Now take upon me, in the name of Time,
To ufe my wings. Impute it not a crime
To me, or my fwift paffage, that I flide
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 antient'ft order was,
Or what is now receiv'd. I witness to

The times, that brought them in ; fo fhall I do
To th' frefheft things now reigning, and make stale
The gliftering of this prefent, as my tale
Now feems to it: your patience this allowing,
I turn my glass; and give my fcene fuch growing,
As you had flept between. Leontes leaving
Th' effects of his fond jealoufies, so grieving
That he shuts up himfelf; imagine me,
Gentle fpectators, that I now may be

In fair Bohemia; and remember well,

I mention here a fon o'th' Kings, whom Florizel
I now name to you; and with speed so pace
To fpeak of Perdita, now grown in grace
Equal with wond'ring. What of her enfues,
I lift not prophefy. But let Time's news

Be known, when 'tis brought forth. A fhepherd's daughter,

And what to her adheres, which follows after,

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

that mask and unfold error.

To the like purpose our Poet in Measure for Measure.
Keep me in patience; and with ripen'd time`
Unfold the evil which is here wrapt up

In countenance:

'And, again, in his Lear;

Time hall unfold what plaited cunning bides,
Who covers faults, at last with shame derides,

[Exit.

ACT

ACT IV.

SCENE, the Court of Bohemia.

Enter Polixenes and Camillo.

POLIX ENE S.

Pray thee, good Camillo, be no more importunate; 'tis a fickness denying thee any thing, a death tỏ grant this.

Cam. It is fifteen 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 mafter, 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't me, Camillo, wipe not out the reft of thy fervices by leaving me now; the need I have of thee, thine own goodness hath made better not to have had thee, than thus to want thee. Thou having made me bufineffes, which none, without thee, can fufficiently manage, muft either flay to execute them thyff, or take away with thee the very fervices thou hast done; which if I have not enough confidered, (as too much I eannot,) to be more thankful to thee fhall be my ftudy; and my profit therein, the heaping friendships. Of that fatal country Sicilia, pr'ythee, fpeak no more; whofe very naming punishes me with the remembrance of that penitent, as thou call'ft him, and reconciled King my brother, whofe lofs of his most precious Queen and children are even now to be afresh lamented. Say to me, when faw'ft thou the Prince Florizel my fon? Kings are no lefs unhappy, their iffue not being gracious, than they are in lofing them, when they have ap proved their virtues.

Cam. Sir, it is three days fince I faw the Prince;

N 3

what

what his happier affairs may be, are to me unknown: but I have (miffingly) noted, he is of late much retired ́ from court, and is lefs frequent to his princely exercises than formerly he hath appear'd.

Pol. I have confider'd fo much, Camillo, and with fome care fo far, that I have eyes under my fervice, which look upon his removed nefs; from whom I have this intelligence, that he is feldom from the house of a moft homely fhepherd; a man, they fay, that from very nothing, and beyond the imagination of his neighbours, is grown into an unfpeakable eftate.

Cam. I have heard, Sir, of fuch a man, who hath a daughter of most rare note; the report of her is extended more than can be thought to begin from fuch a cottage.

Pol. (22) That's likewife a part of my intelligence; and, I fear, the engle that plucks our fon thither. Thou fhalt accompany us to the place, where we will (not appearing what we are) have fome queftion with the fhepherd; from whofe fimplicity, I think it not uneafy to get the caufe of my fon's refort thither. Pr'ythee, be my prefent partner in this bufinefs, and lay afide the thoughts of Sicilia.

Cam. I willingly obey your command.

Pel. My belt Camillo !— we must disguise curselves.

[Exeunt.

(22) That's likewife part of my intelligence; but I fear, the angle that plucks our fon thither ] The disjunctive nere, I think, makes ftark nonfenfe of the context: and the editors have palm'd an allufion in the word angle, which feems foreign to the fenfe of the paffage. As, before, in the Taming of the Shrew, angel is mistakenly put for engle: fc, I fufpect, angle, by the fame eafy corruption, is here. I have there prov'd the ufe and meaning of the word. I'll proceed briefly to justify the emendation I have here made, by fhewing how naturally it fails in with the fenfe we should expect. Camillo had just told the King, he had heard of fuch a shepherd, and of a daughter he had of moft rare note. Ay, replies the King, that's a part of my intelligence too; and, I fear, that daughter is] the firen, the decoy, the Invitation, that plucks our fon thither.

