Sel. Enough to purchase what you have made known. Cas. Nay, blush not, Cleopatra; I approve Your wisdom in the deed. Cleo. See, Cæsar! O, behold, How pomp is follow'd! mine will now be yours; And, should we shift estates, yours would be mine. The ingratitude of this Seleucus does Even make me wild: O slave, of no more trust Than love that's hir'd! - What, goest thou back? thou shalt Go back, I warrant thee; I'll catch thine eyes, Though they had wings: Slave, soul-less villain, dog! O rarely base! Cæs. Good queen, let us entreat you. Cleo. O Cæsar, what a wounding shame is this; To one so meek, that mine own servant should As we greet modern friends withal; and say, Cas. Cleopatra, Not what you have reserv'd, nor what acknowledg'd, Cas. Not so: Adieu. [Exeunt CÆSAR, and his Train. Cleo. He words me, girls, he words me, that I should Be noble to myself: but hark thee, Charmian. [not [Whispers CHARMIAN, Iras. Finish, good lady; the bright day is done, And we are for the dark. Cleo. Madam, I will. Dol. Where is the queen? Behold, sir. [Exit CHARMIAN. Cleo. Cleo. I shall remain your debtor. Dolabella, Cleo. Nay, 'tis most certain, Iras: Saucy lictors Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see Iras. O the good gods! Cleo. Nay, that is certain. Iras. I'll never see it; for, I am sure, my nails Are stronger than mine eyes. Cleo. Shew me, my women, like a queen ;-Go fetch Guard. Here is a rural fellow, That will not be denied your highness' presence; He brings you figs. Cleo. Let him come in. How poor an instrument [Exit Guard. May do a noble deed! he brings me liberty. Cleo. Remember'st thou any that have died on 't? Clown. Very many, men and women too. I heard of one of them no longer than yesterday: a very honest woman, but something given to lie; as a woman should not do, but in the way of honesty: how she died of the biting of it, what pain she felt,--Truly, she makes a very good report o' the worm: But he that will believe all that they say, shall never be saved by half that they do: But this is most fallible, the but in the keeping of wise people: for, indeed, there is no goodness in the worm. Cleo. Wil! it eat me? Cleo. Well, get thee gone farewell. Re-enter IRAS, with a robe, crown, &c. [Exit. Cleo. Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have To excuse their after wrath: Husband, I come : Enter the Guard, rushing in. Speak softly, wake her not. 1 Guard. Cæsar hath sent [call him. 2 Guard. There's Dolabella sent from Cæsar;1 Guard. What work is here?-Charmian, is this well done? Char. It is well done, and fitting for a princess Enter DOLABella. All dead. [Dies. Dol. How goes it here? A way there, a way for Cæsar. Cas. Bravest at the last : 1 Guard. Cæs. Char. Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain; that I may The gods themselves do weep! [say, Cleo. This proves me base: O noble weakness!If she first meet the curled Antony, If they had swallow'd poison, 'twould appear He'll make demand of her; and spend that kiss, By external swelling: but she looks like sleep, Which is my heaven to have. Come, mortal wretch, As she would catch another Antony [To the asp, which she applies to her breast. In her strong toil of grace. With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate Of life at once untie: poor venemous fool, Be angry, and despatch. O, could'st thou speak! That I might hear thee call great Cæsar, ass Unpolicied! Char. Cleo. O eastern star! Peace, peace! Dol. [leaves 1 Guard. This is an aspick's trail: and these figHave slime upon them, such as the aspick leaves Upon the caves of Nile. Cas. Most probable, What should I stay- [Falls on a bed, and dies. Now boast thee, death! in thy possession lies THIS play keeps curiosity always busy, and the passions always interested. The continual hurry of the action, the variety of incidents, and the quick succession of one personage to another, call the mind forward without intermission from the first act to the last. But the power of delighting is derived principally from the frequent changes of the scene; for, except the feminine arts, some of which are too low, which distinguish Cleopatra, no character is very strongly discrimina.ed. Upton, who did not easily miss what he desired to find, has CYMBELINE. THIS exquisite and romantic drama was not entered in the Sta-1 tioners' books, nor printed, till 1623. It was probably written in about 1609. The plot is in a great degree taken from the Ninth Novel of the Second Day of the Decameron of Boccacio, of which a deformed and interpolated translation had appeared so early as 