ACT VSCENE I. Sicilia. A Room in the palace of Leontes.EnterLeontes, Cleomenes, Dion, Paulinaand others.CLEOMENESSir, you have done enough, and have perform’dA saint-like sorrow: no fault could you makeWhich you have not redeem’d; indeed, paid downMore penitence than done trespass: at the last,Do as the heavens have done, forget your evil;With them, forgive yourself.LEONTES.Whilst I rememberHer and her virtues, I cannot forgetMy blemishes in them; and so still think ofThe wrong I did myself: which was so muchThat heirless it hath made my kingdom, andDestroy’d the sweet’st companion that e’er manBred his hopes out of.PAULINA.True, too true, my lord.If, one by one, you wedded all the world,Or from the all that are took something good,To make a perfect woman, she you kill’dWould be unparallel’d.LEONTES.I think so. Kill’d!She I kill’d! I did so: but thou strik’st meSorely, to say I did: it is as bitterUpon thy tongue as in my thought. Now, good now,Say so but seldom.CLEOMENESNot at all, good lady.You might have spoken a thousand things that wouldHave done the time more benefit and grac’dYour kindness better.PAULINA.You are one of thoseWould have him wed again.DION.If you would not so,You pity not the state, nor the remembranceOf his most sovereign name; consider littleWhat dangers, by his highness’ fail of issue,May drop upon his kingdom, and devourIncertain lookers-on. What were more holyThan to rejoice the former queen is well?What holier than, for royalty’s repair,For present comfort, and for future good,To bless the bed of majesty againWith a sweet fellow to ’t?PAULINA.There is none worthy,Respecting her that’s gone. Besides, the godsWill have fulfill’d their secret purposes;For has not the divine Apollo said,Is ’t not the tenor of his oracle,That king Leontes shall not have an heirTill his lost child be found? Which that it shall,Is all as monstrous to our human reasonAs my Antigonus to break his graveAnd come again to me; who, on my life,Did perish with the infant. ’Tis your counselMy lord should to the heavens be contrary,Oppose against their wills. [To Leontes.] Care not for issue;The crown will find an heir. Great AlexanderLeft his to th’ worthiest; so his successorWas like to be the best.LEONTES.Good Paulina,Who hast the memory of Hermione,I know, in honour, O that ever IHad squar’d me to thy counsel! Then, even now,I might have look’d upon my queen’s full eyes,Have taken treasure from her lips,—PAULINA.And left themMore rich for what they yielded.LEONTES.Thou speak’st truth.No more such wives; therefore, no wife: one worse,And better us’d, would make her sainted spiritAgain possess her corpse, and on this stage,(Where we offenders now appear) soul-vexed,And begin “Why to me?”PAULINA.Had she such power,She had just cause.LEONTES.She had; and would incense meTo murder her I married.PAULINA.I should so.Were I the ghost that walk’d, I’d bid you markHer eye, and tell me for what dull part in ’tYou chose her: then I’d shriek, that even your earsShould rift to hear me; and the words that follow’dShould be “Remember mine.”LEONTES.Stars, stars,And all eyes else dead coals! Fear thou no wife;I’ll have no wife, Paulina.PAULINA.Will you swearNever to marry but by my free leave?LEONTES.Never, Paulina; so be bless’d my spirit!PAULINA.Then, good my lords, bear witness to his oath.CLEOMENESYou tempt him over-much.PAULINA.Unless another,As like Hermione as is her picture,Affront his eye.CLEOMENESGood madam,—PAULINA.I have done.Yet, if my lord will marry,—if you will, sir,No remedy but you will,—give me the officeTo choose you a queen: she shall not be so youngAs was your former, but she shall be suchAs, walk’d your first queen’s ghost, it should take joyTo see her in your arms.LEONTES.My true Paulina,We shall not marry till thou bid’st us.PAULINA.ThatShall be when your first queen’s again in breath;Never till then.Enter aServant.SERVANT.One that gives out himself Prince Florizel,Son of Polixenes, with his princess (sheThe fairest I have yet beheld) desires accessTo your high presence.LEONTES.What with him? he comes notLike to his father’s greatness: his approach,So out of circumstance and sudden, tells us’Tis not a visitation fram’d, but forc’dBy need and accident. What train?SERVANT.But few,And those but mean.LEONTES.His princess, say you, with him?SERVANT.Ay, the most peerless piece of earth, I think,That e’er the sun shone bright on.PAULINA.O Hermione,As every present time doth boast itselfAbove a better gone, so must thy graveGive way to what’s seen now! Sir, you yourselfHave said and writ so,—but your writing nowIs colder than that theme,—‘She had not been,Nor was not to be equall’d’; thus your verseFlow’d with her beauty once; ’tis shrewdly ebb’d,To say you have seen a better.SERVANT.Pardon, madam:The one I have almost forgot,—your pardon;—The other, when she has obtain’d your eye,Will have your tongue too. This is a creature,Would she begin a sect, might quench the zealOf all professors else; make proselytesOf who she but bid follow.PAULINA.How! not women?SERVANT.Women will love her that she is a womanMore worth than any man; men, that she isThe rarest of all women.LEONTES.Go, Cleomenes;Yourself, assisted with your honour’d friends,Bring them to our embracement.[ExeuntCleomenesand others.]Still, ’tis strangeHe thus should steal upon us.PAULINA.Had our prince,Jewel of children, seen this hour, he had pair’dWell with this lord. There was not full a monthBetween their births.LEONTES.Prithee no more; cease; Thou know’stHe dies to me again when talk’d of: sure,When I shall see this gentleman, thy speechesWill bring me to consider that which mayUnfurnish me of reason. They are come.EnterFlorizel, Perdita, Cleomenesand others.Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince;For she did print your royal father off,Conceiving you. Were I but twenty-one,Your father’s image is so hit in you,His very air, that I should call you brother,As I did him, and speak of something wildlyBy us perform’d before. Most dearly welcome!And your fair princess,—goddess! O, alas!I lost a couple that ’twixt heaven and earthMight thus have stood, begetting wonder, asYou, gracious couple, do! And then I lost,—All mine own folly,—the society,Amity too, of your brave father, whom,Though bearing misery, I desire my lifeOnce more to look on him.FLORIZEL.By his commandHave I here touch’d Sicilia, and from himGive you all greetings that a king, at friend,Can send his brother: and, but infirmity,Which waits upon worn times, hath something seiz’dHis wish’d ability, he had himselfThe lands and waters ’twixt your throne and hisMeasur’d, to look upon you; whom he loves,He bade me say so,—more than all the sceptresAnd those that bear them living.LEONTES.O my brother,—Good gentleman!