!

The innocent milk in its most innocent mouth, To bloody thoughts and to revenge, I chose
Haled out to murder; myself on every post

Camillo for the minister, to poison
Proclaim'd a strumpet; with immodest hatred, My friend Polixenes : which had been done,
The child-bed privilege denied, which ’longs But that the good mind of Camillo tardied
To women of all fashion. Lastly, hurried

My swift command, though I with death, and with
Hereto this place, i'the open air, before

Reward, did threaten and encourage him,
I have got strength of limit. Now, my liege,

Not doing it, and being done: he, most humane,
Tell me, what blessings I have here alive,

And fill'd with honour, to my kingly guest
That I should fear to die? Therefore, proceed! Unclasp'd my practice, quit his fortunes here,
But yet hear this; mistake me not! - No! life, Which you knew great, and to the certain hazard
I prize it not a straw:- - but for mine honour,

Of all uncertainties himself commended,
(Which I would free,) if I shall be condemn'd No richer, than his honour. How he glisters
Upon surmises, all proofs sleeping else,

Thorough my rust! and how his piety
But what your jealousies awake, 1 tell you,

Does my deeds make the blacker!
'Tis rigour, and not law. - Your honours all,

Re-enter Paulina.
I do refer me to the oracle;

Paul. Woe the while!
Apollo be my judge!

0, cut my lace, lest my heart, cracking it,
i Lord. This your request

Break too!
Is altogether just: therefore, bring forth

1 Lord. What fit is this, good lady?
And in Apollo's name, his oracle!

Paul. What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me? ] (Exeunt certain Officers. What wheels ? racks? fires? What flaying? boiling, Her. The emperor of Russia was my father:

In leads, or oils? what old, or newer torture
0, that he were alive, and here beholding

Must I receive; whose every word deserves
His daughter's trial! that he did but see

To taste of thy most worst? Thy tyranny
The flatness of my misery; yet with eyes

Together working with thy jealousies,
Of pity, not revenge!

Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle
Re-enter Officers, with Cleomenes and Diox. For girls of nine! — 0, think, what they have done,
Offi. You here shall swear upon this sword of justice, and then run mad, indeed; stark mad! for all
That you, Cleomenes and Dion, have,

Thy by-gone fooleries were but spices of it,
Been both at Delphos, and from thence have brought that thon betray'dst Polixenes, 'twas nothing;
This seal’d-up oracle, by the hand deliver'd

That did bnt show thee, of a fool, inconstant,
Of great Apollo's priest: and that, since then, And damnable ungrateful: nor was't much,
You have not dar'd to break the holy seal,

Thou would'st have poison'd good Camillo's honour,
Nor read the secrets in't.

To have him killa king; poor trespasses,
Cleo. Dion. All this we swear.

More monstrous standing by! whereof I reckon
Leon. Break up the seals, and read!

The casting forth to crows thy baby daughter, Offi. [Reads.] Hermione is chaste, Polixenes blame- To be or none, or little; though a devil less, Camillo a true subject, Leontes a jealous ty- Would have shed water out of fire, ere don't: rant, his innocent babe truly begotten; and the king Nor is't directly laid to thee, the death shall live without an heir, if that, which is lost, be of the young prince; whose honourable thoughts not found.

(Thoughts high for one so tender) cleft the heart Lords. Now blessed be the great Apollo!

That could conceive, a cross and foolish sire
Her. Praised!

Blemish'd his gracious dam: this is not, no,
Leon. Hast thon read truth?

Laid to thy answer: but the last, – 0, lords,
Offi. Ay, my lord; even so,

When I have said, cry, woe! - the

queen, As it is here set down.

The sweetest, dearest, creature's dead; and vengeance
Leon. There is no truth at all i'the oracle:

for't
The sessions shall proceed; this is mere falsehood. Not dropp'd down yet.
Enter a Servant, hastily.

1 Lord. The higher powers forbid !
Serv. My lord the king, the king!

Paul. I say, she's dead; I'll swear't: if word, nor oath
Leon. What is the business?

Prevail not, go and see! If you can bring
Serv. O sir, I shall be hated to reportit:

Tincture, or lustre, in her lip, her eye,
The prince your son, with mere conceit and fear Heat outwardly, or breath within, l'Il serve you,
Of the queen's speed, is gone.

