Allowance must be made for the fact that the Lyceum ''Cymbeline" of 1896 was the first Shakespeare and almost the first London play that one had seen; and the recollection of it is further hallowed by the thought that it was, we think, the last of Irving's and Ellen Terry's joint productions, certainly of their association in Shakespeare. Yet when every circumstances of personal bias is discounted, one would maintain in defiance of all the superior critics in the world, that it is a beautiful play. We must grant the "ugly wager." But somehow it did not seem to matter much. One accepted it as belonging to the fashion of Shakespeare's day and forgot the cause in breathless attention to the working out of Imogen's fortunes which was the result. And in passing, how many as ugly or uglier themes are not nowadays the subject of grave attention and loud envomiums, though wih none or the justification in their development which Cymbeline" contains? Besides, Iachimo's—bet with Leonatus is not the important part of the play, but the loveliness of Imogen's affection and loyalty.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.