Fortunate miftrefs,-let my prophecy Per. I fee, the play fo lies, That I must bear a part. Cam. No remedy. Have you done there? Flo. Should I now meet my father, He would not call me fon. Cam. Nay, you fhall have no hat :Come, lady, come.-Farewel, my friend. Aut. Adieu, fir. Flo. O Perdita, what have we twain forgot? Pray you, a word. Cam. What I do next, fhall be, to tell the king Of this escape, and whither they are bound; Flo. Fortune fpeed us !— Shep. Well; let us to the king; there is that in this farthel, will make him scratch his beard. Aut. I know not, what impediment this complaint may be to the flight of my matter. Clo. 'Pray heartily, he be at palace. Aut. Though I am not naturally honest, I am so fometimes by chance:- -Let me pocket up my pedler's excrement How now, rufticks? whither are you bound? Shep. To the palace, an it like your worship. Aut. Your affairs there? what? with whom? the condition of that farthel, the place of your dwelling, your names, your ages, of what having, breeding, and any thing that is fitting to be known, difcover. Clo. We are but plain fellows, fir. Aut. A lie; you are rough and hairy: Let me have no lying; it becomes none but tradefmen, and they often give us foldiers the lie: but we pay them for it with ftamped coin, not stabbing steel; therefore they do not give us the lie. Clo. Your worthip had like to have given us one, [Exeunt Flo. Per. and Cam. if you had not taken yourself with the manner. Aut. I understand the bufinefs, I hear it: To Shep. Are you a courtier, an't like you, fir? have an open ear, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, Aut. Whether it like me, or no, I am a courtier. is necefiary for a cut-purfe; a good nofe is requi-See'it thou not the air of the court, in thefe enfoldfite alfo, to fmell out work for the other fenfes.ings? hath not my gait in it, the measure of the I fee, this is the time that the unjuft man doth court receives not thy nofe court-odour from me? thrive. What an exchange had this been, without reflect I not on thy bafenefs, court-contempt ? boot? what a boot is here, with this exchange? Think it thou, for that infinuate, or toze 2 from Sure, the gods do this year connive at us, and wethee thy business, I am therefore no courtier? I am may do any thing extempore. The prince himself courtier, cap-a-pe, and one that will either puth is about a piece of iniquity; ftealing away from his on, or pluk back thy butineis there: whereupon I father, with his clog at his heels: If I thought command thee to open thy affair. it were not a piece of honefty to acquaint the king] withal, I would do't: I hold it the more knavery to conceal it; and therein am I conftant to my profeñion. Enter Clown and Shepherd. Shep. My bufinets, fir, is to the king. Clo. Advocate's the court-word for a pheafant; fay, you have none. Shep. None, fir; I have no pheafant, cock, nor Afide, afide;-here's more matter for a hot brain: Every lane's end, every shop, church, feffion, hang-hen. ing, yields a careful man work. Hut. How bless'd are we, that are not umple men! Clo. See, fee; what a man you are now! there Yet nature might have made me as there are, is no other way, but to tell the king the's a change-Therefore I will not difdain. ling, and none of your flesh and blood. Shep. Nay, but hear me. Clo. Nay, but hear me. Gio. She being none of your fleth and blood, your flesh and blood has not offended the king; and, fo, your fieth and blood is not to be punish'd by him. Shew thofe things you found about her; thofe fecret things, all but what the has with her: This being done, let the law go whiitle, I warrant you. Shop. I will tell the king all, every word, yea, and his fon's pranks too; who, I may tay, is no Cle. This cannot be but a great courtier. Shep. His garments are rich, but he wears them not handfomely. Clo. He feems to be the more noble in being fantaftical: a great man, I'll warrant; I know, by the picking on 's teeth. it. The farthel there? what's i' the farthel ? Wherefore that box? Shep. Sir, there lies fuch fecrets in this farthel, and box, which none must know but the king; and which he thall know within this hour, if I may come to the speech of him. Hut. Age, thou haft loft thy labour. That is, pedler's beard. 2 To teaze, or tuze, is to difentangle wool or flax. It here implies, to raw out by importunity. Shep Shop Why, fir? A. The King is not at the palace: he is gone aboard a new fhip to purge melancholy, and air himself: For, if thou best capable of things ferious, thou must know, the king is full of grief. Sbcp. So 'tis said, fir; about his fon, that should have married a fhepherd's daughter. Aut. If that thepherd be not in hand-faft, let him Ay; the curfes he fhall have, the tortures he fhall feel, will break the back of man, the heart of moniter. Clo. Think you so, fir? Aut. Not he alone fhall fuffer what wit can make heavy, and vengeance bitter; but thofe that are germane to him, though removed fifty times, shall all come under the hangman: which, though it be great pity, yet it is neceffary. An old fheepwhittling rogue, a ram-tender, to offer to have his daughter come into grace! Some fay, he fhall be flon'd; but that death is too foft for him, fay 