—the wrongs I have done thee stirAfresh within me; and these thy offices,So rarely kind, are as interpretersOf my behind-hand slackness! Welcome hither,As is the spring to the earth. And hath he tooExpos’d this paragon to the fearful usage,At least ungentle, of the dreadful Neptune,To greet a man not worth her pains, much lessTh’ adventure of her person?FLORIZEL.Good, my lord,She came from Libya.LEONTES.Where the warlike Smalus,That noble honour’d lord, is fear’d and lov’d?FLORIZEL.Most royal sir, from thence; from him, whose daughterHis tears proclaim’d his, parting with her: thence,A prosperous south-wind friendly, we have cross’d,To execute the charge my father gave meFor visiting your highness: my best trainI have from your Sicilian shores dismiss’d;Who for Bohemia bend, to signifyNot only my success in Libya, sir,But my arrival, and my wife’s, in safetyHere, where we are.LEONTES.The blessed godsPurge all infection from our air whilst youDo climate here! You have a holy father,A graceful gentleman; against whose person,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,As he from heaven merits it, with you,Worthy his goodness. What might I have been,Might I a son and daughter now have look’d on,Such goodly things as you!Enter aLord.LORD.Most noble sir,That which I shall report will bear no credit,Were not the proof so nigh. Please you, great sir,Bohemia greets you from himself by me;Desires you to attach his son, who has—His dignity and duty both cast off—Fled from his father, from his hopes, and withA shepherd’s daughter.LEONTES.Where’s Bohemia? speak.LORD.Here in your city; I now came from him.I speak amazedly, and it becomesMy marvel and my message. To your courtWhiles he was hast’ning—in the chase, it seems,Of this fair couple—meets he on the wayThe father of this seeming lady andHer brother, having both their country quittedWith this young prince.FLORIZEL.Camillo has betray’d me;Whose honour and whose honesty till now,Endur’d all weathers.LORD.Lay ’t so to his charge.He’s with the king your father.LEONTES.Who? Camillo?LORD.Camillo, sir; I spake with him; who nowHas these poor men in question. Never saw IWretches so quake: they kneel, they kiss the earth;Forswear themselves as often as they speak.Bohemia stops his ears, and threatens themWith divers deaths in death.PERDITA.O my poor father!The heaven sets spies upon us, will not haveOur contract celebrated.LEONTES.You are married?FLORIZEL.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.LEONTES.My lord,Is this the daughter of a king?FLORIZEL.She is,When once she is my wife.LEONTES.That “once”, I see by your good father’s speed,Will come on very slowly. I am sorry,Most sorry, you have broken from his liking,Where you were tied in duty; and as sorryYour choice is not so rich in worth as beauty,That you might well enjoy her.FLORIZEL.Dear, look up:Though Fortune, visible an enemy,Should chase us with my father, power no jotHath she to change our loves. Beseech you, sir,Remember since you ow’d no more to timeThan I do now: with thought of such affections,Step forth mine advocate. At your requestMy father will grant precious things as trifles.LEONTES.Would he do so, I’d beg your precious mistress,Which he counts but a trifle.PAULINA.Sir, my liege,Your eye hath too much youth in ’t: not a month’Fore your queen died, she was more worth such gazesThan what you look on now.LEONTES.I thought of herEven in these looks I made. [To Florizel.] But your petitionIs 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 errandI now go toward him; therefore follow me,And mark what way I make. Come, good my lord.[Exeunt.]SCENE II. The same. Before the Palace.EnterAutolycusand a Gentleman.AUTOLYCUS.Beseech you, sir, were you present at this relation?FIRST GENTLEMAN.I was by at the opening of the fardel, heard the old shepherd 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 say he found the child.AUTOLYCUS.I would most gladly know the issue of it.FIRST GENTLEMAN.I make a broken delivery of the business; but the changes I perceived in the king and Camillo were very notes of admiration. They seemed almost, with staring on one another, to tear the cases of their eyes. There was speech in their dumbness, language in their very gesture; they looked as they had heard of a world ransomed, or one destroyed. A notable passion of wonder appeared in them; but the wisest beholder, that knew no more but seeing could not say if th’ importance were joy or sorrow; but in the extremity of the one, it must needs be. Here comes a gentleman that happily knows more.Enter aGentleman.The news, Rogero?SECOND GENTLEMAN.Nothing but bonfires: the oracle is fulfilled: the king’s daughter is found: such a deal of wonder is broken out within this hour that ballad-makers cannot be able to express it. Here comes the Lady Paulina’s steward: he can deliver you more.Enter a thirdGentleman.How goes it now, sir? This news, which is called true, is so like an old tale that the verity of it is in strong suspicion. Has the king found his heir?THIRD GENTLEMAN.Most true, if ever truth were pregnant by circumstance. That which you hear you’ll swear you see, there is such unity in the proofs. The mantle of Queen Hermione’s, her jewel about the neck of it, the letters of Antigonus found with it, which they know to be his character; the majesty of the creature in resemblance of the mother, the affection of nobleness which nature shows above her breeding, and many other evidences proclaim her with all certainty to be the king’s daughter. Did you see the meeting of the two kings?SECOND GENTLEMAN.No.THIRD GENTLEMAN.Then you have lost a sight which was to be seen, cannot be spoken of. There might you have beheld one joy crown another, so and in such manner that it seemed sorrow wept to take leave of them, for their joy waded in tears. There was casting up of eyes, holding up of hands, with countenance of such distraction that they were to be known by garment, not by favour. Our king, being ready to leap out of himself for joy of his found daughter, as if that joy were now become a