3

The certainty of this hard life; aye hopeless
To have the courtesy your cradle promis'd,
But to be still hot summer's tanlings, and
The shrinking slaves of winter.

Gui.

Than be so,

Better to cease to be. Pray, sir, to the army:
I and my brother are not known; yourself,
So out of thought, and thereto so o'ergrown,
Cannot be question'd.

Arv.

By this sun that shines,

I'll thither: What thing is it, that I never

Did see man die ? scarce ever look'd on blood,
But that of coward hares, hot goats, and venison?
Never bestrid a horse, save one that had

A rider like myself, who ne'er wore rowel
Nor iron on his heel? I am asham'd

To look upon the holy sun, to have
The benefit of his bless'd beams, remaining
So long a poor unknown.

Gui.

If

you

By heavens, I'll go.

will bless me, sir, and give me leave, I'll take the better care; but if you will not, The hazard therefore due fall on me by

The hands of Romans!

Arv.

So say I: Amen.

Bel. No reason I, since on your lives you set

So slight a valuation, should reserve

My crack'd one to more care.

If in your country wars you

Have with you, boys' chance to die,

That is my bed too, lads, and there I'll lie:

3 That is, the certain consequence of this hard life.

4 That is, in addition thereto. See Troilus and Cressida, Act i. sc. 1, note 3. O'ergrown has reference to Belarius' white beard spoken of by Posthumus in Act v. sc. 2.

H

-

Lead, lead. [Aside.] The time seems long; their

blood thinks scorn,

Till it fly out, and show them princes born.

[Exeunt.

ACT V.

SCENE I. A Field between the British and Roman Camps.

Enter POSTHUMUS, with a bloody Handkerchief. Post. Yea, bloodly cloth, I'll keep thee; for I wish'd

Thou should'st be colour'd thus. You married ones, If each of you would take this course, how many Must murder wives much better than themselves, For wrying but a little?-O, Pisanio!

1

Every good servant does not all commands:
- Gods! if you

No bond, but to do just ones.

2

Should have ta'en vengeance on my faults, I never
Had liv'd to put on this: so had you sav'd
The noble Imogen to repent; and struck
Me, wretch, more worth your vengeance.

alack!

But,

You snatch some hence for little faults; that's love, To have them fall no more: you some permit

This word was quite common in the Poet's time. In The Merchant of Venice, Act ii. sc. 5, we have "wry-neck'd fife." So, in Berner's Froissart: "The fyrste that came was Henry erle of Lancastre with the wrye necke, called Torte colle." And in Sidney's Arcadia: "That from the right line of virtue are wryed to these crooked shifts."

To put on is to incite, instigate.

H.

To second ills with ills, each elder worse;
And make them dreaded to the doer's thrift.3
But Imogen is your own: do your best wills,
And make me bless'd to obey !-I am brought hither
Among th' Italian gentry, and to fight

Against my lady's kingdom: 'tis enough

That, Britain, I have kill'd thy mistress; peace!
I'll give no wound to thee. Therefore, good heavens,
Hear patiently my purpose: I'll disrobe me
Of these Italian weeds, and suit myself
As does a Briton peasant: so I'll fight
Against the part I come with; so I'll die
For thee, O Imogen! even for whom my life
Is, every breath, a death: and thus, unknown,
Pitied nor hated, to the face of peril

Myself I'll dedicate.

cess.

:

Let me make men know

That is, permit some to keep growing worse and worse, till at length their excess of guilt and the horror or infamy consequent thereon whip them into repentance. The old copies read," And make them dread it to the doer's thrift;" which editorial ingenuity has tormented itself a great deal to explain. but without sucMr. Collier's second folio changes elder into later, and them into men; which leaves us quite in the dark how to dispose of it, or where to look for its antecedent. The substitution of later for elder does indeed give the right sense, but seems unnecessary; for, though the later deed is in fact the younger, it is not unlikely that the Poet may have meant to call the deed of an elder man an elder deed which were no greater breach of literal propriety than the common way of calling the past "the olden time," while in fact time was then younger than it is now. We adopt, though not, we confess, without some hesitation, dreaded and shrift from Mr. Singer; who proposes, also, to change" each elder worse" into " each alder worst," that is, "each as bad as it can be ;" which, it seems to us, gives a wrong sense. How easy were such misprints as it for ed and th for sh, is too obvious to need insisting on. Shrift is an old word, not yet out of use, for confession. With these changes the sense is clear and apt, and exactly in Shakespeare's style of moral reflection. It is well known that "secret men of blood” have sometimes voluntarily confessed their crimes, and got them selves hanged, in order to quench the fires of remorse.

H.

More valour in me, than my habits show.
Gods, put the strength o'the Leonati in me
To shame the guise o'the world, I will begia
The fashion, less without, and more within. [Exit.

SCENE II. The Same.

Enter, at one side, LUCIUS, IACHIMO, and the Roman Army; at the other side, the British Army ; LEONATUS POSTHUMUS following like a poor Soldier. They march over, and go out. Alarums Then enter again, in skirmish, IACHIMO and PostHUMUS he vanquisheth and disarmeth IACHIMO, and then leaves him.

Iach. The heaviness and guilt within my bosom Takes off my manhood: I have belied a lady, The princess of this country, and the air on't Revengingly enfeebles me; or could this carl,' A very drudge of nature's, have subdued me In my profession? Knighthoods and honours, borne As I wear mine, are titles but of scorn.

If that thy gentry, Britain, go before

This lout, as he exceeds our lords, the odds
Is, that we scarce are men, and you are gods. [Exit.

The Battle continues: the Britons fly; CYMBELINE is taken then enter, to his rescue, BELARIUS, GuiDERIUS, and ARVIRAGUS.

Bel. Stand, stand! We have th' advantage of the ground;

The lane is guarded: nothing routs us, but

The villainy of our fears.

Carl or churl is a clown or countryman, and is used by our old writers in opposition to a gentleman.

Gui. Arv.

Stand, stand, and fight!

Enter POSTHUMUS, and seconds the Britons; they rescue CYMBELINE, and exeunt. Then, enter Lu CIUS, IACHIMO, and IMOGEN.

Luc. Away, boy, from the troops, and save thy self;

For friends kill friends, and the disorder's such
As war were hood-wink'd.

Iach.

"Tis their fresh supplies.

Luc. It is a day turn'd strangely or betimes Let's reinforce, or fly.

[Exeunt

SCENE III. Another Part of the Field.

Enter POSTHUMUS and a British Lord.

Lord. Cam'st thou from where they made the stand?

Though you, it seems, come from the fliers.

Lord.

I did.

Post. No blame be to you, sir; for all was lost,
But that the heavens fought. The king himself
Of his wings destitute, the army broken,
And but the backs of Britons seen, all flying
Through a strait lane; the enemy, full-hearted,
Lolling the tongue with slaughtering, having work
More plentiful than tools to do't, struck down
Some mortally, some slightly touch'd, some falling
Merely through fear; that the strait pass was
damm'd

With dead men hurt behind, and cowards living
To die with lengthen'd shame.

Lord.

Where was this lane?