To choose you a queen; she shall not be so young As, walk'd your first queen's ghost, it should take joy To see her in Leon. your arms. My true Paulina, That We shall not marry till thou bidd'st us. Paul. Shall be, when your first queen's again in breath; 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 By need and accident. What train? Gent. And those but mean. Leon. But few, His princess, say you, with him? Gent. Ay, the most peerless piece of earth, I think, That e'er the sun shone bright on. O Hermione, Paul. Above a better, gone, so must thy grave To Gent. Pardon, madam; a So the original. The modern editors read "such a creature.” 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. Yourself, assisted with your honour'd friends, Bring them to our embracement.-Still 't is strange, [Exeunt CLEOMENES, Lords, and Gentleman. He thus should steal upon us. Had our prince Paul. Leon. Prithee, no more; cease; thou know'st, Re-enter CLEOMENES, with FLORIZEL, PERDITA, and Attendants. Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince; For she did print your royal father off, His very air, that I should call you brother, my a Cease is omitted by Steevens, for the sake of metre. Flo. By his command Have I here touch'd Sicilia: and from him Give you all greetings, that a king, at friend, (Which waits upon worn times) hath something seiz'd The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his (He bade me say so) more than all the sceptres, Leon. O, my brother, (Good gentleman!) the wrongs I have done thee stir Afresh within me; and these thy offices, So rarely kind, are as interpreters Of my behind-hand slackness !—Welcome hither, Flo. She came from Libya. Leon. Good my lord, Where the warlike Smalus, That noble honour'd lord, is fear'd and lov'd? Flo. Most royal sir, from thence; from him, whose daughter His tears proclaim'd his, parting with her: thence (A prosperous south-wind friendly) we have cross'd, Not only my success in Libya, sir, But my arrival, and my wife's, in safety Leon. The blessed gods So sacred as it is, I have done sin : For which the heavens, taking angry note, Have left me issueless; and your father's bless'd Worthy his goodness. What might I have been, That which I shall report will bear no credit, Were not the proof so nigh. Please you, great sir, Desires you to attach his son; who has (His dignity and duty both cast off) Fled from his father, from his hopes, and with Leon. Where's Bohemia? speak. Lord. Here in youra city; I now came from him: My marvel, and my message. To your court Her brother, having both their country quitted Flo. Camillo has betray'd me; Whose honour, and whose honesty, till now, Endur'd all weathers. Lord. Lay 't so to his charge; Who? Camillo? He's with the king your father. Leon. Lord. Camillo, sir; I spake with him; who now Has these poor men in question. Never saw I Wretches so quake: they kneel, they kiss the earth; Forswear themselves as often as they speak: Bohemia stops his ears, and threatens them With divers deaths in death. a Your. This is changed to the, in modern editions, without explanation. Per. O, my poor father!— Leon. You are married? Flo. We are not, sir, nor are we like to be; The stars, I see, will kiss the valleys first :The odds for high and low 's alike. Leon. That once, I see, by your good father's speed, Most sorry, you have broken from his liking, Flo. Dear, look up: you, sir, Leon. Would he do so, I'd beg your precious mistress, Which he counts but a trifle. Paul. Sir, my liege, Your eye hath too much youth in 't: not a month I thought of her, Leon. Is yet unanswer'd: I will to your father; Your honour not o'erthrown by your desires, I am friend to them, and you: upon which errand I now go toward him; therefore follow me, [To FLO. And mark what way I make: Come, good my lord. [Exeunt. |