Florizel. Thou dearest Perdita, With these forc'd thoughts, I pr'ythee, darken not the mirth of the feast. Thy father's ground. Per. Now Jove afford you cause ! To me, the difference forges dread; your greatness Hath not been us'd to fear. Even now I tremble To think, your father, by some accident, Should pass this way as you did : Oh, the fates! Flo. Apprehend Nothing but jollity. The gods themselves, Per. O but, dear sir, Your resolution cannot hold, when 'tis Oppos'd, as it must be, by the power o'the king: One of these two must be necessities, Which then will speak; that you must change this pur Or I my life. Flo. Thou dearest Perdita, With these forc'd thoughts, I pr'ythee, darken not The mirth o'the feast or I'll be thine, my fair, 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 [pose, That you behold the while. Your guests are coming: We two have sworn shall come. [1] Meaning the difference between his rank and hers. M. MASON. [2] This allusion occurs more than once in Romeo and Juliet: 27* This precious book of love, this unbound love VOL. III. Per. O lady fortune, Stand you auspicious! Enter Shepherd, with POLIXENES and CAMILLO, disguised, Clown, MOPSA, DORCAS, and others. Flo. See, your guests approach: Address yourself to entertain them sprightly, Shep. Fie, daughter! when my old wife liv'd, upon This day, she was both pantler, butler, cook ; Both dame and servant: welcom'd all, serv'd all; With labour; and the thing, she took to quench it, The hostess of the meeting: Pray you, bid Per. Welcome, sir! It is my father's will, I should take on me -- [TO POL The hostesship o'the day. You're welcome,sir. [ToCAM. Pol. Shepherdess! (A fair one are you,) well you fit our ages With flowers of winter. Per. Sir, the year growing ancient, Not yet on summer's death, nor on the birth Of trembling winter,—the fairest flowers o'the season Are our carnations, and streak'd gilly-flowers. Which some call nature's bastards: of that kind [3] Rue was called herb of grace. Rosemary was the emblem of remembrance, 1 know not why unless because it was carried at funerals. JOHNS. Rosemary was nciently pposed to strengthen the memory, and is prescribed for that purpose in the books of ancient physic. STEEV. Pol. Wherefore, gentle maiden, Do you neglect them? Per. For I have heard it said, There is an art, which, in their piedness, shares Pol. Say, there be ; Yet nature is made better by no mean, But nature makes that mean: so o'er that art, Which, you say, adds to nature, is an art That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry A gentler scyon to the wildest stock ; 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. Per. So it is. Pol. Then make your garden rich in gilly-flowers, And do not call them bastards. Per. I'll not put The dibble in earth to set one slip of them; No more than, were I painted, I would wish This youth should say, 'twere well; and only therefore Hot lavender, mints, savoury, marjoram ; Per. Out, alas ! You'd be so lean, that blasts of January Would blow you through and through.-Now, my fairest friend, I would, I had some flowers o'the spring, that might That come before the swallow dares, and take "ut summa vestem laxavit ab ora, "Collecti flores tunicis cecidere remissis." STEEV. |