Leon.

He dreads his wife.

Paul. So I would you did; then, 'twere past all You'd call your children yours. [doubt, A nest of traitors! Ant. I am none, by this good light. Paul. Nor I; nor any, But one, that's here; and that's himself: for he The sacred honour of himself, his queen's, His hopeful son's, his babe's, betrays to slander, Whose sting is sharper than the sword's; and will not (For, as the case now stands, it is a curse He cannot be compell'd to't,) once remove The root of his opinion, which is rotten, As ever oak, or stone, was sound.

Leon.

A callat,

Of boundless tongue; who late hath beat her husband,
And now baits me!-This brat is none of mine;
It is the issue of Polixenes :
Hence with it; and, together with the dam,
Commit them to the fire.

Paul.

It is yours;

And, might we lay the old proverb to your charge,
So like you, 'tis the worse.-Behold, my lords, "
Although the print be little, the whole matter
And copy of the father: eye, nose, lip,
The trick of his frown, his forehead; nay, the valley,
The pretty dimples of his chin, and cheek; his smiles.
The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger;-
And thou, good goddess nature, which hast made it

So like to him that got it, if thou hast
The ordering of the mind too, 'mongst all colours.
No yellow in't; lest she suspect, as he does,
Her children not her husband's !

Leon.
A gross hag!
And, lozel, thou art worthy to be hang'd,
That wilt not stay her tongue.,
Ant.

Hang all the husbands
That cannot do that feat, you'll leave yourself
Hardly one subject.
Leon.
Once more, take her hence.
Paul. A most unworthy and unnatural lord
Can do no more.

Leon. Paul.

I'll have thee burn'd.

I care not:

It is an heretic, that makes the fire,
Not she, which burns in't. I'll not call you tyrant;
But this most cruel usage of your queen
(Not able to produce more accusation

Than your own weak-hing'd fancy,)something savours
Of tyranny, and will ignoble make you,
Yea, scandalous to the world.

Leon.

On your allegiance, Out of the chamber with her. Were I a tyrant, Where were her life? she durst not call me so, If she did know me one. Away with her.

Paul. I pray you, do not push me; I'll be gone. Look to your babe, my lord; 'tis yours: Jove send her A better guiding spirit!-What need these bands!You that are thus so tender o'er his follies, Will never do him good, not one of you. So, so:-Farewell; we are gone.

[Exit.

Leon. Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this.My child? away with't!-even thou, that hast A heart so tender o'er it, take it hence, And see it instantly consum'd with fire; Even thou, and noue but thou. Take it up straight: Within this hour bring me word 'tis done, (And by good testimony,) or I'll seize thy life, With what thou else call'st thine: If thou refuse, And wilt encounter with my wrath, say so; The bastard brains with these my proper hands Shall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire; For thou sett'st on thy wife.

Ant.

I did not, sir: These lords, my noble fellows, if they please, Can clear me in't.

1 Lord.

We can; my royal liege,
He is not guilty of her coming hither.
Leon. You are liars all.

1 Lord. 'Beseech your highness, give us better

credit:

We have always truly serv'd you; and beseech
So to esteem of us: and on our knees we beg,
(As recompense of our dear services,

Past, and to come,) that you do change this purpose;
Which, being so horrible, so bloody, must
Lead on to some foul issue: We all kneel.

Leon. I am a feather for each wind that blows;-
Shall I live on, to see this bastard kneel
And call me father? Better burn it now,
Than curse it then. But be it; let it live:
It shall not neither.-You, sir, come you hither;
[To Antigonus.
You, that have been so tenderly officious
With lady Margery, your midwife, there,
To save this bastard's life:-for 'tis a bastard,
So sure as this beard's grey,-what will you adventure
To save this brat's life?

Ant. Any thing, my lord, That my ability may undergo, And nobleness impose: at least, thus much; I'll pawn the little blood which I have left, To save the innocent: any thing possible. Leon. It shall be possible: Swear by this sword, Thou wilt perform my bidding.

