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and fhew our strange fights; he must know, 'tis none of your daughter, nor my fifter; we are gone elfe. Sir, I will give you as much as this old man does, when the bufinefs is perform'd; and remain, as he fays, your pawn 'till it be brought you.

Aut. I will truft you, walk before toward the feafide, go on the right hand; I will but look upon the hedge, and follow you.

Clo. We are blefs'd in this man, as I may fay,even blefs'd. Shep. Let's before, as he bids us: he was provided to do us good. [Exeunt Shepherd and Clown. Aut. If I had a mind to be honest, I fee, Fortune would not fuffer me; fhe drops booties in my mouth. I am courted now with a double occafion: gold, and a means to do the Prince my matter good; which, who knows how that may turn back to my advancement? I will bring thefe two moles, these blind ones, aboard him; if he think it fit to fhoar them again, and that the complaint they have to the King concerns him nothing, let him call me rogue, for being fo far officious; for I am proof againft that title, and what fhame elfe belongs to't to him will I prefent them, there may be matter in it. [Exit.

A CT V.

SCENE changes to Sicilia..

Enter Leontes, Cleomines, Dion, Paulina, and Servants.

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CLEOMINE S..

IR, you have done enough, and have perform.'d A faint-like forrow: no fault could you make, Which you have not redeem'd; indeed, paid down More penitence, than done trefpafs. At the laff, Do as the heavens have done, forget your evil; With them, forgive yourfelf..

Lea

Leo. Whilft I remember

Her and her virtues, I cannot forget

My blemishes in them, and fo ftill think of
The wrong I did myfelf; which was fo much,
That heir-lefs it hath made my kingdom; and
Destroy'd the fweet'ft companion, that e'er man (30)
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 fomething good,
To make a perfect woman; fhe, you kill'd,
Would be unparalell'd.

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Kill'd? fhe I kill'd ? I did fo, but thou strik’st me
Sorely, to fay I did; it is as bitter

Upon my tongue, as in my thought. Now, good now,
Say fo but feldom.

Cleo. Not at all, good Lady;

You might have fpoke a thoufand things, that would
Have done the time more benefit, and grac'd
Your kindness better.

Paul. You are one of those,
Would have him wed again.
Dio. If you would not fo,

You pity not the State, nor the remembrance
Of his moft fovereign name; confider little,
What dangers (by his Highnefs' 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?
What holier, than for royalty's repair,
For prefent comfort, and for future good,
To blefs the bed of Majefty again

(3c; Defirey'd the fweet'ft companion, that e'er man

Bred his hopes out of, true.

Paul. Too true, my Lord.] A very flight examination will convince ev'ry intelligent reader, that, true, here has jump'd out of its place in all the editions. What the King would fay, is abfolutely complete without it: and the placing it, where the printed copies have done, is an embarrassment to the fenfe. These two reafons, I hope, will be fufficient to justify my tranfpofition.

With a fweet fellow to't?

Paul. There is none worthy,

Refpecting her that's gone; befides, the gods

Will have fulfill'd their fecret purposes:
For has not the divine Apollo faid,

Is't not the tenor of his oracle,

That King Leontes fhall not have an heir,

'Till his loft child be found? which, that it fhall,
Is all as monftrous 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 fhould to the heav'ns be contrary;
Oppofe against their wills.

Care not for iffue;
[To the King.

The Crown will find an heir. Great Alexander
Left his to th' worthieft; fo his fucceffor
Was like to be the best.

Leo. Good Paulina,

Who haft the memory of Hermione,

I know, in honour: O, that ever I

Had fquar'd me to thy counfel! 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.

Leo. Thou ípeak'ft truth:

No more fuch wives, therefore no wife; one worse,
And better us'd, would make her fainted fpirit (31)
Again poffefs her corps; and on this stage,
(Where we offend her now) appear foul-vext,
And begin, Why to me?

(31) would make her fainted Spirit

Again poffefs her corps, and on this flage

(Where we offenders now appear) foul-vext,

And begin, &c.] 'Tis obvious, that the grammar is defective; and the fenfe confequently wants fupporting. The flight change I have made cures both: and, furely, 'tis an improvement to the fentiment for the King to fay, that Paulina and he offended his dead wife's ghoft with the fubject of a fecond match; rather than in general terms to call themfelves offenders, finners.

Paul.

Paul. Had fhe fuch power,

She had juft fuch cause.

Leo. She had, and would incenfe me

To murder her I married.

Paul. I fhould fo:

Were I the ghoft that walk'd, I'd bid you mark
Her eye, and tell me, for what dull part in't

You chofe her; then I'd fhriek, that even your ears
Shou'd rift to hear me, and the words that follow'd.
Should be, Remember mine.

Leo. Stars, ftars,

And all eyes elfe, dead coals: fear thou no wife ::
I'll have no wife, Paulina.

Paul. Will you fwear

Never to marry, but by my free leave?

Leo. Never, Paulina; fo be blefs'd my spirit!
Paul. Then, good my Lords, bear witnefs 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, pray, have done..

Paul. Yet, if my Lord will marry; if you will, Sir; No remedy, but you will; give me the office

To chufe you a Queen; fhe fhall not be fo young
As was your former; but the fhall be fuch,

As, walk'd your firft Queen's ghoft, it should take joy
To fee her in your arms.

Leo. My true Paulina,

We fhall not marry, 'till thou bid'st us.

Paul. That

Shall be, when your firft Queen's again in breath ::
Never till then..

Enter a Gentleman.

Gent. One that gives out himfelf Prince Florizel, Son of Polixenes, with his Princefs (fhe,

The fairest I have yet beheld) defires accefs

To your high prefence..

Leo. What with him? he comes not

Like to his father's greatnefs; his approach, So out of circumftance and fudden, tells us, 'Tis not a vifitation fram'd, but forc'd

By need and accident.

Gent. But few,

And those but mean.

What train?

Leo. His Princefs, fay you, with him?

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

Paul. Oh Hermione,

As every prefent time doth boaft itself

Above a better, gone; so 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; fhe had not been,
Nor was the to be equall'd; thus your verfe
Flow'd with her beauty once; 'tis fhrewdly ebb'd,
To fay, you've feen a better.

Gent. Pardon, Madam;

The one I have almoft forgot, (your pardon)
The other, when he 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 profeflors elfe, make profelites

Of who the but bid follow.

Paul. How? not women?

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

Leo. Go, Cleomines;

Yourfelt, (affifted with your honour'd friends)

Bring them to our embracement. Still 'tis ftrange,

He thus fhould fteal upon us.

Paul. Had our Prince

[Exit Cleomines.

(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; ceafe; thou know'ft, He dies to me again, when talk'd of: sure, When I fhall fee this gentleman, thy speeches

Will

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