Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord::

Cæs. You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra. Cleo. This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels,

I am possessed of: 't is exactly valued;
Not petty things admitted.-Where 's Seleucus?
Sel. Here, madam.

Cleo. This is my treasurer: let him speak, my lord,

Upon his peril, that I have reserved

To myself nothing.-Speak the truth, Seleucus.
Sel. Madam,

I had rather seel my lips than, to my peril,
Speak that which is not.

Cleo.

What have I kept back?

Sel. Enough to purchase what you have made known.

Cæs. Nay, blush not, Cleopatra: I approve

Your wisdom in the deed.

Cæs.

Good queen, let us entreat you.

Cleo. O Cæsar, what a wounding shame is this,
That thou, vouchsafing here to visit me,
Doing the honour of thy lordliness

To one so meek, that mine own servant should
Parcel the sum of my disgraces by
Addition of his envy! Say, good Cæsar,
That I some lady trifles have reserved,
Immoment toys, things of such dignity

As we greet modern friends withal; and say,
Some nobler token I have kept apart
For Livia and Octavia, to induce
Their mediation; must I be unfolded

With one that I have bred? The gods! it smites

Put we i' the roll of conquest: still be it yours,
Bestow it at your pleasure: and believe
Cæsar's no merchant, to make prize with you
Of things that merchants sold. Therefore be
cheered;

Make not your thoughts your prisons; no, dear queen;

For we intend so to dispose you as
Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed and sleep:
Our care and pity is so much upon you,
That we remain your friend and so adieu.
Cleo. My master and my lord!

Cæs. Not so: adieu. [Exeunt CÆSAR and Train.
Cleo. He words me, girls; he words me, that
I should not

Be noble to myself: but hark thee, Charmian.
[Whispers CHARMIAN,
Iras. Finish, good lady: the bright day is done,
And we are for the dark.

Adieu, good queen: I must attend on Cæsar.
Cleo. Farewell, and thanks. [Exit DOLABELLA.
Now, Iras, what think'st thou?
Thou, an Egyptian puppet, shalt be shewn
In Rome, as well as I: mechanic slaves,
With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers, shall
Uplift us to the view in their thick breaths,
Rank of gross diet, shall we be enclouded,
And forced to drink their vapour.

Cleo. Nay, 't is most certain, Iras: saucy lictors Will catch at us like strumpets, and scald rhymers Ballad us out o'tune: the quick comedians

Enter one of the Guard.

Guard. Here is a rural fellow

That will not be denied your highness' presence: He brings you figs.

Cleo. Let him come in. [Exit Guard].-How
poor an instrument

May do a noble deed! he brings me liberty.
My resolution's placed, and I have nothing
Of woman in me. Now from head to foot
I am marble-constant: now the fleeting moon
No planet is of mine.

Re-enter Guard, with a Clown bringing a basket.

Guard. This is the man.

Cleo. Avoid, and leave him.- [Exit Guard. Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there, That kills and pains not?

Clown. Truly I have him: but I would not be the party that should desire you to touch him, for his biting is immortal: those that do die of it, do seldom or never recover.

Cleo. Remember'st thou any that have died on't?

Clown. Very many, men and women too. I heard of one of them no longer than yesterday: a very honest woman, but something given to lie, as a woman should not do but in the way of honesty how she died of the biting of it, what pain she felt; truly she makes a very good report o' the worm: but he that will believe all that they say, shall never be saved by half that they do. But this is most fallible,-the worm's

:

an odd worm.

Immortal longings in me: now no more
The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip.—
Yare, yare, good Iras; quick.-Methinks I hear
Antony call: I see him rouse himself

To praise my noble act: I hear him mock
The luck of Cæsar, which the gods give men
To excuse their after-wrath.-Husband, I come :
Now to that name my courage prove my title!
I am fire and air; my other elements

I give to baser life.-So; have you done?
Come, then, and take the last warmth of my lips.
Farewell, kind Charmian :-Iras, long farewell.
[Kisses them. IRAS falls and dies.
Have I the aspick in my lips? Dost fall?
If thou and nature can so gently part,
The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch,
Which hurts and is desired. Dost thou lie still?
If thus thou vanishest, thou tell'st the world
It is not worth leave-taking.

Char. Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain: that I may say,

The gods themselves do weep!
Cleo.

This proves me base:
If she first meet the curléd Antony,'
He'll make demand of her; and spend that kiss
Which is my heaven to have.-Come, thou mortal
wretch,

[To the asp, which she applies to her breast. With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool,

Cleo. As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle,O Antony!-Nay, I will take thee too :

[Applying another asp to her arm. What should I stay- [Falls on a bed, and dies. Char. In this wild world?-So, fare thee well.Now boast thee, death! in thy possession lies A lass unparalleled.-Downy windows, close; And golden Phoebus never be beheld Of eyes again so royal!-Your crown 's awry: I'll mend it, and then play.

