Can make good use of either: she being down,
I have the placing of the British crown.

How now, my son!

Clo.

Re-enter CLOTEN.

'Tis certain, she is fled.

Go in, and cheer the king: he rages; none

Dare come about him.

Queen.

All the better: may

This night forestal him of the coming day!

[Exit Queen.

Clo. I love, and hate her, for she's fair and royal;
And that she hath all courtly parts, more exquisite
Than lady, ladies, woman: from every one
The best she hath, and she, of all compounded,
Outsells them all. I love her therefore; but,
Disdaining me, and throwing favours on
The low Posthumus, slanders so her judgment,
That what's else rare is chok'd; and in that point
I will conclude to hate her; nay, indeed,

To be reveng'd upon her: for, when fools shall—

Enter PISANIO.

Who is here?-What! are you packing, sirrah?
Come hither. Ah, you precious pandar! Villain,
Where is thy lady? In a word, or else

Thou art straightway with the fiends.

Pis.

Oh, good my lord!

Clo. Where is thy lady? or, by Jupiter—

I will not ask again. Close villain,

I'll have this secret from thy heart, or rip
Thy heart to find it. Is she with Posthumus?
From whose so many weights of baseness cannot
A dram of worth be drawn.

Alas, my lord!

Pis.
How can she be with him? When was she miss'd?
He is in Rome.

Clo.

Where is she, sir? Come nearer;

The best she hath, and she, of all compounded,

OUTSELLS them all.] Possibly we might read "excels them all." There is

a well-remembered corresponding passage in

64

The Tempest," A. iii. sc. 1: "But you, oh! you

So perfect and so peerless, are created

Of every creature's best."

No farther halting: satisfy me home
What is become of her?

Pis. Oh, my all-worthy lord!

Clo.

All-worthy villain!

Discover where thy mistress is, at once,
At the next word;-no more of worthy lord.
Speak, or thy silence on the instant is
Thy condemnation and thy death.

Pis.

This paper is the history of my knowledge
Touching her flight.

Then, sir,

[Presenting a letter.

Let's see't. I will pursue her

Even to Augustus' throne.
Pis. [Aside.]

[He reads it.

Or this, or perish3.

Clo.

She's far enough; and what he learns by this,

May prove his travel, not her danger.

Clo.

Humph!

Pis. [Aside.] I'll write to my lord she's dead.-Oh Imogen, Safe mayst thou wander, safe return again!

Clo. Sirrah, is this letter true?

Pis. Sir, as I think.

Clo. It is Posthumus' hand; I know't.-Sirrah, if thou wouldst not be a villain, but do me true service, undergo those employments, wherein I should have cause to use thee, with a serious industry,—that is, what villainy soe'er I bid thee do, to perform it directly and truly, I would think thee an honest man: thou shouldest neither want my means for thy relief, nor my voice for thy preferment.

Pis. Well, my good lord.

Clo. Wilt thou serve me? For since patiently and constantly thou hast stuck to the bare fortune of that beggar Posthumus, thou canst not, in the course of gratitude, but be a diligent follower of mine. Wilt thou serve me?

Pis. Sir, I will.

Clo. Give me thy hand; here's my purse. Hast any of thy late master's garments in thy possession?

Pis. I have, my lord, at my lodging, the same suit he wore when he took leave of my lady and mistress.

Clo. The first service thou dost me, fetch that suit hither:

let it be thy first service; go.

Or this, or perish.] Meaning, Either I must do this, or perish for not doing it: therefore, he shows the letter, but consoles himself by thinking that Imogen is out of reach, and Cloten misled.

VOL. VI.

Y

Pis. I shall, my lord.

[Exit.

Clo. Meet thee at Milford-Haven.—I forgot to ask him one thing; I'll remember't anon.-Even there thou villain, Posthumus, will I kill thee.-I would, these garments were come. She said upon a time (the bitterness of it I now belch from my heart) that she held the very garment of Posthumus in more respect than my noble and natural person, together with the adornment of my qualities. With that suit upon my back, will I ravish her: first kill him, and in her eyes; there shall she see my valour, which will then be a torment to her contempt. He on the ground, my speech of insultment ended on his dead body,-and when my lust hath dined, (which, as I say, to vex her, I will execute in the clothes that she so praised) to the court I'll knock her back, foot her home again. She hath despised me rejoicingly, and I'll be merry in my revenge.

Re-enter PISANIO, with the clothes.

Be those the garments?

Pis. Ay, my noble lord.

Clo. How long is't since she went to Milford-Haven?
Pis. She can scarce be there yet.

Clo. Bring this apparel to my chamber; that is the second thing that I have commanded thee: the third is, that thou wilt be a voluntary mute to my design. Be but duteous, and true preferment shall tender itself to thee.-My revenge is now at Milford: would I had wings to follow it!-Come, and be true.

go,

Pis. Thou bidd'st me to thy loss: for, true to thee,
Were to prove false, which I will never be,
To him that is most true.-To Milford
And find not her whom thou pursuest. Flow, flow,
You heavenly blessings, on her! This fool's speed
Be cross'd with slowness: labour be his meed!