Ant. I will, my lord. Leon. Mark, and perform it; (seest thou ?) for the Of any point in't shall not only be [fail Death to thyself, but to thy lewd-tongu'd wife; Whom, for this time, we pardon. We enjoin thee, As thou art liegeman to us, that thou carry This female bastard hence; and that thou bear it To some remote and desert place, quite out Of our dominions; and that there thou leave it, Without more mercy, to its own protection, And favour of the climate. As by strange fortune It came to us, I do in justice charge thee,On thy soul's peril, and thy body's torture,That thou commend it strangely to some place, Where chance may nurse, or end it: Take it up.

Ant. I swear to do this, though a present death Had been more merciful.-Come on, poor babe : Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens, To be thy nurses! Wolves, and bears, they say, Casting their savageness aside, have done Like offices of pity.-Sir, be prosperous In more than this deed doth require! and blessing, Against this cruelty, fight on thy side, Poor thing, condemn'd to loss! [Exit, with the Child. No, I'll not rear

Leon.

Another's issue.

1 Atten.

Please your highness, posts,

From those you sent to the oracle, are come
An hour since: Cleomenes and Dion,

Being well arriv'd from Delphos, are both landed,
Hasting to the court.

1 Lord.

So please you, sir, their speed
Hath been beyond account.
Leon.
Twenty-three days
They have been absent: "Tis good speed; foretells,
The great Apollo suddenly will have

The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords i
Summon a session, that we may arraign
Our most disloyal lady: for, as she hath
Been publicly accus'd, so shall she have
A just and open trial. While she lives,
My heart will be a burden to me. Leave me ;
And think upon my bidding.

ACT III.

[Exeunt

Will clear, or end the business: When the oracle, (Thus by Apollo's great divine seal'd up,) Shall the contents discover, something rare,

Which contradicts my accusation; and
The testimony on my part, no other
But what comes from myself; it shall scarce boot me
To say, Not guilty: mine integrity,

Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,
Be so receiv'd. But thus,-If powers divine
Behold our human actions, (as they do,)

I doubt no then, but innocence shall make
False accusation blush, and tyranny

Tremble at patience.-You, my lord, best know,
(Who least wilt eem to do so,) my past life
Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true,
As I am now unhappy; which is more
Than history can pattern, though devis'd,
And play'd, to take spectators; For behold me,-
A fellow of the royal bed, which owe

A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter,
The mother to a hopeful prince,-here standing
To prate and talk for life, and honour, 'fore
Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it
As I weigh grief, which I would spare for honour,
'Tis a derivative from me to mine,

And only that I stand for. I appeal

To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes
Came to your court, how I was in your grace,
How merited to be so; since he came,
With what encounter so uncurrent 1
Have strain'd, to appear thus: if one jot beyond
The bound of honour; or, in act, or will,
That way inclining; harden'd be the hearts
Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin
Cry, Fie upon my grave!
Leon.
I ne'er heard yet,
That any of these bolder vices wanted
Less impudence to gainsay what they did,
Than to perform it first.
That's true enough;
Though 'tis a saying, sir, not due to me.
Leon. You will not own it.

Her.

Her.

More than mistress of,
Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not
At all acknowledge. For Polixenes,
(With whom I am accus'd,) I do confess,

I lov'd him, as in honour he requir'd;
With such a kind love, as might become

A lady like me; with a love, even such,
So, and no other, as yourself commanded:
Which not to have done, I think, had been in me
Both disobedience and ingratitude,
[spoke,

To you, and toward your friend; whose love had
Even since it could speak, from an infant, freely,
That it was yours.
Now, for conspiracy,

I know not how it tastes; though it be dish'd
For me to try how: all I know of it,

Is, that Camillo was an honest man;
And why he left your court, the gods themselves,
Wotting no more than 1, are ignorant.

Leon. You knew of his departure, as you know What you have underta'en to do in his absence. Her. Sir,

horses;

And gracious be the issue!

