CYMBELINE.

Act I.

Sc. 1.

"Our bloods

No more obey the heavens than our courtiers

Still seem as doth the king's."

Tyrwhitt read 'king'; Coleridge countenances for 'courtiers.' It is better to suppose a word effaced at the end of the second line; so I add faces. A few lines lower they are said to 'wear their faces to the bent of the kings looks.'

"Mais ceux qui de la cour ont un plus long usage,

Sur les yeux de César composent leur visage."

Racine, Britan. v. 5.

"To his mistress,

For whom he now is banish'd ... her own price."

Sc. 2.

"My residence at Rome's at one Philario's."

"And sear up my embracements from a next

With bonds of death."

I approve of Singer's seal; there is no agreement between 'sear,' i.e. burn, and 'bonds.'

"Remain thou there

While sense can keep it on."

I cannot avoid agreeing with those who read thee for 'it.'

"That should'st repair my youth, thou heapest

A year's age on me."

Metre requires a foot in the first line. Capell added instead. I prefer many, which gives sense to 'A year's age.'

"I pray you speak with me. You shall at least."

Sc. 3.

"It went out o' the backside o' the town."

Sc. 4.

"'Twere a paper lost,

As offer'd mercy is.... What was the last

That he spake to thee?"

It is only thus that I can give sense to the second line.

"O senseless linen, happier therein than I!"

"As he could make me with his eye or ear

Distinguish him from others."

I read the, which is so often confounded with 'his.' Warburton, who is generally followed, read this.

Sc. 5.

"A beggar without less quality."

Rowe read more, which alone gives sense.

"Have confounded one the other or have fallen both."

We should apparently read here and for 'or.'

"If I offend not to say it is mended."

All agree in adding not, which is not in the folio.

"I could but believe she excelled many."

The folio has not for 'but'; the correction is Heath's.

"Or if there were wealth enough for the purchase, or merit."

I think the editors right in omitting the first 'or.'

Sc. 6.

"But though slow, deadly.—I wonder, doctor, that."

"Think on my words.—And so shall do."

Sc. 7.

"As my two brothers, happy!" etc.

Mr. Staunton arranges this passage thus, which is most certainly an improvement (See on Tr. and Cr. iii. 3):—

"As my two brothers, happy! Blessed be those,

How mean soever, that have their honest wills,

Which seasons comfort; but most miserable

Is the desire that's glorious," etc.

I regret that I did not recollect this correction when printing my Edition, as I should probably have adopted it.

"Change you, madam;

The worthy Leonatus is in safety."

This is the punctuation of the folio, which I have retained, with (;) for (:); the usual punctuation is (?) Imogen is agitated at the announcement, and to reassure her, Iachimo says—subjoining the reason—'Change you,' like look you, hark you, soft you. The interrogation, however, may be right.

"According as you value your trust Leonatus."

Hanmer read truest. We might also read trusty.

"Which can distinguish

The fiery orbs above and the twinn'd stones

Upon the number'd beach."

Theobald, I think, was right in reading 'unnumber'd.'

"The murmuring surge

That on the unnumbered idle pebbles chafes."

Lear, iv. 6.

The joining it with 'beach' seems an instance of the figure called Hypallage. The stones are called 'twinn'd' from their resemblance to each other.

"Beseech you, sir, desire my man's abode

Where I did leave him. He is strange and peevish."

I think 'desire' should be enquire.

"Join gripes with hands

Made hard with hourly falsehood—with falsehood as

With labour—then by peeping in an eye

Base and illustrious," etc.

Some critics read 'by-peeping'; but then a verb is wanting. We might for 'by' read be, or, with Johnson, lie; but I rather suspect the poet's word was bide; for 'bide peeping' would be pronounced 'bi peeping,' and the printer went by his ear (see Introd. p. [52]). A most unhappy conjecture, though adopted and greatly admired by Mr. Collier, is that of his folio 'bo-peeping'; for there is no such verb. 'Illustrous' may be the right word, but Rowe's 'unlustrous' has been generally adopted.

"With diseased ventures

That play with all infirmities for gold

Which rottenness can lend nature."

This supposes the diseases to be not in them, but in those who come to them, which seems contrary to the course of Iachimo's reasoning. Perhaps we should read pay for 'play.'

"In this sty, where since I came,

Diseases have been sold, dearer than physic."

Per. iv. 6.

