Leon. I think so. Kill'd! She I kill'd? I did so: but thou strik'st me Sorely, to say I did; it is as bitter Upon thy tongue, as in my thought: Now, good Would have him wed again. Dion. If would not so, you You pity not the state, nor the remembrance Of his most sovereign dame; consider little, What dangers, by his highness' fail of issue, May drop upon his kingdom, and devour Incertain lookers-on. What were more holy, Than to rejoice, the former queen is well? What holier, than,-for royalty's repair, For present comfort and for future good,― To bless the bed of majesty again With a sweet fellow to't? Paul. Respecting her that's gone. There is none worthy, Will have fulfill'd their secret purposes: Is't not the tenour of his oracle, That king Leontes shall not have an heir, Till his lost child be found? which, that it shall, Is all as monstrous to our human reason, As my Antigonus to break his grave, And come again to me; who, on my life, Did perish with the infant. 'Tis your counsel, My lord should to the heavens be contrary, Oppose against their wills.-Care not for issue; Leon. Good Paulina,— Who hast the memory of Hermione, I know, in honour,-O, that ever I Had squar'd me to thy counsel!-then, even now, I might have look'd upon my queen's full eyes; Have taken treasure from her lips, Paul. More rich, for what they yielded. And left them Thou speak'st truth. Leon. No more such wives; therefore, no wife: one worse, And better us'd, would make her sainted spirit Again possess her corps; and, on this stage, (Where we offenders now appear,) soul-vex'd, Begin, And why to me? Paul. She had just cause. Leon. Had she such power, She had; and would incense me you mark Her eye; and tell me, for what dull part in't Leon. Stars, very stars, And all eyes else dead coals!-fear thou no wife, I'll have no wife, Paulina. Paul. Will you swear Never to marry, but by my free leave? 5 incense me — -] i. e. instigate me, set me on. 6 Shou'd rift-] i. e. split. Leon. Never, Paulina; so be bless'd my spirit! Paul. Then, good my lords, bear witness to his Yet, if my lord will marry,-if you will, sir, As, walk'd your first queen's ghost, it should take joy To see her in your arms. Leon. My true Paulina, That We shall not marry, till thou bidd'st us. Paul. Shall be, when your first queen's again in breath; Never till then. Enter a Gentleman. Gent. One that gives out himself prince Florizel, Son of Polixenes, with his princess, (she The fairest I have yet beheld,) desires access To your high presence. Leon. What with him? he comes not Like to his father's greatness: his approach, Gent. But few, Gent. Ay, the most peerless piece of earth, I think, That e'er the sun shone bright on. Paul. O Hermione, As every present time doth boast itself Above a better, gone; so must thy grave Give way to what's seen now. Sir, you yourself Have said, and writ so, (but your writing now Is colder than that theme,) She had not been, Nor was not to be equall'd;-thus your verse Flow'd with her beauty once; 'tis shrewdly ebb'd, To say, you have seen a better. Gent. Pardon, madam ; The one I have almost forgot; (your pardon,) Of all professors else; make proselytes Of who she but bid follow. Paul. How? not women? Gent. Women will love her, that she is a woman More worth than any man; men, that she is The rarest of all women. Leon. Go, Cleomenes; Yourself, assisted with your honour'd friends, - Paul. Had our prince, (Jewel of children,) seen this hour, he had pair'd Well with this lord; there was not full a month Between their births. Leon. Pr'ythee, no more; thou know'st, He dies to me again, when talk'd of: sure, 8 Is colder than that theme,)] i. e. than the lifeless body of Hermione, the theme or subject of your writing. MALONE. When I shall see this gentleman, thy speeches Re-enter CLEOMENES, with FLORIZEL, PERdita, and Attendants. Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince; His very air, that I should call you brother, Flo. By his command Have I here touch'd Sicilia: and from him Give you all greetings, that a king, at friend,' (Which waits upon worn times,) hath something seiz'd His wish'd ability, he had himself The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his Leon. O, my brother, 9-that a king, at friend,] At friend, perhaps means, at friendship. |