Chapter XXXI: Act V: SCENE I. A room in LEONTES' palace

_Enter_ LEONTES, CLEOMENES, DION, PAULINA, _and Servants_.

_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; 5
With them forgive yourself.

_Leon._ Whilst I remember
Her and her virtues, I cannot forget
My blemishes in them, and so still think of
The wrong I did myself: which was so much,
That heirless it hath made my kingdom; and 10
Destroy'd the sweet'st companion that e'er man
Bred his hopes out of.

_Paul._ True, too true, my lord:
If, one by one, you wedded all the world,
Or from the all that are took something good,
To make a perfect woman, she you kill'd 15
Would be unparallel'd.

_Leon._ I think so. Kill'd!
She I kill'd! I did so: but thou strikest me
Sorely, to say I did; it is as bitter
Upon my tongue as in my thought: now, good now,
Say so but seldom.

_Cleo._ Not at all, good lady: 20
You might have spoken a thousand things that would
Have done the time more benefit and graced
Your kindness better.

_Paul._ You are one of those
Would have him wed again.

_Dion._ If you would not so,
You pity not the state, nor the remembrance 25
Of his most sovereign name; consider little
What dangers, by his highness' fail of issue,
May drop upon his kingdom and devour
Incertain lookers on. What were more holy
Than to rejoice the former queen is well? 30
What holier than, for royalty's repair,
For present comfort and for future good,
To bless the bed of majesty again
With a sweet fellow to't?

_Paul._ There is none worthy,
Respecting her that's gone. Besides, the gods 35
Will have fulfill'd their secret purposes;
For has not the divine Apollo said,
Is't not the tenor of his oracle,
That King Leontes shall not have an heir
Till his lost child be found? which that it shall, 40
Is all as monstrous 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 heavens be contrary, 45
Oppose against their wills. [_To Leontes._] Care not for issue;
The crown will find an heir: great Alexander
Left his to the worthiest; so his successor
Was like to be the best.

_Leon._ Good Paulina,
Who hast the memory of Hermione, 50
I know, in honour, O, that ever I
Had squared me to thy counsel!--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.

_Leon._ Thou speak'st truth. 55
No more such wives; therefore, no wife: one worse,
And better used, would make her sainted spirit
Again possess her corpse, and on this stage,
Where we offenders now, appear soul-vex'd,
And begin, 'Why to me?'

_Paul._ Had she such power, 60
She had just cause.

_Leon._ She had; and would incense me
To murder her I married.

_Paul._ I should so.
Were I the ghost that walk'd, I'ld bid you mark
Her eye, and tell me for what dull part in't
You chose her; then I'ld shriek, that even your ears 65
Should rift to hear me; and the words that follow'd
Should be 'Remember mine.'

_Leon._ Stars, stars,
And all eyes else dead coals! Fear thou no wife;
I'll have no wife, Paulina.

_Paul._ Will you swear
Never to marry but by my free leave? 70

_Leon._ Never, Paulina; so be blest 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,--

_Paul._ I have done. 75
Yet, if my lord will marry,--if you will, sir,
No remedy, but you will,--give me the office
To choose you a queen: she shall not be so young
As was your former; but she shall be such
As, walk'd your first queen's ghost, it should take joy 80
To see her in your arms.

_Leon._ My true Paulina,
We shall not marry till thou bid'st us.

_Paul._ That
Shall be when your first queen's again in breath;
Never till then.

_Enter a_ Gentleman.

_Gent._ One that gives out himself Prince Florizel, 85
Son of Polixenes, with his princess, she
The fairest I have 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 90
'Tis not a visitation framed, but forced
By need and accident. What train?

_Gent._ But few,
And those but mean.

_Leon._ His princess, say you, with him?

_Gent._ Ay, the most peerless piece of earth, I think,
That e'er the sun shone bright on.

_Paul._ O Hermione, 95
As every present time doth boast itself
Above a better gone, so must thy grave
Give way to what's seen now! Sir, you yourself
Have said and writ so, but your writing now
Is colder than that theme, 'She had not been, 100
Nor was not to be equall'd;'--thus your verse
Flow'd with her beauty once: 'tis shrewdly ebb'd,
To say you have seen a better.

_Gent._ Pardon, madam:
The one I have almost forgot,--your pardon,--
The other, when she has obtain'd your eye, 105
Will have your tongue too. This is a creature,
Would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal
Of all professors else; make proselytes
Of who she but bid follow.

_Paul._ How! not women?

_Gent._ Women will love her, that she is a woman 110
More worth than any man; men, that she is
The rarest of all women.

_Leon._ Go, Cleomenes;
Yourself, assisted with your honour'd friends,
Bring them to our embracement. Still, 'tis strange
[_Exeunt Cleomenes and others._

He thus should steal upon us.

_Paul._ Had our prince, 115
Jewel of children, seen this hour, he had pair'd
Well with this lord: there was not full a month
Between their births.

_Leon._ Prithee, no more; cease; thou know'st
He dies to me again when talk'd of: sure, 120
When I shall see this gentleman, thy speeches
Will bring me to consider that which may
Unfurnish me of reason. They are come.

_Re-enter_ CLEOMENES _and others, with_ FLORIZEL _and_ PERDITA.

Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince;
For she did print your royal father off, 125
Conceiving you: were I but twenty one,
Your father's image is so hit in you,
His very air, that I should call you brother,
As I did him, and speak of something wildly
By us perform'd before. Most dearly welcome! 130
And your fair princess,--goddess!--O, alas!
I lost a couple, that 'twixt heaven and earth
Might thus have stood begetting wonder, as
You, gracious couple, do: and then I lost,
All mine own folly, the society, 135
Amity too, of your brave father, whom,
Though bearing misery, I desire my life
Once more to look on him.

_Flo._ By his command
Have I here touch'd Sicilia, and from him
Give you all greetings, that a king, at friend, 140
Can send his brother: and, but infirmity
Which waits upon worn times hath something seized
His wish'd ability, he had himself
The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his
Measured to look upon you; whom he loves, 145
He bade me say so, more than all the sceptres
And those that bear them living.

