As now they are; and making practised smiles,
As in a looking-glass;-and then to sigh, as 'twere
The mort o' the deer; O, that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows.-Mamillius,
Art thou my boy?

Mam.

Ay, my good lord.

Leon.

I'fecks?

What, hast smutched thy

They say, it's a copy out of mine. Come, captain,
We must be neat! not neat, but cleanly, captain;
And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf,

Are all called neat.-Still virginalling 3

[Observing POLIXENES and HERMIONE.

Upon his palm?-How now, you wanton calf?

Art thou my calf?

Mam.

Yes, if you will, my lord.

Leon. Thou want'st a rough pash, and the shoots

that I have,1

To be full like me: yet, they say, we are

Almost as like as eggs; women say so,

6

That will say any thing. But were they false
As o'er-dyed blacks, as wind, as waters; false
As dice are to be wished, by one that fixes
No bourn 'twixt his and mine; yet were it true
To say this boy were like me.-Come, sir page,
Look on me with your welkin' eye. Sweet villain!

1 i. e. the death of the deer. The mort was also certain notes played on the horn at the death of the deer.

2 "Bawcock." A burlesque word of endearment supposed to be derived from beau-coq, or boy-cock. It occurs again in Twelfth Night, and in King Henry V., and in both places is coupled with chuck or chick. It is said that bra'cock is still used in Scotland.

3 Still playing with her fingers as a girl playing on the virginals. Virginals were stringed instruments played with keys like a spinnet, which they resembled in all respects but in shape, spinnets being nearly triangular, and virginals of an oblong square shape like a small piano-forte.

4 Thou wantest a rough head, and the budding horns that I have. A pash in some places denoting a young bull calf whose horns are springing; a mad pash, a mad-brained boy.

5 i. e. entirely.

6 i. e. old, faded stuffs, of other colors, dyed black.

7 Welkin is blue; i. e. the color of the welkin or sky.

Most dearest! my collop!'-can thy dam?-May't

be?

Affection! thy intention stabs the centre;2

Thou dost make possible, things not so held;
Communicat'st with dreams;-(How can this be?)
With what's unreal thou coactive art,

And fellow'st nothing. Then, 'tis very credent,3
Thou mayst conjoin with something; and thou dost;
(And that beyond commission, and I find it ;)
And that to the infection of my brains,

And hardening of my brows.

Pol.

What means Sicilia?

How, my lord?

Her. He something seems unsettled.
Pol.

What cheer? How is't with you, best brother?

Her.

As if you held a brow of much distraction.
Are you moved, my lord?

You look

Leon.
No, in good earnest.—
How sometimes nature will betray its folly,
Its tenderness, and make itself a pastime
To harder bosoms! Looking on the lines
Of my boy's face, methought I did recoil
Twenty-three years; and saw myself unbreeched,
In my green velvet coat; my dagger muzzled,
Lest it should bite its master, and so prove,
As ornaments oft do, too dangerous.

4

How like, methought, I then was to this kernel,
This squash, this gentleman.-Mine honest friend,
Will you take eggs for money?5

Mam. No, my lord, I'll fight.

1 In King Henry VI. Part I. we have

"God knows thou art a collop of my flesh."

2 Affection here means imagination. Intention is earnest consideration, eager attention. It is this vehemence of mind which affects Leontes, by making him conjure up unreal causes of disquiet; and thus, in the Poet's language, "stabs him to the centre."

3 Credent, credible.

4 i. e. an immature pea-pod.

5 "Will you take eggs for money?" A proverbial phrase for "Will you suffer yourself to be cajoled or imposed upon?”

Leon. You will? why, happy man be his dole!— My brother,

Are you so fond of your young prince, as we

Do seem to be of ours?

Pol.
If at home, sir,
He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter:
Now, my sworn friend, and then mine enemy;
My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all;
He makes a July's day short as December;
And, with his varying childness, cures in me
Thoughts that would thick my blood.

Leon.
So stands this squire
Officed with me. We two will walk, my lord,
And leave you to your graver steps.-Hermione,
How thou lov'st us, show in our brother's welcome;
Let what is dear in Sicily be cheap.

Next to thyself, and my young rover, he's
Apparent to my heart.

