Cor. Your Highness

Shall from this practice but make hard your heart;
Befides, the feeing these effects will be
Both noysome and infectious.

Queen. O, content thee.

Enter Pifanio.

Here comes a flatt'ring rascal, upon him
Will I first work; he's for his mafter's fake
An enemy to my fon. How now, Pifanio?
Doctor, your fervice for this time is ended;
Take your own way.

Cor. I do fufpect you, Madam:

But you fhall do no harm.

Queen. Hark thee, a word.

[Afide.

[Afide.

[To Pifanio.

Cor. I do not like her. She doth think, fhe has

Strange ling'ring poifons; I do know her fpirit,
And will not truft one of her malice with

A drug of fuch damn'd nature. Thofe, fhe has,
Will ftupifie and dull the fenfe a while;

Which first, perchance, fhe'll prove on cats and dogs,
Then afterwards up higher; but there is
No danger in what fhew of death it makes,
More than the locking up the spirits a time,
To be more fresh, reviving. She is fool'd
With a moft falfe effect; and I the truer,
So to be falfe with her.

Queen. No further fervice, Doctor,

Until I fend for thee.

Cor. I humbly take my leave.

[Exit.

Queen. Weeps the ftill, fay'ft thou? doft thou

think, in time

She will not quench, and let inftructions enter
Where folly now poffeffes? do thou work;
When thou shalt bring me word fhe loves my fon,
I'll tell thee on the inftant, thou art then
As great as is thy mafter; greater; for

His

His fortunes all lye fpeechlefs, and his name
Is at laft gafp. Return he cannot, nor
Continue where he is: to fhift his being,
Is to exchange one mifery with another;
And every day, that comes, comes to decay
A day's work in him. What fhalt 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❜ft up

[Pifanio looking on the Viol. Thou know'ft 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, I pr'ythee, take it;
It is an earneft of a farther Good

That I mean to thee. Tell thy mistress how
The cafe ftands with her; do't, as from thyself:
Think, what a chance thou chanceft on; but think;-
Thou haft thy mistress ftill: to boot, my fon;
Who fhall take notice of thee.

11

I'll move the King

To any fhape of thy preferment, fuch
As thou'lt defire; and then myself, I chiefly,
That fet thee on to this defert, am bound
To load thy merit richly. Call my women-

[Exit Pifanio.
Think on my words-A fly and conftant knave,
Not to be fhak'd; the agent for his master;
And the remembrancer of her, to hold
The hand faft to her Lord.-I've giv'n him That,
Which, if he take, fhall quite unpeople her
Of leidgers for her fweet; and which she, after,
Except the bend her humour, fhall be affur'd
To taste of too.

Enter Pifanio, and Ladies.

So, fo; well done, well done;

The violets, cowflips, and the primroses,

Bear

Bear to my closet; fare thee well, Pifanio,

Think on my words.

Pif. And fhall do:

[Exeunt Queen and Ladies.

But when to my good Lord I prove untrue,

I'll choak myself; there's all I'll do for you. [Exit.

Imo. A

A

Enter Imogen alone.

Father cruel, and a Stepdame falfe, A foolish fuitor to a wedded lady,· That hath her husband banish'd-O, that husband! My fupream crown of grief, and those repeated Vexations of it-Had I been thief-ftoln,

8

I

As my two brothers, happy! 9 but most miserable
Is the defire, that's glorious. Blefs'd be thofe,
How mean foe'er, that have their honeft wills,
Which seasons comfort. Who may this be? fie!

8 and those repeated

Enter

Vexations of it] Meaning the Queen and her fon: thefe are fet, in comparison, with her husband, and make the fentiment extremely fine.

Is the defire, that's glorious.] Her husband, the fays, proves her fupreme grief. She had been happy had the been stoln as her brothers were, but now she is miferable, as all those are who have a fense of worth and honour fuperior to the vulgar, which occafions them infinite vexations from the envious and worthless part of mankind. Had fhe not fo refined a taste as to be content only with the fuperior merit of Pofthumus, but could have taken up with Cloten, fhe might have escaped these perfecutions. This elegance of tafte, which always difcovers an excellence and chufes it, the calls with great fublimity of expreffion, The defire that's glorious; which the Oxford Editor not understanding alters to, The degree that's glorious.

How mean foe'er, that have their honeft wills,

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

for

Enter Pifanio, and Iachimo.

Pif. Madam, a noble Gentleman of Rome
Comes from my Lord with letters.
Iach. 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, moft rich! If the be furnish'd with a mind fo rare,

She is alone th' Arabian bird; and I

Have loft the wager. Boldness be my friend!
Arm me, Audacity, from head to foot:

Or, like the Parthian, I fhall flying fight,
Rather directly fly.

Imogen reads.

[Afide.

He is one of the noblest note, to whofe kindnesses I am Reflect upon bim accordingly, as you

moft infinitely tyed.

value your trust.

So far I read aloud:

But even the very middle of my heart

Leonatus.

Is warm'd by th' reft, and takes it thankfully.
You are as welcome, worthy Sir, as I
Have words to bid you; and fhall find it fo,
In all that I can do,

Jach. Thanks, faireft Lady

What! are men mad? hath nature given them eyes To fee this vaulted arch, and the rich cope

2

Of fea and land, which can diftinguish 'twixt
The fiery orbs above, and the twinn'd stones

for their fupport and nourishment; fo that, if those be kindly, fuch have no more to care for or defire.

2

and the rich CROP

Of fea and land-] He is here fpeaking of the covering of fea and land, Shakespear therefore wrote,

And the rich coPE

Upon

'Upon th' humbl'd beach? and can we not
Partition make with spectacles fo precious
'Twixt fair and foul.

Imo. What makes your admiration?

Iach. It cannot be i' th' eye; (for apes and monkeys, 'Twixt two fuch fhe'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 wifely definite: Nor i' th' appetite :
Slutt'ry, to fuch neat excellence oppos'd,
*Should make defire vomit emptiness,
Not fo allur'd to feed.

Imo. What is the matter, trow?
Iach. The cloyed will,

That fatiate, yet unfatisfy'd defire, (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?

Iach. Thanks, Madam, well-Befeech you, Sir,

[To Pifanio.

Defire my man's abode, where I did leave him;

'He's ftrange, and peevish.

Pif. I was going, Sir,

3 Upon th' UNNUMBER'D beach ?-] Senfe and the antithefis oblige us to read this nonsense thus,

Upon the HUMBL'D beach.

i.e. because daily infulted with the flow of the tide.

4 Should make defire vomit emptiness,

Not fo allur'd to feed.] i. e. that appetite, which is not allured to feed on fuch 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 contradiction. This, I think, was a good reafon for his mafter to order him to stay within doors. But the Oxford Editor, with great acumen, alters it to,