_Leon._ O my brother,
Good gentleman! the wrongs I have done thee stir
Afresh within me; and these thy offices,
So rarely kind, are as interpreters 150
Of my behind-hand slackness! Welcome hither,
As is the spring to the earth. And hath he too
Exposed this paragon to the fearful usage,
At least ungentle, of the dreadful Neptune,
To greet a man not worth her pains, much less 155
The adventure of her person?

_Flo._ Good my Lord,
She came from Libya.

_Leon._ Where the warlike Smalus,
That noble honour'd lord, is fear'd and loved?

_Flo._ Most royal sir, from thence; from him, whose daughter
His tears proclaim'd his, parting with her: thence, 160
A prosperous south-wind friendly, we have cross'd,
To execute the charge my father gave me,
For visiting your highness: my best train
I have from your Sicilian shores dismiss'd;
Who for Bohemia bend, to signify 165
Not only my success in Libya, sir,
But my arrival, and my wife's, in safety
Here where we are.

_Leon._ The blessed gods
Purge all infection from our air whilst you
Do climate here! You have a holy father, 170
A graceful gentleman; against whose person,
So sacred as it is, I have done sin:
For which the heavens, taking angry note,
Have left me issueless; and your father's blest,
As he from heaven merits it, with you 175
Worthy his goodness. What might I have been,
Might I a son and daughter now have look'd on,
Such goodly things as you!

_Enter a_ Lord.

_Lord._ Most noble sir,
That which I shall report will bear no credit,
Were not the proof so nigh. Please you, great sir, 180
Bohemia greets you from himself by me;
Desires you to attach his son, who has--
His dignity and duty both cast off--
Fled from his father, from his hopes, and with
A shepherd's daughter.

_Leon._ Where's Bohemia? speak. 185

_Lord._ Here in your city; I now came from him:
I speak amazedly; and it becomes
My marvel and my message. To your court
Whiles he was hastening, in the chase, it seems,
Of this fair couple, meets he on the way 190
The father of this seeming lady and
Her brother, having both their country quitted
With this young prince.

_Flo._ Camillo has betray'd me;
Whose honour and whose honesty till now
Endured all weathers.

_Lord._ Lay't so to his charge: 195
He's with the king your father.

_Leon._ Who? Camillo?

_Lord._ Camillo, sir; I spake with him; who now
Has these poor men in question. Never saw I
Wretches so quake: they kneel, they kiss the earth;
Forswear themselves as often as they speak: 200
Bohemia stops his ears, and threatens them
With divers deaths in death.

_Per._ O my poor father!
The heaven sets spies upon us, will not have
Our contract celebrated.

_Leon._ You are married?

_Flo._ We are not, sir, nor are we like to be; 205
The stars, I see, will kiss the valleys first:
The odds for high and low's alike.

_Leon._ My lord,
Is this the daughter of a king?

_Flo._ She is,
When once she is my wife.

_Leon._ That 'once,' I see by your good father's speed, 210
Will come on very slowly. I am sorry,
Most sorry, you have broken from his liking
Where you were tied in duty, and as sorry
Your choice is not so rich in worth as beauty,
That you might well enjoy her.

_Flo._ Dear, look up: 215
Though Fortune, visible an enemy,
Should chase us with my father, power no jot
Hath she to change our loves. Beseech you, sir,
Remember since you owed no more to time
Than I do now: with thought of such affections, 220
Step forth mine advocate; at your request
My father will grant precious things as trifles.

_Leon._ Would he do so, I'ld beg your precious mistress,
Which he counts but a trifle.

_Paul._ Sir, my liege,
Your eye hath too much youth in't: not a month 225
'Fore your queen died, she was more worth such gazes
Than what you look on now.

_Leon._ I thought of her,
Even in these looks I made. [_To Florizel._] But your petition
Is yet unanswer'd. I will to your father:
Your honour not o'erthrown by your desires, 230
I am friend to them and you: upon which errand
I now go toward him; therefore follow me
And mark what way I make: come, good my lord.
[_Exeunt._

LINENOTES:

SCENE I. A room....] Capell.

Enter....] Rowe. Enter L., C., D., P., Servants: Florizel, Perdita.
Ff.

[12] Paul. _True, too true_] Theobald. _true_. Paul. _Too true_. Ff.
Paul. _'Tis true, too true_ Long MS.

[17] _She I kill'd!_] _kill'd?--She I kill'd?_ Theobald.

[21] _spoken_] _spoke_ Pope.

[24] _so_] om. Hanmer.

[26] _name_] _dame_ Reed (1803).

_little_] _a little_ Heath conj.

[30] _queen is well?_] _queen? This will._ Hanmer (Warburton).

[36] _fulfill'd_] _fulfill'n_ F2.

[37] _said,_] F4. _said?_ F1 F2 F3.

[42] _Antigonus_] _Antigomus_ F2.

[45] _contrary_] _contray_ F2.

[46] [To L.] To the King. Theobald.

[49] _Good_] _Ah! good_ Hanmer. _Thou good_ Capell. _My good_
Keightley conj.

[54] _lips,_--] Capell. _lips_. Ff. _lips!_ Pope.

[58, 59] _stage ... appear_] _stage, (Where we offenders now) appear,_
Knight. _stage (Where we offenders now appeare)_ Ff (_appear_ F3 F4).
_stage, (Where ... now) appear_ Theobald. _stage, (Where we offended
anew) appear_ Hanmer. _stage, Were we offenders now--appear_ Heath
conj. _stage (Where we offenders now appear, soul-vex'd)_ Steevens
conj. _stage (Where we offended,) now appear_ Jackson conj. _stage
(Where we offend her) new appear_ Spedding conj. _stage, (Where we
offenders move) appear_ Delius conj. _stage, Where we're offenders
now, appear_ Anon conj.

