Ілсн.

Should he make me

Live like Diana's priest, betwixt cold sheets";
Whiles he is vaulting variable ramps,

In your despite, upon your purse? Revenge it.
I dedicate myself to your sweet pleasure;
More noble than that runagate to your bed;
And will continue fast to your affection,
Still close, as sure.

IMO.

What ho, Pisanio!
LACH. Let me my service tender on your lips'.
IMO. Away!-I do condemn mine ears, that have
So long attended thee.-If thou wert honourable,
Thou would'st have told this tale for virtue, not
For such an end thou seek'st; as base, as strange.
Thou wrong'st a gentleman, who is as far
From thy report, as thou from honour; and
Solicit❜st here a lady, that disdains

Thee and the devil alike.-What ho, Pisanio!-
The king my father shall be made acquainted
Of thy assault: if he shall think it fit,
A saucy stranger, in his court, to mart
As in a Romish stew2, and to expound

9 Live like Diana's PRIEST, betwixt cold sheets ;] Sir Thomas Hanmer, supposing this to be an inaccurate expression, reads: "Live like Diana's priestess 'twixt cold sheets; but the text is as the author wrote it. So, in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Diana says:

"My temple stands at Ephesus; hie thee thither;

"There, when my maiden priests are met together," &c.

MALONE. Let me my service tender on your lips.] Perhaps this is an allusion to the ancient custom of swearing servants into noble families. So, in Caltha Poetarum, &c. 1599:

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she swears him to his good abearing,

"Whilst her faire sweet lips were the books of swearing." STEEVENS.

* As in a ROMISH stew,] Romish was, in the time of Shakspeare, used instead of Roman. There were stews at Rome in the time of Augustus. The same phrase occurs in Claudius Tiberius Nero, 1607:

3

His beastly mind to us; he hath a court
He little cares for, and a daughter whom 3
He not respects at all.-What ho, Pisanio!-
LACH. O happy Leonatus! I may say;
The credit, that thy lady hath of thee,
Deserves thy trust; and thy most perfect goodness
Her assur'd credit !-Blessed live you long!
A lady to the worthiest sir, that ever
Country call'd his! and you his mistress, only
For the most worthiest fit! Give me your pardon.
I have spoke this, to know if your affiance
Were deeply rooted; and shall make your lord,
That which he is, new o'er: And he is one
The truest manner'd; such a holy witch,

That he enchants societies unto him*:
Half all men's hearts are his.

IMO.

You make amends.

IACH. He sits 'mongst men, like a descended god 5:

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my mother deem'd me chang'd,

"Poor woman! in the loathsome Romish stewes : and the author of this piece seems to have been a scholar. Again, in Wit In A Constable, by Glapthorne, 1640 : "A Romish cirque, or Grecian hippodrome." Again, Thomas Drant's translation of the first epistle of the second book of Horace, 1567:

"The Romishe people wise in this, in this point only just." STEEVENS. 3-and a daughter WHOм-] Old copy-who. Corrected in the second folio. MALONE.

such a holy witch,

That he ENCHANTS SOCIETIES UNTO HIM:] So, in our author's Lover's Complaint:

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he did in the general bosom reign

"Of young and old, and sexes both enchanted

"Consents bewitch'd, ere he desire, have granted."

S- like a DESCENDED god :] So, in Hamlet:

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a station like the herald Mercury,

"New lighted on a heaven kissing-hill."

MALONE.

The old copy has-defended. The correction was made by the

He hath a kind of honour sets him off,
More than a mortal seeming. Be not angry,
Most mighty princess, that I have adventur'd
To try your taking of a false report; which hath
Honour'd with confirmation your great judgment
In the election of a sir so rare,

Which you know, cannot err: The love I bear him
Made me to fan you thus; but the gods made

you,

Unlike all others, chaffless. Pray, your pardon. Imo. All's well, sir: Take my power i' the court

for yours.

LACH. My humble thanks. I had almost forgot
To entreat your grace but in a small request,
And yet of moment too, for it concerns

Your lord; myself, and other noble friends,
Are partners in the business.