loss, cries “O, thy mother, thy mother!” then asks Bohemia forgiveness; then embraces his son-in-law; then again worries he his daughter with clipping her; now he thanks the old shepherd, which stands by like a weather-bitten conduit of many kings’ reigns. I never heard of such another encounter, which lames report to follow it, and undoes description to do it.SECOND GENTLEMAN.What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that carried hence the child?THIRD GENTLEMAN.Like an old tale still, which will have matter to rehearse, though credit be asleep and not an ear open. He was torn to pieces with a bear: this avouches the shepherd’s son, who has not only his innocence, which seems much, to justify him, but a handkerchief and rings of his that Paulina knows.FIRST GENTLEMAN.What became of his bark and his followers?THIRD GENTLEMAN.Wrecked the same instant of their master’s death, and in the view of the shepherd: so that all the instruments which aided to expose the child were even then lost when it was found. But O, the noble combat that ’twixt joy and sorrow was fought in Paulina! She had one eye declined for the loss of her husband, another elevated that the oracle was fulfilled. She lifted the princess from the earth, and so locks her in embracing, as if she would pin her to her heart, that she might no more be in danger of losing.FIRST GENTLEMAN.The dignity of this act was worth the audience of kings and princes; for by such was it acted.THIRD GENTLEMAN.One of the prettiest touches of all, and that which angled for mine eyes (caught the water, though not the fish) was, when at the relation of the queen’s death (with the manner how she came to it bravely confessed and lamented by the king) how attentiveness wounded his daughter; till, from one sign of dolour to another, she did, with an “Alas,” I would fain say, bleed tears, for I am sure my heart wept blood. Who was most marble there changed colour; some swooned, all sorrowed: if all the world could have seen it, the woe had been universal.FIRST GENTLEMAN.Are they returned to the court?THIRD GENTLEMAN.No: the princess hearing of her mother’s statue, which is in the keeping of Paulina,—a piece many years in doing and now newly performed by that rare Italian master, Julio Romano, who, had he himself eternity, and could put breath into his work, would beguile Nature of her custom, so perfectly he is her ape: he so near to Hermione hath done Hermione that they say one would speak to her and stand in hope of answer. Thither with all greediness of affection are they gone, and there they intend to sup.SECOND GENTLEMAN.I thought she had some great matter there in hand; for she hath privately twice or thrice a day, ever since the death of Hermione, visited that removed house. Shall we thither, and with our company piece the rejoicing?FIRST GENTLEMAN.Who would be thence that has the benefit of access? Every wink of an eye some new grace will be born. Our absence makes us unthrifty to our knowledge. Let’s along.[ExeuntGentlemen.]AUTOLYCUS.Now, had I not the dash of my former life in me, would preferment drop on my head. I brought the old man and his son aboard the prince; told him I heard them talk of a fardel and I know not what. But he at that time over-fond of the shepherd’s daughter (so he then took her to be), who began to be much sea-sick, and himself little better, extremity of weather continuing, this mystery remained undiscover’d. But ’tis all one to me; for had I been the finder-out of this secret, it would not have relish’d among my other discredits.EnterShepherdandClown.Here come those I have done good to against my will, and already appearing in the blossoms of their fortune.SHEPHERD.Come, boy; I am past more children, but thy sons and daughters will be all gentlemen born.CLOWN.You are well met, sir. You denied to fight with me this other day, because I was no gentleman born. See you these clothes? Say you see them not and think me still no gentleman born: you were best say these robes are not gentlemen born. Give me the lie, do; and try whether I am not now a gentleman born.AUTOLYCUS.I know you are now, sir, a gentleman born.CLOWN.Ay, and have been so any time these four hours.SHEPHERD.And so have I, boy!CLOWN.So you have: but I was a gentleman born before my father; for the king’s son 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 princess, my sister, called my father father; and so we wept; and there was the first gentleman-like tears that ever we shed.SHEPHERD.We may live, son, to shed many more.CLOWN.Ay; or else ’twere hard luck, being in so preposterous estate as we are.AUTOLYCUS.I humbly beseech you, sir, to pardon me all the faults I have committed to your worship, and to give me your good report to the prince my master.SHEPHERD.Prithee, son, do; for we must be gentle, now we are gentlemen.CLOWN.Thou wilt amend thy life?AUTOLYCUS.Ay, an it like your good worship.CLOWN.Give me thy hand: I will swear to the prince thou art as honest a true fellow as any is in Bohemia.SHEPHERD.You may say it, but not swear it.CLOWN.Not swear it, now I am a gentleman? Let boors and franklins say it, I’ll swear it.SHEPHERD.How if it be false, son?CLOWN.If it be ne’er so false, a true gentleman may swear it in the behalf of his friend. And I’ll swear 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 wouldst be a tall fellow of thy hands.AUTOLYCUS.I will prove so, sir, to my power.CLOWN.Ay, by any means, prove a tall fellow: if I do not wonder how thou dar’st venture to be drunk, not being a tall fellow, trust me not. Hark! the kings and the princes, our kindred, are going to see the queen’s picture. Come, follow us: we’ll be thy good masters.