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NOTES ON CYMBELINE.

WE pronounce the name of this play Sim-bě-leen; but its proper pronunciation is Kim-be-line. It were well if e could be restored to its proper functions in our language, and the superfluous interloper k ejected.

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ACT FIRST.

SCENE I.

"Still seem as does the King" The folio, "the Kings; which is clearly but an instance of the irregularity as to the final s to which attention is so often directed in these Notes. It was often superfluously added, more rarely omitted when necessary. Tyrwhitt first removed it in this passage. The sense is, our dispositions are not more subject to the influence of the stars than the outward seeming of the courtiers to that of the king. who did gain his honour Against the Romans with Cassibelan, But had his titles by Tenantius": The folio, "who did ioyne his Honor," which has been hitherto retained, although, as Steevens saw, it is inexplicable. Sicilius gained his distinction under one king, but received honorary reward from his successor, -a not uncommon course of events. Tenantius," says Malone, "was the father of Cymbeline, and nephew of Cassibelan, being the younger son of his elder brother, Lud, king of the southern part of Britain, on whose death Cassibelan was admitted king. Cassibelan repulsed the Romans on their first attack, but being vanquished by Julius Cæsar on his second invasion of Britain, he agreed to pay an annual tribute to Rome. After his death, Tenantius, Lud's

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younger son, (his elder brother, Androgeus, having fled to Rome,) was established on the throne, of which they had unjustly been deprived by their uncle. According to some authorities, Tenantius quietly paid the tribute stipulated by Cassibelan; according to others, he refused to pay it, and warred with the Romans. Shakespeare supposes the latter to be the truth. Holinshed, who furnished our poet with these facts, furnished him also with the name of Sicilius, who was admitted King of Britain, A. M. 3659. The name of Leonatus he found in Sidney's Arcadia. Leonatus is there the legitimate son of the blind King of Paphlagonia, on whose story the episode of Gloster, Edgar, and Edmund is formed in King Lear. See Arcadia, p. 69, edit. 1593."

"A glass that feated them":-i. e., they feated or fashioned themselves by him. So Hamlet was "the glass of fashion."

"And cere up my embracements from a next

With bands of death : The folio, "And seare up," &c., and "With bonds," which have been hitherto retained. But seare was a mere irregular spelling of 'cere:' as, for instance, in the folio text of the Merchant of Venice, Act II. Sc. 7,

To rib her seare-cloth in an obscure grave."

The binding of the arms down with the cered, or waxed, cloth, and thus figuratively restraining their embracements, suggested the thought; and hence it is plain that here, as often elsewhere, "bonds" of the folio is merely an old form of bands.'

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"While sense can keep it on : Here it has been changed to thee,' for the sake of accordance, by some editors, and retained by others on the tenable ground that like irregularity occurs elsewhere in these dramas. But I am inclined to think that it' is used in a possessive sense, and that 'on' is a phonographic spelling of 'own;' in which case Posthumus says to the ring, Remain thou there while sense can hold its own.' See the Notes on "it's folly, it's tenderness," The Winter's Tale, Act I. Sc. 2, and to it own protection," Act II. Sc. 3, and "in it most innocent mouth," Act III. Sc. 2, of the same play; also on "my gloves are on," Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act II. Sc. 1.

"That should'st repair my youth, thou heap'st":Something not absolutely necessary to the sense has been lost from this line. Hanmer read, "thou heapest many;" Capell, much better, "thou heap'st instead.'

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p. 164. “[I] pray you, speak with me : The pronoun, which does not appear in the folio, manifestly dropped from the line by accident.

SCENE III.

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"If it be a sin to make a true election," &c. :- The allusion plainly is to the doctrine of election held by the Calvinists.

SCENE IV.

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with this eye or ear : The folio, "with his eye or car," which, as the eye and ear that were to distinguish Posthumus were Pisanio's, is wrong, of course. Warburton restored sense, but not elegance, to the passage, by a very slight change. It would be well were there warrant for reading, "with or eye or ear."

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SCENE V.

"Enter a Dutchman, and a Spaniard": - - The Dutchman and the Spaniard are silent figures; yet they have been very properly retained by all editors. Their mere presence has a dramatic value, as indicating the mixed company of travellers in which this Scene takes place. See the Note on "Here comes Sir Richard Ratcliff," &c., Richard the Third, Act II. Sc. 1.

