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The Winter's Tale

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ACT IV  SCENE IV The Shepherd's cottage. 
[Enter FLORIZEL and PERDITA]
FLORIZELThese your unusual weeds to each part of you
Do give a life: no shepherdess, but Flora
Peering in April's front. This your sheep-shearing
Is as a meeting of the petty gods,
And you the queen on't.5
PERDITASir, my gracious lord,
To chide at your extremes it not becomes me:
O, pardon, that I name them! Your high self,
The gracious mark o' the land, you have obscured
With a swain's wearing, and me, poor lowly maid,10
Most goddess-like prank'd up: but that our feasts
In every mess have folly and the feeders
Digest it with a custom, I should blush
To see you so attired, sworn, I think,
To show myself a glass.15
FLORIZELI bless the time
When my good falcon made her flight across
Thy father's ground.
PERDITANow Jove afford you cause!
To me the difference forges dread; your greatness20
Hath not been used to fear. Even now I tremble
To think your father, by some accident,
Should pass this way as you did: O, the Fates!
How would he look, to see his work so noble
Vilely bound up? What would he say? Or how25
Should I, in these my borrow'd flaunts, behold
The sternness of his presence?
FLORIZELApprehend
Nothing but jollity. The gods themselves,
Humbling their deities to love, have taken30
The shapes of beasts upon them: Jupiter
Became a bull, and bellow'd; the green Neptune
A ram, and bleated; and the fire-robed god,
Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain,
As I seem now. Their transformations35
Were never for a piece of beauty rarer,
Nor in a way so chaste, since my desires
Run not before mine honour, nor my lusts
Burn hotter than my faith.
PERDITAO, but, sir,40
Your resolution cannot hold, when 'tis
Opposed, as it must be, by the power of the king:
One of these two must be necessities,
Which then will speak, that you must
change this purpose,45
Or I my life.
FLORIZELThou dearest Perdita,
With these forced thoughts, I prithee, darken not
The mirth o' the feast. Or I'll be thine, my fair,
Or not my father's. For I cannot be50
Mine own, nor any thing to any, if
I be not thine. To this I am most constant,
Though destiny say no. Be merry, gentle;
Strangle such thoughts as these with any thing
That you behold the while. Your guests are coming:55
Lift up your countenance, as it were the day
Of celebration of that nuptial which
We two have sworn shall come.
PERDITAO lady Fortune,
Stand you auspicious!60
FLORIZELSee, your guests approach:
Address yourself to entertain them sprightly,
And let's be red with mirth.
[ Enter Shepherd, Clown, MOPSA, DORCAS, and others, with POLIXENES and CAMILLO disguised ]
ShepherdFie, daughter! when my old wife lived, upon
This day she was both pantler, butler, cook,65
Both dame and servant; welcomed all, served all;
Would sing her song and dance her turn; now here,
At upper end o' the table, now i' the middle;
On his shoulder, and his; her face o' fire
With labour and the thing she took to quench it,70
She would to each one sip. You are retired,
As if you were a feasted one and not
The hostess of the meeting: pray you, bid
These unknown friends to's welcome; for it is
A way to make us better friends, more known.75
Come, quench your blushes and present yourself
That which you are, mistress o' the feast: come on,
And bid us welcome to your sheep-shearing,
As your good flock shall prosper.
PERDITA[To POLIXENES] Sir, welcome: 80
It is my father's will I should take on me
The hostess-ship o' the day.
[To CAMILLO]
You're welcome, sir.
Give me those flowers there, Dorcas. Reverend sirs,
For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep85
Seeming and savour all the winter long:
Grace and remembrance be to you both,
And welcome to our shearing!



POLIXENESShepherdess,
A fair one are you--well you fit our ages90
With flowers of winter.
PERDITASir, the year growing ancient,
Not yet on summer's death, nor on the birth
Of trembling winter, the fairest
flowers o' the season95
Are our carnations and streak'd gillyvors,
Which some call nature's bastards: of that kind
Our rustic garden's barren; and I care not
To get slips of them.
POLIXENESWherefore, gentle maiden,100
Do you neglect them?
PERDITAFor I have heard it said
There is an art which in their piedness shares
With great creating nature.
POLIXENESSay there be;105
Yet nature is made better by no mean
But nature makes that mean: so, over that art
Which you say adds to nature, is an art
That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry
A gentler scion to the wildest stock,110
And make conceive a bark of baser kind
By bud of nobler race: this is an art
Which does mend nature, change it rather, but
The art itself is nature.
