2 Gent. How long is this ago?

1 Gent. Some twenty years.

2 Gent. That a king's children should be so convey'd!

So slackly guarded! And the search so slow, That could not trace them!

1 Gent. Howsoe'er 'tis strange,

Re-enter

Queen. Be brief, I pray you:

If the king come, I shall incur I know not How much of his displeasure:-Yet I'll moge him [Aside

To walk this way: I never do him wrong, But he does buy my injuries, to be friends; Pays dear for my offences.

[Exit.

Post. Should we be taking leave
As long a term as yet we have to live,
The loathness to depart would grow: Adieu!
Imo. Nay, stay a little:

Were you but riding forth to air yourself,
Such parting were too petty. Look here, love;
This diamond was my mother's: take it, heart
But keep it till you woo another wife,
When Imogen is dead.

Post. How! how! another?-
You gentle gods, give me but this I have,
And sear up my embracements from a next
With bonds of death!-Remain thou here

[Putting on the Ring. While senset can keep it on! And sweetest, fairest,

As I my poor self did exchange for you,

2 Gent. I do well believe you.

1 Gent. We must forbear: Here comes the queen and princess.

SCENE II.-The same.

[Exeunt.

Enter the QUEEN, POSTHUMUS, and IMOGEN.

Queen. No, be assur'd, you shall not find me,

daughter,

After the slander of most step-mothers,
Evil-ey'd unto you: you are my prisoner, but
Your jailer shall deliver you the keys [mus,
That lock up your restraint. For you, Posthú.
So soon as I can win the offended king,

I will be known your advocate: marry, yet
The fire of rage is in him; and 'twere good,
You lean'd unto his sentence, with what pa-
Your wisdom may inform you.
Post. Please your highness,

I will from hence to-day.
Queen. You know the peril :-

[tience

I'll fetch a turn about the garden, pitying The pangs of barr'd affections; though the king

Hath charg'd you should not speak together.
[Exit QUEEN.
Imo. O
Dissembling courtesy! How fine this tyrant
Can tickle where she wounds!-My dearest
husband,
[thing,

I something fear my father's wrath; but no-
(Always reserv'd my holy duty,) what
His rage can do on me: You must be gone;
And I shall here abide the hourly shot
Of angry eyes; nor comforted to live,
But that there is this jewel in this world,
That I may see again.

Post. My queen! my mistress!

O, lady, weep no more; lest I give cause
To be suspected of more tenderness
Than doth become a man! I will remain
The loyal'st husband that did e'er plight troth.
My residence in Rome at one Philario's;
Who to my father was a friend, to me
Known but by letter: thither write, my queen,
And with mine eyes I'll drink the words you
Though ink be made of gall.

[send,

I still win of you: For my sake, wear this;
It is a manacle of love; I'll place it
Upon this fairest prisoner.

[Putting a Bracelet on her Arm.

Imo. O, the gods!

When shall we see again?

Enter CYMBELINE and LORDS.

Post. Alack, the king!

Cym. Thou basest thing, avoid! hence, from my sight!

If, after this command, thou fraught‡ the court With thy unworthiness, thou diest: Away! Thou art poison to my blood.

Post. The gods protect you! And bless the good remainders of the court! I am gone.

[Exit. Imo. There cannot be a pinch in death More sharp than this is.

Cym. O disloyal thing,

That should'st repair my youth; thou heapest A year's age on me!

Imo. beseech you, Sir,

Harm not yourself with your vexation; I
Am senseless of your wrath; a touch more
Subdues all pangs, all fears.
Cym. Past grace? obedience?

[rares

Imo. Past hope, and in despair; that way,

past grace.

Cym. That might'st have had the sole|| son of

Queen. Fie!-you must give way: [news? Here is your servant.-How now, Sir? What Pis. My lord your son drew on my master. Queen. Ha!

No harm, I trust, is done?

Pis. There might have been,

But that my master rather play'd than fought, And had no help of anger: they were parted By gentlemen at hand.

Queen. I am very glad on't.

Imo. Your son's my father's friend; he takes his part.

To draw upon an exile!-O brave Sir!-
I would they were in Afric both together;
Myself by with a needle, that I might prick
The goer back.-Why came you from your

Enter CLOTEN, and two LORDS.

1 Lord. Sir, I would advise you to shift a shirt; the violence of action hath made you reek as a sacrifice: Where air comes out, air comes in there's none abroad so wholesome as that you vent.

