SCENE I.
Court before Cymbeline's Palace.
Enter Cloten, and Two Lords.
Clo.
Was there ever man had such luck! when
I kissed the jack upon an up-cast9 note
, to be hit away!
-- 60 --
I had a hundred pound on't: And then a whoreson
jackanapes must take me up for swearing; as if I
borrowed mine oaths of him, and might not spend
them at my pleasure.
1 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.
[Aside.
Clo.
When a gentleman is disposed to swear, it
is not for any standers-by to curtail his oaths: Ha?
2 Lord.
No, my lord; nor [Aside.] crop the ears
of them1 note
.
Clo.
Whoreson dog!—I give him satisfaction2 note
?
'Would, he had been one of my rank!
2 Lord.
To have smelt3 note
like a fool.
[Aside.
Clo.
I am not more vexed 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-slave 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 a cock and capon too; and you
crow, cock, with your comb on4 note
.
[Aside.
-- 61 --
Clo.
Sayest thou?
1 Lord.
It is not fit, your lordship should undertake
every companion5 note
that you give offence to.
Clo.
No, I know that: but it is fit, I should
commit offence to my inferiors.
2 Lord.
Ay, it is fit for your lordship only.
Clo.
Why, so I say.
1 Lord.
Did you hear of a stranger, that's come
to court to-night?
Clo.
A stranger! and I not know on't!
2 Lord.
He's a strange fellow himself, and knows
it not.
[Aside.
1 Lord.
There's an Italian come; and, 'tis
thought, one of Leonatus' friends.
Clo.
Leonatus! a banished rascal; and he's
another, whatsoever he be. Who told you of this
stranger?
1 Lord.
One of your lordship's pages.
Clo.
Is it fit, I went to look upon him? Is there
no derogation in't?
1 Lord.
You cannot derogate, my lord.
Clo.
Not easily, I think.
2 Lord.
You are a fool granted; therefore your
issues being foolish, do not derogate.
[Aside.
Clo.
Come, I'll go see this Italian: What I have
lost to-day at bowls, I'll win to-night of him.
Come, go.
2 Lord.
I'll attend your lordship.
[Exeunt Cloten and first Lord.
That such a crafty devil as is his mother
Should yield the world this ass! a woman, that
-- 62 --
Bears all down with her brain; and this her son
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 step-dame govern'd;
A mother hourly coining plots; a wooer,
More hateful than the foul expulsion 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.
James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
