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Continue where he is; to shift his being5,
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: PISANIO 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 pr'ythee, 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 PISA.]-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

5 To change his abode.

6 That inclines towards its fall.

Think with what a fair prospect of mending your fortunes you now change your present service.' It has been proposed to

read::

And,

"Think what a chance thou chancest on.'

"Think what a change thou chancest on.' But there seems to be no necessity for alteration.

8 A lieger ambassador is one that resides in a foreign court to promote his master's interest. So in Measure for Measure:'Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven, Intends you for his swift embassador, Where you shall be an everlasting lieger?

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.
Pis.
And shall do9:
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 same.

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 glorious1: 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.

Iach.

Change you, madam ? The worthy Leonatus is in safety,

And greets your highness dearly. [Presents a Letter.
Imo.
Thanks, good sir:

You are kindly welcome.

Some words, which rendered this sentence less abrupt, and perfected the metre of it, appear to have been omitted in the old copies.

Imogen's sentiment appears to be, Had I been stolen by thieves in my infancy, I had been happy. But how pregnant with misery is that station which is called glorious, and so much desired. Happier far are those, how mean soever their condition, that have their honest wills; it is this which seasons comfort, (i. e. tempers it, or makes it more pleasant and acceptable). See Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 3: My blessing season this in you.'

Iach. All of her, that is out of door, most rich!

If she be furnish'd with a mind so rare,
She is alone the Arabian bird; and I

[Aside.

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 truest2 LEONATUS.

So far I read aloud:

But even the very middle of my heart

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 beach3 ? 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;

2 The old copy reads, trust. The emendation was suggested by Mason; is defended by Steevens; and, of course, opposed by Malone.

3 We must either believe that the poet by 'number'd beach' means numerous beach', or else that he wrote th unnumber'd beach;' which, indeed, seems most probable.

4 To mow, or moe, is to make mouths.

Aust

Sluttery to such neat excellence oppos'd
Should make desire vomit emptiness,
Not so allur'd to feed5.

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?

What, dear sir,

[TO PISANIO.

Iach. Thanks, madam; well:-'Beseech you, sir,

desire

My man's abode where did leave him: he
Is strange and peevish".

Pis.

To give him welcome.

I was going, sir,

[Exit PISANIO.

Imo. Continues well my lord? His health, be

seech 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

5 Jachimo, in his counterfeited rapture, has shown how the eyes and the judgment would determine in favour of Imogen, comparing her with the supposititious present mistress of Posthumus, he proceeds to say, that appetite too would give the same suffrage. Desire (says he) when it approached sluttery, and considered it in comparison with such neat excellence, would not only be not so allured to feed, but, seized with a fit of loathing, would vomit emptiness, would feel the convulsions of disgust, though, being unfed, it had no object.

6 i. e he is a foreigner and foolish, or silly. See vol. iv. p. 163. note 6. lachimo says again at the latter end of this scene:And I am something curious, being strange,

To have them in safe stowage."

Here also strange means a foreigner.

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, 'tis much; In you,-which I count 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?

You look on me; What wreck discern you in me, Deserves your pity?

Iach.

Lamentable! What!

To hide me from the radiant sun, and solace
I'the dungeon by a snuff?

Imo.

I pray you, sir,

We have the same expression in Chapman's preface to his translation of the Shield of Homer, 1598:-Furnaceth the universal sighes and complaintes of this transposed world.' And in As You Like It :

'Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad.'

If he merely regarded his own character, without any consideration of his wife, his conduct would be unpardonable.'

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