Imo. I will write. Send your trunk to me: it shall safe be kept, [Exeunt. ACT II. SCENE I. Court before CYMBELINE's Palace. Enter CLOTEN, and Two Lords. Clo. Was there ever man had such luck! when I kissed the jack upon an up-cast, to be hit away! I had a hundred pound on't: and then a whoreson jackanapes must take me up for swearing; as if I borrowed mine oaths of him, and might not spend them at my pleasure. 1 Lord. What got he by that? You have broke his pate with your bowl. 2 Lord. [Aside.] If his wit had been like him that broke it, it would have run all out. Clo. When a gentleman is disposed to swear, it is not for any standers-by to curtail his oaths, ha? 2 Lord. No, my lord; [Aside.] nor crop the ears of them. Clo. Whoreson dog!-I give him satisfaction 10? Would he had been one of my rank! 9 2 Lord. [Aside.] To have smelt like a fool. Clo. I am not vexed more at any thing in the earth. when I kissed the JACK-] At bowls, what we now always term "the jack," in Shakespeare's time was most frequently called the mistress, but sometimes the master, and rarely " the jack," as in our text. 10- I GIVE him satisfaction?] First folio, gave. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. -A pox on't! I had rather not be so noble as I am: they dare not fight with me, because of the queen my mother. Every jack-slave hath his belly full of fighting, and I must go up and down like a cock that no body can match. 2 Lord. [Aside.] You are cock and capon too; and you crow, cock, with your comb on. Clo. Sayest thou? 2 Lord. It is not fit, your lordship should undertake every companion that you give offence to. Clo. No, I know that; but it is fit I should commit offence to my inferiors. 2 Lord. Ay, it is fit for your lordship only. Clo. Why, so I say. 1 Lord. Did you hear of a stranger, that's come to court to-night? Clo. A stranger, and I not know on't! 2 Lord. [Aside.] He's a strange fellow himself, and knows it not. 1 Lord. There's an Italian come; and, 'tis thought, one of Leonatus' friends. Clo. Leonatus! a banished rascal; and he's another, whatsoever he be. Who told you of this stranger? 1 Lord. One of your lordship's pages. Clo. Is it fit, I went to look upon him? Is there no derogation in't? 1 Lord. You cannot derogate, my lord. Clo. Not easily, I think. 2 Lord. [Aside.] You are a fool granted; therefore, your issues being foolish do not derogate. Clo. Come, I'll go see this Italian. What I have lost to-day at bowls, I'll win to-night of him. Come, go. 2 Lord. I'll attend your lordship. [Exeunt CLOTEN and first Lord. That such a crafty devil as is his mother Should yield the world this ass! a woman, that Bears all down with her brain; and this her son Cannot take two from twenty for his heart, [Exit. SCENE II. A Bed-chamber; in one Part of it a Trunk. IMOGEN reading in her Bed; a Lady attending. Imo. Who's there? my woman, Helen? Lady. Imo. What hour is it? Lady. Please you, madam. Almost midnight, madam. Imo. I have read three hours, then. Mine eyes are weak; Fold down the leaf where I have left: to bed. Take not away the taper, leave it burning; And if thou canst awake by four o' the clock, To your protection I commend me, gods! [Exit Lady. [Sleeps. IACHIMO comes from the Trunk. Iach. The crickets sing, and man's o'er-labour'd sense Repairs itself by rest: our Tarquin thus Did softly press the rushes', ere he waken'd How bravely thou becom❜st thy bed! fresh lily, How dearly they do't!-Tis her breathing that As slippery, as the Gordian knot was hard!- 1 Did softly press the RUSHES,] It need hardly be repeated (See Vol. iv. p. 287) that apartments of old were usually strewed with rushes, instead of being carpeted. Where Philomel gave up.-I have enough : Though this a heavenly angel, hell is here. One, two, three,―time, time! [Clock strikes. [Goes into the Trunk. The Scene closes. SCENE III. An Ante-Chamber adjoining IMOGEN'S Apartment. Enter CLOTEN and Lords. 1 Lord. Your lordship is the most patient man in loss, the most coldest that ever turned up ace. Clo. It would make any man cold to lose. 1 Lord. But not every man patient, after the noble temper of your lordship. You are most hot, and furious, when you win. Clo. Winning will put any man into courage. If I could get this foolish Imogen, I should have gold enough. It's almost morning, is't not? 1 Lord. Day, my lord. Clo. I would this music would come. I am advised to give her music o' mornings; they say, it will pene trate. 2 May bare the RAVEN'S eye:] Mr. Barron Field thinks that this expression has been hitherto understood too literally, as meaning that the "raven's eye" is "bared," or opened, by the "dawning:" he apprehends that night is here poetically described as "the raven." This may certainly be so, and the suggestion deserves attention, though we are not acquainted with any other instance where night is so personified, admitting that the "raven" and its plumage are often mentioned as accompaniments of, or similes for night; as in the well-known words of Milton : "smoothing the raven down Of darkness till it smiled." |