project by a daring imposture: the faithful attachment of Pisanio to
his mistress is an affecting accompaniment to the whole; the
obstinate adherence to his purpose in Bellarius, who keeps the fate
of the young princes so long a secret in resentment for the
ungrateful return to his former services, the incorrigible
wickedness of the Queen, and even the blind uxorious confidence of
Cymbeline, are all so many lines of the same story, tending to the
same point. The effect of this coincidence is rather felt than
observed; and as the impression exists unconsciously in the mind of
the reader, so it probably arose in the same manner in the mind of
the author, not from design, but from the force of natural
association, a particular train of feeling suggesting different
inflections of the same predominant principle, melting into, and
strengthening one another, like chords in music.

The characters of Bellarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus, and the
romantic scenes in which they appear, are a fine relief to the
intrigues and artificial refinements of the court from which they
are banished. Nothing can surpass the wildness and simplicity of the
descriptions of the mountain life they lead. They follow the
business of huntsmen, not of shepherds; and this is in keeping with
the spirit of adventure and uncertainty in the rest of the story,
and with the scenes in which they are afterwards called on to act.
How admirably the youthful fire and impatience to emerge from their
obscurity in the young princes is opposed to the cooler calculations
and prudent resignation of their more experienced counsellor! How
well the disadvantages of knowledge and of ignorance, of solitude
and society, are placed against each other!

Guiderius. Out of your proof you speak: we poor unfledg'd