Too bad for bad report: and he that hath her, In him that should compare. I do not think 2 Gent. You speak him far. * 1 Gent. I do extend him, Sir, within himself; Crush him together, rather than unfold His measure duly. 2 Gent. What's his name, and birth? 1 Gent. I cannot delve him to the root: His father Was call'd Sicilius, who did join his honour (Then old and fond of issue,) took such sorrow, As we do air, fast as 'twas minister'd; and What kind of man he is. 2 Gent. I honour bim So soon as I can win the offended king, I will be known your advocate: marry, yet Your wisdom may inform you. I will from hence to-day. Queen. You know the peril :— I'll fetch a turn about the garden, pitying The pangs of barr'd affections; though the king Hath charg'd you should not speak together. [Exit QUEEN. Imo. O Dissembling courtesy! How fine this tyrant Can tickle where she wounds 1-My dearest husband, [thing I something fear my father's wrath; but no(Always reserv'd my holy duty,) what His rage can do on me: You must be gone; Of angry eyes; nor comforted to live, Post. My queen! my mistress! The loyal'st husband that did e'er plight troth. My residence in Rome at one Philario's; Post. Should we be taking leave As long a term as yet we have to live, The loathness to depart would grow: Adieu ! Imo. Nay, stay a little : Even out of your report. But, 'pray you, tell me, Were you but riding forth to air yourself, Is she sole child to the king? 1 Gent. His only child. He had two sons, (if this be worth your bearing, Mark it,) the eldest of them at three years old, I'the swathing clothes the other, from their nursery [knowledge Were stolen and, to this hour, no guess in Which way they went. 2 Gent. How long is this ago? 1 Gent. Some twenty years. 2 Gent. That a king's children should be so convey'd ! So slackly guarded! And the search so slow, 1 Gent. Howsoe'er 'tis strange, Or that the negligence may well be laugh'd at, Yet is it true, Sir. 2 Gent. I do well believe you. I Gent. We must forbear: Here come the queen and princess. SCENE II.-The same. Exeunt. Such parting were too petty. Look here, love; Post. How! how! another?- [Putting on the Ring. While sense can keep it on! And sweetest, fairest, As I my poor self did exchange for you, It is a manacle of love: I'll place it [Putting a Bracelet on her Arm. Imo. O the gods! When shall we see again? Enter CYMBELINE and LORDS. Post. Alack, the king! Cym. Thou basest thing, avoid! hence, from my sight! If, after this command, thou fraught the court Post. The gods protect you! Imo. There cannot be a pinch in death More sharp than this is. C'ym. O disloyal thing, That should'st repair my youth; thou heapest A year's age on me! Imo. I beseech you, Sir, Harm not yourself with your vexation; I Am senseless of your wrath; a touch more rare. Subdues all pangs, all fears. Cym. Past grace? obedience Imo. Past hope, and in despair: that way, past grace. Cym. That might'st have had the sole son of my queen! Imo. O bless'd, that I might not! I chose an eagle, And did avoid a puttock. + Cym. Thou took'st a beggar; would'st have made my throne A seat for baseness. Imo. No; I rather added A lustre to it. Cym. O thou vile one! It is your fault that I have lov'd Posthumus : Cym. What !-art thou mad? Imo. Almost, Sir: Heaven restore me!- A neat-herd's daughter! and my Leonatus Re-enter QUEEN. Cym. Thou foolish thing!-- SCENE III-A Public Place. Enter CLOTEN, and two Lords. 1 Lord. Sir, I would advise you to shift a shirt; the violence of action hath made you reek as a sacrifice: Where air comes out, air comes in: there's none abroad so wholesome as that you vent. Clo. If my shirt were bloody, then to shift it -Have I burt him? 2 Lord. No, faith; not so much as his patience. (Aside. 1 Lord. Hurt him? his body's a passable carcass, if he be not hurt it is a thoroughfare for steel if it be not hurt. 2 Lord. His steel was in debt; it went o'the backside the town. [Aside. Clo. The villain would not stand me. 2 Lord. No; but he fled forward still, toward your face. [Aside. 1 Lord. Stand you! You had land enough of your own but he added to your having; gave you some ground. 2 Lord. As many inches as you have oceans: Puppies! [Aside. Clo. I would, they had not come between us. 2 Lord. So would I, till you had measured how long a fool you were upon the ground. [Aside. Clo. And that she should love this fellow, and refuse me ! 2 Lord. If it be a sin to make a true election, she is damned. [Aside. 1 Lord. Sir, as I told you always, her beauty and her brain go not together: She's a [To the QUEEN.good sign, but I have seen small reflection of her wit. + Not after our command. Away with her, Queen. 'Beseech your patience :-Peace, comfort Out of your best advice. Cym. Nay, let her languish A drop of blood a day; and, being aged, Enter PISANIO. Queen. Fie !-you must give way: 2 Lord. She shines not upon fools, lest the reflection should hurt her. [Aside. Clo. Come, I'll to my chamber: 'Would there had been some hurt done! 2 Lord. I wish not so; unless it had been the fall of an ass, which is no great hurt. Here is your servant.-How now, Sir? What [Aside. [Exeunt. Have turn'd mine eye, and wept.