sul page, me The dogs o'the street to bay me : every villain if I discorer'd not which way she was gone, It was my instant death : By accident, I had a reigned letter of my master's To seek her on the mountains near to Müford; Imo. Peace, my lord ; hear, hear Where, in a frenzy, in my master's garments, Post. Shall's bave a play of this ? Thou scorn- which he inforc'd from me, away he posts With unchaste purpose, and with oath to vio. There lie thy part. [Striking her : she falls. late Pis. O gentlemen, help, help My lady's honour : what became of him, Mine, and your mistress :-o my lord Post. I further know not. humus! Gui. Let une end the story : You ne'er kill'd Imogen till now ;-Help, I slew him there. help ! Cym. Marry, the gods forfend I • Mine houour'd lady! I would not thy good deeds should from my Cym. Does the world go round! lips Post. How come these staggers on me Pluck a hard sentence : pr’ythee, valiant youth, Pis. Wake, my mistress? Deny't again. Cym. If ihis be so, the gods do mean to Gui. I have spoke it, and I did it. strike ine C'ym. He was a prince. To death with mortal joy Gui. A most uncivil one : The wrongs he did Pis. How fares my mistress? Imo. O get thee from my sight; Were nothing prince-like ; for he did provoke Thou gav'st me poison : dangerous fellow, bence ! me Breathe mot where princes are. With language that would make me sparn the Cym. The tune of Imogeu ! sta, Pis. Lady. If it could roar so to me: I cut off's head ; By iline own tongue thou art condemu’d, and Imo. It poison'd me. must Cor. O gods !- Endure our law: Thou art dead. And take him from our presence. This inan is better than the man he slew, As well descended as thyself; and bath Cor. The queen, Sir, very oft importun'd me More of thee merited, than a band of Cloteng 'The temper poisons for her; still pretending Had ever scar for. Let his arms alone; The satisfaction of her knowledge, only [To the Guards. In killing creatures vile, as cats and dogs They were not born for bondage. of no esteem: I, dreading that her purpose Cym. Why, old soldier, Was of more danger, did compound for her Wili thou undo the worth thou art unpaid for A certain stuff, which, being ta'en, would By tasting of our wrath ? How of descent As good as we? Cym. And thou shalt die for't. But I will prove that two of us are as good Bel. My boys, As I have given out hiin.--My sons, I must, There was our error. For mive own part, unfold a dangerous speech, Gui. This is sure, Fidele. Though, haply, well for you. Imo. Why did you throw your wedded lady Arv. Your danger is froin you? Our's. Think, that you are upon a rock and now Gui. And our good his. Throw me again. (Embracing him. Bel. Have at it then. (who Post. Hang there like fruit, iny soul, By leave ;-Thou had'st, great king, a subject, Till the tree die ! Was callid Belarius. Cym. What of him ? he is Bel. He it is, that bath Cym. Take him hence ; The whole world shall not save him. (To GUIDERIUS and ARVIRACUS. Bel. Not too hot : Cym. My tears that fall, First pay me for the pursing of thy sons; Prove boly water on thee! Imogen, Aud let it be confiscate all, 60 soon Thy mother's dead. As I have receiv'd it. Imo. I am sorry for't, my lord. Cym. Nursing of my sons ? Cym. Oh! she was naught ; and 'long of her Bel. I am too bluut and sancy: Here's my it was, knee ; That we meet here so strangely: But her son Ere I arise I will prefer my sons ; Is gone, we know not how, nor where. Then, spare not the old father. Mighty Sir, Pis. My lord, These two young gentlemen, that call me fee Now fear is foin me, I'll speak truth. Lord ther, Cloten, And think they are my sons, are none of miue : t'pou my lady's missing, came to me They are the issue of your loins, my liege, With his sword drawn; foam'd at the mouth, And blood of your begetting. and swore, Cym. How! my issue ? • Mix, compound. • Forbid. cease seech you, Bel. So gure as you your father's. I, old | Why Ned you from the court ? and whither : Morgan, These, Am that Belarius wbom you sometime banishid : And your three motives to the battle, with Your pleasure was my mere offence, my pun. I know not how much more, should be deisbment manded ; Itsell, and all my treason ; that I suffer'd, And all the other by-dependancies. Was all the barın I did. These gentle princes From chance to chance; but nor the time, nor (For sucb, and 80 they are,) tbese twenty place, years Will serve our long intergatories. See, Have I train'd up: those arts they have, as I Posthumus anchors upon Imogen ; Could put into them; my breeding was, Sir, And she like barmless lightning, throws her eye as On him, her brothers, me, her master ; hitting Your highness knows. Their