Had fquar'd me to thy counfel! then, even now i
I might have look'd upon my Queen's full eyes,
Have taken treasure from her lips!

Paul. And left them

More rich, for what they yielded.

Leo. Thou fpeak'st truth:

No more fuch wives, therefore no wife; one worfe,f And better us'd, would make her fainted spirit

Again poffefs her corpfe; and on this stage.

(Where we offend her now) appear foul-vex'd, And begin, Why to me?

Paul. Had fhe fuch power,

She had just cause.

Leo. She had, and would incense me

To murder her I married.

Paul. I fhould fo.

Were I the ghost that walk'd, I'd bid you mark
Her eye, and tell me, for what dull part in't

You chofe her; then I'd fhriek, that even your ears Shou'd rift to hear me, and the words that follow'd Should be, Remember mine.

Leo. Stars, ftars,

And all eyes elfe, dead coals: fear thou no wife.
I'll have no wife, Paulina.

Paul. Will you fwear

Never to marry, but by my free leave?

Leo. Never, Paulina; fo be bless'd my fpirit!· Paul. Then, good my Lords, bear witness to his ? oath.

Cleo. You tempt him over-much.

Paul. Unlefs another,

As like Hermione as is her picture,

Affront his eye.

Cleo. Good Madam, pray, have done.

Paul. Yet, if my Lord will marry; if you will, Sir; No remedy, but you will; give me the office To chufe you a Queen; the thall not be to young As was your former; but the fhall be fuch

!

As, walk'd your first Queen's ghoit, it should take joy To fee her in your arms.

Les. My true Paulina,.

We shall not marry till thou bid'at us... on

Paul.

Paul. That

Shall be when your first Queen's again in breath:
Never till then.

SCENE II. Enter a Gentleman.

Gent. One that gives out himself Prince Florizel, Son of Polixenes, with his Princefs (the

The fairest I have yet beheld), desires access
To your high presence.

Leo. What with him? he comes not

Like to his father's greatness; his approach,
So out of circumftance and fudden, tells us,
'Tis not a vifitation fram'd, but force'd
By need and accident. What train ?
Gent. But few,

And those but mean.

Leo. His Princefs, fay you, with him?

Gent. Yes; the most peerless piece of earth, I think, That e'er the fun fhone bright on.

Paul. Oh Hermione,

As every present time doth boast itself
Above a better gone; fo muft thy grave

*

Give way to what's feen now. Sir, you yourself
Have faid, and writ fo: but your writing now
Is colder than that theme; he had not been,
Nor was he to be equall'd; thus your verfe
Flow'd with her beauty once; 'tis fhrewdly ebb'd,
To fay you've feen a better.

Gent. Pardon, Madam;

The one I have almoft forgot, (your pardon);
The other when she has obtain'd your eye,
Will have your tongue too. This is a creature,
Would the begin a fect, might quench the zeal
Of all profeffors elfe, make profelytes

Of who the but bid follow.

Paul. How? not women?

Gent. Women will love her, that fhe is a woman More worth than any man; men, that the is The rareft of all women.

Leo. Go, Clomenes;

Yourfelf (affifted with your honour'd friends)

Grave for epitapk."

Bring them to our embracement. Still 'tis ftrange He thus fhould fteal upon us.

Paul. Had our Prince

[Exit Cleo.

(Jewel of children) feen this hour, he had pair'd Well with this Lord; there was not full a month Between their births.

Leo. Pr'ythee, no more; ceafe; thou know'st, Hedies to me again, when talk'd of: fure, When I fhall fee this gentleman, thy fpeeches Will bring me to confider that which may Unfurnish me of reason. They are come.

SCEN E III.

Enter Florizel, Perdita, Cleomenes, and others.
Your mother was most true to wedlock, Prince,
For fhe did print your royal father off
Conceiving you. Were I but twenty-one,
Your father's image is fo hit in you,

His very air, that I fhould call you brother,
As I did him, and fpeak of fomething wildly
By us perform'd before. Moll dearly welcome,
As you fair Princefs, goddefs!---Oh! alas!
I loft a couple, that 'twixt heav'n and earth
Might thus have stood begetting wonder, as
You gracious couple do; and then I loft
(All mine own folly!) the fociety,
Amity too of your brave father, whom
(Tho' bearing mifery) I defire my life
Once, more to look on.

