I mean, to man, he had not apprehension
Of roaring terrors, for defect of judgment,
As oft the cause of feara: But see, thy brother.

Re-enter GUIDERIUS, with CLOTEN's head.

GUI. This Cloten was a fool; an empty purse,—

There was no money in 't: not Hercules

Could have knock'd out his brains, for he had none:
Yet I not doing this, the fool had borne

GUI. I am perfect, what: cut off one Cloten's head,
Son to the queen, after his own report;

Who call'd me traitor, mountaineer; and swore,
With his own single hand he 'd take us in,

Displace our heads, where (thank the gods!) they grow,
And set them on Lud's town.

BEL.
We are all undone.
GUI. Why, worthy father, what have we to lose,
But, that he swore to take, our lives? The law
Protects not us: Then why should we be tender
To let an arrogant piece of flesh threat us;
Play judge and executioner, all himself,
For we do fear the law? What company
Discover you abroad?

Can we set eye on, but in all safe reason

He must have some attendants. Though his humour

Was nothing but mutation,-ay, and that

C

a The word defect, of the original, was changed by Theobald to the effect; and the passage so corrected is thus given in most of the modern editions

Hanmer reads

"He had not apprehension

Of roaring terrors; for the effect of judgment
Is oft the cause of fear."

"For defect of judgment

Is oft the cure of fear;"

which reading is adopted by Malone. It is evident that the passage as it stands in the original is contradictory. But it appears to us that the corrections, both of Theobald and Hanmer, are somewhat forced; and we rather adopt the very ingenious suggestion of the author of a pamphlet printed at Edinburgh, 1814, entitled, 'Explanations and Emendations of some Passages in the Text of Shakspere,' &c. In this reading of as for is, Belarius says that Cloten, before he arrived to man's estate, had not apprehension of terrors on account of defect of judgment, which defect is as often the cause of fear. The passage as it thus stands appears to us one of the many examples of condensed truths which this play presents.

• Humour. In the original honour. Theobald made the emendation, which is certainly called for: and is further justified by the fact that, in the early editions of Shakspere, humour and honour are several times misprinted each for the other.

From one bad thing to worse,-not frenzy, not
Absolute madness could so far have rav'd,
To bring him here alone: Although, perhaps,

It

may be heard at court, that such as we

Cave here, hunt here, are outlaws, and in time

May make some stronger head: the which he hearing,
(As it is like him,) might break out, and swear
He'd fetch us in; yet is 't not probable

ARV.

To come alone, either he so undertaking,

Or they so suffering: then on good ground we fear,
If we do fear this body hath a tail

More perilous than the head.

Let ordinance

ARV.

I fear, 't will be reveng'd:

'Would, Polydore, thou hadst not done 't! though valour Becomes thee well enough.

'Would I had done 't,

So the revenge alone pursued me!-Polydore,

I love thee brotherly; but envy much

Thou hast robb'd me of this deed: I would, revenges,

That possible strength might meet, would seek us through,
And put us to our answer.

BEL.

ARV.

Well, 't is done :-
We'll hunt no more to-day, nor seek for danger
Where there's no profit. I prithee, to our rock;
You and Fidele play the cooks: I'll stay
Till hasty Polydore return, and bring him
To dinner presently.

Poor sick Fidele !

I'll willingly to him: To gain his colour,
I'd let a parish of such Clotens blood a,

a Steevens prints this

"I'd let a parish of such Clotens' blood." But the meaning is, I would let blood a parish of such Clotens.

Exit.

And praise myself for charity.

BEL.

O thou goddess,
Thou divine Nature, how thyself thou blazon'st
In these two princely boys! They are as gentle
As zephyrs, blowing below the violet,

Not wagging his sweet head and yet as rough,
Their royal blood enchaf'd, as the rud'st wind,
That by the top doth take the mountain pine
And make him stoop to the vale. "T is wonder
That an invisible instinct should frame them
To royalty unlearn'd; honour untaught;
Civility not seen from other: valour,

That wildly grows in them, but yields a crop
As if it had been sow'd! Yet still it 's strange
What Cloten's being here to us portends,

Or what his death will bring us.

