Clo. Think you so, sir? Aut. Not he alone shall suffer what wit can make heavy, and vengeance bitter; but those that are germane to him, though removed fifty times, 15 shall all come under the hangman: which, though it be great pity, yet it is necessary. An old sheepwhistling rogue, a ram-tender, to offer to have his daughter come into grace! Some say, he shall be ston'd; but that death is too soft for him, say 1:20 Draw our throne into a sheep-cote! all deaths are too few, the sharpest too easy. Clo. Has the old man e'er a son, sir, do you hear, an't like you, sir? 30 Aut. He has a son, who shall be flay'd alive: 25 then 'nointed over with honey, set on the head of a wasp's nest; then stand, till he be three quarters and a dram dead: then recover'd again with aquavitæ, or some other hot infusion: then, raw as he is, and in the hottest day prognostication proclaims', he shall be set against a brick-wall, the sun looking with a southward eye upon him; where he is to behold him, with flies blown to death. But what talk we of these traitorly rascals, whose miseries are to be smil'd at, their offences being so 35 capital? Tell me, (for you seem to be honest plain men) what you have to the king: being something gently consider'd', I'll bring you where he is aboard, tender your persons to his presence, whisper him in your behalfs; and, if it be in man, be-40 sides the king, to effect your suits, here is man shall do it. stubborn bear, yet he is oft led by the nose with gold: shew the inside of your purse to the outside of his hand, and no more ado: Remember, ston'd, and flay'd alive. Clo. He seems to be of great authority: close with bin, give him gold; and though Authority be ali Shep. An't please you, sir, to undertake the business for us, here is that gold I have: I'll make it as much more; and leave this young man in pawn 'till I bring it you. Aut. After I have done what I promised? Aut. Well, give me the moiety:-Are you a party in this business? Clo. In some sort, sir: but though my case be a pitiful one, I hope I shall not be flay'd out of it. Aut. Oh, that's the case of the shepherd's son:Hang him, he'll be made an example. Clo. Comfort, good comfort: We must to the king, and shew our strange sights: he must know, tis none of your daughter, nor my sister; we are gone else.-Sir, I will give you as much as this old man does, when the business is perform'd; and remain, as he says, your pawn, 'till it be brought you. Aut. I will trust you. Walk before toward the sea-side; go on the right hand; I will but look upon the hedge, and follow you. Clo. We are bless'd in this man, as I may say, even bless'd. Shep. Let's before, as he bid us: he was provided to do us good. [Exeunt Shep. and Clo. Aut. If I had a mind to be honest, I see, fortune would not suffer me; she drops booties in my mouth. I am courted now on à double occasion; gold, and a means to do the prince my master good, which, who knows how that may turn back to my advancement? I will bring these two moles, these blind ones, aboard him: if he think it fit to shore them again,and that the complaint they have to the king concerns him nothing, let him call me, rogue, for being so far officious; for I am proof against that title, and what shame else belongs to't: To him will I present them, there may be matter in it. [Exit. She I kill'd? I did so; but thou strik'st me Sorely, to say I did; it is as bitter [now 60 Upon thy tongue, as in my thought: Now, good Say so but seldom. Cle. Not at all, good lady: You might havespoke a thousand things, that would That is, the hottest day foretold in the almanack. consideration, or bribe, worthy of a gentleman, I'll bring you, &c." Have Have done the time more benefit, and grac'd Paul. You are one of those, Dio. If you would not so, You pity not the state, nor the remembrance Paul. There is none worthy, Is 't not the tenour of his oracle, That king Leontes shall not have an heir, Leo. Good Paulina,— Who hast the memory of Hermione, Had squar'd me to thy counsel! then even now, Paul. And left them More rich, for what they yielded, Leo. Thou speak'st truth. No more such wives; therefore, no wife; one worse, Paul. Had she such power, She had just such cause. Leo. She had; and would incense me To murder her I married. Paul. I should so; Were I the ghost that walk'd, I'd bid you mark Her eye; and tell me, for what dull part in 't You chose her: then I'd shriek, that even your ears Shou'd rift to hear me; and the words that follow'd Should be, "Remember mine." 30 And those but mean, Leo. His princess, say you, with him? That e'er the sun shone bright on. Paul. Oh Hermione, As every present time dost boast itself 35 Give way to what's seen now. Sir, you yourself Yourself, assisted with your honour's friends, [Exit Cleomenes. Bring them to our embracement.-Still 'tis strange, He thus should steal upon us. Paul. Had our prince (Jewel of children) seen this hour, he had pair'd Well with this lord; there was not a full mouth 60 Between their births. Leo. Pr'ythee, no more; cease; thou know'st, I dies to me again, when talk'd of: sure, When I shall see this gentleman, thy speeches Will bring me to consider that, which may Unfurnish me of reason.-They are come. Enter Florizel, Perdita, Cleomenes, and others. Flo. Sir, by his command my lite Have I here touched Sicilia; and from him The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his Leo. Oh, my brother! [stin (Good gentleman) the wrongs I have done thee, Of my behind-hand slackness!