That mount the Capitol; join gripes with hands
Made hard with hourly falsehood 11 (falsehood, as
With labour); then lie peeping in an eye,
Base and unlustrous as the smoky light
That's fed with stinking tallow; it were fit,
That all the plagues of hell should at one time
Encounter such revolt.

Imo.

Has forgot Britain.

Iach.

My lord, I fear,

And himself. Not I,

Inclin'd to this intelligence, pronounce

The beggary of his change; but 'tis your graces That, from my mutest conscience, to my tongue, Charms this report out.

Imo.

Let me hear no more.

Iach. O dearest soul! your cause doth strike my

heart

12

With pity, that doth make me sick. A lady
So fair, and fasten'd to an empery
Would make the great'st king double! to be part-
ner'd

With tomboys, hir'd with that self-exhibition 13, Which your own coffers yield! with diseas'd ventures,

11 Hard with falsehood is hard by being often griped with frequent change of hands.

12 Empery is a word signifying sovereign command, now obsolete. Shakspeare uses it in King Richard III.:

Your right of birth, your empery your own.'

13 We still call a forward or rude hoyden a tomboy. But our ancestors seem to have used the term for a wanton.

'What humourous tomboys be these?—

The only gallant Messalinas of our age.'
Lady Alimony.

So in W. Warren's Nurcerie of Names, 1581:

'Gross strumpets, hired with the very pension which you allow your husband.'

That play with all infirmities for gold

Which rottenness can lend nature! such boil'd

stuff 14

As well might poison poison! Be reveng'd;
Or she, that bore you, was no queen, and
Recoil from your great stock.

Imo.

you

Reveng❜d!
How should I be reveng'd? If this be true
(As I have such a heart, that both mine ears
Must not in haste abuse), if it be true,
How should I be reveng'd?

Iach.

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!

Iach. 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 15 stew, and to expound

14 This allusion has been already explained. See Timon of Athens, Act ii. Sc. 3, p. 36.

15 Romish for Roman was the phraseology of Shakspeare's age. Thus in Claudius Tiberius Nero, 1607:-'In the loath

His beastly mind to us; he hath a court
He little cares for, and a daughter whom
He not respects at all.-What ho, Pisanio!-
Iach. 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 16:

Half all men's hearts are his.

Imo.

You make amends.

Iach. He sits 'mongst men, like a descended god 17: 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,

some Romish stewes. Drant, in his translation of the first epistle of the second book of Horace, 1567, has—

"The Romishe people wise in this, in this point only just.' And in other places we have the Romish cirque,' &c. he did in the general bosom reign

16

Of young and old, and sexes both enchanted-
Consents bewitch'd, ere he desire, have granted.'

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

:

as he were A god descended from the starry sphere.' And in Hamlet:

- a station like the herald Mercury New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill.'

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.

Iach. 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? Iach. Some dozen Romans of us, and your lord (The best feather of our wing 18), 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 19,
To have them in safe stowage; May it please you
To take them in protection?

Imo.

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

Iach.

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.

Iach. 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.

18 You are so great you would faine march in fielde, That world should judge you feathers of one wing.' Churchyard's Warning to Wanderers, 1593.

19 See note 6, p. 30 ante.

Imo.

I thank you for your pains;

But not away to-morrow?

Iach.
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 upcast1, to be hit away! 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 ran all out.

[Aside. Clo. When a gentleman is disposed to swear, it is not for any standers-by to curtail his oaths: Ha?

1 He is describing his fate at bowls. The jack is the small bowl at which the others are aimed: he who is nearest to it wins. To kiss the jack' is a state of great advantage. The expression is of frequent occurrence in the old comedies. The jack is also called the mistress.