Leo. Whilft I remember

Her and her virtues, I cannot forget

My blemishes in them, and fo ftill think of
The wrong I did myfelf; which was fo much,
That heir-lefs it hath made my kingdom; and
Destroy'd the sweet'ft companion, that e'er man (30)
Bred his hopes out of.

Paul. True, too true, my Lord;

If one by one you wedded all the world,
Or, from the all that are, took fomething good,
To make a perfect woman; fhe, you kill'd,
Would be unparalell'd.

Leo. I think fo.

Kill'd?

Kill'd? fhe I kill'd? I did fo, but thou ftrik'ft me
Sorely, to fay I did; it is as bitter

Upon my tongue, as in my thought. Now, good now,
Say fo but feldom.

Cleo. Not at all, good Lady;

You might have spoke a thousand things, that would Have done the time more benefit, and grac'd

Your kindness better.

Paul. You are one of those, Would have him wed again.

Dio. If you would not fo,

You pity not the State, nor the remembrance
Of his most fovereign name; confider little,
What dangers (by his Highnefs' fail of iffue)
May drop upon his Kingdom, and devour
Incertain lookers on. What were more holy,
Than to rejoice, the former Queen is well?
What holier, than for royalty's repair,
For prefent comfort, and for future good,
To blefs the bed of Majefty again

(30) Deftrey'd the sweet'ft companion, that e'er man

Bred his hopes out of, true.

Paul. Too true, my Lord.] A very flight examination will convince ev'ry intelligent reader, that, true, here has jump'd out of its place in all the editions. What the King would fay, is abfolutely complete without it: and the placing it, where the printed copies have done, is an embarrassment to the fenfe. These two reafons, I hope, will be fufficient to juftify my tranfpofition.

With a fweet fellow to't?

Paul. There is none worthy,

Refpecting her that's gone; befides, the gods
Will have fulfill'd their fecret purposes:
For has not the divine Apollo faid,

Is't not the tenor of his oracle,

That King Leontes fhall not have an heir,

'Till his loft child be found? which, that it fhall,
Is all as monstrous to our human reason,
As my Antigonus to break his grave,

And come again to me; who, on my life,
Did perish with the infant. 'Tis your counfel,
My Lord fhould to the heav'ns be contrary;
Oppofe against their wills.

Care not for iffue;
[To the King-

The Crown will find an heir. Great Alexander
Left his to th' worthieft; fo his fucceffor.
Was like to be the best..

Leo. Good Paulina,

Who haft the memory of Hermione,

I know, in honour: O, that ever I

Had fquar'd me to thy counfel! then, even now
I might have look'd upon my Queen's full eyes,
Have taken treasure from her lips!:

Paul. And left them

More rich, for what they yielded.

Leo. Thou fpeak'ft truth:

No more fuch wives, therefore no wife; one worse, And better us'd, would make her fainted fpirit (31) Again poffefs her corps; and on this stage,

(Where we offend her now) appear foul-vext, And begin, Why to me?

(31) would make her fainted fpirit

Again poffefs her corps, and on this flage

(Where we offenders now appear) foul-vext,

And begin, &c.] 'Tis obvious, that the grammar is defective; and the fenfe confequently wants fupporting. The flight change I have made cures both: and, furely, 'tis an improvement to the tentiment for the King to fay, that Paulina and he offended his dead wife's ghoft with the fubject of a fecond match; rather than in general terms to call themfelves offenders, finners,

Paul.

Paul. Had the fuch power,

She had just fuch caufe.

Leo. She had, and would incenfe me

To murder her I married.

Paul. I fhould fo:

Were I the ghoft that walk'd, I'd bid you mark
Her eye, and tell me, for what dull part in't

You chofe her; then I'd fhriek, that even your ears
Shou'd rift to hear me, and the words that follow'd
Should be, Remember mine.

Leo. Stars, ftars,

And all eyes elfe, dead coals: fear thou no wife :
I'll have no wife, Paulina.

Paul. Will you swear

Never to marry, but by my free leave?

Leo. Never, Paulina; so be blefs'd my spirit!
Paul. Then, good my Lords, bear witness to his oath.
Cleo. You tempt him over-much.

Cleo. Good Madam, pray, have done.

Paul. 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 fo young
As was your former; but the fhall be fuch,

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

Leo. My true Paulina,

We fhall not marry, 'till thou bid'st us.

Paul. That

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

Enter a Gentleman.

Gent. One that gives out himfelf Prince Florizel, Son of Polixenes, with his Princess (fhe,

The fairest I have yet beheld) defires accefs

To your high prefence.

Leo. What with him? he comes not

Like to his father's greatnefs; his approach, So out of circumftance and sudden, tells us, 'Tis not a vifitation fram'd, but forc'd

By need and accident.

Gent. But few,

And thofe but mean.

What train?

Leo. His Princefs, fay you, with him ?

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

Paul. Oh Hermione,

As every present time doth boast itself

Above a better, gone; fo muft thy grave

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

Gent. Pardon, Madam;

The one I have almoft forgot, (your pardon)
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 the but bid follow.

Paul. How? not women?

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

Leo. Go, Cleomines;

Yourfelf, (affifted with your honour'd friends)

Bring them to our embracement. Still 'tis ftrange,
He thus fhould fteal upon us.

Paul. Had our Prince

[Exit Cleomines.

(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 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 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 (32))
Might thus have ftood 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 feiz?d?
His will'd ability, he had himself

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

Leo. Oh, my brother!

Good gentleman, the wrongs I have done thee stir(32) I loft a couple, that 'tunixt heav'n and earth

Might thus have flood, begetting wonder, as

You gracious couple do; } I have feveral times hinted how dangerous to fenfe an innocent comma is, in the hands of ignorance. The editors, by a ftupid pointing here, had ftifled a fine hyperbole, andy blunder'd the text into abfurdity. Did the young Prince and his Confort ftand betwixt heaven and earth, fufpenfi ad ventos, as Virgil calls it? No fuch matter. The King's meaning is this; he had loft a pair of children, who might have ftood the wonder of two worlds, the objects of admiration to gods and men; as this young Prince and his Princess did, in his opinion.

Afresh