1518; and an imitation, in an old storybook, entitled Westward for Smelts, was printed in 1603. Cymbeline, the king from whom the play takes its title, began PERSONS REPRESENTED. CYMBELINE, King of Britain. CLOTEN, son to the Queen by a former husband. GUIDERIUS, sons to Cymbeline, disguised under the names of Polydore and Cadwal, supposed sons to Belarius. PHILARIO, friend to Posthumus, IACHIMO, friend to Philario, Italians. A French Gentleman, friend to Philario. A Roman Captain. Two British Captains. PISANIO, servant to Posthumus. CORNELIUS, a physician. Two Guolers. QUEEN, wife to Cymbeline. IMOGEN, daughter to Cymbeline by a former queen. his reign, according to Holinshed, in the nineteenth year of the reign of Augustus Cæsar; and the play commences in or about the twenty-fourth year of Cymbeline's reign, which was the forty-second year of the reign of Augustus, and the sixteenth of the Christian æra; notwithstanding which, Shakspeare has peopled Rome with modern Italians; Philario, Tachimo, &c. Cymbeline is said to have reigned thirty-five years, leaving at his death two sons, Guiderius and Arviragus. (I mean, that married her,-alack, good man!- 2 Gent. What's his name, and birth? 1 Gent. I cannot delve him to the root: His father So gain'd the sur-addition, Leonatus : And had, besides this gentleman in question, Died with their swords in hand; for which, their father Lords, Ladies, Roman Senators, Tribunes, Apparitions, SCENE,-sometimes in BRITAIN; sometimes in ITALY. ACT I. SCENE I.-Britain. The Garden behind Cymbeline's Palace. 1 Gent. You do not meet a man but frowns: our bloods But what's the matter? 1 Gent. His daughter, and the heir of his kingdom, whom He purpos'd to his wife's sole son, (a widow, 2 Gent. None but the king? 1 Gent. He, that hath lost her, too: so is the queen, 2 Gent. And why so? 1 Gent. He that hath r iss'd the princess, is a thing Too bad for bad report: and he that hath her, Breeds him, and makes him of his bed-chamber: SCENE II.-The same. Enter the QUEEN, POSTHUMUS, and IMOGEN. Queen. No, be assur'd, you shall not find me, I will be known your advocate: marry, yet You lean'd unto his sentence, with what patience Post. I will from hence to-day. Queen. Please your highness, You know the peril :- [Exit QUEEN. Dissembling courtesy! How fine this tyrant Can tickle where she wounds!-My dearest husband, I something fear my father's wrath; but nothing, (Always reserv'd my holy duty,) what His rage can do on me: You must be gone; Post. My queen! my mistress! The loyal'st husband that did e're plight troth. Queen. Re-enter QUEEN. [Aside. Be brief, I pray you: Were you but riding forth to air yourself, Post. How! how! another?- [Putting on the ring. [Putting a bracelet on her arm Ö, the gods! Imo. When shall we see again? Your faithful servant; I dare lay mine honour, He will remain so. Pis. I humbly thank your highness. Queen. Pray, walk a while. Imo. About some half hour hence, SCENE III.-A public Place. 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 itHave I hurt him? 2 Lord. No, faith; not so much as his patience. [Aside. 1 Lord. Hurt him? his body's a passable carcase, if he be not hurt: it is a thoroughfare for steel, if it be not hurt. Lord. His steel was in debt: it went o'the back side the town. Clo. The villain would not stand me. face. [Aside. 2 Lord. No; but he fled forward still, toward your [Aside. 1 Lord. Stand you! You have 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. 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. 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. 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, Imo. I did not take my leave of him, but had Mine interest, and his honour; or have charg'd him, Lady. The queen, madam, Imo. Those things I bid you do, get them deI will attend the queen. [spatch'd.Pis. Madam, I shall. [Exeunt. SCENE V. Rome.-An Apartment in Philario's House. Enter PHILARIO, IACHIMO, a Frenchman, Iach. 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 makes 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. Iach. 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 extend him; be it but to fortify her judgment, 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 acI!-quaintance? Pis. 'Twas, His queen, his queen! And kiss'd it, madam. Pis. Phi. His father and I were soldiers together; to whom I have been often bound for no less than my life: Enter POSTHUMUS. Here comes the Briton: Let him be so entertained amongst you, as suits, with gentlemen of your knowing, to a stranger of his quality.-I beseech you all, |