[60] _And begin, 'Why to me?'_] _And begin, why to me?_ F1. _And
begin, why to me;_ F2 F3. _And begin, why to me._ F4. _Begin, 'And why
to me?'_ Capell. _And begin, Why? to me._ Rann (Mason conj.). See note
(XXII).

[61] _cause_] F3 F4. _such cause_ F1 F2.

[63] _walk'd_] _wak'd_ Rowe (ed.2). Servant post. Collier MS.

[67] _Stars, stars_] _Stars, very stars_ Hanmer.

[71] _blest_] _bless'd_ Ff.

[75] Cleo. _Good madam,--_ Paul. _I have done_] Capell. Cleo. _Good
madam, I have done_ Ff. Cleo. _Good madam, pray have done_ Rowe.

[78] _you a_] _your_ Anon. conj.

[84] Enter a Gentleman.] Theobald. Enter a Servant. Ff. Enter a
Servant-post. Collier MS.

[85] SCENE II. Pope.

Gent.] Ser. Ff (and throughout the scene).

_out himself_] _himself out_ Pope.

[87] _fairest I have_] Ff. _fair'st I've_ S. Walker conj.

[94] _Ay,_] _I:_ Ff. _Yes;_ Rowe.

[97] _grave_] _grace_ Collier (Egerton MS.).

[100] _than_] _on_ Hanmer.

[103] _you have_] _you've_ Pope.

[106] _This is_] _This is such_ Hanmer. _This'_ S. Walker conj.

_creature_] _creature, who_ Keightley conj.

[109] _who_] _whom_ Hanmer.

_bid_] _did_ Collier (ed. 1).

[114] Exeunt C....] Exeunt C., Lords, and Gentlemen. Capell. Exit. Ff.

[117] _full a_] F1 F2. _a full_ F3 F4.

[119] _Prithee_] _Pray_ S. Walker conj. _cease_] om. Hanmer.

[123] Re-enter C....] Re-enter Cleomenes, &c. with Florizel and
Perdita. Capell. Enter Florizell, Perdita, Cleomenes, and others. Ff.

[124] SCENE III. Pope.

[131] _your_] _you_ Boswell.

_princess,--goddess_] _princesse (goddese)_ F1 F2. _princess
(goddess)_ F3 F4. _princess-goddess_ S. Walker conj.

[136] _whom,_] _whom,--_ Malone.

[138] _on him_] _on_ Theobald. _upon_ Steevens.

_By_] _Sir, by_ Theobald.

[140] _at friend_] F1. _as friend_ F2 F3 F4. _a friend_ Steevens conj.
_and friend_ Harness (Malone conj.). _at friends_ Seymour conj.

[157, 166] _Libya_] _Libia_ F1 F2. _Lybia_ F3 F4. _Lydia_ or _Lycia_
Douce conj.

[159] _Most ... daughter_] Hanmer. As two lines in Ff, ending _Sir ...
daughter._

[160] _his, parting_] Hanmer. _his parting_ Ff. _her parting_ Thirlby
conj. _at parting_ Heath conj.

[168] _we are_] _we happily are_ Hanmer.

_The blessed_] _Oh! may the blessed_ or _And may the blessed_ Mitford
conj. _The ever-blessed Anon._ apud Halliwell conj.

[170] _holy_] _noble_ Collier MS.

[174] _blest_] _bless'd_ Ff.

[178] SCENE IV. Pope.

[186] _your_] _the_ Reed (1803).

[189] _Whiles_] _Whilst_ Rowe.

[203] _sets spies upon_] _which sets spies on_ Hanmer.

[214] _worth_] _birth_ Hanmer (Warburton).

[216] _Fortune, visible_] _Fortune visible,_ Hanmer.

[220] _affections,_] Ff. _affections._ Warburton.

[228] [To Florizel.] Theobald.

[231] _I am_] _I'm_ Pope.

_friend_] _a friend_ Reed (1803).

SCENE II. _Before_ LEONTES' _palace_.

_Enter_ AUTOLYCUS _and a_ Gentleman.

_Aut._ Beseech you, sir, were you present at this relation?

_First Gent._ I was by at the opening of the fardel, heard
the old shepherd deliver the manner how he found it:
whereupon, after a little amazedness, we were all commanded
out of the chamber; only this methought I heard 5
the shepherd say, he found the child.

_Aut._ I would most gladly know the issue of it.

_First Gent._ I make a broken delivery of the business;
but the changes I perceived in the king and Camillo were
very notes of admiration: they seemed almost, with staring 10
on one another, to tear the cases of their eyes; there was
speech in their dumbness, language in their very gesture;
they looked as they had heard of a world ransomed, or one
destroyed: a notable passion of wonder appeared in them;
but the wisest beholder, that knew no more but seeing, 15
could not say if the importance were joy or sorrow; but in
the extremity of the one, it must needs be.

_Enter another_ Gentleman.

Here comes a gentleman that haply knows more. The
news, Rogero?

_Sec. Gent._ Nothing but bonfires: the oracle is fulfilled; 20
the king's daughter is found: such a deal of wonder is
broken out within this hour, that ballad-makers cannot be
able to express it.

_Enter a third_ Gentleman.

Here comes the Lady Paulina's steward: he can deliver
you more. How goes it now, sir? this news which is 25
called true is so like an old tale, that the verity of it is in
strong suspicion: has the king found his heir?

_Third Gent._ Most true, if ever truth were pregnant by
circumstance: that which you hear you'll swear you see,
there is such unity in the proofs. The mantle of Queen 30
Hermione's, her jewel about the neck of it, the letters of
Antigonus found with it which they know to be his character,
the majesty of the creature in resemblance of the
mother, the affection of nobleness which nature shows
above her breeding, and many other evidences proclaim 35
her with all certainty to be the king's daughter. Did you
see the meeting of the two kings?

_Sec. Gent._ No.

