Cor. Your Highness Shall from this practice but make hard your heart; Besides, the seeing these effects will be Both noysome and infectious. Queen. O, content thee.

Enter Pisanio. Here comes a flatt’ring rascal, upon him [ Afde. Will I first work ; he's for his master's fake An 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 : [Aside. But you shall do no harm.

Queen. Hark thee, a word.— (To Pisanio.

Cor. I do not like her. She doth think, she has
Strange lingʻring poisons; I do know her spirit,
And will not trust one of her malice with
A drug of such damnd nature. Those, she has,
Will ftupifie and dull the sense a while ;
Which first, perchance, she'll prove on cats and dogs,
Then afterwards up higher ; but there is
No danger in what shew 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.
Cor. I humbly take my leave.

[Exit. Queen. Weeps she ftill, fay'st thou? doft thou

think, in time
She will not quench, and let instructions enter
Where folly now poffeffes ? 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 lye speechless, and his name
Is at last gasp. Return he cannot, nor
Continue where he is : to shift his being,
Is to exchange one misery with another ;
And every day, that comes, comes to decay
A day's work in him. What shalt thou expect,
To be depender on a thing that leans?
Who cannot be new built, and has no friends,
So much as but to prop him? — Thou tak’st up

(Pisanio looking on the Viol.
Thou know'st not what; but take it for thy labour;
It is a thing I make, which hath the King
Five times redeem'd from death; I do not know
What is more cordial. Nay, 1 pr’ythee, take it;
It is an earnest of a farther 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 chancelt on ; but think ;--
Thou hast thy mistress still: to boot, my
Who shall take notice of thee. I'll move the King
To any shape of thy preferment, such
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-

[Exit Pifanio.
Think on my wordsA fly and constant knave,
Not to be shak’d; the agent for his master;
And the remembrancer of her, to hold
The hand fast to her Lord.---'ve giv'n him That,
Which, if he take, shall quite unpeople her
Of leidgers for her sweet ; and which she, after,
Except she bend her humour, shall be affur'd
To taste of too.

Enter Pisanio, and Ladies,
So, fo; well done, well done;
The violets, cowslips, and the primroses,

Bear

son;

1

Bear to my closet; fare thee well, Pisanio,
Think on my words. [Exeunt Queen and Ladies.

Pif. And shall do:
But when to my good Lord I prove untrue,
I'll choak myself; there's all I'll do for you. [Exit.

A

Enter Imogen alone.
Imo. Father cruel, and a Stepdame false,

A foolish suitor to a wedded lady,
That hath her husband banish'do, that husband!
My fupream crown of grief, & and those repeated
Vexations of it-Had I been thief-stoln,
As my two brothers, happy! ' but most miserable
Is the desire, that's glorious. 'Bless'd be those,
How mean foe'er, that have their honest wills,
Which seasons comfort. Who may this be? fie!

Enter 8 and those repeated

Vexations of it) Meaning the Queen and her son: these are fet, in comparison, with her husband, and make the sentiment extremely fine. 9 but most miserable

Is the desire, that's glorious.] Her husband, she says, proves her fupreme grief. She had been happy had the been ftoln as her brothers were, but now she is miserable, as all those are who have a sense of worth and honour superior to the vulgar, which occafions them infinite vexations from the envious and worthless part of mankind. Had she not so refined a taste as to be content only with the superior merit of Pofthumus, but could have taken up with Cloten, she might have escaped these perfecutions. This elegance of taste, which always discovers an excellence and chuses it, she calls with great fublimity of expression, The desire that's glorious ; which the Oxford Editor not understanding alters to, The degree that's glorious.

Bleli'd be those
How mean foe'er, that have their honest wills,

Which seasons comfort.-- ] The last words are equivocal : but the meaning is this, Who are beholden only to the seasons

for

Enter Pifanio, and lachimo.
Pif. Madam, a noble Gentleman of Rome
Comes from my Lord with letters.

lacb. Change you, Madam? The worthy Leonatus is in fafety, And greets your Highness dearly.

Imo. Thanks, good Sir, You're kindly welcome.

Iach. All of her, that is out of door, most rich! If she be furnish'd with a mind so rare, [ Aside. She is alone th’Arabian bird ; and I Have lost the wager. Boldness be my friend! Arm me, Audacity, from head to foot : Or, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight, Rather directly fly.

Imogen reads. He is one of the noblest note, to whose kindnesses I am most infinitely tyed. Reflect upon bim accordingly, as you value your trust.

Leonatus. So far I read aloud: But even the very middle of my heart Is warm'd by th' rest, and takes it thankfully, You are as welcome, worthy Sir, as I Have words to bid you; and shall find it so, In all that I can do,

Jach. Thanks, fairest LadyWhat! are men mad? hath nature given them eyes To see this vaulted arch, * and the rich cope Of sea and land, which can diftinguish 'twixt The fiery orbs above, and the twinn'd stones for their support and nourishment; so that, if those be kindly, such have no more to care for or desire.

and the rich crop Of fea and land-] He is here speaking of the covering of sea and land, Shakespear therefore wrote, And the rich COPE

Upon

2

'Upon th' humbld 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' th' eye; (for apes and monkeys, ' 'Twixt cwo such she's, would chatter this way, and Contemn with mowes the other :) Nor i'th' judg

ment ; For Ideots, in this case of favour, would Be wisely definite: Nor i' th' appetite : Slutt'ry, to such neat excellence oppos’d, +Should make desire vomit emptiness, Not fo allur'd to feed.

Imo. What is the matter, trow?

Iach. The cloyed will,
That satiate, yet unsatisfy'd 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? lach. Thanks, Madam, well-'Beseech you, Sir,

[To Pisanio. Desire my man's abode, where I did leave him; He's strange, and peevilh.

Pis. I was going, Sir, 3 Upon th’ UNNUMBER'D beach?-] Sense and the antithesis oblige us to read this nonsense thus,

Upon the HUMBL'D beach. i.e. because daily insulted with the flow of the tide. 4 Should make defire vomit emptiness,

Not so allur'd to feed.] i.e. that appetite, which is not allured to feed on such excellence, can have no ftomach at all; but, tho' empty, muft nauseate every thing.

5 He's strange and peevish.] i. e. ignorant of foreign manners, and impatient of contradi&tion. This, I think, was a good reason for his matter to order him to stay within doors. But the Oxford Editor, with great acumen, alters it to, He's Arange and sheepish.

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