CYMBELINE.

introductory Remarke

Or all the loved and loving female characters of Shakspeare-although some may display a lustre more intense- there is not one that cheers the eye with a more mild and modest radiance than the spotless jewel, Imogen. Harsh and difficult as sometimes is the diction of the play, the sweetness of her nature o'erinforms it with delightful associations; we think of her as of the pine-apple in its prickly enclosure; or as of the delicious milk in the husky shell of the cocoabut. In the clear heaven of that unclouded mind, the wearied spirit obtains glimpses of human truth and unsuspecting gentleness that well, indeed, "may make us less forlorn." No impure thought can dwell in the atmosphere that is perfumed by her breath; her bed-chamber becomes the very temple of Diana; and we not only feel the poetic beauty, but could almost believe the literal truth of Iachimo's splendid hyperbole :

"The flame o' the taper

Bows toward her; and would underpeep her lids,
To see the unclosed lights, now canopied

Under these windows, white and azure, laced

With blue of heaven's own tinct."

Posthumus displays one of those respectable, but imperfect natures, whose innocence (in more senses than one) disposes them to be "as tenderly led by the nose as asses are." In yielding to the suggestions of Iachimo, to the disparagement of such a being, and one so well known to him, as Imogen, he appears, for the moment, little less guilty, and a great deal more provoking, than the villain himself. His bitter repentance, however, and general demeanor in the last Act, induce us to forgive him, were it but in humble imitation of his charming Wife: and the same feeling, founded on similar penitence and remorse, may almost be extended to the acute, unprincipled Iaceimo, when we consider that the credulity of the one, combined with the scoundrelism of the other, has been the unconscious cause of so much delightful incident and poetry. The minor characters-Cymbeline and his Queen, the Brothers of Imogen, Belarius, Cloten, Lucius, and the rest - are all instinct with the life-giving power of Shakspeare, although he has not put out his greatest strength in their delineation.

In order properly to enjoy this exquisite, though irregular drama, we must cast aside the "considering cap" of scientific criticism, and follow the Poet guilelessly, wherever he may choose to wander at his own sweet will." The dim and remote era in which the action is supposed to pass, will dispose the really "gentle reader" to dispense with much of that probability, which he naturally looks for in productions of more definite pretensions. He must consider the play as a dramatic romance; and when he has mastered its occasional difficulties of versification, he will read it again, and again, and again—as all poetry should be read to be properly appreciated - and find it a "perpetual source of nectared sweets, where no crude surfeit reigns." The mountain scenes between the Brothers and their supposed Father; the instinctive affection which immediately displays itself between Imogen and the noble boys; all the delicate and pathetic circumstances attending her supposed death; these, and a hundred other beauties in the language, breathe the very air of Nature in her loveliest aspect. They exhibit all the outof-door sweetness and simplicity of Isaak Walton, mingled with a poetry and passion of a for higher and more recondite description.

"CYMBELINE" was first published in the original folio. Its domestic incidents appear to have been mainly derived from "BOCCACCIO'S DECAMERON" (ninth story, second day), though probably filtered through various channels before they reached the dramatist. The historic portion is founded on "HOLINSHED'S CHRONICLE;" according to whicr, Cymbeline, or Kymbeline, became king of the Britons in the nineteenth year of the reign of Augustus.

Cymbeline.

SCENE I.-Britain.

ACT I.

The garden behind CYM- | In him that should compare. I do not think
So fair an outward, and such stuff within,
Endows a man but he.

BELINE'S Palace.

Enter two Gentlemen.

1st Gent. You do not meet a man but frowns:
our bloods

No more obey the heavens than our courtiers
Still seem as does the king.

2nd Gent.

But what's the matter?

1st Gent. His daughter, and the heir of 's king-
dom, whom

He purposed to his wife's sole son (a widow
That late he married), hath referred herself
Unto a poor but worthy gentleman: she's wedded;
Her husband banished; she imprisoned: all
Is outward sorrow; though I think the king
Be touched at very heart.

2nd Gent.

None but the king?

1st Gent. He that hath lost her, too: so is the
queen,

That most desired 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.

2nd Gent

And why so?

You speak him far.

2nd Gent. 1st Gent. I do extend him, sir, within himself; Crush him together, rather than unfold His measure duly.

2nd Gent. What's his name and birth?

1st Gent. I cannot delve him to the root: his
father

Was called Sicilius, who did join his honor
Against the Romans, with Cassibelan;
But had his titles by Tenantius, whom
He served with glory and admired success;
So gained 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, deceased
As he was born. The king he takes the babe
To his protection; calls him Posthumus Leonatus;
Breeds him, and makes him of his bed-chamber;

1st Gent. He that hath missed the princess is a Puts him to all the learnings that his time

thing

Too bad for bad report: and he that hath her
(I mean, that married her alack, good man!
And therefore banished) is a creature such
As, to seek through the regions of the earth
For one his like, there would be something failing

Could make him the receiver of, which he took,
As we do air, fast as 't was ministered,
And in his spring became a harvest : lived in court
(Which rare it is to do) most praised, most loved :
A sample to the youngest; to the more mature,
A glass that feated them; and to the graver,