_Third Gent._ Then have you lost a sight, which was to
be seen, cannot be spoken of. There might you have beheld 40
one joy crown another, so and in such manner, that
it seemed sorrow wept to take leave of them, for their joy
waded in tears. There was casting up of eyes, holding up
of hands, with countenance of such distraction, that they
were to be known by garment, not by favour. Our king, 45
being ready to leap out of himself for joy of his found daughter,
as if that joy were now become a loss, cries 'O, thy
mother, thy mother!' then asks Bohemia forgiveness; then
embraces his son-in-law; then again worries he his daughter
with clipping her; now he thanks the old shepherd, which 50
stands by like a weather-bitten conduit of many kings'
reigns. I never heard of such another encounter, which
lames report to follow it and undoes description to do it.

_Sec. Gent._ What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that
carried hence the child? 55

_Third Gent._ Like an old tale still, which will have
matter to rehearse, though credit be asleep and not an ear
open. He was torn to pieces with a bear: this avouches
the shepherd's son; who has not only his innocence, which
seems much, to justify him, but a handkerchief and rings 60
of his that Paulina knows.

_First Gent._ What became of his bark and his followers?

_Third Gent._ Wrecked the same instant of their master's
death and in the view of the shepherd: so that all the instruments
which aided to expose the child were even then 65
lost when it was found. But O, the noble combat that
'twixt joy and sorrow was fought in Paulina! She had one
eye declined for the loss of her husband, another elevated
that the oracle was fulfilled: she lifted the princess from the
earth, and so locks her in embracing, as if she would pin her 70
to her heart that she might no more be in danger of losing.

_First Gent._ The dignity of this act was worth the audience
of kings and princes; for by such was it acted.

_Third Gent._ One of the prettiest touches of all and that
which angled for mine eyes, caught the water though not 75
the fish, was when, at the relation of the queen's death, with
the manner how she came to 't bravely confessed and lamented
by the king, how attentiveness wounded his daughter;
till, from one sign of dolour to another, she did, with
an 'Alas,' I would fain say, bleed tears, for I am sure my 80
heart wept blood. Who was most marble there changed
colour; some swooned, all sorrowed: if all the world could
have seen 't, the woe had been universal.

_First Gent._ Are they returned to the court?

_Third Gent._ No: the princess hearing of her mother's 85
statue, which is in the keeping of Paulina,--a piece many
years in doing and now newly performed by that rare Italian
master, Julio Romano, who, had he himself eternity and
could put breath into his work, would beguile Nature of her
custom, so perfectly he is her ape: he so near to Hermione 90
hath done Hermione, that they say one would speak to her
and stand in hope of answer:--thither with all greediness of
affection are they gone, and there they intend to sup.

_Sec. Gent._ I thought she had some great matter there
in hand; for she hath privately twice or thrice a day, ever 95
since the death of Hermione, visited that removed house.
Shall we thither and with our company piece the rejoicing?

_First Gent._ Who would be thence that has the benefit
of access? every wink of an eye, some new grace will be
born: our absence makes us unthrifty to our knowledge. 100
Let's along. [_Exeunt Gentlemen._

_Aut._ Now, had I not the dash of my former life in me,
would preferment drop on my head. I brought the old
man and his son aboard the prince; told him I heard them
talk of a fardel and I know not what: but he at that time, 105
overfond of the shepherd's daughter, so he then took her
to be, who began to be much sea-sick, and himself little
better, extremity of weather continuing, this mystery remained
undiscovered. But 'tis all one to me; for had I
been the finder out of this secret, it would not have relished 110
among my other discredits.

_Enter_ Shepherd _and_ Clown.

Here come those I have done good to against my will,
and already appearing in the blossoms of their fortune.

_Shep._ Come, boy; I am past moe children, but thy
sons and daughters will be all gentlemen born. 115

_Clo._ You are well met, sir. You denied to fight with
me this other day, because I was no gentleman born. See
you these clothes? say you see them not and think me
still no gentleman born: you were best say these robes are
not gentlemen born: give me the lie, do, and try whether 120
I am not now a gentleman born.

_Aut._ I know you are now, sir, a gentleman born.

_Clo._ Ay, and have been so any time these four hours.

_Shep._ And so have I, boy.

_Clo._ So you have: but I was a gentleman born before 125
my father; for the king's son took me by the hand, and
called me brother; and then the two kings called my father
brother; and then the prince my brother and the princess
my sister called my father father; and so we wept, and
there was the first gentleman-like tears that ever we shed. 130

_Shep._ We may live, son, to shed many more.

_Clo._ Ay; or else 'twere hard luck, being in so pre-posterous
estate as we are.

_Aut._ I humbly beseech you, sir, to pardon me all the
faults I have committed to your worship and to give me 135
your good report to the prince my master.

_Shep._ Prithee, son, do; for we must be gentle, now we
are gentlemen.

_Clo._ Thou wilt amend thy life?

_Aut._ Ay, an it like your good worship. 140

_Clo._ Give me thy hand: I will swear to the prince thou
art as honest a true fellow as any is in Bohemia.

_Shep._ You may say it, but not swear it.

_Clo._ Not swear it, now I am a gentleman? Let boors
and franklins say it, I'll swear it. 145

_Shep._ How if it be false, son?

_Clo._ If it be ne'er so false, a true gentleman may swear
it in the behalf of his friend: and I'll swear to the prince
thou art a tall fellow of thy hands and that thou wilt not
be drunk; but I know thou art no tall fellow of thy hands 150
and that thou wilt be drunk: but I'll swear it, and I would
thou wouldst be a tall fellow of thy hands.

_Aut._ I will prove so, sir, to my power.

_Clo._ Ay, by any means prove a tall fellow: if I do not
wonder how thou darest venture to be drunk, not being a 155
tall fellow, trust me not. Hark! the kings and the princes,
our kindred, are going to see the queen's picture. Come,
follow us: we'll be thy good masters.
[_Exeunt._

LINENOTES:

SCENE II.] SCENE V. Pope.

Before ...] The same. Before the Palace. Capell. Near the court in
Sicily. Theobald.

