"That we fhall make in time, from our hence going "Till our return, t'excufe - but first, how get hence? "Why should excuse be born, or ere begot? "We'll talk of that hereafter. Pr'ythee, speak, "How many score of miles may we well ride "'Twixt hour and hour?

Pif. One score 'twixt fun and fun,

Madam, 's enough for you: and too much too.
Imo. "Why, one that rode to's execution, man,
"Could never go fo flow: I've heard of riding wagers,
Where horses have been nimbler than the fands
4 That run i'th' clock's behalf. But this is fool'ry.
Go, bid my woman feign a fickness; fay,
She'll home t' her father and provide me, prefent,
A riding fuit; no coftlier than would fit
A Franklin's housewife.

Pif. Madam, you'd beft confider.

Imo. I fee before me, man: nor here, nor here, Nor what enfues, that have a fog in them, That I cannot look thro'. Away, I pr'ythee, Do as I bid thee; there's no more to fay; Acceffible is none but Milford way.

[Exeunt.

4 That run i'th' clock's behalf.-] This fantaftical expreffion means no more than fand in an hour-glafs, ufed to measure time. 5 1 fee before me, man: nor here nor there,

Nor what enfues, BUT have a fog in them,

That I cannot look thro'.] Shakespear fays the can fee before her, yet on which fide foever the looks, there is a fog which the cannot fee thro'. This nonfenfe is occafioned by the corrupt reading of, BUT have a fog, for, THAT have a fog; and then all is plain. I fee before me, (fays fhe) for there is no fog on any fide of me which I cannot fee thro'. Mr. Theobald objects to a fog in them, and asks for the fubftantive to which the relative plural [THEM] relates. The fubftantive is places, implied in the words here, there, and what ensues: for not to know that Shakespear perpetually takes thefe liberties of grammar, is knowing nothing of his author. So that there is no need for his ftrange stuff of a Fog in Ken.

SCENE

Changes to a Foreft with a Cave, in Wales.
Enter Belarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus.

Bel, 6

66

A Goodly day! not to keep houfe, with fuch

• Whose roof's as low as ours: fee, boys!

this gate

Inftructs you how t'adore the heav'ns; and bows you 'To morning's holy office. Gates of monarchs Are arch'd fo high, that Giants may jet through And keep their impious Turbands on, without 'Good morrow to the Sun. Hail, thou fair heav'n! 'We house i'th' rock, yet ufe thee not fo hardly 'As prouder livers do.

Guid. Hail, heaven!

Arv. Hail, heav'n!

Bel. Now for our mountain fport, up to yond hill, Your legs are young: I'll tread these flats. Confider, • When you, above, perceive me like a crow, That it is place which leffens and fets off;

And you may then revolve what tales I told you, 'Of Courts, of Princes, of the tricks in war; That fervice is not fervice, fo being done, But being fo allow'd. 7 To apprehend thus, 'Draws us a profit from all things we fee: And often, to our comfort, shall we find

6 A goodly day! not to keep house, with fuch

Whofe roof's as low as ours:] The paffage above was a liberty of grammar; but this is a liberty with grammar. The meaning is, it is not for fuch as us who live in a cottage, to keep within doors on fo fine a day.

7

To apprehend thus,

Draws us a profit from all things we fee:] The obferving Nature in this view, gave birth to a very fine book of one of the swifeft men of this age; which was unjustly ridiculed by one of the qvittieft.

• The

8

The fharded beetle in a fafer hold,
Than is the full-wing'd eagle. Oh, this life
Is nobler than attending for a check;
Richer, than doing nothing for a bauble;
Prouder, than ruftling in unpaid-for filk:
Such gain the cap of him, that makes them fine,
Yet keeps his book uncrofs'd; no life to ours.
Guid. Out of your proof you speak; we, poor,
unfledg'd,

• Have never wing'd from view o'th' neft; nor know, • What air's from home. Hap'ly, this life is best, If quiet life is beft; fweeter to you,

That have a fharper known: well correfponding
With your ftiff age; but unto us, it is
A cell of ign'rance; travelling a-bed;
A prifon, for a debtor that not dares
To ftride a limit.

