Paul. Had our prince,

(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; ceafe; thou know'ft, He dies to me again, when talk'd of. Sure, When I fhall fee this gentleman, thy speeches Will bring me to confider that which may Unfurnish me of reafon. They are come.

Enter Florizel, Perdita, Cleomenes, and others.
Your mother was moft true to wedlock, prince;
For she 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, goddess!-oh! alas!
I loft a couple, that 'twixt heaven and earth
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 fomething feiz'd His with'd ability, he had himfelf

The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his
Measur❜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, ftir Afresh within me; and thefe thy offices,

So rarely kind, are as interpreters

Of my behind-hand flacknefs! Welcome hither,
As is the fpring to the earth.

And hath he too
Expos'd this paragon to the fearful ufage

At least, ungentle, of the dreadful Neptune,
To greet a man, not worth her pains; much lefs,
The adventure of her perfon?

Flo. Good my lord,

She came from Libya.

Leo. Where the warlike Smalus,

That noble honour'd lord, is fear'd, and lov'd?
Flo. Moft royal fir, from thence; from him, whole
daughter 3

His tears proclaim'd his, parting with her: thence
(A profperous fouth-wind friendly) we have crofs'd,
To execute the charge my father gave me,
For vifiting your highnefs: my best train
I have from your Sicilian fhores difmifs'd;
Who for Bohemia bend, to fignify
Not only my fuccefs in Libya, fir,
But my arrival, and my wife's, in fafety
Here, where we are.

Leo. The bleffed gods

Purge all infection from our air, whilft

3

whofe daughter

you

His tears proclaim'd his parting with her :-] This is very ungrammatical and obfcure. We may better read, whofe daughter

His tears proclaim'd her parting with her.

The prince first tells that the lady came from Lybia, the king interrupting him, fays, from Smalus; from him, fays the prince, whole tears, at parting, fhewed her to be his daughter. JOHNSON.

The obfcurity arifes from want of a proper punctuation. By placing a comma after bis, I think the fenfe is clear'd, STEEVERS.

Do

Do climate here! You have a holy father,
A graceful gentleman; against whose perfon,
So facred as it is, I have done fin:

For which the heavens, taking angry note,
Have left me iffue-lefs; and your father's blefs'd,
(At he from heaven merits it) with you,

Worthy his goodness. What might I have been, Might I a fon and daughter now have look'd on, Such goodly things as you?

Enter a Lord.

Lord. Moft noble fir,

That, which I fhall report, will bear no credit, Were not the proof fo high. Please you, great fir, Bohemia greets you from himself, by me:

Defires you to attach his fon, who has,

His dignity and duty both caft off,

Fled from his father, from his hopes, and with
A fhepherd's daughter.

Leo. Where's Bohemia? fpeak.

Lord. Here in your city; I now came from him. I fpeak amazedly; and it becomes

My marvel, and my meffage. To your court
Whilft he was haftning, (in the chafe, it feems,
Of this fair couple) meets he on the way
The father of this feeming lady, and

Her brother, having both their country quitted
With this young prince.

Flo. Camillo has betray'd me;

Whose honour and whofe honesty, 'till now
Endur'd all weathers.

Lord. Lay't fo to his charge;

He's with the king your father.
Leo. Who? Camillo ?

Lord. Camillo, fir; I fpake with him; who now Has these poor men in queftion. Never faw I

Bb 4

Wretches

Wretches fo quake: they kneel, they kifs the earth;
Forfwear themselves as often as they speak:
Bohemia ftops his ears, and threatens them
With divers deaths, in death.

Per. Oh, my poor father!—

The heaven fets fpies upon us, will not have
Our contract celebrated.

Leo. You are marry'd?

Flo. We are not, fir, nor are we like to be; The stars, I fee, will kifs the valleys firft; The odds for high and low's alike.

Leo. My lord,

Is this the daughter of a king?

Flo. She is,

When once the is my wife.

Leo. That cnce, I fee, by your good father's speed, Will come on very flowly. I am forry, (Most sorry) you have broken from his liking, Where you were ty'd in duty: and as forry, Your choice is not fo rich in worth as beauty, That you might well enjoy her.

Flo. Dear, look up:

Though Fortune, visible an enemy,

Should chafe us, with my father; power no jot Hath fhe, to change our loves. 'Befeech you, fir, Remember, fince you ow'd no more to time

4 Your choice is not fo rich in WORTH as beauty,]

The poet muft have wrote,

Your choice is not fo rich in BIRTH as beauty;

Because Leontes was fo far from difparaging, or thinking meanly of her worth, that, on the contrary, he rather esteems her a treafure; and, in his next speech to the prince, calls her his precicus mistress. WARBURTON.

Worth is as proper as birth. Worth fignifies any kind of worthings, and among others that of high defcent. The king means that he is forry the prince's choice is not in other refpects as worthy of him as in beauty. JOHNSON.

Than

Than I do now: with thought of fuch affections,
Step forth mine advocate. At your request,
My father will grant precious things, as trifles.

Leo. Would he do fo, I'd beg your precious miftress,

Which he counts but a trifle.

Paul. Sir, my liege,

Your eye hath too much youth in't: not a month 'Fore your queen dy'd, she was more worth fuch gazes

Than what you look on now.

Leo. I thought of her,

Even in these looks I made.But your petition

Is yet unanswer❜d: I will to your father;

[To Florizel.

Your honour not o'erthrown by your defires,
I am friend to them, and you: upon which errand
I now go toward him; therefore, follow me,

And mark what way I make. Come, good my lord. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

THE SAME.

Enter Autolycus, and a gentleman.

Aut. 'Beseech you, fir, were you present at this relation?

I Gent. I was by at the opening of the farthel, heard the old fhepherd deliver the manner how he found it: whereupon, after a little amazedness, we were all commanded out of the chamber. Only this, methought, I heard the shepherd fay, he found the child.

Aut. I would most gladly know the iffue of it. 1 Gent. I make a broken delivery of the business; but the changes I perceived in the king, and Camillo, were very notes of admiration: they feem'd almost, with staring on one another, to tear the cafes of their

eyes.