What train ? "Tis not a visitation fram'd, but forc'd By need, and accident. And those but mean. Leo. 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 Give way to what's seen now. Sir, you yourself Gent. Pardon, madam : The one I have almost forgot; (your pardon,) Will have your tongue too. This is such a creature, Would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal Of who she but bid follow. Paul. How? not women? Gent. Women will love her, that she is a woman More worth than any man; men, that she is The rarest of all women. Leo. Go, Cleomenes; Yourself, assisted with your honour'd friends, [Exit CLEOMENES, Lords, and Gentleman. Bring them to our embracement.-Still 'tis strange, Paul. Had our prince, (Jewel of children,) seen this hour, he had pair'd Well with this lord'; there was not full a month Between their births. Leo. Pr'ythee, no more; thou know'st, 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, PERDITA, and Attend. Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince ; For she did print your royal father off, Conceiving you: Were I but twenty-one, His very air, that I should call you brother, Amity too, of your brave father; whom, Flo. By his command Have I here touch'd Sicilia: and from him (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 (He bade me say so,) more than all the sceptres, Leo. O, my brother, (Good gentleman!) the wrongs I have done thee, stir Afresh within me; and these thy offices, So rarely kind, are as interpreters Of my behind-hand slackness !-Welcome hither, As is the spring to th' earth. And hath he too Expos'd this paragon to the fearful usage (At least, ungentle,) of the dreadful Neptune, Flo. Good my lord, She came from Libya. Leo. Where the warlike Smalus, That noble honour'd lord, is fear'd, and lov'd? Flo. Most royal sir, from thence; from him, whose daughter His tears proclaim'd his, parting with her: thence Who for Bohemia bend, to signify Not only my success in Libya, sir, Leo. The blessed gods Purge all infection from our air, whilst you For which the heavens, taking angry note, Enter a Lord. Lord. Most noble sir, That, which I shall report, will bear no credit, (His dignity and duty both cast off,) Leo. Where's Bohemia? speak. Lord. Here in the city; I now came from him: I speak amazedly; and it becomes My marvel, and my message. To your court Her brother, having both their country quitted Flo. Camillo has betrayed me; Whose honour, and whose honesty, till now, Endur'd all weathers. Lord. Lay't so, to his charge; He's with the king your father. Leo. Who? Camillo ? Lord. Camillo, sir; I spake with him; who now Has these poor men in question. Never saw I Wretches so quake: they kneel, they kiss the earth ; 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 have Leo. 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. Leo. My lord, Is this the daughter of a king? Flo. She is, When once she is my wife. Leo. 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, Flo. Dear, look up: Though fortune, visible an enemy, Should chace us, with my father; power no jot Leo. Would he do so, I'd beg your precious mistress, Which he counts but a trifle. 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. Leo. I thought of her, Even in these looks I made. But your petition [TO FLORIZEL Is yet unanswer'd: I will to your father; [Exeunt. [6] Recollect the period when you were of my age. MALONE. 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 he 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. 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 on one another, to tear the cases of their eyes; there was speech in their dumbness, language in their very gesture; they looked, as they had heard of a world ransomed, or one destroyed: A notable passion of wonder appeared in them: but the wisest beholder, that knew no more but seeing, 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 more :— The news, Rogero? 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? 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 noble [7] Importance here means, the thing imported, M. MASON |