nurse, Euriphile, Each object with a joy; the counterchange Wbom for the theft I wedded, stole these cbil. Is severally in all. Let's quit this ground, dren And smoke the temple with our sacrifices.Upon my banishment; I mov'd her to't ; Thou art my brother ; So we'll hold thee ever. Having receiv'd the punishment before, (To BELARIUS. For that which I did then : Beaten for loyalty Imo. You are my father too : and did reExcited me to treason : Their dear loss, relieve me, Save these in bonds : let them be joyful too, (Kneeling. Fail on their beads like dew! for they are Luc. Happy be you! worthy Cym. The forlorn soldier, that so nobly fought, To inlay heaven with stars. He would have well becom'd this place, and Cym. Thou werp'st, and speak'st. grac'd The soldier that did company these three The purpose I then follow'd ;- That I was he, Bel. Be pleas'd a while. Speak, lachimo : I had you down, and might This gentleman, whom I call Polydore, Have made you finish. Most wortby prince, as your's, is true, Gui- I will yet do you service. derius; lach. I am down again : This gentleman, my Cadwal, Arviragus, But now my heavy conscience sinks my knee, Your younger princely son; he, Sir, was lapp'a As then your force did. Take that life, 'bela a most curious mantle wrought by the band Which I so often owe : but, your ring first : of his queen mother, which, for more pro- And here the bracelet of the truest princess, bation, That ever swore her faith. I can with ease produce. Post. Kneel not to me : Cym. Guiderius had The power that I have on you, is to spare you, l'pon his Deck a mole, a sanguine star ; The malice towards you, to forgive you ; Live, It was a mark of wonder. And deal with others better. Cym. Nobly doom'd : Pardon's the word to all. Arv. You holp us, Sir, Cya. O what am I As you did mean indeed to be our brother ; A ver to the birth of three? Ne'er mother Joy'd are we, that you are. Rejoic'd deliverance more : Bless'd may you Post. Your servant, princes.-Good my lord of Rome, That after this strange starting from your orbs, Call forth your soothsayer : As I slept, me. You may reign in them pow 1-0 Imogen, thought, Thou hast lost by this a kingdom. Great Jupiter, upon his eagle back, 14. No, my lord; Appear'd to me, with other spritely shows I bare gut iwo worlds' by't.-0 my gentle of mine own kindred : when I wak’d, I found brothers, This label on my bosom ; whose containing Pare we thus meti o never say hereafter, Is so from sense in hardness, that I can But I am truest speaker : you call'd me brother, Make no collection of it ; let him show When I was but your sister; l you brothers, His skill in the construction. In you were so indeed. Luc. Philarmonus, (m. Did yon e'er meet? Sooth. Here, my good lord. Aru. Ay, my good lord. Luc. Read : and declare the meaning. Cri. And at first meeting lov'd ;, Sooth. (Reads.) When as a lion's whelp Continued so, until we thought be died. shall, to himself unknown, without seeking C. By the queen's dram she swallow'd. find, and be embraced by a piece of tender Cym. O rare instinct ! air ; and when from a stately cedar shall be When sball I bear all through? This fierce lopped branches, which,being dead many years, abridgment shall after revive, be jointed to the old stock, Hath to it circumstantial branches, which and freshly grow; then shall Posthumus end Distiaction should be rich in. t-Where? how his miseries, Britain be fortunate, and flourish liv'd you ? in peace and plenty. And when came you to serve our Roman cap- Thou, Leonatus, art the lion's whelp; tive? The fit and apt construction of thy name, How parted with your brothers ? bow first met Being Leo-natus, doth import so much : them 1 The piece of tender air, thy virtuous daughter, [TO CYMBELINE. • Vebement, rapid. Which we call mollis aer ; and mollis aer * Le Which ought to be rendered distinct in an teple barrative. • Ghostly appearances. be, We term it mulier : which mulier, I divine, Friendly together : so througlı Lud's march : Answering the letter of the oracle, And in the temple of great Jupiter Unknown to yon, unsougbt, were clipp'd about Our peace we'll ratify, seal it with feasts, With this most tender air. Set on there :-Never was a war did cease, C'ym. This hath some seeming. Ere bloody hands were wasb'd, with such a Sooth. The lofty cedar, royal Cymbeline, peace. (Excunt Personates thee : and thy lopp'd branches point A SONG, Sang by Guiderius and Arviragus over Fidele, sapposed to be dead. BY WILLIAM COLLINS. To fair Fidele's grassy tomb, Soft maids and village kinds shall bring We were dissuaded by our wicked queen ; Each opening sweet, of earliest bloom, Whom heavens, in justice, (both on her and