As I would do the gods. — But, O thou tyrant!
Leon. How! gone?

Do not repent these things ! for they are heavier,
Serv. Is dead.

Than all thy woes can stir. Therefore betake thee
Leon. Apollo's angry, and the heavens themselves To nothing but despair ! A thousand knees,
Do strike at my injustice. (Hermione faints.] How Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting,
now there?

Upon a barren mountain, and still winter
Paul. This news is mortal to the queen. - Look In storm perpetual, could not move the gods
down,

To look that way thou wert.
And see what death is doing!

Leon. Go on, go on!
Leon. Take her hence;

Thou canst not speak too much; I have deserv'd
Her heart is but o'ercharg’d; she will recover,

All tongues to talk their bitterest.
I have too much believ'd mine own suspicion:-

1 Lord. Say no more!
'Beseech you, tenderly apply to her
Some remedies for life! - Apollo, pardon

Howe'er the business goes, you have made fault

l'the boldness of your speech.
(Exeunt Paulina and Ladies, with Herm. Paul. I am sorry for’t;
My great profaneness'gainst thine oracle ! -
l'll reconcile me to Polixenes,

All faults I make, when I shall come to know them,

I do repent. Alas, I have show'd too much
New woo my queen, recal the good Camillo,

The rashness of a woman: he is touch'd
Whom I proclaim a man of truth, of mercy:

To the noble heart. - What's gone, and what's past
For, being transported by my jealousies

help,

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queen, the

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Should be past grief. Do not receive affliction, Of king Polixenes, it should here be laid,
Atmy petition, I beseech you; rather
Either for life, or death, upon the carth

hva the
Let me be punish’d, that haveminded you
Ofits right father. - Blossom, speed thee well!

tehen Of what you should forget! Now, good my liege,

(Laying down the child.
Sir, royal sir, forgive a foolish woman!

There lie, and there thy character, there these,
The love I bore your queen, - lo, fool again! -

(Laying down a bundle. lis. To I'll speak of her no more, nor of your children; Which may, if fortune please, both breed thee, pretty, u: forgi I'll not remember you of my own lord,

And still rest thine. The storm begins :-poor Step. Whois lost too: take your patience to you,

wretch,
And I'll say nothing.

That, for thy mother's fault, art thus expos'd
Leon, Thou didst speak but well,

To loss, and what may follow! -- Weep I cannot,
When most the truth; which I receive much better, But my heart bleeds : and most accurs’d am I,
Than to be pitied of thee. Pr’ythee, bring me To be by oath enjoin'd to this.- Farewell!

C G
To the dead bodies of my queen, and s

son:

The day frowns more and more; thou art like to have
One grave shall be for both: upon them shall A lullaby too rough : I never saw
The causes of their death appear, unto

The heavens so dim by day. A savage clamour ? -
Our shame perpetual. Once a day I'll visit

Well may I get aboard! - This is the chace;
The chapel, where they lie; and tears, shed there, I am gone for ever. [Exit, pursued by a bear.
Shall be my recreation. So long as

Enter an old Shepherd.
Nature will bear up with this exercise,

Shep. I would, there were no age between ten and
So long I daily vow to use it. Come,

three-and-twenty; or that youth would sleep out the
And lead me to these sorrows!

[Exeunt. rest : furthere is nothing in the between but getting

wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing,
SCENE III.-Bohemia. A desert country near the sea. lighting. - Hark you now! · Would any but these

Enter ANTIGONUS, with the child; and a Mariner. boiled brains of nineteen, and two-and-twenty, hunt
Ant. Thou art perfect then, our ship hath touch'd this weather? They have scared away two of my best
upon

sheep; which, I fear, the wolf will sooner find, than
The deserts of Bohemia?

the master: if any where I have them, 'tis by the sea-
Mar. Ay, my lord; and fear,

side, browzing on ivy. Good luck, an't be thy will!
We have landed in ill time; the skies look grimly, what have we here? [Taking up the child.] Mercy
And threaten present blusters. In my conscience, on’s, a barne; a very pretty barne! A boy, or a child,
The heavens with that, we have in hand, are angry, I wonder? A pretty one; a very pretty one! Sure,
And frown upon us.
some scape: though I am not bookish, yet I can read

