who began to be much fea-fick, and himself little better, extremity of weather continuing, this myftery remained undiscovered. But 'tis all one to

me: for had I been the finder-out of this secret, it would not have relished among my other difcredits.

Enter Shepherd and Clown.

Here come thofe I have done good to against my will, and already appearing in the bloffoms of their fortune.

SHEP. Come, boy; I am paft more children ; but thy fons and daughters will be all gentlemen born.

CLO. You are well met, fir: You denied to fight with me this other day, because I was no gentleman born: See you thefe clothes? fay, you fee them not, and think me ftill no gentleman born: you were beft say, these robes are not gentlemen born. Give me the lie; do; and try whether I am not now a gentleman born.

AUT. I know, you are now, fir, a gentleman born.

CLO. Ay, and have been fo any time these four hours.

SHEP. 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 called me, brother; and then the two kings called my father, brother; and then the prince, my brother, and the princefs, my fifter, called my father, father; and fo we wept and there was the first gentleman-like tears that ever we fhed.

:

SHEP. We may live, fon, to shed many more. CLO. Ay; or elfe 'twere hard luck, being in fo prepofterous eftate as we are.

AUT. 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 mafter.

SHEP. '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 honest a true fellow as any is in Bohemia.

SHEP. You may fay it, but not fwear it.

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

SHEP. How if it be falfe, fon?

CLO. If it be ne'er fo falfe, 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

franklins fay it,] Franklin is a freeholder, or yeoman,

a man above a villain, but not a gentleman. JOHNSON.

7

tall fellow of thy hands,] Tall, in that time, was the word used for ftout. JOHNSON.

Part of this phrase occurs in Gower, De Confeffione Amantis, Lib. V. fol. 114:

"A noble knight eke of his honde."

A man of his hands had anciently two fignifications. either meant an adroit fellow who handled his weapon well, or a fellow fkilful in thievery. In the first of these fenfes it is used

wilt be drunk; but I'll fwear 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 dareft 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 masters.8 [Exeunt.

by the Clown. Phrafeology like this is often met with. So, in Acolaftus, a comedy, 1540:

"Thou art a good man of thyne habite." STEEVens.

A tall fellow of thy hands means, a ftout fellow of your fize. We measure horses by hands, which contain four inches; and from thence the phrafe is taken. M. MASON.

The following quotation from Questions concernyng Coniehood, &c. 1595, will at least ascertain the fense in which Autolycus would have wished this phrase to be received: "Coniehood proceeding from choller, is in him which amongst mirth having but one croffe worde given him, straightwaies fals to his weapons, and will hacke peecemeale the quicke and the dead through fuperfluity of his manhood; and doth this for this purpose, that the ftanders by may say that he is a tall fellow of his hands, and fuch a one as will not swallow a cantell of cheese." In Chapman's version of the thirteenth Iliad, we have :

"Long-rob'd laons, Locrians, and (brave men of their hands)

"The Phthian and Epeian troops-," STEEVENS.

I think, in old books it generally means a strong ftout fellow. MALONE.

8 ·Come, follow us: we'll be thy good mafters.] The Clown conceits himself already a man of confequence at court. It was the fashion for an inferior, or fuitor, to beg of the great man, after his humble commendations, that he would be good mafter to him. Many letters written at this period run in this ftyle.

Thus Fisher, Bishop of Rochefter, when in prifon, in a letter to Cromwell to relieve his want of clothing: "Furthermore, I befeeche you to be gode mafter unto one in my neceffities, for I have neither shirt, nor fute, nor yet other clothes, that are ne

SCENE III.

The fame. A Room in Paulina's House.

Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, FLORIZEL, PERDITA, CAMILLO, PAULINA, Lords, and Attendants.

LEON. O grave and good Paulina, the great com

fort

That I have had of thee !

PAUL. What, fovereign fir, I did not well, I meant well: All my fervices, You have paid home; but that you have vouchfaf'd With your crown'd brother, and thefe your con

tracted

Heirs of your kingdoms, my poor house to visit,
It is a furplus of your grace, which never
My life may laft to answer.

LEON.

O Paulina,

We honour you with trouble; But we came
To see the statue of our queen: your gallery
Have we pafs'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.

PAUL.

As the liv'd peerless,

So her dead likenefs, I do well believe,

Excels whatever yet you look'd upon,

Or hand of man hath done; therefore I keep it
Lonely, apart:9 But here it is: prepare

therefore I keep it

Lonely, apart:] The old copy-lovely. STEEVENS.

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

Still fleep mock'd death: behold; and fay, 'tis well. [PAULINA undraws a Curtain, and difcovers a fiatue.

I like your filence, it the more shows off

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

LEON. Her natural posture !— Chide me, dear stone; that I may say, indeed, Thou art Hermione: or, rather, thou art she, In thy not chiding; for fhe was as tender, As infancy, and grace,-But yet, Paulina, Hermione was not fo much wrinkled; nothing So aged, as this seems.

POL.

O, not by much.

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

LEON.

As now fhe might have done,
So much to my good comfort, as it is

Now piercing to my foul. O, thus fhe ftood,
Even with fuch life of majesty, (warm life,

Lovely, i. e. charily, with more than ordinary regard and tendernefs. The Oxford editor reads:

Lonely, apart:"

As if it could be apart without being alone.

WARBURTON.

I am yet inclined to lonely, which in the old angular writing cannot be diftinguished from lovely. To fay, that I keep it alone, Separate from the reft, is a pleonafm which scarcely any nicety declines. JOHNSON.

The fame error is found in many other places in the first folio. In King Richard III. we find this very error:

66

Advantaging their loue with interest "Often times double."

Here we have loue instead of lone, the old fpelling of loan.