PERDITASo it is.115
POLIXENESThen make your garden rich in gillyvors,
And do not call them bastards.
PERDITAI'll not put
The dibble in earth to set one slip of them;
No more than were I painted I would wish120
This youth should say 'twere well and only therefore
Desire to breed by me. Here's flowers for you;
Hot lavender, mints, savoury, marjoram;
The marigold, that goes to bed wi' the sun
And with him rises weeping: these are flowers125
Of middle summer, and I think they are given
To men of middle age. You're very welcome.
CAMILLOI should leave grazing, were I of your flock,
And only live by gazing.
PERDITAOut, alas!130
You'd be so lean, that blasts of January
Would blow you through and through.
Now, my fair'st friend,
I would I had some flowers o' the spring that might
Become your time of day; and yours, and yours,135
That wear upon your virgin branches yet
Your maidenheads growing: O Proserpina,
For the flowers now, that frighted thou let'st fall
From Dis's waggon! daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take140
The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes
Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses
That die unmarried, ere they can behold
Bight Phoebus in his strength--a malady145
Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and
The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,
The flower-de-luce being one! O, these I lack,
To make you garlands of, and my sweet friend,
To strew him o'er and o'er!150
FLORIZELWhat, like a corse?
PERDITANo, like a bank for love to lie and play on;
Not like a corse; or if, not to be buried,
But quick and in mine arms. Come, take your flowers:
Methinks I play as I have seen them do155
In Whitsun pastorals: sure this robe of mine
Does change my disposition.
FLORIZELWhat you do
Still betters what is done. When you speak, sweet.
I'ld have you do it ever: when you sing,160
I'ld have you buy and sell so, so give alms,
Pray so; and, for the ordering your affairs,
To sing them too: when you do dance, I wish you
A wave o' the sea, that you might ever do
Nothing but that; move still, still so,165
And own no other function: each your doing,
So singular in each particular,
Crowns what you are doing in the present deed,
That all your acts are queens.
PERDITAO Doricles,170
Your praises are too large: but that your youth,
And the true blood which peepeth fairly through't,
Do plainly give you out an unstain'd shepherd,
With wisdom I might fear, my Doricles,
You woo'd me the false way.175
FLORIZELI think you have
As little skill to fear as I have purpose
To put you to't. But come; our dance, I pray:
Your hand, my Perdita: so turtles pair,
That never mean to part.180
PERDITAI'll swear for 'em.
POLIXENESThis is the prettiest low-born lass that ever
Ran on the green-sward: nothing she does or seems
But smacks of something greater than herself,
Too noble for this place.185
CAMILLOHe tells her something
That makes her blood look out: good sooth, she is
The queen of curds and cream.
ClownCome on, strike up!
DORCASMopsa must be your mistress: marry, garlic,190
To mend her kissing with!
MOPSANow, in good time!
ClownNot a word, a word; we stand upon our manners.
Come, strike up!
[ Music. Here a dance of Shepherds and Shepherdesses ]
POLIXENESPray, good shepherd, what fair swain is this195
Which dances with your daughter?
ShepherdThey call him Doricles; and boasts himself
To have a worthy feeding: but I have it
Upon his own report and I believe it;
He looks like sooth. He says he loves my daughter:200
I think so too; for never gazed the moon
Upon the water as he'll stand and read
As 'twere my daughter's eyes: and, to be plain.
I think there is not half a kiss to choose
Who loves another best.205
POLIXENESShe dances featly.
ShepherdSo she does any thing; though I report it,
That should be silent: if young Doricles
Do light upon her, she shall bring him that
Which he not dreams of.210
[Enter Servant]
ServantO master, if you did but hear the pedlar at the
door, you would never dance again after a tabour and
pipe; no, the bagpipe could not move you: he sings
several tunes faster than you'll tell money; he
utters them as he had eaten ballads and all men's215
ears grew to his tunes.
ClownHe could never come better; he shall come in. I
love a ballad but even too well, if it be doleful
matter merrily set down, or a very pleasant thing
indeed and sung lamentably.220
ServantHe hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes; no
milliner can so fit his customers with gloves: he
has the prettiest love-songs for maids; so without
bawdry, which is strange; with such delicate
burthens of dildos and fadings, 'jump her and thump225
her;' and where some stretch-mouthed rascal would,
as it were, mean mischief and break a foul gap into
the matter, he makes the maid to answer 'Whoop, do me
no harm, good man;' puts him off, slights him, with
'Whoop, do me no harm, good man.'230
POLIXENESThis is a brave fellow.
