rogue, for being so far officious; for I am proof against that title, and what shame else belongs to't: To him will I present them, there may be matter in [Exit.

it.

ACT V.

SCENE I. Sicilia. A Room in the Palace of Leontes.

Enter LEONTES, CLEOMENES, DION, PAULINA, and Others.

Cleo. Sir, you have done enough, and have per form'd

A saint-like sorrow: no fault could you make, Which you have not redeem'd; indeed, paid down More penitence, than done trespass: At the last, Do, as the heavens have done; forget your evil; With them, forgive yourself.

Leon.

Whilst I remember Her, and her virtues, I cannot forget

My blemishes in them; and so still think of
The wrong I did myself: which was so much,
That heirless it hath made my kingdom; and
Destroy'd the sweet'st companion, that e'er man
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 something good,* To make a perfect woman; she, you kill'd, Would be unparallel'd.

* Or, from the all that are, took something good,] This is a favourite thought; it was bestowed on Miranda and Rosalind before. JOHNSON.

Leon.

I think so. Kill'd!

She I kill'd? I did so: but thou strik'st me

Sorely, to say I did; it is as bitter

Upon thy tongue, as in my thought: Now, good

If would not so, you

Dion.
You pity not the state, nor the remembrance
Of his most sovereign dame; consider little,
What dangers, by his highness' fail of issue,
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 present comfort and for future good,-
To bless the bed of majesty again
With a sweet fellow to't?

Paul.

Respecting her that's gone.

There is none worthy,

Besides, the gods

Will have fulfill'd their secret purposes:
For has not the divine Apollo said,

Is't not the tenour of his oracle,

That king Leontes shall not have an heir,

Till his lost child be found? which, that it shall, 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 coun

sel,

My lord should to the heavens be contrary,

Oppose against their wills.-Care not for issue;
[To LEONTES.

The crown will find an heir: Great Alexander
Left his to the worthiest; so his successor
Was like to be the best.

Leon.

Good Paulina,Who hast the memory of Hermione,

I know, in honour,-O, that ever I

Had squar'd me to thy counsel!-then, even now, I might have look'd upon my queen's full eyes; Have taken treasure from her lips,

Paul.

More rich, for what they yielded.

And left them

Thou speak'st truth.

Leon. No more such wives; therefore, no wife: one worse, And better us'd, would make her sainted spirit Again possess her corps; and, on this stage, (Where we offenders now appear,) soul-vex'd, Begin, And why to me?

Paul.

Had she such power,

She had; and would incense me3

To murder her I married.

Paul.

I should so:

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

6

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

Leon.

Stars, very stars,

And all eyes else dead coals!-fear thou no wife,

I'll have no wife, Paulina.

Paul.

Will you swear

Never to marry, but by my free leave?

5

incense me-] i. e. instigate me, set me on.

• Shou'd rift -] i. e. split.

Leon. Never, Paulina; so be bless'd my spirit! Paul. Then, good my lords, bear witness to his

Yet, if my lord will marry,-if you will, sir,
No remedy, but you will; give me the office
To choose you a queen: she shall not be so young
As was your former; but she shall be such,
As, walk'd your first queen's ghost, it should take

joy

To see her in your arms.

Leon.

My true Paulina,

That

We shall not marry, till thou bidd'st us.

Paul.

Shall be, when your first queen's again in breath; Never till then.

Enter a Gentleman.

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

The fairest I have yet beheld,) desires access

To your high presence.

Leon.

What with him? he comes not

Like to his father's greatness: his approach,

So out of circumstance, and sudden, tells us,
'Tis not a visitation fram'd, but forc'd
By need, and accident. What train?

Gent.

But few,

Gent. Ay, the most peerless piece of earth, I

think,

That e'er the sun shone bright on.

As

Paul.

O Hermione,

every present time doth boast itself Above a better, gone; so must thy grave

Give way to what's seen now. Sir, you yourself
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 ebb'd,
To say, you have seen a better.

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 woman More worth than any man; men, that she is

The rarest of all women.

Leon.

Go, Cleomenes;

Yourself, assisted with your honour'd friends,

Bring them to our embracement.-Still 'tis strange, [Exeunt CLEOMENES, Lords, and Gentleman.

He thus should steal upon us.

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

Leon.

Pr'ythee, no more; thou know'st,

He dies to me again, when talk'd of: sure,

8 Is colder than that theme,)] i. e. than the lifeless body of Hermione, the theme or subject of your writing. MALONE.