[Exeunt.

Even pushes 'gainst our heart: The party tried,
The daughter of a king; our wife; and one
Of us too much belov'd.-Let us be clear'd
Of being tyrannous, since we so openly
Proceed in justice; which shall have due course,
Even to the guilt, or the purgation.--
Produce the prisoner.

Offi. It is his highness' pleasure, that the queen
Appear in person here in court.-Silence!
Hermione is brought in guarded; Paulina and La-
dies attending.

Leon. Read the indictment. Offi. Hermione, queen to the worthy Leontes, king of Sicilia, thou art here accused and arraigned of high treason, in committing adultery with Polixenes, king of Bohemia; and conspiring with Camillo to take away the life of our sovereign lord the king, thy royal husband; the pretence whereof being by circumstances partly laid open, thou, Hermione, contrary to the faith and allegiance of a true subject, didst counsel and aid them, for their better safety, to fly away by night.

Her. Since what I am to say, must be but that

My life stands in the level of your dreams, Which I'll lay down.

Leon.

Your actions are my dreams;
You had a bastard by Polixenes,
(Those of your fact are so,) so past all truth:
And I but dream'd it:-As you were past all shame,
Which to deny, concerns more than avails:
For as

Thy brat hath been cast out, like to itself,
No father owning it, (which is, indeed,
More criminal in thee, than it, so thou
Shalt feel our justice; in whose easiest passage,
Look for no less than death,

Her.

Sir, spare your threats: The bug, which you would fright me with, I seek. To me can life be no commodity. The crown and comfort of my life, your favour, I do give lost; for I do feel it gone, But know not how it went: My second joy, And first-fruits of my body, from his presence, I am barr'd, like one infectious: My third comfort, Starr'd most unluckily, is from my breast, The innocent milk in its most innocent mouth, Haled out to murder Myself on every post Proclaim'd a strumpet; With immodest hatred To child-bed privilege denied, which 'longs To women of all fashion:-Lastly, hurried Here to this place, i'the open air, before I have got strength of limit. Now, my liege, Tell me what blessings I have here alive,

That I should fear to die? Therefore, proceed.
But yet hear this; mistake me not;No! life,
I prize it not a straw :-but for mine honour,
(Which I would free,) if I shall be condemn'd
Upon surmises; all proofs sleeping else,
But what your jealousies awake; I tell you,
'Tis rigour, and not law.-Your honours all,
I do refer me to the oracle;
Apollo be my judge.
I Lord.

This your request
Is altogether just: therefore, bring forth,
And in Apollo's name, his oracle.

[Exeunt certain Officers.
Her. The emperor of Russia was my father:
O, that he were alive, and here beholding
His daughter's trial! that he did but see
The flatness of my misery; yet with eyes
Of pity, not revenge!

Re-enter Officers with Cleomenes and Dion. Offi. You here shall swear upon this sword of jusThat you, Cleomenes and Dion, have [tice, Been both at Delphos; and from thence have brought This seal'd-up oracle, by the hand deliver'd Of great Apollo's priest; and that, since then, You have not dar'd to break the holy seal, Nor read the secrets in't. Cleo. Dion.

All this we swear. Leon. Break up the seals, and read. Offi. [Reads.] Hermione is chaste, Polixenes blameless, Camillo a true subject, Leontes a jealous tyrant, live without an heir, if that, which is lost, be not his innocent babe truly begotten; and the king shall found.

Lords. Now blessed be the great Apollo !
Her,

Leon. Hast thou read truth?
Offi.

As it is here set down.

