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Pro. You do extend

These thoughts of horror further than you fhall
Find caufe in Cæfar.

Enter Dolabella.

Dol. Proculeius,

What thou haft done thy mafter Cæfar knows,
And he hath fent for thee: as for the queen,
I'll take her to my guard.

Pro. So, Dolabella,

It shall content me beft. Be gentle to her,-
To Cæfar I will speak what you fhall please,

If you'll employ me to him.

Cleo. Say, I would die.

[To Cleopatra.

[Exit Proculeius.

Dol. Most noble emprefs, you have heard of me?
Cleo. I cannot tell.

Dol. Affuredly you know me.

Cleo. No matter, fir, what I have heard, or known. You laugh, when boys or women tell their dreams; Is't not your trick?

Dol. I understand not, madam.

Cleo. I dreamt, there was an emperor Antony; Oh fuch another fleep, that I might see

But fuch another man!

Dol. If it might please ye,

Cleo. His face was as the heavens; and therein ftuck A fun and moon, which kept their courfe, and

lighted

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The little O the earth.

Dol. Moft fovereign creature!-

A fun and moon, which kept their courfe, and lighted The little o' the earth.

Clea.

Dol. Moft fovereign creature!] What a bleffed limping verle thefe hemiftichs give us! Had none of the editors an ear to find the hitch in its pace? There is but a fyllable wanting, and that, I believe verily, was but of a fingle letter. I reftore,

The

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Cleo. His legs beftrid the ocean; his rear'd arm
Crested the world: his voice was propertied
As all the tuned fpheres, when that to friends;
But when he meant to quail, and shake the orb,
He was as rattling thunder. ? For his bounty,

There was no winter in't: an autumn 'twas,
That grew the more by reaping. His delights
Were dolphin-like; they fhew'd his back above
The element they liv'd in: in his livery

Walk'd crowns and crownets; realms and islands were
As plates dropt from his pocket.

Dol. Cleopatra,

Cleo. Think you, there was, or might be fuch a

man

As this I dreamt of?

The little o' th' earth.

i. e. the little orb or circle. Our poet in other paffages chufes to express himself thus. THEOBALD.

2

-For his bounty,

There was no winter in't: an Antony it was,

That grew the more by reaping.] There was certainly a contraft both in the thought and terms, defign'd here, which is loft in an accidental corruption. How could an Antony grow the more by reaping; I'll venture, by a very easy change, to restore an exquifite fine allufion; which carries its reafon with it too, why there was no winter in his bounty.

-For his bounty,

There was no winter in't: an autumn 'twas,
That grew the more by reaping.

I ought to take notice, that the ingenious Dr. Thirlby likewife
ftarted this very emendation, and had mark'd it in the margin of
his book.
THEOBALD.

I cannot refift the temptation to quote the following beautiful
paffage from B. Jonfon's New Inn, on the fubject of liberality.
He gave me my first breeding, I acknowledge;
Then fhowr'd his bounties on me, like the hours
That open-banded fit upon the clouds,
And press the liberality of braven

Down to the laps of thankful men.

STEEVENS.

* As plates] Plates mean, I believe, filver money. STEEVENS.

Dol.

Dol. Gentle madam, no.

Cleo. You lye, up to the hearing of the Gods. But, if there be, or ever were, one fuch, It's past the fize of dreaming: nature wants stuff To vie strange forms with fancy; yet to imagine An Antony, were Nature's piece 'gainst Fancy, Condemning fhadows quite.

Dol. Hear me, good madam.

2

Your lofs is as yourself, great; and you bear it,
As answering to the weight: 'would, I might never
O'ertake purfu'd fuccefs, but I do feel,

By the rebound of yours, a grief that shoots
My very heart at root.
Cleo. I thank you, fir.

2 yet to imagine

An Antony were Nature's PIECE 'gainft Fancy,
Condemning fhadows quite.

This is a fine fentiment; but by the falfe reading and pointing becomes unintelligible. Though when fet right, obfcure enough to deserve a comment. Shakespeare wrote,

yet to imagine

An Antony were Nature's PRIZE 'gainst Fancy,
Condemning fhadows quite.

