To your high presence.

LEO. What with him? he comes not
Like to his father's greatnefs: his approach,

So out of circumstance, and sudden, tells us,
'Tis not a visitation fram'd, but forc'd
By need, and accident. What train ?
Gen. But few,

And those but mean.

LEO. His princefs, fay you, with him?

Gen. Ay; the moft peerless piece of earth, I think, That e'er the fun fhone bright on.

As

PAU. O Hermione,

every present time doth boaft 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: She had not been,
Nor was not to be equal'd, — thus your verfe
Flow'd with her beauty once; 'tis fhrewdly ebb'd,.
To fay, you have seen a better.

Gen. 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 the begin a fect, might quench the zeal
Of all profeffors elfe; make profelites

Of who the but bid follow.

PAU. How? not women?

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

Lzo. Go, Cleomenes;

Yourself, affifted with your honour'd friends,
Bring them to our embracement. Still 'tis ftrange,
[Exeunt CLEOMENES, Lords, and Gentleman.
He thus fhould steal upon us.

PAU. Had our prince

(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: fure,
When I fhall fee this gentleman, thy fpeeches
Will bring me to confider that, which may
Unfurnish me of reason. They are come. —

---

Re-enter Cleomenes, &c. with

FLORIZEL, and PERDITA.

Your mother was most 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 should call you brother,
As I did him; and fpeak of fomething, wildly
By us perform'd before. Moft dearly welcome; -
And your fair princess, Goddess ! O, alas,
I loft a couple, that 'twixt heaven and earth
Might thus have stood, begetting wonder, as
You, gracious couple, do! and then I loft
(All mine own folly) the society,

Amity too, of your brave father; whom,
Though bearing misery, I desire my life
Once more to look on.

FLO. Sir, by his command

Have I here touch'd Sicilia; and from him

30
v. Note.

Give you all greetings, that a king, at friend,
Can fend his brother: and, but infirmity

97

(Which waits upon worn times) hath something seiz'd His wifh'd ability, he had himself

The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his

Measur'd, to look upon you; whom he loves

(He bad me fay fo) more than all the scepters, And those that bear them, living.

LEO. O my brother,

(Good gentleman) the wrongs, I have done thee, ftir Afresh within me; and these thy offices,

So rarely kind, are as interpreters

Of my behind-hand flackness !

Welcome hither,

As is the spring to the earth. And hath he too
Expos'd this paragon to the fearful usage
(At least, ungentle) of the dreadful Neptune,
To greet a man, not worth her pains; much lefs
The adventure of her person?

FLO. Good my lord,

She came from Libia.

LEO. Where the warlike Smalus,

That noble honour'd lord, is fear'd, and lov'd?

FLO. Moft royal fir, from thence; from him, whose daughter

His tears proclaim'd his, parting with her : thence
(A profperous fouth-wind friendly) we have croff'd,
To execute the charge my father gave me,
For visiting your highnefs: My best train
I have from your Sicilian fhores difmiff'd ;
Who for Bohemia bend, to fignify

Not only my fuccefs in Libia, fir,
But my arrival, and my wife's, in safety

VOL. IV.

T

Here, where we happily are.
LEO. The bleffed gods

Purge all infection from our air, whilft you
Do climate here! You have a holy father,
A graceful gentleman; against whose perfon,
So facred as it is, I have done fin:

For which the heavens, taking angry note,
Have left me iffue-lefs; and your father's bleff'd
(As he from heaven merits it) with you,

Worthy his goodness. What might I have been, Might I a fon and daughter now have look'd on, Such goodly things as you?

Enter a Lord.

Lor. Moft noble fir,

That, which I fhall report, will bear no credit, Were not the proof fo nigh. Please you, great fir; Bohemia greets you from himself, by me:

Desires you to attach his fon ; who has
(His dignity and duty both caft off)

Fled from his father, from his hopes, and with
A fhepherd's daughter.

LEO. Where's Bohemia? fpeak,

Lor. Here in your city; I now came from him: I fpeak amazedly; and it becomes

My marvel, and my meffage. To your court
Whiles he was haft'ning, (in the chace, it feems,
Of this fair couple) meets he on the way
The father of this feeming lady, and

Her brother, having both their country quitted
With this young prince.

FLO. Camillo has betray'd me;

Whose honour, and whose honefty, till now

Endur'd all weathers.

Lor. Lay't fo, to his charge; He's with the king your father. LEO. Who? Camillo ?

Lor. Camillo, fir; I fpake with him; who now Has these poor men in queftion. Never faw I Wretches fo quake: they kneel, they kifs the earth; Forfwear themselves as often as they speak: Bohemia ftops his ears, and threatens them With divers deaths in death.

PER. O my poor father! __

The heaven fets spies upon us, will not have
Our contract celebrated.

LEO. You are marry'd ?

FLO. We are not, fir, nor are we like to be;

The ftars, I fee, will kifs the valleys first:

The odds for high and low's alike.

LEO. My lord,

Is this the daughter of a king?

FLO. She is,

When once fhe is my wife.

LEO. That once, I fee, by your good father's fpeed, Will come on very flowly. I am forry,

Moft forry, you have broken from his liking,
Where you were ty'd in duty and as forry,
Your choice is not fo rich in worth, as beauty,

That you might well enjoy her.
FLO. Dear, look up:

Though fortune, visible an enemy,

Should chafe us, with my father; power no jot

Hath fhe, to change our loves.

'Beseech you, fir,

Remember fince you ow'd no more to time