ClownBelieve me, thou talkest of an admirable conceited
fellow. Has he any unbraided wares?
ServantHe hath ribbons of an the colours i' the rainbow;
points more than all the lawyers in Bohemia can235
learnedly handle, though they come to him by the
gross: inkles, caddisses, cambrics, lawns: why, he
sings 'em over as they were gods or goddesses; you
would think a smock were a she-angel, he so chants
to the sleeve-hand and the work about the square on't.240
ClownPrithee bring him in; and let him approach singing.
PERDITAForewarn him that he use no scurrilous words in 's tunes.
[Exit Servant]
ClownYou have of these pedlars, that have more in them
than you'ld think, sister.
PERDITAAy, good brother, or go about to think.245
[Enter AUTOLYCUS, singing]
AUTOLYCUSLawn as white as driven snow;
Cyprus black as e'er was crow;
Gloves as sweet as damask roses;
Masks for faces and for noses;
Bugle bracelet, necklace amber,250
Perfume for a lady's chamber;
Golden quoifs and stomachers,
For my lads to give their dears:
Pins and poking-sticks of steel,
What maids lack from head to heel:255
Come buy of me, come; come buy, come buy;
Buy lads, or else your lasses cry: Come buy.
ClownIf I were not in love with Mopsa, thou shouldst take
no money of me; but being enthralled as I am, it
will also be the bondage of certain ribbons and gloves.260
MOPSAI was promised them against the feast; but they come
not too late now.
DORCASHe hath promised you more than that, or there be liars.
MOPSAHe hath paid you all he promised you; may be, he has
paid you more, which will shame you to give him again.265
ClownIs there no manners left among maids? will they
wear their plackets where they should bear their
faces? Is there not milking-time, when you are
going to bed, or kiln-hole, to whistle off these
secrets, but you must be tittle-tattling before all270
our guests? 'tis well they are whispering: clamour
your tongues, and not a word more.
MOPSAI have done. Come, you promised me a tawdry-lace
and a pair of sweet gloves.
ClownHave I not told thee how I was cozened by the way275
and lost all my money?
AUTOLYCUSAnd indeed, sir, there are cozeners abroad;
therefore it behoves men to be wary.
ClownFear not thou, man, thou shalt lose nothing here.
AUTOLYCUSI hope so, sir; for I have about me many parcels of charge.280
ClownWhat hast here? ballads?
MOPSAPray now, buy some: I love a ballad in print o'
life, for then we are sure they are true.
AUTOLYCUSHere's one to a very doleful tune, how a usurer's
wife was brought to bed of twenty money-bags at a285
burthen and how she longed to eat adders' heads and
toads carbonadoed.
MOPSAIs it true, think you?
AUTOLYCUSVery true, and but a month old.
DORCASBless me from marrying a usurer!290
AUTOLYCUSHere's the midwife's name to't, one Mistress
Tale-porter, and five or six honest wives that were
present. Why should I carry lies abroad?
MOPSAPray you now, buy it.
ClownCome on, lay it by: and let's first see moe295
ballads; we'll buy the other things anon.
AUTOLYCUSHere's another ballad of a fish, that appeared upon
the coast on Wednesday the four-score of April,
forty thousand fathom above water, and sung this
ballad against the hard hearts of maids: it was300
thought she was a woman and was turned into a cold
fish for she would not exchange flesh with one that
loved her: the ballad is very pitiful and as true.
DORCASIs it true too, think you?
AUTOLYCUSFive justices' hands at it, and witnesses more than305
my pack will hold.
ClownLay it by too: another.
AUTOLYCUSThis is a merry ballad, but a very pretty one.
MOPSALet's have some merry ones.
AUTOLYCUSWhy, this is a passing merry one and goes to310
the tune of 'Two maids wooing a man:' there's
scarce a maid westward but she sings it; 'tis in
request, I can tell you.
MOPSAWe can both sing it: if thou'lt bear a part, thou
shalt hear; 'tis in three parts.315
DORCASWe had the tune on't a month ago.
AUTOLYCUSI can bear my part; you must know 'tis my
occupation; have at it with you.
[SONG]
AUTOLYCUSGet you hence, for I must go
Where it fits not you to know.320
DORCASWhither?
MOPSAO, whither?
DORCASWhither?
MOPSAIt becomes thy oath full well,
Thou to me thy secrets tell.325
DORCASMe too, let me go thither.
MOPSAOr thou goest to the orange or mill.
DORCASIf to either, thou dost ill.
AUTOLYCUSNeither.
