Flo.

And there present yourself and your fair prin

cess,

For so I see she must be, 'fore Leontes:
She shall be habited as it becomes

560

The partner of your bed. Methinks I see
Leontes opening his free arms and weeping
His welcomes forth; asks thee the son forgive-

ness,

As 'twere i' the father's person; kisses the hands
Of your fresh princess; o'er and o'er divides him
"Twixt his unkindness and his kindness; the one
He chides to hell and bids the other grow
Faster than thought or time.

Worthy Camillo, 570
What color for my visitation shall I
Hold up before him?

Cam.

Flo.

Sent by the king your father
To greet him and to give him comforts. Sir,
The manner of your bearing towards him, with
What you as from your father shall deliver,
Things known betwixt us three, I'll write you
down:

The which shall point you forth at every sitting
What you must say; that he shall not perceive
But that you have your father's bosom there
And speak his very heart.

I am bound to you:

There is some sap in this.

Cam.

A course more promising

Than a wild dedication of yourselves

577. "point you forth"; indicate for you.-C. H. H.

580

Per.

To unpath'd waters, undream'd shores, most
certain

To miseries enough: no hope to help you,
But as you shake off one to take another:
Nothing so certain as your anchors, who
Do their best office, if they can but stay you
Where you'll be loath to be: besides you know
Prosperity's the very bond of love,

Whose fresh complexion and whose heart to-
gether

Affliction alters.

590

One of these is true:

I think affliction may subdue the cheek,
But not take in the mind.

Cam.

Flo.

Yea, say you so?

There shall not at your father's house these

seven years

Be born another such.

My good Camillo,
She is as forward of her breeding as
She is i' the rear o' her birth.

Cam.

Per.

Flo.

I cannot say 'tis pity

She lacks instructions, for she seems a mistress
To most that teach.

Your pardon, sir; for this

My prettiest Perdita!

600

I'll blush you thanks.

But O, the thorns we stand upon! Camillo,
Preserver of my father, now of me,

597. " the rear o' her birth"; Folios 1, 2, 3, "'our birth"; Rowe first emended the line as in the text, though in his second edition he read "o' our" for "o' her.”—I. G.

The medicine of our house, how shall we do?
We are not furnish'd like Bohemia's son,
Nor shall appear in Sicilia.

Cam.

My lord,

Fear none of this: I think you know my for

tunes

Do all lie there: it shall be so my care

To have you royally appointed as if

The scene you play were mine. For instance, sir,

That you may know you shall not want, one [They talk aside. 610

word.

Re-enter Autolycus.

Aut. Ha, ha! what a fool Honesty is! and Trust, his sworn brother, a very simple gentleman! I have sold all my trumpery; not a counterfeit stone, not a ribbon, glass, pomander, brooch, table-book, ballad, knife, tape, glove, shoe-tie, bracelet, horn-ring, to keep my pack from fasting: they throng who should buy first, as if my trinkets had been hallowed and brought a benediction to the buyer: by which means I saw whose 620 purse was best in picture; and what I saw, to my good use I remembered. My clown, who wants but something to be a reasonable man, grew so in love with the wenches' song, that he would not stir his pettitoes till

605. “appear,” i. e. appear so (like Bohemia's son).—I. G. 618. "trinkets had been hallowed"; this alludes to the beads often sold by the Romanists, as made particularly efficacious by the touch of some relic.-H. N. H.

he had both tune and words; which so drew
the rest of the herd to me, that all their other
senses stuck in ears: you might have pinched
a placket, it was senseless; 'twas nothing to
geld a codpiece of a purse; I would have 630
filed keys off that hung in chains: no hear-
ing, no feeling, but my sir's song, and ad-
miring the nothing of it. So that in this
time of lethargy I picked and cut most of
their festival purses; and had not the old
man come in with a whoo-bub against his
daughter and the king's son and scared
my choughs from the chaff, I had not left a
purse alive in the whole army.

[Camillo, Florizel, and Perdita come forward. Cam. Nay, but my letters, by this means being there

640

So soon as you arrive, shall clear that doubt. Flo. And those that you'll procure from King

Leontes

We'll make an instrument
Nothing may give us aid.

[Seeing Autolycus. of this; omit

Aut. If they have overheard me now, why, hanging.

630. "geld a codpiece of a purse"; pick a purse from the pocket of the hose, where it was often carried.-C. H. H.

632. “my sir's"; the clown's.-C. H. H.

Cam. How now, good fellow! why shakest thou so? Fear not, man; here's no harm in- 650 tended to thee.

Aut. I am a poor fellow, sir.

Cam. Why, be so still; here's nobody will steal that from thee: yet for the outside of thy poverty we must make an exchange; therefore discase thee instantly,-thou must think there's a necessity in 't,-and change garments with this gentleman: though the pennyworth on his side be the worst, yet hold thee, there's some boot.

Aut. I am a poor fellow, sir. [Aside] I know ye well enough.

Cam. Nay, prithee, dispatch: the gentleman is half flayed already.

Aut. Are you in earnest, sir? [Aside] I smell the trick on 't.

Flo. Dispatch, I prithee.

Aut. Indeed, I have had earnest; but I cannot with conscience take it.

Cam. Unbuckle, unbuckle.

660

670

[Florizel and Autolycus exchange garments.
Fortunate mistress,-let my prophecy
Come home to ye!-you must retire yourself
Into some covert: take your sweetheart's hat
And pluck it o'er your brows, muffle your face,
Dismantle you, and, as you can, disliken
The truth of your own seeming; that you may—
For I do fear eyes over-to shipboard

671. "my prophecy"; viz., that hinted in the auspicious phrase he has just used.-C. H. H.