To have the courtefy your cradle promis'd;
But to be still hot fummer's tanlings, and
The fhrinking flaves of winter.

Guid. Than be so,

Better to cease to be.

I and

my

Pray, Sir, to th' army;

brother are not known; yourself

So out of thought, and thereto fo o'er-grown,
Cannot be queftion'd.

Arv. By this Sun that shines,

I'll thither; what thing is it, that I never
Did fee man die, fcarce ever look'd on blood,
But that of coward hares, hot goats, and venifon?
Never beftrid a horfe fave one, that had

A rider like myself who ne'er wore rowel,
Nor iron on his heel? I am asham'd
To look upon the holy Sun, to have
The benefit of his beft beams, remaining
So long a poor unknown.

If

Guid. By heav'ns, I'll go;

you will bless me, Sir, and give me leave,
I'll take the better care; but if you will not,
The hazard therefore due fall on me, by
The hands of Romans!

Arv. So fay I, Amen.

Bel. No reafon I (fince of your lives you fet So flight a valuation) fhould referve

My crack'd one to more care.

Have with you, boys;

If in your country wars you chance to die,

That is my bed too, lads; and there I'll lie.

Lead, lead; the time seems long: their blood thinks fcorn 'Till it fly out, and fhew them Princes born.

[Exeunt.

ACT

A CT V.

SCENE, a Field between the British and Roman Camps.

Enter Pofthumus, with a bloody handkerchief.

POSTHUMUS.

EA, bloody cloth, I'll keep thee; for I wisht,

YE

Thou shouldst be colour'd thus. You married Ones, If each of you would take this course, how many Muft murder wives much better than themselves For wrying but a little? oh, Pifanio!

Every good fervant does not all Commands;

No bond, but to do just ones.—————

Gods! if you

Should have ta'en vengeance on my faults, I ne'er
Had liv'd to put on this; so had you fav'd
The noble Imogen to repent, and ftruck

Me, wretch, more worth your vengeance. But alack,
You snatch some hence for faults; that's love;

To have them fall no more :-you some permit (25)

To fecond Ills with Ills, each worse than other,

To

And make them dread it, to the Doers' thrift.] The Divinity-Schools have not furnish'd juster Obfervations on the Conduct of Providence, than Pofthumus gives us here in his private Reflections. You Gods, fays he, act in a different manner with your different Creatures;

You fnatch fome bence for little Faults; that's Love;

To have them fall no more.

Others, fays our Poet, you permit to live on, to multiply and increase in Crimes,

And make them dread it, to the Doers' Thrift.

Here's a Relative without an antecedent Subftantive; which is a Breach of Grammar. We must certainly read,

And

To fecond ills with ills, each worse than other,
And make them dreaded, to the doers' thrift.
But Imogen's your own: do your
best wills,

And make me bleft t'obey! I am brought hither
Among th' Italian Gentry, and to fight

Against my lady's Kingdom; 'tis enough,
That, Britaine, I have kill'd thy mistress: Peace!
I'll give no wound to thee. Therefore, good heav'ns,
Hear patiently my purpose. I'll difrobe me
Of thefe Italian weeds, and fuit myself
As does a Briton peafant; fo I'll fight
Against the part I come with; fo I'll die
For thee, O Imogen, for whom my life
Is, every breath, a death; and thus unknown,
Pitied, nor hated, to the face of peril
Myself I'll dedicate. Let me make men know
More valour in me, than my Habits fhew;
Gods, put the ftrength o'th' Leonati in me!
To fhame the guife o'th' world, I will begin
The fashion, lefs without, and more within.

[Exit.

Enter Lucius, Iachimo, and the Roman army at one door;
and the British army at another: Leonatus Pofthumus
following like a poor foldier. They march over, and
go out. Then enter again in fkirmish Iachimo, and Poft-
humus; be vanquisheth and difarmeth Iachimo, and then
leaves him.