DORCASWhat, neither?330
AUTOLYCUSNeither.
DORCASThou hast sworn my love to be.
MOPSAThou hast sworn it more to me:
Then whither goest? say, whither?
ClownWe'll have this song out anon by ourselves: my335
father and the gentlemen are in sad talk, and we'll
not trouble them. Come, bring away thy pack after
me. Wenches, I'll buy for you both. Pedlar, let's
have the first choice. Follow me, girls.
[Exit with DORCAS and MOPSA]
AUTOLYCUSAnd you shall pay well for 'em.340
[Follows singing]
Will you buy any tape,
Or lace for your cape,
My dainty duck, my dear-a?
Any silk, any thread,
Any toys for your head,345
Of the new'st and finest, finest wear-a?
Come to the pedlar;
Money's a medler.
That doth utter all men's ware-a.
[Exit]
[Re-enter Servant]
ServantMaster, there is three carters, three shepherds,350
three neat-herds, three swine-herds, that have made
themselves all men of hair, they call themselves
Saltiers, and they have a dance which the wenches
say is a gallimaufry of gambols, because they are
not in't; but they themselves are o' the mind, if it355
be not too rough for some that know little but
bowling, it will please plentifully.
ShepherdAway! we'll none on 't: here has been too much
homely foolery already. I know, sir, we weary you.
POLIXENESYou weary those that refresh us: pray, let's see360
these four threes of herdsmen.
ServantOne three of them, by their own report, sir, hath
danced before the king; and not the worst of the
three but jumps twelve foot and a half by the squier.
ShepherdLeave your prating: since these good men are365
pleased, let them come in; but quickly now.
ServantWhy, they stay at door, sir.
[Exit]
[Here a dance of twelve Satyrs]
POLIXENESO, father, you'll know more of that hereafter.
[To CAMILLO]
Is it not too far gone? 'Tis time to part them.
He's simple and tells much.370
[To FLORIZEL]
How now, fair shepherd!
Your heart is full of something that does take
Your mind from feasting. Sooth, when I was young
And handed love as you do, I was wont
To load my she with knacks: I would have ransack'd375
The pedlar's silken treasury and have pour'd it
To her acceptance; you have let him go
And nothing marted with him. If your lass
Interpretation should abuse and call this
Your lack of love or bounty, you were straited380
For a reply, at least if you make a care
Of happy holding her.
FLORIZELOld sir, I know
She prizes not such trifles as these are:
The gifts she looks from me are pack'd and lock'd385
Up in my heart; which I have given already,
But not deliver'd. O, hear me breathe my life
Before this ancient sir, who, it should seem,
Hath sometime loved! I take thy hand, this hand,
As soft as dove's down and as white as it,390
Or Ethiopian's tooth, or the fann'd
snow that's bolted
By the northern blasts twice o'er.
POLIXENESWhat follows this?
How prettily the young swain seems to wash395
The hand was fair before! I have put you out:
But to your protestation; let me hear
What you profess.
FLORIZELDo, and be witness to 't.
POLIXENESAnd this my neighbour too?400
FLORIZELAnd he, and more
Than he, and men, the earth, the heavens, and all:
That, were I crown'd the most imperial monarch,
Thereof most worthy, were I the fairest youth
That ever made eye swerve, had force and knowledge405
More than was ever man's, I would not prize them
Without her love; for her employ them all;
Commend them and condemn them to her service
Or to their own perdition.
POLIXENESFairly offer'd.410
CAMILLOThis shows a sound affection.
ShepherdBut, my daughter,
Say you the like to him?
PERDITAI cannot speak
So well, nothing so well; no, nor mean better:415
By the pattern of mine own thoughts I cut out
The purity of his.
ShepherdTake hands, a bargain!
And, friends unknown, you shall bear witness to 't:
I give my daughter to him, and will make420
Her portion equal his.
FLORIZELO, that must be
I' the virtue of your daughter: one being dead,
I shall have more than you can dream of yet;
Enough then for your wonder. But, come on,425
Contract us 'fore these witnesses.
ShepherdCome, your hand;
And, daughter, yours.
POLIXENESSoft, swain, awhile, beseech you;
Have you a father?430
FLORIZELI have: but what of him?
POLIXENESKnows he of this?
FLORIZELHe neither does nor shall.
POLIXENESMethinks a father
Is at the nuptial of his son a guest435
That best becomes the table. Pray you once more,
Is not your father grown incapable
Of reasonable affairs? is he not stupid
With age and altering rheums? can he speak? hear?
