Cleo. Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have To excuse their after wrath: Husband, I come : Char. Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain; that I may Char. Cleo. O eastern star! Peace, peace! Dost thou not see my baby at my breast, That sucks the nurse asleep? Char. O, break! O, break! Cleo. As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle, O Antony!-Nay, I will take thee too :[Applying another asp to her arm. [Falls on a bed, and dies. What should I stay Cæsar, thy thoughts Touch their effects in this: Thyself art coming To see perform'd the dreaded act, which thou So sought'st to hinder. Within. A way there, a way for Cæsar. Enter CESAR, and Attendants. Dol. O, sir, you are too sure an augurer; That you did fear, is done. O Cæsar, 1 Guard. Dol. [leaves 1 Guard. This is an aspick's trail: and these figHave slime upon them, such as the aspick leaves Upon the caves of Nile. Cas. Most probable, That so she died; for her physician tells me, Char. In this wide world?-So, fare thee well.-Strike those that make them; and their story is Now boast thee, death! in thy possession lies THIS play keeps curiosity always busy, and the passions always interested, The continual hurry of the action, the variety of incidents, and the quick succession of one personage to another, call the mind forward without intermission from the first act to the last. But the power of delighting is derived principally from the frequent changes of the scene; for, except the feminine arts, some of which are too low, which distinguish Cleopatra, no character is very strongly discriminated. Upton, who did not easily miss what he desired to find, has No less in pity, than his glory, which [Exeunt. discovered that the language of Antony is, with great skill and learning, made pompous and superb, according to his real prac tice. But I think his diction not distinguishable from that of others: the most tumid speech in the play is that which Cæsar makes to Octavia. The events, of which the principal are described according to history, are produced without any art of connexion or care of disposition.-JOHNSON. posed sons to Belarius. PHILARIO, friend to Posthumus, Italians. A French Gentleman, friend to Philario. Two British Captains. PISANIO, servant to Posthumus, CORNELIUS, a physician. Two Gentlemen. Two Guolers. QUEEN, wife to Cymbeline. IMOGEN, daughter to Cymbeline by a former queen. his reign, according to Holinshed, in the nineteenth year of the reign of Augustus Cæsar; and the play commences in or about the twenty-fourth year of Cymbeline's reign, which was the forty-second year of the reign of Augustus, and the sixteenth of the Christian æra; notwithstanding which, Shakspeare has peopled Rome with modern Italians; Philario, Iachimo, &c. Cymbeline is said to have reigned thirty-five years, leaving at his death two sons, Guiderius and Arviragus (I mean, that married her,-alack, good man!— 2 Gent. You speak him far. 2 Gent. What's his name, and birth? 1 Gent. I cannot delve him to the root: His father So gain'd the sur-addition, Leonatus: Lords, Ladies, Roman Senators, Tribunes, Apparitions, ACT I. SCENE I.-Britain. The Garden behind Cymbeline's Palace. 1 Gent. You do not meet a man but frowns: our bloods But what's the matter? 1 Gent. His daughter, and the heir of his kingdom, whom He purpos'd to his wife's sole son, (a widow, 2 Gent. None but the king? Breeds him, and makes him of his bed-chamber : 1 Gent. Some twenty years. 2 Gent. That a king's children should be so conSo slackly guarded! And the search so slow, [veyed! That could not trace them! 1 Gent. Howsoe'er 'tis strange, Or that the negligence may well be langh'd at, 2 Gent. I do well believe you. 1 Gent. We must forbear: Here comes the queen, [Exeunt. and princess. SCENE II.-The same. Enter the QUEEN, POSTHUMUS, and IMOGEN. Queen. No, be assur'd, you shall not find me, I will be known your advocate: marry, yet You lean'd unto his sentence, with what patience Post. I will from hence to-day. Queen. Please your highness, You know the peril :I'll fetch a turn about the garden, pitying The pangs of barr'd affections; though the king Hath charg'd you should not speak together. Imo. O [Exit QUEEN. Dissembling courtesy! How fine this tyrant Can tickle where she wounds!-My dearest husband, I something fear my father's wrath; but nothing, (Always reserv'd my holy duty,) what His rage can do on me: You must be gone; Post. My queen! my mistress! O, lady, weep no more: lest I give cause The loyal'st husband that did e're plight troth. Queen. Re-enter QUEEN, Be brief, I pray you: If the king come, I shall incur I know not How much of his displeasure: Yet I'll move him To walk this way: I never do him wrong, But he does buy my injuries, to be friends; Pays dear for my offences. Post. Should we be taking leave As long a term as yet we have to live, The loathness to depart would grow: Adieu! Imo. Nay, stay a little: [Aside. [Exit. Queen. 'Beseech your patience :-Peace, Dear lady daughter, peace;-Sweet sovereign, Leave us to ourselves; and make yourself some comOut of your best advice. [fort Cym. [Exit. Enter PISANIO. Fye!-you must give way: Were you but riding forth to air yourself, Post. How! how! another?- [Putting on the ring. [Putting a bracelet on her arm O, the gods! Imo. When shall we see again? Nay, let her languish A drop of blood a day; and, being aged, Die of this folly! Queen. Here is your servant.