Praised! Ay, my lord; even so

Paul. This news is mortal to the queen :-Look And see what death is doing. [down, Leon. Take her hence: Her heart is but o'ercharg'd; she will recover.I have too much believ'd mine own suspicion :'Beseech you, tenderly apply to her Some remedies for life.-Apollo, pardon

Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle
For girls of nine !-O, think, what they have done,
And then run mad, indeed; stark mad! for all
Thy by-gone fooleries were but spices of it.
That thou betray'dst Polixenes, 'twas nothing:
That did but show thee, of a fool, inconstant,
And dainable ungrateful: nor was't much,
Thou would'st have poison'd good Camillo's honour,
To have him kill a king; poor trespasses,
More monstrous standing by: whereof I reckon
The casting forth to crows thy baby daughter,
To be or none, or little; though a devil
Would have shed water out of fire, ere done't:
Nor is't directly laid to thee, the death
Of the young prince; whose honourable thoughts
(Thoughts high for one so tender,) cleft the heart
That could conceive, a gross and foolish sire
Blemish'd his gracious dam: this is not, no,
Laid to thy answer: But the last,-O, lords,
The sweetest, dearest, creature's dead; and ven-
When I have said, cry, woe !-the queen, the queen,
Not dropped down yet.
[geance for't
1 Lord.
The higher powers forbid!
Paul. I say, she's dead I'll swear't: if word, nor
Prevail not, go and see: if you can bring [oath,
Tincture, or lustre, in her lip, her eye,
Heat outwardly, or breath within, I'll serve you
As I would do the gods.-But, O thou tyrant!
Do not repent these things; for they are heavier
Than all thy woes can stir therefore betake thee
Upon a barren mountain, and still winter
To nothing but despair. A thousand knees,
Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting
In storm perpetual, could not move the gods
To look that way thou wert.
Leon.
Go on, go on :
Thou canst not speak too much; I have deserv'd
All tongues to talk their bitterest.
1 Lord.
Say no more;
Howe'er the business goes, you have made fault
I'the boldness of your speech.

Paul.

I am sorry for't; All faults I make, when I shall come to know them, I do repent: Alas, I have show'd too much The rashness of a woman: he is touch'd [help, To the noble heart.-What's gone, and what's past Should be past grief: Do not receive affliction At my petition, I beseech you; rather Let me be punish'd, that have minded you Of what you should forget. Now, good my liege, Sir, royal sir, forgive a foolish woman: The love I bore your queen,-lo, fool again!I'll speak of her no more, nor of your children; I'll not remember you of my own lord, Who is lost toe: Take your patience to you, And I'll say nothing.

Leon.

My great profaneness 'gainst thine oracle!-
I'll reconcile me to Polixenes;

New woo my queen; recall the good Camillo ;
Whom I proclaim a man of truth, of mercy :
For, being transported by my jealousies
To bloody thoughts and to revenge, I chose
Camillo for the minister, to poison

My friend Polixenes; which had been done,
But that the good mind of Camillo tardied

My swift command, though I with death, and with
Reward, did threaten and encourage him,
Not doing it, and being done: he, most humane,
And fill'd with honour, to my kingly guest
Unclasp'd my practice; quit his fortunes here,
Which you knew great; and to the certain hazard
Of all incertainties himself commended,
No richer than his honour:-How he glisters
Thorough my rust! and how his piety
Does my deeds make the blacker!

One grave shall be for both; upon them shall
The causes of their death appear, unta

Our shame perpetual: Once a day I'll visit

The chapel where they lie; and tears, shed there,
Shall be my recreation: So long as
Nature will bear up with this exercise,
So long I daily vow to use it. Come,
And lead me to these sorrows.

SCENE III.

[Exeunt.

Ant.