[Exit.

GUI. What does he mean? since death of my dear'st mother

It did not speak before. All solemn things

Should answer solemn accidents. The matter?

Triumphs for nothing, and lamenting toys,

Is jollity for apes and grief for boys.

Is Cadwal mad?

BEL.

Re-enter ARVIRAGUS, bearing IMOGEN as dead in his arms.

Look, here he comes,

And brings the dire occasion in his arms,

ARV.

GUI.

Of what we blame him for!

The bird is dead, That we have made so much on. I had rather Have skipp'd from sixteen years of age to sixty, To have turn'd my leaping time into a crutch, Than have seen this.

O sweetest, fairest lily!

a Wonder. So the original. Pope changed it to wonderful, which is the received reading.

My brother wears thee not the one-half so well,
As when thou grew'st thyself.

BEL.

a

O, melancholy!
Who ever yet could sound thy bottom? find
The ooze, to show what coast thy sluggish crare
Might easiliest harbour in ?-Thou blessed thing!
Jove knows what man thou mightst have made; but I,
Thou diedst, a most rare boy, of melancholy b!

ARV.

How found you him?

Stark, as you see:

Thus smiling, as some fly had tickled slumber,
Not as death's dart, being laugh'd at: his right cheek
Reposing on a cushion.

GUI.

ARV.

GUI.

Where?

O' the floor;

His arms thus leagued: I thought he slept; and put
My clouted brogues d from off my feet, whose rudeness
Answer'd my steps too loud.

Why, he but sleeps:
If he be gone, he 'll make his grave a bed;
With female fairies will his tomb be haunted,
And worms will not come to thee.

ARV.

With fairest flowers,

Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele,
I'll sweeten thy sad grave: thou shalt not lack
The flower that 's like thy face, pale primrose; nor
The azur'd hare-bell, like thy veins; no, nor
The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander,
Out-sweeten'd not thy breath: the ruddock would 16,
With charitable bill, (O bill, sore-shaming
Those rich-left heirs that let their fathers lie
Without a monument!) bring thee all this;

GUI.

Yea, and furr'd moss besides, when flowers are none,
To winter-ground thy corse.

Prithee, have done;

a Crare. The original reads care: but the image is incomplete unless we adopt the correction. Crare is a small vessel; and the word is often used by Holinshed and by Drayton.

We print the passage as in the original, the meaning of which is, Jove knows what man thou mightst have made, but I know thou diedst, &c. Malone thinks that the pronoun I was probably substituted by mistake for the interjection, Ah! which is commonly printed ay in the old copies; ay being also as commonly printed I.

Stark-stiff.

d

Brogues-rude shoes.

ARV.

GUI. By good Euriphile, our mother.

ARV.

Say, where shall 's lay him?

Be 't so:

And let us, Polydore, though now our voices

Have got the mannish crack, sing him to the ground,
As once to our mother; use like note, and words,
Save that Euriphile must be Fidele.

GUI. Cadwal,

I cannot sing: I ll weep, and word it with thee:
For notes of sorrow, out of tune, are worse

ARV.

Than priests and fanes that lie.

We 'll speak it then.

BEL. Great griefs, I see, medicine the less: for Cloten
Is quite forgot. He was a queen's son, boys:
And, though he came our enemy, remember

He was paid for that: Though mean and mighty, rotting
Together, have one dust; yet reverence

(That angel of the world) doth make distinction.

GUI.

Of place 'tween high and low. Our foe was princely ;
And though you took his life, as being our foe,

ARV.

Yet bury him as a prince.

Pray you, fetch him hither.

If you 'll go fetch him,

Thersites' body is as good as Ajax,
When neither are alive.

We'll say our song the whilst.-Brother, begin. GUI. Nay, Cadwal, we must lay his head to the east: My father hath a reason for 't.

GUI. Fear no more the heat of the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;

Thou thy worldly task hast done,

Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages:
Golden lads and girls all must,

As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

ARV. Fear no more the frown o' the great,
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke;

Care no more to clothe, and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.

[Exit BELARIUS