-How now, sir? What news? Pis. My lord your son drew on my master. Queen. No harm, I trust, is done? Pis. На! There might have been, But that my master rather play'd than fought, And had no help of anger: they were parted By gentlemen at hand. Queen. I would they were in Afric both together; Your faithful servant; I dare lay mine honour, I humbly thank your highness. About some half hour hence, SCENE III.-A public Place. 1 Lord. Sir, I would advise you to shift a shirt; the violence of action hath made you reek as a sacrifice: Where air comes out, air comes in: there's none abroad so wholesome as that you vent. Clo. If my shirt were bloody, then to shift itHave I hurt him? 2 Lord. No, faith; not so much as his patience. [Aside. 1 Lord. Hurt him? his body's a passable carcase, if he be not hurt: it is a thoroughfare for steel, if it be not hurt. 2 Lord. His steel was in debt: it went o'the back [Aside. side the town. Clo. The villain would not stand me. face. 2 Lord. No; but he fled forward still, toward your [Aside. 1 Lord. Stand you! You have land enough of your own but he added to your having; gave you some ground. 2 Lord. As many inches as you have oceans: Puppies! [Aside. Clo. I would, they had not come between us. 2 Lord. So would I, till you had measured how long a fool you were upon the ground. [Aside. Clo. And that she should love this fellow, and refuse me ! 2 Lord. If it be a sin to make a true election, she is damned. [Aside. 1 Lord. Sir, as I told you always, her beauty and her brain go not together: She's a good sign, but I have seen small reflection of her wit. 2 Lord. She shines not upon fools, lest the reflection should hurt her. [Aside. Clo. Come, I'll to my chamber: 'Would there had been some hurt done! 2 Lord. I wish not so; unless it had been the fall of an ass, which is no great hurt. [Aside. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. A Room in Cymbeline's Palace. Enter IMOGEN and PISANIO. Imo. I would thou grew'st unto the shores o'the haven, And question'dst every sail: if he should write, With his next vantage. Imo. I did not take my leave of him, but had Most pretty things to say: ere I could tell him, How I would think on him, at certain hours, Such thoughts, and such; or I could make him swear Mine interest, and his honour; or have charg'd him, The shes of Italy should not betray At the sixth hour of morn, at noon, at midnight, I am in heaven for him; or ere I could To encounter me with orisons, for then Give him that parting kiss, which I had set And, like the tyrannous breathing of the north Betwixt too charming words, comes in my father, Shakes all our buds from growing. Enter a Lady. Lady. Desires your highness' company. The queen, madam, Imo. Those things I bid you do, get them deI will attend the queen. [spatch'd.Pis. Madam, I shall. ~ [Exeunt. SCENE V. Rome.-An Apartment in Philario's House. Iach. Believe it, sir: I have seen him in Britain: he was then of a crescent note; expected to prove so worthy, as since he hath been allowed the name of: but I could then have looked on him without the help of admiration; though the catalogue of his endowments had been tabled by his side, and I to peruse him by items. Phi. You speak of him when he was less furnished, than now he is, with that which makes him both without and within. French. I have seen him in France: we had very many there, could behold the sun with as firm eyes as he. Iach. This matter of marrying his king's daugh ter, (wherein he must be weighed rather by her value, than his own,) words him, I doubt not, a great deal from the matter. French. And then his banishment: Iach. Ay, and the approbation of those, that weep this lamentable divorce, under her colours, are wonderfully to extend him; be it but to fortify her judgment, which else an easy battery might lay flat, for taking a beggar without more quality. But how comes it, he is to sojourn with you? How creeps acI!-quaintance? And kiss'd it, madam. Imo. Senseless linen! happier therein than And that was all? Pis. No, madam; for so long As he could make me with this eye or ear Distinguish him from others, he did keep The deck, with glove, or hat, or handkerchief, Still waving, as the fits and stirs of his mind Could best express how slow his soul sail'd on, Phi. His father and I were soldiers together; to whom I have been often bound for no less than my life: Enter POSTHUMUS. Here comes the Briton: Let him be so entertained amongst you, as suits, with gentlemen of your knowing, to a stranger of his quality.-I beseech you all, be better known to this gentleman; whom I com- Post. Sir, with all my heart. This worthy signior, mend to you, as a noble friend of mine: How wor-I thank him, makes no stranger of me; we are famithy he is, I will leave to appear hereafter, rather than story him in his own hearing. French. Sir, we have known together in Orleans. Post. Since when I have been debtor to you for courtesies, which I will be ever to pay, and yet pay still. French. Sir, you o'er-rate my poor kindness: I was glad I did atone my countryman and you; it had been pity, you should have been put together with so mortal a purpose, as then each bore, upon importance of so slight and trivial a nature. liar at first. Iach. With five times so much conversation, 1 should get ground of your fair mistress: make her go back, even to the yielding; had I admittance and opportunity to friend. Post. No, no. Iach. I dare, thereupon, pawn the moiety of my estate to your ring; which, in my opinion, o'er-values it something: but I make my wager rather against your confidence, than her reputation: and, to bar your offence herein too, I durst attempt it against any lady in the world. Post. By your pardon, sir, I was then a young traveller rather shurned to go even with what I heard, than in my every action to be guided by others' experiences: but, upon my mended judgment, (if I offend not to say it is mended,) my quarrel was not altoge-worthy of, by your attempt. ther slight. Post. You are a great deal abused in too bold a persuasion; and I doubt not you sustain what you're French. 