CYMBELINE.

PRELIMINARY NOTICE.

"THE Tragedie of Cymbeline" is one of the seventeen plays, the earliest known edition of which is the folio of 1623. When produced, or when first acted, we have, as usual, no means of determining; but Malone is perhaps not far wrong in supposing it was written in 1609, as about that period there is good reason for believing Shakespeare wrote "The Tempest," and "The Winter's Tale:" and the marked similarity in the versification of those plays and that of Cymbeline, indicates that the three were composed at no distant date from each other.

The main incident of the plot-the wager on the chastity of the heroine-appears to have been taken from a story in Boccaccio (Day 2, Nov. 9), of which an abstract will be found in the "Illustrative Comments." This novel was a favourite evidently, for it has been translated and paraphrased many times. One modification of it occurs in the amusing collection of stories called, "Westward for Smelts, or The Water-mans fare of mad merry Western wenches," &c., which Steevens and Malone assert was printed in 1603. If they are correct, this réchauffé of Boccaccio's fable may have contributed to the composition of “Cymbeline," but no edition of it earlier than 1620, and of that only one copy, is now known to exist. The events in this story are laid in England during the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV., and the villain of it, instead of being conveyed to the lady's chamber in a chest (as described in the Italian and French versions), hides himself beneath her bed.

The historical facts and allusions in " 'Cymbeline" were seemingly derived from Holinshed; but the important and delightful episode that introduces us to Belarius and the stolen princes, we may conclude was Shakespeare's own invention; unless the germ of it were found in some older play upon which the present was founded.

Persons Represented.

CYMBELINE, King of Britain.

GUIDERIUS,

ARVIRAGUS,

}

Sons to Cymbeline, disguised under the names of POLYDORE and CADWAL, and supposed to be Sons to Morgan.

CLOTEN, Son to the Queen by a former Husband.

LEONATUS POSTHUMUS, Husband to Imogen.

BELARIUS, a banished Lord, disguised under the name of Morgan

Lords, Ladies, Roman Senators, Tribunes, Officers, Soldiers, Musicians, Messengers, Apparitions, and Attendants.

SCENE,-Sometimes in BRITAIN, sometimes in ITALY.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-Britain. The Garden of Cymbeline's Palace.

Enter Two Gentlemen.

1 GENT. You do not meet a man but frowns: our bloods No more obey the heavens, than our courtiers'—

Still seemers-do the king's."

2 GENT.

But what's the matter?

1 GENT. His daughter, and the heir of 's kingdom, whom

He purpos'd to his wife's sole son, (a widow

That late he married,) hath referr'd herself

Unto a poor but worthy gentleman: she's wedded;
Her husband banish'd; she imprison'd: all

Is outward sorrow; though, I think, the king

Be touch'd at very heart.

2 GENT.

None but the king?

1 GENT. He that hath lost her, too: so is the queen, That most desir'd the match: but not a courtier, Although they wear their faces to the bent

Of the king's looks, hath a heart that is not
Glad at the thing they scowl at.

2 GENT.

And why so?

our bloods

No more obey the heavens, than our courtiers'-
Still seemers-do the king's.]

The old text of "Cymbeline," in the number and inveteracy of its corruptions, is hardly surpassed by any other play in the collection. The very opening speech presents a typographical enigma which has been the subject of critical conjecture and experiment for above a century, and remains a puzzle still:

"You do not meet a man but Frownes.

Our bloods no more obey the Heavens
Then our Courtiers;

Still seeme, as do's the Kings."

Thus stands the passage in the folio. Amid a flood of hypothetical restorations, Tyrwhitt's proposal to omit the s in "King's" and to point the lines as follows,

is now generally followed, though no one perhaps ever believed or believes that this was what the poet wrote. It has been accepted only because the editors had nothing better to offer. The real blot lies, we apprehend, in the words "still seem as," which were probably misheard or misread by the compositor for "still-seemers," i.e. ever dissemblers: and the meaning appears to be,-Everyone you meet wears a frown; our complexions do not more sympathise with the changes of the sky, than the looks of our courtiers (those perpetual simulators) do with the aspect of the king. The expression "seemers' occurs again in the sense here attributed to it, in "Measure for Measure," Act I. Sc. 4:

"

1 GENT. He that hath miss'd the princess is a thing
Too bad for bad report; and he that hath her,
(I mean, that married her,-alack, good man!-
And therefore banish'd) is a creature such
As, to seek through the regions of the earth
For one his like, there would be something failing
In him that should compare :-I do not think
So fair an outward, and such stuff within,

Endows a man but he.

