O, for a horse with wings !-Hear'st thou, Pisanio ? May plod it in a week, why may not I Glide thither in a day?—Then, true Pisanio, 8 (Who long'st, like me, to see thy lord; who long'st,- Pis. One score, 'twixt sun and sun, Madam, 's enough for you; and too much too. Imo. Why, one that rode to his execution, man, Could never go so slow: I have heard of riding wagers, Where horses have been nimbler than the sands That run i'the clock's behalf. 9-But this is foolery.-Go, bid my woman feign a sickness; say She'll home to her father: and provide me, presently, • A riding-suit; no costlier than would fit A franklin's housewife. 1 Pis. Madam, you're best consider.2 Imo. I see before me, man, nor here, nor here, [Exeunt. [8] Crowd one word on another as fast as possible. STEEVENS. [9] This fantastical expression means no more than sand in an hour-glass, used to measure time. WARB. [1] A franklin is, literally, a freeholder, with a small estate, neither vit lain nor vassal. JOHNSON. [2] That is, you'd best consider M. MASON.- So afterwards in se: vi.I were best not call.' MALONE. SCENE III. Wales. A Mountainous Country, with a Cave. Enter BELARIUS, GUIDERIUS, and ARVIRAGUS. Bel. A goodly day not to keep house, with such Whose roof's as low as ours! Stoop, boys: This gate Instructs you how to adore the heavens; and bows you To morning's holy office: The gates of monarchs Are arch'd so high, that giants may jet through And keep their impious turbands on,3 without Good-morrow to the sun.-Hail, thou fair heaven! We house i'the rock, yet use thee not so hardly As prouder livers do. Gui. Hail, heaven! Arv. Hail, heaven! Bel. Now, for our mountain sport: Up to yon hill, Your legs are young; I'll tread these flats. Consider, When you above perceive me like a crow, That it is place, which lessens, and sets off. And you may then revolve what tales I have told you, Gui. Out of your proof you speak: we, poor unfledg'd, Have never wing'd from view o'the nest ; nor know not [3] The idea of a giant was, among the readers of romances, who were almost all the readers of those times, always confounded with that of a Saracen. JOHNSON. 143 The beetle whose wings are enclosed within two dry husks or shards. "These cases (says Goldsmith) which beetles have to their wings, are the more necessary, as they often live under the surface of the earth in holes, which they dig out by their own industry.” MALONE. [5] I read, Richer than doing nothing for a brabe.'-Brabium is a badge of honour, or the ensign of an honour, or any thing worn as a mark of dignity. Holyoak, in his dictionary, terms it a reward. Cooper, in his Thesaurus, defines it to be a prize, or reward for any game. JOHNSON. T6] So, in a Collection of Epigrams, &c. 1598: "Yet stands he in the debet book uncrost." STEEVENS, What air's from home. Haply, this life is best, That have a sharper known; well corresponding Arv. What should we speak of, When we are old as you ?7 when we shall hear Bel. How you speak! Did you but know the city's usuries, And felt them knowingly: the art o'the court, As hard to leave, as keep; whose top to climb Is certain falling, or so slippery, that The fear's as bad as falling: the toil of the war, A pain that only seems to seek out danger I'the name of fame, and honour; which dies i'the search ; And hath as oft a slanderous epitaph, As record of fair act; nay, many times, Doth ill deserve by doing well; what's worse, Whose boughs did bend with fruit: but, in one night, Shook down my mellow hangings, nay, my leaves, Gui. Uncertain favour! Bel. My fault being nothing (as I have told you oft,) But that two villains, whose false oaths prevail'd [7] This dread of an old age, unsupplied with matter for discourse and meditation, is a sentiment natural and noble. No state can be more destitute than that of him who, when the delights of sense forsake him, has no pleasures of the mind. JOHNSON. Before my perfect honour, swore to Cymbeline, Follow'd my banishment; and, this twenty years, This rock, and these demesnes, have been my world: Where I have liv'd at honest freedom; paid More pious debts to heaven, than in all The fore-end of my time.—But, up to the mountains ; And we will fear no poison, which attends In place of greater state. I'll meet you in the valleys. [Exeunt GUI. and ARV, How hard it is, to hide the sparks of nature! These boys know little, they are sons to the king ; They think, they are mine; and, though train'd up thuș meanly I'the cave, wherein they bow, their thoughts do hit Strikes life into my speech, and shows much more At three, and two years old, I stole these babes ; Thou reft'st me of my lands. Euriphile, Thou wast their nurse; they took thee for their mother, And every day do honour to her grave: Myself, Belarius, that am Morgan call'd, They take for natural father. The game is up. [Exit. SCENE IV. Near Milford-Haven. Enter PISANIO and IMOGEN. Imo. Thou told'st me, when we came from horse, the place Was near at hand :-Ne'er long'd my mother so That makes thee stare thus? Wherefore breaks that sigh What's the matter? Why tender'st thou that paper to me, with But keep that countenance still-My husband's hand! And he's at some hard point.-Speak, man; thy tongue May take off some extremity, which to read Would be even mortal to me. Pis. Please you, read; And you shall find me, wretched man, a thing Imo. [Reads.] Thy mistress, Pisanio, hath played the strumpet in my bed: the testimonies whereof lie bleeding in me. I speak not out of weak surmises; from proof as strong as my grief, and as certain as I expect my revenge. That part, thou, Pisanio, must act for me, if thy faith be not tainted with the breach of hers.. Let thine own hands take away her life : I shall give thee opportunities at Milford-Haven: she hath my letter for the purpose: Where, if thou fear to strike, and to make me certain it is done, thou art the pandar to her dishonour, and equally to me disloyal. Pis. What shall I need to draw my sword? the paper Hath cut her throat already.-No, 'tis slander; Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue Out-venoms all the worms of Nile ;9 whose breath [8] This is another allusion to Italian poisons. JOHNSON. [9] Serpents and dragons by the old writers were called worms. STEEV VOL. VII. 28* |