Paul. How? not women?

Gent. Women will love her, that she is a woman More worth than any man; men, that the is

The rareft of all women.

Leo. Go, Cleomenes;

Yourself, affifted with your honour'd friends,

[Exit Cleomenes. Bring them to our embracement.-Still 'tis ftrange, He thus fhould steal upon us.

Paul. Had our prince,

(Jewel of children) feen this hour, he had pair'd Well with this lord; there was not full a month Between their births.

Leo. Pr'ythee, no more; ceafe; thou know'st,
He dies to me again, when talk'd of: fure,
When I fhall fee this gentleman, thy speeches
Will bring me to confider that, which may
Unfurnish me of reafon.-They are come.

Enter Florizel, Perdita, Cleomenes, and others.
Your mother was moft true to wedlock, prince;
For fhe did print your royal father off,
Conceiving you: Were I but twenty one,
Your father's image is fo hit in you,

His very air, that I should call you brother,
As I did him; and fpeak of fomething, wildly
By us perform❜d before. Moft dearly welcome!
And your fair princefs, goddefs!-O, alas!
I loft a couple, that 'twixt heaven and earth.
Might thus have stood, begetting wonder, as
You, gracious couple, do! and then I loft
(All mine own folly) the fociety,

Amity too, of your brave father; whom,
Though bearing mifery, I defire

my

Once more to look on.

U u 3

life

Flo.

Flo. Sir, by his command

Have I here touch'd Sicilia; and from him

Give you all greetings, that a king, * at friend,
Can fend his brother: and, but infirmity

(Which waits upon worn times) hath something feiz'd
His wish'd ability, he had himself

The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his
Measur'd, to look upon you; whom he loves
(He bade me fay fo) more than all the fcepters,
And those that bear them, living.

Leo. Oh, my brother!

(Good gentleman) the wrongs I have done thee, ftir Afresh within me; and these thy offices,

So rarely kind, are as interpreters

Of my behind-hand flackness !-Welcome hither,
As is the spring to the earth. And hath he too
Expos'd this paragon to the fearful ufage
(At least, ungentle) of the dreadful Neptune,
To greet a man, not worth her pains; much less
The adventure of her perfon?

Flo. Good my lord,

She came from Libya.

Leo. Where the warlike Smalus,

That noble honour'd lord, is fear'd, and lov'd?

Flo. Moft royal fir, from thence; from him, whofe

Y

daughter

His tears proclaim'd his, parting with her: thence

(A profperous fouth-wind friendly) we have cross'd,
To execute the charge my father gave me,
For visiting your highness: My best train

I have from your Sicilian fhores difmifs'd;

* at friend,]-upon friendly terms, living at friendship with another. Y proclaim'd his, parting with her :]-to be his indeed, being fhed

fo abundantly at parting with her.

Who

Who for Bohemia bend, to fignify

Not only my fuccess in Libya, fir,

But my arrival, and my wife's, in fafety
Here, where we are.

Leo. The bleffed gods

Purge all infection from our air, whilst you
Do climate here! You have a holy father,
A graceful gentleman; against whofe perfon,
So facred as it is, I have done fin:

For which the heavens, taking angry note,
Have left me iffue-lefs; and your father's blefs'd,
(As he from heaven merits it) with you,
Worthy his goodness. What might I have been,
Might I a fon and daughter now have look'd on,
Such goodly things as you?

Enter a Lord.

Lord. Moft noble fir,

That, which I fhall report, will bear no credit,

Were not the proof fo nigh.

Please you, great fir,

Bohemia greets you from himself, by me:

Defires you to attach his fon; who has

(His dignity and duty both caft off)

Fled from his father, from his hopes, and with
A fhepherd's daughter.

Leo. Where's Bohemia ? fpeak.

Lord. Here in your city; I now came from him:
I speak amazedly; and it becomes

My marvel, and my meffage. To your court
Whiles he was hast'ning, (in the chase, it seems,
Of this fair couple) meets he on the way
The father of this feeming lady, and
Her brother, having both their country quitted
With this young prince.

U u 4

Flo.

Flo. Camillo has betray'd me;

Whose honour, and whofe honefty, 'till now,
Endur'd all weathers.

Lord. Lay't fo, to his charge;
He's with the king your father.
Leo. Who? Camillo ?

Lord. Camillo, fir; I fpake with him; who now Has these poor men in queftion. Never faw I Wretches fo quake: they kneel, they kifs the earth; Forfwear themselves as often as they speak:

Bohemia ftops his ears, and threatens them

With divers deaths in death.

Per. Oh, my poor father!

The heaven fets fpies upon us, will not have

Our contract celebrated.

Leo. You are marry'd?

Flo. We are not, fir, nor are we like to be;

The stars, I fee, will kiss the valleys first :
The odds for high and low's alike.

Leo. My lord,

Is this the daughter of a king?

Flo. She is,

When once she is my wife.

:

Leo. That once, I fee, by your good father's speed,

Will come on very flowly. I am forry,

Moft forry, you have broken from his liking,

Where you were ty'd in duty and as forry,

a

Your choice is not fo rich in worth as beauty,

That you might well enjoy her.

Flo. Dear, look up:

Though fortune, visible an enemy,

The odds for high and low's alike.]-The difparity between us is as great as the distance between earth and heaven, and the improbability of our union is no lefs.

afo rich in worth]-fo worthy in point of defcent-in birth.

Should

Should chafe us, with my father; power no jot
Hath fhe, to change our loves.-'Beseech you, fir,
Remember fince you ow'd no more to time

b

Than I do now with thought of such affections,
Step forth mine advocate; at your request,
My father will grant precious things, as trifles.

Leo. Would he do fo, I'd beg your precious mistress, Which he counts but a trifle.

Paul. Sir, my liege,

Your eye hath too much youth in't: not a month

'Fore your queen dy'd, she was more worth fuch gazes Than what you look on now.

Leo. I thought of her,

Even in these looks I made.-But your petition

yet unanswer'd: I will to your father;

Is yet

Your honour not o'erthrown by your defires,

[To Florizel.

I am friend to them, and you: upon which errand
I now go toward him; therefore follow me,

And mark what way I make: Come, good my lord.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

The fame.

Enter Autolycus, and a Gentleman.

Aut. 'Befeech you, fir, were you prefent at this relation? 1 Gent. I was by at the opening of the farthel, heard the old fhepherd deliver the manner how he found it: whereupon, after a little amazednefs, we were all commanded out of the chamber: only this, methought, I heard the fhepherd fay, he found the child.

b fince you ow'd no more to time than I do now :]—when your love was

coeval with mine.

Aut.