Tou
Ant. Their sacred wills be done! - Go, get aboard; waiting-gentlewoman in the scape. This has been
Look to thy bark! I'll not be lovg, before
some stair-work,some trunk-work, some behind-door-

oft I call upon thee.

work: they were warmer, that got this, than the poor
Mar. Make your best haste, and go not
thing is here. I'll take it up for pity: yet I'll tarry, till

Toa
Too fari'the land; 'tis like to be loud weather; my son come; he hollaed but even now. Whoa, ho hoa!
Besides, this place is famous for the creatures

Enter Clown.

The
Of prey, that keep upon't.

Clo. Hilloa, loa!
Ant. Go thou away.
Shep. What, art so near? If thou'lt see a thing to

The
I'll follow instantly.

talk on, when thou art dead and rotten, come hither!
Mar. I am glad at heart
What ailest thou, man?

The
To be so rid o'the business.

[Exit. Clo. I have seen two such sights, by sea, and by land;
Ant. Come, poor babe!.

- but I am not to say, it is a sea, forit is now the sky;
I have heard, (but not believ'd) the spirits of the dead betwixt the firmament and it, you cannot thrust a bod-
May walk again : if such thing be, thy mother kin's point.
Appear'd to me last night; for ne'er was dream Shep. Why, boy, how is it?
So like a waking. To me comes a creature,

Clo. I would, you did but see, how it chafes, how it
Sometimes her head on one side, some another; rages, how it takes up the shore! but that's not to the
I never saw a vessel of like sorrow,

point. 0,the most piteous cry of the poor souls ! someSo fill’d, and so becoming: in pure white robes, times to see'em, and not to see'em: now the ship Like very sanctity, she did approach

boring the moon with her main-mast; and anon swalMy cabin, where Ilay: thrice bow'd before me, lowed with yest and froth, as you'd trust a cork into a And, gasping to begin some speech, her eyes

hogs-head. And then for the land service, – to see Became two sponts: the fury spent, anon

how the bear tore out his shoulder-bone; how he cried Did this break from her: Good Antigonus,

to me for help, and said, his name was Antigonus, a Since fate, against thy belter disposition,

nobleman! -But to make an end of the ship :--to see Hath mude thy person for the thrower-out

how the sea flap-dragoned it:- but, first, how the of my poor babe, according to thine oath, - poor souls roared, and the sea mocked them; - and Places remote enough are in Bohemia,

how the poor gentleman roared, and the bear mocked There weep, and leave it crying; and, for the babe him, both roaring louder, than the sea, or weather. Is counted lost for ever, Perdita,

Shep. 'Name of mercy, when was this, boy?
I prythee, call't: for this ungentle business, Clo. Now, now; I have not winked since I saw these
Put on thee by my lord, thou ne'er shalt see

sights: the men are not yet cold under water, nor the
Thy wife Paulina more: - and so, with shrieks, bear half dined on the gentleman; he's at it now.
She melted into air. Affrighted much,

Shep. Would I had been by, to have helped the old I did in time collect myself, and thought

man! This was so, and no slumber. Dreams are toys: Clo. I would, you had been by the ship side, to have Yet, for this once, yea, superstitiously,

helped her; there your charity would have lacked I will be squar'd by this. I do believe,

footing Hermione hath suffer'd death; and that

Shep. Heavy matters ! heavy matters! but look thee Apollo would, this being indeed the issue

here, boy! Now bless thyself; thou met'st with things

Top

(Aside.

dying, I with things new born. Here's a sight for thee ; sorrows I might be some allay, or I o’erween to think look thee, a bearing-cloth for a squire's child! Look so; which is another spur to my departure. thee here; take up, take up, boy ; open’t ! So, let's see; Pol. As thou lovest me, Camillo, wipe not out the it was told me, I should be rich by the fairies : this is rest of thy services, by leaving me now! The need, I some changeling :- open't! What’s within, boy? have of thee, thine own goodness hath made; better

Clo. You're a made old man; if the sins of your youth not to have had thee, than thus to want thee: thou, are forgiven you, you're well to live. Gold! all gold! having inade me businesses, which nove, without thee,

