Of rich and exquifite form; their values great;
And I am something curious, being strange,
To have them in fafe ftowage; May it please you
To take them in protection?

· IMO. Willingly;

And pawn mine honour for their fafety: fince
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 befeech; or I fhall fhort my word,
By length'ning my return. From Gallia
I crofs'd the feas on purpose, and on promise

To see your grace.

IMO. I thank you for

your pains;

But not away to-morrow?

IACH. O, I muft, madam :

Therefore, I fhall befeech 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 CrMBELINE'S Palace.
Enter CLOTEN, and two LORDS.

CLO. Was there ever man had fuch luck! when I

kifs'd the jack upon an up-caft, to be hit away! I had a hundred pound on't: And then a whoreson jackanapes must take me up for fwearing; as if I borrow'd mine oaths of him, and might not spend them at my pleasure. I 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 run all out. [Afide. CLO. When a gentleman is difpofed to fwear, it is not any standers-by to curtail his oaths: Ha?

for

2 LORD. No, my lord; nor [Afide.] crop the ears of them.

CLO. Whorefon dog!—I give him fatisfaction? 'Would, he had been one of my rank!

2 LORD. To have smelt like a fool.

[Afide, CLO. I am not more vex'd at any thing in the earth,— A pox on't! I had rather not be so noble as I am; they dare not fight with me, because of the queen my mother every jack-flave hath his belly full of fighting, and I must go up and down like a cock that no body can match.

2 LORD. You are cock and capon too; and you crow, cock, with your comb on. [Afide.

CLO. Sayeft thou?

I LORD. It is not fit, your lordship fhould undertake every companion that you give offence to.

CLO. No, I know that: but it is fit, I fhould commit offence to my inferiors.

2 LORD. Ay, it is fit for your lordship only.

CLO. Why, fo I say.

1 LORD. Did you hear of a stranger, that's come to court to-night?

CLO. A ftranger! and I not know on't!

2 LORD. He's a ftrange fellow himself, and knows it

not.

[Afide.

I LORD. There's an Italian come; and, 'tis thought, one of Leonatus' friends.

CLO. Leonatus! a banish'd rascal; and he's another, whatsoever he be. Who told Who told you of this stranger?

I LORD. One of your lordship's pages.

CLO. Is it fit, I went to look upon him? Is there no derogation in't?

I LORD. You cannot derogate, my lord.
CLO. Not easily, I think.

2 LORD. You are a fool granted; therefore being foolish, do not derogate.

your iffues

[Afide

CLO. Come, I'll go fee this Italian: What I have loft to-day at bowls, I'll win to-night of him.

Come,

go.

2 LORD. I'll attend your lordship.- [Ex. CLO. and 1 LORD.

That fuch a crafty devil as is his mother

Should yield the world this afs! a woman, that

Bears all down with her brain; and this her fon
Cannot take two from twenty for his heart,
And leave eighteen. Alas, poor princess,
Thou divine Imogen, what thou endur'st!
Betwixt a father by thy ftep-dame govern'd;
A mother hourly coining plots; a wooer,
More hateful than the foul expulfion is
Of thy dear husband, than that horrid act

Of the divorce he'd make! The heavens hold firm
The walls of thy dear honour; keep unshak'd
That temple, thy fair mind; that thou may'st stand,
To enjoy thy banish'd lord, and this great land! [Exit.

SCENE II. A Bed-chamber; in one part of it a Trunk.

IMOGEN reading in her bed; a LADY attending.

IMO. Who's there? my woman Helen?

LADY. Please you, madam.

IMO. What hour is it?

LADY. Almost midnight, madam.

[weak:

IMO. I have read three hours then: mine eyes are

Fold down the leaf where I have left: To bed:

Take not away the taper, leave it burning;
And if thou canft awake by four o' the clock,

I pr'ythee, call me. Sleep hath feiz'd me wholly.

Το

your protection I commend me, gods! From fairies, and the tempters of the night,

[Exit LADY.

Guard me, befeech ye! [Sleeps. 1ACHIMO, from the trunk.
LACH. The crickets fing, and man's o'er-labour'd fenfe
Repairs itself by reft: Our Tarquin thus
Did foftly prefs the rushes, ere he waken'd

The chastity he wounded.-Cytherea,

How bravely thou becom'st thy bed! fresh lily!
And whiter than the sheets! That I might touch!
But kifs; one kifs!-Rubies unparagon'd,
How dearly they do't !—'Tis her breathing that
Perfumes the chamber thus: The flame o'the taper
Bows toward her; and would under-peep her lids,
To fee the enclosed lights, now canopied
Under these windows: White and azure, lac'd
With blue of heaven's own tinct.-But my defign?
To note the chamber :-I will write all down :

Such, and fuch, pictures ;-There the window :_Such
The adornment of her bed;-The arras, figures,
Why, fuch, and fuch:-And the contents o'the story,-
Ah, but some natural notes about her body,
Above ten thousand meaner moveables

Would testify, to enrich mine inventory:

O fleep, thou ape of death, lie dull upon her!
And be her fenfe but as a monument,
Thus in a chapel lying!-Come off, come off ;—
[Taking off her bracelet.
As flippery, as the Gordian knot was hard!-
'Tis mine; and this will witness outwardly,
As strongly as the confcience does within,
To the madding of her lord. On her left breast
A mole cinque-fpotted, like the crimson drops
'I'the bottom of a cowflip: Here's a voucher,
Stronger than ever law could make this fecret
Will force him think I have pick'd the lock, and ta'en
The treasure of her honour. No more. To what end'
Why fhould I write this down, that's riveted,
Screw'd to my memory! She hath been reading late
The tale of Tereus; here the leaf's turn'd down,
Where Philomel gave up ;-I have enough:
To the trunk again, and shut the spring of it.
Swift, fwift, you dragons of the night!-that dawning
May bare the raven's eye: I lodge in fear ;

Though this a heavenly angel, hell is here. [Clock ftrikes.
One, two, three,-Time, time!

[Goes into the trunk. The fcene closes.

SCENE III. An Antechamber adjoining IMOGEN'S
Apartment.

Enter CLOTEN and LORDS.

I LORD. Your lordship is the most patient man in lofs, the most coldeft that ever turn'd up ace.

CLO. It would make any man cold to lose.

I LORD. But not every man patient after the noble temper of your lordship; You are most hot, and furious, when you win.