Flo. Sir, by his command

Have I here touch'd Sicilia, and from him
Give you all greetings, that a King as friend
Can fend his brother; and but infirmity,

Which waits upon worn times, hath fomething feiz'd
His wifh'd ability, he had himself

The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his
Meafur'd, to look upon you; whom he loves,
He bade me fay fo, more than all the scepters,
And those that bear them living.

Leo. Oh, my brother!

Good gentleman, the wrongs I've done thee stir
Afresh within me; and these thy offices,

So rarely kind, are as interpreters

Of my behind-hand flackness.

Welcome hither,
As is the fpring to th' earth. And hath he too
Expos'd this paragon to th' fearful usage

At least, ungentle, of the dreadful Neptune,
To greet a man, not worth her pains; much less,
Th' adventure of her perfon?

Flo. Good my Lord,

She came from Lybia.

Leo, Where the warlike Smalus,

That noble honour'd Lord, is fear'd, and lov'd ?
Flo. Moft royal Sir,

From thence; from him, whose daughter 4
His tears proclaim'd his parting with her; thence
(A profperous fouth-wind friendly) we have crofs'd,
To execute the charge my father gave me,
For vifiting your Highness; my best train
I have from your Sicilian fhores dismiss'd,
Who for Bobemia bend, to fignify

4 Whofe daughter
His tears proclaim'd his parting
with her.] This is very un-
grammatical and obfcure. We
may better read,

Whofe daughter
His tears proclaim'd her part-

ing with her.

The prince firft tells that the La dy came from Lybia: the king interrupting him, fays, From Smalus? From him, fays the Prince, whofe tears, at parting, fhewed her to be his daughter.

Not

Not only my fuccess in Lybia, Sir,

But my arrival, and my wife's, in fafety
Here, where we are.

Leo. The bleffed Gods

Purge all infection from our air, whilft you
Do climate here: You have a holy father,
A graceful gentleman, against whofe perfon,
So facred as it is, I have done fin ;

For which the heavens, taking angry note,
Have left me iffue-lefs; and your father's blefs'd,
As he from heaven merits it, with

you,
Worthy his goodness. What might I have been,
Might I a fon and daughter now have look'd on,
Such goodly things as you?

SCENE IV.

Enter a Lord.

Lord. Moft noble Sir,

That which I fhall report, will bear no credit,
Were not the proof fo high. Please you, great
Bohemia greets you from himself, by me;
Defires you to attach his fon, who has,
His dignity and duty both cast off,

Fled from his father, from his hopes, and with
A fhepherd's daughter.

Leo. Where's Bohemia? fpeak.

Sir,

Lord. Here in your city; I now came from him. I speak amazedly, and it becomes

My marvel, and my meffage: to your court
Whilst he was haftning, in the chafe, it seems,
Of this fair couple, meets he on the way
The father of this feeming Lady, and

Her brother, having both their country quitted
With this young Prince.

Flo. Camillo has betray'd me;

Whose honour and whofe honefty 'till now
Endur'd all weathers.

Lord. Lay't fo to his charge;

He's

He's with the King your father.

Leo. Who? Camillo ?

Lord. Camillo, Sir, I fpake with him; who now Has these poor men in question. Never faw I Wretches fo quake; they kneel, they kifs the earth; Forfwear themselves, as often as they speak: Bobemia ftops his ears, and threatens them With divers deaths, in death.

Per. Oh, my poor

father!

The heav'n fets fpies upon us, will not have
Our contract celebrated.

Leo. You are marry'd?

Flo. We are not, Sir, nor are we like to be; The stars, I fee, will kifs the valleys first ; The odds for high and low's alike.

Leo. My Lord,

Is this the daughter of a King?

Flo. She is,

When once the is my wife.

Leo. That once, I fee, by your good father's speed, Will come on very flowly. I am forry, (Most forry) you have broken from his liking, Where you were ty'd in duty; and as forry, Your choice is not fo rich in worth as beauty', That you might well enjoy her.

Flo. Dear, look up;

Though Fortune, vifible an enemy,

Should chafe us, with my father; power no jot

5 Your choice is not fo rich in WORTH as beauty.] The Poet must have wrote,

Your choice is not so rich in

BIRTH as beauty; Becaufe Leontes was fo far from difparaging, or thinking meanly of her worth, that, on the contrary, he rather efteems her a treasure; and, in his next

fpeech to the Prince, calls her his precious mistress.

WARBURTON.

Worth is as proper as birth. Worth fignifies any kind of wor thiness, and among others that of high defcent. The King means that he is forry the Prince's choice is not in other refpects as worthy of him as in beauty.

Hath

Sir,

Hath fhe to change our loves. 'Befeech you,
Remember, fince you ow'd no more to time
Than I do now; with thought of fuch affections,
Step forth mine advocate. At your request,
My father will grant precious things, as trifles.
Leo. Would he do fo, I'd beg your precious mif-
tress,

Which he counts but a trifle.

Paul. Sir, my Liege,

Your eye

hath too much youth in't; not a month 'Fore your Queen dy'd, fhe was more worth fuch

gazes

Than what you look on now.

Leo. I thought of her,

Even in these looks I made-But your petition

[To Florizel. Is yet unanfwer'd; I will to your father; Your honour not o'erthrown by your defires, I'm 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.

Aut..B

SCENE V.

Near the Court in Sicilia.

Enter Autolycus, and a Gentleman.

[Exeunt.

Efeech you, Sir, 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 shepherd fay, he found the child.

Aut. I would moft gladly know the issue of it. 1 Gent. I make a broken delivery of the bufinefs; VOL. II.

but

but the changes I perceived in the King, and Camillo, were very notes of admiration; they feem'd almost, with ftaring on one another, to tear the cafes of their eyes. There was fpeech in their dumbnefs, language in their very gesture; they look'd, as they had heard of a world ranfom'd, or one deftroyed; a notable paffion of wonder appear'd in them; but the wifest beholder, that knew no more but feeing, could not fay if th' importance were joy or forrow; but in the extremity of the one, it must needs be.

Enter another Gentleman.

Here comes a gentleman, that, haply, 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 balladmakers cannot be able to express it.

Enter another Gentleman.

Here comes the lady Paulina's Steward, he can deliver you more. How goes it now, Sir? this Sir? this news, which is call'd true, is so like an old tale, that the verity of it is in ftrong fufpicion; has the King found his heir?

3 Gent. Moft true, if ever truth were pregnant by circumstance: That which you hear, you'll swear you fee, there is fuch 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 refemblance of the mother, the affection of nobleness, which nature fhews above her breeding,and many other evidences 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.