Iach. The heavinefs, and guilt, within my bosom,
Takes off my manhood; I've bely'd a lady,
The Princess of this country; and the air on't
Revengingly enfeebles me: or could this carle,
A very drudge of nature, havè fubdu'd me
In my profeffion? Knighthoods, and Honours borne,
As I wear mine, are titles but of fcorn;

And make them dreaded, to the Doers' Thrift.

i. e. others you permit to aggravate one Crime with more; which Enormities not only make them revered and dreaded, but turn in other kinds to their Advantage. Dignity, Respect, and Profit, accrue to them from Crimes committed with Impunity.

If

!

If that thy gentry, Britaine, go before

This lowt, as he exceeds our Lords, the odds

Is, that we scarce are men, and you are Gods. [Exit.

The battle continues; the Britons fy, Cymbeline is taken; then enter to his refcue, Belarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus.

Bel. Stand, ftand; we have th' advantage of the ground;

That lane is guarded: nothing routs us, but

The villany of our fears.

Guid. Arv. Stand, ftand, and fight.

Enter Pofthumus, and feconds the Britons. They rescue Cymbeline, and exeunt.

Then enter Lucius, Iachimo, and Imogen.

Luc. Away, boy, from the troops, and fave thyself; For friends kill friends, and the diforder's such As war were hood-wink'd.

Iach. "Tis their fresh fupplies.

Luc. It is a day turn'd ftrangely. Or betimes Let's re-inforce, or fly.

[Exeunt.

SCENE, another Part of the Field of Battle.

Enter Pofthumus, and a British Lord.

Lord. Post. I did.
C

Am'st thou from where they made the Stand?

Though you, it feems, came from the fliers.

Lord. I did.

Poft. No blame be to you, Sir, for all was loft,
But that the heavens fought: the King himself
Of his wings deftitute, the army broken,
And but the backs of Britaine feen; all flying
Through a straight lane, the enemy full-hearted,
Lolling the tongue with flaught'ring, having work
More plentiful, than tools to do't, ftruck down
Some mortally, fome flightly touch'd, fome falling

Meerly

Meerly through fear, that the ftraight Pass was damm'd
With dead men, hurt behind, and cowards living
To die with lengthen'd shame.

Lord. Where was this lane?

Poft. Close by the battle, ditch'd, and wall'd with turf, Which gave advantage to an ancient soldier,

(An honest one, I warrant,) who deferv'd
So long a breeding as his white beard came to,
In doing this for's Country. 'Thwart the lane,
He, with two ftriplings, (lads, more like to run
The country Bafe, than to commit fuch flaughter;
With faces fit for masks, or rather fairer
Than thofe for prefervation cas'd, or fhame,)
Made good the paffage, cry'd to those that fled,
"Our Britaine's Harts die flying, not our men ;
"To darkness fleet fouls, that fly backwards! stand;
"Or we are Romans, and will give you that

"Like beafts, which you fhun beaftly, and may fave "But to look back in frown: ftand, stand.”- -Thefe

three,

Three thousand confident, in act as many;

(For three performers are the file, when all

The reft do nothing;) with this word, "Stand, ftand,”
Accommodated by the place, (more charming

With their own Noblenefs, which could have turn'd
A diftaff to a lance) gilded pale looks;

Part, fhame, part, fpirit-renew'd; that fome, turn'd coward

But by example, (oh, a fin in war,

Damn'd in the first beginners!) 'gan to look
The way that they did, and to grin like lions
Upon the pikes o'th' hunters. Then began
A ftop i'th' chafer, a retire; anon,

A rout, confufion thick. Forthwith they fly
Chickens, the way which they stoop'd eagles: flaves,
The strides they victors made: and now our cowards,
Like fragments in hard voyages, became

The life o'th' need; having found the back door open Of the unguarded hearts, heav'ns, how they wound Some flain before, fome dying; fome, their friends VOL. VII.

N

O'er