[2] First Gent.] Gent. 1. Ff.

[12] _very_] _every_ Anon. conj.

[13] _as they_] _as if they_ Rowe.

[18] _haply_] Collier. _happily_ Ff.

[20] Sec. Gent.] Gent. 2. Ff (and throughout).

[28] Third Gent.] Gent. 3. Ff (and throughout).

[31] _Hermione's_] _Hermiones_ Ff. _Hermione_ Rowe.

[50] _which_] _who_ Rowe.

[51] _weather-bitten_] F1 F2. _weather-beaten_ F3 F4.

[53] _to do it_] _to draw it_ Hanmer. _to do it justice_ Singer conj.
_to show it_ Collier (Collier MS.).

[57] _matter_] _matters_ F4.

[58] _with_] _of_ Capell conj.

[63] _Wrecked_] _Wrackt_ Ff.

[70] _locks_] _lock'd_ Hanmer.

[71] _losing_] _losing her_ Collier (Collier MS.).

[75] _caught_] _and caught_ Keightley conj.

[75, 76] _caught ... fish_] omitted by Hanmer (Warburton).

[77] _bravely_] _heavily_ Collier (Collier MS.).

[81] _marble there_] F3. _marble, there_ F1 F2. _marble there,_ F4.

[82] _swooned_] Pope. _swownded_ F1 F2. _swounded_ F3 F4.]

[99] _wink_] _winking_ S. Walker conj., reading lines 98-101 as four
lines of verse, ending _benefit ... eye ... makes us ... along._

[101] Exeunt Gentlemen.] Capell. Exit. Ff. Exeunt. Rowe.

[102] _had I not_] _had not I_ Rowe (ed. 2).

[108] _extremity_] _and extremity_ Keightley conj.

[112] SCENE VI. Pope.

[114] _moe_] F1. _more_ F2 F3 F4.

[117] _this other_] _the other_ Hanmer.

[140] _an_] Hanmer. _and_ Ff.

[158] _masters_] F1. _master_ F2 F3 F4.

SCENE III. _A chapel in_ PAULINA'S _house_.

_Enter_ LEONTES, POLIXENES, FLORIZEL, PERDITA, CAMILLO, PAULINA, Lords, _and_ Attendants.

_Leon._ O grave and good Paulina, the great comfort
That I have had of thee!

_Paul._ What, sovereign sir,
I did not well, I meant well. All my services
You have paid home: but that you have vouchsafed
With your crown'd brother and these your contracted 5
Heirs of your kingdoms, my poor house to visit,
It is a surplus of your grace, which never
My life may last to answer.

_Leon._ O Paulina,
We honour you with trouble: but we came
To see the statue of our queen: your gallery 10
Have we pass'd through, not without much content
In many singularities; but we saw not
That which my daughter came to look upon,
The statue of her mother.

_Paul._ As she lived peerless,
So her dead likeness, I do well believe, 15
Excels whatever yet you look'd upon
Or hand of man hath done; therefore I keep it
Lonely, apart. But here it is: prepare
To see the life as lively mock'd as ever
Still sleep mock'd death: behold, and say 'tis well. 20
[_Paulina draws a curtain, and discovers
Hermione standing like a statue._
I like your silence, it the more shows off
Your wonder: but yet speak; first, you, my liege.
Comes it not something near?

_Leon._ Her natural posture!
Chide me, dear stone, that I may say indeed
Thou art Hermione; or rather, thou art she 25
In thy not chiding, for she was as tender
As infancy and grace. But yet, Paulina,
Hermione was not so much wrinkled, nothing
So aged as this seems.

_Pol._ O, not by much.

_Paul._ So much the more our carver's excellence; 30
Which lets go by some sixteen years and makes her
As she lived now.

_Leon._ As now she might have done,
So much to my good comfort, as it is
Now piercing to my soul. O, thus she stood,
Even with such life of majesty, warm life, 35
As now it coldly stands, when first I woo'd her!
I am ashamed: does not the stone rebuke me
For being more stone than it? O royal piece
There's magic in thy majesty, which has
My evils conjured to remembrance, and 40
From thy admiring daughter took the spirits,
Standing like stone with thee.

_Per._ And give me leave,
And do not say 'tis superstition, that
I kneel and then implore her blessing. Lady,
Dear queen, that ended when I but began, 45
Give me that hand of yours to kiss.

_Paul._ O, patience!
The statue is but newly fix'd, the colour's
Not dry.

_Cam._ My lord, your sorrow was too sore laid on,
Which sixteen winters cannot blow away, 50
So many summers dry: scarce any joy
Did ever so long live; no sorrow
But kill'd itself much sooner.

_Pol._ Dear my brother,
Let him that was the cause of this have power
To take off so much grief from you as he 55
Will piece up in himself.

_Paul._ Indeed, my lord,
If I had thought the sight of my poor image
Would thus have wrought you, for the stone is mine,
I'ld not have show'd it.

_Leon._ Do not draw the curtain.

_Paul._ No longer shall you gaze on't, lest your fancy 60
May think anon it moves.

_Leon._ Let be, let be.
Would I were dead, but that, methinks, already--
What was he that did make it? See, my lord,
Would you not deem it breathed? and that those veins
Did verily bear blood?

_Pol._ Masterly done: 65
The very life seems warm upon her lip.

_Leon._ The fixure of her eye has motion in't,
As we are mock'd with art.

_Paul._ I'll draw the curtain:
My lord's almost so far transported that
He'll think anon it lives.

_Leon._ O sweet Paulina, 70
Make me to think so twenty years together!
No settled senses of the world can match
The pleasure of that madness. Let't alone.

_Paul._ I am sorry, sir, I have thus far stirr'd you: but
I could afflict you farther.

_Leon._ Do, Paulina; 75
For this affliction has a taste as sweet
As any cordial comfort. Still, methinks,
There is an air comes from her: what fine chisel
Could ever yet cut breath? Let no man mock me,
For I will kiss her.