Shep. This is fairy gold, boy, and 'twill prove so: can sufficiently manage, must either stay, to execute up with it, keep it close; home, home, the next way! them thyself, or take away with thee the very services, We are lucky, boy; and to be so still, requires nothing thou hast done: which if I have not enough considerbut secrecy. --Let my sheep go!--- Come, good boy, ed, (as too much I cannot,) to be more thankful to thee, the next way home!

shall be my study: and my profit therein, the heaping Clo. Go you the next way with your findings; Pll friensdhips. Of that fatal country Sicilia, pr’ythee go see if the bear be gone from the gentleman, and speak no more: whose very naming punishes me with how much he hath eaten: they are never curst, but the remembrance of that penitent, as thou call'st him, when they are hungry: if there be any of him left, I'll and reconciled king, my brother; whose loss of his bury it.

most precious queen, and children are even now to Shep. That's a good deed. If thou may'st discern by be afresh lamented. Say to me, when saw'st thou the that which is left of him, what he is, fetch me to the prince Florizel, my son? Kings are po less unhappy, sight of him!

their issue not being gracious, than they are in losing Clo. Marry, will l; and you shall help to put him i'the them, when they have approved their virtnes. ground.

Cam. Sir, it is three days since I saw the prince: Shep. 'Tis a lucky day, boy; and we'll do good deeds what his happier affair may be, are to me unknown: on't.

[Exeunt. but I have, missingly, noted, he is of late much retired

from court, and is less frequent to his princely exer

cises, than formerly he hath appeared. А ст IV.

Pol. I have considered so much, Camillo, and with Enter Time, as Chorus.

some care; so far, that I have eyes under my services, Time. I, that please some, try all, both joy, and which look upon his removednes: from whom I have terror,

this intelligence, that he is seldom from the house of of good and bad; that make, and unfold error, a most homely shepherd; a man, they say, that from Now take upon me, in the name of Time,

very nothing, and beyond the imagination of his neighTo use my wings. Impute it not a crime,

bours is grown into an unspeakable estate. To me, or my swift passage, that I slide

Cam. I have heard, sir, of such a man, who hath a O'er sixteen years, and leave the growth untried daughter of most rare note: the report of her is 'exOf that wide gap; since it is in my power

tended more, than can be thought to begin from such To o’erthrow law, and in one self-born hour

a cottage. To plant and o’erwhelm custom. Let me paşs Pol. 'That's likewise part of my intelligence. But, I The same I am, ere ancient'st order was,

fear the angle, that plucks our son thither. Thou shalt Or what is now received: I witness to

accompany us to the place: where we will, not appearThe times that brought them in; so shall I do ing what we are, have some question with the shepherd; To the freshest things now reigning, and make stale from whose simplicity I think it not uneasy to get The glistering of this present, as my tale

the cause of my son's resort thither. Pr’ythee, be my Now seems to it. Your patience this allowing, present partner in this business, and lay aside the I turn my glass, and give my scene such growing, thoughts of Sicilia! As you had slept between. Leontes leaving

Cam. I willingly obey your command. The effects of his fond jealousies, so grieving, Pol. My best Camillo! - We must disguise onrselves. That he shuts up himself, imagine me,

(Exeunt. Gentle spectators, that I now may be

SCENE II. In fair Bohemia; and remember well,

- The same. A road near the Shepherd's I mentioned a son o’the king's, which Florizei

cottage. Inow name to you; and with speed so pace

Enter AutoLycus, singing. To speak of Perdita, now grown in grace

When daffodils begin to peer, Equal with wond'ring. What of her ensues,

With, heigh! the doxy over the dale, Nist not prophecy; but let Time's news

Why, then comes in the sweet o'the year; Be known, when 'tis brought forth: a shepherd's

For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale. daughter,

The white sheet bleaching on the hedge, And what to her adheres, which follows after,

Ilith, hey! the sweet birds, 0, how they sing! Is the argument of time. of this allow,

Doth set my pugging tooth on edge; If ever you have spent time worse ere now;

For a quart of ale is a dish for a king. If never yet, that Time himself doth say,

The lark, that tirru-lirra chaunts, He wishes earnestly, you never may.

