Of these thy compounds on such creatures as

We count not worth the hanging, (but none human)

To try the vigour of them, and apply

Allayments to their act; and by them gather

Their several virtues, and effects.

[Aside.] Here comes a flattering rascal! upon him
Will I first work: he's for his master,

And enemy to my son.-How now, Pisanio!—
Doctor, your service for this time is ended:

[Talking apart to PISANIO.

Cor. [Aside.] I do not like her. She doth think, she has

Strange lingering poisons: I do know her spirit,

And will not trust one of her malice with

A drug of such damn'd nature. Those she has

Will stupify and dull the sense awhile;

Which first, perchance, she'll prove on cats, and dogs,
Then afterward up higher; but there is
No danger in what show of death it makes,
More than the locking up the spirits a time,
To be more fresh, reviving. She is fool'd'
With a most false effect; and I the truer,
So to be false with her.

Queen. Weeps she still, say'st thou? Dost thou think, in

time

She will not quench, and let instructions enter

Where folly now possesses? Do thou work:

therefore to make experiments. In “Antony and Cleopatra" (this Vol. p. 252), the heroine, we are told, had "pursued conclusions" of "easy ways to die."

When thou shalt bring me word she loves my son,
I'll tell thee, on the instant thou art, then,
As great as is thy master: greater; for
His fortunes all lie speechless, and his name
Is at last gasp: return he cannot, nor
Continue where he is: to shift his being,
Is to exchange one misery with another,
And every day that comes comes to decay
A day's work in him. What shalt thou expect,
To be depender on a thing that leans?
Who cannot be new-built; nor has no friends,

[The Queen drops a box: PISANIO takes it up.
So much as but to prop him.-Thou takʼst up
Thou know'st not what; but take it for thy labour.
It is a thing I made, which hath the king

Five times redeem'd from death: I do not know
What is more cordial :-nay, I pr'ythee, take it;
It is an earnest of a farther good

That I mean to thee. Tell thy mistress how
The case stands with her: do't as from thyself.
Think what a chance thou chancest on'; but think
Thou hast thy mistress still; to boot, my son,
Who shall take notice of thee. I'll move the king

To any shape of thy preferment, such

As thou❜lt desire; and then myself, I chiefly,

That set thee on to this desert, am bound

To load thy merit richly. Call my women:

Think on my words. [Exit PISA.]-A sly and constant

knave,

Not to be shak'd; the agent for his master,

And the remembrancer of her, to hold

The handfast to her lord.-I have given him that,
Which, if he take, shall quite unpeople her

Of liegers for her sweet; and which she after,
Except she bend her humour, shall be assur'd

7 Think what a chance thou CHANCEST on ;] "Chancest" is changest in the folios, but amended, not unnaturally, to "chancest" in the corr. fo. 1632. We are convinced that changest was merely a misprint for "chancest;" and such was Malone's opinion, though he printed changest.

8 Of LIEGERS for her SWEET;] Liegers" are ambassadors, or others resident in foreign courts to transmit information to their own: such was Pisanio, in reference to his master Posthumus, whom the Queen designates as the "sweet" of Imogen. "Sweet” is suite in the corr. fo. 1632, but the old text may be received without any change. Sidney and Bacon use suite.

To taste of too.

Re-enter PISANIO, and Ladies.

So, so ;-well done, well done.

The violets, cowslips, and the primroses,
Bear to my closet.-Fare thee well, Pisanio;

Think on my words.

Pis.

[Exeunt Queen and Ladies.

But when to my good lord I prove untrue,

And shall do;

I'll choke myself: there's all I'll do for you.

[Exit.

SCENE VII.

Another Room in the Same.

Enter IMOGEN.

Imo. A father cruel, and a step-dame false;

A foolish suitor to a wedded lady,

That hath her husband banish'd:-Oh, that husband!
My supreme crown of grief; and those repeated
Vexations of it. Had I been thief-stolen,

As my two brothers, happy! but most miserable
Is the desire that's glorious: blessed be those,
How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills,
Which seasons comfort.-Who may this be? Fie!

Enter PISANIO and IACHIMO.

Pis. Madam, a noble gentleman of Rome

Comes from my lord with letters.

Iach.

The worthy Leonatus is in safety,
And greets your highness dearly.

Imo.

You are kindly welcome.

Change you, madam ?

[Presents a letter.

Thanks, good sir:

[Aside.

Iach. All of her, that is out of door, most rich!