[Exeunt.]SCENE III. The same. A Room in Paulina’s house.EnterLeontes, Polixenes, Florizel, Perdita, Camillo, Paulina,Lords and Attendants.LEONTES.O grave and good Paulina, the great comfortThat I have had of thee!PAULINA.What, sovereign sir,I did not well, I meant well. All my servicesYou have paid home: but that you have vouchsaf’d,With your crown’d brother and these your contractedHeirs of your kingdoms, my poor house to visit,It is a surplus of your grace which neverMy life may last to answer.LEONTES.O Paulina,We honour you with trouble. But we cameTo see the statue of our queen: your galleryHave we pass’d through, not without much contentIn many singularities; but we saw notThat which my daughter came to look upon,The statue of her mother.PAULINA.As she liv’d peerless,So her dead likeness, I do well believe,Excels whatever yet you look’d uponOr hand of man hath done; therefore I keep itLonely, apart. But here it is: prepareTo see the life as lively mock’d as everStill sleep mock’d death. Behold, and say ’tis well.Paulinaundraws a curtain, and discoversHermionestanding as a statue.I like your silence, it the more shows offYour wonder: but yet speak. First you, my liege.Comes it not something near?LEONTES.Her natural posture!Chide me, dear stone, that I may say indeedThou art Hermione; or rather, thou art sheIn thy not chiding; for she was as tenderAs infancy and grace. But yet, Paulina,Hermione was not so much wrinkled, nothingSo aged as this seems.POLIXENES.O, not by much!PAULINA.So much the more our carver’s excellence,Which lets go by some sixteen years and makes herAs she liv’d now.LEONTES.As now she might have done,So much to my good comfort as it isNow piercing to my soul. O, thus she stood,Even with such life of majesty, warm life,As now it coldly stands, when first I woo’d her!I am asham’d: does not the stone rebuke meFor being more stone than it? O royal piece,There’s magic in thy majesty, which hasMy evils conjur’d to remembrance andFrom thy admiring daughter took the spirits,Standing like stone with thee.PERDITA.And give me leave,And do not say ’tis superstition, thatI kneel, and then implore her blessing. Lady,Dear queen, that ended when I but began,Give me that hand of yours to kiss.PAULINA.O, patience!The statue is but newly fix’d, the colour’sNot dry.CAMILLO.My lord, your sorrow was too sore laid on,Which sixteen winters cannot blow away,So many summers dry. Scarce any joyDid ever so long live; no sorrowBut kill’d itself much sooner.POLIXENES.Dear my brother,Let him that was the cause of this have powerTo take off so much grief from you as heWill piece up in himself.PAULINA.Indeed, my lord,If I had thought the sight of my poor imageWould thus have wrought you—for the stone is mine—I’d not have show’d it.LEONTES.Do not draw the curtain.PAULINA.No longer shall you gaze on’t, lest your fancyMay think anon it moves.LEONTES.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 veinsDid verily bear blood?POLIXENES.Masterly done:The very life seems warm upon her lip.LEONTES.The fixture of her eye has motion in ’t,As we are mock’d with art.PAULINA.I’ll draw the curtain:My lord’s almost so far transported thatHe’ll think anon it lives.LEONTES.O sweet Paulina,Make me to think so twenty years together!No settled senses of the world can matchThe pleasure of that madness. Let ’t alone.PAULINA.I am sorry, sir, I have thus far stirr’d you: butI could afflict you further.LEONTES.Do, Paulina;For this affliction has a taste as sweetAs any cordial comfort. Still methinksThere is an air comes from her. What fine chiselCould ever yet cut breath? Let no man mock me,For I will kiss her!PAULINA.Good my lord, forbear:The ruddiness upon her lip is wet;You’ll mar it if you kiss it, stain your ownWith oily painting. Shall I draw the curtain?LEONTES.No, not these twenty years.PERDITA.So long could IStand by, a looker on.PAULINA.Either forbear,Quit presently the chapel, or resolve youFor more amazement. If you can behold it,I’ll make the statue move indeed, descend,And take you by the hand. But then you’ll think(Which I protest against) I am assistedBy wicked powers.LEONTES.What you can make her doI am content to look on: what to speak,I am content to hear; for ’tis as easyTo make her speak as move.PAULINA.It is requir’dYou do awake your faith. Then all stand still;Or those that think it is unlawful businessI am about, let them depart.LEONTES.Proceed:No foot shall stir.PAULINA.Music, awake her: strike! [Music.]’Tis time; descend; be stone no more; approach;Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come;I’ll fill your grave up: stir; nay, come away.Bequeath to death your numbness, for from himDear life redeems you. You perceive she stirs.Hermionecomes down from the pedestal.Start not; her actions shall be holy asYou hear my spell is lawful. Do not shun herUntil you see her die again; for thenYou kill her double. Nay, present your hand:When she was young you woo’d her; now in ageIs she become the suitor?LEONTES.[Embracing her.] O, she’s warm!If this be magic, let it be an artLawful as eating.POLIXENES.She embraces him.CAMILLO.She hangs about his neck.If she pertain to life, let her speak too.POLIXENES.Ay, and make it manifest where she has liv’d,Or how stol’n from the dead.PAULINA.That she is living,Were it but told you, should be hooted atLike an old tale; but it appears she lives,Though yet she speak not. Mark a little while.Please you to interpose, fair madam. KneelAnd pray your mother’s blessing. Turn, good lady,Our Perdita is found.[PresentingPerditawho kneels toHermione.]HERMIONE.You gods, look down,And from your sacred vials pour your gracesUpon my daughter’s head! Tell me, mine own,Where hast thou been preserv’d? where liv’d? how foundThy father’s court? for thou shalt hear that I,Knowing by Paulina that the oracleGave hope thou wast in being, have preserv’dMyself to see the issue.PAULINA.There’s time enough for that;Lest they desire upon this push to troubleYour joys with like relation. Go together,You precious winners all; your exultationPartake to everyone. I, an old turtle,Will wing me to some wither’d bough, and thereMy mate, that’s never to be found again,Lament till I am lost.LEONTES.O peace, Paulina!Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent,As I by thine a wife: this is a match,And made between ’s by vows. Thou hast found mine;But how, is to be question’d; for I saw her,As I thought, dead; and have in vain said manyA prayer upon her grave. I’ll not seek far—For him, I partly know his mind—to find theeAn honourable husband. Come, Camillo,And take her by the hand, whose worth and honestyIs richly noted, and here justifiedBy us, a pair of kings. Let’s from this place.What! look upon my brother: both your pardons,That e’er I put between your holy looksMy ill suspicion. This your son-in-law,And son unto the king, whom heavens directing,Is troth-plight to your daughter. Good Paulina,Lead us from hence; where we may leisurelyEach one demand, and answer to his partPerform’d in this wide gap of time, since firstWe were dissever’d. Hastily lead away![Exeunt.]
EnterLeontes, Cleomenes, Dion, Paulinaand others.