Come, poor babe :-
I have heard, (but not believ'd,) the spirits of the dead
May walk again: if such thing be, thy mother
Appear'd to me last night; for ne'er was dream
So like a waking. To me comes a creature,
Sometimes her head on one side, some another;
I never saw a vessel of like sorrow,

So fill'd, and so becoming in pure white robes,
Like very sanctity, she did approach

My cabin where I lay: thrice bow'd before me;
And, gasping to begin some speech, her eyes
Became two spouts: the fury spent, anon
Did this break from her: Good Antigonus,
Since fate, against thy better disposition,
Hath made thy person 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 lost for ever, Perdita,

I pr'ythee, callt; for this ungentle business,
Put on thee by my lord, thou ne'er shalt see
Thy wife Paulina more:-and so, with shrieks,
She melted into air. Affrighted much,

I did in time collect myself; and thought
This was so, and no slumber. Dreams are toys:
Yet, for this once, yea, superstitiously,
I will be squar'd by this. I do believe,
Hermione hath suffer'd death; and that
Apollo would, this being indeed the issue
Of king Polixenes, it should here be laid,
Either for life, or death, upon the earth
Of its right father. Blossom, speed thee well!
[Laying down the Child.
There lie; and there thy character: there these ;
[Laying down the Bundle.
Which may, if fortune please, both breed thee, pretty,
And still rest thine.-The storm begins:-Poor wretch,
That, for thy mother's fault, art thus expos'd
To loss, and what may follow!-Weep I cannot,
But my heart bleeds: and most accurs'd am I,
To be by oath enjoin'd to this.-Farewell!
The day frowns more and more; thou art like to have
A lullaby too rough: I never saw
The heavens so dim by day. A savage clamour!-
Well may I get aboard! This is the chace;
I am gone for ever. [Exit, pursued by a Bear.
Enter an old Shepherd.

Shep. I would, there were no age between ten and three and twenty; or that youth would sleep out the rest for there is nothing in the between bat getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting.Hark you now I-Would any but these boiled brains of nineteen, and two and twenty, hunt this weather? They have scar'd away two of my best sheep; which, I fear, the wolf will sooner find, than the master if any where I have them, 'tis by the sea-side, browzing on ivy. Good luck, an't be thy will! what have we here? [Taking up the Child. Mercy on's, a barne; a very pretty barne! A boy, or a child, I wonder? A pretty one; a very pretty one: Sure, some scape: though I am not bookish, yet I can read waiting-gentlewoman in the scape. This has been some stair-work, some trunk-work, some 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 son come; he hollaed but even now. Whoa, ho hoa!

Clo. Hilloa, loa!

Enter Clown.

Shep. What, art so near? If thou't see a thing to talk on when thou art dead and rotten, come hither. What ailest thou, man?

Clo. I have seen two such sights, by sea, and by land; but I am not to say, it is a sea, for it is now the sky; betwixt the firmament and it, you cannot thrust a bodkin's point.

Shep. Why, boy, how is it?

Clo. I would, you did but see how it chafes, how it rages, how it takes up the shore! but that's not to the point! O, the most piteous cry of the poor souls! sometimes to see 'em, and not to see 'em now the ship boring the moon with her main-mast and anon swallowed with yest and froth, as you'd thrust a cork into a hogshead. And then for the land service,-To see how the bear tore out his shoulder-bone; how he cried to me for help, and said, his name was Antigonus, a nobleman:-But to make an end of the ship-to see how the sea flap-dragoned it:-but, first, how the poor souls roared, and the sea mocked them;-and how the poor gentleman

old man!

Clo. I would you had been by the ship side, to have helped her; there your charity would have lacked footing. [Aside.

Shep. Heavy matters! heavy matters! but look thee here, boy. Now bless thyself; thou met'st with things dying, I with things new born. Here's a sight for thee; look thee, a bearing-cloth for a squire's child! Look thee here; take up, take up, boy; open't. So, let's see; It was told me, I should be rich by the fairies: this is some changeling :open't: What's within, boy?

Clo. You're a made old man: if the sins of your youth are forgiven you, you're well to live. Gold! all gold!

Shep. This is fairy gold, boy, and 'twill prove so : up with it, keep it close; home, home, the next way. We are lucky, boy; and to be so still, requires nothing but secrecy.-Let my sheep go:-Come, good boy, the next way home.

Clo. Go you the next way with your findings; I'll go see if the bear be gone from the gentleman, and how much he hath eaten they are never curst, but when they are hungry; if there be any of him left, I'll bury it.