-But, good | for courtesies, which I will be ever to pay, and Pisanio, When shall we hear from him? Pis. Be assur'd, madam, With his next vantage. * Imo. I did not take my leave of him, but had Most pretty things o say: ere I could tell him, How I would think on him, at certain hours, Such thoughts, and such; or I could make him swear The shes of Italy should not betray And, like the tyrannous breathing of the north, Enter a LADY. Lady. The queen, madam, Desires your highness' company. yet pay still. French. Sir, you o'er-rate my poor kindness: I was glad I did atone my countryman and you; it had been pity you should have been put together with so mortal a purpose as then each bore, upon importance of so slight and trivial a nature. Post. By your pardon, Sir, I was then a young traveller: ather shunned to go even with what I heard, than in my every action to be guided by others' experiences: but, upon my mended judgment, (if I offend not to say it is mended,) my quarrel was not altogether slight. French. 'Faith, yes, to be put to the arbitrement of swords; and by such two, that would, by all likelihood, have confounded one the other, or have fallen both. Iuch. Can we, with manners, ask what was the difference? French. Safely, I think: 'twas a contention in public, which may, without contradiction, suffer the report. It was much like an argument that fell out last night, where each of us Imo. Those things I bid you do, get them fell in praise of our country mistresses: This despatch'd. I will attend the queen. Pis. Madam, I shall. [Exeunt. SCENE V.-Rome.-An Apartment in PHI- gentleman at that time vouching, (and upon warrant of bloody affirmation,) his to be more fair, virtuous, wise, chaste, constant-qualified, and less attemptible, than any the rarest of our ladies in France. lach. That lady is not now living; or this gentleman's opinion by this worn out. Post. She holds her virtue still, and I my Enter PHILARIO, IACHIMO, a FRENCHMAN, a mind. Iach. Believe it, Sir, I have seen him in Britain he was then of a crescent note, § expected to prove so worthy, as since he hath been allowed the name of: but I could then have looked on him without the help of admiration though the catalogue of his endowments had been tabled by his side, and I to peruse him by items. Phi. You speak of him when he was less furnished, than now he is, with that which makes him both without and within. French. I have seen him in France: we had very many there, could behold the sun with as firm eyes as he. Iach. This matter of marrying his king's daughter, (wherein he must be weighed, rather by her value than his own,) words him, I doubt not, a great deal from the matter. French. And then his banishment: Iach. Ay, and the approbation of those that weep this lamentable divorce, under her colours, are wonderfully to extend him: be it but to fortify her judgment, which else an easy battery might lay flat, for taking a beggar without more quality. But how comes it, be is to sojourn with you? How creeps acquaint ance? Phi. His father and I were soldiers together; to whom I have been often bound for no less than my life: Enter POSTHUMUS. lach. You must not so far prefer her 'fore our's of Italy. If she Post. Being so far provoked as I was in France, I would abate her nothing: though I profess myself her adorer, not her friend. band comparison,) had been something too fair Iuch. As fair and as good (a kind of hand-inand too good for any lady in Britany. went before others I have seen, as that diamond of your's outlustres many I have beheld, I could not but believe she excelled many but I have not seen the most precious diamond that is, nor you the lady. Post. I praised her, as I rated her: so do I my stone. Iach. What do you esteem it at ? Post. You are mistaken the one may be sold, or given; if there were wealth enough for the purchase, or merit for the gift: the other is not a thing for sale, and only the gift of the gods. Iach. Which the gods have given you? Iach. You may wear her in title your's: but, you know, strauge fowl light upon neighbouring ponds. Your ring may be stolen too: so, of your brace of unprizable estimations, the one is but frail, and the other casual; a cunning thief, or a that-way accomplished courtier, would hazard the winning both of first and last. Here comes the Briton: Let him be so entertained amongst you, as suits, with gentlemen of Post. Your Italy contains none so accom. your knowing, to a stranger of quality.-I be- plished a courtier, to convince the honour of seech you all, be better known to this gentle-my mistress; if, in the holding or loss of that I do nothing doubt you man; whom I commend to you as a noble friend you term her frail. of mine: How worthy he is, I will leave to aphave store of thieves; notwithstanding I fear pear hereafter, rather than story him in his own not my ring. hearing. Phi. Let us leave here, gentlemen. leans. are familiar at first. her go back, even to the yielding; had I ad- Make haste: Who has the note of them? mittance, and opportunity to friend. Post. A repulse: Though your attempt, as you call it, deserve more-a punisment too. Phi. Gentlemen, enough of this: it came in too suddenly; let it die as it was born, and, I pray you, be better acquainted. Iach. 