תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

She. And fo have I, boy.

Clo. So you have: but I was a gentleman born before my father: for the king's fon took me by the hand, and call'd me, brother; and then the two kings call'd my father, brother; and then the prince, my brother, and the princefs, my fifter, call'd my father, father; and fo we wept: and there was the first gentleman-like tears that ever we shed.

She. We may live, fon, to fhed many more.

Clo. Ay; or else 'twere hard luck, being in fo prepofterous eftate as we are.

Aur. I humbly befeech you, fir, to pardon me all the faults I have committed to your worship, and to give me your good report to the prince my master. She. Pr'ythee, fon, do; for we must be gentle, now we are gentlemen.

Clo. Thou wilt amend thy life?

AUT. Ay, an it like your good worship.

Clo. Give me thy hand: I will fwear to the prince, thou art as honeft a true fellow as any is in Bohemia, She. You may say it, but not swear it.

Clo. Not fwear it, now I am a gentleman? Let boors and franklins fay it, I'll fwear it.

She. How if it be falfe, fon?

Clo. If it be ne'er fo false, a true gentleman may fwear it, in the behalf of his friend :- And I'll fwear to the prince, thou art a tall fellow of thy hands, and that thou wilt not be drunk; but I know, thou art no tall fellow of thy hands, and that thou wilt be drunk ; but I'll swear it: and, I would, thou would'st be a tall fellow of thy hands.

AUT. I will prove fo, fir, to my power.

Clo. Ay, by any means prove a tall fellow: if I do not wonder, how thou dar'ft venture to be drunk, not being a tall fellow, truft me not. Hark! the kings and the princes, our kindred, are going to fee the queen's picture. Come, follow us: we'll be thy good mafters. [Exeunt.

SCENE III. The fame. A Chapel in Paulina's House: at upper End, a Nich; a Curtain before it. Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, Florizel, PERDITA, CAMILLO, PAULINA, Lords, &c.

LEO. O grave and good Paulina, the great comfort That I have had of thee!

PAU. What, fovereign fir,

I did not well, I meant well: All my fervices,

You have pay'd home: but that you have vouchfaf'd,
With your crown'd brother, and these your contracted
Heirs of your kingdoms, my poor house to visit;
It is a furplus of your grace, which never

My life may laft to answer.

LEO. O Paulina,

We honour you with trouble: But we came
To fee the ftatue of our queen: your gallery

Have we paff'd through, not without much content

In many fingularities; but we faw not
That which my daughter came to look upon,
The ftatue of her mother.

PAU. As the liv'd peerlefs,

So her dead likeness, I do well believe,
Excels whatever yet you look'd upon,

Or hand of man hath done; therefore I keep it
Lonely, apart: But here it is: prepare

32 Lovely

To fee the life as lively mock'd, as ever

Still fleep mock'd death: behold; and fay, 'tis well. [undraws the Curtain; HERMIONE is Jeen behind it, in Pofture of a Statue.

I like your filence, it the more fhews off

Your wonder: But yet fpeak; first, you, my liege,
Comes it not something near?

LEO. Her natural posture!

Chide me, dear ftone; that I may say, indeed,
Thou art Hermione: or, rather, thou art fhe,
In thy not chiding; for she was as tender,
As infancy, and grace. But yet, Paulina,
Hermione was not fo much wrinkl'd; nothing
So aged, as this feems.

Poz. O, not by much.

PAU. So much the more our carver's excellence ; Which lets go-by fome fixteen years, and makes her As the liv'd now.

LEO. As now fhe might have done,

So much to my good comfort, as it is
Now piercing to my foul. O, thus fhe flood,
Even with fuch life of majesty, (warm life,
As now it coldly ftands) when first I woo'd her!
I am afham'd: Does not the stone rebuke me,
For being more stone than it ?-O, royal piece,
There's magick in thy majefty; which has
My evils conjur'd to remembrance; and
From thy admiring daughter took the spirits,
Standing like ftone with thee!

PER. And give me leave.

And do not fay, 'tis fuperftition, that

I kneel, and then implore her bleffing. Lady,

Dear queen, that ended when I but began,
Give me that hand of yours, to kifs.
PAU. O, patience;

The statue is but newly fix'd, the colour's
Not dry.

[faying Perdita. CAM. My lord, your forrow was too fore lay'd on; Which fixteen winters cannot blow away,

So many fummers dry: fcarce any joy

Did ever fo long live; no forrow, ûr,
But kill'd itfelf much fooner.

POL. Dear my brother,

Let him, that was the cause of this, have power
To take off fo much grief from you, as he

Will piece up in himself.

PAU. Indeed, my lord,

If I had thought, the fight of my poor image
Would thus have wrought you, (for the ftone is mine)
I'd not have fhew'd it.

LEO. Do not draw the curtain.

PAU. No longer fhall you gaze on't; left your fancy May think anon, it moves.

LEO. Let be, let be.

'Would I were dead, but that, methinks, already

What was he, that did make it?

See, my lord,

Would you not deem, it breath'd! and that those veins

Did verily bear blood?

POL. Mafterly done:

The very life feems warm upon her lip.

LEO. The fixure of her eye has motion in't,

And we are mock'd with art.

PAU. I'll draw the curtain ;

My lord's almost so far transported, that

30 As we

He'll think anon, it lives.

LEO. O fweet Paulina,

Make me to think fo twenty years together;
No fettl'd fenfes of the world can match
The pleasure of that madness. Let't alone.

PAʊ. I am forry, fir, I have thus far stir'd you : but I could afflict you farther.

LEO. Do, Paulina;

For this affliction has a tafte as sweet

As

any cordial comfort. Still, methinks,

There is an air comes from her: What fine chizel
Could ever yet cut breath? Let no man mock me,
For I will kifs her.

PAU. Good my lord, forbear :
The ruddinefs upon her lip is wet;

You'll mar it, if you kifs it; ftain your own
With oily painting: Shall I draw the curtain?
LEO. No, not these twenty years.

PER. So long could I

Stand by, a looker-on.

PAU. Either forbear,

Quit presently the chapel; or resolve you
For more amazement: If you can behold it,
I'll make the ftatue move indeed; defcend,

And take you by the hand: but then you'll think,
(Which I proteft againft) I am affifted
By wicked powers.

LEO. What you can make her do,
I am content to look on: what to speak,
I am content to hear; for 'tis as easy
To make her speak, as move.

PAV. It is requir'd,

« הקודםהמשך »