SCENE IV.
Imogen's apartments.
Enter Imogen, and Pisanio.
Imo.
I would thou grew'st unto the shores o' the haven,
And question'dst every sail: if he should write,
And I not have it, 1 note
'twere a paper lost
As offer'd mercy is. What was the last
That he spake to thee?
Pis.
'Twas, His queen, his queen!
-- 187 --
Imo.
Then wav'd his handkerchief?
Pis.
And kiss'd it, madam.
Imo.
Senseless linen! happier therein than I!—
And that was all?
Pis.
No, madam; 2 note
for so long
As he could make me with this eye, or ear,
Distinguish him from others, he did keep
The deck, with glove, or hat, or handkerchief,
Still waving, as the fits and stirs of his mind
Could best express how slow his soul sail'd on,
How swift his ship.
Imo.
Thou shouldst have made him
As little as a crow, or less, ere left
To after-eye him.
Pis.
Madam, so I did.
Imo.
I would have broke mine eye-strings; crack'd them, but
To look upon him; 3 note
'till the diminution
Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle:
-- 188 --
Nay, follow'd him, 'till he had melted from
The smallness of a gnat to air; and then
Have turn'd mine eye, and wept.—But, good Pisanio,
When shall we hear from him?
Pis.
Be assur'd, madam,
With his 4 notenext vantage.
Imo.
I did not take my leave of him, but had
Most pretty things to say: ere I could tell him,
How I would think on him, at certain hours,
Such thoughts, and such; or I could make him swear,
The she's of Italy should not betray
Mine interest, and his honour; or have charg'd him,
At the sixth hour of morn, at noon, at midnight,
To encounter me with orisons, for then
I am in heaven for him; 5 note
or ere I could
Give him that parting kiss, which I had set
Betwixt two charming words, comes in my father,
And, like the tyrannous breathing of the north,
6 note
Shakes all our buds from growing.
-- 189 --
Enter a Lady.
Lady.
The queen, madam,
Desires your highness' company.
Imo.
Those things I bid you do, get them dispatch'd.—
I will attend the queen.
Pis.
Madam, I shall.
[Exeunt.
Samuel Johnson [1778], The plays of William Shakspeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The second edition, Revised and Augmented (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10901].
