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Cym.
Imo.

O thou vile one!

Sir,

It is your fault that I have lov'd Posthumus:
You bred him as my play-fellow; and he is
A man, worth any woman; overbuys me
Almost the sum he pays.*

Cym.

What!-art thou mad!

Imo. Almost, sir: Heaven restore me!-'Would

I were

A neat-herd's daughter! and my Leonatus
Our neighbour shepherd's son!

Cym.

Re-enter Queen.

Thou foolish thing!

[To the Queen,

They were again together: you have done

Not after our command. Away with her,
And pen her up.

Queen.

'Beseech your patience :-Peace,

Dear lady daughter, peace ;-Sweet sovereign,
Leave us to ourselves; and make yourself some

comfort

Out of your best advice.'

Cym.

Nay, let her languish A drop of blood a day; and, being aged, Die of this folly!

[Exit.

Enter PISANIO.

Queen.

Fye!-you must give way: Here is your servant.-How now, sir? What news?

overbuys me

Almost the sum he pays.] So small is my value, and so great is his, that in the purchase he has made (for which he paid himself,) for much the greater part, and nearly the whole, of what he has given, he has nothing in return. The most minute portion of his worth would be too high a price for the wife he has acquired, 5 your best advice.] i. e. consideration, reflection.

Pis. My lord your son drew on my master.

Queen.

No harm, I trust, is done?

Pis.

Ha!

There might have been, But that my master rather play'd than fought, And had no help of anger: they were parted By gentlemen at hand.

Queen.

I am very glad on't. Imo. Your son's my father's friend; he takes his part.

To draw upon an exile!-O brave sir!

I would they were in Africk both together;
Myself by with a needle, that I might prick
The goer back.-Why came you from your master?
Pis. On his command: He would. not suffer me
To bring him to the haven: left these notes
Of what commands I should be subject to,
When it pleas'd you to employ me.

Queen.
This hath been
Your faithful servant; I dare lay mine honour,
He will remain so.

Pis.

I humbly thank your highness.

Queen. Pray, walk a while.
Imo.

About some half hour hence,

I pray you, speak with me: you shall, at least, Go see my lord aboard: for this time, leave me. [Exeunt.

SCENE III,

A publick 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 itHave I hurt 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 back side the town.

Clo. The villain would not stand me.

[Aside.

2 Lord. No; but he fled forward still, toward your face.

[Aside. 1 Lord. Stand you! You have 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. Člo. 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 good sign, but I have seen small reflection of her wit."

2 Lord. She shines not upon fools,. lest the reflection should hurt her.

[Aside.

6 her beauty and her brain go not together :] I believe the lord means to speak a sentence, "Sir, as I told you always, beauty and brain go not together." JOHNSON.

7 She's a good sign, but I have seen small reflection of her wit.] She has a fair outside, a specious appearance, but no wit. But to understand the whole force of Shakspeare's idea, it should be remembered, that anciently almost every sign had a motto, or some attempt at a witticism, underneath it.· ́

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.

Clo. You'll go with us?

1 Lord. I'll attend your lordship. Clo. Nay, come, let's go together. 2 Lord. Well, my lord.

SCENE IV.

A Room in Cymbeline's Palace.

Enter IMOGEN and PISANIO.

[Aside.

[Exeunt.

Imo. I would thou grew'st unto the shores o'the haven,

And question'dst every sail: if he should write,
And I not have it, 'twere a paper lost,

8

As offer'd mercy is. What was the last
That he spake to thee?

Pis.

"Twas, His queen, his queen!

And kiss'd it, madam..

Imo. Then wav'd his handkerchief?

Pis.

Imo. Senseless linen! happier therein than I!And that was all?

Pis.

No, madam; for so long
As he could make me with this eye or ear
Distinguish him from others, he did keep
The deck, with glove, or hat, or handkerchief,
Still waving, as the fits and stirs of his mind
Could best express how slow his soul sail'd on,
How swift his ship.

'twere a paper lost,

As offer'd mercy is.] Perhaps the meaning is, that the loss of that paper would prove as fatal to her, as the loss of a pardon to a condemned criminal.

Imo.

Thou should'st have made him

As little as a crow, or less, ere left

To after-eye him.

Pis.

Madam, so I did.

Imo. I would have broke mine eye-strings; crack'd them, but

To look upon him; till the diminution

Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle:
Nay, follow'd him, till he had melted from
The smallness of a gnat to air; and then

Have turn'd mine eye, and wept.-But, good Pisanio,
When shall we hear from him?

Pis.

With his next vantage.9

Be assur'd, madam,

Imo. I did not take my leave of him, but had Most pretty things to 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

Mine interest, and his honour; or have charg'd him, At the sixth hour of morn, at noon, at midnight, To encounter me with orisons,' for then

I am in heaven for him; or cre I could

Give him that parting kiss, which I had set Betwixt two charming words, comes in my father, And, like the tyrannous breathing of the north, Shakes all our buds from growing.

Lady.

Enter a Lady.

The queen, madam,

Desires your highness' company.

Imo. Those things I bid you do, get them de

I

prayer.

spatch'd.

next vantage.] Next opportunity.

encounter me with orisons,] i.e. meet me with reciprocal

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