_Paul._ Good my lord, forbear: 80
The ruddiness upon her lip is wet;
You'll mar it if you kiss it, stain your own
With oily painting. Shall I draw the curtain?

_Leon._ No, not these twenty years.

_Per._ So long could I
Stand by, a looker on.

_Paul._ Either forbear, 85
Quit presently the chapel, or resolve you
For more amazement. If you can behold it,
I'll make the statue move indeed, descend
And take you by the hand: but then you'll think,
Which I protest against I am assisted 90
By wicked powers.

_Leon._ What you can make her do,
I am content to look on: what to speak,
I am content to hear; for 'tis as easy
To make her speak as move.

_Paul._ It is required
You do awake your faith. Then all stand still; 95
On: those that think it is unlawful business
I am about, let them depart.

_Leon._ Proceed:
No foot shall stir.

_Paul._ Music, awake her; strike! [_Music._
'Tis time; descend; be stone no more; approach;
Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come, 100
I'll fill your grave up: stir, nay, come away,
Bequeath to death your numbness, for from him
Dear life redeems you. You perceive she stirs:
[_Hermione comes down._
Start not; her actions shall be holy as
You hear my spell is lawful: do not shun her 105
Until you see her die again; for then
You kill her double. Nay, present your hand:
When she was young you woo'd her; now in age
Is she become the suitor?

_Leon._ O, she's warm!
If this be magic, let it be an art 110
Lawful as eating.

_Pol._ She embraces him.

_Cam._ She hangs about his neck:
If she pertain to life let her speak too.

_Pol._ Ay, and make't manifest where she has lived,
Or how stolen from the dead.

_Paul._ That she is living, 115
Were it but told you, should be hooted at
Like an old tale: but it appears she lives,
Though yet she speak not. Mark a little while.
Please you to interpose, fair madam: kneel
And pray your mother's blessing. Turn, good lady; 120
Our Perdita is found.

_Her._ You gods, look down
And from your sacred vials pour your graces
Upon my daughter's head! Tell me, mine own,
Where hast thou been preserved? where lived? how found
Thy father's court? for thou shalt hear that I, 125
Knowing by Paulina that the oracle
Gave hope thou wast in being, have preserved
Myself to see the issue.

_Paul._ There's time enough for that;
Lest they desire upon this push to trouble
Your joys with like relation. Go together, 130
You precious winners all; your exultation
Partake to every one. I, an old turtle,
Will wing me to some wither'd bough and there
My mate, that's never to be found again,
Lament till I am lost.

_Leon._ O, peace, Paulina! 135
Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent,
As I by thine a wife: this is a match,
And made between's by vows. Thou hast found mine;
But how, is to be question'd; for I saw her,
As I thought, dead; and have in vain said many 140
A prayer upon her grave. I'll not seek far,--
For him, I partly know his mind,--to find thee
An honourable husband. Come, Camillo,
And take her by the hand, whose worth and honesty
Is richly noted and here justified 145
By us, a pair of kings. Let's from this place.
What! look upon my brother: both your pardons,
That e'er I put between your holy looks
My ill suspicion. This your son-in-law,
And son unto the king, whom heavens directing, 150
Is troth-plight to your daughter. Good Paulina,
Lead us from hence, where we may leisurely
Each one demand, and answer to his part
Perform'd in this wide gap of time, since first
We were dissever'd: hastily lead away. [_Exeunt._ 155

LINENOTES:

SCENE III.] SCENE VII. Pope.

A chapel ...] A Chapel in Paulina's House: at upper End a Nich; a
Curtain before it. Capell.

Lords and Attendants.] Rowe. Hermione (like a Statue:) Lords, &c. Ff.

[16] _you_] _you've_ Anon. conj.

[18] _Lonely_] Hanmer. _Louely_ F1. _Lovely_ F2 F3 F4. See note
(XXIII).

[20] [Paulina ...] Rowe.

[28] _much_] om. Seymour conj.

[41] _thy_] _my_ Theobald.

[44] _then_] _thus_ Collier (Collier MS.).

[47] _colour's_] _colours_ S. Walker conj.

[48] [Staying Perdita. Capell.

[52, 53] _sorrow But_] _sorrow but It_ S. Walker conj.

[58] _is mine,_] _i' th' mine_ Tyrwhitt conj.

[61] _moves_] _move_ Pope.

[62] _already--_] Rowe. _alreadie._ F1. _already._ F2 F3 F4. _already
I am but dead stone, looking upon stone_ Collier (Collier MS.).
_already I'm in heaven, amd looking on an angel_. Anon. apud Singer
conj.

[67] _fixure_] _fixture_ F4. _fissure_ Warburton conj.

[68] _As_] _And_ Capell. _So_ Mason conj.

_are_] _were_ Rowe (ed. 2).

[73] _Let't_] _Let_ Johnson.

[74] _I am_] _I'm_ Pope.

[75] _farther_] F1 F2. _further_ F3 F4.

[80] _my_] _me_ F2.

[96] _On: those_] Ff. _And those_ Pope. _Or those_ Hanmer.

[98] [Music.] Rowe.

[100] _upon_] _on you_ Hanmer. _upon you_ Keightley conj. _upon't_
Anon. conj.

[103] [Hermione ...] Rowe.

[109] _suitor?_] Ff. _suitor._ Rowe (ed. 2).

[Embracing her. Rowe.

[112, 113] _She hangs... too_] Arranged by S. Walker as two lines,
ending _pertain ... too._

[114] _make't_] Capell. _make it_ Ff. _make_ Hanmer.

[121] [Presenting Perdita, who kneels to Her. Rowe.

[122] _vials_] Pope. _viols_ Ff.

[129] _Lest_] F3 F4. _Least_ F1 F2.

[144] _by the_] om. Collier (Collier MS.).

[147] [To Her. Hanmer.

[149] _This_] _This'_ S. Walker conj.