1: Draw our throne into a fheep-cote! all deaths are too few, the tharpelt too easy. ftubborn bear, yet he is oft led by the nofe with gold: fhew the infide of your purse to the outfice of his hand, and no more ado: Remember, fton'd, and flay'd alive. Shep. An't pleafe you, fir, to undertake the bufinefs 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 butinefs? Clo. In fome fort, fir: but though my cafe be a Clo. Comfort, good comfort: We must to the Ch. Has the old man e'er a fon, fir, do you hear, brought you. ant like you, fir? Aut. I will truft you. Walk before toward the fea-fide; go on the right hand; I will but look upon the hedge, and follow you. Clo. We are blefs'd in this man, as I may fay, Aut. He has a fon, who fhall be flay'd alive; then, 'nointed over with honey, fet on the head of a wap's neft; then stand, till he be three quarters and a dram dead: then recover'd again with aqua-even blefs'd. vitæ, or fome other hot infufion: then, raw as he Shep. Let's before, as he bids us: he was provi is, and in the hottest day prognoftication proclaims, ded to do us good. [Exeunt Shep. and Clo. fhall he be fet against a brick-wall, the fun look- Aut. If I had a mind to be honest, I fee, fortune ing with a fouthward eye upon him; where he is would not fuffer me; the drops booties in my to behold him, with flies blown to death. But mouth. I am courted now with a double occafion; what talk we of thefe traitorly rafcals, whofe mi-gold, and a means to do the prince my mafter good; feries are to be fmil'd at, their offences being fo which, who knows how that may turn back to my capital? Tell me, (for you seem to be honest plain advancement? I will bring these two moles, thefe men) what you have to the king: being fomething blind ones, aboard him if he think it fit to fhore gently confider'd 2, I'll bring you where he is them again, and that the complaint they have to the abocad, tender your perfons to his prefence, whif- | king concerns him nothing, let him call me, rogue, per him in your behalfs; and, if it be in man, be- for being fo far officious; for I am proof against fides the king, to effect your fuits, here is man thall that title, and what shame elfe belongs to't: To do it. him will I prefent them, there may be matter in it. [Exit. Ch. He feems to be of great authority: close with him, give him gold; and though Authority be a SCENE Į. ACT V. That heirlefs it hath made my kingdom; and Paul. True, too true, my lord: Lea. I think fo. Kill'd? Cle. Not at all, good lady: You might have ipoke a thousand things, that would 2 The meaning is, "If you will give me That is, the hottest day foretold in the almanack. “ a confideration or bribe worthy of a gentleman, I'll bring you, &c." A a 3 Have Have done the time more benefit, and grac'd Paul. You are one of thofe, Dio. If you would not fo, You pity not the ftate, nor the remembrance Paul. There is none worthy, Refpecting her that's gone. Besides, the gods Is 't not the tenour of his oracle, That king Leontes shall not have an heir, [To the king. Leo. Good Paulina, Who haft the memory of Hermione, I know, in honour,-0, that ever I Had fquar'd me to thy counfel! then, even now, 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, Paul. Had the fuch power, She had juft fuch 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 Leo. Stars, ftars, And all cyes 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 blefs'd my fpirit! Paul. Then, good my lords, bear witnefs to his oath. Cle. You tempt him over-much. Affront here fignifies to meet, Enter Floriel, Perdita, Cleomenes, and others. His very air, that I fhould call you brother, Fis. Sir, by his command Bohemia greets you from himself, by me; Fled from his father, from his hopes, and with Lea. Where's Bohemia? fpeak. Lord. Here in your city; I now came from him: My marvel, and my meffage. To your court Her brother, having both their country quitted Flo. Camillo has betray'd me; Whofe honour, and whofe honesty, till now, Lord. Lay 't fo, to his charge; Leo. Who? Camillo ? Lord. Camillo, fir; I fpake with him; who now Per. Oh, my poor father ! Our contract celebrated. (Guri gentleman) the wrongs I have done thee, ftir The heaven fet, fpies upon us, will not have Of my behind-hand flacknots!-Welcome hither, F. Good my lord, She came from Libya. Leo. Where the warlike Smalos, That noble honour'd lord, is fear'd, and lov'd? Ha tears proclaim'd his, parting with her: thence I have from your Sicilian fhores difmifs'd; Put my arrival, and my wife's, in fafety Les. The ble:fed gods Purge all infection from our air, whilst you Enter a Lord. Lord. Most noble fir, That, which I fhall report, will bear no credit, Leo. You are marry'd? Flo. We are not, fir, nor are we like to be! The ftars, I fee, will kifs the valleys first :The odds for tigh and low's alike. Leo. My lord, Is this the daughter of a king? Flo. She is, When once the is my wife. Though fortune, vifible an enemy, Paul. Sir, my liege, [gazes Leo. I thought of her, Is yet unanfwer'd: I will to your father; That is, in high defcent. A 2 4 [Exeunt. SCENE Enter Autolycus, and a Gentleman. Aut. 'Befeech you, fir, were you prefent at this relation? 