1 GENT. I do extend him, sir, within himself; Crush him together, rather than unfold

His measure duly.

2 GENT.

What's his name, and birth?

1 GENT. I cannot delve him to the root: his father
Was call'd Sicilius, who did join his honour,
Against the Romans, with Cassibelan;
But had his titles by Tenantius, whom
He serv'd with glory and admir'd success,—
So gain'd the sur-addition, Leonatus:

And had, besides this gentleman in question,

Two other sons, who, in the wars o' the time,

Died with their swords in hand; for which their father
(Then old and fond of issue) took such sorrow
That he quit being; and his gentle lady,
Big of this gentleman, our theme, deceas'd
As he was born. The king he takes the babe

To his protection; calls him Posthumus Leonatus;a
Breeds him, and makes him of his bed-chamber:
Puts to him all the learnings that his time
Could make him the receiver of; which he took,
As we do air, fast as 't was minister'd,
And in 's spring became a harvest: liv'd in court
(Which rare it is to do) most prais'd, most lov'd:
A sample to the youngest; to the more mature
A glass that feated them; and to the graver
A child that guided dotards: to his mistress-
For whom he now is banish'd-her own price
Proclaims how she esteem'd him and his virtue;
By her election may be truly read
What kind of man he is.

2 GENT.

I honour him
But, pray you, tell me,

Even out of your report.
Is she sole child to the king?

1 GENT.

His only child.

He had two sons,-if this be worth your hearing,

Posthumus Leonatus;] So the old copies. In many modern editions, "Leonatus" is omitted as redundant, but the old poets not unfrequently introduce proper names without regard to the measure; occasionally indeed, as if at the discretion of the player, the name was to be spoken or not.

A glass that feated them;] That fashioned, or moulded them.

Mark it, the eldest of them at three years old,

I' the swathing clothes the other, from their nursery
Were stol'n; and to this hour no guess in knowledge
Which way they went.

2 GENT.

How long is this ago?

1 GENT. Some twenty years.

2 GENT. That a king's children should be so convey'd!a So slackly guarded, and the search so slow,

That could not trace them!

1 GENT.

Howsoe'er 't is strange,

Or that the negligence may well be laugh'd at,

Yet it is true, sir.

2 GENT.

I do well believe you.

1 GENT. We must forbear: here comes the gentleman, The queen, and princess.

Enter the QUEEN, POSTHUMUS, and IMOGEN.b

QUEEN. NO, be assur'd, you shall not find me, daughter, After the slander of most step-mothers,

Evil-ey'd unto you: you're my prisoner, but

Your gaoler shall deliver you the keys

That lock up your restraint.-For you, Posthumus,
So soon as I can win the offended king,

I will be known your advocate: marry, yet,
The fire of rage is in him; and 't were good,

You lean'd unto his sentence with what patience
Your wisdom may inform you.

POST.

I will from hence to-day.

QUEEN.

Please your highness,

I'll fetch a turn about the garden, pitying

[Exeunt.

You know the peril :—

[Exit QUEEN.

The pangs of barr'd affections, though the king
Hath charg'd you should not speak together.
IMO. O 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;
And I shall here abide the hourly shot
Of angry eyes; not comforted to live,

But that there is this jewel in the world,
That I may see again.

POST.

My queen! my mistress!

O, lady, weep no more, lest I give cause

To be suspected of more tenderness

Than doth become a man! I will remain

The loyal'st husband that did e'er plight troth:

So convey'd!] So stolen.

b And Imogen.] In the old and in most of the modern editions, this is marked as a

new scene, but erroneously.

VOL. IV.

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