图书图片
PDF
ePub

What wheels? racks? fires? What flaying? boiling,
In leads, or oils ? what old, or newer torture
Must I receive; whose every word deserves
To taste of thy most worst? Thy tyranny
Together working with thy jealousies,—
Fancies too weak for boys, to green and idle
For girls of nine !-O, think, what they have done,
And then run mad, indeed; stark mad! for all
Thy by-gone fooleries were but spices of it.
That thou betray'dst Polixenes, 'twas nothing;
That did but show thee, of a fool, inconstant,

k

And damnable ungrateful: nor was't much,
Thou would'st have poison'd good Camillo's honour,'
To have him kill a king; poor trespasses,
More monstrous standing by: whereof I reckon
The casting forth to crows thy baby daughter,
To be or none, or little; though a devil.
Would have shed water out of fire, ere don't :
Nor is't directly laid to thee, the death

Of the young prince; whose honourable thoughts
(Thoughts high for one so tender,) cleft the heart
That could conceive, a gross and foolish sire
Blemish'd his gracious dam: this is not, no,
Laid to thy answer: But the last,-O, lords,
When I have said, cry, woe!-the queen, the queen,
The sweetest, dearest, creature's dead; and vengeance for't
Not dropp'd down yet.

1 Lord.

The higher powers forbid !

Paul. I say, she's dead: I'll swear't: if word, nor oath, Prevail not, go and see: if you can bring Tincture, or lustre, in her lip, her eye, Heat outwardly, or breath within, I'll serve you As I would do the gods,-But, O thou tyrant! Do not repent these things; for they are heavier

k of a fool,] By a mode of speech, anciently much in use, this means, "It shewed thee first a fool, then inconstant."-JOHNSON.

1 Thou would'st have poison'd good Camillo's honour,] How should Paulina know this? No one had charged the king with this crime except himself, while Paulina was absent, attending on Hermione. The poet seems to have forgotten this." Notwithstanding this remark of Mr. Malone's, the words may allude to the reproach of treason against himself, which Leontes cast on Camillo.

Than all thy woes can stir: therefore betake thee
To nothing but despair. A thousand knees,
Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting,
Upon a barren mountain, and still winter
In storm perpetual, could not move the gods
To look that way thou wert.

Leon.
Go on, go on:
Thou canst not speak too much; I have deserv'd
All tongues to talk their bitterest.

1 Lord.

Say no more; Howe'er the business goes, you have made fault I'the boldness of your speech.

Paul.

I am sorry for't;m

All faults I make, when I shall come to know them,

I do repent: Alas, I have show'd too much

The rashness of a woman: he is touch'd

To the noble heart.-What's gone, and what's past help, Should be past grief: Do not receive affliction

At my petition, I beseech you; rather

Let me be punish'd, that have minded you

Of what you should forget. Now, good my liege,

Sir, royal sir, forgive a foolish woman :

The love I bore your queen,-lo, fool, again!-
I'll speak of her no more, nor of your children;
I'll not remember you of my own lord,
Who is lost too: take your patience to you,
And I'll say nothing.

Leon.

Thou didst speak but well,
When most the truth; which I receive much better

Than to be pitied of thee. Pr'ythee, bring me
To the dead bodies of my queen, and son:

One grave shall be for both; upon them shall
The causes of their death appear, unto
Our shame perpetual: Once a day I'll visit

The chapel where they lie; and tears, shed there,
Shall be my recreation: So long as

Nature will bear up with this exercise,

m I am sorry for't;] This is another instance of the sudden changes incident to vehement and ungovernable minds.-JOHNSON.

[blocks in formation]

So long I daily vow to use it. Come,

And lead me to these sorrows.

SCENE III.

Bohemia. A desert Country near the Sea.

[Exeunt.

Enter ANTIGONUS, with a Child; and a Mariner.

Ant. Thou art perfect then," our ship hath touch'd upon The deserts of Bohemia?

Mar.
Ay, my lord; and fear
We have landed in ill time: the skies look grimly,
And threaten present blusters. In my conscience,
The heavens with that we have in hand are angry.
Ant. Their sacred wills be done!-Go, get aboard;
Look to thy bark; I'll not be long before

I call upon thee.

Mar. Make your best haste; and go not
Too far i'the land: 'tis like to be loud weather;
Besides, this place is famous for the creatures

Of prey, that keep upon't.