66

[Exit.

[Exit.

• Thou bidd'st me to THY loss:] Thy" and my were often confounded by old printers, and this seems a case of the kind: the corr. fo. 1632 puts "thy" for my, and with apparent reason: it was to Cloten's loss that he bade Pisanio be true, because Pisanio was resolved to be true to his own master, Posthumus, who, he was persuaded, was himself true, not meriting any part of the accusation of falsehood made to Imogen.

SCENE VI.

Before the Cave of BELARIUS.

Enter IMOGEN, attired like a boy.

Imo. I see, a man's life is a tedious one:
I have 'tir'd myself', and for two nights together
Have made the ground my bed: I should be sick,
But that my resolution helps me.-
me.-Milford,

When from the mountain-top Pisanio show'd thee,
Thou wast within a ken. Oh Jove! I think,
Foundations fly the wretched; such, I mean,
Where they should be reliev'd. Two beggars told me,
I could not miss my way: will poor folks lie,
That have afflictions on them, knowing 'tis
A punishment, or trial? Yes; no wonder,
When rich ones scarce tell true: to lapse in fulness
Is sorer, than to lie for need; and falsehood
Is worse in kings than beggars.-My dear lord!

Thou art one o' the false ones: now I think on thee,
My hunger's gone; but even before, I was

At point to sink for food.-But what is this?

hold:

[Seeing the cave.

Here is a path to it: 'tis some savage
I were best not call; I dare not call; yet famine,
Ere clean it o'erthrow nature, makes it valiant.
Plenty, and peace, breeds cowards; hardness ever
Of hardiness is mother.-Ho! Who's here?
If any thing that's civil, speak; if savage,
Take, or lend.-Ho!-No answer? then, I'll enter.
Best draw my sword; and if mine enemy
But fear the sword like me, he'll scarcely look on't.
Such a foe, good heavens!
[She enters the cave.

7 I have 'TIR'D myself,] i. e. Attired myself: this emendation is from the corr. fo. 1632, and Mr. Singer employs it, mentioning that "Mr. Collier's folio would substitute attired." This is a mistake-of course unintentional-attired would not suit the verse, and the real recommendation is what Mr. Singer adopts, viz. "'tir'd." We have still some doubt whether the meaning of Imogen be, that she has dressed herself like a boy, or that she has wearied herself: in the first line she says that "a man's life is a tedious one," and in the next she may reasonably follow it it up by stating that she had tired herself.

Enter BELARIUS, GUIDERIUS, and ARVIRAGUS.

Bel. You, Polydore, have prov'd best woodman', and
Are master of the feast: Cadwal, and I,

Will play the cook and servant; 'tis our match:
The sweat of industry would dry, and die,

But for the end it works to. Come; our stomachs
Will make what's homely, savoury: weariness
Can snore upon the flint, when resty sloth

Finds the down pillow hard.-Now, peace be here,
Poor house, that keep'st thyself!

Gui.

I am thoroughly weary. Arv. I am weak with toil, yet strong in appetite.

Gui. There is cold meat i' the cave: we'll browze on that, Whilst what we have kill'd be cook'd.

Bel.

Stay come not in.

[Looking in.

But that it eats our victuals, I should think
Here were a fairy.

Gui.

What's the matter, sir?

Bel. By Jupiter, an angel! or, if not, An earthly paragon!-Behold divineness

No elder than a boy!

Enter IMOGEN.

Imo. Good masters, harm me not:

Before I enter'd here, I call'd; and thought

To have begg'd, or bought, what I have took. Good troth, I have stolen nought; nor would not, though I had found Gold strew'd i' the floor. Here's money for my meat:

8

best WOODMAN,] From a passage in "Measure for Measure," A. iv. sc. 3, it appears that "woodman" and wencher were synonymous: here "the best woodman" only means the most skilful in the pursuit of game in the wood; and Malone, very much in point, cited the following lines from our poet's "Lucrece," which he and Mr. Singer, who uses the same quotation, miscall “The Rape of Lucrece :"

"He is no woodman, that doth bend his bow
Against a poor unseasonable doe."

"The

We only mention the mistake, because Shakespeare never called his poem Rape of Lucrece:" it did not bear that title in any edition from 1594 to 1624. 9 Gold strew'd r' the floor.] O' the floor, or on the floor, as we should now say: another instance of licence in the use of prepositions in the time of Shakespeare. To alter it to "o' the floor," with Sir T. Hanmer, is to sacrifice the characteristic language of our poet and his contemporaries. Farther on we have "fallen in this offence," for "fallen into this offence," and there is as much reason for amending the one as the other.