Albeit he comes on angry purpose now;

But that 's no fault of his: We must receive him
According to the honour of his sender;

And towards himself, his goodness forespent on us,
We must extend our notice. Our dear son,

When you have given good morning to your mistress,
Attend the queen and us; we shall have need
To employ you towards this Roman.-Come, our queen.

[Exeunt CYMBELINE, QUEEN, Lords, and Messenger.

CLO. If she be up, I 'll speak with her; if not,

Let her lie still and dream.-By your leave, ho!—
I know her women are about her. What

If I do line one of their hands? T is gold

Which buys admittance; oft it doth; yea, and makes
Diana's
false themselves, yield up

rangers

b

Their deer to the stand o' the stealer; and 't is gold
Which makes the true man kill'd, and saves the thief;
Nay, sometime, hangs both thief and true man: What

Can it not do, and undo? I will make

One of her women lawyer to me; for
I yet not understand the case myself.
By your leave.

[Knocks.

[Knocks.

The meaning of the passage is clearly-"so seem, that you in all obey her, as if you were inspir'd," &c. The cutting off of the last member of the sentence is destructive to the sense.

are senseless has the meaning of be you senseless.

False is here used as a verb. See Note in 'The Comedy of Errors,' Act II., Scene 2.

You

Than some, whose tailors are as dear as yours,

Can justly boast of: What's your lordship's pleasure? CLO. Your lady's person: Is she ready?

LADY.

To keep her chamber.

Ay,

CLO. There is gold for you; sell me your good report.
LADY. How! my good name? or to report of you
What I shall think is good?—The princess-

IMO. But that you shall

This is no answer.

not say I yield, being silent,
I would not speak. I pray you, spare me: i' faith,
I shall unfold equal discourtesy

To your best kindness; one of your great knowing
Should learn, being taught, forbearance.

CLO. To leave you in your madness, 't were my sin:
I will not.

IMO. Fools are not mad folks.

CLO.

IMO. As I am mad, I do:

CLO.

Do you call me fool?

If you 'll be patient, I'll no more be mad;
That cures us both. I am much sorry, sir,
You put me to forget a lady's manners,
By being so verbala: and learn now, for all,
That I, which know my heart, do here pronounce,
By the very truth of it, I care not for you;
And am so near the lack of charity,

(To accuse myself,) I hate you; which I had rather
You felt, than make 't my boast.

You sin against

Obedience, which you owe your father. For

The contract you pretend with that base wretch,

So verbal. Johnson defines this, "so verbose, so full of talk." But neither Cloten nor Imogen have used many words. Imogen has been parrying her strange admirer; but she now resolves to

speak plainly to be verbal-and thus to forget a lady's manners.

TRAGEDIES.-VOL. II.

L

1

IMO.

(One bred of alms, and foster'd with cold dishes,
With scraps o' the court,) it is no contract, none :
And though it be allow'd in meaner parties,
(Yet who than he more mean?) to knit their souls
(On whom there is no more dependency
But brats and beggary) in self-figur'd knot,
Yet you are curb'd from that enlargement by
The consequence o' the crown; and must not soil
The precious note of it with a base slave,
A hilding for a livery, a squire's cloth,
A pantler, not so eminent.

CLO.

Profane fellow !

Wert thou the son of Jupiter, and no more
But what thou art besides, thou wert too base
To be his groom: thou wert dignified enough,
Even to the point of envy, if 't were made
Comparative for your virtues, to be styl'd
The under-hangman of his kingdom; and hated
For being preferr'd so well.

IMO. He never can meet more

The south-fog rot him!

mischance than come

To be but nam'd of thee. His meanest garment,

That ever hath but clipp'd his body, is dearer,

In my respect, than all the hairs above thee,

Were they all made such men.-How now? Pisanio!

Enter PISANIO.

CLO. His garment? Now, the devil

IMO. To Dorothy my woman hie thee presently :

CLO. His garment?

IMO.

PIS.

I am sprighted with a fool;

Frighted, and anger'd worse:-Go, bid my woman
Search for a jewel, that too casually

Hath left mine arm; it was thy master's: 'shrew me,

If I would lose it for a revenue

Of any king's in Europe. I do think

I saw 't this morning: confident I am

Last night 't was on mine arm; I kiss'd it:

I hope it be not gone, to tell my lord

That I kiss aught but he.

"T will not be lost.

[Exit PISANIO.

You have abus'd me:

Iмo. I hope so: go and search.
CLO.

His meanest garment?

SCENE IV.-Rome. An Apartment in Philario's House.

Enter POSTHUMUS and PHILARIO.

POST. Fear it not, sir; I would I were so sure

PHI.

To win the king, as I am bold her honour
Will remain hers.

What means do you make to him?

POST. Not any; but abide the change of time;

Quake in the present winter's state, and wish

That warmer days would come: In these sear'd hopes",
I barely gratify your love; they failing,

I must die much your debtor.

PHI. Your very goodness, and your company,
O'erpays all I can do. By this, your king
Hath heard of great Augustus: Caius Lucius
Will do his commission throughly: And, I think,
He'll grant the tribute, send the arrearages,
Or look upon our Romans, whose remembrance
Is yet fresh in their grief.

POST.

I do believe, (Statist though I am none, nor like to be,) That this will prove a war;

and you shall hear The legions, now in Gallia, sooner landed

In our not-fearing Britain, than have tidings

Of any penny tribute paid. Our countrymen
Are men more order'd, than when Julius Cæsar

Smil'd at their lack of skill, but found their courage
Worthy his frowning at: Their discipline

She's my good lady. This phrase is used ironically. To "stand my good lord," is-to be my good friend.

Sear'd hopes. This is ordinarily printed fear'd hopes-a reading unnoticed by any of the commentators in the variorum editions, but explained by Eccles, in his edition of this drama (1801), as "hopes blended with fears." We have ventured to change the text to sear'd hopes. "In the present winter's state" the hopes of Posthumus are sear'd; but they still exist, and in cherishing them, wither'd as they are, he barely gratifies his friend's love.

a

(Now mingled with their courages) will make known
To their approvers, they are people such
That mend upon the world.

a Mingled. The folio is distinctly printed wing-led-the compound word, with a hyphen. It was altered by Rowe to mingled, and Malone justifies it, because in the folio wind has been printed for mind. This reason is not very strong, for those who have watched the progress of printers' errors know that an uncommon word is not ordinarily substituted for a common one. We would restore wing-led to the text, because the phrase conveys one of those bold images which are thoroughly Shaksperean; but we feel that the speaker is deliberately reasoning, and does not use the language of passion, under which state Shakspere for the most part throws out such figurative expressions. The simple word mingled is most in harmony with the entire speech. Tieck, however, adopts wing-led in his admirable translation.

This speech, in the original, belongs to Posthumus. But he is intent upon his letters.