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; than embraces his son-in-law; then again worries he his daughter with clipping 7 her; now he thanks the old shepherd, which stands by like a weather-bitten conduit 8 of many king's reigns. I never heard of such another encounter, which lames report to follow it, and undoes description to do it. 2 Gent. What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that carried hence the child? 3 Gent. 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. I Gent. What became of his bark and his followers? 3 Gent. Wreck'd 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 fulfill'd: 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 her. I Gent. The dignity of this act was worth the audience of kings and princes, for by such was it acted. 3 Gent. 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 7 To embrace is one of the old senses of to clip. See page 81, note 16. 8 Conduit is fountain; and figures of men and women, in bronze or marble, were often used for fountains. See vol. v. page 86, note 15. the manner how she came to 't, — bravely confess'd 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 sorrow'd: if all the world could have seen't, the woe had been universal. I Gent. Are they returned to the Court? 3 Gent. 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 perform'd by that rare Italian master, Julio Romano, who, had he himself eternity,9 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. 2 Gent. 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 1o house. we thither, and with our company piece the rejoicing? Shall I Gent. Who would be thence that has the benefit of access? every wink of an eye, some new grace will be born: 9 Eternity here means immortality. It would seem that a painted statue was no singularity in that age: Ben Jonson, in his Magnetic Lady, makes it a reflection on the bad taste of the city. Rut. I'd have her statue cut now in white marble. Sir Moth. And have it painted in most orient colours. Sir Henry Wotton, who had travelled much, calls it an English barbarism. But painted statues were known to the Greeks, as appears from the accounts of Pausanias and Herodotus. 10 Removed is retired, solitary, or sequestered. Repeatedly so. v. page 66, note 42. See vol. SCENE II. THE WINTER'S TALE. LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF 259 our absence makes us unthrifty to our knowledge., Let's along. [Exeunt Gentlemen, Aut. 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; 11 told him I heard them talk of a fardel, and I know not what: but, he at that time overfond 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 finderout of this secret, it would not have relish'd among my other discredits. Here come those I have done good to against my will, and already appearing in the blossoms of their fortune. Enter the Shepherd and Clown, richly dressed. Shep. Come, boy; I am past more children, but thy sons and daughters will be all gentlemen born. Clo. 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. Aut. I know you are now, sir, a gentleman born. Clo. Ay, and have been so any time these four hours. Clo. So you have : — but I was a gentleman born before my father; for the King's son 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 Princess my sister 11 That is, aboard Prince Florizel's ship. In iv. 3, the Prince says to Camillo," most oppórtune to our need, I have a vessel rides fast by," &c. call'd my father father: and so we wept; and there was the first gentleman-like tears that ever we shed. Shep. We may live, son, to shed many more. Clo. Ay; or else 'twere hard luck, being in so preposterous estate 12 as we are. Aut. 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. Shep. Pr'ythee, son, 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 swear to the Prince thou art as honest a true fellow as any is in Bohemia. Shep. You may say it, but not swear it. Clo. Not swear it, now I am a gentleman? Let boors and franklins say it, I'll swear it. Shep. How if it be false, son? Clo. 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,13 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. Aut. I will prove so, sir, to my power. Clo. Ay, by any means prove a tall fellow: if I do not wonder how thou darest venture to be drunk, not being a tall fellow, trust me not. [Trumpets within.] Hark! the Kings 12 Estate and state were used interchangeably. Preposterous is the Clown's blunder, perhaps intentional, for prosperous: for this Clown is a most Shakespearian compound of shrewdness and simplicity, and has something of the "allowed Fool" in his character; by instinct, of course. 13 A bold, courageous fellow. Autolycus chooses to understand the phrase in one of its senses, which was that of nimble handed, working with his hands, a fellow skilled in thievery. See vol. v. page 143, note 4. and the Princes, our kindred, are going to see the Queen's picture.14 Come, follow us: we'll be thy good masters.15 [Exeunt. SCENE III. The Same. A Chapel in PAULINA'S House. Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, FLORIZEL, PERDITA, CAMILLO, PAULINA, Lords, and Attendants. Leon. O grave and good Paulina, the great comfort That I have had of thee! Paul. What, sovereign sir, I did not well, I meant well. All my services You have paid home: but, that you have vouchsafed, It is a surplus of your grace, which never My life may last to answer. Leon. We honour you with trouble.1 O Paulina, But we came To see the statue of our Queen: your gallery 14 The words picture and statue were sometimes used indiscriminately; which Collier thinks may have grown from the custom of painting statues. So in Heywood's If you know not me, you know Nobody: Your ship, in which all the king's pictures were, From Brute unto our Queen Elizabeth, Drawn in white marble, by a storm at sea Is wreck'd, and lost. 15 It was a common petitionary phrase to ask a superior to be good lord or good master to the supplicant. So, in 2 Henry IV., iv. 3, Falstaff says to Prince John, "I beseech you, when you come to the Court, stand my good lord"; that is, "be my friend or patron." 1 Trouble, and not honour, is the emphatic word here. "The honour we are doing you puts you to trouble." A similar thought occurs in Macbeth, i. 6: "The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, which still we thank as love." |