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Places remote enough are in Bohemia,

"There weep, and leave it crying; and, for the babe “Is counted lost for ever and ever, Perdita,

"I pr'ythee, call't. For this ungentle business, "Put on thee by my lord, thou ne'er fhalt fee Thy wife Paulina more."

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-And fo, with fhrieks,

She melted into air. Affrighted much,

I did in time collect myfelf, and thought
This was fo, and no flumber: Dreams are toys,
Yet for this once, yea, fuperftitiously,
I will be fquar'd by this. I do believe,
Hermione hath fuffer'd death; and that
Apollo would, this being indeed the iffue
Of King Polixenes, it should here be laid,
Either for life or death, upon the earth
Of its right father. Bloom, fpeed thee well!
[Laying down the childi
There lye, and there thy character: there thefe,
Which may, if fortune pleafe, both breed thee, pretty

one,

And ftill reft thine. The ftorm begins;-Poor wretch,
That for thy mother's fault art thus expos'd

To lofs, and what may follow, (weep I cannot,
-But my heart bleeds and most accurft am I
To be by oath enjoin'd to this.) Farewel!

The day frowns more and more; thou art like to have
A lullaby too rough: I never faw

The heav'ns fo dim by day. A savage clamour!
Well may I get aboard! this is the chace;

I am gone for ever.

[Exit, purfued by a bear:

Enter an old Shepherd.

Shep. I would there were no age between ten and three and twenty, or that youth would fleep out the reft: for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, ftealing, fightinghark you now!-would any but thefe boil'd brains of nineteen, and two and twenty, hunt this weather? They have scar'd away two of my best fheep, which, I fear, the wolf will fooner find than the mafter; if any where

I

I have them, 'tis by the fea-fide, brouzing of ivy.. Good luck, an't be thy will! what have we here? [Taking up the child.] Mercy an's, a bearne! a very pretty bearne! a boy, or a child, I wonder ! a pretty one, á very pretty one; fure, fome 'fcape: tho I am not bookish, yet I can read waiting-gentlewoman in the fcape. This has been fome ftair-work, fome trunkwork, fome behind-door-work: they were warmer that got this, than the poor thing is here. I'll take it up for pity, yet I'll tarry 'till my fon come: he hollow'd but even now; Whoa, ho-hoa!

Clo. Hilloa, loa!

Enter Clown.

Shep. What, art fo near? if thou'lt fee a thing to talk on when thou art dead and rotten, come hither. What ail'ft thou, man?

Clo. I have feen two fuch fights, by fea and by land; but I am not to fay, it is a fea; for it is now the sky; betwixt the firmament and it you cannot thrust a bodkin's point.

Shep. Why, boy, how is it?

T

Clo. I would, you did but fee how it chafes, how it rages, how it takes up the fhore; but that's not to the point; oh, the most piteous cry of the poor fouls, fometimes to fee 'em, and not to fee 'em: now the ship boring the moon with her main-maft, and anon fwallow'd with yeft and froth, as you'd thruft a cork into a hogshead. And then for the land fervice,- -to fee how the Bear tore out his shoulder-bone, how he cry'd to me for help, and faid, his name was Antigonus, a nobleman. But to make an end of the fhip, to fee how the fea flap-dragon'd it. But first, how the poor fouls roar'd, and the fea mock'd them. And how the poor gentleman roar'd, and the bear mock'd him; both roaring louder than the fea, or weather.

Shep. 'Name of mercy, when was this, boy?

Ch. Now, now, I have not wink'd fince I faw these fights; the men are not yet cold under water, nor the bear half din'd on the gentleman; he's at it now.

(9) Shep

(9) Shep. 'Would, I had been by to have help'd the nobleman.

Clo. I would, you had been by the fhip-fide, to have help'd her; there your charity would have lack'd footing.

I have lack

[Afide. Shep. Heavy matters, heavy matters! but look thee here, boy. Now blefs thyself; thou meet'ft with things dying, I with things new born. Here's a fight for thee look thee, a bearing cloth for a fquire's child! look thee here; take up, take up, boy, open't; fo, let's fee: it was told me, I fhould be rich by the fairies. This is fome changling open't; what's within, boy?

(10) Clo. You're a made old man; if the fins of your youth are forgiven you, you're well to live. Gold! all gold!