Shep. That's a good deed: If thou mayst discern by that which is left of him, what he is, fetch me to the sight of him.

Clo. Marry, will I; and you shall help to put him i'the ground.

Shep. "Tis a lucky day, boy; and we'll do good deeds on't. [Exeunt.

ACT IV.

Enter Time, as Chorus.

Time. I, that please some, try all; both joy, and terror, Of good and bad; that make, and unfold error, Now take upon me, in the name of Time, To use my wings. Impute it not a crime, To me, or my swift passage, that I slide O'er sixteen years, and leave the growth untried of that wide gap; since it is in my power To o'erthrow law, and in one self-born hour To plant and o'erwhelm custom: Let me pass The same I am, ere ancient'st order was,

Or what is now receiv'd: I witness to

The times that brought them in; so shall I do
To the freshest things now reigning; and make stale
The glistening of this present, as my tale
Now seems to it. Your patience this allowing,
I turn my glass; and give my scene such growing,
As you had slept between. Leontes leaving
The effects of his fond jealousies; so grieving,
That he shuts up himself; imagine me,
In fair Bohemia; and remember well,
Gentle spectators, that I now may be

I mention'd a son o'the king's, which Florizel
I now name to you; and with speed so pace
To speak of Perdita, now grown in grace
list not prophesy; but let Time's news [daughter,
Equal with wond'ring: What of her ensues,
Be known, when 'tis brought forth a shepherd's
Is the argument of time: Of this allow,
And what to her adheres, which follows after,
If ever you have spent time worse ere now;
If never yet, that Time himself doth say,
He wishes earnestly, you never may.

SCENE 1.

[Exit.

Pol. As thou lovest me, Camillo, wipe not out the rest of thy services, by leaving me now: the need I have of thee, thine own goodness hath made; better not to have had thee, than thus to want thee: thou, having made me businesses, which none without thee can sufficiently manage, must either stay to execute them thyself, or take away with thee the very services thou hast done: which, if I have not enough considered, (as too much I cannot,) to be more thankful to thee, shall be my study; and my profit therein, the heaping friendships. Of that country Sicilia, pr'ythee speak no more: whose very naming punishes me with the remembrance of that penitent, as thon call'st him, and reconciled king, my brother; whose loss of his most precious queen, and children, are even now to be afresh lamented. Say to me, when saw'st thou the prince Florizel my son? Kings are no less unhappy, their issue not being gracious, than they are in losing them, when they have approved their virtues.

Cam. Sir, it is three days since I saw the prince: What his happier affairs may be, are to me unknown: but I have, missingly, noted, he is of late much retired from court, and is less frequent to his princely exercises, than formerly he hath appeared.

Pol. I have considered so much, Camillo; and with some care; so far, that I have eyes under my service, which look upon his removedness: from whom I have this intelligence; That he is seldom from the house of a most homely shepherd; a man, they say, that from very nothing, and beyond the imagination of his neighbours, is grown into an unspeakable

estate.

Cam. I have heard, sir, of such 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. That's likewise part of my intelligence. But I fear the angle that plucks our son thither. Thou shalt accompany us to the place where we will, not appearing what we are, have some question with the shepherd; from whose simplicity, I think it not uneasy to get the cause of my son's resort thither. Pr'ythee, be my present partner in this business, and lay aside the thoughts of Sicilia.

Clo. I cannot do't without counters.-Let me see; what I am to buy for our sheep-shearing feast! Three pound of sugar; five pound of currants; rice What will this sister of mine do with rice? But my father hath made her mistress of the feast, and she lays it on. She hath made me four and twenty nosegays for the shearers: three-man songmen all, and very good ones; but they are most of them means and bases: but one Puritan amongst them, and he sings psalms to hornpipes. 1 must have saffron, to colour the warden pies; mace,-dates,-none; that's out of my note: nutmegs, seven; a race, or two, of ginger; but that I may beg;-four pound of prunes, and as many of raisins o'the sun. Aut. O, that ever I was born!