'Would I had put my estate and my neighbour's on the approbation of what I have spoke. Post. What lady would you choose to assail? Iach. Your's; whom in constancy, you think, stands so safe. I will lay you ten thousand ducats to your ring, that, commend me to the court where your lady is, with no more advantage than the opportunity of a second conference, and I will bring from thence that honour of her's, which you imagine so reserved. Post. I will wage against your gold, gold to it: my ring I hold dear as my finger; 'tis part of it. Iach. You are a friend, and therein the wiser. If you buy ladies' flesh at a million a dram, you cannot preserve it from tainting: But, I see, you have some religion in you, that you fear. Post. This is but a custom in your tongue; you bear a graver purpose, I hope. lach. I am the master of my speeches; and would undergo what's spoken, I swear. Post. Will you?-I shall but lend my diamond till your return :-Let there be covenants drawn between us: My mistress exceeds in goodness the hugeness of your unworthy thinking: I dare you to this match: here's my ring. Phi. I will have it no lay. Iach. By the gods it is one :-If I bring you no sufficient testimony that I have enjoyed the dearest bodily part of your mistress, my ten thousand ducats are your's; so is your diamond too. If I come off, and leave her in such honour as you have trust in, she your jewel, this your jewel, and my gold are your's :-provided I have your commendation, ý for my more free entertainment. [Exeunt POSTHUMUS and IACHIMO. French. Will this hold, think you? Phi. Signior lachimo will not from it. Pray, let us follow 'em. [Exeunt. 1 Lady. I, madam. Queen. Despatch. [Exeunt LADIES. Now, master doctor; have you brought those drugs? Cor. Pleaseth your highness, ay: here they are, madam: [Presenting a small Box. But I beseech your grace, (without offence; My conscience bids me ask ;) wherefore you have Commanded of me these most poisonous compounds, Which are the movers of a languishing death; But, though slow, deadly? Queen. I do wonder, doctor, Thou ask'st me such a question: Have I not been Thy pupil long? Hast thou not learn'd me how To make perfumes? distil? preserve? ea, so, That our great king himself doth woo me oft For my confections? Having thus far proceeded, (Unless thou think'st me devilish,) is't not meet To try the vigour of them, and apply Shall from this practice but make hard your heart: Besides, the seeing these effects will be Enter PISANIO. Here comes a flattering rascal; upon him [Aside. And 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; But you shall do no harm. [Aside. Queen. Hark thee, a word.- [TO PISANIO. Cor. [Aside.] I do not like her. She doth think she has Strange lingering poisons: I do know her spirit, Queen. No further service, doctor, son, I'll tell thee, on the instant, thou art then SCENE VI.-Britain.-A Room in CYMBE- Is at last gasp: Return he cannot, nor Continue where he is: to shift his being, t Thou hast thy mistress still; to boot, my son, Not to be shak'd: the agent for his master; The band fast to her lord.-I have given him that, she, Which, if he take, shall quite unpeople her Re-enter PISANIO, and LADIES. To taste of too.-So, so ;-well done, well done: [Exeunt QUEEN and LADIES. Pis. And shall do: But when to my good lord I prove untrue, I'll choke myself: there's all I'll do for you. [Exit. SCENE VII.-Another Room in the same. Enter IxOGEN. Imo. A father cruel, and a step-dame false; A foolish suitor to a wedded lady, [band! That hath her busband banish'd-O that husMy supreme crown of grief! and those repeated Vexations of it! Had I been thief-stolen, As my two brothers, happy! but most miserable Is the desire that's glorions: Blessed be those, How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills, Which seasons comfort.-Who may this be? Fie! Enter PISANIO and IACHIMO. Pis. Madam, a noble gentleman of Rome Imo. Thanks, good Sir: [Presents a Letter. Is warm'd by the rest, and takes it thankfully.-- Jach. Thanks, fairest lady. What! are men mad? Hath nature given them eyes To see this vaulted arch, and the rich crop Imo. What makes your admiration? Jach. It cannot be i'the eye; for apes and monkeys, Twixt two such shes, would chatter this way, and Contemn with mows the other: Nor 'the judgment; For idiots, in this case of favour, would Imo. What is the matter, trow? (That satiate yet unsatisfied desire, That tub both fill'd and running,) ravening first Thus raps you? Are you well? Jach. Thanks, madam; well:-'Beseech you, So merry and so gamesome: he is call'd Imo. When he was here, He did incline to sadness; and oft-times Iach. I never saw him sad. There is a Frenchman his companion, one A Gallian girl at home: he furnaces (Your lord, I mean,) laughs from's free lungs, cries, O! Can my sides hold, to think, that man,-who Assured bondage? Imo. Will my lord say so? Iach. Ay, madam? with his eyes in flood with laughter. It is a recreation to be by, And hear him mock the Frenchman: But heavens know, Some men are much to blame. Imo. Not he, I hope. Iach. Not he: But yet heaven's bounty towards him might Be us'd more thankfully. much; In himself, 'tis In you, which I count his-beyond all ta Imo. What do you pity, Sir? |
