Affront his eye.

Cleo. Good Madam, pray, have done.

Pau. Yet, if my lord will marry; if you will, Sir;
No remedy, but you will; give me the office
To chufe you a Queen; fhe fhall not be so young
As was your former; but the fhall be fuch,

As, walk'd your firft Queen's ghoft, it should take joy
To fee her in your arms.

Leo. My true Paulina,

We shall not marry, 'till thou bid'ft us.

Pau. That

Shall be, when your firft Queen's again in breath:
Never till then.

Enter a Gentleman.

Gent. One that gives out himself prince Florizel,
Son of Polixenes, with his princefs (fhe,

The fairest I have yet beheld) defires accefs
To your high presence.

Leo. What with him? he comes not
Like to his father's greatnefs; his approach,
So out of circumftance and fudden, tells us,
'Tis not a vifitation fram'd, but forc'd
By need and accident. What train ? -

Gent. But few,

And those but mean.

Leo. His princess, fay you, with him?

Gent. Yes; the most peerlefs piece of earth, I think, That e'er the fun fhone bright on.

Pau. Oh Hermione,

As every present time doth boast it self

Above a better, gone; fo muft thy grave

Give way to what's feen now. Sir, you your felf
Have faid, and writ fo; but your writing now
Is colder than that theme; fhe had not been,
Nor was the to be equall'd; thus your verfe
Flow'd with her beauty once; 'tis fhrewdly ebb'd,
To fay, you've seen a better,

Gent. Pardon, Madam;

The one I have almost forgot, (your pardon)

0 5

The

The other, when she has obtain'd your eye,
Will have your tongue too. This is a creature,
Would the begin a fect, might quench the zeal
Of all profeffors elfe, make profelites

Of who fhe but bid follow.

Pau. How? not women?

Gent. Women will love her, that he is a woman
More worth than any man: men, that she is
The rareft of all women.

Leo. Go, Cleomines;

Your felf (affifted with your honour'd friends)
Bring them to our embracement. Still 'tis ftrange
He thus fhould steal upon us.

Pau. Had our prince

[Exit Cleo.

(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; cease; thou know'ft, He dies to me again, when talk'd of: fure, When I fhall fee this gentleman, thy fpeeches Will bring me to confider that which may Unfurnish me of reafon. They are come.

Enter Florizel, Perdita, Cleomines, and others. Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince, For he 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 fhould call

you brother, As I did him, and fpeak of fomething wildly By us perform'd before. Moft dearly welcome, As your fair princefs, goddefs!-oh! ́alas! I loft a couple, that 'twixt heav'n 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 (Tho' bearing mifery) I defire my life Once more to look on.

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 seiz'd
His wifh'd ability, he had himself

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

Leo. Oh, my brother!

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

So rarely kind, are as interpreters

Of my behind-hand flackness. Welcome hither,
As is the fpring to th' earth.

And hath he too

Expos'd this paragon to th' fearful ufage

(At least, ungentle) of the dreadful Neptune,
Το greet a man, not worth her pains; much less,
The adventure of her person ?

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 Sir,

From thence; from him, whofe 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 vifiting your highness; my best train
I have from your Sicilian fhores difmiss'd,
Who for Bohemia bend, to fignifie
Not only my fuccefs in Libya, Sir,
But my arrival, and my wife's, in fafety
Here, where we are.

Leo. The bleffed Gods

Purge all infection from our air, whilft you
Do climate here! You have a holy father,
A graceful gentleman, againft 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. Most noble Sir,

That, which I shall report, will bear no credit,
Were not the proof fo high.

Please you, great Sir,

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 fpeak amazedly, and it becomes

My marvel, and my meffage: to your court
Whilst he was hastning, 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.

Flo. Camillo has betray'd me;

Whofe 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, Sir, 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 heav'n fets fpies upon us, will not have
Our contract celebrated.

Leo. You are marry'd ?

Fle.

Flo. We are not, Sir, nor are we like to be;
The ftars, I fee, will kifs the valleys first ;
The odds for high and low's alike.

When once fhe 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,
Your choice is not fo rich in worth as beauty,
That you might well enjoy her.

Flo. Dear, look up;

Though Fortune, vifible an enemy,

Should chafe us, with my father; power no jot
Hath fhe to change our loves. 'Befeech you, Sir,
Remember, fince you ow'd no more to time
Than I do now; with thought of fuch 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.

Pau. Sir, my liege,

Your eye hath too much youth in't; not a month 'Fore your Queen dy'd, he was more worth fuch gazes Than what you look on now.

Leo. I thought of her,

Even in thefe looks I made

-But your petition

[To Florizel.

Is yet unanfwer'd; I will to your father;
Your honour not o'erthrown by your defires,
I'm 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