We might perhaps also make a transposition in the second line, and read "That play for gold," etc., i.e. stake their diseases against gold.

"Of rich and exquisite form. Their values great."

I should prefer to read 'value's.'

Act II.

Sc. 1.

"And leave eighteen. Alas, poor princess! Alas!"

Sc. 2.

"Swift, swift, you dragons of the night, that dawning

May bear the raven's eye."

This is the reading of the folio; but Theobald read bare, and he is generally followed. Collier's folio has blear which I have adopted; for nothing was more common than an omission, by the printer, of a letter or even a syllable in a word. By 'raven,' the poet probably meant the night-raven, of which he had already spoken in Much Ado, ii. 3, and for his knowledge of which he was probably indebted to Spenser, in "Here no night-ravens lodge, more black than pitch" (Shep. Cal. June, v. 23).

"The ill-fac'd owl, death's dreadful messenger,

The hoarse night-raven, trump of doleful drear."

F. Q. ii. 12. 36.

Sc. 3.

"With everything that pretty is."

As the riming line ends in 'begin,' and as 'every' is very generally plural in our poet, and he uses obsolete terms at the end, though not in the body, of lines for rime-sake, it is the merest printer-worship to reject bin for 'is,' the correction of Hanmer.

"It is a vice in her ear, which horse-hairs and calves-guts, nor the voice," etc.

The folio for 'vice' has voice. 'Calves-guts' should be 'cats-guts.'

"Last night 'twas on my arm; for I kiss'd it."

Sc. 4.

"In these fear'd hopes

I barely gratify your love."

Tyrwhitt, whom some late critics follow, proposed sear'd for 'fear'd.' The text is, in my opinion, right, 'fear'd' being one of the numerous instances of the past part. for the present; 'fear'd hopes' are hopes that are mingled with fear. See on As You Like it, v. 4.

"Now mingled with their courage, will make known."

The 1st folio has 'wingled'; the correction was made in the 2nd.

"If I had lost it."

The folio has have; but the correction is certain.

"Who knows if one of her women, being corrupted."

The correction was made in the 2nd folio.

Sc. 5.

"Must be half-workers? We are all of us bastards."

"All faults that men do name; nay, that hell knows."

"For even to vice." * * *

We might add to which they are so prone.

Act III.

Sc. 2.

"How! of adultery? wherefore write you not

What monsters her accuse? Leonatus!"

The metre would require 'O Leonatus!' but as "What false Italian" follows, it might be better to read 'monster's her accuser,' the r having been lost as in Macb. ii. 1. See on Ant. and Cleop. iv. 10.

"Could not be so cruel to me as you, O the dearest of creatures, would even renew me with your eyes."

Of this, as far as I can perceive, no sense has been or ever can be made. We should therefore read, with Pope, but for 'as,' which may have been suggested by the preceding 'so'; or 'would not even,' with Malone.

"I see before me, man; nor here, nor here,

Nor what ensues; but have a fog in them."

I think we should read there for the second 'here,' and perhaps they for 'but,' or 'they have.'

Sc. 3.

"Richer than doing nothing for a bauble."

The folio has babe, which Rowe judiciously corrected as it is here given. In the MS. 'bauble' was probably spelt bable or, it may be, babel; and the latter part may have been effaced. Hanmer read bribe; Johnson and Singer brabe.

"Such gain the cap of him that makes 'em fine."

For ''em' the folio has him. If we retain the reading of the folio, we must read 'gains.' 'Cap' is salutation.

"They took thee for their mother

And every day do honour to her grave."

For 'her' we should read of course thy.

Sc. 4.

"Ne'er long'd my mother so

To see me first, as I have now ... Pisanio!"

"And thou too, Posthumus, that didst set up."

Posthumus is always to be accented on the first syllable. It is usual to read 'thou that'; but my reading I think more natural.

"I'll wake mine eye-balls first.—Whërefore then?"

Hanmer read 'blind first'; I prefer make, with a (...); Collier's folio has crack.

"Though peril to my modesty, not death on't

I would adventure."

We should perhaps, with Johnson, read Through.

"There's more to be consider'd, but we'll even

All that good time will give us."

A verb seems lost at the end of the first line. Its place may have been taken by 'even,' or we might simply add do.

Sc. 5.

"Madam, all joy befall your grace and you."

I think Capell and Steevens were right in reading 'and yours.' The two last letters had probably been effaced.

