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Char. Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain, that I may

say,

The gods themselves do weep.

Cleo.

This proves me base:

If she first meet the curled Antony,

He'll make demand of her, and spend that kiss,

Which is my heaven to have. Come, thou mortal wretch,

[To the Asp, which she applies to her Breast.

With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool,
Be angry, and despatch. O! could'st thou speak,
That I might hear thee call great Cæsar ass
Unpolicied!

Char.

O eastern star!

Cleo.

Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
That sucks the nurse asleep?

Char.

Peace, peace!

O, break! O, break!

Cleo. As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle.O Antony!-Nay, I will take thee too.―

What should I stay

[Applying another Asp to her Arm. [Falls on a Bed, and dies. Char. In this wild world?-So, fare thee well.— Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies A lass unparallel'd.-Downy windows, close; And golden Phoebus never be beheld

Of eyes again so royal!

Your crown's awry';

I'll mend it, and then play

Enter the Guard, rushing in.

1 Guard. Where is the queen Char.

?

Speak softly; wake her not.

1 Your crown's AWRY ;] So Pope, correcting away of the folios, by the narrative in North's Plutarch, which Daniel also here followed in his "Cleopatra," 1594.

2 and then play-] Charmian is interrupted by the sudden arrival of the Guard, and does not finish her sentence, as is indicated in the old copies by a line.

1 Guard. Cæsar hath sentChar.

Too slow a messenger.

[Applies the Asp.

O! come; apace; despatch: I partly feel thee. 1 Guard. Approach, ho!

beguil❜d.

All's not well: Cæsar's

2 Guard. There's Dolabella sent from Cæsar: call

him.

1 Guard. What work is here ?-Charmian, is this

well done?

Char. It is well done, and fitting for a princess Descended of so many royal kings.

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Touch their effects in this: thyself art coming
To see perform'd the dreaded act, which thou
So sought'st to hinder.

Within. A way there! a way for Cæsar!

Enter CAESAR, and all his Train.

Dol. O, sir! you are too sure an augurer:

That you did fear, is done.

Cæs.

Bravest at the last:

She levell❜d at our purposes, and, being royal,
Took her own way.-The manner of their deaths?

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This Charmian lived but now; she stood, and spake.

I found her trimming up the diadem

On her dead mistress: tremblingly she stood,
And on the sudden dropp'd.

Cæs.

O noble weakness!

If they had swallow'd poison, 'twould appear
By external swelling; but she looks like sleep,
As she would catch another Antony

In her strong toil of

Dol.

grace.

Here, on her breast,

There is a vent of blood, and something blown :
The like is on her arm.

1 Guard. This is an aspick's trail; and these figleaves

Have slime upon them, such as the aspick leaves
Upon the caves of Nile3.

Cæs.

Most probable,

That so she died; for her physician tells me,

She hath pursu'd conclusions infinite

Of easy ways to die.-Take up her bed,

And bear her women from the monument.
She shall be buried by her Antony:
No grave upon the earth shall clip in it

A pair so famous. High events as these
Strike those that make them; and their story is
No less in pity, than his glory, which

Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall,
In solemn show, attend this funeral,
And then to Rome.-Come, Dolabella, see
High order in this great solemnity.

[Exeunt.

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3 Upon the CAVES of Nile.] This is the word in all the old copies, but the Rev. Mr. Barry suggests that the true reading is canes, and not caves:" in the folio, 1623, it is printed caues, the u being employed instead of ʊ, and Mr. Barry is of opinion that the error arose from the turning of the lettern, which thus became u. On the other hand, we have the evidence of the folio, 1632, that the old understanding of the passage was 66 caves," for it is there so printed, the u of the older copy having been discarded for its substitute. It is, besides, very obvious that the aspick might leave its slime upon the "caves" of Nile as well as upon the canes of Nile.

CYMBELINE.

"The Tragedie of Cymbeline" was first printed in the folio of 1623, where it stands last in the division of "Tragedies," and occupies thirty-one pages; viz. from p. 369 to p. 399, misprinted p. 993. There is another error in the pagination, as p. 379 is numbered p. 389. These errors are corrected in the three later folios.

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