noble as I am; they dare not fight with me, slave hath his bellyful of fighting, and I Sec. Lord. [Aside] You are cock and capon Clo. Sayest thou? Sec. Lord. It is not fit your lordship should 30 undertake every companion that you give offense to. Clo. No, I know that: but it is fit I should com- Sec. Lord. Aye, it is fit for your lordship only. First Lord. Did you hear of a stranger that's Clo. A stranger, and I not know on 't! Sec. Lord. [Aside] He's a strange fellow 40 himself, and knows it not. First Lord. There's an Italian come, and 'tis thought, one of Leonatus' friends. Clo. Leonatus! a banished rascal; and he's an- First Lord. One of your lordship's pages. Sec. Lord. You cannot derogate, my lord. Sec. Lord. [Aside] You are a fool granted; 50 therefore your issues, being foolish, do not Clo. Come, I'll go see this Italian: what I have lost to-day at bowls I 'll win to-night of him. Come, go. Sec. Lord. I'll attend your lordship. 59 [Exeunt Cloten and First Lord. Of the divorce he 'ld make! The heavens hold firm 69. "horrid act of the divorce"; the original is here allowed on all hands to be corrupt; being literally thus: "A Mother hourely coyning plots: a Wooer, Of thy deere Husband. Then that horrid Act Of the divorce, heel'd make the Heavens hold firme Modern editions, with the exception of Knight's, make the clause, "Then, that horrid act," &c., a continuation of the foregoing sentence, thus: "More hateful than the foul expulsion is of thy dear husband, than that horrid act," &c. Knight connects the same clause with what follows, changing then into from, thus: "From that horrid Act of the divorce he'd make, the heavens hold firm," &c. We see no cause for any variation from the old copy, except in the pointing and in the changing of heel'd into he'd. Of course, as we print the passage, the clause, "Then that horrid act," &c., is thrown in as a sort of indignant or abhorrent ex The walls of thy dear honor; keep unshaked 70 That temple, thy fair mind; that thou mayst stand, To enjoy thy banish'd lord and this great land! [Exit. SCENE II Imogen's bedchamber in Cymbeline's palace: a trunk in one corner of it. Imogen in bed, reading; a Lady attending. Imo. Who's there? my woman Helen? Lady. Imo. What hour is it? Lady. Please you, madam. Almost midnight, madam. Imo. I have read three hours then: mine eyes are weak; Fold down the leaf where I have left: to bed: [Exit Lady. To your protection I commend me, gods! 10 [Sleeps. Iachimo comes from the trunk. clamation; and the following sentence has a tacit reference to "that horrid act." Both the usual reading and Knight's have an awkwardness about them which we can hardly believe belongs to the text. Our arrangement, besides varying less from the original presents, we think, a reading perfectly free and natural.-H. N. H. Iach. The crickets sing, and man's o'er-labor'd sense Repairs itself by rest. Our Tarquin thus How bravely thou becomest thy bed! fresh lily! touch But kiss; one kiss! Rubies unparagon'd, How dearly they do 't! 'Tis her breathing that taper Bows toward her, and would under-peep her lids To see the unclosed lights, now canopied 20 Under those windows, white and azure, laced To note the chamber: I will write all down: Ah, but some natural notes about her body 13. "press the rushes"; it was anciently the custom to strew chambers with rushes.-H. N. H. 18. "How dearly they do 't"; how exquisitely they (her lips) kiss. -C. H. H. 22. "white and azure"; this is an exact description of the eyelid of a fair beauty, which is white tinged with blue, and laced with veins of darker blue. By azure our ancestors understood not a dark blue, but a tinct or effusion of a blue color. Drayton seems to have had this passage in his mind: "And these sweet veins by nature rightly plac'd Wherewith she seems the white skin to have lac'd."-H. N. H. |