Know man from man? dispute his own estate?440
Lies he not bed-rid? and again does nothing
But what he did being childish?
FLORIZELNo, good sir;
He has his health and ampler strength indeed
Than most have of his age.445
POLIXENESBy my white beard,
You offer him, if this be so, a wrong
Something unfilial: reason my son
Should choose himself a wife, but as good reason
The father, all whose joy is nothing else450
But fair posterity, should hold some counsel
In such a business.
FLORIZELI yield all this;
But for some other reasons, my grave sir,
Which 'tis not fit you know, I not acquaint455
My father of this business.
POLIXENESLet him know't.
FLORIZELHe shall not.
POLIXENESPrithee, let him.
FLORIZELNo, he must not.460
ShepherdLet him, my son: he shall not need to grieve
At knowing of thy choice.
FLORIZELCome, come, he must not.
Mark our contract.
POLIXENESMark your divorce, young sir,465
[Discovering himself]
Whom son I dare not call; thou art too base
To be acknowledged: thou a sceptre's heir,
That thus affect'st a sheep-hook! Thou old traitor,
I am sorry that by hanging thee I can
But shorten thy life one week. And thou, fresh piece470
Of excellent witchcraft, who of force must know
The royal fool thou copest with,--
ShepherdO, my heart!
POLIXENESI'll have thy beauty scratch'd with briers, and made
More homely than thy state. For thee, fond boy,475
If I may ever know thou dost but sigh
That thou no more shalt see this knack, as never
I mean thou shalt, we'll bar thee from succession;
Not hold thee of our blood, no, not our kin,
Far than Deucalion off: mark thou my words:480
Follow us to the court. Thou churl, for this time,
Though full of our displeasure, yet we free thee
From the dead blow of it. And you, enchantment.--
Worthy enough a herdsman: yea, him too,
That makes himself, but for our honour therein,485
Unworthy thee,--if ever henceforth thou
These rural latches to his entrance open,
Or hoop his body more with thy embraces,
I will devise a death as cruel for thee
As thou art tender to't.490
[Exit]
PERDITAEven here undone!
I was not much afeard; for once or twice
I was about to speak and tell him plainly,
The selfsame sun that shines upon his court
Hides not his visage from our cottage but495
Looks on alike. Will't please you, sir, be gone?
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 farther,
But milk my ewes and weep.500
CAMILLOWhy, how now, father!
Speak ere thou diest.
ShepherdI cannot speak, nor think
Nor dare to know that which I know. O sir!
You have undone a man of fourscore three,505
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
Where no priest shovels in dust. O cursed wretch,510
That knew'st this was the prince,
and wouldst adventure
To mingle faith with him! Undone! undone!
If I might die within this hour, I have lived
To die when I desire.515
[Exit]
FLORIZELWhy look you so upon me?
I 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 unwillingly.520
CAMILLOGracious 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:525
Then, till the fury of his highness settle,
Come not before him.
FLORIZELI not purpose it.
I think, Camillo?
CAMILLOEven he, my lord.530
PERDITAHow often have I told you 'twould be thus!
How often said, my dignity would last
But till 'twere known!
FLORIZELIt cannot fail but by
The violation of my faith; and then535
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 affection.
CAMILLOBe advised.540
FLORIZELI am, and by my fancy: if my reason
Will thereto be obedient, I have reason;
If not, my senses, better pleased with madness,
Do bid it welcome.
CAMILLOThis is desperate, sir.545
FLORIZELSo 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 sea hides550
In unknown fathoms, will I break my oath
To this my fair beloved: 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 counsels555
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 have560
A vessel rides fast by, but not prepared
For this design. What course I mean to hold
Shall nothing benefit your knowledge, nor
Concern me the reporting.
CAMILLOO my lord!565
I would your spirit were easier for advice,
Or stronger for your need.
FLORIZELHark, Perdita
[Drawing her aside]
I'll hear you by and by.
CAMILLOHe's irremoveable,570
Resolved 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, whom575
I so much thirst to see.
FLORIZELNow, good Camillo;
I am so fraught with curious business that
I leave out ceremony.
CAMILLOSir, I think580
You have heard of my poor services, i' the love
That I have borne your father?
FLORIZELVery nobly
Have you deserved: it is my father's music
To speak your deeds, not little of his care585
To have them recompensed as thought on.
CAMILLOWell, 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:590
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,595
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.600
FLORIZELHow, Camillo,
May this, almost a miracle, be done?
That I may call thee something more than man
And after that trust to thee.