'Faith, yes, to be put to the arbitrement of swords; and by such two, that would, by all likelihood, have confounded one the other, or have fallen both. Iach. Can we, with manners, ask what was the difference? French. Safely, I think: 'twas a contention in public, which may, without contradiction, suffer the report. It was much like an argument that fell out last night, where each of us fell in praise of our country mistresses: This gentleman at that time vouching, (and upon warrant of bloody affirmation,) his to be more fair, virtuous, wise, chaste, constant-qualified, and less attemptible, than any the rarest of our ladies in France. Iach. That lady is not now living; or this gentleman's opinion, by this, worn out. Post. She holds her virtue still, and I my mind. Iach. You must not so far prefer her 'fore ours of Italy. Post. Being so far provoked as I was in France, I would abate her nothing; though I profess myself her adorer, not her friend. Iach. As fair, and as good, (a kind of hand-inhand comparison,) had been something too fair, and too good, for any lady in Britany. If she went before others I have seen, as that diamond of yours outlustres many I have beheld, I could not but believe she excelled many but I have not seen the most precious diamond that is, nor you the lady. Post. I praised her as I rated her: so do I my stone. Post. You are mistaken: the one may be sold, or given; if there were wealth enough for the purchase, or merit for the gift: the other is not a thing for sale, and only the gift of the gods. Iach. What's that? Post. A repulse: Though your attempt, as you call it, deserve more; a punishment too. Phi. Gentlemen, enough of this: it came in too suddenly; let it die as it was born, and, I pray you, be better acquainted. Iach. 'Would I had put my estate, and my neighbour's, on the approbation of what I have spoke. Post. What lady would you choose to assail? Iach. Yours; whom in constancy, you think, stands so safe. I will lay you ten thousand ducats to your ring, that, commend me to the court where your lady is, with no more advantage than the opportunity of a second conference, and I will bring from thence that honour of hers, which you imagine so reserved. Post. I will wage against your gold, gold to it: my ring I hold dear as my finger; 'tis part of it. lach. You are a friend, and therein the wiser. If you buy ladies' flesh at a million a dram, you cannot preserve it from tainting: But, I see you have some religion in you, that you fear. Post. This is but a custom in your tongue; you bear a graver purpose, I hope. lach. I am the master of my speeches; and would undergo what's spoken, I swear. Post. Will you? I shall but lend my diamond till your return:-Let there be covenants drawn between us: My mistress exceeds in goodness the hugeness of your unworthy thinking: I dare you to this match: here's my ring. Phi. I will have it no lay. lach. By the gods it is one: - If I bring you no sufficient testimony that I have enjoyed the dearest bodily part of your mistress, my ten thousand ducats are yours; so is your diamond too. If I come off, and leave her in such honour as you have trust in, she your jewel, this your jewel, and my gold are yours: provided, I have your commendation, for my more free entertainment. Iach. Which the gods have given you? Post. I embrace these conditions; let us have arPost. Which, by their graces, I will keep. ticles betwixt us:-only, thus far you shall answer. Iach. You may wear her in title yours: but, you If you make your voyage upon her, and give me diknow, strange fowl light upon neighbouring ponds. rectly to understand you have prevail'd, I am no furYour ring may be stolen too: so, of your brace of ther your enemy, she is not worth our debate: if she unprizeable estimations, the one is but frail, and the remain unseduced, (you not making it appear otherother casual; a cunning thief, or a that-way-accom-wise,) for your ill opinion, and the assault you have plished courtier, would hazard the winning both of made to her chastity, you shall answer me with your first and last. sword. Post. Your Italy contains none so accomplished Iach. Your hand; a covenant: We will have these a courtier, to convince the honour of my mistress; things set down by lawful counsel, and straight away if, in the holding or loss of that, you term her frail. for Britain; lest the bargain should catch cold, and I do nothing doubt, you have store of thieves; not-starve: I will fetch my gold, and have our two withstanding I fear not my ring. Phi. Let us leave here, gentlemen. wagers recorded. Post. Agreed. [Exeunt POSTHUMUS and IACHIMO. |