86 "fooner find than the mafter; if any where 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 on 's, a bearn! a very pretty bearn! a boy, or a child, I wonder! a pretty one, a very pretty one; fure fome 'fcape: though I am not bookish, yet I can read waiting-gentlewo"man in the 'scape. This has been fome ftair-work, "fome trunk-work, 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. Clo. Hilloa, loa! Whoa, ho-hoat 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 skỹ; betwixt the firmament and it you cannot thrust a bodkin's point. ek Shep. Why, boy, how is it? Clo. "I would you did but see how it chafes, how it rages, how it takes up the fhore; but that's not to "the point; oh, the moft piteous cry of the poor fouls, "fometimes to fee 'em, and not to fee 'em: now the fhip boring the moon with her main-maft, and anon "fwallow'd with yeft and froth, as you'd thrust a cork "into a hogshead. And then for the land-fervice66 to fee how the bear tore out his fhoulder-bone, how "he cry'd to me for help, and faid, his name was An"tigonus, 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 sea, er "weather. Shep. 'Name of mercy, when was this, boy? Clo. Now, now, I have not wink'd fince I faw thefe fights; the men are not yet cold under water, nor the bear half-din'd on the gentleman; he's at it now. Shep. 'Would I had been by to have help'd the old man. Clo. I would you had been by the fhip-fide to have help'd her; there your charity would have lack'd footing. [Afide. Shep. Heavy matters, heavy matters! but look thee here, boy. Now blefs thyfelf; thon 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? Clo. You're a mad 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 so ftill, requires nothing But fecrecy. Let my fheep go: come, good boy, the next way home. 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 curs'd but when they are hungry: if there be any of him left, I'll buby it. Shep. That's a good deed. If thou may'ft difcern by 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 pleafe fome, try all, both joy and terror Of good and bad, that make and unfold error; 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 slide O'er fixteen years, and leave the gulf untry'd Of that wide gap; fince it is in my power To o'erthrow law, and in one self-born hous To plant and o'erwhelm cuftom. Let me pass Or what is now receiv'd. I witness to The times that brought them in; fo fhall I do In fair Bithynia; and remember well, I mention here a fon o'th' King's whom Florizel pace To fpeak of Perdita, now grown in grace I lift not prophefy. But let Time's news Be known when 'tis brought forth. A fhepherd's daughter, And what to her adheres, which follows after, If ever you have spent time worse ere now: [Exit. ACT IV. SCENE I. Pol. The court of Bithynia. Enter Polixenes, and Camillo. Pray thee, good Camillo, be no more importu nate; 'tis a sickness 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. Befides, the penitent King, my mafter, hath fent for me; to whofe 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'ft 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 bufineffes, which none, without thee, can fufficiently manage, muft either stay to execute them thyfelf, 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 ftudy; and my profit therein, the reaping friendfhips. Of that fatal country Sicilia, pr'ythee, speak no more; whofe very naming punishes me with the remembrance of that penitent, as thou call'ft him, and reconciled King my brother, whofe lofs of his moft precious Queen and children are even now to be afresh lamented. Say to me, when faw'st thou the Prince Florizel my fon? Kings are no lefs unhappy, their issue not being gracious, than they are in lofing them, when they have approved their virtues. Cam. Sir, it is three days fince I faw the Prince. What his happier affairs may be, are to me unknown: but I have (miffing him) noted, he is of late much retired from court, and is lefs frequent to his princely exercises than formerly he hath appear'd. Pol. I have confider'd fo much, Camillo, and with fome care fo far, that I have eyes under my fervice, which look upon his removedness; from whom I have this intelligence, that he is feldom from the house of a moft homely shepherd; a man, they fay, that from very nothing, and beyond the imagination of his neighbours, is grown into an unfpeakable eftate. Cam. I have heard, Sir, of fuch a man, who hath a daughter of moft rare note; the report of her is extended more than can be thought to begin from fuch a cottage. Pol. That's likewise a part of my intelligence; but, I fear, the angle that plucks our fon thither. Thou fhalt accompany us to the place, where we will (not appearing what we are) have fome queftion with the fhepherd; from whofe fimplicity, I think it not uneafy to get the cause of my son's refort thither. Pr'ythee, be my prefent partner in this bufinefs, and lay afide the thoughts of Sicilia. Cam. I willingly obey your command. Pol. My beft Camillo we must disguise ourselves. SCENE [Exeunt. II. Changes to the country. Enter Autolicus finging. When daffadils begin to peere, With, beigh! the doxy over the dale, Fore the red blood reins in the winter pale. With, bey! the fweet birds, O how they fing! For a quart of ale is a dish for a King. The lark, that tirra-lyra chants, With, bey! with, hey! the thrush and the jay: I have ferved Prince Florizel, and in my time wore three-pile, but now I am out of fervice. But fhall I go mourn for that, my dear? If tinkers may have leave to live, My traffic is fheets; when the kite builds, look to leffer linen. My father nam'd me Autolicus, being litter'd under Mercury *, who, as I am, was likewife a fnapper * The allusion, and the whole speech is taken from Lucian; who appears to have been one of our poet's favourite authors, as may be collected from several places of his works. It is from his difcourfe on judicial aftrology, where Autolicus talks much in the fame manner; and 'tis only on this account that he is called the fon of Mercury by the ancients, namely, because he was born under that planet. And as the infant was fuppofed by the aftrologers to communicate of the nature of the star which predominated, fo Autolicus was a thief, Mr Warburton |