Will kneel to him with thanks.

Pro. Be of good cheer:

You're fal'n into a princely hand, fear nothing;
Make your full ref'rence freely to my lord,
Who is fo full of grace, that it flows over
On all that need. Let me report to him
Your sweet dependency, and you fhall find
A Conqu❜ror that will pray in aid for kindness,
Where he for grace is kneel'd to.

Cleo. Pray you, tell him,

I am his fortune's vassal, and I fend him
The Greatness he has got. I hourly learn
A doctrine of obedience, and would gladly
Look him i'th' face.

Pro. This I'll report, dear lady.

Have comfort, for, I know, your plight is pity'd
Of him that caus'd it.

[Here Gallus, and Guard, afcend the Monument by
a Ladder, and enter at a back-Window.

Gall. You fee, how eafily fhe may be furpriz'd. (34) Pro. Guard her, 'till Cæfar come.

Iras. O Royal Queen!

Char. Oh Cleopatra! thou art taken, Queen.

Cleo. Quick, quick, good hands.

[Drawing a Dagger. [The Monument is open'd; Proculeius rushes in, and difarms the Queen.

(34) Char. You see, how easily she may be furpriz'd,] Here Charmian, who is so faithful as to die with her Mistress, by the ftupidity of the Editors is made to countenance and give Directions for her being furpriz'd by Cafar's Meffengers. But this Blunder is for want of knowing, or obferving, the hiftorical Fact. When Cafar fent Proculeius to the Queen, he fent Gallus after him with new Inftructions: and while one amused Cleopatra with Propofitions from Cafar, thro' Crannies of the Monument; the other scaled it by a Ladder, entred at a Window backward, and made Cleopatra, and those with her, Prifoners. I have reform'd the Paffage therefore, (as, I am perfwaded, the Author design'd it ;) from the Authority of Plutarch,

Pro.

Pro. Hold, worthy lady, hold:

Do not your felf fuch wrong, who are in this
Reliev'd, but not betray'd.'

Cleo. What, of death too, that rids our dogs of lan guish ? ·

Pro. Do not abuse my mafter's bounty, by Th' undoing of your felf: let the world fee His Nobleness well acted, which your death Will never let come forth.

Cleo. Where art thou, Death?

Come hither, come: oh come, and take a Queen
Worth many babes and beggars..

Pro. Oh, temperance, lady!

Cleo. Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, Sir:
If idle talk will once be neceffary,

I'll not fleep neither. This mortal house I'll ruin,.
Do Cæfar what he can. Know, Sir, that I
Will not wait pinion'd at your mafter's Court,
Nor once be chaftis'd with the fober eye
Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoift me up,
And fhew me to the fhouting varlotry
Of cens'ring Rome? rather a ditch in Ægypt
Be gentle Grave unto me! rather on Nilus' mud
Lay me ftark nak'd, and let the water-flies
Blow me into abhorring! rather make
My Country's high Pyramides my gibbet,
And hang me up in chains!

Pro. You do extend

Thefe thoughts of horror further than you shall
Find caufe in Cafar.

Dol. Proculeius,

Enter Dolabella,

What thou haft done thy mafter Cafar knows,.
And he hath fent for thee: as for the Queen,
I'll take her to my guard.

Pro. So, Dolabella,

It fhall content me beft; be gentle to her;
To Cafar I will fpeak what you shall please,
If you'll employ me to him.

Clea

Cleo. Say, I would die.

[Exit Proculeius.

Dol. Moft noble Emprefs, you have heard of me.
Cleo. I cannot tell.

Dol. Affuredly, you know me.

Cleo. No matter, Sir, what I have heard or known: You laugh, when boys or women tell their dreams; Is't not your trick?

Dol. I understand not, Madam.

Cleo. I dreamt, there was an Emp'ror Antony; Oh fuch another fleep, that I might fee

But fuch another man!

Dol. If it might please ye

Cleo. His face was as the heav'ns; and therein ftuck A Sun and Moon,

lighted (35)

The little O o'th' Earth.

which kept their courfe, and

Dol. Moft fovereign creature!

Cleo. His legs beftrid the ocean, his rear'd arm
Crefted the world: his voice was propertied
As all the tuned Spheres, when that to friends:
But when he meant to quail, and shake the Orb,
He was as ratling thunder. For his bounty, (36)

There

(35) A Sun and Moon which kept their Course, and lighted The little o'th' Earth.

