Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

Cam. I cannot say, 'us pity

Aut. Are you in earnest, Sir?—I sell the [Aside.

She Jacks instructions; for she seems a mistress trick of it.-
To most that teach.

Per. Your pardon, Sir, for this ;

I'll blush you thanks.

Flo. My prettiest Perdita.

But, ob! the thorns we stand upon !—Camillo,-
Preserver of my father, now of me;

The medicine of our house!-bow shall we do?
We are not furnish'd like Bohemia's son ;
Nor shall appear in Sicily—

Cam. My lord,

Fear none of this: I think, you know my fortunes
Do all lie there: it shall be so my care

To have you royally appointed, as if

The scene you play, were mine. For instance,
Sir,

That you may know you shall not want,-one
word.
[They talk aside.

Enter AUTOLYCUS.

Aut. Ha, ha! what a fool honesty is! and trust, his sworn brother, a very simple gentleman I have sold all my trampery; 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 petti-I toes, 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 hang 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 choughs + from the chaff, I had not left a purse alive in the whole

ariny.

[CAMILLO, FLORIZEL, and PERDITA,
come forward.

Cam. Nay, but my letters by this means being
there

So soon as you arrive, shall clear that doubt,
Flo. And those that you'll procure from king
Leontes,-

Cam. Shall satisfy your father.
Per. Happy be you!

All, that you speak, shows fair.
Cam. Who have we here?

[Seeing AUTOLYCUS.
We'll make an instrument of this; omit
Nothing, may give us aid.

Aut. If they have overheard me now,-why banging. [Aside. Cam. How now, good fellow? Why shakest thon so! Fear not, inan; here's no harm intended to thee.

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',) and change garments with this gentleman: Though the penny-worth, on his side, be the worst, yet hold thee, there's some boot. I

Flo. Despatch, I pr'ythee.

Aut. Indeed, I have had earnest; hat I cas not with conscience take it.

Cam. Unbuckle, unbuckle.—

[FLO. and AUTOL. exchange garments.
Fortunate mistress,-let my prophecy
Come home to you!-you must setire yourself-
Into some covert: take your sweetheart's bat,
And pluck it o'er your brows; make you
face;

Dismantle you: and as you can, disliken
The truth of your own seeming; that you may,
(For I do fear eyes over you,) to shipboard
Get undescried.

Per. I see, the play so 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 son.
Cam. Nay, you shall have

No hat:-Come, lady, come.-Farewell, my
friend.

Aut. Adien, Sir.

Flo. O Perdita, what have we twain forgot! Pray you, a word. [They converse apart. Cam. What I do next, shall be, to tell the king [Arite. Of this escape, and whither they are boned; Wherein, my hope is, I shall so prevail, To force him after: in whose company shall review Sicilia; for whose sight have a woman's longing. Flo. Fortune speed us!Thus we set on, Camillo, to the sea-side. Cam. The swifter speed, the better.

[Exeunt FLORIZel, Perdita, and

CAMILLO.

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 base is requisite also to smell out work for the other senses. I see, this is the time that the unjust man doth thrive. What an exchange had "has been, without boot? What a boot is here, with this exchange? Sure, the gods do this year connive at us, and we may do any thing exten pore. The prince himself is about a piece of iniquity; stealing away from his father, with his clog at his heels: If I thought it were not a piece of honesty to acquaint the king withal, I would do't: I hold it the more knavery to coceal it: and therein am I constant to my prefession.

Enter CLOWN and SHEPHERD. Aside, aside :-here is more matter for a bot brain Every lane's end, every shop, church, sesion, banging, 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. Shep. Nay, but hear me. Clo. Nay, but hear me. Shep. Go to then.

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 peaished by him. Show those things you found about her; those sacred things, all but what she has with ber: 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 bonest man neither to his father, not to Aut. I am a poor fellow, Sir :-1 know ye well me, to go about to make me the king's brotherenough. [Aside,iu-law. Cam. Nay, pr'ythee, despatch: the gentleman is half flayed § already.

A little ball made of perfumes, and worn to prevent infection in times of plague. ↑ Birds.

1 Something over and above & Stripped.

Cio. 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.

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

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. Clo. 'Pray heartily be be at palace.