The fenfe of which is this, Nature, in general, has not materials enough to furnish out real forms, for every model that the boundless power of the imagination can sketch out: [Nature wants matter to vie ftrange forms with Fancy.] But though this be true in general, that nature is more poor, narrow, and confined than fancy, yet it must be owned, that when nature prefents an Antony to us, she then gets the better of fancy, and makes even the imagination appear poor and narrow: or in our author's phrafe, [condemns fhadows quite.] The word PRIZE, which I have restored, is very pretty, as figuring a contention between Nature and Imagination about the larger extent of their powers; and Nature gaining the prize by producing Antony.

WARBURTON.

In this paffage I cannot difcover any temptation to critical experiments. The word piece, is a term appropriated to works of art. Here Nature and Fancy produce each their piece, and the piece done by Nature had the preference. Antony was in reality paft the fize of dreaming; he was more by Nature than Fancy could prefent in fleep. JOHNSON.

Know you, what Cæfar means to do with me?
Dol. I am loth to tell you what I would you knew.
Cleo. Nay, pray you, fir,

Dol. Though he be honourable,—
Cleo. He'll lead me then in triumph?

Dol. Madam, he will. I know it.

All. Make way there,

-Cæfar.

Enter Cafar, Gallus, Mecenas, Proculeius, and Attendants.

Caf. Which is the queen of Ægypt?

Dol. It is the emperor, madam.

Caf. Arife, you shall not kneel:

[Cleo, kneels,

I

pray you, rife. Rife, Egypt.

Cleo. Sir, the Gods

Will have it thus; my mafter and my lord

I must obey.

Caf. Take to you no hard thoughts.
The record of what injuries you did us,

Though written in our flesh, we fhall remember
As things but done by chance.

Cleo. Sole fir o' the world,

3 I cannot project mine own cause fo well

3 I cannot project mine own caufe fo well] Project fignifies to invent a caufe, not to plead it; which is the fenfe here required. It is plain then we should read,

I cannot PROCTER my own cause so well. The technical term, to plead by an advocate. Sir T. Hanmer reads,

I cannot parget my own cause—

WARB.

meaning, I cannot whitewash, varnish, or glofs my cause. I believe the prefent reading to be right. To project a caufe is to reprefent a caufe; to project it well, is to plan or contrive a scheme of defence.

JOHNSON.

To

To make it clear, but do confess, I have,
Been laden with like frailties, which before
Have often fham'd our sex.

Caf. Cleopatra, know,

We will extenuate rather than inforce.
If you apply yourself to our intents,
(Which towards you are moft gentle) you shall find
A benefit in this change: but if you feek
To lay on me a cruelty, by taking

Antony's courfe, you fhall bereave yourself
Of my good purposes, and put your children
To that deftruction which I'll guard them from,.
If thereon you rely. I'll take my leave-

Cleo. And may, through all the world: 'tis yours;

and we

Your 'fcutcheons, and your figns of conquest, shall
Hang in what place you pleafe. Here, my good lord.
Caf. You fhall advife me in all for Cleopatra.
Cleo. This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels
I am poffefs'd of: 'tis exactly valued,

Not petty things admitted.
Sel. Here, madam.

Where's Seleucus ?

'tis exactly valued,

Not petty things admitted.]

Sagacious editors! Cleopatra gives in a lift of her wealth, fays, 'tis exactly valued, but that petty things are not admitted in this lift and then the appeals to her treasurer, that the has reserved nothing to herself. And when he betrays her, fhe is reduced to the shift of exclaiming against the ingratitude of fervants, and of making apologies for having fecreted certain trifles. Who does not fee, that we ought to read,

Not petty things omitted?

For this declaration lays open her falfhood; and makes her angry when her treasurer detects her in a direct lie. THEOBALD. Notwithstanding the wrath of Mr. Theobald, I have restored the old reading. She is angry afterwards, that she is accufed of having referved more than petty things. Dr. Warburton and fir T. Hanmer follow Theobald.

JOHNSON.

Cleo.

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