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PERSONS REPRESENTED.

LEONTES, King of Sicilia.

Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 2.

Act V. sc. 1; sc. 3.

MAMILLIUS, son to Leontes.
Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1.

CAMILLO, a Sicilian lord.

Appears, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 3.
Act V. sc. 3.

ANTIGONUS, a Sicilian lord.
Appears, Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 3.

CLEOMENES, a Sicilian lord.
Appears, Act III. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act V. sc. 1.
DION, a Sicilian lord.

Appears, Act III. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act V. sc. 1.
A Sicilian Lord.

Appears, Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 2.
ROGERO, a Sicilian gentleman.
Appears, Act V. sc. 1.

An Attendant on the young Prince Ma

millius.

Appears, Act II. sc. 3.

Officers of a Court of Judicature.
Appear, Act III. sc. 2.

POLIXENES, King of Bohemia.

Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 3.
FLORIZEL, Son to Polixenes.

Appears, Act IV. sc. 3. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 3.
ARCHIDAMUS, a Bohemian lord.

Appears, Act I. sc. 1.

A Mariner.

Appears, Act III. sc. 3.

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HERMIONE, Queen to Leontes.

Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1. Act III. sc. 2. Act V. sc. 3.

PERDITA, daughter to Leontes and Hermione.

Appears, Act IV. sc. 3. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 3.

PAULINA, wife to Antigonus.
Appears, Act II. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 2. Act IV. sc. 1.
Act V. sc. 3.

EMILIA, a lady attending on the Queen.
Appears, Act II. sc. 2.

Two Ladies attending on the Queen.

Appear, Act II. sc. 1.
MOPSA, a shepherdess.

Appears, Act IV. sc. 3.
DORCAS, a shepherdess.

Appears, Act IV. sc. 3.

Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Satyrs for a Dance; Shepherds, Shepherdesses, Guards, &c.

SCENE,- -SOMETIMES IN SICILIA; SOMETIMES IN BOHEMIA.

[graphic][subsumed][merged small][merged small]

SCENE I.-Sicilia. An Antechamber in Leontes' Palace.

Enter CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS.

ARCH. If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia.

CAM. I think, this coming summer, the king of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him.

ARCH. Wherein our entertainment shall shame us we will be justified in our loves: for, indeed,

CAM. 'Beseech you,ARCH. Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we cannot with such magnificence-in so rare-I know not what to say.-We will give you sleepy drinks, that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuse us.

CAM. You pay a great deal too dear for what's given freely.

ARCH. Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me, and as mine honesty puts it to utterance.

CAM. Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to Bohemia. They were trained
together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then such an
affection which cannot choose but branch now. Since their more mature
dignities, and royal necessities, made separation of their society, their
encounters, though not personal, have been royally attorneyed, with inter-
change of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seemed to be
together, though absent; shook hands, as over a vasta; and embraced, as it
were, from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves!
ARCH. I think there is not in the world either malice, or matter, to alter it.
You have an unspeakable comfort of your young prince Mamillius; it is a
gentleman of the greatest promise that ever came into my note.
CAM. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: It is a gallant child;
one that, indeed, physics the subject, makes old hearts fresh; they that
went on crutches ere he was born, desire yet their life to see him a man.
ARCH. Would they else be content to die?

CAM. Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live.
ARCH. If the king had no son they would desire to live on crutches till he had

one.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The same. A Room of State in the Palace.

Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS, CAMILLO, and Attendants.

POL. Nine changes of the wat'ry star have been

The shepherd's note, since we have left our throne

Without a burthen: time as long again

Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks;

And yet we should, for perpetuity,

Go hence in debt: And therefore, like a cipher

Yet standing in rich place, I multiply,

With one we-thank-you, many thousands more
That go before it.

LEON.

Stay your thanks awhile;

And pay

them when you part.

a Vast. So the folio of 1623. That of 1632 reads vast sea. In 'Pericles' we have the line,

"Thou God of this great vast, rebuke the surges."

In the text vast probably has the meaning of great space.

POL.

Sir, that 's to-morrow.

I am question'd by my fears, of what may chance,
Or breed upon our absence: That may blow

No sneaping winds at home, to make us say,

"This is put forth too truly!"a Besides, I have stay'd To tire your royalty.

LEON.

POL.

We are tougher, brother,

Than you can put us to 't.

LEON. One seven-night longer.

POL.

No longer stay.

Very sooth, to-morrow.

LEON. We'll part the time between 's then: and in that

I'll no gainsaying.

POL.

Press me not, 'beseech you, so;

There is no tongue that moves, none, none i' the world,
So soon as yours, could win me: so it should now,
Were there necessity in your request, although
"T were needful I denied it. My affairs
Do even drag me homeward: which to hinder
Were, in your love, a whip to me; my stay,
To you a charge and trouble: to save both,
Farewell, our brother.

LEON.

Tongue-tied, our queen? speak you.

HER. I had thought, sir, to have held my peace, until

You had drawn oaths from him, not to stay. You, sir,
Charge him too coldly: Tell him, you are sure

All in Bohemia 's well: this satisfaction

The by-gone day proclaim'd; say this to him,
He's beat from his best ward.

LEON.

Well said, Hermione.

HER. To tell he longs to see his son, were strong:

But let him say so then, and let him go;

But let him swear so, and he shall not stay,
We'll thwack him hence with distaffs.-

Yet of your royal presence [to POLIXENES] I 'll adventure

The borrow of a week. When at Bohemia

You take my lord, I'll give him my commission,

To let him there a month, behind the gest

V.

a The construction of this passage is somewhat involved; but the meaning is, O that no sпeaping (ruffling) winds at home may blow, to make us say my presages were too true.

To let is to hinder: and it is probably here used as a reflective verb-to stay himself.

• Gest is literally a lodging; and the houses or towns where a prince had assigned to stop in his progress, and of which a list was prepared with dates, were so called. We have the expression in Webster sufficiently clear:

"Like the gesse in the progress;

You know where you shall find me."

POL.

Prefix'd for 's parting: yet, good deed, Leontes,
I love thee not a jar o' the clock behind

What lady she her lord.-You'll stay?

HER. Nay, but you will?

POL.

HER. Verily!

POL.

No, madam.

I may not, verily.

You put me off with limber vows: But I,

Though you would seek to unsphere the stars with oaths,

Should yet say, "Sir, no going." Verily,

You shall not go; a lady's verily is

As potent as a lord's. Will you go yet?
Force me to keep you as a prisoner,

Not like a guest; so you shall pay your fees,
When you depart, and save your thanks. How say you?
My prisoner? or my guest? by your dread verily,
One of them you shall be.

Your guest then, madam:
To be your prisoner should import offending;
Which is for me less easy to commit,

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HER. Was not my lord the verier wag o' the two?

POL. We were as twinn'd lambs, that did frisk i' the sun,
And bleat the one at the other: What we chang'd

Was innocence for innocence; we knew not

The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream'd

That any did: Had we pursued that life,

And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd

With stronger blood, we should have answer'd heaven

Boldly, "Not guilty;" the imposition clear'd,

Hereditary ours d.

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Jar o' the clock-the ticking of the pendulum.

• Lady she. For she Mr. Collier prints should, upon the authority of a MS. correction in the

first folio. We doubt this. "What lady she" is what lady soever any lady.

d

Hereditary ours-being cleared from the taint of original sin.

F

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