[150] _whom heavens directing,_] _from heav'n's directing,_ Hanmer.
_who, heavens directing,_ Capell. _(whom heavens directing,_) Malone.

[155] _We were_] F1 F2. _Were_ F3 F4.

NOTES.

NOTE I.

I. 2. 42. Warburton, who reads 'good heed' with the later Folios, says that Mr Theobald, not understanding the phrase, altered it to 'good deed.' In reality Theobald recalled the reading of the first Folio, which Warburton had not taken the trouble to collate.

NOTE II.

I. 2. 154. 'Methoughts' is of course a form grammatically inaccurate, suggested by the more familiar 'methinks.' It occurs, however, sufficiently often in the old editions to warrant us in supposing that it came from the author's pen. We therefore retain it.

NOTE III.

I. 2. 272. Mr Collier tells us that some copies of the second Folio read 'think it.' Ours has 'think.'

NOTE IV.

I. 2. 459. Johnson says: 'Dr Warburton's conjecture is, I think, just; but what shall be done with the following words of which I can make nothing? Perhaps the line, which connected them to the rest, is lost.' In fact we should have expected Polixenes to say that his flight without Hermione would be the best means not only of securing his own safety but of dispelling the suspicions Leontes entertained of his queen.

NOTE V.

II. 1. 136. The Folios spell 'than' and 'then' indifferently 'then.' In this passage Malone was inclined to restore 'then.'

NOTE VI.

II. 1. 143. If 'land-damn' be the right reading it has not yet received a satisfactory explanation. The word 'lamback' which in his first edition Mr Collier offered as a conjecture, he afterwards found in the corrected copy of the second Folio. But with the sense which he assigns to it 'to beat,' it seems an anticlimax after the threat contained in the line preceding. We omitted to record in our note that Dr Nicholson proposes to read 'Lent-damn.'

NOTE VII.

II. 3. 177. 'It,' as a possessive pronoun, is found again in this play (III. 2. 99). In the latter place Rowe was the first to make the correction 'its.' In _The Tempest_ (II. 1. 157), as here, the change is made by the third Folio. See our note on that passage. It is remarkable that the only comedies in which this ancient usage occurs, viz. _The Tempest_ and _The Winter's Tale_, are among the latest of our author's works. Perhaps the printer is responsible for the singularity.

Mr Staunton has mentioned the following instances in the Histories and Tragedies: _King John_, II. 1, _Timon of Athens_, V. 2, _King Lear_, I. 4, _Hamlet_, I. 2 and V. 1. 'It' occurs besides in _Henry V_., V. 2, _Cymbeline_, III. 4, _Romeo and Juliet_, I. 3, and _Antony and Cleopatra_, II. 7.

In _Hamlet_, I. 2, the first Quarto has _his_, the first Folio, published twenty years later, has _it_. In the same play, V. 1, one of the Quartos has _it's_. Professor Craik quotes also from the Quarto, _ith_ or _it_ in _King Lear_, IV. 2. But the two Quartos of 1608 in Capell's collection both read _it_. 'Its' is found in _The Tempest_, I. 2. 95, 393, _Measure for Measure_, I. 2. 4, _Winter's Tale_, I. 2. 151, 152, 157, 266, III. 3. 46, 2 _Henry VI._ III. 2, _Henry VIII._ I. 1. On the whole we think it most probable that Shakespeare would not deliberately have written _it_ for _its_, or _his_, except when imitating the language of rustics or children. It is only fair, however, to mention that Mr Staunton and Professor Craik are of a different opinion. After all it is not of very great consequence which form we preserve in the text, as we carefully record all the minutest variations at the foot of the page.

NOTE VIII.

III. 2. 10. The first Folio prints 'silence' in italics, like a stage-direction. The subsequent Folios have 'Silence. Enter,' also in italics. Rowe printed it, as we have done, as part of the officer's speech. Capell assigned it to a crier, and Mr Dyce, in support of this, quotes the commencement of Queen Catharine's trial, in _Henry the Eighth_, II. 4. But there is no reason why in this play the officer who has already spoken should not also command silence.

NOTE IX.

III. 2. 41. "It is surprising," says Mr Staunton, "that this passage should have passed without question, for grief must surely be an error. Hermione means that life to her is of as little estimation as the most trivial thing which she would part with; and she expresses the same sentiment shortly after in similar terms,--'no life,--I prize it not a straw.' Could she speak of grief as a trifle, of no moment or importance?"

Is not the meaning this, that Hermione now holds life and grief to be inseparable and would willingly be rid of both? Johnson's note is to this effect.

NOTE X.

III. 3. 59. If written in Arabic numerals 16 would be more likely to be mistaken for 10 than 13, which Capell suggested. Besides 'sixteen' seems to suit the context better than 'thirteen.' Another mistake of one number for another occurs IV. 2. 3, but this may have been an error on the author's part.

NOTE XI.

III. 3. 122. Capell's copy of the first Folio has distinctly 'fight.' A copy in the possession of the Rev. N. M. Ferrers, Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, has as distinctly 'sight.'

NOTE XII.

IV. 1. 1. Johnson followed Theobald and Warburton in printing Time's speech at the end of the third act, but said in his note: 'I believe this speech of Time rather begins the fourth act than concludes the third.' He had not referred, apparently, to the Folios or to Rowe and Pope. Theobald did not mean to include the speech in either act, but drew a line above it to mark that it was an interlude between the third and fourth. Warburton, and Johnson after him, omitted the line.

NOTE XIII.

IV. 3. 48. A writer in _The Gentleman's Magazine_, 1st series, Vol. LX. p. 306, suggests that by 'me--' in this place is meant 'mercy,' and that the clown's exclamation is interrupted by Autolycus.

NOTE XIV.

IV. 4. 82. We have retained here the spelling 'gillyvors' in preference to the more familiar form 'gillyflowers,' because the latter is due to an etymological error. The original word is 'caryophyllus,' which becomes 'girofle' in French, and thence by metathesis 'gilofre,' 'gillyvor.'

