Flo. Old Sir, I know She prizes not such trifles as these are: The gifts she looks from me are pack'd and lock'd Up in my heart; which I have given already, As soft as dove's down, and as white as it; How prettily the young swain seems to wash Flo. Do, and be witness to't. Than he, and men; the earth, the heavens, Pol. Fairly offer'd. Cam. This shows a sound affection. Shep. But, my daughter, Say you the like to him? Per. I cannot speak [service, [Discovering himself. Whom son I dare not call; thou art too base To be acknowledg'd: Thou a sceptre's heir, That thus affect'st a sheep-hook!-Thou old traitor, I am sorry, that, by hanging thee, I can but Of excellent witchcraft; who, of force, must never Pol. I'll have thy beauty scratch'd with briers, and made [boy,More homely than thy state.-For thee, fond If I may ever know, thou dost but sigh. That thou no more shalt see this knack, (as {sion; I mean thou shalt,) we'll bar thee from succesNot hold thee of our blood, no not our kin. Far* than Deucalion off :-Mark thou my words; [time, Follow us to the court.-Thou churl, for this Though full of our displeasure, yet we free thee From the ead blow of it.-And you, enchant. ment, Worthy enough a herdsman; yea, him too, Per. Even here undone ! [Exit. I was not much afeard: for once, or twice, I was about to speak; and tell him plainly, The self same sun, tht shines upon his court, Hides not his visage from our cottage, but Looks on alike.-Will't please you, Sir, be gone? [TO FLORIZEL. I told you, what would come of this: 'Beseech you. [mine,Of your own state take care; this dream of Being now awake, I'll queen it no inch further, But milk my ewes, and weep. Cam. why how now, father? Speak, ere thou diest. Shep. I cannot speak, nor think, Nor dare to know that which I know--O, Sir. [TO FLORIZEL You have undone a man of fourscore three, That thought to fill his grave in quiet; yea, To die upon th bed my father died, To lie close by his honest bones; but now Some hangman must put on my shroud, and lay me Where no priest shovels in dust.-O cursed wretch ! [TO PERDITA. That knew'st this was the prince, and would'st I am but sorry, not afeard; delay'd, Cam. Gracious my lord, You know your father's temper: at this time Flo. I not purpose it. Cam. Even he, my lord. Per. How often have I told you, 'twould be How often said, my dignity would last [thus? But till 'twere known? Flo. It cannot fail, but by The violation of my faith; And then Let nature crush the sides o'the earth together, And mar the seeds within!-Lift up thy looks: From my succession wipe me, father! I Cam. Be advis'd. Flo. I am; and by my fancy :† if my reason Will thereto be obedient, I have reason; If not, my senses, better pleas'd with madness, Do bid it welcome. Cam. This is desperate, Sir. Flo. So call it: but it does fulfil my vow; In unknown fathoms, will I break my oath Cam. O, my lord, [Takes her aside. [TO CAMILLO. I would your spirit were easier for advice, Flo. Now, good Camillo, I am so fraught with curious business, that Cam. Sir, I think, [Going. You have heard of my poor services, i'the love That I have borne your father? Flo. Very nobly Have you deserv'd: it is my father's music, To speak your deeds; not little of his care To have them recompens'd as thought on. Cam. Well, my lord, If you may please to think I love the king; † Love. A leading string. And, through him, what is nearest to him, which is Your gracious self; embrace but my direction, (If your more ponderous and settled project May suffer alteration,) on mine honour I'll point you where you shall have such receiving [may As shall become your highness; where you Enjoy your mistress; (from the whom, I see, There's no disjunction to be made, but by, As heavens forfend! your ruin :) marry her; And (with my best endeavours, in your absence,) Your discontenting* father strive to qualify, And bring him up to liking. Flo. How, Camillo, May this, almost a miracle, be done? Cam. Have you thought on But as the unthought-on accidentt is guilty' To what we wildly do; so we profess Ourselves to be the slaves of chance, and flies Of every wind that blows. Cam. Then list to me: [purpose, This follows,-if you will not change your But undergo this flight;-Make for Sicilia; And there present yourself, and your fair princess, (For so, I see, she must be, 'fore Leontes; She shall be habited, as it becomes The partner of your bed. Methinks, I see Leontes, opening his free arms, and weeping His welcomes forth: asks thee, the son, forgiveness, [hands As 'twere i'the father's person: kisses the Of your fresh princess: o'er and o'er divides [one "Twixt his unkindness and his kindness; the He chides to hell, and bids the other grow, Faster than thought, or time. him Flo. Worthy Camillo, Cam. Sent by the king your father ceive, But that you have your father's bosom there, And speak his very heart. Flo. I am bound to you; There is some sap in this. Cam. A course more promising Than a wild dedication of yourselves [certain, To unpath'd waters, undream'd shores; most To miseries enough: no hope to help you; But, as you shake off one, to take another; Nothing so certain as your anchors; who Do their best office, if they can but stay you Where