Guiderius had

I can with ease produce.

CYM.

Upon his neck a mole, a fanguine star;
It was a mark of wonder.

BEL.

This is he;

Who hath upon him still that natural stamp:
It was wife nature's end in the donation,
To be his evidence now.

O, what am I

Сум. A mother to the birth of three? Ne'er mother Rejoic'd deliverance more:-Blefs'd may you be, That, after this ftrange starting from your orbs, You may reign in them now!-O Imogen, Thou haft loft by this a kingdom.

IMO.

No, my lord; I have got two worlds by't.-O my gentle brother, Have we thus met? O never fay hereafter, But I am truest speaker: you call'd me brother, When I was but your fifter; I you brothers, When you were fo indeed.*

Сум.

ARV. Ay, my good lord.

Did you e'er meet?

may you be,] The old copy reads-pray you be.

The correction was made by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

"When you were fo indeed.] The folio gives :

When we were fo, indeed.

If this be right, we must read :

Imo. I, you brothers.

Arv. When we were fo, indeed. JOHNSON.

STEEVENS.

The emendation which has been adopted, was made by Mr. Rowe. I am not fure that it is neceffary. Shakspeare in his licentious manner might have meant,-" when we did really ftand in the relation of brother and fifter to each other."

MALONE.

GUI.

And at first meeting lov'd;

Continued fo, until we thought he died.

COR. By the queen's dram fhe fwallow'd.

Сум. O rare inftinct! When fhall I hear all through? This fierce abridge

ment 3

Hath to it circumftantial branches, which

Diftinction fhould be rich in.4-Where? how liv'd you?

And when came you to ferve our Roman captive? How parted with your brothers? how firft met

them?

Why fled you from the court? and whither 25 Thefe, And your three motives to the battle, with

I know not how much more, fhould be demanded; And all the other by-dependancies.

From chance to chance; but nor the time, nor place,

3 fierce abridgement-] Fierce, is vehement, rapid.

So, in Timon of Athens:

JOHNSON.

"O, the fierce wretchedness that glory brings!"

See alfo Vol. VII. p. 206, n. 6. MALONE.

which

STEEVENS.

Diftinction fhould be rich in.] i. e. which ought to be rendered diftinct by a liberal amplitude of narrative. STEEVENS.

and whither ] Old copy-whether. The correction was made by Mr. Theobald, who likewife reformed the pointing. MALONE.

6 And your three motives to the battle,] That is, though ftrangely expreffed, the motives of you three for engaging in the battle. So, in Romeo and Juliet, "both our remedies," means the remedy for us both. M. MASON.

Will ferve our long intergatories." See,
Pofthúmus anchors upon Imogen;

And the, like harmless lightning, throws her eye
On him, her brothers, me, her master; hitting
Each object with a joy; the counterchange
Is feverally in all. Let's quit this ground,
And smoke the temple with our facrifices.-
Thou art my brother; So we'll hold thee ever.
[To BELARIUS.

IMO. You are my father too; and did relieve me, To fee this gracious feafon.

Сум.

All o'erjoy'd,

Save these in bonds; let them be joyful too,
For they fhall taste our comfort.

CYM. The forlorn foldier, that fo nobly fought, He would have well becom'd this place, and grac'd The thankings of a king.

POST.

I am, fir,
The foldier that did company these three
In poor beseeming; 'twas a fitment for

7 Will ferve our long intergatories.] So the firft folio. Later editors have omitted our, for the fake of the metre, I suppose; but unneceffarily; as interrogatory is used by Shakspeare as a word of five fyllables. See The Merchant of Venice near the end, where in the old edition it is written intergatory.

TYRWHITT.

See alfo Vol. VIII. p. 357, n. 4. I believe this word was generally used as one of five fyllables in our author's time. To the proofs already adduced may be added the following from Novella, by Brome, Act II. fc. i:

The purpose I then follow'd ;-That I was he,
Speak, Tachimo; I had you down, and might
Have made you finish.

Ілсн.

I am down again:

[Kneeling.

But now my heavy confcience finks my knee,
As then your force did. Take that life, 'befeech

you,

Which I fo often owe: but, your ring firft;
And here the bracelet of the trueft princefs,
That ever fwore her faith.

POST.

Kneel not to me;

The power that I have on you, is to fpare you;
The malice towards you, to forgive you: Live,
And deal with others better.

Сум.

Nobly doom'd: We'll learn our freenefs of a fon-in-law;

Pardon's the word to all.

ARV.

You holp us, fir,

As you did mean indeed to be our brother;
Joy'd are we, that you are.

POST. Your fervant, princes.-Good my

Rome,

lord of

Call forth your foothfayer: As I flept, methought, Great Jupiter, upon his eagle back,

Appear'd to me, with other fpritely fhows 8

Of mine own kindred: when I wak'd, I found
This label on my bofom; whofe containing
Is fo from fenfe in hardness, that I can
Make no collection of it; let him fhow

8

pearances.

fpritely Show's-] Are groups of fprites, ghostly ap STEEVENS.

9 Make no collection of it :] A collection is a corollary, a con

SooTH. [Reads.] When as a lion's whelp fhall, to himself unknown, without feeking find, and be embraced by a piece of tender air; and when from a fiately cedar fhall be lopped branches, which, being dead many years fhall after revive, be jointed to the old flock, and freshly grow; then Shall Pofthumus end his miferies, Britain be fortunate, and flourifh in peace and plenty.

Thou, Leonatus, art the lion's whelp;
The fit and apt conftruction of thy name,
Being Leo-natus, doth import fo much :
The piece of tender air, thy virtuous daughter,

[To CYMBELINE.
Which we call mollis aer; and mollis aer
We term it mulier: which mulier I divine,
Is this moft conftant wife; who, even now,
Anfwering the letter of the oracle,

fequence deduced from premifes. So, in Sir John Davies's poem on The Immortality of the Soul:

"When the, from fundry arts, one fkill doth draw;

Gath'ring from divers fights, one act of war;

"From many cafes like, one rule of law :

"Thefe her collections, not the fenfes are."

STEEVENS.

So, the Queen fays to Hamlet :

Her fpeech is nothing,

"Yet the unfhaped ufe of it doth move
"The hearers to collection.”

I hofe containing means, the contents of which.

M. MASON.