Murder in heaven?-How?-Tis gone.-Pisanio, Pisanio might have kill'd thee at the heart, And left this head on 41.-How should this be? Pisanio? 'Tis he, and Cloten: malice and lucre in them Have laid this woe here. O, 'tis pregnant, pregnant 42! Which chance to find us: O, my lord, my lord! Jove. The epithet is frequently so used in the old dramatic writers; particularly Heywood: Alcides here will stand To plague you all with his high Jovial hand.' The Silver Age. 40 Irregulous must mean lawless, licentious, out of rule. The word has not hitherto been met with elsewhere: but in Reinolds's God's Revenge against Adultery, ed. 1671, p. 121, we have 'irregulated lust.' 41 This is another of the poet's lapses, unless we attribute the error to the old printers, and read, thy head on.' We must understand by this head,' the head of Posthumus; the head that did belong to this body. 42 i. e. 'tis a ready, apposite conclusion. Enter LUCIUS, a Captain, and other Officers, and a Soothsayer. Cap. To them the legions garrison'd in Gallia, After your will, have cross'd the sea; attending You here at Milford Haven, with your ships: They are here in readiness. Luc. But what from Rome? Cap. The senate hath stirr❜d up the confiners, Luc. When expect you them? Cap. With the next benefit o' the wind. Luc. This forwardness Makes our hopes fair. Command, our present numbers Be muster'd; bid the captains look to't.-Now, sir, (I fast 45, and pray'd, for their intelligence), Thus :- 43 Shakspeare appears to have meant brother to the prince of Sienna. He was not aware that Sienna was a republic, or possibly did not heed it. 44 It was no common dream, but sent from the very gods, or the gods themselves. 45 Fast for fasted, as we have in another place of this play lift for lifted. In King John we have heat for heated, waft for wafted, &c. Similar phraseology will be found in the Bible, Mark, i. 31; John, xiii. 18; Exodus, xii. 8, &c. 46 Milton has availed himself of this epithet in Comus : Thus I hurl My dazzling spells into the spungy air.' VOL. IX. L Unless my sins abuse my divination), Dream often so, Luc. With the defunct, or sleep upon the dead.- Cap. He is alive, my lord. Luc. He'll then instruct us of this body.-Young one, Inform us of thy fortunes: for it seems, They crave to be demanded: Who is this, Hath alter'd that good picture? What's thy interest Imo. I am nothing or if not, Nothing to be were better. This was my master, That here by mountaineers lies slain:-Alas! From east to occident, cry out for service, wander Luc. 'Lack, good youth! Thou mov'st no less with thy complaining, than Thy master in bleeding: Say his name, good friend. Imo. Richard du Champ 48. If I do lie, and do 47 Who has altered this picture, so as to make it otherwise than nature did it? Olivia, speaking of her own beauty as of a picture, asks Viola if it is not well done?' 48 Shakspeare was indebted for his modern names (which sometimes are mixed with ancient ones), as well as for his ana No harm by it, though the gods hear, I hope Luc. Thou dost approve thyself the very same: Thy name well fits thy faith; thy faith, thy name. Wilt take thy chance with me? I will not say, Thou shalt be so well master'd; but, be sure, No less belov'd. The Roman emperor's letters, Sent by a consul to me, should not sooner Than thine own worth prefer thee: Go with me. Imo. I'll follow, sir. But first, an't please the gods, I'll hide my master from the flies, as deep As these poor pickaxes 49 can dig: and when With wild wood-leaves and weeds I have strew'd his grave, And on it said a century of prayers, Such as I can, twice o'er, I'll weep, and sigh; So please you entertain me. Luc. Ay, good youth; And rather father thee, than master thee.— The boy hath taught us manly duties: Let us chronisms, to the fashionable novels of his time. Steevens cites some amusing instances from A Petite Palace of Pettie his Pleasure, 1576. But the absurdity was not confined to novels;' the drama would afford numerous examples. 49 Meaning her fingers. 50 That is, 'take him up in your arms.' So in Fletcher's Two Noble Kinsmen : By thee to us; and he shall be interr'd, As soldiers can. Be cheerful; wipe thine eyes: Some falls are means the happier to arise. [Exeunt. SCENE III. A Room in Cymbeline Palace. Enter CYMBELINE, Lords, and PISANIO. Cym. Again; and bring me word, how 'tis with her. A fever with the absence of her son: A madness, of which her life's in danger:-Hea vens, How deeply you at once do touch me! Imogen, The great part of my comfort, gone: my queen Upon a desperate bed; and in a time When fearful wars point at me; her son gone, So needful for this present: It strikes me, past The hope of comfort.—But for thee, fellow, Who needs must know of her departure, and Dost seem so ignorant, we'll enforce it from thee By a sharp torture. Pis. Sir, my life is yours, I humbly set it at your will: But, for my mistress, Hold me your loyal servant. 1 Lord. Good, my liege, The day that she was missing, he was here: For Cloten, There wants no diligence in seeking him, But 1 Perhaps we should read, he'll no doubt be found.' this omission of the personal pronoun was by no means uncommon in Shakspeare's age. There are several other instances in |