[Grovelling on the Ground.

Clo. I'the name of me,Aut. O, help me, help me! pluck but off these rags; and then, death, death!

Clo. Alack, poor soul! thou hast need of more rags to lay on thee, rather than have these off.

Aut. O, sir, the loathsomeness of them offends me more than the stripes I have received; which are mighty ones and millions.

Clo. Alas, poor man a million of beating may come to a great matter.

Aut. I am robbed, sir, and beaten; my money and apparel ta'en from me, and these detestable things put upon me.

Clo. What, by a horse-man, or a foot-man.
Aut. A foot-man, sweet sir, a foot-man.

Clo. Indeed, he should be a foot-man, by the garments he has left with thee; if this be a horse-man's coat, it hath seen very hot service. Lend me thy hand, I'll help thee: come, lend me thy hand. [Helping him up.

Aut. O good sir, tenderly, oh! Clo. Alas, poor soul. Aut. O, good sir, softly, good sir: I fear, sir, my shoulder-blade is out.

selves.

SCENE II.

The same. A Road near the Shepherd's Cottage. Enter Autolycus, singing.

When daffodils begin to peer,

With heigh! the doxy over the dale,Why, then comes in the sweet o'the year; For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale. The white sheet bleaching on the hedge,With, hey! the sweet birds, O, how they Doth set my pugging tooth on edge;

For a quart of ale is a dish for a king. The lark, that tirra-lirra chants,

With, hey! with, hey! the thrush and the Are summer songs for me and my aunts, While we lie tumbling in the hay.

Clo. How now? canst stand?

Aut. Softly, dear sir; [Picks his Pocket.] good sir, softly: you ha' done me a charitable office. Clo. Dost lack any money? I have a little money

for thee.

Aut. No, good sweet sir; no, I beseech you, sir: have a kinsman not past three quarters of a mile hence, unto whom I was going; I shall 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 robbed

you?

I have served prince Florizel, and, in my time, wore three-pile; but now I am out of service:

But shall I go mourn for that, my dear?

The pale moon shines by night:

And when I wander here and there,

I then do most go right.

If tinkers may have leave to live,
And bear the sow-skin budget.;
Then my account I well may give,
And in the stocks avouch it.

My traffic is sheets; when the kite builds, look to lesser linen. My father named me, Autolycus; who, being, as I am, littered under Mercury, was likewise a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles: With die, and drab, I purchased this caparison; and my revenue is the silly cheat: Gallows, and knock, are too powerful on the highway: beating, and hanging, are terrors to me; for the life to come, I sleep out the thought of it.-A prize! a prize!

Enter Clown.

Clo. Let me see:-Every 'leven wether-tods; every tod yields-pound and odd shilling: fifteen hundred shorn,-What comes the wool to?

Aut. If the springe hold, the cock's mine. [Aside.

Clo. Out upon him! Prig, for my life, prig: he haunts wakes, fairs, and bear-baitings.

Aut. Very true, sir; he, sir, he; that's the rogue, that put me into this apparel.

Clo. Not a more cowardly rogue in all Bohemia ; if you had but looked big, and spit at him, he'd

have run.

Aut. I must confess to you, sir, I am no fighter: I am false of heart that way; and that he knew, 1 warrant him.

Clo. How do you now?

I can

Aut. Sweet sir, much better than I was; stand, and walk: I will even take my leave of you, and pace softly towards my kinsman's.

Clo. Shall I bring thee on the way? Aut. No, good-faced sir; no, sweet sir. for our sheep-shearing. Clo. Then fare thee well; I must go buy spices

Aut. Prosper you, sweet sir !-[Exit Clown.] Your purse is not hot enough to purchase your spice? I'll be with you at your sheep-shearing too: If I make not this cheat bring out another, and the shearers the book of virtue ! prove sheep, let me be unrolled, and my name put in