you'll be loath to be; Besides, you Prosperity's the very bond of love; [know, Whose fresh complexion and whose heart toAffliction alters. [gether Per. One of these is true; I think, affliction may subdue the cheek, *For discontented. †This unthought-on accident is the unexpected dis. covery made by Polixenes. The council.days were called the stings. « Conquers Be born another such. Flo. My good Camillo, She is as forward of her breeding, as I'the year of birth. Cam. I cannot say, 'tis pity Aut. I am a poor fellow, Sir. Cam. Why, be so still; here's nobody will steal that from thee: Yet for the outside of thy poverty, we must make an exchange: therefore, discase thee instantly, (thou must think, there's necessity in't,) and change garments with this gentleman: Though the pennyworth, on his side, be the worst, yet hold thee, 'She lacks instructions; for she seems a mistress there's some boot.* Enter AUTOLYCUS. Aut. Ha, ha! what a fool honesty is! and trust, his sworn brother, a very simple gentleman! I have sold all my trumpery; not a counterfeit stone, not a riband, glass, pomander,* brooch, table-book, ballad, knife, tape, glove, shoe-tye, bracelet, horn-ring, to keep my pack from fasting: they throng who should buy first; as if my trinkets had been hallowed, and brought a benediction to the buyer: by which means, I saw whose purse was best in picture; and, what I saw, to my good use, I remembered. My clown (who wants but something to be a reasonable man,) grew so in love with the wenches' song, that he would not stir his pettitoes, till he had both tune and words; which so drew the rest of the herd to me, that all their other senses stuck in ears: you might have pinched a placket, it was senseless; 'twas nothing, to geld a codpiece of a purse; I would have filed keys off, that hung in chains: no hearing, no feeling, but my Sir's song, and admiring the nothing of it. So that, in this time of lethargy, I picked and cut most of their festival purses; and had not the old man come in with a whoobub against his daughter and the king's son, and scared my choughst from the chaff, I had not left a purse alive in the whole army. [CAMILLO, FLORIZEL, and PERDITA, So soon as you arrive, shall clear that doubt. Leontes, Cam. Shall satisfy your father. All, that you speak, shows fair. Aut. If they have overheard me now-why A little ball made of perfume, and worn to prevent infection in times of plague. Birds. Aut. I am a poor fellow, Sir:-I know ye well enough. [Aside. Cam. Nay, pr'ythee, despatch: the gentleman is half flayedt already. Aut. Are you in earnest, Sir?--I smell the trick of it.[Aside. Flo. Despatch, I pr'ythee. Aut. Indeed, I have had earnest; but I cannot with conscience take it. Cam. Unbuckle, unbuckle. [FLO and AUTOL. exchange garments. Get undescried. Per. I see, the play so lies, Flo. Should I now meet my father, Not hat:-Come, lady, come.-Farewell, my Aut. Adieu, Sir. king Pray you, a word. Thus we set on, Camillo, to the sea-side. [Exeunt FLORIZEL, Perdita, and Aut. I understand the business, I hear it: To have an open ear, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, is necessary for a cut-purse; a good the other senses. nose is requisite also, to smell out work for I see, this is the time that had this been, without boot? What a boot is the unjust man doth thrive. What an exchange here, with this exchange? Sure, the gods do thing extempore. The prince himself is about this year connive at us, and we may do any a piece of iniquity; stealing away from his father, with his clog at his heels: IfI thought it were not a piece of honesty to acquaint the king withal, I would do't: I hold it the more knavery to conceal it: and therein am I constant to my profession. Enter CLOWN and SHEPHERD. Aside, aside;- here is more matter for a hot brain: Every lane's end, every shop, church, session, hanging, yields a careful man work. Clo. See, see; what a man you are now! there is no other way, but to tell the king she's a changeling, and none of your flesh and blood. *Something over and above. # Stripped. Shep. Nay, but hear me. Clo. She being none of your flesh and blood, your flesh and blood has not offended the king; and, so, your flesh and blood is not to be punished by him. Show those things you found about her; those sacred things, all but what she has with her: This being done, let the law go whistle; I warrant you. Shep. I will tell the king all, every word, yea, and his son's pranks too; who I may say, is no honest man neither to his father, nor to me. to go about to make me the king's brotherin-law. Clo. Indeed, brother-in law was the furthest off you could have been to him; and then your blood had been the dearer, by I know how much an ounce. Aut. Very wisely; puppies! [Aside. Shep. Well; let us to the king; there is that in this fardel,* will make him scratch his beard. Aut I know not what impediment this complaint may be to the flight of my master. Cio. 'Pray heartily he be at palace. Aut. Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance:-Let me pocket up my pedlar's excrement.t-- Takes off his false beard. How now, rustics? whether are you bound? Shep. To the palace, an it like your worship. Aut. Your affairs there? what? with whom? the condition of that fardel, the place of your dwelling, your names, your ages, of what having, breeding, and any thing that is fitting to be known, discover. Clo. We are but plain fellows, Sir. Aut. A lie you are rough and hairy: 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 stabing 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.j 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? Thinkest thou, for that I insinuate, or toze¶ from thee thy business, I am therefore no courtier? I am courtier, cap-a-pe; 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.. Shep. None, Sir? I have no pheasant, cock, nor hen. Aut. How bless'd are we, that are not simple 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 † His false beard. * Bundle, parcel. Estate property. The stately tread of courtiers. In the fact. 1 caiole or force. 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 secret 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. Shep. Why, Sir? 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 removed fifty times, shall all come under the hangman: which though it be great pity, yet it is necessary. An old sheep-whistling rogue, a ramtender, to offer to have his daughter come into grace! Some say he shall be stoned; but that death is too soft for him, say 1: 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 flayed alive; 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 recovered again with acqua-vitiæ, or some other hot infusion: then raw as he is, and in the hotest day prognostication proclaims,t 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 smiled 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 considered, 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 your purse to the outside of his hand, and no more ado: Remember stoned, and flayed 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? Aut. Well give me the moiety :-Are you a party in this business? Clo. In some sort, Sir: but thou my case be a pitiful one, I hope I shall not be flayed 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 king, 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 look upon the hedge, and follow you. Clo. We are blessed in this man, as I may say, even blessed. 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, rouge, for being so far officious; for I am proof against that title, and what shame else belongs to't: To him I will present them, there may be matter in it. [Exit. SCENE I-Sicilia.-A Room in the Palace of LEONTES. ACT V. 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 [last, More penitence, than done trespass: At the Do, as the heavens have done; forget your With them, forgive yourself,. [evil: Leon. Whilst I remember Her and her virtues, I cannot forget My blemishes in them; and so still think of The wrong I did myself; which was so much, That heirless it hath made my kingdom; and Destroy'd the sweet'st companion, that e'er Bred his hopes out of. [man 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! She I kill'd? I did so: but thou strik'st me Upon my tongue, as in my thought: Now, good Cleo not at all good lady: now, To bless the bed of majesty again With a sweet fellow to't? Paul. There is none worthy, Respecting her that's gone. Besides the gods Will have fulfilled their secret purposes: For has not the divine Apollo said, 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, Is all as monstrous to our human reason, As my Antigonus to break his grave, And come again to me; who on my life, Did perish with the infant. 'Tis your counsel, My lord should to the heavens be contrary, Oppose against their wills.-Care not for is[TO LEONTES. The crown will find an heir: Great Alexander Left his to the worthiest; so his successor Was like to be the best. sue; Leon. Good Paulina,— Who hast the memory of Hermoine, I know in honour,-Ŏ, that ever I [now, Had squar'd me to thy counsel!-then, even 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. Leon. Thou speak'st truth. [worse No more such wives; therefore no wife: one And better us'd, would make her sainted spirit Again possess her corps; and on this stage, (Where we offenders now appear,) soul-vex'd, Begin, And why to me? Paul. Had she such power, Leon. She had and would incense* me Were I the ghost that walk'd I'd bid you mark ears Shou'd rift to hear me; and the words that Should be, Remember mine. [follow'd Leon. Stars, very stars, And all eyes else dead coals?-fear thou no I'll have no wife, Paulina. [wife, Paul. Will you swear Cleo. You tempt him over-much. As like Hermione as is her picture, Cleo. Good madam,- Yet, if my lord will marry,—if you will, Sir You might have spoken a thousand things that No remedy, but you will; give me the office would Have done the time more benefit, and grac'd Your kindness better. Paul. You are one of those, Would have him wed again. Dion. If you would not so, You pity not the state, nor the remembrance At rest, dead To choose you a queen: but she shall not be so young As was your former; but she shall be such, As, walk'd your first queen's ghost, it should To see her in your arms. Leon. My true Paulina, [take joy We shall not marry, till thou bidd'st us. Paul. That |