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tertainemet, vsed him likewise so familiarly that her countenance bewraied how her heart was affected toward him; oftentimes comming her selfe into his bed-chamber, to see if nothing should be amisse to dislike him. This honest familiarity increased daily more and more betwixt them, for Bellaria noting in Egistus a Princely and bountifull mind, adorned with sundry and excellent qualities, and Egistus finding in her a vertuous and curteous disposition, there grew such a secret vniting of their affections, that the one could not well be without the company of the other: insomuch, that when Pandosto was busied with such urgent affaires that he could not be present with his friend Egistus, Bellaria would walk with him into the garden, and there they two in priuate pleasant deuices, would passe away their time to both their contents."

MORTON. Hermione tells Leontes, in Shakespeare,

"If you will seek us,

We are yours i'the garden," &c.

ELLIOT. If the reality had come up to the description Greene has given of their "honest familiarity," I think I should almost have been led myself to suspect the lady.

BOURNE. He carries it a little too far-further than Shakespeare, who well knew out of what a mere mustard-seed the huge tree of jealousy grows like the poison-tree of the East, it flings its arms far and wide, throwing down fresh roots at a distance from

the original trunk, until it covers and blasts the whole soil. The description of the embarkation of the infant on its hopeless voyage is very pretty and affecting. "The Guard left her (Bellaria) in this perplexity, and carried the childe to the king, who quite devoid of pity commanded that without delay it should be put into the Boat, hauing neither Saile nor Rudder to guide it, and so to be carried into the midst of the Sea, and there left to the windes and the waues, as the Destinies please to appoint. The very Shipmen seeing the sweete countenance of the young Babe, began to accuse the King of rigour, and to pity the childs hard Fortune: but feare constrained them to that which their nature did abhorre, so that they placed it in one of the ends of the Boat, and with a few green boughes made a homely Cabbin to shroud it, as well as they could, from wind and weather. Hauing thus trimmed a Boat, they tyed it to a Ship, and so haled it into the maine Sea, and then cut in sunder the Cord; which they had no sooner done, but there arose a mighty Tempest, which tossed the little Boat so vehemently in the waues, that the Ship-men thought it could not continue long without sincking: yet the storme grew so great, that with great labour and perill they got to the shore."

MORTON. The introduction of the storm not only creates a strong interest for the fate of the infant, but accounts in some degree for the space of sea it passed over to reach Bohemia.

BOURNE. It is observable that Shakespeare reverses the scene: Greene's story begins in Bohemia, the kingdom of Pandosto; and the loves of Dorastus and Fawnia, the Florizel and Perdita of the play, commence in Sicily.

MORTON. I do not think Shakespeare's alteration in this respect so judicious as usual, because the climate of Sicily is much better adapted to the pastoral scenes that are represented there, than Bohemia.

ELLIOT. Perhaps so: Shakespeare has been charged with ignorance in making Bohemia a country on the sea-coast.

BOURNE. He had it from Greene: he took the popular story with the popular prejudices, and did not think it worth while, for the sake of mere geographical accuracy, to make any change. Our time is now so far exhausted that we shall not be able to do more than read one other quotation from Greene's tract: it relates to the first interview of Dorastus and Fawnia. "It hapned not long after this, that there was a meeting of all the Farmors daughters in Sicilia, whither Fawnia was also bidden as the mistresse of the feast: who hauing attired her selfe in her best garments, went amongst the rest of her companions to a merry meeting, there spending the day in such homely pastimes as Shepheards vse. As the Euening grew on, and their sport ceased, each taking their leaue of other, Fawnia desiring one of her companions to beare her company, went

home by the flocke to see if they were well fowlded. And as they returned, it fortuned that Dorastus (who all that day had beene hawking, and killed store of game) incountred by the way these two maides, fearing that with Acteon he had seen Diana; for he thought such exquisite perfection could not be found in any mortall creature. As thus he stood in a maze, one of his Pages told him that the maid with the garland on her head was Fawnia, that faire Shepheardesse, whose beauty was so much talked of in the Court. Dorastus, desirous to see if nature had adorned her mind with any inward qualities, as she had decked her body with outward shape, began to question with her whose daughter she was, of what age, and how shee had beene trained vp? Who answered him with such modest reuerence and sharpnesse of wit, that Dorastus thought her outward beauty was but a counterfeit to darken her inward qualities: wondring how so courtly behauiour could be found in so simple a Cottage, and cursing Fortune, that had shaddowed wit and beauty with such hard Fortune. As thus he held her a long time with chat, beauty seeing him at discouert thought not to loose the vantage, but strucke him so deepely with an inuenomed shafte, as he wholly lost his liberty, and became a slaue to Loue, which before contemned Loue; glad to gaze vpon a poore shepheardesse, who before refused the offer of a rich Princesse."

ELLIOT. All that you have read is very prettily

told, and though the characters are more strongly drawn and more minutely filled up by our dramatic poet, the outline, and that a graceful one, is to be found in Greene. I should like in the same way to go through some of the other plays of Shakespeare that are founded upon novels in " the Palace

of Pleasure."

BOURNE. Our time will not allow us to begin them now, but my copy of that entertaining work you may have the use of at any time. It is the less necessary to go through them, as "the Palace of Pleasure" has been recently pretty correctly reprinted. If I lend you my edition you will be careful of it, for original copies are of very rare occurrence.

MORTON. Nearly the same may be said of North's Plutarch, for it has been many times republished since the first edition, I think about 1579, and the coincidences are by no means so curious or so important.

BOURNE. Before we conclude for the day, I wish to bring under your notice a curiosity that has hitherto escaped the vigilance of the dust-raking commentators, or they would not have omitted some notice of it. I call it a curiosity, because, although it relates to Shakespeare, it does not possess much intrinsic value. It is contained in a volume of poerns by Thomas Prujean, who calls himself "Student of Caius and Gonvile Colledge in Cambridge."

ELLIOT. What does it consist of?

BOURNE, Two metrical epistles in imitation of

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