Come not before him.

FLO.

I think, Camillo.

CAM.

I not purpose it.

Even he, my lord.

PER. How often have I told you, 'twould be thus? 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: 7From my succession wipe me, father! I Am heir to my affection.

CAM.

Be advis'd.

FLO. I am; and by my fancy: if my reason 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

• And mar the seeds within !] So, in Macbeth:
"And nature's germins tumble all together."

8

STEEVENS. 7-Lift up thy looks:] "Lift up the light of thy countePsalm iv. 6. STEEVENS.

nance."

and by my fancy:] It must be remembered that fancy in our author very often, as in this place, means love.

JOHNSON.

So, in A Midsummer-Night's Dream:
"Fair Helena in fancy following me."
See Vol. IV. p. 454, n. 6. STEEVENS.

VOL. IX.

BB

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 e'er 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 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.

-[Takes her aside. [TO CAMILLO. CAM. 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; Purchase the sight again of dear Sicilia, And that unhappy king, my master, whom I so much thirst to see.

FLO.

Now, good Camillo,

whom here- Old copy-who. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. MALONE.

9

1

And, most opportune to our need,] The old copy has-her need. This necessary emendation was made by Mr. Theobald.

MALONE.

I am so fraught with curious business, that
I leave out ceremony.

CAM.

[Going.

Sir, I think,

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. Well, my lord,

CAM.

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 father strive to qualify,
And bring him up to liking.2

FLO.
How, Camillo,
May this, almost a miracle, be done?

And (with my best endeavours, in your absence,)
Your discontenting father strive to qualify,

And bring him up to liking.] And where you may, by letters, intreaties, &c. endeavour to soften your incensed father, and reconcile him to the match; to effect which, my best services shall not be wanting during your absence. Mr. Pope, without either authority or necessity, reads-I'll strive to qualify;—which has been followed by all the subsequent editors.

Discontenting is in our author's language the same as discontented. MALONE.

That I may call thee something more than man, And, after that, trust to thee.

Have you thought on

FLO.
Not any yet:
But as the unthought-on accident is guilty
To what we wildly do ;3 so we profess
Ourselves to be the slaves of chance, and flies
Of every wind that blows.

CAM.

CAM.

A place, whereto you'll go?

.;

Then list to me: 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, the son," forgiveness,

3 But as the unthought-on accident is guilty

To what we wildly do ;] Guilty to, though it sounds harsh to our ears, was the phraseology of the time, or at least of Shakspeare: and this is one of those passages that should caution us not to disturb his text merely because the language appears different from that now in use. See The Comedy of Errors, Act III. sc. ii:

"But lest myself be guilty to self-wrong,

"I'll stop mine ears against the mermaid's song."

MALONE. The unthought-on accident is the unexpected discovery made by Polixenes. M. MASON.

* Ourselves to be the slaves of chance,] As chance has driven me to these extremities, so I commit myself to chance, to be conducted through them. JOHNSON.

5

asks thee, the son,] The old copy reads-thee there Corrected by the editor of the third folio. MALONE. Perhaps we should read-(as Mr. Ritson observes)— "Asks there the son forgiveness-," STEEVENS.

son.

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. Worthy Camillo, What colour for 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, What you must say; ⚫ that he shall not perceive, But that you have your father's bosom there, And speak his very heart.

FLO.
There is some sap in this."

I am bound to you:

CAM. A course more promising Than a wild dedication of yourselves To unpath'd waters, undream'd shores; most cer

tain,

To miseries enough: no hope to help you;

down:

Things known betwixt us three, I'll write you The which shall point you forth, at every sitting, What you must say ;] Every sitting, says Mr. Theobald, methinks, gives but a very poor idea. But a poor idea is better than none; which it comes to, when he has altered it to every fitting. The truth is, the common reading is very expressive: and means, at every audience you shall have of the king and council. The council-days being, in our author's time, called, in common speech, the sittings. Warburton.

6

Howel, in one of his letters, says: "My lord president hopes to be at the next sitting in York." FARMER.

There is some sap in this.] So, in Antony and Cleopatra: "There's sap in't yet." STEEVENS.