I'the rear of birth.

Cam. I cannot say, 'tis pity

Aut. I am a poor fellow, Sir.

Cam. Why, be so still; here's nobody will steal that from thee: Yet, for the outside of thy poverty, we must make an exchange: therefore, discase thee instantly, (thou must think, there's necessity in't,) and change garments with this gentleman: Though the pennyworth, on his side, be the worst, yet hold thee,

Aut. Ha, ha! what a fool honesty is! and trust, his sworn brother, a very simple gentleman! I have sold all my trumpery; not a counterfeit stone, not a riband, glass, pomander, brooch, table-book, ballad, knife, tape, glove, shoe-tye, bracelet, horn-ring, to keep my pack from fasting: they throng who should buy first; as if my trinkets had been hallowed, and brought a benediction to the buyer: by which means, I saw whose purse was best in picture; and, what I saw, to my good use, I remembered. My clown (who wants but something to be a reasonable man,) grew so in love with the wenches' song, that he would not stir his pettitoes, till he had both tune and words; which so drew the rest of the herd to me, that all their other senses stuck in ears: you might have pinched a placket, it was senseless; 'twas nothing, to geld a codpiece of a purse; I would have filed keys off, that hung in chains: no hearing, no feeling, but my Sir's song, and admiring the nothing of it. So that, in this time of lethargy, I picked and cut most of their festival purses: and had not the old man come in with a whoobub against his daughter and the king's son, and scared my choughst from the chaff, I had not left a purse alive in the whole army.

[CAMILLO, FLORIZEL, and PERDITA, come forward.

Cum. Nay, but my letters by this means being there

So soon as you arrive, shall clear that doubt.
Flo. And those that you'll procure from king
Leontes,-

Cam. Shall satisfy your father.
Per. Happy be you!

All, that you speak, shows fair. Cam. Who have we here?

[Seeing AUTOLYCUS. We'll make an instrument of this; omit Nothing, may give us aid. Aut. If they have overheard me now,-why hanging. [Aside. Cam. How now, good fellow? Why shakest thou so? Fear not, man; here's no harm intended to thee.

Aut. I am a poor fellow, Sir:-I know ye well enough. [Aside. Cam. Nay, pr'ythee, despatch: the gentleman is half flayed already.

Aut. Are you in earnest, Sir?-I smell the trick of it.[Aside.

Flo. Despatch, I pr'ythee.

Aut. Indeed, I have had earnest; but I can. not with conscience take it.

Cam. Unbuckle, unbuckle.

[FLO. and AUTOL. exchange garments. Fortunate mistress,-let my prophecy Come home to you!-you must retire yourself Into some covert: take your sweetheart's hat, And pluck it o'er your brows; muflle your face; Dismantle you: and as you can, disliken The truth of your own seeming; that you may, (For I do fear eyes over you,) to shipboard Get undescried."

Per. I see, the play so lies, That I must bear a part.

Cam. No remedy.Have you done there?

Flo. Should I now meet my father, He would not call me son.

Cam. Nay, you shall have [friend. No hat:- Come, lady, come.-Farewell, my Aut. Adieu, Sir.

king

Flo. O Perdita, what have we twain forgot?
Pray you, a word. [They converse apart.
Cam. What I do next, shall be, to tell the
[Aside.
Of this escape, and whither they are bound;
Wherein, my hope is, I shall so prevail,
To force him after: in whose company
I shall review Sicilia; for whose sight
I have a woman's longing.

Flo. Fortune speed us!-
Thus we set on, Camillo, to the sea-side.
Cam. The swifter speed, the better.

[Exeunt FLORIZEL, PERDITA, ana
CAMILLO.

Aut. I understand the business, I hear it: To have an open ear, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, is necessary for a cut-purse; a good nose is requisite also, to smell out work for the other senses. I see, this is the time that the unjust man doth thrive. What an exchange had this been, without boot? What a boot is here, with this exchange? Sure, the gods do this year connive at us, and we may do any thing extempore. The prince himself is about a piece of iniquity; stealing away from his father, with his clog at his heels: If I thought it were not a piece of honesty to acquaint the king withal, I would do't: I hold it the more knavery to conceal it: and therein am I constant to my profession.

Enter CLOWN and SHEPHERD. Aside, aside;-here is more matter for a hot brain: Every lane's end, every shop, church, session, hanging, yields a careful man work.

Clo. See, see; what a man you are now! there is no other way, but to tell the king she's a changeling, and none of your flesh and

* Something over and above.

+ Stripped.

Shep. Nay, but hear me. Clo. Nay, but hear me. Shep. Go to then.

Clo. She being none of your flesh and blood, your flesh and blood has not offended the king; and, so, your flesh and blood is not to be punished by him. Show those things you found about her; those sacred things, all but what she has with her: This being done, let the law go whistle; I warrant you.

fantastical; a great man, I'll warrant; I know, by the picking on's teeth.

Aut. The fardel there? what's i'the fardel? Wherefore that box?

Shep. Sir, there lies such secrets in this fardel, and box, which none must know but the king; and which he shall know within this hour, if I may come to the speech of him. Aut. Age, thou hast lost thy labour. Shep. Why, Sir?