CLEOMENESSir, you have done enough, and have perform’dA saint-like sorrow: no fault could you makeWhich you have not redeem’d; indeed, paid downMore penitence than done trespass: at the last,Do as the heavens have done, forget your evil;With them, forgive yourself.
LEONTES.Whilst I rememberHer and her virtues, I cannot forgetMy blemishes in them; and so still think ofThe wrong I did myself: which was so muchThat heirless it hath made my kingdom, andDestroy’d the sweet’st companion that e’er manBred his hopes out of.
PAULINA.True, too true, my lord.If, one by one, you wedded all the world,Or from the all that are took something good,To make a perfect woman, she you kill’dWould be unparallel’d.
LEONTES.I think so. Kill’d!She I kill’d! I did so: but thou strik’st meSorely, to say I did: it is as bitterUpon thy tongue as in my thought. Now, good now,Say so but seldom.
CLEOMENESNot at all, good lady.You might have spoken a thousand things that wouldHave done the time more benefit and grac’dYour kindness better.
PAULINA.You are one of thoseWould have him wed again.
DION.If you would not so,You pity not the state, nor the remembranceOf his most sovereign name; consider littleWhat dangers, by his highness’ fail of issue,May drop upon his kingdom, and devourIncertain lookers-on. What were more holyThan to rejoice the former queen is well?What holier than, for royalty’s repair,For present comfort, and for future good,To bless the bed of majesty againWith a sweet fellow to ’t?
PAULINA.There is none worthy,Respecting her that’s gone. Besides, the godsWill have fulfill’d their secret purposes;For has not the divine Apollo said,Is ’t not the tenor of his oracle,That king Leontes shall not have an heirTill his lost child be found? Which that it shall,Is all as monstrous to our human reasonAs my Antigonus to break his graveAnd come again to me; who, on my life,Did perish with the infant. ’Tis your counselMy lord should to the heavens be contrary,Oppose against their wills. [To Leontes.] Care not for issue;The crown will find an heir. Great AlexanderLeft his to th’ worthiest; so his successorWas like to be the best.
LEONTES.Good Paulina,Who hast the memory of Hermione,I know, in honour, O that ever IHad squar’d me to thy counsel! Then, even now,I might have look’d upon my queen’s full eyes,Have taken treasure from her lips,—
PAULINA.And left themMore rich for what they yielded.
LEONTES.Thou speak’st truth.No more such wives; therefore, no wife: one worse,And better us’d, would make her sainted spiritAgain possess her corpse, and on this stage,(Where we offenders now appear) soul-vexed,And begin “Why to me?”
PAULINA.Had she such power,She had just cause.
LEONTES.She had; and would incense meTo murder her I married.
PAULINA.I should so.Were I the ghost that walk’d, I’d bid you markHer eye, and tell me for what dull part in ’tYou chose her: then I’d shriek, that even your earsShould rift to hear me; and the words that follow’dShould be “Remember mine.”
LEONTES.Stars, stars,And all eyes else dead coals! Fear thou no wife;I’ll have no wife, Paulina.
PAULINA.Will you swearNever to marry but by my free leave?
LEONTES.Never, Paulina; so be bless’d my spirit!
PAULINA.Then, good my lords, bear witness to his oath.
CLEOMENESYou tempt him over-much.
PAULINA.Unless another,As like Hermione as is her picture,Affront his eye.
CLEOMENESGood madam,—
PAULINA.I have done.Yet, if my lord will marry,—if you will, sir,No remedy but you will,—give me the officeTo choose you a queen: she shall not be so youngAs was your former, but she shall be suchAs, walk’d your first queen’s ghost, it should take joyTo see her in your arms.
LEONTES.My true Paulina,We shall not marry till thou bid’st us.
PAULINA.ThatShall be when your first queen’s again in breath;Never till then.
Enter aServant.
SERVANT.One that gives out himself Prince Florizel,Son of Polixenes, with his princess (sheThe fairest I have yet beheld) desires accessTo your high presence.
LEONTES.What with him? he comes notLike to his father’s greatness: his approach,So out of circumstance and sudden, tells us’Tis not a visitation fram’d, but forc’dBy need and accident. What train?
SERVANT.But few,And those but mean.
LEONTES.His princess, say you, with him?
SERVANT.Ay, the most peerless piece of earth, I think,That e’er the sun shone bright on.
PAULINA.O Hermione,As every present time doth boast itselfAbove a better gone, so must thy graveGive way to what’s seen now! Sir, you yourselfHave said and writ so,—but your writing nowIs colder than that theme,—‘She had not been,Nor was not to be equall’d’; thus your verseFlow’d with her beauty once; ’tis shrewdly ebb’d,To say you have seen a better.
SERVANT.Pardon, madam:The one I have almost forgot,—your pardon;—The other, when she has obtain’d your eye,Will have your tongue too. This is a creature,Would she begin a sect, might quench the zealOf all professors else; make proselytesOf who she but bid follow.
PAULINA.How! not women?
SERVANT.Women will love her that she is a womanMore worth than any man; men, that she isThe rarest of all women.
LEONTES.Go, Cleomenes;Yourself, assisted with your honour’d friends,Bring them to our embracement.
[ExeuntCleomenesand others.]
Still, ’tis strangeHe thus should steal upon us.
PAULINA.Had our prince,Jewel of children, seen this hour, he had pair’dWell with this lord. There was not full a monthBetween their births.
LEONTES.Prithee no more; cease; Thou know’stHe dies to me again when talk’d of: sure,When I shall see this gentleman, thy speechesWill bring me to consider that which mayUnfurnish me of reason. They are come.
EnterFlorizel, Perdita, Cleomenesand others.
Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince;For she did print your royal father off,Conceiving you. Were I but twenty-one,Your father’s image is so hit in you,His very air, that I should call you brother,As I did him, and speak of something wildlyBy us perform’d before. Most dearly welcome!And your fair princess,—goddess! O, alas!I lost a couple that ’twixt heaven and earthMight thus have stood, begetting wonder, asYou, gracious couple, do! And then I lost,—All mine own folly,—the society,Amity too, of your brave father, whom,Though bearing misery, I desire my lifeOnce more to look on him.