Clo. If my shirt were bloody, then to shift it-Have I hurt him?

2 Lord. No, faith; not so much as his patience. [Aside. Lord. Hurt him? his body's a passable carcass, if he be not hurt: it is a thoroughfare for steel if it be not hurt.

packside the town.

2 Lord. His steel was in debt; it went o'the [Aside. Clo. The villain would not stand me. 2 Lord. No; but he fled forward still, toward [Aside.

your face.

1 Lord. Stand you! You had land enough of your own: but he added to your having; gave you some ground.

2 Lord. As many inches as you have oceans: Puppies! [Aside. Clo. I would, they had not come between us, 2 Lord. So would I, till you had measured how long a fool you were upon the ground.

[Aside. Clo. And that she should love this fellow, and refuse me!

2 Lord. If it be a sin to make a true election she is damned.

[Aside 1 Lord. Sir, as I told you always, her beauty and her brain go not together:* She's a good sign, but I have seen small reflection of her wit.t

2 Lord. She shines not upon fools, lest the reflection should hurt her. [Aside. Clo. Come, I'll to my chamber: 'Would there had been some hurt done!

2 Lord. I wish not so; unless it had been the fall of an ass, which is no great hurt. [Aside. Clo. You'll go with us?

1 Lord. I'll attend your lordship. Clo. Nay, come, let's go together. 2 Lord. Well, my lord.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-A Room in CYMBELINE'S Palace. Enter IMOGEN and PISANIO.

Imo. I would thou grew'st unto the shores o'the haven,

And question'dst every sail : if he should write,
And I not have it, 'twere a paper lost
As offer'd mercy is. What was the last
That he spake to thee?

Pis. 'Twas, His queen, his queen!
Imo. Then wav'd his handkerchief?
Pis. And kiss'd it, madam.

Imo. Senseless linen! happier therein than And that was all?

Pis. No, madam; for so long

As he could make me with this eye or ear
Distinguish him from others, he did keep
The deck, with glove, or hat, or handkerchief,
Still waving, as the fits and stirs of his mind
Could best express how slow his soul sail'd on,
How swift his ship.

Imo. Thou should'st have made him
As little as a crow, or less, ere left
To after-eye him.

Pis. Madam, so I did.

Imo. I would have broke mine eye-strings;
crack'd them, but

To look upon him; till the diminution
Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle:
Nay, follow'd him, till he had melted from
The smallness of a gnat to air; and then
Have turn'd mine eye, and wept.-But, good
When shall we hear from him?
[Pisanio,

Pis. Be assur'd, madam,
With his next vantage.‡

Imo. I did not take my leave of him, but had Most pretty things to say: ere I could tell him, How I would think on him, at certain hours, Such thoughts, and such; or I could make him The shes of Italy should not betray [swear Mine interest, and his honour; or have charg'd him, [night, At the sixth hour of morn, at noon, at midTo encounter me with orisons, for then I am in heaven for him: or ere I could Give him that parting kiss, which I had set

Her beauty and sense are not equal.

+ To understand the force of this idea, it should be remembered that anciently almost every sign had a motto, or some attempt at a witticism underneath it. + Opportunity.

Meet me with reciprocal prayer

*

lach. Believe it, Sir, I have seen him in Britain: he was then of a crescent note, expected to prove so worthy, as since he hath been allowed the name of: but I could then have looked on him without the help of admiration; though the catalogue of his endowments had been tabled by his side, and I to peruse him by items.

Phi. You speak of him when he was less furnished, than now he is, with that which makest him both without and within.

French. I have seen him in France: we had very many there, could behold the sun with as firm eyes as he.

Jach. This matter of marrying his king's daughter, (wherein he must be weighed rather by her value, than his own,) words him, I doubt not, a great deal from the matter.

French. And then his banishment:

Iach. Ay, and the approbation of those, that weep this lamentable divorce, under her colours, are wonderfully to extends him; be it but to fortify her judgement, which else an easy battery might lay flat, for taking a beggar without more quality. But how comes it, he is to sojourn with you? How creeps acquain

tance?

Phi. His father and I were soldiers together; to whom I have been often bound for no less than my life:

Enter POSTHUMUS.

is mended,) my quarrel was not altogether slight.

French. 'Faith, yes, to be put to the arbitrement of swords; and by such two, that would, by all likelihood, have confounded one the other, or have fallen both.

Iach. Can we, with manners, ask what was the difference?

