Leon.

Go on, go on.

Thou canst not speak too much; I have deserved
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 showed too much

The rashness of a woman: he is touched

To the noble heart.-What's gone and what's past help,

Should be past grief. Do not receive affliction
At my petition, I beseech you; rather

Let me be punished, 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 too.

Take your patience to you,

And I'll say nothing.

Leon.

Thou didst speak but well,

When most the truth; which I receive much better
Than to be pitied of thee. Pr'ythee, bring me
To the dead bodies of my queen and son;
One grave shall be for both; upon them shall
The causes of their death appear, unto
Our shame perpetual. Once a day I'll visit
The chapel where they lie; and tears, shed there,
Shall be my recreation.
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.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Bohemia.

the Sea.

A desert Country near

Enter ANTIGONUS, with the Child; and a Mariner.

Ant. Thou art perfect,' then, our ship hath touched

upon

The deserts of Bohemia?

Mar. Ay, my lord; and fear We have landed in ill time; the skies look grimly, And threaten present blusters. In my conscience, The Heavens with that we have in hand are angry, And frown upon us.

Ant. Their sacred wills be done!-Go, get aboard; Look to thy bark; I'll not be long, before I call upon thee.

Mar. Make your best haste; and go not

Too far i'the land; 'tis like to be loud weather; Besides, this place is famous for the creatures prey that keep upon't.

Of

Ant.

I'll follow instantly.

Mar.

Go thou away.

I am glad at heart

To be so rid o'the business.

[Exit.

Ant.
Come, poor babe.-
I have heard (but not believed) the spirits of the dead
May walk again. If such thing be, thy mother
Appeared 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 filled, and so becoming; in pure white robes,
Like very sanctity, she did approach

My cabin where I lay; thrice bowed before me;
And gasping to begin some speech, her eyes
Became two spouts: the fury spent, anon
Did this break from her: Good Antigonus,

1 i. e. well assured.

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 forever, Perdita,

I pr'ythee call't; 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 squared by this. I do believe
Hermione hath suffered 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 a 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 exposed
To loss, and what may follow!-Weep I cannot,
But my heart bleeds; and most accursed am I,
To be by oath enjoined 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.
Well may I get aboard!

I am gone forever.

A savage clamor! 2

This is the chase;

[Exit, pursued by a bear.

1 i. e. description. The writing afterward discovered with Perdita. 2 "A savage clamor." This clamor was the cry of the dogs and hunters; then seeing the bear, he cries, This is the chase, i. e. the animal pursued.

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 but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting.-Hark you now!Would any but these boiled brains of nineteen and two-and-twenty, hunt this weather? They have scared 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 of 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 behinddoor 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'lt see a thing to talk on when thou art dead and rotten, come hither. What ail'st 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

1 This is from the novel. It is there said to be "sea ivie, on which they do greatly feed."

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 roared, and the bear mocked him, both roaring louder than the sea, or weather.

Shep. 'Name of mercy, when was this, boy?

Clo. Now, now; I have not winked since I saw these sights. The men are not yet cold under water, nor the bear half dined on the gentleman; he's at it

now.

Shep. 'Would I had been by, to have helped the 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 3 old man; if the sins of your youth are forgiven you, you're well to live. Gold! All gold!

4

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

1 i. e. swallowed it, as our ancient topers swallowed flap-dragons.

2 A bearing-cloth is the mantle of fine cloth, in which a child was carried to be baptized.

3 The old copies read mad. The emendation is Theobald's.

4 i. e. nearest.