And rifle all the breathing spring. her's) No wailing ghost shall dare appear Have laid most heavy band. To ver with shrieks this quiet grore ; Sooth. The fingers of the powers above do But shepherd lads assemble here, And melting virgins own their lore. No wither'd witch shall here be seen, of this yet scarce-cold battle, at this instant No goblins lead their nightly crew : Is full accomplish'd : For the Roman eagle, The female says shall haunt the green, From south to west on wing soaring aloit, And dress thy grave with pearly deer. Lessen'd herself, and in the beams o'the sun The red-breast oft at evening hours So vanish’d; which foreshow'd our princely Shall kindly lend his little aid, eagle, With hoary moss, and gather'd flowers, The imperial Cesar, should again unite To deck the ground where thou art laid. His favour with the radiant Cymbeline, Which sbines here in the west. When howling winds and beating rain. Cym. Laud we the gods; In tempests shake the sylrar cell: And let our crooked smokes climb to their Or midst the chase on every plain, nostrils The tender thought on thee shall duell. From our bless'd altars ! Publish we this peace Each lonely scene shull thee restore ; To all our subjects. Set we forward: Let For thee the tear be duly shed: A Roinau and a British ensign wave Belov'd, till life could charm no more ; And mourn'd, till pily's self be dead. • Riso. KING LEAR. LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE. THE sabject of this interesting tragedy, which was probably written in 1605, is derived from an old historical ballad, founded on a story in Holinshed's Chronicles, and originally told by Geoffery of Monmouth. “Leir (sars tbe Welsh historian) was the eldest son of Bladud, nobly governed his country for sixty years, and died about 60 years before Christ.” Camdeu tells a similar story of Isra, king of the West Saxons, and his three daughters.---The episode of Gloster and his sons is taken from Sidney's Arcadia. Tate,the laureat, greatly altered, and in a degree polished this play, inserting new scenes or passages, and transposing or omitting stben: in particular, he avoided its original heart-rending catastrophe, by which the virtue of Cordelia was safered to perish in a just cause, contrary to the natural ideas of justice, to the hope of the reader, and to the facts of the ancient narrative. He also introduced Edgar to the audience as the suitor of Cordelia, cancelueg the excellent scene in which, after being rejected as dowerless, by Burgundy, her misfortunes d be goodness recommend her to the love of the king of France. Yet the restauration of the king, and the faal kappiness of Cordelia, have been censured (in the Spectator especially) as at variance with trne tragic feeling and poetical beauty: although it may fairly be presumed, since mankind naturally love justire, that as atzeation to its dictates will never make a play worse, and that an audience will generally rise Bere satisfied where persecuted virtue is rewarded and triumphaut. Lear's struggles against his accumu. lated isjaries, and his own strong feelings of sorrow and indignation, are exquisitely drawn. The daughters severalls working him up to madness, and bis finally falling a martyr to that malady, is a more deep and swful combination of dramatie portraiture than can be found in any other writer." There is no play (wys Dr. Johoson,) which keeps the attention so constantly fixed ; wbich so mach agitates our passions ao interests our curiosity." The celebrated Dr. Warton, who minutely criticised this play in the Adventurer, objected to the instances of crualty, as too savage and too shocking. But Johnson observes, that the barbarity of the daughters is an historical fact, to which Shakspeare lias added little, although he CREMİ so readily apologize for the extrusion of Gloster's eyes, which is coo horrid an act for dramatic exhibirice, and such as mast always compel the mind to relieve its distresses by incredulity. Colman, as well * Tate, re-modelled this celebrated Drama, but it is acted, with trifling variations, on the originul plan of tas latier. DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. LI, King of Britain. OSWALD, Steward to Goneril. KISS OY FRANCE. Au OFFICER, employed by Edmund. DEKK OF BORGUNDY. GENTLEMAN, Attendant on Cordelia. DEKE OF CORNWALL. A HERALD. SERVANTS to Cornuall. GONERIL, REGAN, Daughters to Lear. CORDELIA, Knights attending on the King, oficers, Mes. ParsiciAN. sengers, Soldiers, and Attendants. FOOL, SCENE, Britain. } ACT I. Kent. Is not this your sou, my lord ? Glo. His breeding, Sir, hath been at my SCENE 1.