We cannot take leave of this play, which is a favourite with us,
without noticing some occasional touches of natural piety and
morality. We may allude here to the opening of the scene in which
Bellarius instructs the young princes to pay their orisons to
heaven:
--See, Boys! this gate
Instructs you how t' adore the Heav'ns; and bows you
To morning's holy office.
Guiderius. Hail, Heav'n!
Arviragus. Hail, Heav'n!
Bellarius. Now for our mountain-sport, up to yon hill.
What a grace and unaffected spirit of piety breathes in this
passage! In like manner, one of the brothers says to the other, when
about to perform the funeral rites to Fidele:
Nay, Cadwall, we must lay his head to the east;
My Father hath a reason for't.
Shakespeare's morality is introduced in the same simple, unobtrusive
manner. Imogen will not let her companions stay away from the chase
to attend her when sick, and gives her reason for it:
Stick to your journal course; THE BREACH OF CUSTOM
IS BREACH OF ALL!
When the Queen attempts to disguise her motives for procuring the
poison from Cornelius, by saying she means to try its effects on
'creatures not worth the hanging', his answer conveys at once a
tacit reproof of her hypocrisy, and a useful lesson of humanity:
--Your Highness
Shall from this practice but make hard your heart.
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