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CLO.

Humph!

PIs. I'll write to my lord she's dead. O Imogen, Safe may'st thou wander, safe return again!

CLO. Sirrah, is this letter true?
Prs. Sir, as I think.

[Aside.

CLO. It is Posthumus' hand; I know't.-Sirrah, if thou would'st not be a villain, but do me true service; undergo those employments, wherein I should have cause to use thee, with a serious industry,—that is, what villainy so'er I bid thee do, to perform it, directly and truly,-I would think thee an honest man: thou shouldest neither want my means for thy relief, nor my voice for thy preferment.

Pis. Well, my good lord.

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CLO. Wilt thou serve me? For since patiently in my attempt to keep it ; or else the words may be considered as a reply to Cloten's boast of following her to the throne of Augustus, and are added slily: "You will either do what you say, or perish, which is the more probable of the two."-The subsequent remark, however, of Mr. Henley, has taught me diffidence in my attempt to justify the arrangement of the old copies. STEEVENS. I cannot but think Dr. Johnson in the right, from the account of this transaction Pisanio afterwards gave:

66

66

Lord Cloten,

Upon my lady's missing, came to me,

"With his sword drawn; foam'd at the mouth, and swore

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If I discovered not which way she was gone,

"It was my instant death: By accident,

"I had a feigned letter of my master's
"Then in my pocket, which directed him

"To seek her on the mountains near to Milford."

But if the words, Or this, or perish, belong to Pisanio, as the letter was feigned, they must have been spoken out, not aside.

HENLEY.

Cloten knew not, till it was tendered, that Pisanio had such a letter as he now presents; there could therefore be no question concerning his giving it freely or with-holding it.

These words, in my opinion, relate to Pisanio's present conduct, and they mean, I think, "I must either practise this deceit upon Cloten, or perish by his fury." MALONE.

and constantly thou hast stuck to the bare fortune of that beggar Posthumus, thou canst not in the course of gratitude but be a diligent follower of mine. Wilt thou serve me?

Pis. Sir, I will.

Hast

CLO. Give me thy hand, here's my purse. any of thy late master's garments in thy posses

sion?

Ps. I have, my lord, at my lodging, the same suit he wore when he took leave of my lady and mistress.

Cro. The first service thou dost me, fetch that suit hither: let it be thy first service; go.

PIs. I shall, my lord.

[Exit. Czo. Meet thee at Milford-Haven:I forgot to ask him one thing; I'll remember't anon :-Even there thou villain, Posthumus, will I kill thee.-I would, these garments were come. She said upon

a time, (the bitterness of it I now belch from my heart,) that she held the very garment of Posthumus in more respect than my noble and natural person, together with the adornment of my qualities. With that suit upon my back, will I ravish her: First kill him, and in her eyes; there shall she see my valour, which will then be a torment to her contempt. He on the ground, my speech of insultment ended on his dead body,-and when my lust hath dined, (which, as I say, to vex her, I will execute in the clothes that she so praised,) to the court I'll knock her back, foot her home again. She hath despised me rejoicingly, and I'll be merry in my revenge.

Re-enter PISANIO, with the Clothes.

Be those the garments?

Pis. Ay, my noble lord.

CLO. How long is't since she went to MilfordHaven ?

Prs. She can scarce be there yet.

CLO. Bring this apparel to my chamber; that is the second thing that I have commanded thee: the third is, that thou wilt be a voluntary mute to my design. Be but duteous, and true preferment shall tender itself to thee.-My revenge is now at Milford; 'Would I had wings to follow it!-Come, and be true. [Exit.

Prs. Thou bidd'st me to my loss: for, true to

thee,

Were to prove false, which I will never be,
To him that is most true *.-To Milford go,
And find not her whom thou pursuest. Flow, flow,
You heavenly blessings, on her! This fool's speed
Be cross'd with slowness; labour be his meed!

[Exit.

SCENE VI.

Before the Cave of BELARIUS.

Enter IMOGEN, in Boy's Clothes.