IMO.

Pray, what is't?

LACH. Some dozen Romans of us, and your lord, (The best feather of our wing 7) have mingled sums, To buy a present for the emperor;

Which I, the factor for the rest, have done

In France: 'Tis plate, of rare device; and jewels, Of rich and exquisite form; their values great; And I am something curious, being strange,

editor of the second folio. Defend is again printed for descend, in the last scene of Timon of Athens. MALONE.

So, in Chapman's version of the twenty-third book of Homer's Odyssey:

"A god descended from the starry sphere." STEEVens. taking a - Old copy, vulgarly and unmetrically, taking of a-." STEEVENS.

66

7-best FEATHER OF OUR WING-] So, in Churchyard's Warning to Wanderers Abroad, 1593:

"You are so great you would faine march in fielde,
"That world should judge you feathers of one wing."
STEEVENS.

8 - being strange,] i. e. being a stranger. STEEVENS.

To have them in safe stowage; May it please you To take them in protection?

Імо.

Willingly;

And pawn mine honour for their safety; since My lord hath interest in them, I will keep them In my bed chamber.

LACH.

They are in a trunk,

Attended by my men: I will make bold

To send them to you, only for this night;

I must aboard to-morrow.

IMO.

O, no, no.

LACH. Yes, I beseech; or I shall short my word, By length'ning my return. From Gallia

I cross'd the seas on purpose, and on promise
To see your grace.

IMO.

I thank you for your pains;

But not away to-morrow?

Ілсн.
O, I must, madam:
Therefore, I shall beseech you, if you please
To greet your lord with writing, do't to-night;
I have outstood my time; which is material
To the tender of our present.

IMO.
I will write.
Send your trunk to me; it shall safe be kept,
And truly yielded you: You are very welcome.

[Exeunt.

ACT II. SCENE I.

Court before CYMBELINE's Palace.

Enter CLOTEN, and Two Lords.

CLO. Was there ever man had such luck! when I kissed the jack upon an up-cast, to be hit away!

9-kissed the jack upon an up-cast,] He is describing his fate at bowls. The jack is the small bowl at which the others

I had a hundred pound on't: And then a whoreson jackanapes must take me up for swearing; as if I borrowed mine oaths of him, and might not spend them at my pleasure.

1 LORD. What got he by that? You have broke his pate with your bowl.

2 LORD. If his wit had been like him that broke it, it would have run all out.

[Aside. CLO. When a gentleman is disposed to swear, it is not for any standers-by to curtail his oaths: Ha? 2 LORD. No, my lord; nor [Aside.] crop the ears

of them'.

CLO. Whoreson dog!—I give him satisfaction2? 'Would, he had been one of my rank!

3

2 LORD. To have smelt like a fool. [Aside. CLO. I am not more vexed at any thing in the earth,-A pox on't! I had rather not be so noble as I am; they dare not fight with me, because of the queen my mother: every jack-slave hath his belly full of fighting, and I must go up and down like a cock that no body can match.

2 LORD. You are a cock and capon too; and you crow, cock, with your comb on 1.

are aimed. He who is nearest to it wins. is a state of great advantage. JOHNSON.

[Aside.

"To kiss the jack"

This expression frequently occurs in the old comedies. So, in A Woman Never Vex'd, by Rowley, 1632; "This city bowler has kissed the mistress at the first cast."

STEEVENS.

No, my lord, &c.] This, I believe, should stand thus:

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"1 Lord. No, my lord.

"2 Lord. Nor crop the ears of them. [Aside." JOHNSON. 2 I GIVE him satisfaction?] Old copy-gave. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. MALONE.

gave

Perhaps this is a ludicrous use of the duellist's phrase, 'Ig him satisfaction; I broke his pate with my bowl.' BOSWELL. 3 To have SMELT] A poor quibble on the word rank in the preceding speech. MALONE.

The same quibble has already occurred in As You Like It, Act I. Sc. II. :

"Touch. Nay, if I keep not my rank

"Ros. Thou losest thy old smell." STEEVENS.