CAMILLOHave you thought on605
A place whereto you'll go?
FLORIZELNot any yet:
But as the unthought-on accident is guilty
To what we wildly do, so we profess
Ourselves to be the slaves of chance and flies610
Of every wind that blows.
CAMILLOThen 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,615
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,620
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.625
FLORIZELWorthy Camillo,
What colour for my visitation shall I
Hold up before him?
CAMILLOSent by the king your father
To greet him and to give him comforts. Sir,630
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 perceive635
But that you have your father's bosom there
And speak his very heart.
FLORIZELI am bound to you:
There is some sap in this.
CAMILLOA cause more promising640
Than a wild dedication of yourselves
To unpath'd waters, undream'd shores, most certain
To miseries enough; no hope to help you,
But as you shake off one to take another;
Nothing so certain as your anchors, who645
Do their best office, if they can but stay you
Where you'll be loath to be: besides you know
Prosperity's the very bond of love,
Whose fresh complexion and whose heart together
Affliction alters.650
PERDITAOne of these is true:
I think affliction may subdue the cheek,
But not take in the mind.
CAMILLOYea, say you so?
There shall not at your father's house these655
seven years
Be born another such.
FLORIZELMy good Camillo,
She is as forward of her breeding as
She is i' the rear our birth.660
CAMILLOI cannot say 'tis pity
She lacks instructions, for she seems a mistress
To most that teach.
PERDITAYour pardon, sir; for this
I'll blush you thanks.665
FLORIZELMy prettiest Perdita!
But O, the thorns we stand upon! Camillo,
Preserver of my father, now of me,
The medicine of our house, how shall we do?
We are not furnish'd like Bohemia's son,670
Nor shall appear in Sicilia.
CAMILLOMy lord,
Fear none of this: I think you know my fortunes
Do all lie there: it shall be so my care
To have you royally appointed as if675
The scene you play were mine. For instance, sir,
That you may know you shall not want, one word.
[They talk aside]
[Re-enter AUTOLYCUS]
AUTOLYCUSHa, ha! what a fool Honesty is! and Trust, his
sworn brother, a very simple gentleman! I have sold
all my trumpery; not a counterfeit stone, not a680
ribbon, glass, pomander, brooch, table-book, ballad,
knife, tape, glove, shoe-tie, bracelet, horn-ring,
to keep my pack from fasting: they throng who
should buy first, as if my trinkets had been
hallowed and brought a benediction to the buyer:685
by which means I saw whose purse was best in
picture; and what I saw, to my good use I
remembered. My clown, who wants but something to
be a reasonable man, grew so in love with the
wenches' song, that he would not stir his pettitoes690
till he had both tune and words; which so drew the
rest of the herd to me that all their other senses
stuck in ears: you might have pinched a placket, it
was senseless; 'twas nothing to geld a codpiece of a
purse; I could have filed keys off that hung in695
chains: no hearing, no feeling, but my sir's song,
and admiring the nothing of it. So that in this
time of lethargy I picked and cut most of their
festival purses; and had not the old man come in
with a whoo-bub against his daughter and the king's700
son and scared my choughs from the chaff, I had not
left a purse alive in the whole army.
[CAMILLO, FLORIZEL, and PERDITA come forward]
CAMILLONay, but my letters, by this means being there
So soon as you arrive, shall clear that doubt.
FLORIZELAnd those that you'll procure from King Leontes--705
CAMILLOShall satisfy your father.
PERDITAHappy be you!
All that you speak shows fair.
CAMILLOWho have we here?
[Seeing AUTOLYCUS]
We'll make an instrument of this, omit710
Nothing may give us aid.
AUTOLYCUSIf they have overheard me now, why, hanging.
CAMILLOHow now, good fellow! why shakest thou so? Fear
not, man; here's no harm intended to thee.
AUTOLYCUSI am a poor fellow, sir.715
CAMILLOWhy, be so still; here's nobody will steal that from
thee: yet for the outside of thy poverty we must
make an exchange; therefore discase thee instantly,
--thou must think there's a necessity in't,--and
change garments with this gentleman: though the720
pennyworth on his side be the worst, yet hold thee,
there's some boot.
AUTOLYCUSI am a poor fellow, sir.
[Aside]
I know ye well enough.
CAMILLONay, prithee, dispatch: the gentleman is half725
flayed already.
AUTOLYCUSAre you in earnest, sir?
[Aside]
I smell the trick on't.
FLORIZELDispatch, I prithee.
AUTOLYCUSIndeed, I have had earnest: but I cannot with730
conscience take it.
