whatever with the action of the drama, except to hinder and embarrass it. This matter apart, the dénouement is perfect, and the preparation for it made with consummate judgment and skill. And it is a noteworthy fact that, if the apparition, the dialogue that follows with the Jailer, the tablet, and all that relates to it, be omitted, there will appear no rent, no loose stitch, nor any thing wanting to the completeness of the work.

It is difficult to believe that Shakespeare wrote the passages in question at any time; impossible, that he did so at or near the time when the rest of the play was written. For I think every discerning student will perceive at once that the style of this matter is totally different from that of all the other parts. How, then, came it there? Some consider it a relic of an older drama, perhaps one written by Shakespeare in his youth. But the more common opinion is, that it was foisted in by the players, the Poet himself having nothing to do with it. There is no doubt that such things were sometimes done. Still I am inclined to think that it was supplied by some other hand at the time, and that the Poet himself worked it in with his own noble matter, perhaps to gratify a friend; for he was a kind-hearted, obliging fellow, and probably did not see the difference between his own workmanship and other men's as we do. At all events, I am sure it must have got into the play from motives that could have had no place with him as an artist. And how well the matter was adapted to catch the vulgar wonder and applause of that day, may be judged well enough from the thrift that waits on divers absurdities of the stage in our time. Doubtless, in his day, as in ours, there were many who, for the sake of this blemishing stuff, would tolerate the glories of the play. As all the lines that are judged to fall under this censure are here marked with asterisks, there is no need of more words on the subject.

CYMBELINE.

PERSONS represented.

CYMBELINE, King of Britain.

GUIDERIUS,
ARVIRAGUS,

his Sons; disguised

as Polydore and
Cadwal.

CLOTEN, Son to the Queen.
POSTHUMUS LEONATUS.
BELARIUS, a banished Lord.
PHILARIO, Friend to Post-

humus, IACHIMO, Friend to Philario,

Italians.

CAIUS LUCIUS, General of the Ro-
man Forces.

PISANIO, Servant to Posthumus.
Two British Captains.

A Roman Captain.

CORNELIUS, a Physician.

Two Gentlemen.

Two Jailers.

QUEEN, wife to Cymbeline.

IMOGEN, Daughter to Cymbeline.

A French Gentleman, Friend to Phi- HELEN, Woman to Imogen. lario.

Lords, Ladies, Roman Senators, Tribunes, Apparitions, a Soothsayer, a Dutch Gentleman, a Spanish Gentleman, Musicians, Officers, Captains, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.

SCENE. Sometimes in Britain, sometimes in Italy.

SCENE I. - Britain.

ACT I.

The Garden of CYMBELINE'S Palace.

Enter two Gentlemen.

1 Gent. You do not meet a man but frowns: our bloods Not more obey the heavens than our courtiers

Still seem as does the King.1

1 The King has his face clouded because of his daughter's marriage, and the courtiers all pretend to feel just as he does about it. Bloods is put for

2 Gent.

But what's the matter?

1 Gent. His daughter, and the heir of's kingdom, whom

He purposed to his wife's sole son,

a widow

That late he married, — hath referr'd herself

Unto a poor but worthy gentleman: she's wedded;
Her husband banish'd; she imprison'd: all

Is outward sorrow; though, I think, the King

Be touch'd at very heart.

2 Gent.

None but the King?

1 Gent. He that hath lost her too; so is the Queen, That most desired the match: but not a courtier, Although they wear their faces to the bent

Of the King's looks, but hath a heart that is

Glad at the thing they scowl at.

2 Gent.

And why so?

I Gent. He that hath miss'd the Princess is a thing
Too bad for bad report; and he that hath her,
I mean, that married her, - alack, good man,
And therefore banish'd!— is a creature such
As, to seek through the regions of the Earth
For one his like, there would be something failing
In him that should compare. I do not think
So fair an outward, and such stuff within,

Endows a man but he.

2 Gent.

You speak him far.

I Gent. I do extend him, sir, within himself; 2

tempers or dispositions; and men's tempers were supposed to be subject to "skyey influences," or to sympathize with the tempers of the sky. So in Greene's Never too Late, 1599: "If the King smiled, every one in Court was in his jollitie; if he frowned, their plumes fell like peacocks' feathers." Also in Chapman's Tragedy of Byron : "They keepe all to cast in admiration on the King; for from his face are all their faces moulded."

2 Extend is probably used here in the legal sense of to estimate or appraise. So that the meaning is, "My description falls short of what he is in himself." See vol. v. page 53, note 3.

Crush him together, rather than unfold

His measure duly.

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 gain his honour
Against the Romans with Cassibelan;
But had his titles by Tenantius," whom
He served with glory and admired 4 success;
So gain'd the sur-addition 5 Leonatus :
And had, besides this gentleman in question,

Two other sons, who, in the wars o' the time,

Died with their swords in hand; for which their father,
Then old and fond of's issue, took such sorrow,

That he quit being; and his gentle lady,
Big of this gentleman our theme, deceased
As he was born. The King he takes the babe
To his protection; calls him Posthúmus Leonatus ;
Breeds him, and makes him of his bed-chamber;
Puts to him all the learnings that his time
Could make him the receiver of; which he took,
As we do air, fast as 'twas minister'd; and
In's spring became a harvest; lived in Court-
Which rare it is to do—most praised, most loved ; 6
A sample to the youngest; to the more mature

8 Tenantius was the father of Cymbeline, and the son of Lud. On the death of Lud, his younger brother, Cassibelan, took the throne, to the exclusion of the lineal heir. Cassibelan repulsed the Romans on their first invasion, but was vanquished on their second, and agreed to pay an annual tribute to Rome. After his death, his nephew Tenantius was established on the throne. Some authorities tell us that he quietly paid the tribute stipulated by his usurping uncle; others, that he refused it, and warred with the Romans; which latter account is the one taken for true by the Poet.

4 Admired for admirable, and in the sense of wonderful. Repeatedly so. Sur-addition is surname or superadded title.

6"This enconium," says Johnson, "is highly artful. To be at once in any great degree loved and praised is truly rare."