SCENE

SCENE changes to the Country.

Enter Autolicus, finging

WHEN daffadils begin to peere,

With, heigh! the doxy over the dale,

Why then comes in the fweet o'th' year;
For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale.
The white fheet bleaching on the hedge,

With, hey! the sweet birds, O how they fing!
Doth fet my pugging tooth on edge:

For a quart of ale is a dish for a King.

The lark that tirra-lyra chaunts,

With, hey! with, hey! the thrush and the jay! Are fummer-fongs for me and my aunts,

While we lie tumbling in the hay.

I have served Prince Florizel, and in my time wore threepile, but now I am out of fervice.

But fhall I go mourn for that, my dear?
The pale moon fhines by night:
And when I wander here and there,
I then do go moft right.

If tinkers may have leave to live,
And bear the fow-fkin budget;
Then my account I well may give,
And in the stocks avouch it.

My traffick is fheets; when the kite builds, look to lefler linen. (23) My father nam'd me Autolicus, being litter'd under Mercury; who, as I am, was likewife a fnapper-up of unconfider'd trifles with die and drab,

:

I

(23) My father nam'd me Autolicus, who being, as I am, litter`d under Mercury, was likewife a snapper up of unconfidered trifles.] The flight tranfpofition I have ventur'd to make of four fhort monofy 1bles in this paffage, was prefcrib'd by my ingenious fiend Mr. W、rburton. The Poet's meaning feems to be this. My father nam'd uşa Autolicus, becaufe I was born under Mercury; who was a thief, as I The allufion is, unquestionably, to this paffage in Ovid; Al pedis de ftirpe dei verfuta propago

am,

Nafcitur Autolycus, furtum ingenious ad omne. Metam, lib. xi.

N 4

I purchas'd this caparison, and my revenue is the filly cheat. Gallows, and knock, are too powerful on the high-way; beating and hanging are terrors to me: for the life to come, I fleep out the thought of it.

A prize! a prize!

Enter Clown.

Clo. Let me fee.-Every eleven weather tods, every fod yields pound and odd fhilling; fifteen hundred fhorn, what comes the wool to?

Aut. If the fprindge hold, the cock's mine. [Afide. Clo. I cannot do't without compters. Let me fee, what am I to buy for our fheep-fhearing feaft, three pound of fugar, five pound of currants, rice-what will this fifter of mine do with rice? but my father hath made her mistress of the feaft, and the lays it on. She hath made me four and twenty nofe-gays for the thearers; (24) three-man fong-men all, and very good ones, but they are most of them means and bafes; but one puritan among them, and he fings pfalms to hornpipes. I must have faffron to colour the warden-pies, mace-datesnone- that's out of my note: nutmegs; feven; a race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four pound of prunes, and as many raifins o'th' fun.

Aut. Oh, that ever I was born! [Groveling on the ground. Clo. I'th' name of me

The true Autolycus was the fon, of Mercury; our fictitious one, bora under his planet: the firft a copy of his father; the other, fuppes'd to derive his qualities from natal predominance. To this Autolycus, the fon of Mercury, Martial has alluded in the 8th Book of his Epigrams. Non fuit Autolyc tam piceata manus.

We find his history in Pherecydes, Hyginus, &c.

(24) Three man Songmen all, and very good ones.] By a three-man fongfter we are to understand, a finger of catches; which catches were then, and are now moft commonly, in three parts. So our Author, in fecond part of King Henry IV;

Fal. If I do, fillip me with a three-man beetle.
i. e. a three-handed beetle, or one ufed by three men together.
So in an old play, call'd, The Merry Milk-Maids ;
Smirk. Nay, I'll put in too for my ha, ha, ha.
This is a three man's laughter.

For the laugh is kept up by three perfons in the scence.

Aut.