-Welcome hither, Flo. Good my lord, She came from Libya. Leo. Where the warlike Smalos, That noble honour'd lord, is fear'd, and lov'd? Flo. Most royal sir, from thence: from him, whose daughter His tears proclaim'd his, parting with her: thence Leo. The blessed gods Purge all infection from our air, whilst you 25 30 The father of this seeming lady, and Her brother, having both their country quitted With this young prince. Fio. Camillo has betray'd me; Whose honour, and whose honesty, till now, Endur'd all weathers. Lord. Lay 't so, to his charge; He's with the king your father. Leo. Who? Camillo? [now Lord. Camillo, sir; I spake with him; who Has these poor men in question. Never saw I Wretches so quake: they kneel, they kiss the earth; Forswear themselves as often as they speak: Bohemia stops his ears, and threatens them With divers deaths in death. Per. Oh, my poor father! The heaven sets spies on us, will not have 35 Is this the daughter of a king? Flo. She is, When once she is my wife. Leo. That once, I see, by your good father's speed, Will come on very slowly. I am sorry, 40 Most sorry, you have broken from his liking, Where you were ty'd in duty: and as sorry, Your choice is not so rich in worth' as beauty, That you might well enjoy her. Flo. Dear, look up: 45 Though fortune, visible an enemy, Should chase us, with my father; power no jot Hath she, to change our loves.-'Beseech you, sir, Remember since you ow'd no more to time Than I do now: with thought of such affections |50|Step forth mine advocate; at your request, My father will grant precious things, as trifles.. Leo. Would he do so, I'd beg your precious Which he counts but a trifle. [mistress, For which the heavens, taking angry note, Enter a Lord. Paul. Sir, my liege, Your Leo. I thought of her, [gazet Even in these looks I made.-But your petition [To Florizel. Is yet unanswer'd: I will to your father; Your honour not o'erthrown by your desires, I am friend to them and you: upon which errand I now go toward him; therefore follow me, 65 And mark what way I make: Come, good my lord. That is, in high descent. [Exerint. SCENE 1 Gent. I was by at the opening of the farthel, heard the old shepherd deliver the manner how he found it: whereupon, after a little amazedness, we were all commanded out of the chamber: only this, methought, I heard the shepherd 10 say, he found the child. (with clipping her; now he thanks the old shepherd, which stands by, like a weather-beaten conduit of many kings' reigns. I never heard of such another encounter, which lames report to follow it, and undoes description to do it. 2 Gent. What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that carry'd hence the child? 3 Gent. Like an old tale still; which will have matters to rehearse, though credit be asleep, and not an ear open: He was torn to pieces with a bear; this avouches the shepherd's son; who has not only his innocence (which seems much) to that Paulina knows. 1 Gent. What became of his bark, and his fol. lowers? Aut. I would most gladly know the issue of it. 1 Gent. I make a broken delivery of the busi-justify him, but a handkerchief, and rings, of his, ness;-but the changes I perceiv'd in the king, and Camillo, were very notes of admiration; they 15 seem'd almost, with staring on one another, to tear the cases of their eyes; there was speech in their dumbness, language in their very gesture; they look'd, as they had heard of a world ransom'd, or one destroy'd: A notable passion of 20 wonder appear'd in them: but the wisest beholder that knew no more but seeing, could not say if the importance were joy, or sorrow; but in the extremity of the one, it must needs be. Enter a second Gentleman. Here comes a gentleman, that, happily, knows more: The news, Rogero? 25 2 Gent. Nothing but bonfires: The oracle is fulfill'd; the king's daughter is found: such a deal of wonder is broken out within this hour,|30| that ballad-makers cannot be able to express it. Enter a third Gentleman. Here comes the lady Paulina's steward, he can deliver you more:-How goes it now, sir? this news, which is call'd true, is so like an old tale, 35 that the verity of it is in strong suspicion: Has the king found his heir?, 3 Gent. Wreck'd, the same instant of their master's death; and in the view of the shepherd: so that all the instruments, which aided to expose the child, were even then lost, when it was found. But, oh, the noble combat, that, 'twixt joy and sorrow, was fought in Paulina! She had one eye declin'd for the loss of her husband; another ele vated that the oracle was fulfill'd: She lifted the princess from the earth; and so locks her in embracing, as if she would pin her to her heart, that she might no more be in danger of losing. 1Gent. The dignity of this act was worth the audience of kings and princes; for by such was it acted. 3 Gent. One of the prettiest touches of all, and that which angled for mine eyes, (caught the water, though not the fish) was, when at the relation of the queen's death, with the manner how she came to it, (bravely confess'd, and lamented by the king) how attentiveness wounded his daughter: 'till, from one sign of dolour to another, she did, with an alas! I would fain say, bleed tears; for, I am sure, my heart wept blood. Who was most marble there', chang'd colour; some swoonall sorrowed: if all the world could have seen it, the woe had been universal. 