FLORIZEL.By his commandHave I here touch’d Sicilia, and from himGive you all greetings that a king, at friend,Can send his brother: and, but infirmity,Which waits upon worn times, hath something seiz’dHis wish’d ability, he had himselfThe lands and waters ’twixt your throne and hisMeasur’d, to look upon you; whom he loves,He bade me say so,—more than all the sceptresAnd those that bear them living.
LEONTES.O my brother,—Good gentleman!—the wrongs I have done thee stirAfresh within me; and these thy offices,So rarely kind, are as interpretersOf my behind-hand slackness! Welcome hither,As is the spring to the earth. And hath he tooExpos’d this paragon to the fearful usage,At least ungentle, of the dreadful Neptune,To greet a man not worth her pains, much lessTh’ adventure of her person?
FLORIZEL.Good, my lord,She came from Libya.
LEONTES.Where the warlike Smalus,That noble honour’d lord, is fear’d and lov’d?
FLORIZEL.Most royal sir, from thence; from him, whose daughterHis tears proclaim’d his, parting with her: thence,A prosperous south-wind friendly, we have cross’d,To execute the charge my father gave meFor visiting your highness: my best trainI have from your Sicilian shores dismiss’d;Who for Bohemia bend, to signifyNot only my success in Libya, sir,But my arrival, and my wife’s, in safetyHere, where we are.
LEONTES.The blessed godsPurge all infection from our air whilst youDo climate here! You have a holy father,A graceful gentleman; against whose person,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,As he from heaven merits it, with you,Worthy his goodness. What might I have been,Might I a son and daughter now have look’d on,Such goodly things as you!
Enter aLord.
LORD.Most noble sir,That which I shall report will bear no credit,Were not the proof so nigh. Please you, great sir,Bohemia greets you from himself by me;Desires you to attach his son, who has—His dignity and duty both cast off—Fled from his father, from his hopes, and withA shepherd’s daughter.
LEONTES.Where’s Bohemia? speak.
LORD.Here in your city; I now came from him.I speak amazedly, and it becomesMy marvel and my message. To your courtWhiles he was hast’ning—in the chase, it seems,Of this fair couple—meets he on the wayThe father of this seeming lady andHer brother, having both their country quittedWith this young prince.
FLORIZEL.Camillo has betray’d me;Whose honour and whose honesty till now,Endur’d all weathers.
LORD.Lay ’t so to his charge.He’s with the king your father.
LEONTES.Who? Camillo?
LORD.Camillo, sir; I spake with him; who nowHas these poor men in question. Never saw IWretches so quake: they kneel, they kiss the earth;Forswear themselves as often as they speak.Bohemia stops his ears, and threatens themWith divers deaths in death.
PERDITA.O my poor father!The heaven sets spies upon us, will not haveOur contract celebrated.
LEONTES.You are married?
FLORIZEL.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.
LEONTES.My lord,Is this the daughter of a king?
FLORIZEL.She is,When once she is my wife.
LEONTES.That “once”, I see by your good father’s speed,Will come on very slowly. I am sorry,Most sorry, you have broken from his liking,Where you were tied in duty; and as sorryYour choice is not so rich in worth as beauty,That you might well enjoy her.
FLORIZEL.Dear, look up:Though Fortune, visible an enemy,Should chase us with my father, power no jotHath she to change our loves. Beseech you, sir,Remember since you ow’d no more to timeThan I do now: with thought of such affections,Step forth mine advocate. At your requestMy father will grant precious things as trifles.
LEONTES.Would he do so, I’d beg your precious mistress,Which he counts but a trifle.
PAULINA.Sir, my liege,Your eye hath too much youth in ’t: not a month’Fore your queen died, she was more worth such gazesThan what you look on now.
LEONTES.I thought of herEven in these looks I made. [To Florizel.] But your petitionIs 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 errandI now go toward him; therefore follow me,And mark what way I make. Come, good my lord.
[Exeunt.]
EnterAutolycusand a Gentleman.
AUTOLYCUS.Beseech you, sir, were you present at this relation?
FIRST GENTLEMAN.I was by at the opening of the fardel, heard the old shepherd 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 say he found the child.
AUTOLYCUS.I would most gladly know the issue of it.
FIRST GENTLEMAN.I make a broken delivery of the business; but the changes I perceived in the king and Camillo were very notes of admiration. They seemed almost, with staring on one another, to tear the cases of their eyes. There was speech in their dumbness, language in their very gesture; they looked as they had heard of a world ransomed, or one destroyed. A notable passion of wonder appeared in them; but the wisest beholder, that knew no more but seeing could not say if th’ importance were joy or sorrow; but in the extremity of the one, it must needs be. Here comes a gentleman that happily knows more.
Enter aGentleman.
The news, Rogero?
SECOND GENTLEMAN.Nothing but bonfires: the oracle is fulfilled: the king’s daughter is found: such a deal of wonder is broken out within this hour that ballad-makers cannot be able to express it. Here comes the Lady Paulina’s steward: he can deliver you more.
Enter a thirdGentleman.
How goes it now, sir? This news, which is called true, is so like an old tale that the verity of it is in strong suspicion. Has the king found his heir?
THIRD GENTLEMAN.Most true, if ever truth were pregnant by circumstance. That which you hear you’ll swear you see, there is such unity in the proofs. The mantle of Queen Hermione’s, her jewel about the neck of it, the letters of Antigonus found with it, which they know to be his character; the majesty of the creature in resemblance of the mother, the affection of nobleness which nature shows above her breeding, and many other evidences proclaim her with all certainty to be the king’s daughter. Did you see the meeting of the two kings?
SECOND GENTLEMAN.No.
