Cleo. Not at all, good Lady;

You might have spoke a thousand things, that would Have done the time more, benefit, and grac'd

Your kindness better.

Paul. You are one of those,
Would have him wed again.
Dio. If you would not fo,

You pity not the state, nor the remembrance
Of his most fovereign name: confider little,
What dangers (by his Highness' fail of iffue)
May drop upon his kingdom, and devour
Incertain lookers on. What were more holy,
Than to rejoice, the former Queen is well?
What holier, than for royalty's repair,
For prefent comfort, and for future good,
To blefs the bed of Majefty again

With a sweet fellow to't?

Paul. There is none worthy,

Than to rejoice, the former Queen' is WELL?] The fpeaker is here giving reafons why the King fhould marry again. One reafon is, pity to the State; another, regard to the continuance of the royal family; and the third, comfort and confolation to the King's affliction.. All hitherto is plain, and becoming a Privy-counsellor. But now comes in, what he calls, a boly argument for it, and that is a rejoicing that the former Queen is well and at reft. To make this argument of force, we must conclude that the fpeaker went upon this opinion, that a widower can never heartily rejoice that his former wife is at reft, till he has got another. Without doubt Shakespeare wrote,

1

What were more holy,

What, fays the fpeaker, can be a more holy motive to a new choice, than that it will glad the fpirit of the former Queen ? for he was of fo excellent a difpofition, that the happiness of the King and Kingdom, to be procured by it, will give her extreme pleafure. The poet goes upon the general opinion, that the fpirits of the happy in the other world are concerned for the condition of their furviving friends. WARBURTON.

This emendation is one of thofe of which many may be made; it is fuch as we may with the authour had chofen, but which we cannot prove that he did chufe; the reafons for it are plaufible, but not cogent.

Refpect

Respecting her that's gone. Befides, the Gods
Will have fulfill'd their fecret purposes:
For has not the divine Apollo faid,

Is't not the tenour of his oracle,

That King Leontes fhall not have an heir,
'Till his loft child be found? which, that it fhall,
Is all as monftrous to our human reason,
As my Antigonus to break his grave,
And come again to me; who, on my life,
Did perish with the infant. 'Tis your counsel,
My Lord fhould to the heav'ns be contrary;
Oppose against their wills.Care not for iffue;
[To the King.

The crown will find an heir.

Great Alexander

Left his to th' worthieft; fo his fucceffor

Was like to be the best.

Leo. Good Paulina,

Who haft the memory of Hermione,

I know, in honour: Ö, that ever I

Had fquar'd me to thy counfel! then, even now
I might have look'd upon my Queen's full eyes,
Have taken treasure from her lips!

Paul. And left them

More rich for what they yielded.

Leo. Thou speak'st truth:

2

No more fuch wives, therefore no wife; one worse,
And better us'd, would make her fainted fpirit
Again poffefs her corps; and on this ftage
(Where we offend her now) appear foul-vext,

And begin, Why to me?

Paul. Had fhe fuch

She had just cause.

power,

Leo. She had, and would incenfe me

To murder her I married.

Paul. I fhould fo,

Were I the ghoft that walk'd; I'd bid

you mark Her eye, and tell me, for what dull part in't

You chofe her; then I'd fhriek, that even your ears Shou'd rift to hear me, and the words that follow'd Should be, Remember mine.

Leo. Stars, ftars,

And all eyes elfe, dead coals, Fear thou no wife,
I'll have no wife, Paulina.

Paul. Will you swear

Never to marry, but by my free leave?

Leo. Never, Paulina; fo 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, pray, have done.

Paul. Yet, if my Lord will marry.—If you will, Sir; No remedy, but you will; give me the office To chufe you a Queen; fhe fhall not be fo young As was your former; but fhe fhall be fuch,

As, walk'd your first Queen's ghost, it should take joy To fee her in your arms.

Leo. My true Paulina,

We shall not marry, 'till thou bid'ft us.

Paul. That

Shall be, when your first Queen's again in breath: Never till then.

To affront, is to meet.

SCENE

SCENE II.

Enter a Gentleman.

Gent. One that gives out himself prince Florizel,
Son of Polixenes, with his Princess fhe,
The fairest I have yet beheld, defires
Access to your high presence.

Leo. What with him? he comes not
Like to his father's greatnefs; his approach,
So out of circumstance and fudden, tells us,
'Tis not a vifitation fram'd, but forc'd.
By need and accident. What train?

Gent. But few,

And thofe but mean."

Leo. His Princess, fay you, with him?

Gent. Yes; the moft peerlefs piece of earth, I think, That e'er the fun fhone bright on.

Paul. Oh Hermione,

As every present time doth boast itself
Above a better, gone; fo muft thy grave
Give way to what's feen now. Sir, you yourself3
Have faid, and writ fo; (but your writing now
Is colder than that theme) he had not been,
Nor was he to be equall'd; thus your verfe
Flow'd with her beauty once; 'tis fhrewdly ebb'd,
To fay, you've seen a better.

· Gent. Pardon, Madam;

The one I have almost forgot, (your pardon)
The other, when she has obtain'd your eye,
Will have your tongue too. This is a creature,
Would he begin a fect, might quench the zeal
Of all profeffors elfe, make profelytes

Of who fhe 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, Cleomines;

Yourself, affifted with your honour'd friends,

Bring them to our embracement.

He thus fhould fteal upon us.

Paul. Had our Prince,

[Exit Cleomines. Still 'tis ftrange

Jewel of children, feen this hour, he had pair'd
Well with this Lord; there was not full a month
Between their births.

Leo. Pr'ythee, no more; cease; thou know'ft,
He dies to me again, when talk'd of. Sure,
When I fhall fee this gentleman, thy speeches
Will bring me to confider that which may
Unfurnish me of reafon. They are come.-

Enter Florizel, Perdita, Cleomines, and others.

Your mother was moft true to wedlock, Prince,
For fhe did print your royal father off,
Conceiving you. Were I but twenty-one,
Your father's image is fo hit in you,

His very air, that I fhould call you brother,
As I did him, and speak of fomething wildly
By us perform❜d before. Moft dearly welcome,
As your fair Princefs, goddefs !-oh! alas!
I loft a couple, that 'twixt heav'n and earth
Might thus have ftood begetting wonder, as
You, gracious couple, do; and then I loft
(All mine own folly !) the fociety,
Amity too of your brave father, whom
Tho' bearing mifery I defire my life
Once more to look on.

Flo.