445

[To Cymbeline] The piece of tender air, thy virtuous daughter,
Which we call 'mollis aer;' and 'mollis aer'
We term it 'mulier:' which 'mulier' I divine
Is this most constant wife; who even now,
Answering the letter of the oracle,
Unknown to you, unsought, were clipp'd about
With this most tender air.

Cym.
This hath some seeming.
Sooth. The lofty cedar, royal Cymbeline,
Personates thee: and thy lopp'd branches point
Thy two sons forth; who, by Belarius stol'n,
For many years thought dead, are now revived,
To the majestic cedar join'd, whose issue
Promises Britain peace and plenty.

Сут.

Well;

My peace we will begin. And, Caius Lucius,
Although the victor, we submit to Cæsar
And to the Roman empire, promising

Το pay our wonted tribute, from the which
We were dissuaded by our wicked queen;
Whom heavens in justice both on her and hers
Have laid most heavy hand.

Sooth. The fingers of the powers above do tune
The harmony of this peace. The vision,
Which I made known to Lucius ere the stroke

450

455

460

465

447 this] thy Capell. this thy Keight

ley. your Delius conj.
[to Pos. Capell.

who] you Nicholson conj.

449 you,] Rowe. you Ff.

were] wert Vaughan conj.

456 Well;] om. Pope.

457 My] By Hanmer (in margin). Thy Delius coni. This So quoted by

Keightley. With or Our Hudson conj.

462, 463 Whom heavens in justice...... Have] On whom heaven's justice... Hath Pope.

462 both...hers] Put in a parenthesis by Pope.

463 hand] hand on Keightley.

Of this yet scarce-cold battle, at this instant
Is full accomplish'd; for the Roman eagle,
From south to west on wing soaring aloft,
Lessen'd herself and in the beams o' the sun
So vanish'd which foreshow'd our princely eagle,
The imperial Cæsar, should again unite

His favour with the radiant Cymbeline,

470

Which shines here in the west.

Cym.

Laud we the gods;

475

And let our crooked smokes climb to their nostrils
From our blest altars. Publish we this peace

To all our subjects.

Set we forward: let

A Roman and a British ensign wave

Friendly together: so through Lud's town march:
And in the temple of great Jupiter

Our peace we'll ratify; seal it with feasts.
Set on there! Never was a war did cease,

Ere bloody hands were wash'd, with such a peace.

480

[Exeunt.

467 this yet] F3F, yet this FF2.

scarce-cold battle] scarce-cold Bat-
tel Rowe. scarse-cold-Battaile F1

Fg scarce-cold-Battel F3F4. 481 ratify;] ratifie: FF. ratifie. F3F4

NOTES.

NOTE I.

1. 1. The play is called in the Folios The Tragedie of Cymbeline, and it is divided throughout into Acts and Scenes.

NOTE II.

II. 3. 122. Mr Collier suspects that the word 'note' is corrupt.

III. 3. 5.

NOTE III.

Eccles says that Hanmer reads 'get through' for 'jet through,' but it is not the case in either of the editions before us.

NOTE IV.

III. 3. 83. Johnson explains his proposed reading thus: 'They are trained up in the cave, where their thoughts in hitting the bow, or arch of their habitation, hit the roofs of palaces.'

NOTE V.

III. 4. 48. Warburton explains 'meether' as a north-country word signifying beauty, but he gives no authority for the statement. Rowe's reading 'wother' is a misprint, corrected in his second edition, and Becket's motheur' is an invention.

If the text be right, the meaning probably is: Whose mother aided and abetted her daughter in her trade of seduction.' Such a

person is introduced by Middleton in A Mad World, my Masters, where in Act 1. Sc. 1, we find:

'See here she comes,

The close curtezan, whose mother is her bawd.'

It suits the character of Imogen that she should conceive a circumstance to account for, and in some measure palliate, her husband's fault.

[The passage from Middleton is quoted in Warburton MS. but it does not justify the explanation above given, which I always regarded as very doubtful. If the reading in the text be correct Johnson's interpretation is right. Compare IV. 2. 82-84. W. A. W.]

NOTE VI.

III. 4. 86. Pope reads:

And thou Posthumus,

That set my disobedience 'gainst the king,

And mad'st me put into contempt the suits &c.'

Johnson follows Pope, reading 'set'st' for 'set.'

Hanmer has:

" And thou, Posthumus,

That didst set up my disobedience

Against the King my father, and didst make
Me put into contempt even the suits &c.'

Steevens (1778) reads thus:

'And thou, Posthumus, that diddest set up
My disobedience 'gainst the king my father,
And mad'st me &c.'

Malone reads:

'And thou, Posthumus,

That did'st set up my disobedience 'gainst

The king my father, and make me put into contempt

The suits &c.'

Steevens (1793) adopted and claimed as his own Capell's reading, which had already been followed by Rann in 1789.

Mr Knight and Mr Collier adopt Capell's arrangement, but omit the second 'thou.'

Sidney Walker says: "I think we should read and arrange,—

'And thou, Posthumus

That didst set up &c.'"

His editor, Mr Lettsom, adds in a note:

"Walker probably intended to arrange further,—

'That didst set up my disobedience 'gainst

The king my father,

And make me &c."

Mr Keightley reads and arranges as follows:

'And thou, Posthumus

-That didst set up my disobedience 'gainst the King
My father, and make me put into contempt

The suits of princely fellows-shalt hereafter find &c.'

III. 7. Scene III.

NOTE VII.

Pope silently transfers to this place the whole of Act iv.
Hanmer followed Pope in this, though the order of the

Folios is retained by Theobald.

NOTE VIII.

IV. 2. 31. Capell, in his Notes, anticipates this suggestion made by Sidney Walker. He says, 'When Bellarius says 'Tis the ninth hour o' the morn, he turns to a part of the cave, and takes down some of their hunting instruments, reaching one to Arviragus; which is the occasion of the words-So please you sir, the reaching being link'd with a call.'

NOTE IX.

iv. 2. 112, 113. Since none of the proposed emendations can be regarded as perfectly satisfactory, we leave this passage as it stands in the Folios. Possibly, as some editors have suggested, the author may through inadvertence have said the reverse of what he meant. whole line, ending with the word 'judgement,' may have dropped out

Or a