CAMILLOUnbuckle, unbuckle.
[FLORIZEL and AUTOLYCUS exchange garments]
Fortunate mistress,--let my prophecy
Come home to ye!--you must retire yourself
Into some covert: take your sweetheart's hat735
And pluck it o'er your brows, muffle your face,
Dismantle you, and, as you can, disliken
The truth of your own seeming; that you may--
For I do fear eyes over--to shipboard
Get undescried.740
PERDITAI see the play so lies
That I must bear a part.
CAMILLONo remedy.
Have you done there?
FLORIZELShould I now meet my father,745
He would not call me son.
CAMILLONay, you shall have no hat.
[Giving it to PERDITA]
Come, lady, come. Farewell, my friend.
AUTOLYCUSAdieu, sir.
FLORIZELO Perdita, what have we twain forgot!750
Pray you, a word.
CAMILLO[Aside] What I do next, shall be to tell the king
Of this escape and whither they are bound;
Wherein my hope is I shall so prevail
To force him after: in whose company755
I shall review Sicilia, for whose sight
I have a woman's longing.
FLORIZELFortune speed us!
Thus we set on, Camillo, to the sea-side.
CAMILLOThe swifter speed the better.760
[Exeunt FLORIZEL, PERDITA, and CAMILLO]
AUTOLYCUSI understand the business, I hear it: to have an
open ear, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, is
necessary for a cut-purse; a good nose is requisite
also, to smell out work for the other senses. I see
this is the time that the unjust man doth thrive.765
What an exchange had this been without boot! What
a boot is here with this exchange! Sure the gods do
this year connive at us, and we may do any thing
extempore. The prince himself is about a piece of
iniquity, stealing away from his father with his770
clog at his heels: if I thought it were a piece of
honesty to acquaint the king withal, I would not
do't: I hold it the more knavery to conceal it;
and therein am I constant to my profession.
[Re-enter Clown and Shepherd]
Aside, aside; here is more matter for a hot brain:775
every lane's end, every shop, church, session,
hanging, yields a careful man work.
ClownSee, see; what a man you are now!
There is no other way but to tell the king
she's a changeling and none of your flesh and blood.780
ShepherdNay, but hear me.
ClownNay, but hear me.
ShepherdGo to, then.
ClownShe being none of your flesh and blood, your flesh
and blood has not offended the king; and so your785
flesh and blood is not to be punished by him. Show
those things you found about her, those secret
things, all but what she has with her: this being
done, let the law go whistle: I warrant you.
ShepherdI will tell the king all, every word, yea, and his790
son's pranks too; who, I may say, is no honest man,
neither to his father nor to me, to go about to make
me the king's brother-in-law.
ClownIndeed, brother-in-law was the farthest off you
could have been to him and then your blood had been795
the dearer by I know how much an ounce.
AUTOLYCUS[Aside] Very wisely, puppies!
ShepherdWell, let us to the king: there is that in this
fardel will make him scratch his beard.
AUTOLYCUS[Aside] I know not what impediment this complaint 800
may be to the flight of my master.
ClownPray heartily he be at palace.
AUTOLYCUS[Aside] Though I am not naturally honest, I am so
sometimes by chance: let me pocket up my pedlar's excrement.
[Takes off his false beard]
How now, rustics! whither are you bound?805
ShepherdTo the palace, an it like your worship.
AUTOLYCUSYour affairs there, what, with whom, the condition
of that fardel, the place of your dwelling, your
names, your ages, of what having, breeding, and any
thing that is fitting to be known, discover.810
ClownWe are but plain fellows, sir.
AUTOLYCUSA lie; you are rough and hairy. Let me have no
lying: it becomes none but tradesmen, and they
often give us soldiers the lie: but we pay them for
it with stamped coin, not stabbing steel; therefore815
they do not give us the lie.
ClownYour worship had like to have given us one, if you
had not taken yourself with the manner.
ShepherdAre you a courtier, an't like you, sir?
AUTOLYCUSWhether it like me or no, I am a courtier. Seest820
thou not the air of the court in these enfoldings?
hath not my gait in it the measure of the court?
receives not thy nose court-odor from me? reflect I
not on thy baseness court-contempt? Thinkest thou,
for that I insinuate, or toaze from thee thy825
business, I am therefore no courtier? I am courtier
cap-a-pe; and one that will either push on or pluck
back thy business there: whereupon I command thee to
open thy affair.
ShepherdMy business, sir, is to the king.830
AUTOLYCUSWhat advocate hast thou to him?