THIRD GENTLEMAN.Then you have lost a sight which was to be seen, cannot be spoken of. There might you have beheld one joy crown another, so and in such manner that it seemed sorrow wept to take leave of them, for their joy waded in tears. There was casting up of eyes, holding up of hands, with countenance of such distraction that they were to be known by garment, not by favour. Our king, being ready to leap out of himself for joy of his found daughter, as if that joy were now become a loss, cries “O, thy mother, thy mother!” then asks Bohemia forgiveness; then embraces his son-in-law; then again worries he his daughter with clipping her; now he thanks the old shepherd, which stands by like a weather-bitten conduit of many kings’ reigns. I never heard of such another encounter, which lames report to follow it, and undoes description to do it.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that carried hence the child?
THIRD GENTLEMAN.Like an old tale still, which will have matter to rehearse, though credit be asleep and not an ear open. He was torn to pieces with a bear: this avouches the shepherd’s son, who has not only his innocence, which seems much, to justify him, but a handkerchief and rings of his that Paulina knows.
FIRST GENTLEMAN.What became of his bark and his followers?
THIRD GENTLEMAN.Wrecked the same instant of their master’s death, and in the view of the shepherd: so that all the instruments which aided to expose the child were even then lost when it was found. But O, the noble combat that ’twixt joy and sorrow was fought in Paulina! She had one eye declined for the loss of her husband, another elevated that the oracle was fulfilled. She lifted the princess from the earth, and so locks her in embracing, as if she would pin her to her heart, that she might no more be in danger of losing.
FIRST GENTLEMAN.The dignity of this act was worth the audience of kings and princes; for by such was it acted.
THIRD GENTLEMAN.One of the prettiest touches of all, and that which angled for mine eyes (caught the water, though not the fish) was, when at the relation of the queen’s death (with the manner how she came to it bravely confessed and lamented by the king) how attentiveness wounded his daughter; till, from one sign of dolour to another, she did, with an “Alas,” I would fain say, bleed tears, for I am sure my heart wept blood. Who was most marble there changed colour; some swooned, all sorrowed: if all the world could have seen it, the woe had been universal.
FIRST GENTLEMAN.Are they returned to the court?
THIRD GENTLEMAN.No: the princess hearing of her mother’s statue, which is in the keeping of Paulina,—a piece many years in doing and now newly performed by that rare Italian master, Julio Romano, who, had he himself eternity, and could put breath into his work, would beguile Nature of her custom, so perfectly he is her ape: he so near to Hermione hath done Hermione that they say one would speak to her and stand in hope of answer. Thither with all greediness of affection are they gone, and there they intend to sup.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.I thought she had some great matter there in hand; for she hath privately twice or thrice a day, ever since the death of Hermione, visited that removed house. Shall we thither, and with our company piece the rejoicing?
FIRST GENTLEMAN.Who would be thence that has the benefit of access? Every wink of an eye some new grace will be born. Our absence makes us unthrifty to our knowledge. Let’s along.
[ExeuntGentlemen.]
AUTOLYCUS.Now, had I not the dash of my former life in me, would preferment drop on my head. I brought the old man and his son aboard the prince; told him I heard them talk of a fardel and I know not what. But he at that time over-fond of the shepherd’s daughter (so he then took her to be), who began to be much sea-sick, and himself little better, extremity of weather continuing, this mystery remained undiscover’d. But ’tis all one to me; for had I been the finder-out of this secret, it would not have relish’d among my other discredits.
EnterShepherdandClown.
Here come those I have done good to against my will, and already appearing in the blossoms of their fortune.
SHEPHERD.Come, boy; I am past more children, but thy sons and daughters will be all gentlemen born.
CLOWN.You are well met, sir. You denied to fight with me this other day, because I was no gentleman born. See you these clothes? Say you see them not and think me still no gentleman born: you were best say these robes are not gentlemen born. Give me the lie, do; and try whether I am not now a gentleman born.
AUTOLYCUS.I know you are now, sir, a gentleman born.
CLOWN.Ay, and have been so any time these four hours.
SHEPHERD.And so have I, boy!
CLOWN.So you have: but I was a gentleman born before my father; for the king’s son 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 princess, my sister, called my father father; and so we wept; and there was the first gentleman-like tears that ever we shed.
SHEPHERD.We may live, son, to shed many more.
CLOWN.Ay; or else ’twere hard luck, being in so preposterous estate as we are.
AUTOLYCUS.I humbly beseech you, sir, to pardon me all the faults I have committed to your worship, and to give me your good report to the prince my master.
SHEPHERD.Prithee, son, do; for we must be gentle, now we are gentlemen.
CLOWN.Thou wilt amend thy life?
AUTOLYCUS.Ay, an it like your good worship.
CLOWN.Give me thy hand: I will swear to the prince thou art as honest a true fellow as any is in Bohemia.
SHEPHERD.You may say it, but not swear it.
CLOWN.Not swear it, now I am a gentleman? Let boors and franklins say it, I’ll swear it.
SHEPHERD.How if it be false, son?
CLOWN.If it be ne’er so false, a true gentleman may swear it in the behalf of his friend. And I’ll swear 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 wouldst be a tall fellow of thy hands.
AUTOLYCUS.I will prove so, sir, to my power.
CLOWN.Ay, by any means, prove a tall fellow: if I do not wonder how thou dar’st venture to be drunk, not being a tall fellow, trust me not. Hark! the kings and the princes, our kindred, are going to see the queen’s picture. Come, follow us: we’ll be thy good masters.
[Exeunt.]
EnterLeontes, Polixenes, Florizel, Perdita, Camillo, Paulina,Lords and Attendants.
LEONTES.O grave and good Paulina, the great comfortThat I have had of thee!
PAULINA.What, sovereign sir,I did not well, I meant well. All my servicesYou have paid home: but that you have vouchsaf’d,With your crown’d brother and these your contractedHeirs of your kingdoms, my poor house to visit,It is a surplus of your grace which neverMy life may last to answer.
LEONTES.O Paulina,We honour you with trouble. But we cameTo see the statue of our queen: your galleryHave we pass’d through, not without much contentIn many singularities; but we saw notThat which my daughter came to look upon,The statue of her mother.
PAULINA.As she liv’d peerless,So her dead likeness, I do well believe,Excels whatever yet you look’d uponOr hand of man hath done; therefore I keep itLonely, apart. But here it is: prepareTo see the life as lively mock’d as everStill sleep mock’d death. Behold, and say ’tis well.