Dol.

Moft fov'reign Creature! What a blessed limping Verse these two Hemiftichs give us! Had none of the Editors an Ear to find the Hitch in its Pace? 'Tis true, there is but a Syllable wanting, and that, I believe verily, was but of a fingle Letter; which the fifft Editors not understanding, learnedly threw it out as a Redundance. I restore,

The little O o'th' Earth.

i. e. the little Orb or Circle. And, 'tis plain, our Poet in other Paffages chufes to express himself thus.

(36)

For his Bounty,

There was no Winter in't: an Antony it was,

That grew the more by reaping.

There was certainly a Contraft, both in the Thought and Terms, defign'd here, which is loft in an accidental Corrup tion. How could an Antony grow the more by reaping? I'll

There was no winter in't: An Autumn 'twas,
That grew the more by reaping. His delights
Were dolphin-like, they fhew'd his back above
The element they liv'd in; in his livery

Walk'd Crowns and Coronets, realms and islands were
As plates dropt from his pocket.

Dol. Cleopatra

Cleo. Think you, there was, or might be, fuch a man As this I dreamt of?

Dol. Gentle Madam, no.

Cleo. You lie, up to the hearing of the Gods;
But if there be, or ever were one such,

It's paft the fize of dreaming: Nature wants ftuff (37)
To vye ftrange forms with Fancy, yet t'imagine
An Antony, were Nature's Prize 'gainst Fancy,
Condemning fhadows quite.

Dol. Hear me, good Madam:

Your lofs is as your felf, great; and you bear it,
As anfw'ring to the weight: 'would, I might never
O'er-take purfu'd fuccefs, but I do feel,

By the rebound of yours, a grief that shoots
My very heart at root.

Cleo. I thank you, Sir.

Know you, what Cæfar means to do with me?

venture, by a very easy Change, to restore an exquisite fine Allufion: and which carries its Reason with it too, why there was no Winter (i. c. no Want, Bareness,) in his Bounty.

-For his Bounty,

There was no Winter in't: an Autumn 'twas,

That grew the more by reaping.

1

I ought to take Notice, that the ingenious Dr. Thirlby likewife ftarted this very Emendation, and had mark’d it in the Margin of his Book. The Reason of the Depravation might easily arife from the great Similitude of the two Words in the old way of fpelling, Antonie and Automne.

(37)

-Tet t'imagine

An Antony were Nature's piece, 'gainst Fancy,
Condemning Shadows quite.]

The pointing of this obfcure Paffage was rectified, and the changing of Piece into Prize made, by Mr. Warburton.

Dol.

Dol. I'm loth to tell you, what I would you knew.
Cleo. Nay, pray you, Sir.

Dol. Though he be honourable-
Cleo. He'll lead me in triumph?
Dol. Madam, he will, I know't.
All. Make way there,

-Cafar.

Enter Cæfar, Gallus, Mecenas, Proculeius, and
Attendants.

Caf. Which is the Queen of Egypt?

Dol. It is the Emperor, Madam.
Caf. Arife, you shall not kneel:

I pray you, rife, rife, Egypt.
Cleo. Sir, the Gods

Will have it thus; my master and my lord
I must obey.

[Cleo. kneels,

Caf. Take to you no hard thoughts:
The record of what injuries you did us,
Though written in our flesh, we fhall remember
As things but done by chance.

Cleo. Sole Sir o'th' world,

I cannot project mine own cause fo well
To make it clear, but do confefs, I have
Been laden with like frailties, which before
Have often sham'd our Sex.

Caf. Cleopatra, know,

We will extenuate rather than inforce:
If you apply your felf to our intents,

(Which tow'rds you are most gentle) you fhall find
A benefit in this Change; but if you seek

To lay on me a cruelty, by taking

Antony's courfe, you fhall bereave your felf
Of my good purpofes, and put your children
To that deftruction which I'll guard them from,
If thereon you relie. I'll take my leave..

Cleo. And may, through all the world: 'tis yours;

and we,

Your fcutcheons, and your figns of Conqueft, fhall
Hang in what place you pleafe. Here, my good lord.
Cef. You fhall advise me in all for Cleopatra.
Cleo. This is the brief of mony, plate, and jewels