Shep. None, sir; I have no pheasant, cock, nor hen. Aut. How bless'd are we, that are not simple men! 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 handsomely. 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' 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? 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? : Aut. Not he alone shall suffer what wit can make heavy, and vengeance bitter; but those that are germane to him, tho' removed fifty times, shall all come under the hangman which though it be great pity, yet it is necessary. An old sheep-whistling rogue, a ram-tender, to of fer to have his daughter come into grace! Some say, he shall be stoned; but that death is too soft for him, say 1: 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. He has a son, who shall be flayed 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 [2] It seems that to pick the teeth was, at this time, a mark of some pretension to greatness or elegance. JOHNSON. 16 VOL. IV. L oth dead then recovered again with aqua-vitæ, or some er 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 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 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, 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 some sort, sir: but though my case be a pitiful one, I hope I shall not be flayed out of it. 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, '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, be brought you. till it Aut. I will trust you. Walk before toward the seaside; go on the right-hand; I will but 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 provided to do us good. [Exeunt Shep. and Clo. [3] That is, the hottest day foretold in the almanac. JOHNSON. [4] Means, I having a gentlemanlike consideration given me, i. e. a bribe, will aring you, &c. STEEVENS. 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. [Exit. ACT V. SCENE I.-Sicilia. A Room in the Palace of LEONTES. SIR, you have done enough, and have perform'd Leo. Whilst I remember Her, and her virtues, I cannot forget My blemishes in them; and so still think of Paul. True, too true, my lord: If, one by one, you wedded all the world, Leo. I think so. Kill'd! She I kill'd? I did so: but thou strik'st me Upon thy tongue, as in my thought: Now, good now, Cleo. Not at all, good lady: You might have spoken a thousand things that would 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 Paul. There is none worthy, Respecting her that's gone. Besides, the gods Will have fulfill'd their secret purposes: Is't not the tenor of his oracle, That king Leontes shall not have an heir, As my Antigonus to break his grave, [TO LEONTES. Leo. Good Paulina, Who hast the memory of Hermione, I know, in honour,-O, that ever I Had squar'd me to thy counsel !-then, even now, Paul. And left them More rich, for what they yielded. Leo. 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 offenders now appear,) soul-vex'd, Begin, And why to me? Paul. Had she such power, She had just cause. Leo. She had ; and would incense me To murder her I married. Paul. I should so : Were I the ghost that walk'd, I'd bid you mark You chose her: then I'd shriek, that even your ears Leo. Stars, very stars, And all eyes else dead coals?-Fear thou no wife, Paul. Will you swear Never to marry, but by my free leave? Leo. Never, Paulina; so be bless'd my spirit! Paul. Then, good my lords, bear witness to his oath. Cleo. You tempt him over-much. Paul. Unless another, As like Hermione as is her picture, Affront his eye. Cleo. Good madam,- Paul. I have done. Yet, if my lord will marry,-If you will, sir, As, walk'd your first queen's ghost, it should take joy Leo. My true Paulina, We shall not marry till thou bidd'st 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 Florizel, Leo. What with him? he comes not [5] To affront, is to meet. JOHNSON. |