3 Gent. Most true; if ever truth were pregnant by circumstance: that, which you hear, you'll swear you see, there is such unity in the proofs. 40ed, The mantle of queen Hermione;-her jewel about the neck of it;-the letters of Antigonus, found with it, which they know to be his character ;the majesty of the creature in resemblance of the mother; the affection of nobleness, which nature 45 shews above her breeding,--and many other evidences, proclaim her, with all certainty, to be the king's daughter. Did you see the meeting of the two kings? 2 Gent. No. Gent. Are they returned to the court? 3 Gent. No: The princess hearing of her mo ther's statue, which is in the keeping of Paulina,— a piece many years in doing, and now newly perform'd by that rare Italian master, Julia Romano; who, had he himself eternity', and could put breath into his work, would beguile nature of her custom, so perfectly he is her ape: he so near 50 to Hermione hath done Hermione, that, they say, one would speak to her, and stand in hope of answer: thither, with all greediness of affection, are they gone; and there they intend to sup. 3 Gent. Then have you lost a sight, which was to be seen, cannot be spoken of. There might you have beheld one joy crown another; so, and in such manner, that, it seem'd, sorrow wept to take leave of them; for their joy waded in tears. 55 There was casting up of eyes, holding up of hands; with countenance of such distraction, that they were to be known by garment, not by favour. Our king, being ready to leap out of himself for joy of his found daughter; as if that joy were now become a loss, cries, Oh, thy n.other, thy mother! then asks Bohemia forgiveness; then embraces his son-in-law; then again worries he his daughter, 2 Gent. I thought, she had some great matter there in hand; for she hath privately, twice or thrice a day, ever since the death of Hermione, visited that removed house. Shail we thither, and with our company piece the rejoicing? 1 Gent. Who would be thence, that has the be60nefit of access? every wink of an eye, some new grace will be born: our absence makes us unthrifty to our knowledge. Let's along. [Exeunt. Aut. Now, had I not the dash of my former That is, embracing her. i. e. most insensible. would draw her customers from her. i. e. immortality. i. e. of her trade,— life in me, would preferment drop on my head. Enter Shepherd and Clown. Here come those I have done good to against my will, and already appearing in the blossoms of their fortune. Shep. Come, boy; I am past more children; but thy sons and daughters will be all gentlemen born. 15 Clo. You are well met, sir: You denied to fight with me this other day, because I was no gentleman born; See you these clothes? say, you see 20 them not, and think me still no gentleinan born: you were best say, these robes are not gentlemen born. Give me the lie; do; and try whether I am now a gentleman born. Aut. I know, you are now, sir, a gentleman 25 born. Clo. Ay, and have been so any time these four hours. Shep. And so have I, boy. Clo. So you have:-but I was a gentleman born 30 before my father, for the king's son took me by the hand, and call'd me brother; and then the two kings call'd my father, brother; and then the prince, my brother, and the princess, my sister, call'd my father, father; and so we wept: and 35 there was the first gentleman-like tears that ever we shed. Shep. We may live, son, to shed many more. Clo. Ay; or else 'twere hard luck, being in so preposterous estate as we are. Aut. I humbly beseech you, sir, to pardon me all the faults I have committed to your worship, and to give me your good report to the prince my master. Shep. 'Pr'ythee, son, do; for we must be gentle, now we are gentlemen. Clo. Thou wilt amend thy life? Clo. Give me thy hand: I will swear to the prince, thou art as honest a true fellow as any is in Bohemia, Shep. You may say it, but not swear it. Clo. Not swear it, now I am a gentleman? boors and franklins say it, I'll swear it. Shep. How if it be false, son? Let 40 45 50 Clo. If it be ne'er so false, a true gentleman may 55 swear it, in the behalf of his friend:-And Pil swear to the prince, thou art a tall' fellow of thy hands, and that thou wilt not be drunk; but I know, thou art no tall fellow of thy hands, and that thou wilt be drunk; but I'll swear it: and I would, 601 thou wouldst be a tall fellow of thy hands. Aut. I will prove so, sir, to my power. Enter Leontes, Polixenes, Florizel, Perdita, Ca- Paul. What, sovereign sir, I did not well, I meant well: All my services Heirs of your kingdoms, my poor house to visit ; Leo. Paulina, We honour you with trouble: But we came Paul. As she liv'd peerless, So her dead likeness, I do well believe, Leo. Her natural posture ! Chide me, dear stone; that I may say, indeed, Pol. Oh, not by much. Paul. Somuch the more our carver's excellence; Which lets go by some sixteen years, and makes As she liv'd now. Leo. As now she might have done, [her So much to my good comfort, as it is Per. And give me leave; The statue is but newly fix'd, the colour's Clo. Ay, by any means prove a tall fellow: If I do not wonder, how thou dar'st venture to be drunk, not being a tall fellow, trust me not.-65]Not dry. 1 Franklin is a freeholder, or yeoman, a man above a villain, but not a gentleman. * i. e. stout. i, e. stay a while, be not so eager. |