And, gafping to begin fome fpeech, her eyes
Became two fpouts; the fury spent, anon
Did this break from her. "Good Antigonus,
"Since fate, against thy better difpofition,
"Hath made thy perfon for the thrower-out
"Of my poor babe, according to thine oath,
"Places remote enough are in Bohemia,
"There weep, and leave it crying; and, for the babe
Is counted loft for ever and ever, Perdita,
I pr'ythee, call't. For this ungentle bufinefs
Put on thee by my Lord, thou ne'er fhalt fee
"Thy wife Paulina more."-And fo, with fhrieks,
She melted into air. Affrighted much,

I did in time collect myfelf, and thought
This was fo, and no flumber: Dreams are toys,
Yet for this once, yea, fuperftitiously,

I will be fquar'd by this. I do believe,
Hermione hath fuffer'd death; and that
Apollo would, this being indeed the iffue
Of King Polixenes, it should here be laid,
Either for life or death, upon the earth

Of its right father. Bloffom, fpeed thee well! (17)
[Laying down the child.
There lie, and there thy character: there these,
Which may, if fortune please, both breed thee, pretty one,
And ftill reft thine. The ftorm begins; poor wretch,
That for thy mother's fault art thus expos'd
To lofs, and what may follow; weep I cannot,
But my heart bleeds: and most accurst am I
To be by oath enjoin'd to this. Farewel!

The day frowns more and more; thou art like to have
A lullaby too rough: I never faw

The heav'ns fo dim by day. A favage clamour!

There lie, and there thy character.- -] The reafon why the name of character is given to the gold mantle and medal, feems this: By thefe, her quality was to be known. And the Naturalifts and Bosanifts pretending, that the qualities of every plant may be known by its mark or character, which, they fay, Nature has imprefs'd on it; after he had call'd the child bloffom, he ftraight makes an allufion to that opinion, and fays, thy character. Mr. Warburton.

Well

Well may I get aboard! this is the chace;

I am gone for ever.

[Exit, purfued by a bear.

Enter an old Shepherd.

Shep. I would there were no age between ten and three and twenty, or that youth would fleep out the reft for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, ftealing, fighting-hark you now!-would any but thefe boil'd brains of nineteen and two and twenty hunt this weather? they have fcar'd away two of my best sheep, which, I fear, the wolf will fooner find than the mafter; if any where I have them, 'tis by the fea-fide, brouz. ing of ivy. Good luck, an't be thy will! what have we here? [Taking up the child] Mercy on's, a bearne! a very pretty bearne! a boy, or a child, I wonder! a pretty one, a very pretty one; fure, fome 'fcape: tho' I am not bookish, yet I can read waiting-gentlewoman in the 'fcape. 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; whoa, ho-hoa!

Clo. Hilloa, loa!

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; (18) but I am not to fay, it is a fea; for it is now the fky; betwixt the firmament and it you cannot thrust a bodkin's point.

(18) But I am not to fay, it is a fea; for it is now the ský; betwixt the firmament and it, you cannot thruft a bodkin's point.] I will not pretend to be pofitive, our Author had Don Quixote here in his eye; but Sancho facetiously fays fomething very like this, upon the fudden mutability of a woman's refolutions. Entre el fi y el no de la Muger no me atreveria yo a poner una punta d' alfiler. Between a woman's ay and no I would not undertake to thrust a pin's point. This changeableness our Author, in his Lear has finely call'd, The undistinguish'd Space of woman's will,

VOL. III.

N

Shep.

Shep. Why, boy, how is it?

Clo. I would, you did but fee how it chafes, how it rages, how it takes up the fhore; but that's not to the point; oh, the moft pitious 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 swallow'd with yeft and froth, as you'd thrust a cork into a hogshead. And then for the land-service, to fee how the bear tore out his fhoulder-bone, how he cry'd to me for help, and faid his name was Antigonus, a nobleman. But to make an end of the fhip, to see how the fea flap-dragon'd it. But firft, 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 fea, or weather.

Shep. Name of mercy, when was this, boy?

Clo. Now, now, I have not wink'd fince I saw these fights; the men are not yet cold under water, nor the bear half din'd on the gentleman; he's at it now.

(19) Shep. Would I had been by to have help'd the nobleman.

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; thou 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?

(20) Clo. You're a made old man; if the fins of

your

youth

(19) Shep. Would, I had been by to have help'd the old man. n.] Tho all the printed copies concur in this reading, I am perfuaded we ought to reftore, nobleman. The shepherd knew nothing of Antigonus's age; befides, the clown had just told his father, that he faid, his name was Antigonusa nobleman, and no less than three times in this fhort fcene, the clown, fpeaking of him, calls him the gentleman.

(20) You're a mad old man; if the fins of your youth are forgiven you, you're well to live, Gold! all gold!] This the clown fays upon his

opening

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 fo ftill, requires nothing but fecrefy. Let my fheep go: come, good boy, the next way home.

Clo. Go you the next way with your findings, I'H go fee if the bear be gone from the gentleman, aud how much he hath eaten they are never curft, but when they are hungry: if there be any of him let, I'll bury it.

Shep. That's a good deed. If thou may't difcere 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 deads

on't.

Enter Time, as Chorus.

[Exeunt

Time. I, that please fome, try all, both joy and terror Of good and bad, that mask and unfold error; (21)

opening his fardel, and difcovering the wealth in it.
reafon why he should call his father a mad old man.
to correct in the text:- -You're a made old man: i. e.
made by this adventitious treasure. So our Poet,
Midfummer-Night's Dream;

We had all been made men:

And fo, again, in his Tweifth-Night;

Go to, thou art made if thou defireft to be fo So Beaumont and Fletcher in their Elder Brothers

We're made for ever.

And in their Mad-Lover;"

Siph. O happy !!

Chil. You're a made man.

Now But this is no I have ventur' your fortune's before, in his

And in a hundred more inftances, that might be quoted to prove the ufe of the expreffion.

(21) -That make and unfold error.] This does not in my opinion take in the Poet's thought. Time does not make mistakes, and dijcover them, at different conjunctures, but the Poet means that Time of en for a feafon covers errors, which he afterwards difplays and brings to light. I chufe therefore to read;

N 2

Now take upon me, in the name of Time,

To ufe my wings. Impute it not a crime
To me, or my swift paffage, that I slide
O'er fixteen years,

and leave the growth untry'd
Of that wide gap; fince it is in my power
To o'erthrow law, and in one self-born hour
To plant and o'erwhelm cuftom. Let me pafs
The fame I am, ere antient't order was,
Or what is now receiv'd.

I witness to

The times, that brought them in; fo fhall I do
To th' fresheft things now reigning, and make ftale
The gliftering of this prefent, as my tale
Now feems to it: your patience this allowing,
I turn my glass; and give my fcene fuch growing,
As you had flept between. Leontes leaving
Th' effects of his fond jealoufies, fo grieving
That he fhuts up himself; imagine me,
Gentle fpectators, that I now may be

In fair Bohemia; and remember well,

I mention here a fon o'th' Kings, whom Florizel
I now name to you; and with speed so pace
To fpeak of Perdita, now grown in grace
Equal with wond'ring. What of her enfues,
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,
Is th' argument of Time; of this allow,
If ever you have spent time worse ere now:
If never, yet that Time himself doth fay,
He wishes earnestly, you never may.

that mask and unfold error.

To the like purpose our Poet in Measure for Meafure.
Keep me in patience; and with rifen'd time
Unfold the evil which is here wrapt up

In countenance:

And, again, in his Lear;

Time shall unfold what plaited cunning bides,
Who covers faults, at laft with fhame derides.

[Exit.

ACT