ACT V.

SCENE, changes to Sicilia.

Enter Leontes, Cleomines, Dion, Paulina, and
Servants.

STR

CLEOMINES.

IR, you have done enough, and have perform'd
A faint like forrow: no fault could you make,

Which you have not redeem'd; indeed, paid down
More penitence, than done trefpafs. At the laft,
Do as the heavens have done, forget your evil;
With them, forgive yourself.

Leo. Whilft I remember

Her and her virtues, I cannot forget

My blemishes in them, and fo ftill think of
The wrong I did myself; which was fo much,
That heir-lefs it hath made my Kingdom; and
Deftroy'd the fweet'ft companion, that e'er man (16)
Bred his hopes out of.

Pau. True, too true, my lord;

If one by one you wedded all the world,

Or, from the All that are, took fomething good,
To make a perfect woman; fhe, you kill'd,

Would be unparallel'd.

Leo. I think fo. Kill'd?

Kill'd the I kill'd? I did fo, but thou ftrik'ft me
Sorely, to fay I did; it is as bitter

(16) Deftroy'd the fweet'ft Companion that e'er Man

Bred bis hopes out of, true.

Pau. Too true, my Lord.] A very flight Examination will convince ev'ry intelligent Reader, that, true, here has jump'd out of its place in all the Editions. What the King would fay, is abfolutely complete without it: and the placing it, where the printed Copies have done, is an Embarrassment to the Senfe. These two Reafons, I hope, will be fufficient to juftify my Tranfpofition.

Upon

Upon thy tongue, as in my thought. Now, good now,

Say fo but feldom.

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.

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

You pity not the ftate, nor the remembrance
Of his most fovereign name; confider little,
What dangers (by his highnefs' 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 fweet fellow to't?

Pau. There is none worthy,
Refpecting 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 shall,
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 should to the heav'ns be contrary;
Oppofe against their wills.-Care not for iffue;

The crown will find an heir.

[To the King.

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: O, that ever I

Had fquar'd me to thy counfel! then, even now

04

I

I might have look'd upon my Queen's full eyes,
Have taken treasure from her lips!

Pau. And left them

More rich, for what they yielded.

Leo. Thou fpeak'ft truth:

No more fuch wives, therefore no wife; one worse,
And better us'd, would make her fainted spirit (17)
Again poffefs her corps; and on this ftage,
(Where we offend her now) appear foul-vext,
And begin, Why to me?-

Pau. Had the fuch power,

She had juft cause.

Leo. She had, and would incenfe me To murther her I married.

Pau. I fhould fo:

Were I the ghost 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.

Pau. Will you fwear

Never to marry, but by my free leave?

Leo. Never, Paulina; fo be blefs'd my spirit!
Pau. Then, good my lords, bear witness to his oath
Cleo. You tempt him over-much.

Pau. Unless another,

As like Hermione as is her picture,

(17)

would make ber fainted Spirit ·

Again poffefs ber Corps, and on this Stage

(Where we Offenders now appear) foul-vext,

And begin. &c.] 'Tis obvious, that the Grammar is defective; and the Senfe confequently wants fuporting. The flight Change, I have made, cures Both: and, furely, 'tis an Improvement to the Sentiment for the King to say, that Paulina and He offended his dead Wife's Ghoft with the Subject of a fecond Match: rather than in general Terms to call themselves Offenders, Sinners,

Affront

Affront his eye.

Cleo. Good Madam, pray, have done.

Pau. 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 she shall be fuch,

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

Leo. My true Paulina,

We fhall not marry, 'till thou bid'st us.

Pau. That

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

Enter a Gentleman.

Gent. One that gives out himfelf 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 circumftance and fudden, tells us,,
'Tis not a vifitation fram'd, but forc'd

By need and accident. What train ?.

Gent. But few,

And those but mean.

Leo. His princess, fay you with him?

Gent. Yes, the most peerless piece of earth, I think, That e'er the fun fhone bright on.

Pau. 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 yourself
Have faid, and writ fo; but your writing now
Is colder than that theme; fhe had not been,

Nor was the 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 almoft forgot, (your pardon)

Thee

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

Of who fhe but bid follow.

Pau. How? not women?

Gent. Women will love her, that she is a woman
More worth than any man: men, that she is
The rareft of all women.

Leo. Go, Cleomines;

Yourself (affifted with your honour'd friends)
Bring them to our embracement. Still 'tis ftrange
He should thus fteal upon us.

Pau. Had our prince

[Exit Cleo.

(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; ceafe, thou know'ft,
He dies to me again, when talk'd of: sure,
When I fhall fee this gentleman, thy fpeeches
Will bring me to confider that which may
Unfurnish me of reason. They are come.

Enter Florizel, Perdita, Cleomines, and others.
Your mother was moft true to wedlock, prince,
For the 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 fpeak 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 flood 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 misery) I defire my life
Once more to look on.

Flor. Sir, by his command

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