Behoves me keep at utterance1. I am perfect,
That the Pannonians and Dalmatians, for

Their liberties, are now in arms; a precedent
Which not to read would show the Britons cold:
So Cæsar shall not find them.

Luc. Let proof speak. Clo. His majesty bids you welcome. Make pastime with us a day or two, or longer: if you seek us afterwards in other terms, you shall find us in our salt-water girdle: if you beat us out of it, it is yours. If you fall in the adventure, our crows shall fare the better for you; and there's an end.

Luc. So, sir.

Cym. I know your master's pleasure, and he mine: All the remain is, welcome.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Another Room in the Same.

Enter PISANIO.

Pis. How! of adultery? Wherefore write you not What monsters her accuse 5?-Leonatus!

O, master! what a strange infection

Is fallen into thy ear! What false Italian

(As poisonous tongued, as handed) hath prevail'd
On thy too ready hearing?-Disloyal? No:
She's punish'd for her truth; and undergoes,

4

-

keep AT UTTERANCE.] i. e. to keep at the extremity of defiance. Combat à outrance (says Steevens) is a fight, that must conclude with the life of one of

the combatants. So, in "Macbeth," Vol. vii. p. 136 :—

"Rather than so, come, fate, into the list,

And champion me to the utterance."

5 What monsters her accuse ?] So every old copy: every modern edition, "What monster's her accuser?" Surely no variation from the ancient text is required.

More goddess-like than wife-like, such assaults
As would take in some virtue'.-O, my master!
Thy mind to her is now as low, as were

Thy fortunes. How! that I should murder her?
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.
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 +
-let that grieve him:

that is one of them, his content,

x, thy leave.-Bless'd be, se locks of counsel! Lovers,

hrase "to take in," which is equiis Vol. p. 70.

Feodary" occurs in Vol. ii. p. 45, and feodary") in Vol. iii. p. 454: in both ate or accomplice.

And men in dangerous bonds, pray not alike:
Though forfeiters you cast in prison, yet
You clasp young Cupid's tables.-Good news, gods!
[Reads.

"Justice, and your father's wrath, should he take me in his dominion, 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 your own love will out of this advise you follow. So, he wishes you all happiness, that remains loyal to his vow, 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,
(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
T' inherit such a haven: but, first of all,
How we may steal from hence; and, for the gap
That we shall make in time, from our hence-going,

8 would even renew me with your eyes.] It has been usual to vary from the old copies, by reading, "would not even renew me;" but this change, as Mr. Amyot remarks, hardly seems required, the apparent sense being, that Justice and the wrath of Cymbeline could not do Posthumus any cruelty, but such as might be remedied by the eyes of Imogen.

9

p. 68.

say, and speak THICK,] i. e. rapidly. See Vol. iv. p. 377 ; and Vol. vi.

And our return, to excuse :—but first, how get hence.
Why should excuse be born, or e'er 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,

Madam, 's enough for you, and too much, too.

Imo. Why, one that rode to 's execution, man,

Could never go so slow: I have heard of riding wagers,
Where horses have been nimbler than the sands

That run i̇' the clock's behalf.-But this is foolery.-
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.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Wales. A mountainous Country, 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 t'adore the heavens, and bows you To a morning's holy office: the gates of monarchs

1 STOOP, boys:] The old copies misprint " stoop" sleep; an error which was corrected by Sir T. Hanmer: the context confirms the amendment, but, nevertheless, sleep runs through all the folios.

2

Are arch'd so high, that giants may jet through
And keep their impious turbands on, without
Good morrow to the sun.-Hail, thou fair heaven!
We house i' the rock, yet use thee not so hardly
As prouder livers do.

Gui.

Arv.

Hail, heaven!

Hail, heaven!

Bel. Now, for our mountain sport. Up to yond'

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:

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;
Richer, than doing nothing for a bribe3;
Prouder, than rustling in unpaid-for silk:
Such gain the cap of him, that makes him fine,
Yet keeps his book uncross'd.

Gui Out of your proof you

fledg'd,

No life to ours.
speak: we, poor un-

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

not

2 that giants may JET through] To "jet" is to strut. We have had the same word in Vol. iii. p. 366; Vol. v. p. 401; and Vol. vi. p. 294.

3 for a BRIBE ;] Here again occurs an evident corruption, babe for "bribe," in the folio, 1623. Sir T. Hanmer made the judicious change, which is preferable to Warburton's substitution, bauble. Steevens would justify the old reading by reference to the law of wards and infants, but such an allusion would hardly have been intelligible to the audience.

4 Yet keeps his book UNCROSS'D.] The tradesman's book was crossed when the account was paid. The allusions to this circumstance in old writers are frequent.