am one; but I have a hand-Why tribute? why should we pay tribute? If Cæfar can hide the fun from us

Yearly three thousand pounds, which by thee lately 40 with a blanket, or put the moon in his pocket, we

It left untender'd.

Queen. And, to kill the marvel,

Shall be fo ever.

Clot. There be many Cæfars,

Ere fuch another Julius. Britain is

A world by itself; and we will nothing pay
For wearing our own noses.

Queen. That opportunity,

45 This tribute from us, we were free: Cæfar's am-
(Which fwell'd so much, that it did almost stretch
The fides o' the world) against all colour, here
Did put the yoke upon us; which to shake off,
Becomes a warlike people, whom we reckon
50 Ourfelves to be; we do. Say then to Cæfar,
Our ancestor was that Mulmutius, which
Ordain'd our laws; whofe ufe the fword of Cæfar
Hath too much mangled; whose repair, and fran-
chife,

Which then they had to take from us, to resume
We have again.-Remember, fir, my liege,
The kings your ancestors; together with
The natural bravery of your ifle; which stands
As Neptune's park, ribbed and paled in
With rocks unfcaleable, and roaring waters;
With fands, that will not bear your enemies' boats, 55
But fuck them up to the top-maft. A kind of
conqueft

Cæfar made here; but made not here his brag
Of, came, and fat, and overcame; with fhame
(The first that ever touch'd him) he was carried
From off our coaft, twice beaten; and his shipping,
(Poor ignorant baubles) on our terrible feas,
Like egg-fhells mov'd upon their furges, crack'd

Shall, by the power we hold, be our good deed, Though Rome be therefore angry. Mulmuties made our laws,

Who was the first of Britain, which did put His brows within a golden crown, and call'd 60 Himself a king.

Luc. I am forry, Cymbeline, That I am to pronounce Auguftus Cæfar (Cæfar, that hath more kings his fervants, than

i. e. unacquainted with the nature of our boisterous feas. 2 i. e. without any pretence of right.

Thyself

Thyself domestic officers) thine enemy:

Receive it from me then :-War, and confufion,
In Cæfar's name pronounce I 'gainst thee: look
For fury not to be refifted :-Thus defy'd,
I thank thee for myself.

Cym. Thou art welcome, Caius.
Thy Cæfar knighted me; my youth I spent
Much under him of him I gather'd honour;
Which he, to feek of me again, perforce,
Behoves me keep at utterance. I am perfect 2,
That the Pannonians and Dalmatians, for
Their liberties, are now in arms: a precedent
Which not to read, would fhew the Britons cold;
So Cæfar fhall not find them.

Luc. Let proof fpeak.

Pif. Madam, here is letter from my lord.
Imo. Who? thy lord? that is my lord? Leo-
natus ?

O, learn'd indeed were that aftronomer,
5 That knew the stars, as I his characters;
He'd lay the future open. You good gods,
Let what is here contain'd relish of love,
Of my lord's health, of his content,-yet not,
That we two are asunder, let that grieve him!
10(Some griefs are medicinable; that is one of them,
For it doth phyfic love 6)—of his content,

All but in that!-Good wax, thy leave:-Bleft be
You bees, that make these locks of counfel! Lo-
vers,

15 And men in dangerous bonds, pray not alike; Though forfeiters you caft in prifon, yet

Clot. His majefty bids you welcome. Make paftime with us a day, or two, or longer: If you feek us afterwards in other terms, you shall find us in our falt-water girdle: if you beat us out of it, it is yours; if you fall in the adventure, our 20 crows fhall fare the better for you; and there's an end.

[Exeunt. 25

Pif. How! of adultery? Wherefore write you 30

not

What monsters her accufe ?-Leonatus!

O mafter! what a strange infection

Is fallen into thy ear? What falfe Italian
(As poisonous tongu'd, as handed) hath prevail'd
On thy too ready hearing?-Difloyal? No:
She's punish'd for her truth; and undergoes,
More goddess-like than wife-like, fuch affaults
As would take in 3 fome virtue.-O my master!
Thy mind to her is now as low, as were
Thy fortunes. How! that I fhould murder her
Upon the love, and truth, and vows, which I
Have made to thy command?-I, her?-her
blood?

If it be fo to do good fervice, never

Let me be counted ferviceable. How look I,
That I should feem to lack humanity,
So much as this fact comes to?