ShepherdI know not, an't like you.
ClownAdvocate's the court-word for a pheasant: say you
have none.
ShepherdNone, sir; I have no pheasant, cock nor hen.835
AUTOLYCUSHow blessed are we that are not simple men!
Yet nature might have made me as these are,
Therefore I will not disdain.
ClownThis cannot be but a great courtier.
ShepherdHis garments are rich, but he wears840
them not handsomely.
ClownHe seems to be the more noble in being fantastical:
a great man, I'll warrant; I know by the picking
on's teeth.
AUTOLYCUSThe fardel there? what's i' the fardel?845
Wherefore that box?
ShepherdSir, there lies such secrets in this fardel and box,
which none must know but the king; and which he
shall know within this hour, if I may come to the
speech of him.850
AUTOLYCUSAge, thou hast lost thy labour.
ShepherdWhy, sir?
AUTOLYCUSThe king is not at the palace; he is gone aboard a
new ship to purge melancholy and air himself: for,
if thou beest capable of things serious, thou must855
know the king is full of grief.
ShepardSo 'tis said, sir; about his son, that should have
married a shepherd's daughter.
AUTOLYCUSIf that shepherd be not in hand-fast, let him fly:
the curses he shall have, the tortures he shall860
feel, will break the back of man, the heart of monster.
ClownThink you so, sir?
AUTOLYCUSNot he alone shall suffer what wit can make heavy
and vengeance bitter; but those that are germane to
him, though removed fifty times, shall all come865
under the hangman: which though it be great pity,
yet it is necessary. An old sheep-whistling rogue a
ram-tender, to offer to have his daughter come into
grace! Some say he shall be stoned; but that death
is too soft for him, say I draw our throne into a870
sheep-cote! all deaths are too few, the sharpest too easy.
ClownHas the old man e'er a son, sir, do you hear. an't
like you, sir?
AUTOLYCUSHe has a son, who shall be flayed alive; then
'nointed over with honey, set on the head of a875
wasp's nest; then stand till he be three quarters
and a dram dead; then recovered again with
aqua-vitae or some other hot infusion; then, raw as
he is, and in the hottest day prognostication
proclaims, shall be be set against a brick-wall, the880
sun looking with a southward eye upon him, where he
is to behold him with flies blown to death. But what
talk we of these traitorly rascals, whose miseries
are to be smiled at, their offences being so
capital? Tell me, for you seem to be honest plain885
men, what you have to the king: being something
gently considered, I'll bring you where he is
aboard, tender your persons to his presence,
whisper him in your behalfs; and if it be in man
besides the king to effect your suits, here is man890
shall do it.
ClownHe seems to be of great authority: close with him,
give him gold; and though authority be a stubborn
bear, yet he is oft led by the nose with gold: show
the inside of your purse to the outside of his hand,895
and no more ado. Remember 'stoned,' and 'flayed alive.'
ShepherdAn't please you, sir, to undertake the business for
us, here is that gold I have: I'll make it as much
more and leave this young man in pawn till I bring it you.
AUTOLYCUSAfter I have done what I promised?900
ShepherdAy, sir.
AUTOLYCUSWell, give me the moiety. Are you a party in this business?
ClownIn some sort, sir: but though my case be a pitiful
one, I hope I shall not be flayed out of it.
AUTOLYCUSO, that's the case of the shepherd's son: hang him,905
he'll be made an example.
ClownComfort, good comfort! We must to the king and show
our strange sights: he must know 'tis none of your
daughter nor my sister; we are gone else. Sir, I
will give you as much as this old man does when the910
business is performed, and remain, as he says, your
pawn till it be brought you.
AUTOLYCUSI will trust you. Walk before toward the sea-side;
go on the right hand: I will but look upon the
hedge and follow you.915
ClownWe are blest in this man, as I may say, even blest.
ShepherdLet's before as he bids us: he was provided to do us good.
[Exeunt Shepherd and Clown]
AUTOLYCUSIf I had a mind to be honest, I see Fortune would
not suffer me: she drops booties in my mouth. I am
courted now with a double occasion, gold and a means920
to do the prince my master good; which who knows how
that may turn back to my advancement? I will bring
these two moles, these blind ones, aboard him: if he
think it fit to shore them again and that the
complaint they have to the king concerns him925
nothing, let him call me rogue for being so far
officious; for I am proof against that title and
what shame else belongs to't. To him will I present
them: there may be matter in it.
[Exit]

Next: The Winter's Tale, Act 5, Scene 1
________

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