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. Though I am not naturally honest, I am Aut. He has a son, who shall be flayed alive; so sometimes by chance :-Let me pocket up then, 'nointed over with honey, set on the head my pedlar's excrement. +-[Takes off his false of a wasp's nest; then stand, till he be three beard.] How now, rustics? whither are you bound? quarters and a dram dead: then recovered again Shep. To the palace, an it like your worship. with aqua-vitæ, or some other bot infusion: Aut. Your affairs there? what? with whom? then, raw as he is, and in the hottest day progthe condition of that fardel, the place of your nostication proclaims, shall be be set against a dwelling, your names, your ages, of what hav-brick-wall, the sun looking with a southward eye ing, 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 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, àn'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? bath 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, capa-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.
Aut. What advocate hast thou to him?
Shep. I know not, an't like you.

Clo. Advocate's the court-word for a phea sant; say, you have none.

[ocr errors]

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, t 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 shait 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 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 ?
Shep. Ay, Sir.

Aut. Well give me the moiety :-Are you a party in this business?

Clo. In soine sort, Sir: but though my case be a pitiful one, I hope I sbail not be flayed out of it."

Aut. O that's the case of the shepherd's son: Shep. None, Sir? I have no pheasant, cock-Hang him, he'll be made an example. nor ben.

Aut. How bless'd are we, that are not simple men I

Yet nature might have made me as these are, Therefore I'll not disdain.

Clo. This cannot be but a great courtier. Shep. His garments are rich, but he wears them not bandsomely.

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.
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?

Clo. Comfort, good comfort: we must to the king, and show our strange sights; be 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 pro vided 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 bow 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.

[ocr errors]

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 SCENE I-Sicilia.-A Room in the Palace

though it be great pity, yet it is necessary.

An

ACT V.

of LEONTES,

and others.

old sheep-whistling rogue, a ram-tender, to offer Enter LEONTES, CLEOMENES, DION, PAULINA,
to have bis daughter come into grace! Some
say, he shall be stoned; but that death is too

[blocks in formation]

Cleo. Sir, you have done enough, and have perform'd

• The hottest day foretold in the almanack, + Being handsomely bribed.

A saint-like sorrow: no fault could you make, Which you have not redeem'd; indeed, paid down

More penitence, than done trespass: At the last, Do, as the heavens have done; forget your evil; With them, forgive yourself.

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 man Bred his hopes out 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!

She I kill'd? I did so: but thou strik 'st me
Sorely, to say I did; it is as bitter

Upon my tongue, as in my thought: Now, good
Say so but seldom.

Cleo. Not at all, good lady:

[now,

You might have spoken a thousand things that 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
Of his most sovereign dame; 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 ?

Paul. There is none worthy,

Besides, the gods

Respecting her that's gone.

Will have fulfill'd their secret purposes;

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

We shall not marry, till then biddʼst us.
Paul. That

Shall be, when your first queen's again in breath;
Never till then.

Enter a GENTLEMAN,

Gent. One that gives out himself prince Flo rizel,

Son of Polixenes, with his princess, (she
The fairest I have yet beheld,) desires access
To your high presence.

Leon. What with him? he comes not
Like to his father's greatness: his approach,
So out of circumstance, and sudden, tells us,
'Tis not a visitation fram'd, but forc'd
By need and accident. What train !

Gent. But few.

And those but mean.

Leon. 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 do
Is colder than that theme,:) She had not been,
Nor was not to be equall'd‚——thus your vers
Flow'd with her beauty once; 'tis shrewdly emb 4,
To say, you have seen a better.

Gent. Pardon, madam :

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

Will have your tongue too. This is such a cresture,

Would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal of all professors else: make proselytes

Leon. Good Paulina,

Who bast the memory of Hermione,
I know, in honour,-Oh! that ever i
Had squar'd me to thy counsel !—then,
I might have look'd upon my queen's full
Have taken treasure from her lips,———
Paul. And left them

[blocks in formation]

Of who she but bid follow.

More rich, for what they vielded.
Leon. Thou speak'st truth.

No more such wives; therefore, no wife: one

[blocks in formation]

Paul. How not women?

Gent. Women will love her, that she is a wo

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

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, PER-
DITA, and Attendants.

Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince;
For she did print your royal father off,
Conceiving you: Were 1 but twenty-one,
Your father's image is so bit 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 you fair princess, goddess!-Oh! 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, a friend, Can send his brother: and, but infirmity (Which waits upon worn times,) hath something seiz'd

His wish'd ability, he had himself

The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his
Measur'd, to look upon you; whom he loves
(He bade me say so,) more than all the sceptres,
And those that bear them, living.

