having, breeding; and any thing that is fitting quarters and a dram dead; then recovered again to be known, discover. Clo. We are but plain fellows, sir. Aut. A lie; you are rough! Let me have no lying; it becomes none but tradesmen, and they often give us soldiers the lie: but we pay them for it with stamped coin, not stabbing steel; therefore they do not give us the lie. Clo. Your worship had like to have given us one, if you had not taken yourself with the manner.+ Shep. Are you a courtier, an 't like you, sir? Aut. Whether it like me, or no, I am a courtier. See'st thou not the air of the court in these enfoldings? hath not my gait in it the measure of the court? receives not thy nose court-odour from me? reflect I not on thy baseness, court-contempt? Think'st thou, for that I insinuate, or toze from thee thy business, I am therefore no courtier? I am courtier cap-a-pie; and one that will either push on or pluck back thy business there whereupon I command thee to open thy affair. Shep. My business, sir, is to the king. Clo. Advocate's the court word for a pheasant; say, you have none. [hen. Shep. None, sir; I have no pheasant, cock nor Aut. How bless'd are we that are not simple men! Yet nature might have made me as these are, Clo. This cannot be but a great courtier. Shep. His garments are rich, but he wears them not handsomely. Clo. He seems to be the more noble in being fantastical: a great man, I'll warrant; I know by the picking on 's teeth. Aut. The fardel there? what's i' the fardel? Wherefore that box? Shep. Sir, there lies such secrets in this fardel and box, which none must know but the king; and which he shall know within this hour, if I may come to the speech of him. Aut. Age, thou hast lost thy labour. Aut. The king is not at the palace: he is gone aboard a new ship to purge melancholy, and air himself For if thou be'st capable of things serious, thou must know the king is full of grief. Shep. So 'tis said, sir, about his son, that should have married a shepherd's daughter. Aut. If that shepherd be not in hand-fast, let him fly; the curses he shall have, the tortures he shall feel, will break the back of man, the heart of monster. 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 remov'd fifty times, shall all come under the hangman: which though it be great pity, yet it is necessary. An old sheep-whistling 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 I 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? Aut. He has a son, who shall be flay'd alive; then, 'nointed over with honey, set on the head of a wasp's nest; then stand, till he be three with aqua-vitæ, or some other hot infusion; then, raw as he is, and in the hottest day prognostication proclaims,|| shall he 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 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, besides the king, to effect your suits, here is man shall do it. Clo. He seems to be of great authority: close with him, give him gold; and though authority be a stubborn bear, yet he is oft led by the nose with gold; show the inside of your purse to the outside of his hand, and no more ado: Remember, ston'd and flay'd alive? 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? Shep. Ay, sir. [party in this business? Aut. Well, give me the moiety :-Are you a 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. O, 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 Iking, and show 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 performed; 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 bids us: he was provided to do us good. [Exeunt Shepherd and Clown. 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 with a 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 Act Fifth. SCENE I. Sicilia. A Room in the Palace of LEONTES. Enter LEONTES, CLEOMENES, DION, PAULINA, and others. Cleo. SIR, you have done enough, and have perform'd A saint-like sorrow: no fault could you make Which you have not redeem'd; indeed, paid down The hottest day foretold in the almanac. ¶ Being handsomely bribed. More penitence than done trespass: At the last Leon. My blemishes in them; and so still think of Paul. True, too true, my lord : If, one by one, you wedded all the world, Or, from the all that are took something good, To make a perfect woman, she, you kill'd, Would be unparallel'd. Leon. I think so. Kill'd! Upon thy tongue as in my thought. Now, good Say so but seldom. Cleo. Not at all, good lady; No remedy but you will; give me the office You might have spoken a thousand things that As was your former; but she shall be such would Would have him wed again. Dion. If you would not so, You pity not the state, nor the remembrance Of his most sovereign name; consider little What dangers, by his highness' fail of issue, May drop upon his kingdom, and devour Incertain lookers-on. What were more holy Than to rejoice the former queen is well? What holier than,-for royalty's repair, For present comfort and for future good,To bless the bed of majesty again With a sweet fellow to 't? Paui. There is none worthy, Respecting her that's gone. Besides, the gods Is 't not the tenor of his oracle, That King Leontes shall not have an heir Till his lost child be found? which, that it shall, As, walk'd your first queen's ghost, it should To see her in your arms. [take joy Leon. My true Paulina, We shall not marry till thou bidd'st us. His princess, say you, with him? Gent. Ay, the most peerless piece of earth, I That e'er the sun shone bright on. O Hermione, Paul. [think, As every present time doth boast itself Gent. Would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal Paul. How? not women? Gent. Women will love her, that she is a woman, More worth than any man; men, that she is The rarest of all women. Leon. Go, Cleomenes; Yourself, assisted with your honour'd friends, Bring them to our embracement.-Still 'ti strange, [Exeuni CLEOMENES, Lords, and Gentlemen. He thus should steal upon us. He dies to me again, when talk'd of: sure, Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince; Flo. By his command Have I here touch'd Sicilia: and from him [seiz'd (Which waits upon worn times) hath something His wish'd ability, he had himself The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his She came from Libya. Leon. Where the warlike Smalus, 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 (A prosperous south-wind friendly) we have cross'd, To execute the charge my father gave me, Leon. The blessed gcds Purge all infection from our air, whilst you Do climate here! You have a holy father, A graceful gentleman; against whose person, So sacred as it is, I have done sin : For which the heavens, taking angry note, Have left me issueless; and your father's bless'd (As he from heaven merits it) with you, Worthy his goodness. What might I have been, Might I a son and daughter now have look'd on, Such goodly things as