1 Gent. I was by at the opening of the farthel, heard the old fhepherd deliver the manner how he found it whereupon, after a little amazednefs, we were all commanded out of the chamber: only this, methought, I heard the thepherd fay, he found the child. I with clipping her; now he thanks the old shepherd, which ftands by, like a weather-beaten conduit of many king's reigns. I never heard of fuch another encounter, which lames report to follow it, and undoes defcription to do it. 2 Gent. What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that carry'd hence the child? 1 Gent. What became of his bark, and his followers? 3 Gent. Like an old tale ftill; which will have matters to rehearse, though credit be afleep, and not an ear open: He was torn to pieces with a bear; this avouches the fhepherd's fon; who has Aut. I would moft gladly know the iffue of it. not only his innocence (which seems much) to jus1 Gent. I make a broken delivery of the bufi-tify him, but a handkerchief, and rings, of his, nefs-But the changes I perceiv'd in the king, that Paulina knows. and Camillo, were very notes of admiration: they feem'd almoft, with flaring on one another, to tear the cafes of their eyes; there was fpeech in 3 Gent. Wreck'd, the fame inftant of their their dumbness, language in their very gefture; mafter's death; and in the view of the shepherd: they look'd, as they had heard of a world ran- fo that all the inftruments, which aided to expose fom'd, or one destroy'd: A notable paffion of the child, were even then loft, when it was found. wonder appear'd in them: but the wifeft beholder But, oh, the noble combat, that, 'twixt joy and that knew no more but feeing, could not fay if the importance were joy, or forrow; but in the extremity of the one, it muft needs be. Enter a fecond Gentleman. Here comes a gentleman, that, happily, knows more: The news, Rogero? 2 Gent. Nothing but bonfires: The oracle is fulfill'd; the king's daughter is found: fuch a deal of wonder is broken out within this hour, 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, fir? this news, which is call'd true, is fo like an old tale, that the verity of it is in ftrong fufpicion: Has the king found his heir? forrow, was fought in Paulina! She had one eye declin'd for the lofs of her hufband; another elevated that the oracle was fulfill'd: She lifted the princefs from the earth; and fo locks her in em, bracing, as if the would pin her to her heart, that fhe might no more be in danger of lofing. I Gent. The dignity of this act was worth the audience of kings and princes; for by fuch 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 the came to it, (bravely confefs'd, and lamented by the king) how attentivenefs wounded his daughter; 'till, from one fign of dolour to another, the did, with an alas! I would fain fay, bleed tears; for, 3 Gent. Moft true; if ever truth were pregnant I am fure, my heart wept blood. Who was by circumstance: that, which you hear, you'll most marble there 2, chang'd colour; fome fwoonfwear you fee, there is fuch unity in the proofs. ed, all forrowed: if all the world could have feen The mantle of queen Hermione ;-her jewel about it, the woe had been univerfal. the neck of it ;-the letters of Antigonus, found 1 Gent. Are they returned to the court? with it, which they know to be his character ; Gent. No: The princefs hearing of her mothe majefty of the creature, in refemblance of the ther's statue, which is in the keeping of Paulina,mother;—the affection of nobleness, which nature a piece many years in doing, and now newly pershews above her breeding, and many other evi-form'd by that rare Italian mafter, Julio Romano; dences, proclaim her, with all certainty, to be the king's daughter. Did you fee the meeting of the two kings? 2 Gent. No. 3 Gent. Then have you loft a fight, which was to be seen, cannot be fpoken of. There might you have beheld one joy crown another; fo, and in fuch manner, that, it feem'd, forrow wept to take leave of them; for their joy waded in tears. There was cafting up of eyes, holding up of hands; with countenance of fuch diftraction, 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 lofs, cries, Ok, thy mother, thy mother then afks Bohemia forgivenets;, then embraces his fon-in-law; then agam worries he his daughter, who, had he him felf eternity 3, and could put breath into his work, would beguile nature of her cuftom 4, fo perfectly he is her ape: he fo neaṛ to Hermione hath done Hermione, that, they fay, one would speak to her, and stand in hope of anfwer: thither, with all greediness of affection, are they gone; and there they intend to fup. 2 Gent. thought, the had fome great matter there in hand; for the hath privately, twice or thrice a day, ever fince the death of Hermione, visited that removed house. Shall we thither, and with our company piece the rejoicing? 1 Gent. Who would be thence, that has the benefit of accefs? every wink of an eye, fome new grace will be born: our abfence makes us unthrifty to our knowledge. Let's along. [Exeunt. Aut. Now, had I not the dash of my former That is, embracing her. 2 i. e. moft infenfible, or petrified with wonder. 3 i. c. immor4 i. c. of her trade, would draw her customers from her. tality. |