Thus in a chapel lying! — Come off, come off; [Taking off her bracelet. As slippery as the Gordian knot was hard! Screw'd to my memory? She hath been reading late Where Philomel gave up. I have enough: To th' trunk again, and shut the spring of it. Though this a heavenly angel, Hell is here. One, two, three, Time, time! 10 [Clock strikes. [Goes into the trunk. Scene closes. 5 Conscience has no reference to Posthumus. As strongly as the conscience of any guilty person witnesses to the fact of his guilt. 6 Some readers may like to be told that cinque means five. 7 Tereus and Progne is the second tale in A Petite Palace of Pettie his Pleasure, 1576. The story is related in Ovid, Metam. l. vi.; and by Gower in his Confessio Amantis. See vol. xiii. page 44, note 3. 8 The task of drawing the chariot of Night was assigned to dragons, on account of their supposed watchfulness. See vol. iii. page 61, note 36. 9 May make bare or open the raven's eye. The raven, being a very early stirrer, is here referred to as having its eye opened by the dawn. 10 The inexpressible purity and delicacy of this scene has been often commended. The description of Imogen would almost engage our respect upon the describer, but that we already know Iachimo to be one of those passionless minds in which gross thoughts are most apt to lodge; and that the unaccustomed awe of virtue, which Imogen struck into him at their first interview, chastises down his tendencies to gross-thoughtedness while in her SCENE III. The Same. An Ante-chamber adjoining IMOGEN'S Apartments in the Palace. Enter CLOTEN and Lords. I Lord. Your lordship is the most patient man in loss, the most coldest that ever turn'd up ace. Clo. It would make any man cold to lose. I Lord. But not every man patient after the noble temper of your lordship. You are most hot and furious when you win. Clo. Winning will put any man into courage. If I could get this foolish Imogen, I should have gold enough. It's almost morning, is't not? I Lord. Day, my lord. Clo. I would this music would come! I am advised to give her music o' mornings; they say it will penetrate. Enter Musicians. Come on; tune. If you can penetrate her with your fingering, so; we'll try with tongue too: if none will do, let her remain; but I'll never give o'er. First, a very excellent good-conceited 1 thing; after, a wonderful sweet air, with admirable rich words to it; and then let her consider. SONG. Hark, hark! the lark at Heaven's gate sings,2 presence. Thus his delicacy of speech only goes to heighten our impression of Imogen's character, inasmuch as it seems to come, not from him, but from her through him; and as something that must be divine indeed, not to be strangled in passing through such a medium. 1 Good-conceited is the same as well-conceived or well-imagined. 2 A similar figure occurs in Paradise Lost, v. 197: "Ye birds, that singing up to heaven-gate ascend, bear on your wings and in your notes His praise." And in Shakespeare's 29th Sonnet: Haply, I think on thee, and then my state, Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth, sings hymns at Heaven's gate. And Phœbus 'gins arise, His steeds to water at those springs With every thing that pretty is, My lady sweet, arise; Clo. So, get you gone. If this penetrate, I will consider your music the better: 4 if it do not, it is a vice in her ears, which horse-hairs and calves'-guts, nor the voice of unpaved 5 eunuch to boot, can never amend. [Exeunt Musicians. 2 Lord. Here comes the King. Clo. I am glad I was up so late, for that's the reason I was up so early: he cannot choose but take this service I have done fatherly. Enter CYMBELINE and the Queen. Good morrow to your Majesty and to my gracious mother. The whole song may have been suggested by a passage in Lyly's Alexander and Campaspe : Who is't now we hear? None but the lark so shrill and clear: Hark, hark! with what a pretty throat Poor robin red-breast tunes his note. 8 The morning dries up the dew which lies in the cups of flowers called calices or chalices. The marigold is one of those flowers which close themselves up at sunset. So in the 25th Sonnet: "Great princes' favourites their fair leaves spread, but as the marigold at the Sun's eye." - Such instances of false concord as lies were common with the older poets, and were not then breaches of grammar. 4 Meaning, "I will pay you the more liberally for it." 5 The word unpaved is superfluous here. An unpaved man is an eunuch. - The phrase calves'-guts is not meant as a Clotenism; but was used for catgut, which has no more to do with any thing belonging to a cat than with what belongs to a calf. Cym. Attend you here the door of our stern daughter? Will she not forth? Clo. I have assail'd her with music, but she vouchsafes no notice. Cym. The exile of her minion is too new; She hath nor yet forgot him: some more time Queen. You are most bound to th' King, Who lets go by no vantages that may Clo. Senseless! not so. Enter a Messenger. Mess. So like you, sir, ambassadors from Rome; The one is Caius Lucius. Cym. A worthy fellow, Albeit he comes on angry purpose now; But that's no fault of his: we must receive him According to the honour of his sender; And towards himself, his goodness forespent on us, When you have given good morning to your mistress, 6" We must extend towards himself our notice of the goodness he has heretofore shown us." The Poet has many similar ellipses. T' employ you towards this Roman. - Come, our Queen. [Exeunt all but CLOTEN. Clo. If she be up, I'll speak with her; if not, Let her lie still and dream. - By your leave, ho! [Knocks. I know her women are about her: what If I do line one of their hands? 'Tis gold Their deer to th' stand o' the stealer: 8 and 'tis gold One of her women lawyer to me; for Lady. Who's there that knocks? Clo. Lady. [Knocks. Enter a Lady. A gentleman. No more? That's more Clo. Yes, and a gentlewoman's son. Than some, whose tailors are as dear as yours, 7 The use of to false for to falsify or to perjure was not uncommon. See vol. vii. page 19, note 27. -"Diana's rangers" are the train of virgin huntresses that used to "range the forest wild in attendance upon the goddess. Of course they were deeply sworn to chastity. See vol. xvii. page 287, note 2. 8 A stand, as the word seems to be used here, was an artificial place of concealment in a deer-park, where the hunter could lurk, and pick off the animals as they passed by. Such stands, or standings, were commonly made for the special convenience of ladies engaging in the sport. But the keeper of a park might betray his trust, and let a deer-stealer have the advantage of the place. Such appears to be the allusion here. See vol. vi. page 109, note 21. |