Flo. Sir, by his command

Have I here touch'd Sicilia, and from him

Give you all greetings that a King (as friend)
Can fend his brother; and but infirmity,

Which waits upon worn times, hath fomething seiz'd
His wifh'd ability, he had himself

The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his
Meafur'd, to look upon you; whom he loves,
He bade me fay fo, more than all the fceptres,
And those that bear them living.

Leo. Oh, my, brother bi

Good gentleman, the wrongs I have done thee Air

Afreth

Afresh within me; and these thy offices,
So rarely kind, are as interpreters

Of my behind-hand flackness. Welcome hither,
As is th' fpring to th' earth. And hath he too
Expos'd this paragon to th' fearful ufage

(At least, ungentle) of the dreadful Neptune,
Το greet a man not worth her pains, much less
Th' adventure of her perfon?

Flo. Good my Lord,

She came from Libya.

Leo. Where the warlike Smalus,

That noble honour'd Lord is fear'd and lov'd?

Flo. Moft Royal Sir,

From thence; from him, whofe daughter

His tears proclaim'd his parting with her; thence
(A profp'rous fouth-wind friendly) we have cross'd,
To execute the charge my father gave me,
For vifiting your Highness; my best train
I have from your Sicilian fhores dismiss'd,:
Who for Bithynia bend, to fignify

Not only my fuccefs in Libya, Sir,

But my arrival, and my wife's, in fafety
Here where we are.

Leo. The bleffed gods

"

Purge all infection from our air, whilft you
Do climate here! You have a holy father,
A graceful gentleman, against whofe perfon,
So facred as it is, I have done fin;
For which the heavens, taking angry note,
Have left me iffuelefs; and your father's blefs'd,
As he from heaven merits it, with you,
Worthy his goodness. What might I have been,
Might I a fon and daughter now have look'd on,
Such goodly things as you!

SCENE IV.

Lord. Moft Noble Sir,

IV. Enter a Lord.

12

That which I fhall report will bear no credit,
Were not the proof fo high. Please you, great Sir,
Bithynia greets you from himself, by me; .....

Defires you to attach his fon, who has

His dignity and duty both caft off,

2

1. Fled

Fled from his father, from his hopes, and with
A fhepherd's daughter.

Leo. Where's Bithynia? fpeak.....

Lord. Here in your city. I now came from him. I speak amazedly, and it becomes

My marvel, and my meffage: to your court
Whilft he was haft'ning, in the chace, it seems,
Of this fair couple, meets he on the way
The father of this feeming lady, and

Her brother, having both their country quitted
With this young Prince.

Flo. Camillo has betray'd me;

Whose honour and whofe honesty till now
Endur'd all weathers.

Lord. Lay't fo to his charge;

He's with the King your father.

Leo. Who? Camillo ?

Lord. Camillo, Sir, I fpake with him; who now

Has these poor men in question.

Never faw I

Wretches fo quake; they kneel, they kifs the earth,
Forfwear themselves as often as they speak.
Bithynia ftops his ears, and threatens them
With divers deaths in death.

Per. Oh, my poor father!

The heav'n fets fpies upon us, will not have
Our contract celebrated.

Leo. You are marry'd?

Flo. We are not, Sir, nor are we like to be; The ftars, I fee, will kifs the valleys firft;

The odds for high and low's alike.

Leo. My Lord,

Is this the daughter of a King!

Flo. She is,

When once she is my wife.

Leo. That once, I fee, by your good father's speed, Will come on very flowly. I am forry

(Moft forry) you have broken from his liking;
Where you were ty'd in duty; and as forry,' ›
Your choice is not fo rich in birth as beauty,
That you might well enjoy her.

Flo. Dear, look up;

Though Fortune, visible an enemy,

- VOL. III.

Nn

Should