French. Safely, I think: 'twas a contention in public, which may, without contradiction, suffer the report. It was much like an argument that fell out last night, where each of us fell in praise of our country mistresses: This gentleman at that time vouching, (and upon warrant of bloody affirmation,) his to be more fair, virtuous, wise, chaste, constant-qualified, and less attemptible, than any the rarest of our ladies in France.

Iach. That lady is not now living; or this gentleman's opinion, by this, worn out.

Post. She holds her virtue still, and I my mind.

Iuch. You must not so far prefer her 'fore ours of Italy.

Post. Being so far provoked as I was in France, I would abate her nothing; though I profess myself her adorer, not her friend.+

Iach. As fair, and as good, (a kind of handin-hand comparison,) had been something too fair, and too good for any lady in Britany. If she went before others I have seen, as that diamond of yours outlustres many I have beheld, I could not but believe she excelled many: but I have not seen the most precious diamond that is, nor you the lady.

Post. I praised her, as I rated her: so do I my stone.

Jach. What do you esteem it at? Post. More than the world enjoys. Iach. Either your unparagoned mistress is dead, or she's outpriz'd by a trifle.

Post. You are mistaken: the one may be sold, or given; if there were wealth enough for the purchase, or merit for the gift: the other is not a thing for sale, and only the gift of the gods.

of your brace of unprizeable estimations, the one is but frail, and the other casual; a cunning thief, or a that-way accomplished courtier, would hazard the winning both of first and last.

Post. Your Italy contains none so accomplished a courtier, to convince the honour of my mistress; if, in the holding or loss of that, you term her frail. I do nothing doubt, you have store of thieves; notwithstanding I fear not my ring.

Phi. Let us leave here, gentlemen.

Post. Sir, with all heart. This worthy signior, I thank him, makes no stranger of me; we are familiar at first.

Jach. With five times so much conversation I should get ground of your fair mistress: make her go back, even to the yielding; had I admittance, and opportunity to friend. Post. No, no.

Iach. I dare, thereon, pawn the moiety of my estate to your ring; which, in my opinion, o'er-values it something: But I make my wager rather against your confidence, than her repu* Destroyed. + Lover, I speak of her as a being I reverence, not as a beauty whom I enjoy. * Overcome.

ation: and, to bar your offence herein too, I durst attempt it against any lady in the world. Pot. You are a great deal abused in too bold a persuasion; and I doubt not you sustain what you're worthy of, by your attempt. Iach. What's that?

Post. A repulse: Though your attempt, as you call it, deserve more; a punishment too. Phi. Gentlemen, enough of this: it came in too suddenly; let it die as it was born, and, I pray you, be better acquainted.

Iach. 'Would I had put my estate, and my neighbour's, on the approbation of what I have spoke.

Post. What lady would you choose to assail? Jack. Yours; whom in constancy, you think, stands so safe. I will lay you ten thousand ducats to your ring, that, commend me to the court where your lady is, with no more advantage than the opportunity of a second conference, and I will bring from thence that honour of hers, which you imagine so reserved. Post. I will wage against your gold, gold to it: my ring I hold dear as my finger; 'tis part|

of it.

Iach. You are a friend, and therein the wiser. If you buy ladies' flesh at a million a dram, you cannot preserve it from tainting: But, I see, you have some religion in you, that you fear. Post. This is but a custom in your tongue; you bear a graver purpose, I hope..

lach. I am the master of my speeches; and would undergo what's spoken, I swear.

Post. Will you?-I shall but lend my diamond till your return:-Let there be covenants drawn between us: My mistress exceeds in goodness the hugeness of your unworthy thinking: I dare you to this match: here's my ring. Phi. I will have it no lay.

Iach. By the gods it is one:-If I bring you no sufficient testimony that I have enjoyed the dearest bodily part of your mistress, my ten thousand ducats are yours; so is your diamond too. If I come off, and leave her in such honour as you have trust in, she your jewel, this your jewel, and my gold are yours:-provided, I have your commendation, for my more free

Iach. Your hand; a covenant: We will have these things set down by lawful counsel, and straight away for Britain; lest the bargain should catch cold, and starve: I will fetch my gold, and have our two wagers recorded. Post. Agreed.

[Exeunt POSTHUMUS and IACHIMO. French. Will this hold, think you? Phi. Signior lachimo will not from it. Pray, is follow 'em. [Exeunt. ENE VI.-Britain.-A Room in CYMBE. LINE'S Palace.

