And winds of all the corners kiss'd your sails,
To make your vessel nimble.

Phi.

Welcome, sir.

Post. I hope, the briefness of your answer made The speediness of your return.

Iach.

Your lady Is one of the fairest that I have look'd upon. Post. And, therewithal, the best; or let her beauty Look through a casement to allure false hearts, And be false with them.

Iach.

Here are letters for you.

Post. Their tenour good, I trust.

Iach.

"Tis very like.

Phi. Was Caius Lucius in the Britain court,

When you were there1?

Iach.

But not approach'd.

Post.

He was expected then,

All is well yet.

Sparkles this stone as it was wont? or is't not
Too dull for your good wearing?

Iach.
If I have lost it,
I should have lost the worth of it in gold.
I'll make a journey twice as far, to enjoy
A second night of such sweet shortness, which
Was mine in Britain; for the ring is won.
Post. The stone's too hard to come by.
Iach.

Your lady being so easy.

Post.

Not a whit,

Make not, sir,

Your loss your sport: I hope, you know that we Must not continue friends.

Iach.

Good sir, we must,

4 This speech is given to Posthumus in the old copy; but Posthumus was employed in reading his letters, and was too much interested in the end of Iachimo's journey to put an indifferent question of this nature. It was transferred to Philario at the suggestion of Steevens.

If you keep covenant: Had I not brought
The knowledge of your mistress home, I grant
We were to question further: but I now
Profess myself the winner of her honour,
Together with your ring; and not the wronger
Of her, or you, having proceeded but
By both your wills.

Post.

If you can make't apparent

That you have tasted her in bed, my hand,
And ring is yours: if not, the foul opinion
You had of her pure honour, gains, or loses,
Your sword, or mine; or masterless leaves both
To who shall find them.

1

Iach.

Sir, my circumstances,

Being so near the truth, as I will make them, Must first induce you to believe: whose strength I will confirm with oath; which, I doubt not,

You'll give me leave to spare, when you shall find

You need it not.

Post.

Iach.

Proceed.

First, her bed-chamber

(Where, I confess, I slept not; but, profess,
Had that was well worth watching 5), It was hang'd
With tapestry of silk and silver? the story
Proud Cleopatra, when she met her Roman,
And Cydnus swell'd above the banks, or for
The press of boats, or pride: a piece of work
So bravely done, so rich, that it did strive
In workmanship, and value: which, I wonder'd,
Could be so rarely and exactly wrought,
Since the true life on't was 6-

5 i. e. that which was well worth watching or lying awake [for].' See the preceding scene, note 5.

6 Mason proposes to read:

'Such the true life on't was.'

It is a typographical error easily made: and the emendation deserves a place in the text.

Johnson observes, that 'Iachimo's language is such as a skil

Post.

This is true;

And this you might have heard of here, by me,

Or by some other.

Iach.

Must justify my knowledge.

Post.

More particulars

So they must,

The chimney

Or do your honour injury.

Iach.
Is south the chamber; and the chimney-piece,
Chaste Dian, bathing: never saw I figures
So likely to report themselves: the cutter
Was as another nature, dumb7; outwent her,
Motion and breath left out.

Post.

This is a thing,

Which you might from relation likewise reap;
Being, as it is, much spoke of.

Iach. The roof o' the chamber With golden cherubins is fretted3. Her andirons (I had forgot them), were two winking Cupids

ful villain would naturally use; a mixture of airy triumph and serious deposition. His gaiety shows his seriousness to be without anxiety, and his seriousness proves his gaiety to be without art.'

7 i. e. so near speech. A speaking picture is a common figurative mode of expression. The meaning of the latter part of the sentence is: The sculptor was as nature dumb; he gave every thing that nature gives but breath and motion. In breath is included speech.'

8 Steevens says, 'this tawdry image occurs in King Henry VIII. :

their dwarfish pages were

As cherubins all gilt.'

By the very mention of cherubins his indignation is moved. 'The sole recommendation of this Gothick idea (says he), which is critically repeated by modern artists, seems to be, that it occupies but little room on canvass or marble; for chubby unmeaning faces, with ducks' wings tucked under them, are all the çircumstances that enter into such infantine and absurd representations of the choirs of heaven.'

F 2

Of silver), each on one foot standing, nicely
Depending on their brands 9.

Post.

This is her honour!

Let it be granted, you have seen all this (and praise
Be given to your remembrance), the description
Of what is in her chamber, nothing saves

The wager you have laid.

Iach.

Then, if you can, [Pulling out the Bracelet. Be pale 10; I beg but leave to air this jewel: See!And now 'tis up again: it must be married

To that your diamond; I'll keep them.

Post.

Once more let me behold it: Is it that

Which I left with her?

Iach.

Jove!

Sir (I thank her), that:

She stripp'd it from her arm; I see her yet;

Her pretty action did outsell her gift,

And yet enrich'd it too: She gave it me, and said,

She priz❜d it once.

Post.

To send it me.
Iach.

May be, she pluck'd it off,

She writes so to you? doth she?

9 It is well known that the andirons of our ancestors 'were sometimes costly pieces of furniture; the standards were often, as in this instance, of silver, and representing some terminal figure or device; the transverse or horizontal pieces, upon which the wood was supported, were what Shakspeare here calls the brands, properly brandirons. Upon these the Cupids which formed the standards nicely depended, seeming to stand on one foot.

10 The meaning seems to be, If you ever can be pale-be pale now with jealousy.'

'Pale jealousy, child of insatiate love.'

Not, as Johnson says, 'forbear to flush your cheek with rage.' Mr. Boswell's conjecture that it meant,' If you can control your temper, if you can restrain yourself within bounds,' is surely inadmissible.

Post. O, no, no, no; 'tis true.

too;

It is a basilisk unto mine eye,

Here, take this [Gives the Ring.

Kills me to look on't:-Let there be no honour,
Where there is beauty; truth, where semblance; love,
Where there's another man: The vows of women
Of no more bondage be, to where they are made,
Than they are to their virtues: which is nothing:-
O, above measure false!

Phi.

Have patience, sir, And take your ring again; 'tis not yet won: It may be probable, she lost it; or,

Who knows if one of her women, being corrupted, Hath stolen it from her.

Post.

Very true;

And so, I hope, he came by't;-Back my ring;-
Render to me some corporal sign about her,
More evident than this; for this was stolen.
Iach. By Jupiter, I had it from her arm.

Post. Hark you, he swears; by Jupiter he swears. 'Tis true;-nay, keep the ring-'tis true: I am sure, She would not lose it: her attendants are

All sworn 11 and honourable:-They induc'd to steal it!

And by a stranger?—No, he hath enjoy'd her.
The cognizance 12 of her incontinency

Is this, she hath bought the name of whore thus dearly.

There, take thy hire: and all the fiends of hell
Divide themselves between you!

11 It was anciently the custom for the servants of great families (as it is now for the servants of the king) to take an oath of fidelity on their entrance into office. See Percy's Northumberland Household Book, p. 49.

12 The badge, the token, the visible proof. So in King Henry VI. Part I. :—