[Exit. With, hey! with, hey! the thrush and the jay :

Are summer songs for me and my aunts,
SCENE I. The same. Aroom in the palace of While we lie tumbling in the hay.
Polixenes.

I have served prince Florizel, and, in my time, wore
Enter Polimexes and CAMILLO.
Pol. I pray thee, good Camillo, be no more importn-

three-pile; but now I am out of service: nate! 'tis a sickness, denying thee any thing; a death,

But shall I go mourn for that, my dear? to grant this.

The pale moon shines by night:
Cam. It is fifteen years, since I saw my country;

And when I wander here and there, thongh I have, for the most part, been aired abroad, I

I then do most go right. desire to lay my bones there. Besides, the penitent If tinkers may have leave to live, king, my master, hath sent for me: to whose feeling And bear the sow-skin budget;

:-a

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Fl. 1 With the The mic

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Then my account I well may give,

Aut. Vices I would say, sir. I know this man well: he
And in the stocks arouch it.

hath been since an ape-bearer; then process-server,
Aly traffic is sheets; when the kite builds, look to les-'a bailifl'; then he compassed a motion of the prodigal
ser linen. My father named me Autolycus; who song, and married a tiuker's wife within a mile,where
being, as I am, littered under Mercury, was likewise a my land and liviog lies; and, having flown over many
snapper-up of unconsidered trilles. With die, and knavish professions, he settled only in rogue: some
dra!), I purchased this caparison: and my revenue is call him Autolycus.
the silly cheat. Gallows, and knock, are too powerful Clo. Outupon him! Prig, for my life, prig: he haunts
on the highway: beating, and hangiug, are terrors to wakes, fairs, and bear-baitings.
mc; for the life to come, I sleep out the thought of it. Aut. Very true, sir; he, sir, he; that's the rogue,
- A prize! A prize!

that put me into this apparel.
Enter Clown.

Clo. Not a more cowardly rogue in all Bohemia! If Clo. Let me see! - Every 'leven wether tods; you had but looked big, and spit at him, l. 'd have run. every tod yields— pound and odd shilling: fifteen Aut, I must confess to you, sir, I am no fighter : I am hundred shorn, —what comes the wool to ?

falseofheart that way;and that he knew, I warrant him.
Aut. If the springe hold, the cock's mine. [ Aside. Clo. How do you now?

Clo. I cannot do't without counters. Let me see; Aut. Sweet sir, much better, than I was ; I can stand,
what am I to buy for our sheep-shearing feast? Three and walk: 1 will even take my leave of you, and pace
pound of sugar; five pound of currants: rice,- What softly towards my kinsman’s.
will this sister of mine do with rice? But my father Clo. Shall I bring thee on the way?
hath made her mistress of the feast, and she lays it on. Aut. No, good-faced sir; no, sweet sir!
She hath made me four-and-twenty posegays for the Clo. Then fare thee well! I must go buy spices for our
shearers:three-man song-men all, and very good ones; sheep-shearing.
but they are most of them means and bases : but one Ant. Prosper you, sweet sir! - [Exit Clown.] Your
Puritan amongst them, and he sings psalms to horn-purse is not hot enough to purchase your spice. I'll be
pipes. I must have suffron, to colour the warden pies; with you at your sheep-shearing too:If I make not this
mace,-dates,-none; that's out of my note; nutmegs, cheat bring out another, and the shearers prove sheep,
seven; a race, or two, oj ginger ; but that I may beg: let me be unrolled, and my name put in the book of
--four pound of pruncs, and as many of raisins o'the virtue!

Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,
Aut. O, that ever I was born!

Anıt merrily hent the stile-a:
(Grovelling on the ground. A merry heart goes all the day,
Clo. I'the name of me, -

Your sad tires in a mile-a.

(Exit.
Aut. O, hielp me, help me! pluck but off these rags; SCENE III. - The same. A shepherd's coftage.
and then, death, death!

Enter FloNZEL and PERDITA.
Clo. Alack, poor soul! thou hast need of more rags Flo. These your unusual weeds to each part of you ·
to lay on thee, rather than have these off.

