Pisanio. "Twas "His queen, his queen !"
Imog. Then wav'd his handkerchief?
Pisanio. And kiss'd it, madam.

Imog. Senseless linen! happier therein than I!
And that was all?

Pisanio. No, madam; 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.

Imog. Thou shouldst have made him
As little as a crow, or less, ere left

To after-eye him.

Pisanio. Madam, so I did.

Imog. I would have broke mine eye-strings, crack'd them, but

To look upon him; till the diminution

Of space, had pointed him sharp as my needle;
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?

Pisanio. Be assur'd, madam,

With his next vantage.

Imog. 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 shes 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; 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,

Shakes all our buds from growing.-See, the queenThose things I bid you do, get them despatch'd. [Exit. Pisanio. Madam, I shall.

Enter QUEEN, meeting CORNELius.

[Exit.

Queen. Now, master doctor; have you brought

those drugs?

Corn. Pleaseth your highness, ay:

[Gives the QUEEN a Phial.

But I beseech your grace, without offence,

My conscience bids me ask, wherefore you have
Commanded of me these most poisonous compounds?
Queen. I do wonder, doctor,

Thou ask'st me such a question: Have I not been
Thy pupil long?

I will try the forces

Of these thy compounds,

And apply

Allayments to their act; and by them gather

Their several virtues and effects.

[Aside.] Here comes a flattering rascal; upon him Will I first work; he's for his master,

And enemy to my son.

Enter PISANIO.

How now, Pisanio-Hark thee, a word.
Doctor, your service for this time is ended.
Corn. [Aside.] I do suspect you, madam;
But you shall do no harm.

I know her spirit,

And will not trust one of her malice with

A drug of such damn'd nature: Those, she has,
Will stupify, and dull the sense a while;
But there is

No danger in what show of death it makes,
More than the locking up the spirits a time,
To be more fresh, reviving. She is fool'd

With a most false effect; and I the truer,
So to be false with her.

[Exit.

Queen. Weeps she still, say'st thou? Dost thou think, in time

She will not quench; and let instructions enter
Where folly now possesses? Do thou work:
When thou shalt bring me word, she loves my son,
I'll tell thee, on the instant, thou art then

As great as is thy master: greater; for
His fortunes all lie speechless, and his name
Is at last gasp:

What shalt thou expect,

To be depender on a thing that leans?

Who cannot be new built; nor has no friends,
So much as but to prop him?

[The QUEEN drops the Phial; PISANIO takes

it up.

Thou tak'st up

Thou know'st not what; but take it for thy labour:
It is a thing I made, which hath the king

Five times redeem'd from death: I do not know
What is more cordial :-Nay, I pr'ythee take it;
It is an earnest of a further good

I mean to thee. Tell thy mistress how

The case stands with her; do't as from thyself.
I'll move the king

To any shape of thy preferment, such

As thoul't desire; and then myself, I chiefly,
That set thee on to this desert, am bound
To load thy merit richly..

Think on my words.

[Aside.] I have given him that,

Which, if he take, shall quite unpeople her
Of leigers for her sweet; and which she, after,
Except she bend her humour, shall be assur'd
To taste of too.

Fare thee well, Pisanio;
Think on my words.

[Exit.

Pisanio. And shall do ;

But when to my good lord I prove untrue,
I'll choke myself: there's all I'll do for
you.
By this he is at Rome, and good Philario,
With open arms, and grateful heart, receives
His friend's reflected image in his son,
Old Leonatus in young Posthumus:
Sweet Imogen, what thou endur'st the while,
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- -Heaven keep unshaken
That temple, thy fair mind, that thou may'st stand
T'enjoy thy banish'd lord, and this great land!

[Exit.

SCENE 11,

Rome.

An Apartment in PHILARIO's House.

PHILARIO, with a Letter, IACHIMO, and LEWIS, discovered.

Iach. Believe it, sir: I have seen him in Britain : he was then of à crescent note; expected to prove so worthy, as since he hath been allowed the name of: but I could then have looked on him without the help of admiration; though the catalogue of his endowments had been tabled by his side, and I to peruse him by items.

Phil. You speak of him when he was less furnished, than now he is.

Lewis. I have seen him in France; we had very

many there, could behold the sun with as firm eyes as he.

Iach. This matter of marrying his king's daughter, (wherein he must be weighed rather by her value than his own,) words him, I doubt not, a great deal from the matter.

Lewis. And then his banishment,—

Iach. Ay, and the approbation of those, that weep this lamentable divorce, under her colours, are wonderfully to extend him; be it but to fortify her judg ment, which else an easy battery might lay flat, for taking a beggar without more quality. But how comes it, he is to sojourn with you? How creeps acquaintance? Phil. His father and I were soldiers together; to whom I have been often bound for no less than my life. Here comes the Briton: let him be so entertained amongst you, as suits, with gentlemen of your knowing, to a stranger of his quality.

Enter POSTHUMUS.

-I beseech you all, be better known to this gentleman; whom I commend to you, as a noble friend of mine: how worthy he is, I will leave to appear hereafter, rather than story him in his own hearing.

Lewis. Sir, we have known together in Orleans. Post. Since when I have been debtor to you for courtesies, which I will be ever to pay, and yet pay still.

Lewis. Sir, you o'er-rate my poor kindness: I was glad I did atone my countryman and you; it had been pity, you should have been put together with so mortal a purpose, as then each bore, upon importance of so slight and trivial a nature.

Post. By your pardon, sir,-I was then a young traveller; but, upon my mended judgment, (if I of