Enter QUEEN, LADIES, and CORNelius. Queen. Whiles yet the dew's on ground, gather those flowers;

fake haste: Who has the note of them?
* Deceived. + Proof. Recomendation.

1 Lady. I, madam. Queen. Despatch.

[Exeunt LADIES,

Now, master doctor; have you brought those drugs?

Cor. Pleaseth your highness, ay: here they are, madam: [Presenting a small Box. But I beseech your grace, (without offence; My conscience bids me ask;) wherefore you have [pounds Commanded of me these most poisonous comWhich are the movers of a languishing death; But, though slow, deadly? [been

Queen. I do wonder, doctor, Thou ask'st me such a question: Have I not Thy pupil long? Hast thou not learn'd me how To make perfumes? distil? preserve? yea, so, That our great king himself doth woo me oft For my confections? Having thus far proceeded,

(Unless thou think'st me devilish,) is't not meet That I did amplify my judgement in Other conclusions ?* I will try the forces 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.

Cor. Your highness [heart: Shall from this practice but make hard your Besides, the seeing these effects will be Both noisome and infectious.

Queen. O, content thee.

Enter PISANIO.

Here comes a flattering rascal; upon him
Will I first work: he's for his master, [Aside.
And enemy to my son.-How now, Pisanio?-
Doctor, your service for this time is ended;
Take your own way.

Cor. I do suspect you, madam; But you shall do no harm. [Aside. Queen. Hark thee, a word. [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. No further service, doctor, Until I send for thee.

[Exit.

Cor. I humbly take my leave.
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;
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,
And every day, that comes, comes to decay
Is to exchange one misery with another;

773

Arm me, audacity, from head to foot!
Rather, directly fly.
Or, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight;

labour:

It is a thing I made, which hath the king
Five times redeem'd from death: I do not

know [it; What is more cordial :-Nay, I pr'ythee, take It is an earnest of a further 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 changest on; but
think

Thou hast thy mistress still; to boot, my son,
Who shall take notice of thee: I'll move the
To any shape of thy preferment, such [king
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 [that,
The hand fast to her lord.-I have given him
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
Re-enter PISANIO, and LADIES.

To taste of too.-So, so;-well done, well done:

The violets, cowslips, and the primroses,
Bear to my closet;-Fare thee well, Pisanio;
Think on my words.
[Exeunt QUEEN and LADIES.

Pis. And shall do:
But when to my good lord I prove untrue,
I'll choke myself: there's all I'll do for you.
[Exit.

SCENE VII.-Another Room in the sume.
Enter IMOGEN.

Imo. A father cruel, and a step-dame false; A foolish suitor to a wedded lady, [band! That hath her husband banish'd;-0, that husMy supreme crown of grief! and those re

peated

Vexations of it! Had I been thief-stolen,
As my two brothers, happy! but most miser-

able

So far I read aloud:

LEONATUS.

But even the very middle of my heart [ly.-
Is warm'd by the rest, and takes it thankful-
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 crop
Of sea and land, which can distinguish 'twixt
The fiery orbs above, and the twinn'd stones
Upon the number'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

Twixt two such shes, would chatter this way,
monkeys,
[and
Contemn with mows the other: Nor i'the
For idiots, in this case of favour, would
judgement;
Sluttery, to such neat excellence oppos'd,
Be wisely definite: Nor i'the appetite;
Should make desire vomit emptiness,
Not so allur'd to feed.

Imo. What is the matter, trow?
Iach. The cloyed will,

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

Imo. What, dear Sir,

Thus raps you? Are you well?

Iuch. Thanks, madam; well :-'Beseech you, Sir, desire [TO PISANIO. My man's abode where I did leave him: he Is strange and peevish.t

Pis. I was going, Sir, To give him welcome.

[Exit PISANIO.

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

Iuch. Well, madam.,

Imo. Is he dispos'd to mirth? I hope, he is. Iuch. Exceeding pleasant; none a stranger

there

So merry and so gamesome: he is call'd
The Briton reveller.

He did incline to sadness; and oft-times
Imo. When he was here,
Not knowing why.

Iach. I never saw him sad.

There is a Frenchman his companion, one
An eminent monsieur, that, it seems, much
A Gallian girl at home: he furnaces [loves
The thick sighs from him; whiles the jolly
Briton

(Your lord, I mean,) laughs from's free lungs, cries, O!

Can my sides hold, to think, that man,-who By history, report, or his own proof, [knows 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.