"She looks us like

A thing more made of malice than of duty."

I think we should insert on, at, or to after 'look.' The 2nd folio read 'as like.'

"That will be given to the loudest of noise we make."

So I read, with preceding editors.

"I have not seen these two days.—Go, look after him."

"The low Posthumus, she slanders so her judgement."

Sc. 6.

"When resty Sloth

Finds the down-pillow hard."

Singer quotes Bullokar's Expositor to show that 'resty' is idle, inert. Steevens proposed restive.

"Since Leonatus' false."

That is 'Since Leonatus is,' to avoid cacophony.

Act IV.

Sc. 2.

"Grow, Patience!

And let the stinking elder, Grief, untwine

His perishing root with the increasing vine!"

The folio reads patient. I incline to read 'from with,' and thy for 'the' in the last line.

"For defect of judgement

Is oft the cause of fear."

For 'defect' Theobald read th' effect, while Hanmer read cure for 'cause.' I see no great need of change.

"Thou Divine nature how thyself thou blasonest."

'How' is Capell's correction for thou of the folio.

"What does he mean? Since the death of my dearest mother."

"To have turn'd my leaping-time into a crutch."

I feel almost inclined to read 'leaping-pole,' which was of course in use then as now, as it was known to the ancients.

"With female fairies will his tomb be haunted

And worms will not come to thee."

I agree with Steevens in reading him for 'thee.'

"Yea and furr'd moss besides, when flowers are none,

To winter-ground thy corse."

"To winter-ground a plant," says Steevens, "is to protect it from the inclemency of the winter-season by straw, dung, etc., laid over it." This seems decisive; otherwise the mention of 'furr'd moss' would lead me to read, with Warburton, 'winter-gown.'

"Come on, away; apart upon our knees."

A line riming with this is evidently lost.

"Pisanio might have kill'd thee at the heart

And left this head on."

For 'this' we should probably read thy or the.

"I fast and pray'd for their intelligence."

I think we should read 'fasted.'

"Try many, all good, serve truly, and yet never

Find such another master."

Some read 'and all good'; others 'serve them.'

Sc. 3.

"And he will, no doubt, be found."

"I heard no letter from my master since."

Hanmer properly read have had for 'heard.'

Act V.

Sc. 1.

"Yea, bloody cloth, I'll keep thee; for I am wish'd

Thou shouldest be coloured thus."

Pope omitted 'am,' and so his successors; but it must have been a mistake for 've; unless there be an error in 'wish'd.'

"Gods, if you

Should have ta'en vengeance on my faults, I never."

Possibly the poet wrote more correctly Had taken.

"You some permit

To second ills with ills, each elder worse;

And make them dread it, to the doer's thrift."

A line must have been lost between the two last. 'Elder' is later.

Sc. 3.

"Sweet words; or hath more ministers than we

That draw his knives in the war."

This would seem an instance of the usual change of or for and.

Sc. 4.

"Thy crystal window ope; [look], look out."

"Be not, as is our fangled world, a garment."

As 'fangled' never occurs without new, it is but reasonable to suppose it was omitted here; and 'is,' which is not wanted, was probably inserted for metre's sake.

"No more tavern-bills, which are as often the sadness."

Sc. 5.

"O'ercome you with her show, and in due time."

The 2nd folio has 'yes, and in time.'

"Mine own.—I know not why, nor whërefore."

Nor is the necessary addition of Rowe.

"One sand

Another not more resembles ... That sweet rosy lad."

This punctuation, I think, removes all difficulty. In the perturbation of astonishment he stops short, and then tells whom he meant.

"This man is better than the man he slew."

For the first 'man' we had better read youth.

"Your pleasure was my meer offence."

So Tyrwhitt; the folio reads neere.

"Beaten for loyalty

Excited me to treason."

It would seem that beating would be the proper word.

"Rejoiced at deliverance more. Blest may you be."

For 'may' the folio reads pray.

"This fierce abridgement

Hath to it circumstantial branches."

For 'fierce,' which yields no good sense, I read first. 'Abridgement' is summary: "This brief abridgement of my will I make" (Lucrece).

"Is this most constant wife [To Post.] who even now."

For 'this' we might read thy, or, as I have done, 'this thy.' Without the stage-direction the place has no sense.

"My peace we will begin."

For 'My' Capell read By; others This.

"Have laid most heavy hand on."