Her.

If you would seek us,

We are yours i'the garden. Shall's attend you there? Leon. To your own bents dispose you: you'll be

found,

Be you beneath the sky;-I am angling now,
Though you perceive me not how I give line.
Go to, go to!

[Aside. Observing POLIXENES and HERMIONE.
How she holds up the neb,3 the bill to him!
And arms her with the boldness of a wife
To her allowing husband! Gone already!
Inch-thick, knee-deep, o'er head and ears a forked

one.1

[Exeunt PoL., HER., and Attendants. Go, play, boy, play;-thy mother plays, and I Play too; but so disgraced a part, whose issue Will hiss me to my grave; contempt and clamor Will be my knell.-Go, play, boy, play.-There have been,

1 i. e. may happiness be his portion!

2 Heir apparent, next claimant.

3 i. e. mouth.

4 i. e. a horned one.

Or I am much deceived, cuckolds ere now;
And many a man there is, even at this present,
Now, while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm,
That little thinks she has been sluiced in his absence,
And his pond fished by his next neighbor, by
Sir Smile, his neighbor. Nay, there's comfort in't,
Whiles other men have gates; and those gates opened,
As mine, against their will. Should all despair,
That have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind
Would hang themselves. Physic for't there is none;
It is a bawdy planet, that will strike

Where 'tis predominant; and 'tis powerful, think it,
From east, west, north, and south: be it concluded,
No barricado for a belly; know it;

It will let in and out the enemy,

With bag and baggage. Many a thousand of us
Have the disease, and feel't not.-How now, boy?
Mam. I am like you, they say.

Leon.

What! Camillo there?

Why, that's some comfort.—

Cam. Ay, my good lord.

Leon. Go play, Mamillius: thou'rt an honest man.— [Exit MAMILLIUS.

Camillo, this great sir will yet stay longer.

Cam. You had much ado to make his anchor hold; When you cast out, it still came home.'

Leon.

Didst note it?

Cam. He would not stay at your petitions; made His business more material. 2

Leon.

Didst perceive it ?

They're here with me already: whispering, round

ing,1

Sicilia is a so-forth.5 'Tis far gone,

1 "It still came home," a nautical term, meaning, "the anchor would not take hold."

2 The more you requested him to stay, the more urgent he represented that business to be which summoned him away.

3 Not Polixenes and Hermione, but casual observers.

4 To round in the ear was to tell secretly, to whisper.

5 A so-forth, a phrase apparently employed to avoid the utterance of an opprobrious one. So, so, is sometimes used in a similar manner.

When I shall gust1 it last.-How came 't, Camillo,
That he did stay?

Cam.

At the good queen's entreaty.
Leon. At the queen's, be't: good, should be per-
tinent;

But so it is, it is not. Was this taken
By any understanding pate but thine?
For thy conceit is soaking, will draw in
More than the common blocks.-Not noted, is't,
But of the finer natures? By some severals,
Of head-piece extraordinary? Lower messes,*
Perchance, are to this business purblind: say.
Cam. Business, my lord? I think most understand
Bohemia stays here longer.

Leon.

Cam.

Leon. Ay, but why?

Ha?

Stays here longer.

Cam. To satisfy your highness, and the entreaties Of our most gracious mistress.

Satisfy

Leon.
The entreaties of your mistress?Satisfy?-
Let that suffice. I have trusted thee, Camillo,
With all the nearest things to my heart, as well
My chamber-councils; wherein, priestlike, thou
Hast cleansed my bosom; I from thee departed
Thy penitent reformed; but we have been
Deceived in thy integrity, deceived

In that which seems so.

Cam.

Be it forbid, my lord!

Leon. To bide upon't: Thou art not honest; or, If thou inclin'st that way, thou art a coward;

Which hoxes honesty behind, restraining

From course required; or else thou must be counted A servant, grafted in my serious trust,

And therein negligent; or else a fool,

That seest a game played home, the rich stake drawn ̧ And tak'st it all for jest.

1 i. e. taste it:-"ille domus sciet ultimus.".........Juv. Sat. x.

2 Messes is here put for degrees, conditions.

3 To hor is to hamstring: the proper word is to hough.

VOL. III.

3