Imo. Away!-I do condemn mine ears, that have

So long attended thee. If thou wert honourable,
Thou wouldst have told this tale for virtue, not
For such an end thou seek'st; as base as strange.
Thou wrong'st a gentleman who is as far
From thy report as thou from honour; and
Solicit'st here a lady that disdains

Thee and the devil alike.—What, ho! Pisanio!—
The king my father shall be made acquainted
Of thy assault: if he shall think it fit,
A saucy stranger in his court to mart
As in a Romish stew, and to expound

His beastly mind to us, he hath a court
He little cares for, and a daughter whom
He not respects at all.-What ho, Pisanio!
Iach. O happy Leonatus! I may say:
The credit that thy lady hath of thee
Deserves thy trust; and thy most perfect goodness
Her assured credit!-Blesséd live you long!
A lady to the worthiest sir that ever
Country called his! and you his mistress, only
For the most worthiest fit! Give me your pardon.
I have spoke this to know if your affiance
Were deeply rooted; and shall make your
That which he is, new o'er: and he is one
The truest mannered; such a holy witch,
That he enchants societies unto him:
Half all men's hearts are his.

lord

Iach. He sits 'mongst men like a descended god: He hath a kind of honour sets him off, More than a mortal seeming. Be not angry, Most mighty princess, that I have adventured To try your taking of a false report; which hath Honoured with confirmation your great judgment In the election of a sir so rare,

Which you know cannot err. The love I bear him Made me to fan you thus; but the gods made you, Unlike all other, chaffless. Pray your pardon.

2nd Lord. No, my lord; nor [aside] crop the ears of them.

Clo. Whoreson dog!-I give him satisfaction? 'Would he had been one of my rank!

2nd Lord. To have smelt like a fool. [Aside. Clo. I am not more vexed at anything in the earth.-A pox on 't! I had rather not be so noble as I am; they dare not fight with me, because of the queen my mother: every jack-slave hath his belly full of fighting, and I must go up and down like a cock that nobody can match.

2nd Lord. You are a cock and capon too; and you crow, cock, with your comb on. [Aside. Clo. Sayest thou?

1st Lord. It is not fit your lordship should undertake every companion that you give offence to.

Clo. No, I know that; but it is fit I should commit offence to my inferiors.

2nd Lord. Ay, it is fit for your lordship only. Clo. Why, so I say.

1st Lord. Did you hear of a stranger that's come to court to-night?

Clo. A stranger! and I not know on 't!

2nd Lord. He's a strange fellow himself, and knows it not. [Aside. 1st Lord. There's an Italian come; and, 'tis thought, one of Leonatus' friends.

Clo. Leonatus! a banished rascal: and he's another, whatsoever he be.-Who told you of this stranger?

1st Lord. One of your lordship's pages.

Clo. Is it fit I went to look upon him? Is there no derogation in 't?

1st Lord. You cannot derogate, my lord. Clo. Not easily, I think.

2nd Lord. You are a fool granted; therefore your issues being foolish, do not derogate. [Aside.

Clo. Come, I'll go see this Italian. What I have lost to-day at bowls, I'll win to-night of him. Come, go.

2nd Lord. I'll attend your lordship.

[Exeunt CLOTEN and First Lord.
That such a crafty devil as is his mother
Should yield the world this ass! A woman that
Bears all down with her brain; and this her son
Cannot take two from twenty for his heart,
And leave eighteen. Alas, poor princess,
Thou divine Imogen, what thou endur'st!
Betwixt a father by thy stepdame governed;
A mother hourly coining plots; a wooer
More hateful than the foul expulsion is

Of thy dear husband; than that horrid act
Of the divorce he'd make! The heavens hold

firm

Such and such pictures: there the window: such
The adornment of her bed: the arras, figures,
Why, such and such; and the contents o' the
story:

Ah, but some natural notes about her body,
Above ten thousand meaner moveables
Would testify, to enrich mine inventory.
O sleep, thou ape of death, lie dull upon her!
And be her sense but as a monument,
Thus in a chapel lying!-Come off, come off:
[Taking off her bracelet.

As slippery as the Gordian knot was hard!
Tis mine; and this will witness outwardly,
As strongly as the conscience does within,
To the madding of her lord. On her left breast,
A mole cinque-spotted, like the crimson drops
I'the bottom of a cowslip. Here's a voucher
Stronger than ever law could make this secret
Will force him think I have picked the lock, and
ta'en

The treasure of her honour. No more. To what end?

Why should I write this down, that's rivetted, Screwed to my memory? She hath been reading late

The tale of Tereus: here the leaf's turned down,
Where Philomel gave up.-I have enough:
To the trunk again, and shut the spring of it.
Swift, swift, you dragons of the night! that
dawning

May bare the raven's eye. I lodge in fear;
Though this a heavenly angel, hell is here.
[Clock strikes.

Enter CLOTEN and Lords.

1st Lord. Your lordship is the most patient man in loss, the most coldest that ever turned up ace.

Clo. It would make any man cold to lose.

1st Lord. But not every man patient, after the noble temper of your lordship: you are most hot and furious when you win.

Clo. Winning would put any man into courage. If I could get this foolish Imogen, I should have gold enough. It's almost morning, is 't not?

1st Lord. Day, my lord.

Clo. I would this music would come: I am advised to give her music o' mornings.; they say, it will penetrate.

Enter Musicians.

Come on; tune. If you can penetrate her with your fingering, so; we'll try with tongue too: if none will do, let her remain; but I'll never give o'er. First, a very excellent good-conceited thing; after a wonderful sweet air, with admirable rich words to it; and then let her consider.