NOTE XV.

IV. 4. 263. We have retained _wives_ in this passage because Steevens' reading _wives'_ is too strictly grammatical to accord with the reckless volubility of the charlatan. To be consistent, Steevens ought to have printed _witnesses'_ for _witnesses_ in line 275.

NOTE XVI.

IV. 4. 288. The first three Folios read thus;

Song. _Get you hence for I must goe_
Aut. _Where it fits not you to know._

The fourth thus:

SONG.

_Get you hence for I must go,_
Aut. _Where fits not you to know._

Rowe first set it right.

NOTE XVII.

IV. 4. 328. We have adopted the spelling 'squier' here, as in _Love's Labour's Lost_, V. 2. 474, because the word in this sense is now obsolete, and because this spelling comes nearest to 'esquierre,' from which it is derived.

NOTE XVIII.

IV. 4. 417. We have followed Rowe in ejecting the first 'never' from the line, for these reasons. 1. The misprint is of a very common sort. The printer's eye caught the word at the end of the line. 2. The metre is improved by the change. The line was made doubly inharmonious by the repetition of 'never.' 3. The sense is improved. Polixenes would rather make light of his son's sighs than dwell so emphatically upon their cause.

NOTE XIX.

IV. 4. 504. We think Malone's stage direction 'going' was inserted under a mistaken view of Florizel's meaning. He apologises to Camillo for talking apart with Perdita in his presence. At the commencement of this whispered conversation he said to Camillo, 'I'll hear you by and by,' and at the close of it he turns again to him with 'Now, good Camillo;' &c.

NOTE XX.

IV. 4. 693. In the first Folio the reading is 'at 'Pallace,' the apostrophe, if it be not a misprint, pointing either to the omission of the article or its absorption in rapid pronunciation, as in IV. 4. 105, 'with' Sun.' Perhaps the Clown speaks of the King being 'at palace' as he would have spoken of an ordinary man being 'at home.'

NOTE XXI.

IV. 4. 715. The first Folio has 'at toaze,' which is apparently a corruption. The subsequent Folios read 'or toaze,' which in default of a more certain correction we have adopted. It is not improbable, however, that Autolycus may have coined a word to puzzle the clowns, which afterwards puzzled the printers.

NOTE XXII.

V. I. 60. Steevens distinctly claims as his own the emendation which is due to Capell, and credit has been given him for it by Malone and subsequent editors. In a similar manner he appropriates Capell's division of the speeches in line 75 as a conjecture of his own. Malone proposes to retain the reading of the Folios in lines 58-60, with a different punctuation, thus:

"Again possess her corpse, (and on the stage
Where we offenders now appear soul-vex'd)
And begin, 'why to me?'"

In the last words there is probably a corruption which cannot be removed by simple transposition.

NOTE XXIII.

V. 3. 18. Mr Halliwell says that 'Lonely' is the reading of the first Folio. Capell's copy has 'Lowely,' and the same is found in Mr Ferrers' copy.

CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

_NOTICES OF THE PRESS._

"An Edition on a plan which differs altogether from that adopted by any; a plan so excellent in itself, and so well carried out, that we have no hesitation in saying that it is likely to be, when completed, the most useful one to the scholar and intelligent reader which has yet appeared."--_Athenæum._

"We regard the appearance of the Cambridge Shakespeare as an epoch in editing the works of the foremost man in the dramatic world. Besides many positive virtues in this edition, the hitherto prevailing errors are avoided. The gross blunders and unauthorized fancies of generations of editors are banished from the text; the more tolerable or the less noxious conjectures are removed to the notes; space is allowed and justice is rendered to all former labourers in the editorial field. He who is indifferent to verbal criticism may read in peace an orthodox text; and he who is curious in such matters will find various readings supplied to him in full measure."--_Saturday Review._

"There were, indeed, plenty of editions of Shakespeare, great and small, with plenty of notes small and great, but a critical text founded at once upon the exhaustive collation of all existing sources, and upon the immense mass of learning and conjecture accumulated by Shakespearian scholars, was absolutely wanting."--_Spectator._

"The very edition so long needed, and the most perfect that has ever been produced.... The Shakespearian collection given by Capell to Trinity Library, Cambridge, supplies, say the editors, a mass of materials almost unrivalled in amount and value, and in some points unique; and they have thus enjoyed facilities for the execution of their task which few besides could have possessed.... Not only will this Cambridge Shakespeare be the choice of numbers who must be content with a single copy for the shelf and fireside, but all lovers of the dramatist will be compelled and will be eager to add it to the collection of best editions they may already have acquired."--_Nonconformist._

"A work which, when complete, will deserve to take its place as the Library Edition of Shakespeare. While the greater part of the contents can never grow old, it will have a value far superior to that of a conjecturally amended text, or a simple reprint of the first folio. It shows us, with singular conciseness and clearness, how much, or how little, previous editors have been able to do for the text, and thus gives us the results of many men's labours.... We have the result of the latest investigations without the pain of seeing critic or commentator struggling over the text of Shakespeare."--_Guardian._

"Hitherto the ordinary reader has never been able to ascertain for himself the extent to which the original text of the poet has been tampered with, or even to apportion to various emendators the proper share of merit due to them for their conjectures. The Cambridge Shakespeare supplies them the means of solving both these problems, and will thus enable the ordinary reader to construct, as it were, a text for himself. So careful and extensive a collation of texts as that made in this edition has rarely, if ever, been made with respect to ancient author of Greece or Rome."--_Daily News._

* * * * *
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Transcriber's notes: |
| |
| P. 81. Linenote: 60 should be 61, changed. |
| P. 265 Linenote:65. 'olly' changed to 'folly'. |
| P. 270. Linenote: 28 'Youth to fight' is 31, changed. |
| P. 413. linenote:123. 'Cleomines' changed to 'Cleomenes'. |
| Fixed various punctuation. |
| Note: underscores to surround _italic text_, and = around |
| =bold text=. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+