dastardly, civil and brutish, sagacious and foolish, without that subtilty of distinction, and those shades of gradation between sense and folly, virtue and vice, which constitute the excellence of such mixed characters as Polonius in Hamlet, and the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet." It should, however, be observed, that Imogen has justly defined him "that irregulous devil Cloten;" and Miss Seward, in one of her Letters, assures us, that, singular as the character of Cloten may appear, it is the exact prototype of a being she once knew. "The unmeaning frown of the countenance; the shuffling gait; the burst of voice; the bustling insignificance; the fever-and-ague fits of valor; the froward tetchiness; the unprincipled malice; and, what is most curious, those occasional gleams of good sense, amidst the floating clouds of folly which generally darkened and confused the man's brain, and which, in the character of Cloten, we are apt to impute to a violation of unity in character-but in the sometime Captain C- -n, I saw the portrait of Cloten was not out of nature."

In the development of the plot of this play, the Poet has displayed such consummate skill, and such minute attention to the satisfaction of the most anxious and scrupulous spectator, as to afford a complete refutation of Johnson's assertion, that Shakspeare usually hurries over the conclusion of his pieces.

There is little conclusive evidence to ascertain the date of the com position of this play; but Malone places it in the year 1609. Dr. Drake after Chalmers, has ascribed it to the year 1605.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

CYMBELINE, King of Britain.

CLOTEN, Son to the Queen by a former Husband.

LEONATUS POSTHUMUS, a Gentleman, Husband to Imogen.

BELARIUS, a banished Lord, disguised under the name of Morgan. GUIDERIUS,Sons to Cymbeline, disguised under the names of ARVIRAGUS, Polydore and Cadwal, supposed Sons to Belarius. PHILARIO, Friend to Posthumus, } Italians.

IACHIMO, Friend to Philario,

A French Gentleman, Friend to Philario.
CAIUS LUCIUS, General of the Roman Forces.
A Roman Captain. Two British Captains.
PISANIO, Servant to Posthumus.

CORNELIUS, a Physician.

Two Gentlemen.

Two Jailers

Queen, Wife to Cymbeline.

IMOGEN, Daughter to Cymbeline by a former Queen.
HELEN, Woman to Imogen.

Lords, Ladies, Roman Senators, Tribunes, Apparitions, a Soothsayer, a Dutch Gentleman, a Spanish Gentleman, Musicians, Officers, Captains, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.

SCENE, sometimes in Britain; sometimes in Italy

CYMBELINE.

ACT I.

SCENE I. Britain. The Garden behind Cymbeline's

Palace.

Enter two Gentlemen.

1 Gentleman. You do not meet a man but frowns; our bloods

No more obey the heavens, than our courtiers,

Still seem, as does the king's.'

2 Gent.

But what's the matter?

1 Gent. His daughter, and the heir of his kingdom, whom

He purposed to his wife's sole son, (a widow

That late he married,) hath referred herself
Unto a poor but worthy gentleman. She's wedded,
Her husband banished; she imprisoned: all

Is outward sorrow; though, I think, the king
Be touched at very heart.

2 Gent.

None but the king? 1 Gent. He that hath lost her, too; so is the queen, That most desired the match. But not a courtier, Although they wear their faces to the bent

1 "Our bloods [i. e. our dispositions or temperaments] are not more regulated by the heavens, by every skyey influence, than our courtiers are by the disposition of the king: when he frowns, every man frowns." In some editions, a different meaning is conveyed, by placing a semicolon after the word courtiers.

Of the king's locks, hath a heart that is not
Glad at the thing they scowl at.

2 Gent.

And why so?

1 Gent. He that hath missed the princess, is a thing Too bad for bad report; and he that hath her, (I mean, that married her,-alack, good man!And therefore banished,) is a creature such As, to seek through the regions of the earth For one his like, there would be something failing In him that should compare. I do not think So fair an outward, and such stuff within, Endows a man but he.

2 Gent.

You speak him far.1

1 Gent. I do extend him, sir, within himself; Crush him together, rather than unfold

His measure duly.

3

His father

2 Gent.
What's his name, and birth?
1 Gent. I cannot delve him to the root.
Was called Sicilius, who did join his honor 2
Against the Romans, with Cassibelan;
But had his titles by Tenantius, whom
He served with glory and admired success.
So gained the sur-addition, Leonatus ;
And had, besides this gentleman in question,
Two other sons, who, in the wars o' the time,

Died with their swords in hand; for which their father
Then old and fond of issue) took such sorrow,
That he quit being; and his gentle lady,
Big of this gentleman, our theme, deceased
As he was born. The king, he takes the babe
To his protection; calls him Posthumus;
Breeds him, and makes him of his bedchamber:
Puts him to all the learnings that his time
Could make him the receiver of; which he took,
As we do air, fast as 'twas ministered; and
In his spring became a harvest; lived in court

(Which rare it is to do) most praised, most loved;
A sample to the youngest; to the more mature
A glass that feated them; and to the graver,
A child that guided dotards; to his mistress,"
From whom he now is banished, her own price
Proclaims how she esteemed him and his virtue;
By her election may be truly read,

What kind of man he is.

I honor him

But, 'pray you, tell me,

2 Gent. Even out of your report. Is she sole child to the king?

1 Gent. His only child. He had two sons, (if this be worth your hearing, Mark it,) the eldest of them at three years old, I'the swathing clothes the other, from their nursery Were stolen; and to this hour, no guess in knowledge Which way they went.

2 Gent.

How long is this ago?

1 Gent. Some twenty years.

2 Gent. That a king's children should be so conveyed! So slackly guarded! and the search so slow,

That could not trace them!

1 Gent.

Howsoe'er 'tis strange,

Or that the negligence may well be laughed at,
Yet is it true, sir.

2 Gent.

I do well believe you.

1 Gent. We must forbear; here comes the queen

and princess.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. The same.

Enter the Queen, POSTHUMUS, and IMOGEN.

Queen. No, be assured, you shall not find me, daughter,

Feate is well-fashioned, proper, trim, handsome, well-compact (con cinnus). Feature was also used for fashion or proportion. The verb ta feat was probably formed by Shakspeare himself.

2 "To his mistress," means as to his mistress.