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those that weep this lamentable divorce under her colours, are," &c. :— i. e., her partisans, who weep his separation from her. The nominatives to “are are, "This matter of marrying his King's daughter," and "his banishment," in the two preceding speeches, and "the approbation," &c., in this. The effect of all these circumstances was wonderfully to extend the reputation of Posthumus.

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for taking a beggar without less quality sense is manifestly, for taking a beggar less richly endowed with personal qualities; therefore some editors have changed without" to with,' and "less" to ' more.' But I believe, with Malone, Collier, Knight, and Dyce, that the obscurity is due to the poet's own carelessness.

p. 169. "I was glad I did atone," &c. :- i. e., reconcile. See the Note on "Atone together," As You Like It, Act V. Sc. 4.

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(if I offend [not] to say it is mended)”:— ́ 'Not,' omitted from the folio, was supplied by Rowe.

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though I profess myself her adorer and her friend": i. e., and her accepted lover. See the Note on love, lord, ay, husband, friend," Romeo and Juliet, Act III. Sc. 5. The folio has, "not her friend;" but since Posthumus does profess himself the accepted lover of Imogen, the passage is surely corrupt. As the nature of the declaration limits the signification of 'friend' to that above mentioned, we cannot suppose it to be used in its general sense. With either reading it is equally difficult to account for the presence of though.'

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the one may be sold, or given, if there were wealth enough," &c. :- The folio, or if there were, being doubtless a mere accidental addition.

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to convince the honour of my mistress":-i. e., to overcome it.

and, to bar your offence herein-to": - The folio, "And to barre your offence heerein to," which has hitherto strangely been given, "And to bar your offence herein, too.'

on the approbation of what I have spoke":— i. e., the approving, proving, or proof.

"You are afraid, and therein the wiser": The folio, "You are a Friend," &c., the manifest corruption of which was observed by Warburton, who made the almost as manifest restoration, which is indicated by the last sentence of the speech.

if you make your voyage upon her":-i. e., if you make your venture upon her. So Page says, "If he should intend this voyage towards my wife, I would turn her loose to him," Merry Wives of Windsor, Act II. Sc. 1.

SCENE VI.

"Think what a change thou chancest on": The folio, "Thinke what a chance thou changest on," in which it seems very clear that there is one of those accidental interchanges of consonants which not unfrequently happen, in speech and in writing, between words which are identical except in one letter. Theobald first read as in the text.

“The hand-fast to her lord": -i. e., the betrothal, the marriage to her lord.

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"Of liegers for her sweet A lieger is a resident ambassador. So in Measure for Measure, Act III.

Sc. 1:

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"Lord Angelo, having affairs to Heaven,
Intends you for his swift ambassador,
Where you shall be an everlasting lieger."

saw.

SCENE VII.

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as you value your truest Leonatus" : The folio, "as you value your trust Leonatus.' But trust is a mere irregular spelling of truest,' as Monck Mason Trust' has been defended, but most ineffectually. Imogen had no special trust from Posthumus; and what she reads is certainly the end, not the beginning, of the letter; the first word that she reads, 'he,' necessarily implying a previous mention and introduction of Iachimo. In courtesy Imogen reads aloud her husband's commendation of her guest. "So far may very properly be taken in the sense of So much,' and "the rest," of which Imogen speaks, may refer as well to an unmentioned part that goes before as to one that comes after.

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Upon th' unnumber'd beach":-The folio, "Upon the number'd Beach.' But any doubt as to the necessity of Theobald's reading should be removed by this passage in King Lear, Act IV. Sc. 6:

"The murmuring surge

That on th' unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes."

"Should make desire vomit to emptiness": - The folio omits to,' and Dr. Johnson says that "vomit emptiness means feel the convulsions of eructation without plenitude." But as this mere translation of the phrase into Johnsonese only makes its absurdity seem more monstrous, I do not hesitate to adopt Capell's slight and appropriate emendation.

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"What, dear sir, thus wraps you?"-i. e., wraps you in contemplation, of course. The folio, "thus raps you, which ridiculous reading has been hitherto preserved.

Fixing it only here":

The first folio, "Fiering it," &c., which manifest error was corrected in the second folio.

6

"Base and illustrous": — The folio has "and illustrious," which I do not hesitate in regarding, with Mr. Collier, as a slight misprint of "and illustrous;" the word being formed like illegitimate' and 'illiterate.' hir'd with that self exhibition":-i. e., that same payment. See the Note on "like exhibition shalt thou have," &c., Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act I. Sc. 3.

Should he make thee":- The folio,
The folio, "Should

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