Enter the Guard, rushing in. 1st Guard. Where is the queen? Char. Speak softly; wake her not. 1st Guard. Cæsar hath sent

That so she died; for her physician tells me
She hath pursued conclusions infinite

Of easy ways to die.-Take up her bed,
And bear her women from the monument.
She shall be buried by her Antony:
No grave upon the earth shall clip in it
A pair so famous.-High events as these
Strike those that make them; and their story is
No less in pity than his glory which
Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall,
In solemn show, attend this funeral;
And then to Rome.-Come, Dolabella, see
High order in this great solemnity. [Exeunt.

"Take but good note, and you shall see in him
The triple pillar of the world transformed
Into a strumpet's fool."-Act I., Scene 1.

Triple is here used for third, or one of three; meaning one of the triumvirs, or masters of the world. The word is

used in the same sense in "ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL:"

"Which, as the dearest issue of his practice,
He bade me store up as a triple eye."

To-night we'll wander through the streets, and note
The qualities of people."-Act I., Scene 1.

Sometime also, when he would go up and down the city disguised like a slave in the night, and would peer into poor men's windows and their shops, and scold and brawl with them within the house, Cleopatra would be also in a chambermaid's array, and amble up and down the streets with him.-PLUTARCH (North's translation).

"I'm full sorry

That he approves the common liar, who

Thus speaks of him at Rome."-Act I., Scene 1. Meaning, that he proves the common liar, Fame, to be a true reporter in his case.

Look, pr'y thee, Charmian,

How this Herculean Roman does become
The carriage of his chafe."—Act I., Seene 3.

Antony professed to trace his descent from Anton, a son of Hercules.

"When thou once

Wast beaten from Modena (where thou slew'st
Hirtius and Pansa, consuls), at thy heel
Did famine follow."-Act I., Scene 4.

Cicero, on the other side, being the chiefest man of authority and estimation in the city, he stirred up all men against Antonius; so that in the end he made the Senate pronounce him an enemy to his country, and appointed young Cæsar sergeants to carry axes before him, and such other signs as were incident to the dignity of a consul or prætor; and moreover sent Hirtius and Pansa, then consuls, to drive Antonius out of Italy. These two consuls, together with Cæsar, who also had an army, went against Antonius, that besieged the city of Modena, and there overthrew him in battle; but both the consuls were slain there.

Antonius, flying upon this overthrow, fell into great misery all at once; but the chiefest want of all other, and that which pinched him most, was famine. Howbeit he was of such a strong nature, that by patience he would overcome any adversity; and the heavier fortune lay upon him, the more constant shewed he himself.

Every man that feeleth want or adversity, knoweth by virtue and discretion what he should do: but when indeed they are overlaid with extremity, and be sore oppressed, few have the hearts to follow that which they praise and commend, and much less to avoid that they reprove and mislike; but rather to the contrary, they yield to their accustomed easy life, and through faint heart and lack of

courage do change their first mind and purpose. And therefore it was a wonderful example to the soldiers to see Antonius, that was brought up in all fineness and superfluity, so easily to drink puddle-water, and to eat wild fruits and roots and moreover it is reported that even, as they passed the Alps, they did eat the barks of trees, and such beasts as never man tasted of their flesh before.PLUTARCH.

"Let us rear

The higher our opinion, that our stirring

Can from the lap of Egypt's widow pluck

The ne'er lust-wearied Antony."-Act II., Scene 1. Cleopatra is styled "Egypt's widow" because Julius Cæsar had married her to young Ptolemy, who was afterwards drowned.

-"Near him, thy angel

Becomes a Fear, as being o'erpowered."—Act II., Scene 3.

A Fear was a personage in some of the old Moralities. Fletcher alludes to such an imaginary being in the "MAID'S TRAGEDY," where Aspasia is instructing her servants how, in needlework, to describe her situation :

"And then a Fear:

Do that Fear bravely, wench."

"His cocks do win the battle still of mine

When it is all to nought; and his quails ever
Beat mine, inhooped, at odds."-Act II., Scene 3.

Shakspere derived this from Plutarch. The ancients used to match quails as we match cocks. Julius Pollox relates that a circle was made in which the birds were placed, and he whose quail was first driven out of the circle lost the stake. We are told by Mr. Marsden that the Sumatrans practise these quail combats. The Chinese have always been extremely fond of quail fighting. Mr. Douce has given a print, from an elegant Chinese miniature painting, which represents some ladies engaged at this amusement, where the quails are actually inhooped.—SINGER. Inhooped, means inclosed or confined, that they may be compelled to fight.

16 They are his shards, and he their beetle."-
Act III., Scene 2.

This is spoken of Lepidus. The meaning is that Antony and Octavius are the wings that raise this heavy lumpish insect from the ground. In "MACBETH" we find mention of the "shard-borne beetle."

"ENO. Will Cæsar weep? AGR.

He has a cloud in's face.

ENO. He were the worse for that were he a horse.”—
Act III., Scene 2.

A horse is said to have a cloud in his face when he has a black or dark-coloured spot in his forehead between his eyes. This gives him a sour look, and, being supposed to indicate an ill temper, is of course regarded as a great blemish.-STEEVENS.