Arv. What fhould we speak of,

• When we are old as you? when we shall hear • The rain and wind beat dark December? how, In this our pinching Cave, fhall we difcourfe The freezing hours away? We have seen nothing; We're beaftly; fubtle as the fox for prey, Like warlike as the wolf, for what we eat: Our valour is to chafe what flies; our cage • We make a choir, as doth the prifon'd bird, And fing our bondage freely.

Bel. How you speak!

Did you but know the city's ufuries,

• And felt them knowingly; the art o'th' Court, As hard to leave, as keep; whofe top to climb, Is certain falling; or fo flipp'ry, that

The fear's as bad as falling; the toil of war;
A pain, that only feems to feek out danger

than doing nothing for a bauble;] i. e. vain titles of honour gained by an idle attendance at Court. But the Oxford Editor reads, for a bribe.

• I'th

I'th' name of fame and honour; which dies i'th'

fearch,

And hath as oft a fland'rous epitaph,

As record of fair act; nay, many time,

'Doth ill deferve, by doing well: what's worse, 'Muft curt'fie at the cenfure:-"Oh, boys, this ftory "The world may read in me: my body's mark'd "With Roman fwords; and my Report was once "First with the beft of note. Cymbeline lov'd me; "And when a foldier was the theam, my name "Was not far off: then was I as a tree,

"Whose boughs did bend with fruit. But, in one night,

"A ftorm, or robbery, call it what you will,

"Shook down my mellow hangings, nay, my leaves; "And left me bare to weather.

Guid. Uncertain favour!

Bel. My fault being nothing, as I have told you oft,

But that two villains (whofe falfe oaths prevail'd
Before my perfect honour) fwore to Cymbeline,
I was confed'rate with the Romans: fo,

Follow'd my banishment; and, this twenty years,
This rock and thefe demeafnes have been my world;
Where I have liv'd at honest freedom; pay'd
More pious debts to heaven, than in all

The fore-end of my time.-But, up to th' mountains!
This is not hunters' language; he, that strikes
The venison firft, fhall be the lord o'th' feast;
To him the other two fhall minifter,

And we will fear no poifon, which attends

In place of greater State:

I'll meet you in the valleys. [Exeunt Guid. and Arvir.
How hard it is to hide the fparks of nature!
These boys know little, they are Sons to th' King
Nor Cymbeline dreams, that they are alive.

They

They think, they're mine, tho' trained up thus meanly.

I'th' Cave, wherein they bow, their thoughts do hit The roof of Palaces; and nature prompts them, In fimple and low things, to prince it, much • Beyond the trick of others. This Paladour, (The heir of Cymbeline and Britaine, whom The King his father call'd Guiderius,) Jove! "When on my three-foot-ftool I fit, and tell "The warlike feats I've done, his fpirits fly out "Into my ftory: fay, thus mine enemy fell,

"And thus I fet my foot on's neck-even then "The princely blood flows in his cheek, he sweats, "Strains his young nerves, and puts himself in posture "That acts my words. The younger brother Cadwall,

(Once, Arviragus,) in as like a figure

Strikes life into my fpeech, and fhews much more His own conceiving. Hark, the game is rouz'dOh Cymbeline! heav'n and my conscience know, Thou didst unjustly banish me: whereon,

At three and two years old, I ftole these babes;

9

tho' trained up thus meanly,

Ith Cave, THERE ON THE BROW,-] The old editions read, Ith Cave WHERE ON THE BOW; which tho' very cor rupt, will direct us to the true reading, which when rightly pointed, is thus,

tho' trained up thus meanly.

Ith Cave WHEREIN THEY BOW

i. e. thus meanly brought up. Yet in this very Cave, which is fo low that they muit bow or bend in entering it, yet are their thoughts fo exalted, &c. This is the antithefis. Belarius had spoken before of the lownefs of this cave.

A goodly day! not to keep house with fuch

Whofe roof's as low as ours: fee, boys! this gate
Inftructs you how t'adore the heav'ns; and bows you
To morning's holy office.

Beyond the trick of others.] Trick, for cuftom, habit.

Thinking