Do't: The letter
[Reading.

That I have fent her, by her own command,
• Shall give thee opportunity :'-O damn'd paper!
Black as the ink that's on thee! Senfelefs bauble
Art thou a feodary 4 for this act, and look'st
So virgin-like without? Lo, here she comes.
Enter Imogen.

I am ignorant in what I am commanded 5.
Imo. How now, Pifanio?

You clafp young Cupid's tables 7.Good news,
gods!
[Reading.

Justice, and your father's wrath, fhould he take me in his dominion, could not be fo cruel to me, as you, O the dearest of creatures, would even renew me with your eyes. Take notice, that I am in Cambria, at Milford-Haven: What your own love will, out of this, advise you, follow. So, he wishes you all happiness, that remains loyal to his vow, and your, increafing in love,

LEONATUS POSTHUMUS."
O, for a horfe with wings!Hear'st thou, Pi-
fanio?

He is at Milford-Haven: Read, and tell me
How far 'tis thither. if one of mean affairs
May plod it in a week, why may not I

Glide thither in a day?—Then, true Pifanio,
35(Who long'ft, like me, to fee thy lord; who long'ft-
O, let me 'bate, but not like me: yet long'ft,-
But in a fainter kind :-O, not like me;
For mine's beyond, beyond,) fay, and speak thick,
(Love's counsellor fhould fill the bores of hearing,
40 To the finothering of the fenfe) how far it is
To this fame bleffed Milford: And, by the way,
Tell me how Wales was made fo happy, as
To inherit fuch a haven: But, first of all,
How we may steal from hence; and, for the gap
45 That we shall make in time, from our hence-going
Till our return, to excufe :-but first, how get

• hence :

Why should excufe be born or e'er begot? We'll talk of that hereafter. Pr'ythee, speak, 50How many fcore of miles may we well ride Twixt hour and hour?

Pif. One score, 'twixt fun and fun, Madam's, enough for you; and too much too. Imo. Why, one that rode to his execution, man, 55 Could never go fo flow; I have heard of riding wagers,

Where horfes have been nimbler than the fands

2 i. e. I am well informed.

3 To

I At utterance means to keep at the extremity of defiance. take in a town is to conquer it. 4 A feodary is one who holds his eftate under the tenure of fuit and fervice to a fuperior lord. 5 i. e. I am unpractised in the arts of murder. That is, grief for abíence keeps love in health and vigour. 7 The meaning is, that the bees are not bleft by the man who forfeiting a bond is fent to prifon, as they are by the lover for whom they perform the more pleasing office of sealing letters,

That

That run i' the clock's behalf :-But this is fool

ery :

Go, bid my woman feign a fickness; fay
She'll home to her father: and provide me, prefently,
A riding fuit; no coftlier than would fit
A franklin's housewife 2.

Pif. Madam, you're beft confider.

Imo. I fee before me, man, nor here, nor here,
Nor what enfues; but have a fog in them,
That I cannot look through 3. Away, I pr'ythee;
Do as I bid thee: There's no more to say;
Acceffible is none but Milford way.

[Excunt.

Changes to a Foreft in Wales, with a Cave.
Enter Belarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus.
Bel. A goodly day not to keep houfe, with fuch
Whofe roof's as low as ours! Stoop, boys: This gate
Inftructs you how to adore the heavens; and bows

you

A cell of ignorance; travelling abed;
A prifon for a debtor, that not dares
To ftride a limit 3.

Arv. What fhould we speak of,

5 When we are as old as you? When we fhall hear
The rain and wind beat dark December, how,
In this our pinching cave, fhall we difcourfe
The freezing hours away? We have seen nothing:
We are beaftly; fubtle as the fox, for prey;
10 Like warlike as the wolf, for what we eat :
Our valour is, to chace what flies; our cage
We make a quire, as doth the prifon'd bird,
And fing our bondage freely.

15

20

To morning's holy office: The gates of monarchs
Are arch'd fo high, that giants may jet through
And keep their impious turbands 4 on, without
Good morrow to the fun.-Hail, thou fair heaven! 25
We house i' the rock, yet ufe thee not so hardly
As prouder livers do.

Guid. Hail, heaven!
Aru. Hail, heaven!

