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.82 Aut. O, that's the case of the shepherd's son: hang him, he'll be made an example. Clo. [Aside to Shep.] 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 perform'd; 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. Clo. [Aside to Shep.] We are bless'd in this man, as I may say, even bless'd. Shep. [Aside to Clo.] provided to do us good. Let's before, as he bids us: he was [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 but luck may turn 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. 82 The Clown, however uncorrupted with the sophistications of pen and ink, and though he may "have a mark to himself, like an honest plaindealing man," is no clod-pole: his pun on case in this instance is something keen. ACT V. SCENE I. - Sicilia. A Room in the Palace of LEONTES. Enter LEONTES, CLEOMENES, DION, PAULINA, and others. 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 Her and her virtues, I cannot forget My blemishes in them; and so still think of Paul. True, too true, my lord: Would be unparallel'd. Leon. I think so. Kill'd! Kill'd! she I kill'd! I did so: but thou strikest me Sorely, to say I did; it is as bitter Upon thy tongue as in my thought: now, good now, Cleo. Not at all, good lady: You might have spoke a thousand things that would Your kindness better. Paul. You are one of those Would have him wed again. If you would not so, Dion. With a sweet fellow to't? Paul. There is none worthy, Respecting her that's gone. 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 Is all as monstrous to our human reason As my Antigonus to break his grave Did perish with the infant. 'Tis your counsel Oppose against their wills. — [To LEON.] Care not for issue; The crown will find an heir: great Alexander Left his to th'3 worthiest; so his successor 1 Is well is an old phrase for is dead; that is, happy, or at rest. So in Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 5: "We use to say the dead are well." 2 Respecting, here, is in comparison with; the only instance, I think, of the word so used. But the Poet often has in respect of in just the same See vol. v. page 56, note 13. sense. 3 This elision of the, so as to make it coalesce with the preceding word into one syllable, has occurred many times in this play, and ought, perhaps, Was like to be the best. Leon. Thou good Paulina, Who hast the memory of Hermione, I know, in honour, O, that ever I Had squared me to thy counsel! then, even now, Paul. More rich for what they yielded. Leon. And left them Thou speak'st truth. No more such wives; therefore, no wife: one worse, Were I the ghost that walk'd, I'd bid you mark Her eye, and tell me for what dull part in't You chose her; then I'd shriek, that even your ears Should rift to hear me; and the words that follow'd Never to marry but by my free leave? Leon. Never, Paulina; so be bless'd my spirit! Paul. Then, good my lords, bear witness to his oath. to have been noted before. So we have by th', do th', for th', from th', on th', wi' th', and others. See page 13, note 17. Yet, if my lord will marry, if you will, sir, - As, walk'd your first Queen's ghost, it should take joy Leon. My true Paulina, We shall not marry till thou bidd'st us. Paul. That Shall be when your first Queen's again in breath; Enter a Gentleman. Gent. One that gives out himself Prince Florizel, Son of Polixenes, with his Princess, — she The fair'st I've yet beheld, — desires access To your high presence. Leon. What with him? he comes not Like to his father's greatness: his approach, So out of circumstance and sudden, tells us 'Tis not a visitation framed, but forced By need and accident. What train? Gent. And those but mean. But few, 4 Affront is meet or encounter. Shakespeare uses this word with the same meaning in Hamlet, iii. 1: "That he, as 'twere by accident, may here affront Ophelia." And in Cymbeline: "Your preparation can affront no less than what you hear of." Lodge, in the Preface to his Translation of Seneca, says, " No soldier is counted valiant that affronteth not his enemie." |