Iмo. I see, a man's life is a tedious one: I have tir'd myself; and for two nights together Have made the ground my bed. I should be sick, But that my resolution helps me.-Milford, When from the mountain-top Pisanio show'd thee, Thou wast within a ken: O Jove! I think, Foundations fly the wretched 5: such, I mean,

4 To him that is MOST TRUE.] Pisanio, notwithstanding his master's letter, commanding the murder of Imogen, considers him as true, supposing, as he has already said to her, that Posthumus was abused by some villain, equally an enemy to them both. MALONE. 5 Foundations FLY the wretched :] Thus, in the fifth Æneid: Italiam sequimur fugientem. STEEVENS.

Where they should be reliev'd. Two beggars told

me,

I could not miss my way: Will poor folks lie,
That have afflictions on them; knowing 'tis
A punishment, or trial? Yes; no wonder,
When rich ones scarce tell true: To lapse in ful-

ness

Is sorer 6, than to lie for need; and falsehood

Is worse in kings, than beggars. My dear lord! Thou art one o' the false ones: Now I think on

thee,

My hunger's gone; but even before, I was
At point to sink for food.-But what is this?
Here is a path to it: Tis some savage hold:

I were best not call'; I dare not call: yet famine,
Ere clean it o'erthrow nature, makes it valiant.
Plenty, and peace, breeds cowards; hardness ever
Of hardiness is mother.-Ho! Who's here?
If any thing that's civil, speak; if savage,
Take, or lend.-Ho!-No answer? then I'll enter,

6 IS SORER,] Is a greater, or heavier crime. JOHNSON. 7 I WERE best not call ;] Mr. Pope was so little acquainted with the language of Shakspeare's age, that instead of this the original reading, he substituted-Twere best not call. MALONE. 8 If any thing that's CIVIL,] Civil, for human creature.

9 If any thing that's civil, speak, if savage,

WARBURTON.

TAKE, OF LEND.] I question whether, after the words, if savage, a line be not lost. I can offer nothing better than to read: Ho! who's here?

"If any thing that's civil, take or lend,
"If savage, speak."

If
you are civilised and peaceable, take a price for what I want, or
lend it for a future recompense; if you are rough inhospitable in-
habitants of the mountain, speak, that I may know my state.

JOHNSON.

It is by no means necessary to suppose that savage hold signifies the habitation of a beast. It may as well be used for the cave of a savage, or wild man, who, in the romances of the time, were represented as residing in the woods, like the famous Orson, Brę

Best draw my sword ; and if mine enemy

But fear the sword like me, he'll scarcely look on't. Such a foe, good heavens! [She goes into the cave.

Enter BELARIUS, GUIDERIUS, and ARVIRAGUS. BEL. You, Polydore, have prov'd best woodman 2, and

Are master of the feast: Cadwal, and I,

mo in the play of Mucedorus, or the savage in the seventh canto of the fourth book of Spenser's Fairy Queen, and the sixth b. c. 4. STEEVENS.

Steevens is right in supposing that the word savage does not mean, in this place, a wild beast, but a brutish man, and in that sense it is opposed to civil: in the former sense, the word human would have been opposed to it, not civil. So, in the next Act, Imogen says:

"Our courtiers say, all's savage but at court."

And in As You Like It, Orlando says:

"I thought that all things had been savage here." M. MASON. The meaning, I think, is, If any one resides here that is accustomed to the modes of civil life, answer me; but if this be the habitation of a wild and uncultivated man, or of one banished from society, that will enter into no converse, let him at least silently furnish me with enough to support me, accepting a price for it, or giving it to me without a price, in consideration of future recompense. Dr. Johnson's interpretation of the words take, or lend, is supported by what Imogen says afterwards:

"Before I enter'd here, I call'd; and thought

"To have begg'd, or bought, what I have took."

but such licentious alterations as transferring words from one line to another, and transposing the words thus transferred, ought, in my apprehension, never to be admitted. MALOne.

BEST DRAW my sword ;] As elliptically, Milton, where the 2nd brother in Comus says:

"Best draw, and stand upon our guard." STEEVENS. 2- woodman,] A woodman, in its common acceptation (as in the present instance) signifies a hunter. For the particular and original meaning of the word, see Mr. Reed's note in Measure for Measure, vol. ix. p. 169, n. 8. STEEVENS.

So, in The Rape of Lucrece :

"He is no woodman that doth bend his bow
Against a poor unseasonable doe." MALONE.

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