[blocks in formation]

I have heard, (but not believ'd,) the spirits of the dead
May walk again: if such thing be, thy mother
Appear'd to me last night; for ne'er was dream
So like a waking. To me comes a creature,
Sometimes her head on one side, some another;
I never saw a vessel of like sorrow,

So fill'd, and so becoming: in pure white robes,
Like very sanctity, she did approach

My cabin where I lay: thrice bow'd before me ;
And, gasping to begin some speech, her eyes
Became two spouts: the fury spent, anon
Did this break from her: Good Antigonus,

n Thou art perfect then,] Perfect is often used for certain,well assured, or well informed.-JOHNSON.

Since fate, against thy better disposition,
Hath made thy person for the thrower-out
Of my poor babe, according to thine oath,-
Places remote enough are in Bohemia,

There weep, and leave it crying; and, for the babe
Is counted lost for ever, Perdita,

I pr'ythee, call't: for this ungentle business,
Put on thee by my lord, thou ne'er shall see
Thy wife Paulina more: and so, with shrieks,
She melted into air. Affrighted much,
I did in time collect myself, and thought
This was so,
and no slumber. Dreams are toys:
Yet, for this once, yea, superstitiously,
I will be squar'd by this. I do believe,
Hermione hath suffer'd death; and that
Apollo would, this being indeed the issue
Of king Polixenes, it should here be laid,
Either for life, or death, upon the earth
Of its right father.-Blossom, speed thee well!

[Laying down the Child.

There lie; and there thy character: there these;

[Laying down a bundle. Which may, if fortune please, both breed thee pretty, And still rest thine.--The storm begins:-Poor wretch, That, for thy mother's fault, art thus expos'd To loss, and what may follow!-Weep I cannot, But my heart bleeds and most accurs'd am I,

To be by oath enjoin'd to this.-Farewell!

The day frowns more and more; thou art like to have
A lullaby too rough: I never saw

The heavens so dim by day. A savage clamour?"—
Well may I get aboard!--This is the chace;

[blocks in formation]

[Exit, pursued by a bear.

Enter an old Shepherd.

Shep. I would, there were no age between ten and three

thy character:] Thy description; i. e. The writing afterwards discovered with Perdita.-STEEVENS.

PA savage clamour?] This clamour was the cry of the dogs and hunters;→ then seeing the bear, he cries, this is the chace or the animal pursued.—JOHNSON.

and-twenty; or that youth would sleep out the rest: for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting.—Hark you now!Would any but these boiled brains of nineteen, and two-and-twenty, hunt this weather? They have scared away two of my best sheep; which, I fear, the wolf will sooner find, than the master; if any where I have them, 'tis by the sea-side, browzing on ivy. Good luck, an't be thy will! what have we here? [Taking up the Child.] Mercy on's, a barne; a very pretty barne! A boy, or a child,' I wonder? A pretty one; a very pretty one: Sure, some scape: though I am not bookish, yet I can read waiting-gentlewoman in the scape. This has been some stair-work, some trunk-work, some behinddoor-work they were warmer that got this, than the poor thing is here. I'll take it up for pity: yet I'll tarry till my son come; he hollaed but even now. Whoa, ho hoa!

Clo. Hilloa, loa!

Enter Clown.

Shep. What, art so near? If thou'lt see a thing to talk on when thou art dead and rotten, come hither. What ailest thou, man?

Clo. I have seen two such sights, by sea, and by land; -but I am not to say, it is a sea, for it is now the sky; betwixt the firmament and it, you cannot thrust a bodkin's point.

Shep. Why, boy, how is it?

[ocr errors]

Clo. I would, you did but see how it chafes, how it rages, how it takes up the shore! but that's not to the point: O, the most piteous cry of the poor souls! sometimes to see 'em, and not to see 'em: now the ship boring the moon with her main-mast; and anon swallowed with yest and froth, as you'd thrust a cork into a hogshead. And then for the land service,-To see how the bear tore

[ocr errors]

barne,]i. e. Infant,-barnes for borns, or things born; answering to the Latin nati.-STEEVENS.

— a boy, or a child,] Child is used for a female infant. Even within ten miles of London, on admiring "a fine child" in the arms of a cottager, 1 was corrected and told that it was a boy.

« 上一页继续 »