Clo. Indeed, brother-in-law was the furthest off you could have been to him; and then your blood had been the dearer, by I know how much an ounce.

Aut. Very wisely; puppies! [Aside. Shep. Well; let us to the king; there is that in this fardel,* will make him scratch his beard.

Aut. I know not what impediment this complaint may be to the flight of my master.

Clo. 'Pray heartily he be at palace. Aut. Though I am not naturally honest, I am 50 sometimes by chance:--Let me pocket up my pedlar's excrement.t-[Takes off his false beard.] How now, rustics? whither are you bound?

Shep. To the palace, an it like your worship. Aut. Your affairs there? what? with whom? the condition of that fardel, the place of your dwelling, your names, your ages, of what having, breeding, and any thing that is fitting to be known, discover.

Shep. So 'tis said, Sir; about his son, that should have married a shepherd's daughter.

Aut. If that shepherd be not in hand-fast, let him fly; the curses he shall have, the tortures he shall feel, will break the back of man, the heart of monster.

Clo. Think you so, Sir?

Aut. Not he alone shall suffer what wit can make heavy, and vengeance bitter; but those that are germane to him, though removed fifty times, shall all come under the hangman: which though it be great pity, yet it is necessary. An old sheep-whistling rogue, a ram-tender, to offer to have his daughter come into grace! Some say, he shall be stoned; but that death is too soft for him, say I: Draw our throne into a sheep-cote! all deaths are too few, the sharpest too easy.

Clo. Has the old man e'er a son, Sir, do you hear, an't like you, Sir?

Aut. He has a son, who shall be flayed alive; then, 'nointed over with honey, set on the head of a wasp's nest; then stand, till he be three quarters and a dram dead: then recovered again with aqua-vitæ, or some other hot infusion: then, raw as he is, and in the hottest day

Clo. Your worship had like to have given us one, if you had not taken yourself with the

manner.

Shep. Are you a courtier, an't like you, Sir? Aut. Whether it like me, or no, I am a courtier. See'st thou not the air of the court, in these enfoldings? hath not my gait in it, the measure of the court? receives not thy nose court-odour from me? reflect I not on thy baseness, court-contempt? Think'st thou, for that I insinuate, or toze from thee thy business, I am therefore no courtier? I am courtier, capa-pè; and one that will either push on, or pluck back thy business there: whereupon I command thee to open thy affair.

Shep. My business, Sir, is to the king.
Aut. What advocate hast thou to him?
Shep. I know not, an't like you.

Clo. Advocate's the court-word for a pheasant; say, you have none.

Shep. None, Sir? I have no pheasant, cock,

nor hen.

against a brick-wall, the sun looking with a southward eye upon him; where he is to behold him, with flies blown to death. But what talk we of these traitorly rascals, whose miseries are to be smiled at, their offences being so capital? Tell me, (for you seem to be honest plain men,) what you have to the king: being something gently considered, I'll bring you where he is aboard, tender your persons to his presence, whisper him in your behalfs; and, if it be in man, besides the king to effect your suits, here is man shall do it.

Clo. He seems to be of great authority: close with him, give him gold; and though authori, ty be a stubborn bear, yet he is oft led by the nose with gold: show the inside of your purse to the outside of his hand, and no more ado: Remember stoned, and flayed alive.

Shep. An't please you, Sir, to undertake the business for us, here is that gold I have: I'll make it as much more; and leave this young man in pawn, till I bring it you.

Aut. After I have done what I promised? Shep. Ay, Sir.

Aut. Well give me the moiety :-Are you a party in this business?

Clo. In some sort, Sir: but though my case be a pitiful one, I hope I shall not be flayed

out of it.

Aut. O, that's the case of the shepherd's son: -Hang him, he'll be made an example. Clo. Comfort, good comfort: we must to the * Related.

+ The hottest day foretold in the Being handsomely bribed.

Paul. O Hermione,

[I think,

As every present time doth boast itself
Above a better, gone; so must thy grave
Give way to what's seen now. Sir, you your-
self

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
To say, you have seen a better. [ebb'd,

Gent. Pardon, madam:

The one I have almost forgot; (your pardon,)
The other, when she has obtain'd your eye,
Will have your tongue too. This is such a
creature,

Would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal
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

Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince;
For she did print your royal father off,
Conceiving you: Were I but twenty-one,
Your father's image is so hit in you,
His very air, that I should call you brother,
As I did him; and speak of something, wildly
By us perform'd before. Most dearly welcome!
And you fair princess, goddess!-Ó, alas!
I lost a couple, that 'twixt heaven and earth
Might thus have stood, begetting wonder, as
You, gracious couple, do! and then I lost
(All mine own folly,) the society,
Amity too, of your brave father; whom,
Though bearing misery, I desire my life'
Once more to look upon.

Flo. By his command

Have I here touch'd Sicilia: and from him Give you all greetings, that a king, a friend, Can send his brother: and, but infirmity

* I. e. Than the corse of Hermione, the subject of your writing

Flo. Good my lord, She came from Libya.