you! Enter a Lord. Most noble sir, Lord. That which I shall report will bear no credit, Were not the proof so nigh. Please you, great sir, Bohemia greets you from himself by me: Desires you to attach his son; who has (His dignity and duty both cast off) Fled from his father, from his hopes, and with A shepherd's daughter. Leon. Where's Bohemia? speak. Lord. Here, in your city; I now came from him: I speak amazedly; and it becomes My marvel, and my message. To your court Whiles he was hast'ning, (in the chase, it seems, Of this fair couple,) meets he on the way The father of this seeming lady, and Her brother, having both their country quitted With this young prince. Flo. Camillo has betray'd me; Whose honour, and whose honesty, till now Endur'd all weathers. Lord. Lay't so to his charge; Lord. Camillo, sir; I spake with him; who now 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 : Per. You are married? My lord, Is this the daughter of a king? She is, Flo. When once she is my wife. Leon. That once, I see, by your good father's speed, Will come on very slowly. I am sorry, Flo. Should chase us, with my father, power no jot mistress, Which he counts but a trifle. Sir, my liege, Paul. Your eye hath too much youth in 't: not a month 'Fore your queen died, she was more worth such Than what you look on now. [gazes Leon. I thought of her, 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 a friend to them, and you: upon which errand I now go toward him; therefore follow me, And mark what way I make: Come, good my lord. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Before the Palace. Enter AUTOLYCUS and a Gentleman. Aut. 'Beseech you, sir, were you present at this relation? 1 Gent. I was by at the opening of the fardel; 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 say he found the child. Aut. I would most gladly know the issue of it. 1 Gent. I make a broken delivery of the business-But the changes I perceived in the king and Camillo were very notes of admiration: they 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 looked as they had heard of a world ransom'd, or one destroyed: A notable passion of wonder appeared in them but the wisest beholder, that knew no more but seeing, could not say if th' importance were joy or sorrow; but in the extremity of the one it must needs be. Enter another 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: such a deal of wonder is broken out within this hour, that ballad-makers cannot be able to express. 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, that the verity of it is in strong suspicion: Has the king found his heir? 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. 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 shows 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. 3 Gent. Then you have 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. 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, "O, thy mother, thy mother!" then asks Bohemia forgiveness; then embraces his son-in-law; then again worries he his daughter, with clipping? her; now he thanks the old shepherd, which stands by, like a weather-beaten conduit of many kings' reigns. Inever heard of such another encounter, which lames report to follow it, and undoes description to do it. The thing imported. + Disposition or quality. + Countenance, features. ? Embracing. 2 Gent. What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that carried hence the child? 3 Gent. Like an old tale still; which will have matter 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 justify him, but a handkerchief, and rings, of his, that Paulina knows. [lowers? 1 Gent. What became of his bark, and his fol3 Gent. Wrecked, 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, O, 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 elevated 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. 1 Gent. 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 angl'd 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, changed colour; some swoon'd; all sorrowed: if all the world could have seen 't, the woe had been universal. 1 Gent. Are they returned to the court? 3 Gent. No: the princess hearing of her mother'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, Julio 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 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. 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. Shall we thither, and with our company piece the rejoicing? 1 Gent. Who would be thence that has the benefit 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 Gentlemen. Aut. Now, had I not the dash of my former life in me, would preferment drop on my head. I brought the old man and his son aboard the prince; told him I heard them talk of a fardel, and I know not what; but he at that time, overfond of the shepherd's daughter, (so he then took her to be,) who began to be much sea-sick, and himself little better, extremity of weather continuing, this mystery remained undiscover'd. But 'tis all one to me; for had I been the finder out of this secret, it would not have relish'd among my other discredits. 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. 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 them not, and think me still no gentleman born: you were best say these robes are not gentlemen born. Give me the lie; do; and try whether I am not now a gentleman born. Aut. I know you are now, sir, a gentleman 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 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 there was the first gentlemanlike 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? Aut. Ay, an it like your good worship. Clo. Give me thy hand: I will swear to the prince, thou art as honest a true fellow as any is in Bohemia.-Hark! the kings and the princes, our kindred, are going to see the queen's picture. Come, follow us: we'll be thy good masters. [Exeunt. SCENE III.-A Room in PAULINA's House. Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, FLORIZEL, PERDITA, CAMILLO, PAULINA, Lords, and Attendants. Leon. O grave and good Paulina, the great comfort That I have had of thee! As she liv'd peerless, So her dead likeness, I do well believe, As infancy, and grace.-But yet, Paulina, [her Which lets go by some sixteen years, and makes Per. Pol. Dear my brother, Let him that was the cause of this have power To take off so much grief from you, as he Will piece upon himself. Paul. Indeed, my lord, If I had thought the sight of my poor image Would thus have wrought you (for the stone is mine), I'd not have show'd it. [fancy Leon. Do not draw the curtain. Paul. No longer shall you gaze on 't; lest your May think anon it moves. Leon. Let be, let be. Would I were dead, but that, methinks, alreadyWhat was he that did make it ?-See, my lord, Would you not deem it breath'd? and that those Did verily bear blood? [veins Pol. Paul. |