ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA. THIS is another of those historical tragedies on which the genius of Shakespeare delighted to employ itself in the maturity of his powers. We know that it existed in 1608, for in the May of that year it was entered in the Stationers' Books, but no edition of it of that date is known, the earliest being that in the folio of 1623. It was no doubt written about 1608, and in succession with Julius Cæsar and Coriolanus. I have as little to observe upon this as on the other Roman plays. I. 1. DEMETRIUS. That he APPROVES the common liar, who Shakespeare uses approve here and elsewhere in the sense of gain credit for; as in this passage, and in King Lear, "Good King, thou must approve the common saw; 99 and again in Hamlet, "He may approve our eyes and speak to it." It is an intermediate stage between the original sense of prove and the modern sense of the word approve. This passage is left without any annotation, and yet there is meaning in it which many readers might not discover. Dollabella had alluded to the augurs. This introduces the idea of the flight of birds; this the idea of hawking; and Cleopatra, brave in her death, is represented under the image of a hawk levelling at the purposes of her conqueror, and rendering them dead or ineffectual. The idea of hawking introduced the idea of other field-sports, and to the hawk Shakespeare transfers the attribute of a hart-royal, which had the privilege of roaming at large unmolested, and taking its own way to its lair. Thus Cleopatra being "royal" had “taken her own way" in self-destruction. - In The Gentleman's Recreation, p. 6, the liberty of the hart-royal is thus described: "If the King or Queen shall happen to hunt or chase a hart, and he escape with life, he shall ever after be called a hart-royal; but if he fly so far from the forest or chase that it is unlikely he will ever return of his own accord to the place aforesaid, and that proclamation be made in all towns and villages thereabout, that none shall kill or offend him, but that he may safely return, if he list, he is then called a hart royal proclaimed." V. 2. FIRST GUARD. This is an aspick's trail; and these fig leaves Have slime upon them, such as the aspick leaves Mr. Barry has suggested to me that for caves we should read canes, the reeds of Nile. In the original copies it is caues. This reading may be supported by the following passage in the writings of Bishop Taylor:-"The canes of Egypt, when they newly arise from their bed of mud and slime of Nilus, start into equal and continual length, and are interrupted with hard knots," &c. CYMBELINE. THIS play was not printed till it appeared in the folio of 1623. There are in it few notes of time. The kind of history to which it belongs renders it probable that it was written about the same time with King Lear, the date of which is about 1605. See the Introductory Remarks on The Merchant of Venice for a ballad containing an incident resembling a principal incident of this play. I would not, however, be at all confident that this beautiful play, which classes rather with those produced in the freshness of the Poet's age and genius, does not belong to the reign of Elizabeth, about the time when he produced As You Like It. I. 1. FIRST GENTLEMAN. You do not meet a man but frowns; our bloods This is the way in which the text of the old copy is exhibited in the modern editions: the original text being this : You do not meet a man but frowns. Our bloods no more obey the heavens Still seem as do's the kings. Neither can be right. The following regulation was suggested to me by Mr. Bright. You do not meet a man but frowns: our bloods Thus all the editions, ancient and modern. It is elliptical: the full form being if he should write, And I not have it, 'twere a paper lost As dear as offered mercy is like the loss of a pardon in its transmission to a condemned criminal. Tomboy" meant in our author's time pretty much what it means now. Golding applies it to Arethusa, who was indeed quite a tomboy. III. 2. PISANIO. What false Italian (As poisonous tongued as handed) hath prevailed On thy too ready hearing. We have a good deal in this play of the skill of the Italians in mixing potions. The opinion of their great skill in the art of poisoning prevailed in England in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and there was one nobleman very near her person who lay under strong suspicion of dealing unlawfully with Italians skilled in this art, when people saw falling around him, by strange diseases, persons who stood in the way of his ambition. Even the life of the Queen was more than once, as was supposed, attempted by poison prepared in some skilful manner by an Italian. The author of the book entitled Leicester's Commonwealth, thus writes: "Neither must you marvel though all these died of outward diseases, for this is the excellency of the Italian art (for which the surgeon and Dr. Julio were entertained so carefully), who can make a man die in what manner or shew of sickness you will, by whose instructions, no doubt, but his Lordship is now cunning." 8vo. 1706, p. 32. There are other passages to the same effect. Shakespeare could not well talk of Italian poisonings without calling up the recollections of Julio and Ridolphi, and other Italians who had been in England in the times quite within every one's remembrance. III. 2. PISANIO. I am ignorant in what I am commanded. I do not take this line in the sense given to it in the notes. It seems to me to express, "I must appear as if these instructions had not been sent to me.' وو "For" was substituted by Pope for "or," the reading of the old copies, but enough is not gained by it to justify the change. Indeed, the old reading, when rightly understood, is better, though it has something of that haste and unfiledness which is found in many of the finest A prison; or a debtor that not dares passages: |