A C T IV. SCENE, the Court of Bohemia. Enter Polixenes and Camillo. POLIXEN ES. I Pray thet, good Camillo, be any more importantes 'tis a fickness denying thee any thing, a death to grant this. Cam. It is fifteen years fince I faw my country; though I have for the most part been aired abroad, I defire to lay my bones there. Befides, the penitent King, my mafter, hath fent for me; to whofe feeling forrows I might be fome allay, or I o'erween to think fo, which is another fpur to my departure. Pol. As thou lov'ft me, Camillo, wipe not out the reft of thy fervices by leaving me now; the need I have of thee, thine own goodnefs hath made: better not to have had thee, than thus to want thee. Thou having made me bufinefies, which none, without thee, can fufficiently manage, muft either stay to execute them thyself, or take away with thee the very services thou hast done; which if I have not enough confidered, (as too much I cannot,) to be more thankful to thee fhall be my ftudy; and my profit therein, the heaping friendships. Of that fatal country Sicilia, pr'ythee, fpeak no more; whofe very naming punishes me with the remembrance of that penitent, as thou call'ft him, and reconciled King my brother, whose lofs of his most precious Queen and children are even now to be afresh lamented. Say to me, when faw'st thou the Prince Florizel my fon? Kings are no lefs unhappy, their iffue not being gracious, than they are in lofing them, when they have approved their virtues. Cam. Sir, it is three days fince I faw the Prince; N 3 what what his happier affairs may be, are to me unknown but I have (miffingly) noted, he is of late much retired from court, and is lefs frequent to his princely exercises than formerly he hath appear'd. : Pol. I have confider'd fo much, Camillo, and with fome care fo far, that I have eyes under my service, which look upon his removednels; from whom I have his intelligence, that he is feldom from the house of a anoft homely shepherd; a man, they fay, that from very nothing, and beyond the imagination of his neighbours, is grown into an unspeakable estate. Cam. I have heard, Sir, of fuch a man, who hath a daughter of most rare note; the report of her is extended more than can be thought to begin from such a Cottage. Pol. (22) That's likewife a part of my intelligence; and, I fear, the engle that plucks our fon thither. Thou fhalt accompany us to the place, where we will (not appearing what we are) have fome queftion with the fhepherd; from whofe fimplicity, I think it not uneasy to get the caufe of my fon's refort thither. Pr'ythee, be my prefent partner in this bufinefs, and lay afide the thoughts of Sicilia. Cam. I willingly obey your command. Pal. My beft Camille-we muft disguise ourselves. [Exeunt. (22) That's likewise part of my intelligence; but I fear, the angle at plucks our fon thither.] The disjunctive here, I think, makes tark nonfenfe of the context: and the editors have palm'd an allufion in the word angle, which feems foreign to the fenfe of the paffage. As, before, in the Taming of the Shrew, angel is mistakenly put for Engle: fo, I fufpect, angle, by the fame eafy corruption, is here. I have there prov'd the ute and meaning of the word. I'll proceed briefly to justify the emendation I have here made, by fhewing how naturally it falls in with the fenfe we should expect. Camillo had just told the King, he had heard of such a fhepherd, and of a daughter he bad of moft rare note. Ay, replies the King, that's a part of my ins tell gence too; and, I fear, [that daughter is] the firen, the decoy, the Invitation, that plucks aur son thither. SCENE SCENE changes to the Country. Enter Autolicus, finging. HEN daffadils begin to peere, WH With, heigh! the doxy over the dale, With, hey! the fweet birds, O how they fing! For a quart of ale is a dish for a King. With, hey! with, hey! the thrush and the jay: While we lie tumbling in the hay. I have ferved Prince Florizel, and in my time wore threepile, but now I am out of fervice. But fhall I go mourn for that, my dear? If tinkers may have leave to live, My traffick is fheets; when the kite builds, look to leffer linen. (23) My father nam'd me Autolicus, being litter'd under Mercury; who, as I am, was likewise a