CYMBELINE. "THE Tragedie of Cymbeline" is one of the seventeen plays, the earliest known edition of which is the folio of 1623. When produced, or when first acted, we have, as usual, no means of determining; but Malone is perhaps not far wrong in supposing it was written in 1609, as about that period there is good reason for believing Shakespeare wrote "The Tempest," and "The Winter's Tale: " and the marked similarity in the versification of those plays and that of Cymbeline, indicates that the three were composed at no distant date from each other. The main incident of the plot-the wager on the chastity of the heroine-appears to have been taken from a story in Boccaccio (Day 2, Nov. 9), of which an abstract will be found in the "Illustrative Comments." This novel was a favourite evidently, for it has been translated and paraphrased many times. One modification of it occurs in the amusing collection of stories called, "Westward for Smelts, or The Water-mans fare of mad merry Western wenches," &c., which Steevens and Malone assert was printed in 1603. If they are correct, this réchauffe of Boccaccio's fable may have contributed to the composition of "Cymbeline," but no edition of it earlier than 1620, and of that only one copy, is now known to exist. The events in this story are laid in England during the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV., and the villain of it, instead of being conveyed to the lady's chamber in a chest (as described in the Italian and French versions), hides himself beneath her bed. The historical facts and allusions in "Cymbeline" were seemingly derived from Holinshed; but the important and delightful episode that introduces us to Belarius and the stolen princes, we may conclude was Shakespeare's own invention; unless the germ of it were found in some older play upon which the present was founded. Lords, Ladies, Roman Senators, Tribunes, Officers, Soldiers, Musicians, Messengers. Apparitions, and Attendants. SCENE,-Sometimes in BRITAIN, sometimes in ITALY. No more obey the heavens, than our courtiers'- The old text of "Cymbeline," in the number and inveteracy of its corruptions, is hardly surpassed by any other play in the collection. The very opening speech presents a typographical enigma which has been the subject of critical conjecture and experiment for above a century, and remains a puzzle still : 'You do not meet a man but Frownes. Our bloods no more obey the Heavens Then our Courtiers; Still seeme, as do's the Kings." Thus stands the passage in the folio. Amid a flood of hypothetical restorations, Tyrwhitt's proposal to omit the in "King's" and to point the lines as follows, 2 GENT. But what's the matter? 1 GENT. His daughter, and the heir of 's kingdom, whom He purpos'd to his wife's sole son, (a widow -our bloods No more obey the heavens, than our courtiers is now generally followed, though no one perhaps ever believed or believes that this was what the poet wrote. It has been accepted only because the editors had nothing better to offer. The real blot lies, we apprehend, in the words "still seem as," which were probably misheard or misread by the compositor for "stillseemers," i.e. ever dissemblers: and the meaning appears to be,Everyone you meet wears a frown; our complexions do not more sympathise with the changes of the sky, than the looks of our courtiers (those perpetual simulators) do with the aspect of the king. The expression "seemers" occurs again in the sense here attributed to it, in "Measure for Measure," Act I. Sc. 41 "hence shall we see If power change purpose, what our seemers be." 2 GENT. What's his name, and birth? 1 GENT. I cannot delve him to the root: his father Was call'd Sicilius, who did join his honour, (Then old and fond of issue) took such sorrow And in 's spring became a harvest: liv'd in court (Which rare it is to do) most prais'd, most lov'd: Posthumus Leonatus;] So the old copies. In many modern editions, "Leonatus" is omitted as redundant, but the old poets not unfrequently introduce proper names without regard to the measure; occasionally indeed, as if at the discretion of the player, the name was to be spoken or not. |