Flo. My prettieft Perdita. But, oh, the thorns we stand upon! Camillo, The medicine of our houfe! how fhall we do? Nor fhall appear in Sicily Cam. My lord, Fear none of this: I think, you know, my fortunes Do all lie there: it fhall be fo my care To have you royally appointed, as if The fcene, you play, were mine. For inftance, fir, That you may know you fhall not want; one word[They talk afide. Enter Autolycus. Aut. Ha, ha! what a fool Honefty is! and Truft, his fworn brother, a very simple gentleman! I have fold all my trumpery; not a counterfeit ftone, not a ribbon, glass, pomander, brooch, table-book, ballad, knife, tape, glove, fhoe-tye, bracelet, horn-ring, to keep my pack from fafting: they throng who fhould 5 I have fold all my trumpery; not a counterfeit fione, not a ribbon, glafs, pomander,] A pomander was a little ball made of perfumes, and worn in the pocket, or about the neck, to prevent infection in times of plague. In a tract, intitled, Certain neceffary Directions, as well for curing the Plague, as for preventing Infection, printed 1636, there are directions for making two forts of pomanders, one for the rich, and another for the poor. Dr GRAY, In Lingua, or a Combat of the Tongue, &c. 1607, is the following receipt given, act 4. fc. 3. "Your only way to make a good pomander is this. Take an ounce of the pureft garden mould, cleans'd and steep'd feven "days in change of motherlefs rofe-water. Then take the best "labdanum, benjoin, both ftoraxes, amber-gris and civet and muk. Incorporate them together and work them into what form you please This, if your breath be not too valiant, will make you fmell as fweet as my lady's dog." The fpeaker reprefents ODOR. STEEVENS. buy 6 buy firft; as if my trinkets had been hallowed, and brought a benediction to the buyer: by which means, I saw whose purse was beft in picture; and, what I faw, to my good ufe, I remember'd. My Clown, (who wants but fomething to be a reasonable man) grew fo in love with the wenches' fong, that he would not ftir his pettitoes 'till he had both tune and words; which fo drew the reft of the herd to me, that all their other fenfes ftuck in ears: you might have pinch'd a placket, it was fenfelefs; 'twas nothing, to geld a codpiece of a purfe; I would have filed keys off, that hung in chains: no hearing, no feeling, but my fir's fong, and admiring the nothing of it. So that, in this time of lethargy, I pick'd and cut most of their festival purfes: and had not the old man come in with a whoo-bub against his daughter and the king's fon, and scar'd my choughs from the chaff, I had not left a purse alive in the whole army. [Camillo, Florizel and Perdita come forward. Cam. Nay, but my letters by this means being there, So foon as you arrive, fhall clear that doubt. Flo. And thofe that you'll procure from king Leontes Cam. Shall fatisfy your father. All, that you fpeak, fhews fair. Cam. Who have we here? [Seeing Autolycus. We'll make an inftrument of this; omit Nothing, may give us aid. Aut. If they have over-heard me now,-why hanging. Cam. How now, good fellow? why fhak'st thou fo? Fear not man; here's no harm intended to thee. 6 — as if my trinkets had been hallow'd,—] This alludes to beads often fold by the Romanifts, as made particularly efficaci ous by the touch of fome relick. JOHNSON. Aut. I am a poor fellow, fir. Cam. Why, be fo ftill; here's nobody will steal that from thee; yet for the outside of thy poverty, we muft make an exchange: therefore, difcafe thee inftantly, thou must think, there's neceffity in't, and change garments with this gentleman: Tho' the pennyworth, on his fide, be the worst, yet hold thee, there's fome 7 boot. Hut. I am a poor fellow, fir :-I know ye well enough. Afide. Cam. Nay, pr'ythee, difpatch: the gentleman is half flead already. Aut. Are you in earneft, fir?-I fmell the trick of it. Flo. Difpatch, I pr'ythee. [Afide. Aut. Indeed, I have had earneft; but I cannot with conscience take it. Cam. Unbuckle, unbuckle. Fortunate miftrefs,-let my prophecy Come home to you !-you must retire yourself Per. I fee, the play fo lies, That I must bear a part. Cam. No remedy Have you done there? Flo. Should I now meet my father, He would not call me fon. Cam. Nay, you fhall have no hat: Come, lady, come.--Farewel, my friend. 7 boot.] that is, fomething over and above, or, as we now fay, fomething to boot. JOHNSON. Aut. Aut. Adieu, fir. Flo. O Perdita, what have we twain forgot? Pray you, a word. Cam. What I do next, fhall be, to tell the king [Afide. Of this escape, and whither they are bound : Wherein my hope is, I fhall fo prevail To force him after: in whofe company I fhall review Sicilia; for whofe fight I have a woman's longing. Flo. Fortune speed us!—— Thus we fet on, Camillo, to the fea-fide. [Exit Flo. with Per. Cam. The fwifter fpeed, the better. [Exit. Aut. I understand the business, I hear it: To have an open ear, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, is neceffary for a cut-purfe; a good nofe is requifite alfo, to smell out work for the other fenfes. I fee, this is the time that the unjust man doth thrive. What an exchange had this been, without boot? what a boot is here, with this exchange? Sure, the gods do this year connive at us, and we may do any thing extempore. The prince himself is about a piece of iniquity; ftealing away from his father, with his clog at his heels. If I thought it were not a piece of honefty to acquaint the king withal, I would do't: I hold it the more knavery to conceal it; and therein am I conftant to my profeffion. 8 Enter Clown and Shepherd. Afide, afide;-here's more matter for a hot brain : Every lane's end, every fhop, church, feffion, hanging, yields a careful man work. 8 Clo. See, fee; what a man you are now! there is no If I thought it were not a piece of honefty to acquaint the king withal, I would do't;] This is the reading of Sir T. Hanmer, instead of, if I thought it were a piece of benefty to acquaint the king quithal, I'd not do it. JOHNSON. other other way, but to tell the king fhe's a changling, and none of your flesh and blood. Shep. Nay, but hear me. Clo. Nay, but hear me. Clo. She being none of your flesh and blood, your flesh and blood has not offended the king; and, fo, your flesh and blood is not to be punish'd by him. Shew thofe things you found about her; thofe fecret things, all but what he has with her: This being done, let the law go whistle; I warrant you. Shep. I will tell the king all, every word; yea, and his fon's pranks too; who, I may say, is no honest man neither to his father, nor to me, to go about to make me the king's brother-in-law. Clo. Indeed, brother-in-law was the fartheft off you could have been to him; and then your blood had been the dearer, by I know how much an ounce. Aut. Very wifely; puppies! [Afide. Shep. Well, let us to the king: there is that in this farthel will make him fcratch his beard. Aut. I know not, what impediment this complaint may be to the flight of my master. Clo. 'Pray heartily he be at the palace. Aut. Tho' I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.-Let me pocket up my pedler's' excrement. How now, rufticks? whither are you bound? 9 Shep. To the palace, an it like your worship. pedler's excrement.] Is pedler's beard. JOHNSON. So in the old tragedy of Soliman and Perfeda, 1599, "Whose chin bears no impreffion of manhood So in Love's Labour Loft, 66 dally with my excrement, with my mustachio.” STEEVENS. |