[blocks in formation]

Lord. Here in the city; I now came from bim.

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 bonesty, till now,
Endur'd all weathers.

Lord. Lay't so, to his charge;
He's with the king your father.
Leon. Who? Camillo ?

Lord. Camillo, Sir; I spake with him; who

now

[blocks in formation]

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 heaven sets spies upon us, will not bave
Our contract celebrated.

Leon. You are married?

Flo. We are not, Sir, nor are we like to be;
The stars, I see, will kiss the valleys first :-
The odds for high and low's alike. †
Leon. My lord,

Is this the daughter of a king?
Flo. She is,

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,
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 ow'd 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 triffes.
Leon. Would he do so, I'd beg your precious
mistress,

Which he counts but a trife.

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 II.-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 be 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.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

1 Descent or wealth.

and so locks her in embracing, as if she would pin ber to her heart, that she might no more be in danger of losing.

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 at one ano- 1 Gent. The dignity of this act was worth the ther, to tear the cases of their eyes; there was audience of kings and princes; for by such was speech in their dumbness, language in their it acted. very gesture; they looked, as they had heard 3 Gent. One of the prettiest touches of al, of a world ransom'd, or one destroyed: A no- and that which angled for mine eyes (caught table passion of wonder appeared in them: but the water, though not the fish,) was, when at the wisest bebolder, that knew no more but see-the relation of the queen's death, with the ing, 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
The news, Rogero ?
[more:
2 Gent. Nothing but bonfires: The oracle is
fulfilled; 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 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?

manner how she came to it, (bravely confessed, and lamented by the king,) bow attentive sess wounded his daughter: till, from one sign of dolour to another, she did, with an ales' 1 would fain say, bleed tears; for, I am sure, my heart wept blood. Who was most marte there, changed colour; some swooned, al sorrowed; if all the world could bave seen it, the woe had been universal.

1 Gent. Are they returned to the court? 3 Gent. No: the princess bearing of her mo ther's statue, which is in the keeping of Panlina, a piece many years in doing, and now newly performed by that rare Italian master, Julio Romano; who, bad he himself eternal, and could put breath into his work, would be guile nature of her custom, so perfectly be in her ape be 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 gooe; and there they intend to sup.

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,joicing? with all certainty, to be the king's daughter. Did you see the meeting of the two kings? 2 Gent. No.

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 re1 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 GENTLERIN.

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; Aut. Now, had I not the dash of my former 80, and in such manner, that, it seemed, sorrow life in me, would preferment drop on my brad. wept to take leave of them; for their joy waded I brought the old man and his son aboard the in tears. There was casting up of eyes, hold. prince; told him 1 heard him talk of a fardel, ing up of hands; with countenance of such and I know not what but he at that nær, distraction, that they were to be known by over-fond of the shepherd's daughter, (so be garment, not by favour. Our king, being then took her to be, who began to be much ready to leap ont of himself for joy of his found sea sick, and himself,) little better, extremity of daughter; as if that joy were now become a weather continuing, this mystery remaind loss, cries, O thy mother, thy mother then undiscovered. But 'tis all one to me: for bad asks Bohemia forgiveness; then embraces his been the finder-out of this secret, it would son-in-law; then again worries he is daughter, not have relished among my other discredits. with clipping her; now he thanks the old shepherd, which Enter SHEPHERD and CLOWN. stands by, like a weatherbitten conduit of many kings' reigns. I never heard of such another encounter, which James report to follow it, and undoes description to do it.

2 Gent. What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that carried hence the child?

Here comes 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 gentie

men born.

3 Gent. Like an old tale still; which will Clo. You are well met, Sir: You denied to have matter to rehearse, though credit be fight with me this other day, because I was no asleep, and not an ear open: he was torn to gentleman born; See you these clothes! say, pieces with a bear; this avouches the shep-you see them not, and think me still no graherd's son; who has not only his innocence tleman born: you were best say, these robes (which seems much,) to justify him, but a han-are not gentleman born. Give me the lie: do; kerchief and rings of his, that Paulina knows. and try whether I am not now a gentleman 1 Gent. What became of his bark and his born. followers ?

[blocks in formation]

Aut. I know you are now, Sir, a gentleman

born.

[blocks in formation]
« ÎnapoiContinuă »