To see perform'd the dreaded act, which thou
So sought'st to hinder.

[Within]

A way, there, way for Cæsar!

Enter CESAR and Attendants.

Dol. O, sir, you are too sure an augurer;
That you did fear, is done.

Cæs.
Bravest at the last:
She levell❜d at our purposes, and, being royal,
Took her own way.-The manner of their deaths?

I do not see them bleed.

Dol.

1 Guard. A simple countryman, that brought her figs; This was his basket.

Cas.

1 Guard.

Who was last with them?

Poison'd then.

O Cæsar,

This Charmian lived but now; she stood, and spake;
I found her trimming up the diadem

On her dead mistress; tremblingly she stood,
And on the sudden dropp'd.

Cæs.
O noble weakness!--
If they had swallow'd poison, 'twould appear
By external swelling: but she looks like sleep,
As she would catch another Antony

In her strong toil of grace.

Dol.

Here, on her breast, There is a vent of blood, and something blown:

The like is on her arm.

1 Guard. This is an aspic's trail: and these fig leaves Have slime upon them, such as the aspic leaves Upon the caves of Nile.

Cæs.
Most probable,
That so she died; for her physician tells me,
She hath pursu'd conclusions infinite

Of easy ways to die.-Take up her bed;
And bear her women from the monument:-
She shall be buried by her Antony:
No grave upon the earth shall clip in it
A pair so famous. High events as these
Strike those that make them and their story is

No less in pity, than his glory, which

Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall,
In solemn show, attend this funeral;

And then to Rome.-Come, Dolabella, see
High order in this great solemnity.

[Exeunt.

This play keeps curiosity always busy, and the passions always interested. The continual hurry of the action, the variety of incidents, and the quick succession of one personage to another, call the mind forward without intermission, from the first act to the last. But the power of delighting is derived principally from the frequent changes of the scene; for, except the feminine arts, some of which are too low, which distinguish Cleopatra, no character is very strongly discriminated. Upton, who did not easily miss what he desired to find, has discovered that the language of Antony is, with great skill and learning, made pompous and superb, according to his real practice. But I think his diction not distinguishable from that of others: the most tumid speech in the play is that which Cæsar makes to Octavia.

The events, of which the principal are described according to history, are produced without any art of connection or care of disposition.

JOHNSON.

C. Whittingham, Printer, Chiswick.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

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 Polydore and Cadwal, sup-
Arviragus, posed 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 Gaolers.

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.

BRITAIN. The Garden behind CYMBELINE's Palace. Enter two Gentlemen.

1 Gent. You do not meet a man, but frowns: our No more obey the heavens, than our courtiers; [bloods Still seem, as does the king's.

2 Gent.

But what's the matter?

[whom

1 Gent. His daughter, and the heir of his kingdom,
He purpos'd to his wife's sole son (a widow,
That late he married), hath referr'd herself
Unto a poor, but worthy gentleman: She's wedded;
Her husband banish'd; she imprison'd: all

Is outward sorrow; though, I think, the king
Be touch'd at very heart."

2 Gent.

None but the king?

1 Gent. He, that hath lost her, too: so is the queen, That most desir'd the match: But not a courtier, Although they wear their faces to the bent

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

2 Gent.

And why so?