a

hath been since an ape-bearer; then a process-server, bailiff; then he compass'd a motion 21 of the Prodigal Son, and married a tinker's wife within a mile where my land and living lies; and, having flown over many knavish professions, he settled only in rogue: some call him Autolycus.

Clo. Out upon him! prig,22 for my life, prig: he haunts wakes, fairs, and bear-baitings.

Aut. Very true, sir; he, sir, he; that's the rogue that put me into this apparel.

Clo. Not a more cowardly rogue in all Bohemia; if you had but look'd big and spit at him, he'd have run.

Aut. I must confess to you, sir, I am no fighter; I am false of heart that way; and that he knew, I warrant him. Clo. How do you now?

Aut. Sweet sir, much better than I was; I can stand and walk: I will even take my leave of you, and pace softly towards my kinsman's.

Clo. Shall I bring thee 23 on the way?

Aut. No, good-faced sir; no, sweet sir.

Clo. Then fare thee well: I must go buy spices for our sheep-shearing.

Aut. Prosper you, sweet sir! [Exit Clown.]-Your purse is not hot enough to purchase your spice. I'll be with you at your sheep-shearing too: if I make not this cheat bring out another, and the shearers prove sheep, let me be unroll'd,24 and my name put in the book of virtue !

21 Motion is the old name of a puppet-show; so used even as late as Fielding's time. In his Jonathan Wild, he says the master of a puppetshow "wisely keeps out of sight; for, should he once appear, the whole motion would be at an end." - Compass'd is obtained.

22 Prig was another cant phrase for the order of thieves. Harman, in his Caveat for Cursetor, 1573, calls a horse-stealer "a prigger of prancers; for to prigge in their language is to steale."

23 "Shall I attend or escort thee?" So bring was often used.

24 Unroll'd is struck off the roll, or expelled the fraternity of rogues.

[Sings.] Jog on, jog on, the footpath way,
And merrily hent 25 the sile-a:
A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires in a mile-a.

[Exit.

SCENE III.

The Same. A Lawn before a Shepherd's

Cottage.

Enter FLORIZEL and PERDITA.

Ch, joy!

don't the a little

Flo. These your unusual weeds 1 to each part of you

Do give a life no shepherdess; but Flora

Peering in April's front. This your sheep-shearing
Is as a meeting of the petty gods,

And you the queen on't.

Sir, my gracious lord,

2

Per.
To chide at your extremes, it not becomes me;
O, pardon that I name them! your high self,
The gracious mark o' the land,3 you have obscured
With a swain's wearing; and me, poor lowly maid,
Most goddess-like prank'd up: but that our feasts
In every mess have folly, and the feeders
Digest it with a custom,4 I should blush

pead."

25 To hent is to take; from the Anglo-Saxon hentan. - These lines are part of a catch printed in An Antidote against Melancholy, made up in Pills, compounded of witty Ballads, jovial Songs, and merry Catches."

1 Weeds is an old word for clothes or dress. The Prince alludes to the floral trimmings, which make Perdita seem a kind of multitudinous flower; all the adornings taking fresh life from her, and only diffusing the grace which they strive to eclipse, as if they were the proper outgrowth of her being.

2 She means his extravagance in disguising himself in shepherd's clothes, while he pranked her up most goddess-like.

3 The object of all men's notice and expectation.

4" Digest it with a custom" means, take it as natural, or think nothing of it, because they are used to it.

To see you so attirèd; more, I think,

To see myself i' the glass.

Flo.

When

I bless the time

my good falcon made her flight across

Thy father's ground.

Per

Now Jove afford you cause!
To me the difference 5 forges dread; your greatness
Hath not been used to fear. Even now I tremble
To think your father, by some accident,
Should pass this way, as you did: O, the Fates !
How would he look, to see his work, so noble,
Vilely bound up? What would he say? Or how
Should I, in these my borrow'd flaunts, behold
The sternness of his presence?

Flo.

Apprehend

Nothing but jollity. The gods themselves,
Humbling their deities to love, have taken
The shapes of beasts upon them: Jupiter
Became a bull, and bellow'd; the green Neptune
A ram, and bleated; and the fire-robed god,
Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain,
As I seem now. Their transformations
Were never for a piece of beauty rarer;
Nor in a way so chaste, since my desires
Run not before mine honour, nor my lusts
Burn hotter than my faith.

Your resolution cannot hold, when 'tis

Opposed, as it must be, by th' power o' the King :

One of these two must be necessities,

Which then will speak, that you must change this purpose, Or I my life.

5 Meaning the difference between his rank and hers.

With these forced thoughts, I pr'ythee, darken not
The mirth o' the feast or I'll be thine, my fair,
Or not my father's; for I cannot be

Mine own, nor any thing to any, if

I be not thine: to this I am most constant,
Though destiny say no. Be merry, gentle;
Strangle such thoughts as these with any thing
That you behold the while. Your guests are coming:
Lift up your countenance, as it were the day

Of celebration of that nuptial which

We two have sworn shall come.

Per.

Stand you auspicious!

Flo.

O Lady Fortune,

See, your guests approach:

Address yourself to entertain them sprightly,

And let's be red with mirth.

Enter the Shepherd, with POLIXENES and CAMILLO disguised; the Clown, MOPSA, DORCAS, and other Shepherds and Shepherdesses.

Shep. Fie, daughter! when my old wife lived, upon
This day she was both pantler, butler, cook;
Both dame and servant; welcomed all, served all;
Would sing her song and dance her turn; now here,
At upper end o' the table, now i' the middle;
On his shoulder, and his; her face o' fire
With labour, and the thing she took to quench it,
She would to each one sip. You are retired,
As if you were a feasted one, and not
The hostess of the meeting: pray you, bid

These unknown friends to's welcome;

for it is

6 "These friends unknown to us," is the meaning.

A way to make us better friends, more known.
Come, quench your blushes, and present yourself
That which you are, mistress o' the feast: come on,
And bid us welcome to your sheep-shearing,

As your good flock shall prosper.

Per. [To POLIX.]

Welcome, sir:

It is my father's will I should take on me

The hostess-ship o' the day. — [To CAM.] You're welcome,

sir.

Give me those flowers there, Dorcas. - Reverend sirs,

For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep
Seeming and savour all the Winter long :
Grace and remembrance be to you both,7
And welcome to our shearing!

Per.

Sir, the year growing ancient,

Not yet on Summer's death, nor on the birth

Of trembling Winter, the fair'st flowers o' the season
Are our carnations, and streak'd gillyvors,8

Which some call nature's bastards: of that kind

Our rustic garden's barren; and I care not

To get slips of them.

Polix.

Do you neglect them?

Per.

Wherefore, gentle maiden,

For I have heard it said,

There is an art which, in their piedness, shares

7 These plants were probably held as emblematic of grace and remembrance, because they keep their beauty and fragrance "all the winter long."

8 Spelt gillyvors in the original, and probably so pronounced at the time. Dyce thinks it should be retained as "an old form of the word." Douce says, " Gelofer, or gillofer was the old name for the whole class of carnations, pinks, and sweetwilliams; from the French girofle."

9 For was often used where we should use because.