Do give a life: no shepherdess, but Flora
Aut. O, sir, the loathsomeness of them offend me Peering in April's front. This your sheep-shcaring
more than the stripes, I have received, which are Is as a meeting of the petty gods,
mighty ones, and millions.

And you the queen ou’t.
Clo. Alas, poor man! a million of beating may come Per. Sir, my gracious lord,
to a great matter.

To chideat your extremes, it not becomes me;
Aut. Iuni robbed, sir, and beaten; my money and lo, pardon, that I name them: your high self,
apparella eu 'rom me, and these detestable things put The gracious mark o’the land, you have obscur'd,
upon me.

With a swain's wearing, and ine, poor lowly maid,
Clo. What, by a horse-man, or a foot-man? Most goddess-like prank'd up. But that our feasts
Aut. A foot-man, sweet sir, a foot-man.

In every mess have folly, and the feeders
Clo. Indeed, he should be a foot-man, by the gar- Digest it with a custom, I should blush,
ment he hath left with thee: if this be a horse-man's To see you so attired; sworu, I think,
coat, it hath seen very liotservice. Lend me thy hand, To show myself a glass.
I'll help thee:come,lend me thy hand![Helping him up. | Flo. I bless the time,
Aut. O! good sir, tenderly, oh!

When my good falcon made her flight across
Clo. Alas, poor soul!

Thy father's ground.
Aut. O, good sir, softly, good sir! I fear, sir, my Per. Now Jove afford you cause!
shoulder-blade is out.

To me, the difference forges dread; your greatness
Clo. How now? canst stand?

Hath not been us'd to fear. Even now I tremble
Aut. Softly, dear sir; [Picks his pocket.] good sir, To think, your father, by some accident,
softly; you ha' done me a charitable office.

Should pass this way, as you did. O, the fates !
Clo: Dostlack any money? I have a little money for How would he look, to see his work, so noble,
thec:

Vilely bound up? What would he say? Or how
Aut. No, good sweet sir! no, J beseech you, sir: I Should I, in these borrow'd flaunts, behold
have a kinsman not past three quarters of a mile hence, The sternness of his presence ?
unto whom I was going; I shall there have money, or Flo. Apprehend
anything I want. Offer me no money, I pray you; that Nothing butjollity! The gods themselves,
kills my heart.

Humbling their deities to love, have taken
Clo. What manner of fellow was he, that robbed you? The shapes of beasts upon them: Jupiter
Aut.A fellow, sir, that I have known to go about with Became a bull, and bellow'd; the green Neptune
trol-my-dames : I knew him once a servant of the ram, and bleated; and the fire-rob'd god,
prince; I cannot tell, good sir, for which of his virtue Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain,
it was, but he was certainly whipped out ofthe court. As I seem now. Their transformations

Clo.His vices, you would say; there's no virtue whip- Were never for a piece of beauty rarer,
ped out of court : they cherish it, to make it stay there; Nor in a way so chaste : since my desires
and yet it will no more but abide.

Ran not before mine honour; nor my lusts

a

ie

Barn hotter, than my faith.

And make conceive a bark of baser kind
Per. O but, dear sir,

By bud of nobler race. This is an art,
Your resolution cannot hold, when 'tis

Which does mend nature, - change it rather : but
Oppos'd, as it must be, by the power o'the king. The art itself is nature.
One of these two must be necessities,

Per. So it is.
Which then will speak : that you must change this Pol. Then make your garden rich in gillyflowers,
purpose,

And do not call them bastards!
Or I my life.

Per. I'll not put
Flo. Thou dearest Perdita,

The dibble in earth, to set one slip of them ;
With these forc'd thoughts, I prythee, darkennot No more than, were I painted. I would wish,
The mirth o'the feast! Orl'll be thine, my fair, This youth should say, 'twere well ; and only therefore
Or not my father's; for I cannot be

Desire to breed by me.-Here's flowers for you:
Mine own, nor any thing to any, if

Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram,
I be not thine. To this I am most constant,

The marigold, that goes to bed with the sun,
Though destiny say no. Be merry, gentle;

And with him rises weeping; these are flowers
Strangle such thoughts as these, with any thing Ofmiddle summer, and, I think, they are given
That you behold the while! Your guests are coming. To men of middle age. You are very welcome.
Lift up your countenance; as it were the day Cam. I should leave grazing, were I of your flock,
Ofcelebration of that nuptial, which

And only live by gazing.
We two have sworn shall come.