Bel. Now for our mountain fport: Up to yon hill,
Your legs are young; I'll tread these flats. Confider,
When you above perceive me like a crow,
That it is place, which leffens, and fets off.
And you may then revolve what tales I have told you,
Of courts, of princes, of the tricks in war:
This fervice is not fervice, fo being done,
But being fo allow'd: To apprehend thus,
Draws us a profit from all things we see :
And often, to our comfort, fhall we find
The fharded 5 beetle in a safer hold
Than is the full-wing'd eagle. O, this life
Is nobler, than attending for a check";
Richer, than doing nothing for a babe 7;
Prouder, than rustling in unpaid-for filk:
Such gain the cap of him, that makes them fine,
Yet keeps his book uncrofs'd: no life to ours.
Guid. Out of your proof you fpeak: we, poor
unfledg'd,
[know not
Have never wing'd from view o' the neft; nor
What air's from home. Haply, this life is beft,
If quiet life be beft; sweeter to you,
That have a sharper known; well correfponding
With your ftiff age: but, unto us, it is

Bel. How you speak!

Did

you but know the city's ufuries,

And felt them knowingly: the art o' the court,
As hard to leave, as keep; whose top to climb
Is certain falling, or fo flippery, that

The fear's as bad as falling: the toil of the war,
A pain that only feems to feek out danger

I' the name of fame, and honour; which dies i' the
fearch;

And hath as oft a flanderous epitaph,
As record of fair act; nay, many times,
Doth ill deferve by doing well; what's worse,
Muft curt'fy at the cenfure:-O, boys, this story
The world may read in me: My body's mark'd
With Roman fwords; and my report was once
Firft with the beft of note: Cymbeline lov'd me;
And when a foldier was the theme, my name
Was not far off: Then was I as a tree,
Whose boughs did bend with fruit: but, in one night
A ftorm, or robbery, call it what you will,
Shook down my mellow hangings, nay, my leaves,
And left me bare to weather.
Guid. Uncertain favour!
Bel. My fault being nothing (as I have told you
But that two villains, whofe falfe oaths prevail'd
Before my perfect honour, fwore to Cymbeline,
40I was confederate with the Romans: fo,

35

[oft)

Follow'd my banishment; and, these twenty years,
This rock, and these demefnes, have been my

world:

Where I have liv'd at honeft freedom; pay'd 45 More pious debts to heaven, than in all [tains; The fore-end of my time.-But, up to the mounThis is not hunters' language: He, that strikes The venifon first, shall be the lord 'the feaft; To him the other two fhall minifter; 50 And we will fear no poison, which attends In place of greater ftate. I'll meet you in the valleys. [Exeunt Guid. and Arv. How hard it is, to hide the fparks of nature!

This fantastical expreffion means no more than fand in an hour-glafs, used to measure time. 2 A franklin is literally a freeholder, with a small eftate, neither villain nor vaffal. 3 That is, "I can fee neither one way nor other, before me nor behind me, but all the ways are covered with an impenetrable fog." 4 The idea of a giant was, among the readers of romances, who were almost all the readers of thofe times, always confounded with that of a Saracen. 5 i. e. the beetle whose wings are enclosed within two dry bufks or fhards. 6 Check may mean in this place a reproof; but it rather feems to fignify command, controul. 7 Dr. Johnson fufpects, that the right reading of this paffage is as follows: "Richer than doing nothing for a brabe." Bratium is a badge of honour, or the enfign of an honour, or any thing worn as a mark of dignity. The word is found (he adds) in Holyoak's Dictionary, who terms it a reward; and that Cooper, in his Thefaurus, defines it to be a prize, or re

rward for any game. To overpafs his bound.

Thefe

These boys know little, they are fons to the king ;)
Nor Cymbeline dreams that they are alive.
They think, they are mine: and, though train'd
up thus meanly

And you shall find me, wretched man, a thing
The moft difdain'd of fortune.

Imogen reads.

Thy miftrefs, Pisanio, bath play'd the firumpet in my bed; the teftimonies whereof lie bleeding in me. I speak not out of weak furmifes; but from proof as ftrong as my grief, and as certain as I expect my revenge. That part, thou, Pifanio, must act for me, if thy faith le not tainted with the breach of bers. 10 Let thine own bands take away her life: I fall give thee opportunity at Milford-Haven: fhe bath my letter for the purpose: Where, if thou fear to |frike, and to make me certain it is done, thou art the pandar to her dishonour, and equally to me difloyal.