:

Shep. This is fairy gold, boy, and will prove fo. Up with it, keep it clofe home, home, the next way. We are lucky, boy; and to be fo ftill, requires nothing but fecrefie. Let my fheep go: come, good boy, the next way home,

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Clo. Go you the next way with your findings, I'll go fee if the Bear be gone from the gentleman; and how much he hath eaten : they are never curft but when they are hungry if there be any of him left, I'll bury it.

Shep. That's a good deed. If thou may'ft difcern by

(9) Shep. Would, I had been by to have help'd the old Man.] Tho' all the printed Copies concur in this reading, I am perfuaded, we ought to restore, Nobleman. The Shepherd knew nothing of Antigonus's Age; befides, the Clown had just told his Father, that he said, his Name was Antigonus a Nobleman, and no less than three times in this fhort Scene, the Clown, fpeaking of him, calls him the Gentleman.

(10), You're a mad old Man; if the Sins of your youth are forgiven you, you're well to live. Gold! all Gold!] This the Clown fays upon his opening his Fardel, and difcovering the Wealth in it. But this is no Reason why he should call his Father a mad old Man. I have ventur'd to correct in the Text.- -You're a made old Man: i. e. your Fortune's made by this adventitious Treasure, So our Poet, in a Number of other Paffages. that

that which is left of him, what he is, fetch me to th fight of him.

Clo. Marry, will I; and you fhall help to put him i'th' ground.

Shep. 'Tis a lucky day, boy, and we'll do good deeds [Exeunt.

on't.

Enter Time, as Chorus.

Time. I, that please fome, try all, both joy and

terror

Of good and bad, that mask and unfold error ; (11)
Now take upon me, in the name of Time,
To ufe my wings. Impute it not a crime
To me, or my fwift paffage, that I flide
O'er fixteen years, and leave the growth untry'd
Of that wide gap; fince it is in my power
To o'erthrow law, and in one felf-born hour
To plant and o'erwhelm cuftom. Let me pafs
The fame I am, ere ancient'ft order was,
Or what is now receiv'd: I witness to

The times, that brought them in; fo fhall I do
To th' frefheft things now reigning, and make stale
The gliftering of this prefent, as my tale

Now feems to it: your patience this allowing,
I turn my glass; and give my fcene fuch growing,
As you had flept between. Leontes leaving
Th' effects of his fond jealoufies, fo grieving
That he fhuts up himfelf; imagine me,
Gentle fpectators, that I now may be,

In fair Bohemia; and remember well,

I mention here a fon o'th' King's whom Florizel
I how name to you; and with speed so pace
To fpeak of Perdita, now grown in grace

(11) That make and unfold Error.] This does not in my Opinion take in the Poet's Thought. Time does not make mistakes, and difcover them, at different Conjunctures; but the Poet means, that Time often for a Seafon covers Errors, which he afterwards difplays and brings to Light. I choose therefore to read

d;

that maske and unfold Error.

Equal

Equal with wondring. What of her ensues,
I lift not prophefie But let Time's news

Be known, when 'tis brought forth. A fhepherd's daughter,
And what to her adheres, which follows after,
Is th' argument of time; of this allow,
If ever you have spent time worse ere now :
If never, yet that Time himself doth say,
He wishes earnestly, you never may.

[Exit;

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A CT IV.

SCENE, the Court of Bohemia.'

Enter Polixenes and Camillo.

POLIXEN ES.

'tis a fickness denying thee any thing, a death to grant this.

Cam. It is fifteen years fince I faw my country; though I have for the most part been aired abroad, I defire to lay my bones there. Besides, the penitent King, my mafter, hath fent for me; to whose feeling forrows I might be fome allay, or I o'erween to think fo, which is another fpur to my departure.

Pol. As thou lov'it me, Camillo, wipe not out the reft of thy fervices by leaving me now; the need I have of thee, thine own goodness hath made: better not to have had thee, than thus to want thee. Thou having made me business, which none, without thee, can fufficiently manage, muft either ftay to execute them thy felf, or take away with thee the very fervices thou haft done; which if I have not enough confider'd, (as too much I cannot,) to be more thankful to thee fhall be my study; and my profit therein, the heaping friendships. Of that fatal country Sicilia, pr'ythee, fpeak no more; whofe very naming punishes me with the remembrance of that

penitent,

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