-A Room of State in King Lear's charge : I have so often blush'd to acknowledge Palace. him, that now I am brazed to it. Kent. I cannot conceive you. Enter KENT, GLOSTER, and EDMUND. Glo. Sir, this young fellow's mother could : Kent. I thought the king had more affected whereupon she grew round-wornbed ; and had, the date of Albauy thau Cornwall. indeed, Sir, a son for her cradle, ere she had a Gla. It did always seem so to us : but now, in husband for her bed. Do yon smell a fault ? the drigcn of the kingdom, it appears not which Kent. I cannot wish the fault undone, the dib duhes be values most; for equalities are issue of it being so proper. so weigh'd, that curiosity in weither can Glo. But I have, sir, a son, by order of law, make cboice of either's moiety. + some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer • Exxtest scrutiny. + l'art or division. . Ilandsome. shall carry As my great patron thought on iu my prayers, + Interess'd, has the same meaning esinterested: thong one is derived from the Freuch, the other from the in my account : though this knave came some. No less in space, validity, and pleasure, love Strive to be interess'd it what can you say, to Edm. No, my lord. draw Glo. My lord of Kent: remember him here. A third more opulent than your sisters ! Speak. after as my honourable friend. Cor. Nothing, my lord. Edm. My services to your lordship. Lear. Nothing? Kent. I must love you, and sue to know you Cor. Nothing. better. Lear. Nothing can come of nothing: speak Edm. Sir, I shall study deserving. again. Glo. He hath been out nine years, and away Cor. Unbappy that I am, I cannot beare he shall again :-The king is coming. My heart into my month : I love your majesty [Trumpets sound within According to my bond; nor mure, nor less. Enter LEAR, CORNWALL, ALBANY, GONERIL, Lear. How, bow, Cordelia ? mend your speech a little, REGAN, CORDELIA, and Attendants. Lest it may mar your fortunes. Lear. Attend the lords of France and Bur Cor. Good my lord, Gloster. (gundy, You have begot ine, bred me, lov'd me: 1 Glo. I shall, my liege. Return those duties back as are right fit, (Exeunt GLOSTER and EDYUND. Obey you, love you, and most honour you. Lear. Meantime we shall express our darker • Why have my sisters husbands, if they say, purpose. They love you all? Haply, when I shall wed, divided, Lear. But goes this with thy heart! Cor. Ay, good my lord. Lear. Let it be so.-Thy truth then be tby dower: May be prevented now. The princes, France For, by the sacred radiance of the sun ; and Burgundy, The mysteries of Hecate, and the night; Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love, By all the operations of the orbs, Long in our court have made their amorous From whom we do exist, and cease to be ; sojourn, [daughters, Here I disclaim all my paternal care, And here are to be answer'd... Tell me, my And as a stranger to my heart and me Propinquity t and property of blood, (Since now we will divest us, both of rule, Interest of territory, cares of state,) Hold thee, from this, 5 for ever. The barbarous Which of you, shall we ay, doth love us most ? Scythian, That we our largest bounty may extend Or he that makes his generation || messes Where merit doth most cballenge it. --Goneril, To gorge his appetite, sball to my bosom, Our eldest-born, speak first. Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and reliev'd, Gon, Sir, I [matter As thou my sometime daughter. Do love you more than words can wield the Kent. Good my liege,- Lear. Peace, Kent! On her kind nursery.- Heuce, and avoid my sight A love that makes breaui poor, and speech So be my grave my peace, as here I give unable ; Her father's heart from her !--Call France ; Beyond all manner of so much I love you. Wbo stirs ? Cor. What shall Cordelia do ? Love, and be Call Burgundy,-Cornwall and Albany, silent. [Aside. With my two daughter's dowers "digest this Lear. Of all these bounds, even from this third : line to this, Let pride, which she calls plajnness, marry ber. With shadowy forests and with champains do invest you jointly with my power, ricb'd, With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads, That troop with majesty. -Ourself, by monthly We make thee lady : To thine and Albany's course, issue (daughter, With reservation of a hundred knights, sister, (sesses ; Lov'd as my father, as my master follow'd, [Aside. Lear. The box And yet not so ; since, I am sure, my love's from the shafts More richer than my tongue. • Valne. Lear. To thee and thine, hereditary ever Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom ; . Determined resolution. • More secret. i Kindred, $From this time. 1 Titles, (To CORDELIA. The sway, [Giving the Crouen. is bent and drawn, make His children. |