Doctor, your service for this time is ended;
Take your own way.
Cor.

I do suspect you, madam;

But you shall do no harm.

Queen.

Hark thee, a word.

[Aside. [To PIs.

Cor. [Aside.] I do not like her. She doth think she

has

Strange lingering poisons: I do know her spirit,
And will not trust one of her malice with

A drug of such damn'd nature: Those she has
Will stupify and dull the sense awhile :

Which first, perchance, she 'll prove on cats and dogs;
Then afterward up higher; but there is
No danger in what show of death it makes,
More than the locking up the spirits a time,
To be more fresh, reviving. She is fool'd
With a most false effect; and I the truer
So to be false with her.

Queen.

Until I send for thee.

Cor.

No further service, doctor,

I humbly take my leave. [Exit.

Queen. Weeps she still, say'st thou? Dost thou think

in time

She will not quench; and let instructions enter
Where folly now possesses? Do thou work:
When thou shalt bring me word she loves my son,
I'll tell thee, on the instant, thou art then
As great as is thy master: greater; for
His fortunes all lie speechless, and his name
Is at last gasp: Return he cannot, nor
Continue where he is: to shift his being
Is to exchange one misery with another;
And every day that comes, comes to decay
A day's work in him: What shalt thou expect,
To be depender on a thing that leans,--
Who cannot be new built, nor has no friends,

[The QUEEN drops a box: Pis. takes it up.

So much as but to prop him?—Thou tak'st up
Thou know'st not what; but take it for thy labour:
It is a thing I made, which hath the king

Five times redeem'd from death: I do not know
What is more cordial :-Nay, I prithee, take it ;
It is an earnest of a further good

That I mean to thee. Tell thy mistress how
The case stands with her; do 't, as from thyself.
Think what a chance thou changest on; but think
Thou hast thy mistress still,-to boot, my son,
Who shall take notice of thee: I'll move the king
To any shape of thy preferment, such

As thou 'lt desire; and then myself, I chiefly,
That set thee on to this desert, am bound
To load thy merit richly. Call my women:

Think on my words. [Exit Pis.]-A sly and constant knave;

Not to be shak'd: the agent for his master;
And the remembrancer of her, to hold

The hand fast to her lord.-I have given him that,
Which, if he take, shall quite unpeople her
Of liegers for her sweet; and which she, after,
Except she bend her humour, shall be assur'd

Re-enter PISANIO and Ladies.

To taste of too.

So, so ;-well done, well done: The violets, cowslips, and the primroses,

Bear to my closet :-Fare thee well, Pisanio;

Think on my words. [Exeunt QUEEN and Ladies. And shall do:

Pis.

But when to my good lord I prove untrue,
I'll choke myself: there's all I'll do for you.

[Exit.

SCENE VII.-Another Room in the Palace.

Enter IMOGEN.

Imo. A father cruel, and a step-dame false;

A foolish suitor to a wedded lady,

That hath her husband banish'd;-O, that husband!
My supreme crown of grief! and those repeated
Vexations of it! Had I been thief-stolen,

As my two brothers, happy! but most miserable
Is the desire that 's glorious: Blessed be those,
How mean soe'er, that have their honest wills,
Which seasons comfort.-Who may this be? Fye!
Enter PISANIO and IACHIMO.

Pis. Madam, a noble gentleman of Rome,
Comes from my lord with letters.

You are kindly welcome.

Change you, madam?

[Presents a letter.

Thanks, good sir :

Iach. All of her that is out of door, most rich! [Aside. If she be furnish'd with a mind so rare,

She is alone the Arabian bird; and I

Have lost the wager. Boldness be my friend!

Arm me, audacity, from head to foot!

Or, like the Parthian, I shall flying fight;

Rather, directly fly.

Imo. [Reads.] "He is one of the noblest note, to whose kindnesses I am most infinitely tied. Reflect upon him accordingly, as you value your trust b "LEONATUs."

So far I read aloud:

But even the very middle of my heart

a Seasons is a verb. The mean have their honest, homely wills (opposed to the desire that's glorious)—and that circumstance gives a relish to comfort.

Trust. Imogen breaks off in reading the letter of Leonatus. That which is addressed to her in the tenderness of affection is not "read aloud." Unmindful of this, the passage has been altered into "Reflect upon him accordingly, as you value your truest Leonatus." The signature is separated from the word which has been changed to truest, by the passage which Imogen glances at in thankful silence.

Is warm'd by the rest, and takes it thankfully.
You are as welcome, worthy sir, as I

Have words to bid you; and shall find it so
In all that I can do.

Iach.

Thanks, fairest lady.

What! are men mad? Hath nature given them eyes
To see this vaulted arch, and the rich crop

Of sea and land, which can distinguish 'twixt
The fiery orbs above, and the twinn'd stones
Upon the number'd beach? and can we not
Partition make with spectacles so precious
"Twixt fair and foul?

Imo.

What makes your admiration? Iach. It cannot be i' the eye; for apes and monkeys, "Twixt two such shes, would chatter this way and Contemn with mows the other: Nor i' the judgment; For idiots, in this case of favour, would

Be wisely definite: Nor i' the appetite;
Sluttery, to such neat excellence oppos'd,
Should make desire vomit emptiness,
Not so allur'd to feed.

Imo. What is the matter, trow?
Iach.

(That satiate yet unsatisfied desire,

The cloyed will,

That tub both fill'd and running,) ravening first
The lamb, longs after for the garbage.
Imo.

Thus raps you? Are you well?
b

Iach. Thanks, madam;

desire

What, dear sir,

well:-'Beseech you, sir,

[TO PISANIO.

My man's abode where I did leave him: he

Is strange and peevish.
Pis.

To give him welcome.

I was going, sir,

[Exit PISANIO.

a The stones of the beach are each so like the other that the

Imo. Continues well my lord? His health, 'beseech

you?

Iach. Well, madam.

Imo. Is he dispos'd to mirth? I hope he is.

Iach. Exceeding pleasant; none a stranger there So merry and so gamesome: he is call'd

The Briton reveller.

Imo.

When he was here

He did incline to sadness; and oft-times
Not knowing why.

Iach.

I never saw him sad.

There is a Frenchman his companion, one

An eminent monsieur, that, it seems, much loves
A Gallian girl at home: he furnaces

The thick sighs from him; whiles the jolly Briton
(Your lord, I mean) laughs from 's free lungs, cries, "O!
Can my sides hold, to think that man,- -who knows,

By history, report, or his own proof,
What woman is, yea, what she cannot choose
But must be,-will his free hours languish for
Assured bondage?"

Imo.

Will my lord say so?

Iach. Ay, madam; with his eyes in flood with laughter.

It is a recreation to be by,

And hear him mock the Frenchman: But, heavens know, Some men are much to blame.

Imo.

Not he, I hope.

Iach. Not he: But yet heaven's bounty towards him

might

Be us'd more thankfully. In himself, 't is much;
In you,-which I account his, beyond all talents,--
Whilst I am bound to wonder, I am bound

To pity too.

Imo. What do you pity, sir?
Iach. Two creatures, heartily.
Imo.

Am I one, sir?