WINTER'S TALE. ACT I. SCENE I.. Sicilia. An Antechamber in Leontes' Palace. Enter CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS. Archidamus. IF you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia, and your Sicilia. Cam. I think, this coming summer, the king of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him. Arch. Wherein our entertainment shall shame us, we will be justified in our loves1; for, indeed, Cam. 'Beseech you, Arch. Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we cannot with such magnificence-in so rare -I know not what to say.We will give you sleepy drinks; that your senses, unintelligent of our insuf 1 our entertainment, &c.] Though we cannot give you equal entertainment, yet the consciousness of our good-will shall justify us. JOHNSON. ficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuse us. Cam. You pay a great deal too dear, for what's given freely. Arch. Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me, and as mine honesty puts it to utterance. Cam. Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to Bohemia. They were trained together in their childhoods ; and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection, which cannot choose but branch now. Since their more mature dignities, and royal necessities, made separation of their society, their encounters, though not personal, have been royally attornied 2, with interchange of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seemed to be together, though absent; shook hands, as over a vast; and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. 3 The heavens continue their loves! Arch. I think, there is not in the world either malice, or matter, to alter it. You have an unspeakable comfort of your young prince Mamillius; it is a gentleman of the greatest promise, that ever came into my note. Cam. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: It is a gallant child; one that, indeed, physicks the subject, makes old hearts fresh; they, that went on 2 royally attornied,] Nobly supplied by substitution of embassies, &c. JOHNSON. 3 shook hands, as over a vast; and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds.] Shakspeare has, more than once, taken his imagery from the prints, with which the books of his time were ornamented. If my memory do not deceive me, he had his eye on a wood-cut in Holinshed, while writing the incantation of the weird sisters in Macbeth. There is also an allusion to a print of one of the Henries holding a sword adorned with crowns. In this passage he refers to a device common in the title-page of old books, of two hands extended from opposite clouds, and joined as in token of friendship over a wide waste of country. HENLEY. 4 physicks the subject,] Affords a cordial to the state; has the power of assuaging the sense of misery. JOHNSON. crutches ere he was born, desire yet their life, to see him a man. Arch. Would they else be content to die? Cam. Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live. Arch. If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. A Room of State in the Palace. Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, HERMIONE, MAMIllius, CAMILLO, and Attendants. Pol. Nine changes of the watʼry star have been Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks; Go hence in debt: And therefore, like a cipher, With one we-thank-you, many thousands more Leon. And pay them when Stay your thanks awhile; you part. Sir, that's to-morrow. Pol. No sneaping winds-] i. e. Oh! that. Sneaping, nipping winds. 6 This is put forth too truly!] i. e. to make me say, I had too good reason for my fears. Leon. We'll part the time between's then: and in that Very sooth, to-morrow. I'll no gain-saying. Pol. Press me not, 'beseech you, so; There is no tongue that moves, none, none i'the world, Do even drag me homeward; which to hinder, Leon. you. Tongue-tied, our queen? speak Her. I had thought, sir, to have held my peace, until You had drawn oaths from him, not to stay. You, sir, Charge him too coldly: Tell him, you are sure, The by-gone day proclaim'd; say this to him, Leon. Well said, Hermione. Her. To tell, he longs to see his son, were strong: But let him say so then, and let him go; But let him swear so, and he shall not stay, We'll thwack him hence with distaffs. Yet of your royal presence [to POLIXENES] I'll ad venture The borrow of a week. When at Bohemia You take my lord, I'll give him my commission, 7 this satisfaction—] We had satisfactory accounts yesterday of the state of Bohemia. JOHNSON. 8 To let him there a month, behind the gest Pol. Her. Nay, but you will? Pol. Her. Verily ! You'll stay? No, madam. I may not verily. You put me off with limber vows: But I, Though you would seek to unsphere the stars with oaths, Should yet say, Sir, no going. Verily, You shall not go; a lady's verily is As potent as a lord's. Will you go yet? Not like a guest; so you shall pay your fees, you? How say My prisoner? or my guest? by your dread verily, Pol. Your guest then, madam: To be your prisoner, should import offending; Than you to punish. Her. Not your gaoler then, But kind hostess. Come, I'll question you your Of my lord's tricks, and yours, when you were boys; Pol. We were, fair queen, Two lads, that thought there was no more behind, 8 behind the gest] Gest signifies a stage, or journey. In the time of royal progresses the king's stages, as we may see by the journals of them in the herald's office, were called his gests; from the old French word giste, diversorium. 9 1 - yet, good-deed,] signifies, indeed, in very deed. a jar o'the clock-] A jar is, I believe, a single repetition of the noise made by the pendulum of a clock: what children call the ticking of it. STEEVENS. |