If she be furnish'd with a mind so rare,

She is alone the Arabian bird, and I

friend!

Have lost the wager. Boldness be my
Arm me, audacity, from head to foot,
Or, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight;
Rather, directly fly.

Imo. [Reads.] "He is one of the noblest note, to whose kindnesses I am most infinitely tied. Reflect upon him accordingly, as you value your truest-LEONATUS"."

So far I read aloud;

But even the very middle of my heart

Is warm'd by the rest, and takes it thankfully.—
You are as welcome, worthy sir, as I

Have words to bid you; and shall find it so,

In all that I can do.

Iach.

Thanks, fairest lady.—

What! are men mad? Hath nature given them eyes
To see this vaulted arch, and the rich cope

O'er sea and land', which can distinguish 'twixt
The fiery orbs above, and the twinn'd stones.
Upon th' unnumber'd beach'; and can we not
Partition make, with spectacles so precious,
'Twixt fair and foul?

Imo.

What makes your admiration?
Iach. It cannot be i' the eye; for apes and monkeys,
'Twixt two such shes, would chatter this way, and
Contemn with mows the other: nor i' the judgment;
For idiots, in this case of favour, would
Be wisely definite: nor i' the appetite;
Sluttery, to such neat excellence oppos'd,
Should make desire vomit to emptiness,

9

as you value your TRUEST-LEONATUS."] It is "as you value your trust-Leonatus" in every old edition; but M. Mason suggested that trust ought to be "truest," and in the corr. fo. 1632 an e is inserted, so as to convert trust into "truest:" consequently, we adopt "truest " as the authentic word. 1 To see this vaulted arch, and the rich COPE

O'ER sea and land,] Warburton proposed “cope" for crop of the early impressions; and the same very appropriate word, following as it does "this vaulted arch," is met with in the corr. fo. 1632: the same authority also tells us to read "O'er" for Of, which, though perhaps less necessary, is still recommended by extreme fitness, for "the rich cope' covered, or extended over both sea and land. It would not be improper to talk of "the rich crop" of the land; but "the rich crop " of the sea is certainly a greater novelty, upon which those who have criticised the passage, and who wished to preserve crop, have not remarked.

2 Upon TH' UNNUMBER'D beach;] This was Theobald's emendation for “the number'd beach" of the folios, and ten years ago we expressed our preference for it over any other change. We meet with it also in the corr. fo. 1632, where the number'd is altered to "th' unnumber'd," and we are satisfied that it must be what Shakespeare wrote.

3 Should make desire vomit to emptiness.] The preposition is from the corr. fo. 1632, and as it completes the sense as well as the verse, we give it place in the text. Such as persevere in the old reading must tell us in what way desire could "vomit emptiness:" it might vomit to emptiness, i. e. until it was empty.

Not so allur'd to feed.

Imo. What is the matter, trow?

Iach.

(That satiate yet unsatisfied desire,

The cloyed will,

That tub both fill'd and running) ravening first
The lamb, longs after for the garbage.

Imo.

What, dear sir,

Iach. Thanks, madam, well.-Beseech you, sir, desire

Thus raps you? Are you well?

[TO PISANIO.

So

Imo. Continues well my lord? His health, beseech you?

Iach. Well, madam.

Imo. Is he dispos'd to mirth? I hope, he is.

Iach. Exceeding pleasant; none, a stranger there, merry and so gamesome: he is call'd

The Briton reveller.

Imo.

He did incline to sadness; and oft-times

Not knowing why.

Iach.

When he was here,

I never saw him sad.

There is a Frenchman his companion, one,

An eminent monsieur, that, it seems, much loves

A Gallian girl at home; he furnaces

The thick sighs from him, whiles the jolly Briton

(Your lord, I mean) laughs from's free lungs, cries, "Oh!
Can my sides hold, to think, that man,-who knows
By history, report, or his own proof,

What woman is, yea, what she cannot choose
But must be,--will his free hours languish for
Assured bondage ?"

Imo.

Will my lord say so?

Iach. Ay, madam, with his eyes in flood with laughter: It is a recreation to be by,

And hear him mock the Frenchman; but, heavens know,
Some men are much to blame.

4 But must be,-will his free hours languish FOR] It seems right thus to regulate the passage: lines in Shakespeare's plays, of about the period when Cymbeline was written, are often terminated by small words. See "Remarks on Shakespeare's Versification," &c. by C. B. Lond. 1857, p. 135.