Per. Out, alas!
Per. O lady fortune,

You'd be solean, that blasts of January
Stand you auspicious !

Would blow you through and through. -Now, my fuir-
Enter Shepherd, with Polixenes and Camillo, dis- est friend,
guised; Clown, Mopsa, Dorcas, and others. I would I had some flowers o'the spring, that might
Flo. See, your guests approach:

Become your time of day; and yours, and yours;
Address yourself to entertain them sprightly, That wear upon your virgin branches yet
And let's be red with mirth!

Your maidenheads growing.-0 Proserpina, Shep: Fye, daughter! when my old wife liv'd, upon For the flowers now, that, frighted, thou let'st fall This day, she was both pantler, butler, cook; From Dis's waggon! daffodils, Both dame and servant: welcom'd all, serv'd all : That come before the swallow dares, and take Would sing her song, and dance her turn : now here, The winds of March with beauty; violets, dim, At

upper end o’the table, now, i'the middle; But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, On his shoulder, and his; her face o'fire

Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses, With labour; and the thing, she took to quench it, That die unmarried, ere they can behold She would to each one sip: you are retir'd,

Bright Phoebus in his strength, a malady Asif you were a feasted one, and not

Most incident to maids; bold oxlips, and The hostess of the meeting. Pray you, bid

The crown-imperial; lilies of all kinds, These unknown friends to us welcome: for it is The flower-de-luce being one! O, these I lack, A way to make us better friends, more known. To make you garlands of; and, my sweet friend, Come, quench your blushes; and present yourself To strew him o'er and o'er. That, which you are, mistress o'the feast! Come on, Flo. What? like a corse? And bid us welcome to your sheep-shearing,

Per. No, like a bank, for love to lie and play on : As your good flock shall prosper.

Not like a corse: or if, -not to be buried,
Per. Welcome, sir !

[To Polixenes. But quick, and in mine arms. Come take your flowers! It is my father's will, I should take on me

Methinks, I play, as I have seen them do
The hostessship o'the day.-You're welcome, sir ! In Whitsun' pastorals: sure, this robe of mine

(To Camillo. Does change my disposition.
Give me those flowers there, Dorcas !-Reverend sirs, Flo. What you do,
For you there's rosemary, and rue: these keep Still betters what is done. When you speak, sweet,
Seeming, and savour, all the winter long:

I'd have you do it ever: when you sing, Grace, and remembrance be to you both,

I'd have you buy and sell so; so give alms; And welcome to our shearing!

Pray so ; and, for the ordering your affairs, Pol. Shepherdess,

To sing them too. When you do dance, I wish you (A fair one are you,)well you fit our ages

A wave o'the sea, that you might ever do With flowers of winter.

Nothing but that; move still, still so, and own Per. Sir, the year growing ancient,

No other function ! Each your doing,
Nor yet on summer's death, nor on the birth

So singular in each particular,
Of trembling winter, the fairest flowers o'the season Crowns what you are doing in the present deeds,
Are our carnations, and streak'd gillyflowers, That all your acts are queens.,
Which some call nature's bastards : of that kind Per. O Doricles,
Our rustic garden's barren; and I care not

Your praises are too large : but that your youth,
To get slips of them.
Pol. Wherefore, gentlemaiden,

And the true blood, which fairly peeps through it, Do you neglect them?

Do plainly give you out an unstaiu'd shepherd;

With wisdom I might fear, my Doricles, Per. For I have heard it said,

You woo'd me the false way. There is an art, which, in their piedness, shares

Flo. I think, you have
With great creating nature.

As little skill to fear, as I have purpose
Pol, Say, there be;
Yet nature is made better by no mean,

To put you to't.—But, come; our dance, I pray!
But nature makes that mean: so, o'er that art,

Your hand, my Perdita : so turiles pair,

That never mean to part.
Which, you say, adds to nature, is an art

Per. I'll swear for 'em.
That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry
Agentler scion to the wildest stock,

Pol. This is the prettiest low-born lass, that ever
Ran on the green-sward : nothing she does, or seems,

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