Gent.

And those but mean.

Leon.

But few,

His princess, say you, with him?

Gent. Ay; the most peerless piece of earth, I think, That e'er the sun shone bright on.

Paul.
O Hermione,
As every present time doth boast itself
Above a better, gone; so must thy grave
Give way to what 's seen now. Sir, you yourself
Have said, and writ so, (but your writing now
Is colder than that theme.) She had not been,
Nor was not to be equall'd;-thus your verse
Flow'd with her beauty once; 'tis shrewdly ebb'd,
To say, you have seen a better.

Gent.

Pardon, madam:

The one I have almost forgot; (your pardon,)
The other, when she has obtain'd your eye,

Will have your tongue too. This is such a creature,
Would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal

Of all professors else; make proselytes

Of who she but bid follow.

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 'tis strange,

[Exeunt Cleomenes, Lords, ana Gentleman.

He thus should steal upon us.

Had our prince

Paul.
(Jewel of children) seen this hour, he had pair'd
Well with this lord; there was not full a month
Between their births.

Leon.
Pr'ythee, no more; thou know'st,
He 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.-

Re-enter CLEOMENES, with FLORIZEL,
PERDITA, and Attendants.

Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince:
For she did print your royal father off,
Conceiving you: Were I but twenty-one,

Your father's image is so hit in you,

His very air, that I should call you brother,
As I did him; and speak of something, wildly
By us perform'd before. Most dearly welcome!
And your fair princess, goddess!-O, alas!
I lost a couple, that 'twixt heaven and earth
Might thus have stood, begetting wonder, as
You, gracious couple, do! and then I lost
(All mine own folly) the society,

Amity too, of your brave father; whom,
Though bearing misery, I desire my life
Once more to look upon.

Flo.

By his command

Have I here touch'd Sicilia; and from him

Give you all greetings, that a king, at friend,
Can send his brother; and, but infirmity

(Which waits upon worn times) hath something seized His wish'd ability, he had himself

The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his
Measured, to look upon you; whom he loves

(He bade me say so) more than all the sceptres,
And those that bear them, living.

Leon.

O my brother, (Good gentleman!) the wrongs I have done thee, stir Afresh within me; and these thy offices,

So rarely kind, are as interpreters

Of my behind-hand slackness!-Welcome hither,
As is the spring to the earth. And hath he too
Exposed this paragon to the fearful usage

(At least, ungentle,) of the dreadful Neptune,
To greet a man not worth her pains; much less
The adventure of her person?

Flo.

She came from Libya.

Leon.

Good my lord,

Where the warlike Smalus,

That noble honour'd lord, is fear'd and loved?

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,
For visiting your highness. My best train
I have from your Sicilian shores dismiss'd;
Who for Bohemia bend, to signify
Not only my success in Libya, sir,
But my arrival, and my wife's in safety
Here, where we are.

Leon.

The blessed gods
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?

Lord

Enter a Lord.

Most noble sir,

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 the city; I now came from him: I speak amazedly; and it becomes

My marvel, and iny 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.
Whose honour, and whose honesty, till now,
Endured all weathers.

Camillo has betray'd me;

Lord.

Lay 't so to his charge;

Who? Camillo ?

He's with the king your father.

Leon.

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;

Bohemia stops his ears, and threatens them

With divers deaths in death.

Per.

O my poor father!

The Heavens set spies upon us, will not have
Our contract celebrated.

Leon.

You are married?

H

Flo. We are not, sir, nor are we like to be; The stars, I see, will kiss the valleys firstThe odds for high and low 's alike.

Leon.

Is this the daughter of a king?
Flo.

When once she is my wife.

My lord,

She is,

Leon. That once, I see, by your good father's speed, Will come on very slowly. I am sorry,

Most sorry, you have broken from his liking,
Where you were tied 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;
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 owed no more to time
Than I do now: with thought of such affections,
Step forth mine advocate; at your request,

My father will grant precious things, as trifles.
Leon. Would he do so, I'd beg your precious
mistress,

Which he counts but a trifle.

Paul.

Sir, my liege,

Your eye hath too much youth in 't; not a month
'Fore your queen died, she was more worth such gazes
Than what you look on now.

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 IL-The same. 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 seemed 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 ransomed, 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 the 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 fulfilled; the king's daughter is found; such a deal of wonder has 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, sir? this news, which is called 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 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.

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 seemed, sorrow wept to take leave