Upon the love, and truth, and vows, which I

Have made to thy command?-I, her her blood?
If it be so to do good service, never

Let me be counted serviceable. How look I,
That I should seem to lack humanity,

So much as this fact comes to Do't: The letter

[Reading.

That I have sent her, by her own command,
Shall give thee opportunity :— O damn'd paper !
Black as the ink that's on thee! Senseless bauble!
Art thou a feodary for this act, and look'st
So virgin-like without? Lo, here she comes.

Enter IMOGEN.

I am ignorant in what I am commanded.

Imo. How now, Pisanio?

Pis. Madam, here is a letter from my lord.

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Imo. Who? thy lord › that is my lord? Leonatus ? O, learn'd indeed were that astronomer,

That knew the stars, as I his characters;
He'd lay the future open.~ You good gods,
Let what is here contain'd relish of love,
Of my lord's health, of his content-yet not,
That we two are asunder, let that grieve him!
(Some griefs are medicinable; that is one of them,
For it doth physic love)—of his content,

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All but in that!-Good wax, thy leave :-Blest be,
You bees, that make these locks of counsel! Lovers,
And men in dangerous bonds, pray not alike;
F

Though

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Though forfeiters you cast in prison, yet
You clasp young Cupid's tables.-Good news, gods!

[Reading.

Justice, and your father's wrath, should he take me in his dominions, could not be so cruel to me, as you, O the dearest of creatures, would even renew me with your eyes. Take notice, that I am in Cambria, at Milford-Haven: What' t' your own love will, out of this, advise you, follow. So, he wishes you all happiness, that remains loyal to his wow, and your, increasing in love,

Leonatus Posthumus.

O, for a horse with wings!--Hear'st thou, Pisanio? He is at Milford-Haven: Read, and tell me

How far 'tis thither. If one of mean affairs

May plod it in a week, why may not I

Glide thither in a day ?-Then, true Pisanio

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(Who long'st, like me, to see thy lord; who long'st-
O, let me 'bate—but not like me :—yet long'st—
But in a fainter kind :-O, not like me;
For mine's beyond, beyond), say, and speak thick
(Love's counsellor should fill the bores of hearing,
To the smothering of the sense), how far it is
To this same blessed Milford: And, by the way,
Tell me how Wales was made so happy, as
To inherit such a haven: But, first of all,
How we may steal from hence; and, for the
That we shall make in time, from our hence-going

gap

150

'Till our return, to excuse :-but, first, how get

hence :

Why should excuse be born or e'r begot?

We'll talk of that hereafter. Pr'ythee, speak,
How many score of miles may we well ride
'Twixt hour and hour?

Pis. One score, 'twixt sun and sun,

160

Madam, 's enough for you; and too much too.
Imo. Why, one that rode to his execution, man,
Could never go so slow; I have heard of riding

wagers,

Where horses have been numbler than the sands

That run i' the clock's behalf; But this is fool

ery:

Go, bid my woman feign a sickness; say

She'll home to her father: and provide me, presently, A riding suit; no costlier than would fit

A franklin's housewife.

Pis. Madam, you're best consider.

Imo. I see before me, man, nor here, nor here,
Nor what ensues; but have a fog in them,

That I cannot look through. Away, I pr'ythee;
Do as I bid thee: There's no more to say;
Accessible is none but Milford way.

170

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Changes to a Forest, in Wales, with a Cave. Enter BELARIUS, GUIDERIUS, and ARVIRAGUS.

Bel. A goodly day not to keep house, with such Whose roof's as low as ours! Stoop, boys: This gate Instructs you how to adore the heavens; and bows

you

To morning's holy office: The gates of monarchs
Are arch'd so high, that giants may jet through 181
And keep their impious turbands on, without
Good-morrow to the sun.-Hail, thou fair heaven I
We house i' the rock, yet use thee not so hardly
As prouder livers do.

Guid. Hail, heaven!

Arv. Hail, heaven !

Bel. Now for our mountain sport: Up to yon hill, Your legs are young; I'll tread these flats. Consider, When you above perceive me like a crow,

That it is place, which lessens, and sets off.

190

And you may then revolve what tales I have told you,
Of courts, of princes, of the tricks in war:
This service is not service, so being done,
But being so allow'd: To apprehend thus,
Draws us a profit from all things we see :
And often, to our comfort, shall we find
The sharded beetle in a safer hold
Than is the full-wing'd eagle. O, this life
Is nobler, than attending for a check;

200

Richer,

Richer, than doing nothing for a babe;
Prouder, than rustling in unpaid-for silk;
Such gain the cap of him, that makes them fine,
Yet keeps his book uncross'd: no life to ours.

Guid. Out of your proof you speak: we, poor unfledg'd,

Have never wing'd from view o' the nest; nor know

not

What air's from home. Haply, this life is best,
If quiet life be best; sweeter to you,

That have a sharper known; well corresponding
With your stiff age: but, unto us, it is
A cell of ignorance; travelling a-bed i
A prison for a debtor, that not dares
To stride a limit.

Arv. What should we speak of,

"

When we are as old as you? when we shall hear
The rain and wind beat dark December, how,
In this our pinching cave, shall we discourse
The freezing hours away? We have seen nothing
We are beastly; subtle as the fox, for prey;
Like warlike as the wolf, for what we eat:
Our valour is, to chace what flies; our cage
We make a quire, as doth the prison'd bird,
And sing our bondage freely.

Bel. How you speak!

Did you but know the city's usuries,

And felt them knowingly: the art o' the court,
As hard to leave, as keep; whose top to climb
Is certain falling, or so slippery, that......

Fiij

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220

The