I' the cave, wherein they bow 1, their thoughts do hit 5
The roofs of palaces; and nature prompts them,
In fimple and low things, to prince it, much
Beyond the trick of others. This Polydore,-
The heir of Cymbeline and Britain, whom
The king his father call'd Guiderius,—Jove!
When on my three-foot ftool I fit, and tell
The warlike feats I have done, his fpirits fly out
Into my story say,-Thus mine enemy fell;
And thus I fet my foot on his neck; even then
The princely blood flows in his cheek, he fweats, 15
Strains his young nerves, and puts himself in pofture]
That acts my words. The younger brother, Cadwal,
(Cnce, Arviragus) in as like a figure,

Strikes life into my fpeech, and fhews much more
His own conceiving. Hark! the game is rouz'd!—20
O Cymbeline! heaven, and my conscience, knows,
Thou didst unjustly banish me: whereon,
At three, and two years old, I ftole thefe babes;
Thinking to bar thee of fucceffion, as
Thou reft'st me of my lands. Euriphile,
Thou waft their nurfe; they took thee for their

mother,

And every day do honour to her grave :

Myfelf, Belarius, that am Morgan call'd,

25

Pif. What fhall I need to draw my fword? the paper

Hath cut her throat already.No, 'tis flander;
Whofe edge is fharper than the fword; whofe
tongue

Out-venoms all the worms 3 of Nile; whofe breath
Rides on the pofting winds, and doth belye
All corners of the world: kings, queens, and states 4,
Maids, matrons, nay, the fecrets of the grave
This viperous flander enters.--What cheer, madam?
Imo. Falfe to his bed! What is it to be falfe?
To lie in watch there, and to think on him?
To weep 'twixt clock and clock? if fleep charge
nature,

To break it with a fearful dream of him,

They take for natural father. The game is up. 30 And cry myself awake?. that's falfe to his bed?

Is it?

Pif. Alas, good lady!

Im. I falfe? Thy confcience witnefs :-Iachimo,
Thou didst accufe him of incontinency;

35 Thou then look'dft like a villain; now, methinks,
Thy favour's good enough.-Some jay of Italy,
Whofe mother was her painting 5, hath betray'd
Poor I am ftale, a garment out of fashion; [him:
And, for I am richer than to hang by the walls,
must be ript :-to pieces with me!-0,
Men's vows are women's traitors! All good feeming,
By thy revolt, O hufband, fhall be thought
Put on for villainy; not born, where 't grows;
But worn, a bait for ladies.

Was near at hand:-Ne'er long'd my mother fo
To see me first, as I have now :-Pifanio! Man!40I
Where is Pofthumus? What is in thy mind,
That makes thee ftare thus? Wherefore breaks
that figh

From the inward of thee? One, but painted thus,
Would be interpreted a thing perplex'd
Beyond felf-explication: Put thyfelf
Into a 'haviour of lefs fear, ere wildness
Vanquish my ftaider fenfes. What's the matter?
Why tender'ft thou that paper to me, with
A look untender? If it be fummer news,
Smile to 't before: if winterly, thou need'ft
But keep that countenance ftill. My husband's
hand!

45

Pif. Good madam, hear me.

Imo. True honeft men being heard, like falfe
[weeping

Æneas,
Were in his time, thought falfe and Sinon's
Did fcandal many a holy tear; took pity [humus,
50 From moft true wretchedness: So, thou, Poft-
Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men; '
Goodly, and gallant, shall be false and perjur'd,
From thy great fail.-Come, fellow, be thou honest:
Do thou thy mafter's bidding: When thou fee's
him,

That drug-damn'd Italy 2 hath out-crafted him,
And he's at fome hard point.-Speak, man; thy 55
tongue

May take off fome extremity, which to read
Would be even mortal to me.

Pis. Please you, read;

A little witnefs my obedience: Look!

I draw the fword myfelf: take it; and hit
The innocent mantion of my love, my heart:
Fear not; 'tis empty of all things, but grief:

i. e. Thus meanly brought up. Yet in this very cave, which is fo Tow that they must bow or bend in entering it, yet are their thoughts fo exalted, &c. 2 This is another allufion to Italian poifons. 3 Serpents and dragons by the old writers were called worms. 4 Perfons of higheft 5 That is, Some jay of Italy, made by art the creature, not of nature, but of painting. In this fenfe painting may be not improperly termed her mother.

rank.

Thy