Aut. The fardel there? what's i' th' 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?

731

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 't is 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?

741

Aut. Not he alone shall suffer what wit can make heavy and vengeance bitter; but those that are germane to him, though remov'd fifty times, shall all come under the hangman: which though it be great pity, yet it is necessary. An old sheepwhistling rogue, a ram-tender, to offer to have his daughter come into grace! Some say he shall be ston'd; but that death is too soft for him, say I: draw our throne into a sheep-cote! all deaths are too few, the sharpest too easy.

750

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 flay'd 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 recover'd again with aqua-vitæ or some other hot infusion; then, raw as he is, and in the hottest day prognostication proclaims, 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 smil'd 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 consider'd, 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 purse to the outside of his hand, and no more ado. Remember "ston'd," and "flay'd alive."

739 hand-fast: held by a bond given for his appearance.

763 gently consider'd genteelly rewarded.

771

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 young man pawn till I bring it you.

this

in

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 some sort, sir: but though my case be a pitiful one, I hope I shall not be flay'd out of it. 780 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 't is 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 but look upon the hedge and follow you.

790

Clo. We are blest in this man, as I may say, even blest. 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 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.

ACT V.

SCENE I. A room in LEONTES' palace.

Enter LEONTES, CLEOMENES, DION, PAULINA, and Servants.

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
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

779 case: a play upon case skin. and case affair.

[Ezit.

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 thy tongue as in my thought: now, good, now,
Say so but seldom.

Cleo.

Not at all, good lady:

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.

If would not so,
you

Dion.
You pity not the state, nor the remembrance
Of his most sovereign name; 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.

Respecting her that 's gone.

There is none worthy,
Besides, the gods

Will have fulfill'd their secret purposes;

For has not the divine Apollo said,

Is 't not the tenour 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,

1Ο

20

30

40

19 good, now: that is, my good friend, etc.; as in The Tempest, Act I. Sc. 1, line 14. and elsewhere.

Oppose against their wills. [To Leontes.] Care not for issue; The crown will find an heir: great Alexander

Left his to the worthiest; so his successor

Was like to be the best.

Who hast the memory of Hermione,

I know, in honour, O, that ever I

Had squar'd me to thy counsel! then, even now,
I might have look'd upon my queen's full eyes,
Have taken treasure from her lips-

Paul.

More rich for what they yielded.

Leon.

And left them

Thou speak'st truth.

No more such wives; therefore, no wife: one worse,
And better us'd, would make her sainted spirit
Again possess her corpse, and on this stage,
(Where we 're offenders now,) appear soul-vex'd,
And begin, "Why to me

Paul.

She had just cause.

Leon.

e?"

Had she such power,

She had; and would incense me

Were I the ghost that walk'd, I 'ld bid you mark
Her eye, and tell me for what dull part in 't
You chose her; then I 'ld shriek, that even your ears
Should rift to hear me; and the words that follow'd
Should be "Remember mine."

Leon.

And all eyes else dead coals!

I'll have no wife, Paulina.

Paul.

Stars, stars,
Fear thou no wife;

Will your swear

Never to marry but by my free leave?

Leon. Never, Paulina; so be blest my spirit!

Paul. Then, good my lords, bear witness to his oath.
Cleo. You tempt him over-much.

Paul.

As like Hermione as is her picture,

Affront his eye.

Unless another,

Cleo.

Good madam,

Paul.

I have done.

Yet, if my lord will marry,

-if you will, sir,

No remedy, but you will, give me the office
To choose you a queen: she shall not be so young
As was your former; but she shall be such

00 And begin, etc.: corruption here, which seems to be hopeless.
15 affront confront, come before.

As, walk'd your first queen's ghost, it should take joy
To see her in your arms.

Leon.

My true Paulina,

That

We shall not marry till thou bid'st us.

Paul.

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

Enter a Gentleman.

Gent. One that gives out himself Prince Florizel,
Son of Polixenes, with his princess, she

The fairest I have yet beheld, desires access
To your high presence.

Leon.

80

What with him? he comes not

90

Like to his father's greatness: his approach,
So out of circumstance and sudden, tells us
'T is not a visitation fram'd, but forc'd
By need and accident. What train?

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,

66

She had not been,

thus your verse
't is shrewdly ebb'd,

Pardon, madam:

Nor was not to be equall'd;
Flow'd with her beauty once:
To say you have seen a better.
Gent.
The one I have almost forgot, your pardon,
The other, when she has obtain'd your eye,
Will have your tongue too. This is a creature,
Would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal
Of all professors else, make proselytes

Of who she but bid follow.

How not women?

100

Paul.

Gent. Women will love her, that she is a woman More worth than any man; men, that she is

Yourself, assisted with your honour'd friends,

Bring them to our embracement. Still, 't is strange

[Exeunt Cleomenes and others.

Go, Cleomenes;

He thus should steal upon us.