Such thoughts, and such;-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.

But why, says the critic, consume time and attention on actions so frivolous and unimportant? Can they disclose to us any of the arcana of nature? Can they reveal any of her hidden mysteries? Can they explain the wonderful mechanism of the understanding? Or discover the labyrinths of the heart?

To attend to familiar and common objects is not unworthy even of a philosopher. By observing the accidental fall of an apple, Newton explained the motions of the celestial bodies and a principle illustrated by the easy experiment of bringing two drops of water within their sphere of attraction, has been employed in accounting for the progress of vegetation. The association, we have now endeavoured to explain, accounts for many strange appearances in the history and manners of mankind. It explains that amazing attachment to reliques, which forms an essential part of many modern religions, which fills the convents of Europe with

more fragments of the cross than would cover mount Lebanon, and with more tears of the blessed virgin than would water the Holy Land. These objects confirm particular facts to the zealous votaries, and realize a train of thought suited to enthusiastic ardour. It is not merely the handkerchief stained with the blood of the canonized martyr that moves, shakes, and convulses the pale and pensive nun, who at her midnight orisons, bathes it with her tears: her emotions are occasioned by the belief of particular sufferings enforced on her imagination, by the view of that melancholy object. From the same association we may deduce the passion for pilgrimage, the rage of crusades, and all the consequences of that fatal distemper. Moved by a propensity depending on the same principles, men of ingenuity, enamoured of the Muses, traverse the regions they frequented, explore every hill, and seek their footsteps in every valley. The groves of Mantua, and the cascades of Anio, are not lovelier than other groves and cascades; yet we view them with peculiar rapture. We tread as on consecrated ground;

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we regard those objects with veneration which excited invention in the minds of Virgil and Horace; and we seem to enjoy a certain ineffable intercourse with those elegant and enlightened spirits.

Trivial, therefore, as the sentiments and expressions of Imogen may appear, by attending to the principles upon which they depend, they open the mind to the contemplation of extensive objects. Considering them in regard to character, they exhibit to us uncommon affection, sensibility, and mildness of disposition. They are not embittered with invective; she complains of the severity of Cymbeline, but does not accuse she expresses sorrow, but not resentment: and she reflects on the injustice of the Queen as the cause of her sufferings, rather than the object of her anger. Exceedingly injured, and exceedingly afflicted, she neglects the injury, and dwells on the distress.

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.-

A father cruel, and a step-dame false;

A foolish suiter to a wedded lady,

That hath her husband banish'd;-O that husband!
My supreme crown of grief! and those repeated
Vexations of it.-

Most miserable

Is the desire that's glorious.

II. We proceed, in the second place, to consider the state of Imogen's mind, labouring with doubts, and pained with the apprehension of a change in the affections of Posthumus.

Nothing, in the structure of the human mind, appears more inexplicable than the seeming inconsistency of passion. Averse from believing the person we love or esteem capable of ingratitude, we are often prone to suspicion, and are alarmed with the slightest symptoms of disaffection. Whoever warns you of the treachery of a professing friend, or of the inconstancy of a smiling mistress, is treated with scorn or resentment: yet, with a scrupulous and critical accuracy, you investigate the meaning of an accidental expression; you employ more sagacity and discernment than might govern a nation,

to weigh the importance of a nod; and a trivial oversight or inattention will cast you into despair. The heart of Imogen, attached to Leonatus by tender and sincere affection, is yet capable of apprehension, and liable to solicitude.

Iachimo, with an intention of betraying her, sensible, at the same time, that infidelity and neglect are the only crimes unpardonable in the sight of a lover, and well aware of the address necessary to infuse suspicion into an ingenuous mind, disguises his inhuman intention with the affectation of a violent and sudden emotion. He seems rapt in admiration of Imogen, and expresses sentiments of deep astonishment:

Ia. What! are men mad? hath nature given them eyes To see this vaulted arch, and the rich crop Of sea and land? which can distinguish 'twixt The fiery orbs above, and the twinn'd stones Upon the number'd beech? and can we not Partition make with spectacles so precious 'Twixt fair and foul?

Imo. What makes your admiration?

Ia. It cannot be i' th' eye; for apes and monkeys, 'Twixt two such she's, would chatter this way, and Contemn with mowes the other: nor i' the judgment;