Luc. He'll then instruct us of this body.- Inform us of thy fortunes; for, it seems That, otherwise than noble nature did, In this sad wrack? How camne it? Who is it? What art thou? Imo. Nothing to be were better. This was my master. A very valiant Briton, and a good, I am nothing or if not, I nothing know where she remains, why gone, Nor when she purposes return. 'Beseech your highness, Hold me your loyal servant. 1 Lord. Good my liege, There wants no diligence in seeking him, Сум. Does yet depend." Cym. Now for the counsel of my son and queen! I am amaz'd with matter. What is betid to Cloten; but remain These present wars shall find I love my country, Even to the note o' the king, or I'll fall in them. All other doubts by time let them be clear'd: Fortune brings in some boats that are not steer'd. [Exit. SCENE IV. Before the Cave. Enter BELARIUS, GUIDERIUS, and ARVIRAGUS. Gui. Bel. Among the bands) may drive us to a render Gui. This is, sir, a doubt In such a time nothing becoming you, Nor satisfying us. Arv. It is not likely SCENE II.-"But his neat cookery." MRS. LENNOX has the following remark upon this passage:-"This princess, forgetting that she had put on boy's clothes to be a spy upon the actions of her husband, commences cook to two young foresters and their father, who live in a cave; and we are told how nicely she sauced the broths. Certainly this princess had a most economical education." Douce has properly commented upon this impertinence :-"Now what is this but to expose her own ignorance of ancient manners? If she had missed the advantage of qualifying herself as a commentator on Shakspeare's plots by a perusal of our old romances, she ought at least to have remembered, what every well-informed woman of the present age is acquainted with, the education of the princesses in Homer's 'Odyssey.' It is idle to attempt to judge of ancient simplicity by a mere knowledge of modern manners; and such fastidious critics had better close the book of Shakspeare for ever." ('Illustrations,' vol. ii. page 104.) SCENE II.-"The ruddock would," &c. Percy asks, "Is this an allusion to the babes of the wood or was the notion of the redbreast covering dead bodies general before the writing of that ballad?" It has been shown that the notion has been found in an earlier book of natural history; and there can be no doubt that it was an old popular belief. The redbreast has always been a favourite with the poets, and "Robin the mean, that best of all loves men," as Browne sings, was naturally employed in the last offices of love. Drayton says, directly imitating Shakspere: "Covering with moss the dead's unclosed eye The little red breast teacheth charity." In the beautiful stanza which Gray has omitted from his Elegy the idea is put with his usual exquisite refinement: "There scatter'd oft, the earliest of the year, 3 SCENE II." We have done our obsequics." In the Introductory Notice we have given an opinion as to the dramatic value of the dirge of Collins as compared with that of Shakspere. Taken apart from the scene, it will always be read with pleasure. A SONG, Sung by Guiderius and Arviragus over Fidele, supposed to be dead. To fair Fidele's grassy tomb, Soft maids and village hinds shall bring Each opening sweet, of earliest bloom, And rifle all the breathing spring. No wailing ghost shall dare appear No goblins lead their nightly crew: And dress thy grave with pearly dew. The redbreast oft at evening hours Shall kindly lend his little aid, To deck the ground where thou art laid. Each lonely scene shall thee restore; SCENE II.-"I saw Jove's bird, the Roman The annexed beautiful coin of Domitian is the best illustration of this passage. And make them dread it, to the doers' thrift." Among the Italian gentry, and to fight If each of you should take this course, how many For wrying but a little!-O, Pisanio! You snatch some hence for little faults; that's love, there be any, in the text may be reconciled by Bacon's notion, that what we call the old world is really the young world; and so a man's first sin is his youngest sin. The sentiment here is excessively beautiful; but, from the elliptical form of expression which so strikingly prevails in this play, is obscure. Posthumus, it appears to us, is comparing his own state with what he supposes is that of Imogen. She is snatched "hence, for little faults;" he remains "to second ills with ills." But how is it that such as he "dread it?" The commentators believe that there is a misprint. Theobald would read dreaded; Johnson deeded. Steevens interprets "to make them dreud it is to make them persevere in the commission of dreadful action"-dread it being used in the same manner as Pope has "to sinner it or saint it." The author of the pamphlet we have already quoted, Explanations and Emendations,' &c., thinks that the it refers to rengeance, which occurs four lines above. We cannot feel contident of this; nor do we think with Monck Mason that thrift means something higher than worldly advantagesthe repentance which issues from the dread. We cannot help believing that some word ought to stand in the place of dread it; and, as the small offender is cut off, in love, "to fall no more," so the hardened doer is left to thrive in his offences, as far as this life is concerned. We are inclined to conjecture, although we cannot presume to alter the text, that dread it has been misprinted for do each. "To second ills with ills, each elder worse, And make them do each to the doer's thrift." |