Paulinaundraws a curtain, and discoversHermionestanding as a statue.
I like your silence, it the more shows offYour wonder: but yet speak. First you, my liege.Comes it not something near?
LEONTES.Her natural posture!Chide me, dear stone, that I may say indeedThou art Hermione; or rather, thou art sheIn thy not chiding; for she was as tenderAs infancy and grace. But yet, Paulina,Hermione was not so much wrinkled, nothingSo aged as this seems.
POLIXENES.O, not by much!
PAULINA.So much the more our carver’s excellence,Which lets go by some sixteen years and makes herAs she liv’d now.
LEONTES.As now she might have done,So much to my good comfort as it isNow piercing to my soul. O, thus she stood,Even with such life of majesty, warm life,As now it coldly stands, when first I woo’d her!I am asham’d: does not the stone rebuke meFor being more stone than it? O royal piece,There’s magic in thy majesty, which hasMy evils conjur’d to remembrance andFrom thy admiring daughter took the spirits,Standing like stone with thee.
PERDITA.And give me leave,And do not say ’tis superstition, thatI kneel, and then implore her blessing. Lady,Dear queen, that ended when I but began,Give me that hand of yours to kiss.
PAULINA.O, patience!The statue is but newly fix’d, the colour’sNot dry.
CAMILLO.My lord, your sorrow was too sore laid on,Which sixteen winters cannot blow away,So many summers dry. Scarce any joyDid ever so long live; no sorrowBut kill’d itself much sooner.
POLIXENES.Dear my brother,Let him that was the cause of this have powerTo take off so much grief from you as heWill piece up in himself.
PAULINA.Indeed, my lord,If I had thought the sight of my poor imageWould thus have wrought you—for the stone is mine—I’d not have show’d it.
LEONTES.Do not draw the curtain.
PAULINA.No longer shall you gaze on’t, lest your fancyMay think anon it moves.
LEONTES.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 veinsDid verily bear blood?
POLIXENES.Masterly done:The very life seems warm upon her lip.
LEONTES.The fixture of her eye has motion in ’t,As we are mock’d with art.
PAULINA.I’ll draw the curtain:My lord’s almost so far transported thatHe’ll think anon it lives.
LEONTES.O sweet Paulina,Make me to think so twenty years together!No settled senses of the world can matchThe pleasure of that madness. Let ’t alone.
PAULINA.I am sorry, sir, I have thus far stirr’d you: butI could afflict you further.
LEONTES.Do, Paulina;For this affliction has a taste as sweetAs any cordial comfort. Still methinksThere is an air comes from her. What fine chiselCould ever yet cut breath? Let no man mock me,For I will kiss her!
PAULINA.Good my lord, forbear:The ruddiness upon her lip is wet;You’ll mar it if you kiss it, stain your ownWith oily painting. Shall I draw the curtain?
LEONTES.No, not these twenty years.
PERDITA.So long could IStand by, a looker on.
PAULINA.Either forbear,Quit presently the chapel, or resolve youFor more amazement. If you can behold it,I’ll make the statue move indeed, descend,And take you by the hand. But then you’ll think(Which I protest against) I am assistedBy wicked powers.
LEONTES.What you can make her doI am content to look on: what to speak,I am content to hear; for ’tis as easyTo make her speak as move.
PAULINA.It is requir’dYou do awake your faith. Then all stand still;Or those that think it is unlawful businessI am about, let them depart.
LEONTES.Proceed:No foot shall stir.
PAULINA.Music, awake her: strike! [Music.]’Tis time; descend; be stone no more; approach;Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come;I’ll fill your grave up: stir; nay, come away.Bequeath to death your numbness, for from himDear life redeems you. You perceive she stirs.
Hermionecomes down from the pedestal.
Start not; her actions shall be holy asYou hear my spell is lawful. Do not shun herUntil you see her die again; for thenYou kill her double. Nay, present your hand:When she was young you woo’d her; now in ageIs she become the suitor?
LEONTES.[Embracing her.] O, she’s warm!If this be magic, let it be an artLawful as eating.
POLIXENES.She embraces him.
CAMILLO.She hangs about his neck.If she pertain to life, let her speak too.
POLIXENES.Ay, and make it manifest where she has liv’d,Or how stol’n from the dead.
PAULINA.That she is living,Were it but told you, should be hooted atLike an old tale; but it appears she lives,Though yet she speak not. Mark a little while.Please you to interpose, fair madam. KneelAnd pray your mother’s blessing. Turn, good lady,Our Perdita is found.
[PresentingPerditawho kneels toHermione.]
HERMIONE.You gods, look down,And from your sacred vials pour your gracesUpon my daughter’s head! Tell me, mine own,Where hast thou been preserv’d? where liv’d? how foundThy father’s court? for thou shalt hear that I,Knowing by Paulina that the oracleGave hope thou wast in being, have preserv’dMyself to see the issue.
PAULINA.There’s time enough for that;Lest they desire upon this push to troubleYour joys with like relation. Go together,You precious winners all; your exultationPartake to everyone. I, an old turtle,Will wing me to some wither’d bough, and thereMy mate, that’s never to be found again,Lament till I am lost.
LEONTES.O peace, Paulina!Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent,As I by thine a wife: this is a match,And made between ’s by vows. Thou hast found mine;But how, is to be question’d; for I saw her,As I thought, dead; and have in vain said manyA prayer upon her grave. I’ll not seek far—For him, I partly know his mind—to find theeAn honourable husband. Come, Camillo,And take her by the hand, whose worth and honestyIs richly noted, and here justifiedBy us, a pair of kings. Let’s from this place.What! look upon my brother: both your pardons,That e’er I put between your holy looksMy ill suspicion. This your son-in-law,And son unto the king, whom heavens directing,Is troth-plight to your daughter. Good Paulina,Lead us from hence; where we may leisurelyEach one demand, and answer to his partPerform’d in this wide gap of time, since firstWe were dissever’d. Hastily lead away!
[Exeunt.]