Leon. Where the warlike Smalus, That noble honour'd lord, is fear'd, and lov'd? Flo. Most royal Sir, from thence; from him, whose daughter

[thence His tears proclaim'd his, parting with her: (A prosperous south-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 shores dismiss'd;
Who for Bohemia bend, to signify
Not only my success in Libya, Sir,
But my arrival, and my wife's, in safety
Here, where we are.

Leon. The blessed gods

Purge all infection from our air, whilst you
Do climate here! You have a holy father,
A graceful gentleman; against whose person,
So sacred as it is, I have done sin:
For which the heavens, taking angry note,
Have left me issueless; and your father's
bless'd,

(As he from heaven merits it,) with you,
Worthy his goodness. What might I have been,
Might I a son and daughter now have look'd
Such goodly things as you?

Enter a LORD.

Lord. Most noble Sir,

[on,

That, which I shall report, will bear no credit,
Were not the proof so nigh. Please you, great
Sir,

Bohemia greets you from himself, by me:
Desires you to attacht his son; who has
Fled from his father, from his hopes, and with
(His dignity and duty both cast off,)
A shepherd's daughter.

[hin.

Leon. Where's Bohemia? speak. Lord. Here in the city; I now came from I speak amazedly; and it becomes My marvel, and my message. 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 seeming lady, and Her brother, having both their country quitted With this young prince.

Flo. Camillo has betray'd me; Whose honour, and whose honesty, till now, Endur'd all weathers.

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

Lord. Camillo, Sir; I spake with him; who

Has these poor men in question. Never saw I Wretches so quake: they kneel, they kiss the earth;

Forswear themselves as often as they speak: Bohemia stops his ears, and threatens them With divers deaths in death.

Per. O, my poor father!

The heaven sets spies upon us, will not have Our contract celebrated.

Leon. You are married?

Flo. We are not, Sir, nor are we like to be;
The stars, I see, will kiss the valleys first:-
The odds for high and low's alike.t
Leon. My lord,

Is this the daughter of a king?
Flo. She is,

When once she is my wife.

Leon. That once, I see, by your good father's speed,

Will come on very slowly. I am sorry,
Most sorry, you have broken from his liking,
Where you were tied in duty: and as sorry,
Your choice is not so rich in worth; as beauty,
That you might well enjoy her.

Flo. Dear, look up:
Though fortune, visible an enemy, [jot
Should chase us, with my father; power no
Hath she, to change our loves.-'Beseech you,
Sir,

Remember since you ow'd no more to time Than I do now: with thought of such affections,

Step forth mine advocate; at your request, My father will grant precious things, as trifles. Leon. Would he do so, I'd beg your precious mistress,

Which he counts but a trifle.

Paul. Sir, my liege, [month Your eye hath too much youth in't: not a 'Fore your queen died, she was more worth such gazes Than what you look on now. Leon. i thought of her, Even in these looks I made.-But your petition [TO FLORIZEL.

Is yet unanswer'd; I will to your father;
Your honour not o'erthrown by your desires,
I am a friend to them, and you: upon which

errand

Enter a third GENTLEMAN.

Here comes the lady Paulina's steward; he can deliver you more.-How goes it now, Sir? this news, which is called true, is so like an old tale, that the verity of it is in strong suspicion: Has the king found his heir?

3 Gent. Most true; if ever truth were pregnant by circumstance: that, which you hear, you'll swear you see, there is such unity in the proofs. The mantle of queen Hermione :-her jewel about the neck of it :-the letters of Antigonus, found with it, which they know to be his character:-the majesty of the creature, in resemblance of the mother;-the affectiont of nobleness, which nature shows above her breeding, and many other evidences, proclaim her, with all certainty, to be the king's daughter. Did you see the meeting of the two kings? 2 Gent. No.

3 Gent. Then have you lost a sight, which was to be seen, cannot be spoken of. There might you have beheld one joy crown another; so, and in such manner, that, it seemed, sorrow wept to take leave of them; for their joy waded in tears. There was casting up of eyes, holding up of hands; with countenance of such distraction, that they were to be known by garment, not by favour. Our king, being ready to leap out of himself for joy of his found daughter; as if that joy were now become a loss, cries, O, thy mother, thy mother! then asks Bohemia forgiveness; then embraces his son-in-law; then again worries he his daughter, shepherd, which stands by, like a weatherwith clippings her; now he thanks the old bitten conduit of many kings' reigns. I never heard of such another encounter, which lames report to follow it, and undoes description to do it.

2 Gent. What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that carried hence the child?

have matter to rehearse, though credit be 3 Gent. Like an old tale still; which will asleep, and not an ear open: He was torn to pieces with a bear: this avouches the shepherd's son; who has not only his innocence (which seenis much,) to justify him, but a hankerchief, and rings, of his, that Paulina knows.

1 Gent. What became of his bark and his followers?

3 Gent. Wrecked, the same instant of their master's death; and in the view of the shepherd: so that all the instruments, which aided to expose the child, were even then lost, when it was found. But, O, the noble combat, that, 'twixt joy and sorrow, was fought in Paulina! She had one eye declined for the loss of her husband; another elevated that the oracle was