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The selfsame sun, that shines upon his court,
Hides not his visage from our cottage, but
Looks on alike 53.-Will't please you, sir, be gone?
TO FLORIZEL.

I told you, what would come of this: 'Beseech you,
Of your own state take care: this dream of mine,-
Being now awake, I'll queen it no inch further,
But milk my ewes,
Cam.

and weep.

Why, how now, father,

Speak, ere thou diest.

Shep.

I cannot speak, nor think, Nor dare to know that which I know.-O, sir,

[TO FLORIZEL.

You have undone a man of fourscore three 54,
That thought to fill his grave in quiet: yea,
To die upon the bed my father died,

To lie close by his honest bones: but now
Some hangman must put on my shroud, and lay me

53 To look on or look upon without any substantive annexed is a mode of expression, which, though now unusual, appears to have been legitimate in Shakspeare's time. So in Troilus and Cressida:

He is my prize: I will not look upon.' Sir John Davies in his Nosce Teipsum, 1599, has a similar thought:

Thou like the sunne dost with indifferent ray

Into the palace and the cottage shine.'

and Habington in his Queen of Arragon has imitated it not inelegantly:

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An equal influence on the open cottage,

Where the poor shepherd's child is rudely nursed,

And on the cradle where the prince is rock'd

With care and whisper.'

54 This speech of the old clown is admirably characteristic ; his selfishness is seen by his concealing the adventure of Perdita, and here supported by the little regard he shows for his son or her: he is entirely taken up with himself though fourscore and three.

Where no priest shovels-in dust 55.. -O cursed

wretch !

[To PERDITA.

That knew'st this was the prince, and would'st ad

venture

To mingle faith with him.-Undone! undone!
If I might die within this hour, I have liv'd

To die when I desire.

I

Flo.

[Exit.

Why look you so upon me?

am but sorry, not afeard! delay'd,

But nothing alter'd: What I was, I am :

More straining on, for plucking back; not following My leash 56 unwillingly.

Cam.

Gracious my lord,

You know your father's temper: at this time
He will allow no speech,-which, I do guess,
You do not purpose to him;-and as hardly
Will he endure your sight as yet, I fear:
Then, till the fury of his highness settle,
Come not before him.

Flo.

I think, Camillo.

Cam.

I not purpose it.

Even he, my lord.

'twould be thus?

Per. How often have I told you, How often said, my dignity would last

But till 'twere known?

Flo.

It cannot fail, but by

The violation of my faith; And then

Let nature crush the sides o'the earth together, And mar the seeds within!-Lift up thy looks :From my succession wipe me, father! I

Am heir to my

Cam.

affection.

Be advis'd.

55 Before the reform of the burial service by Edward VI. it was the custom for the priest to throw earth on the body in the form of a cross, and then sprinkle it with holy water.

56 Leash, a leading-string.

my reason

Flo. I am; and by my fancy 57
57: if
Will thereto be obedient, I have reason;
If not, my senses, better pleas'd with madness,
Do bid it welcome.

Cam.

This is desperate, sir.
Flo. So call it: but it does fulfil my vow;
I needs must think it honesty. Camillo,
Not for Bohemia, nor the pomp that may
Be thereat glean'd; for all the sun sees, or
The close earth wombs, or the profound seas hide
In unknown fathoms, will I break my oath
To this my fair belov'd: Therefore, I pray you,
As you have ever been my father's honour'd friend,
When he shall miss me (as, in faith, I mean not
To see him any more), cast your good counsels
Upon his passion: Let myself and fortune,
Tug for the time to come. This you may know,
And so deliver;-I am put to sea

With her, whom here I cannot hold on shore;
And, most opportune to our 58 need, I have
A vessel rides fast by, but not prepar'd
For this design. What course I mean to hold,
Shall nothing benefit your knowledge, nor
Concern me the reporting.

Cam.

O, my lord,

I would your spirit were easier for advice,
Or stronger for your need.

Flo.

Hark, Perdita.

I'll hear you by and by.

Cam.

-[Takes her aside. [To CAMILLO.

He's irremovable.

Resolv'd for flight: Now were I happy, if
His going I could frame to serve my turn;
Save him from danger, do him love and honour;

57 Fancy here means love, as in other places already pointed out. 58 Our need.' The old copy reads her. The emendation is Theobald's.

Purchase the sight again of dear Sicilia,
And that unhappy king, my master, whom
I so much thirst to see.

Flo.

Now, good Camillo,

I am so fraught with curious business, that

I leave out ceremony.

Cam.

Sir, I think,

[Going.

You have heard of my poor services, i'the love
That I have borne your father?

Flo.
Very nobly
Have you deserv'd: it is my father's musick,
To speak your deeds; not little of his care
To have them recompens'd as thought on.

Cam.

Well, my lord,

If you may please to think I love the king;

And, through him, what is nearest to him, which is
Your gracious self; embrace but my direction,
(If your more ponderous and settled project
May suffer alteration) on mine honour

I'll point you where you shall have such receiving
As shall become your highness; where you may
Enjoy your mistress (from the whom, I see,
There's no disjunction to be made, but by,
As heavens forefend! your ruin): marry her;
And (with my best endeavours, in your absence)
Your discontenting 59 father strive to qualify,
And bring him up to liking.

Flo.

How, Camillo,

May this, almost a miracle, be done?

That I may call thee something more than man,

And, after that, trust to thee.

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But as the unthought-on accident 00 is guilty
To 61 what we wildly do; so we profess
Ourselves to be the slaves of chance, and flies
Of every wind that blows.

Then list to me:

Cam.
This follows,-if you will not change your purpose,
But undergo this flight;-Make for Sicilia;
And there present yourself, and your fair princess.
(For so, I see, she must be), 'fore Leontes;
She shall be habited, as it becomes

The partner of your bed. Methinks, I see
Leontes, opening his free arms, and weeping
His welcomes forth: asks thee 62, the son,forgiveness,
As 'twere i'the father's person: kisses the hands
Of your fresh princess: o'er and o'er divides him
"Twixt his unkindness and his kindness; the one
He chides to hell, and bids the other grow,
Faster than thought, or time.

Flo.

What colour for

Worthy Camillo,

my visitation shall I

Hold up before him?
Cam.
Sent by the king your father
To greet him, and to give him comforts.

Sir,

The manner of your bearing towards him, with
What you, as from your father, shall deliver,
Things known betwixt us three, I'll write you down:
The which shall point you forth at every sitting 63,
What must say;
that he shall not perceive,

you

60 This unthought-on accident is the unexpected discovery made by Polixenes.

61 Guilty to, though it sound harsh to our ears, was the phraseology of Shakspeare. So in the Comedy of Errors, Act iii. Sc. 2:

'But lest myself be guilty to self wrong,

I'll stop my ears against the mermaid's song.'

62 The old copy reads, thee there son.' The correction was made in the third folio.

63 The council-days were called sittings, in Shakspeare's time.

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