Thy wife Paulina more:--and fo, with shrieks,
She melted into air. Affrighted much,

I did in time collect myfelf; and thought
This was fo, and no flumber. Dreams are toys:
Yet, for this once, yea, fuperftitiously,
I will be fquar'd by this. I do believe,
Hermione hath fuffer'd death; and that
Apollo would, this being indeed the iffue
Of king Polixenes, it fhould here be laid,
Either for life, or death, upon the earth
Of its right father.-Bloffom, speed thee well!

[Laying down the child.

There lie; and there thy character: there these;

[Laying down a bundle.

Which may, if fortune please, both breed thee, pretty,
And still reft thine.The ftorm begins :-Poor wretch,
That, for thy mother's fault, art thus expos'd

To loss, and what may follow!Weep I cannot,
But my heart bleeds: and moft accurs'd am I,

To be by oath enjoin'd to this.

Farewel!

The day frowns more and more; thou art like to have A lullaby too rough: I never faw

h

The heavens fo dim by day. A favage clamour ?—
Well may I get aboard!-This is the chace;

I am gone for ever.

[Exit, purfued by a bear,

Enter an old Shepherd.

Shep. I would, there were no age between ten and three and twenty; or that youth would fleep out the rest: for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting.—

thy character,]-what may hereafter conduce to the discovery of thy true quality.

A favage clamour?]-The cry of dogs and hunters.
the chace ;]-the beaft pursued.

* thirteen.

Hark

Hark you now!-Would any but these boil'd brains of nineteen, and two and twenty, hunt this weather? They have scar'd away two of my best sheep; which, I fear, the wolf will fooner find, than the master: if any where I have them, 'tis by the fea- fide, brouzing of ivy. Good luck, an't be thy will! what have we here? [Taking up the child.] Mercy on's, a barne! a very pretty barne! A boy, or 'a child, I wonder? A pretty one; a very pretty one: Sure fome scape: though I am not bookish, yet I can read waiting-gentlewoman in the fcape. This has been fome ftair-work, fome trunk-work, fome behind-door-work : they were warmer that got this, than the poor thing is here. I'll take it up for pity: yet I'll tarry till my fon come; he holloo'd but even now. Whoa, ho hoa!

Clo. Hilloa, loa!

Enter Clown.

Shep. What, art fo near? If thou'lt fee a thing to talk on when thou art dead and rotten, come hither. What ail'ft thou, man?

Clo. I have seen two fuch fights, by fea, and by land; but I am not to fay, it is a fea, for it is now the sky; betwixt the firmament and it, you cannot thruft a bodkin's point.

Shep. Why, boy, how is it?

Clo. I would, you did but fee how it chafes, how it rages, how it takes up the fhore! but that's not to the point: Oh, the most piteous cry of the poor fouls! fometimes to fee 'em, and not to fee 'em: now the fhip boring the moon with her main-mast; and anon swallow'd with yeft and froth, as you'd thrust a cork into a hoghead. And then for the land fervice,-To fee how the bear tore out his fhoulder-bone; how he cry'd to me for help, and said,

ก

his name was Antigonus, a nobleman :-But to make an end of the ship;-to fee how the fea flap-dragon'd it: -but, first, how the poor fouls roar'd, and the sea mock'd them; and how the poor gentleman roar'd, and the bear mock'd him, both roaring louder than the fea, or weather. Shep. 'Name of mercy, when was this, boy?

Clo. Now, now; I have not wink'd fince I faw thefe fights; the men are not yet cold under water, nor the bear half din'd on the gentleman; he's at it now.

Shep. Would I had been by, to have help'd the old man. Clo. I would you had been by the ship fide, to have help'd her; there your charity would have lack'd footing.

[Afide.

Shep. Heavy matters! heavy matters! but look thee here, boy. Now bless thyself; thou met'ft with things dying, I with things new born. Here's a fight for thee; look thee, a bearing cloth for a fquire's child! Look thee here; take up, take up, boy; open't. So, let's fee;-It was told me, I should be rich by the fairies: this is fome 'changeling:open't: What's within, boy?

Clo. You're a made old man; if the fins of your youth are forgiven you, you're well to live. Gold! all gold! Shep. This is fairy gold, boy, and 'twill fo: up prove with it, keep it clofe; home, home, the next way. We are lucky, boy; and to be fo ftill, requires nothing but fecrecy. Let my theep go :-Come, good boy, the next way home.

Clo. Go you the next way with your findings; I'll go fee if the bear be gone from the gentleman, and how they are never curft, but when they

much he hath eaten

are hungry if there be any of him left, I'll bury it.

dent.

a bearing-cloth]-a mantle.

changeling :]-child left in lieu of one ftoln by the fairies.

You're a made old man ;]-Your fortune's made by this lucky incicarft,]-mifchievous.

Shep.

Shep. That's a good deed: If thou may'st discern by that which is left of him, what he is, fetch me to the fight of him.

Clo. Marry, will I; and you fhall help to put him i'the ground.

Shep. 'Tis a lucky day, boy; and we'll do good deeds

on't.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV.

Enter Time, as Chorus.

Time. I, that please fome, try all; both joy, and terror, Of good and bad; that make, and unfold error,— Now take upon me, in the name of Time, To ufe my wings. Impute it not a crime, To me, or my swift paffage, that I slide

t

O'er fixteen years, and leave the growth untry'd
Of that wide gap, fince it is in my power
To o'erthrow law, and in one self-born hour
To plant and o'erwhelm cuftom: "Let me pass
The fame I am, ere ancient'st order was,

Or what is now receiv'd: I witness to

The times that brought them in; fo fhall I do

To the freshest things now reigning; and make stale

W

The gliftering of this prefent, as my tale

Now feems to it.

Your patience this allowing,

that make, and unfold error,]-occafion abfurdities by the portion of me that is paft, and develope them in my progress.

growth untry'd of that wide gap :]-that long feries of years, and their product unexamined.

"Let me pafs the fame I am, ere ancient'ft order was, or what is now receiv'd:]-Conceive of me now, as of old, before any regular fucceffion of events was established, or the terms ancient and modern known.

The glitering of this prefent,]-the glare of novelty, which marks the manners of to-day.

I turn

I turn my glass; and give my scene fuch growing,
As you had slept between. Leontes leaving
The effects of his fond jealoufies; fo grieving,
That he shuts up himself; Imagine me,
Gentle fpectators, that I now may be

In fair Bohemia; and remember well,

I mentioned a fon o'the king's, which Florizel
I now name to you; and with speed so pace
To speak of Perdita, now grown in grace
Equal with wond'ring: What of her enfues,
I lift not prophecy; but let Time's news

Be known, when 'tis brought forth a fhepherd's

daughter,

:

And what to her adheres, which follows after,

* Is the argument of time: Of this allow,
If ever you have spent time worse ere now;
If never yet, that Time himself doth fay,
He wishes earnestly you never may.

SCENE I.

The Court of Bohemia.

Enter Polixenes and Camillo.

{Exit.

Pol. I pray thee, good Camillo, be no more importunáte : 'tis a sickness, denying thee any thing; a death to grant this.

Cam. It is fixteen years, fince I faw my country: though I have for the most part, been aired abroad, I defire to lay my bones there. Befides, the penitent king, my master, hath fent for me: to whofe feeling forrows I might be fome allay, or I o'erween to think fo; which is another fpur to my departure.

Pol. As thou lov'ft me, Camillo, wipe not out the reft

Is the argument of time:] -The fubject of the present time.

of