fnapper-up of unconfider'd trifles: with die and drab, I (23) My father nam'd me Autolicus, who being, as I am, litter'd under Mercury, was likewife a snapper up of unconfidered trifles.] The flight tranfpofition I have ventur'd to make of four fhort monofyllables in this paffage, was prefcrib'd by my ingenious friend Mr. Warburton. The Poet's meaning feems to be this. My father nam'd me Autolicus, because I was born under Mercury; who was a thief, as I The allufion is, unquestionably, to this paffage in Ovid ; Alipedis de ftirpe dei verfuta propago am. Nafcitur Autolycus, furtum ingeniofus ad omne. Metam. lib. xi. The: I purchas'd this caparison, and my revenue is the filly cheat. Gallows, and knock, are too powerful on the high-way; beating and hanging are terrors to me: for the life to come, I fleep out the thought of it. A prize! a prize! Enter Clown. Clo. Let me fee,-Every eleven weather tods, every tod yields pound and odd fhilling; fifteen hundred horn, what comes the wool to? Aut. If the fprindge hold, the cock's mine.- [Afide. Clo. I cannot do't without compters. Let me fee, what am I to buy for our sheep-fhearing feaft, three pound of fugar, five pound of currants, rice-what will this fifter of mine do with rice but my father hath made her miftrefs of the feaft, and she lays it on. She hath made me four and twenty nofe-gays for the ihearers; (24) three-man fong-men all, and very good ones, but they are most of them means and bafes; but one puritan among them, and he fings pfalms to hornpipes. I must have faffron to colour the warden-pies, mace-dates-none-that's out of my note: nutmegs, feven; a race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four pound of prunes, and as many raifins o'th' fun. Aut. Oh, that ever I was born! [Groveling on the ground. Clo. I'th' name of me The true Autolycus was the fon of Mercury; our fictitious one, born under his planet: the firft a copy of his father; the other, fuppos'd to derive his qualities from natal predominance. To this Autolycus, the fon of Mercury, Martial has alluded in the 8th Book of his Epigrams. Non fuit Autolyci tam piceata manus. We find his hiftory in Pherecydes, Hyginus, &c. (24) Three-man Songmen all, and very good ones.] By a three-man fongfter we are to understand, a finger of catches; which catches were then, and are now most commonly, in three parts. So our Author, in fecond part of King Henry IV; Fal. If I do, fillip me with a three-man beetle. For the laugh is kept up by three perfons in the scene. Aut. Aut. Oh, help me, help me: pluck but off these rags, and then death, death Clo. Alack, poor foul, thou haft need of more rags to lay on thee, rather than have these off. Aut. Oh, Sir, the loathsomeness of them offends me, more than the ftripes I have receiv'd, which are mighty ones, and millions. Clo. Alas, poor man! a million of beating may come to a great matter. Aut. I am robb'd, Sir, and beaten : my money and apparel ta'en from me, and these deteftable things put upon me. Clo. What, by a horse-man, or a foot-man? Aut. A foot-man, fweet Sir, a foot-man. Clo. Indeed, he fhould be a foot-man, by the garments he has left with thee; if this be a horfe-man's coat, it hath feen very hot service. Lend me thy hand, I'll help thee. Come, lend me thy hand. Aut. Oh! good Sir, tenderly, oh! Clo. Alas, poor foul. [Helping him up. Aut. O good Sir, foftly, good Sir: I fear, Sir, my fhoulder-blade is out. Clo. How now? canft ftand? Aut. Softly, dear Sir; good Sir, foftly; you ha done me a charitable office. Clo. Doft lack any money? I have a little money for thee. Aut. No, good fweet Sir; no, I befeech you, Sir; I have a kinfman not paft three quarters of a mile hence, unto whom I was going; I fhall there have money, or any thing I want: offer me no money, I pray you; that kills my heart. Clo. What manner of fellow was he, that robb'd y you? Aut. A fellow, Sir, that I have known to go about with trol-my-dames: I knew him once a fervant of the Prince; I cannot tell, good Sir, for which of his virtues it was, but he was certainly whipp'd out of the court, Clo. His vices, you would fay; there's no virtue whipp'd out of the court; they cherish it to make it ftay there, and yet it will no more but abide. Auto |