ACT I. SCENE I.-Sicilia. An Antechamber in LEONTES' Palace. Enter CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS. Archidamus. IF you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia, and your Sicilia. Cam. I think, this coming summer, the king of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him. Arch. Wherein our entertainment shall shame us, we will be justified in our loves: for, indeed,Cam. 'Beseech you, Arch. Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we cannot with such magnificence-in so rareI know not what to say. We will give you sleepy drinks; that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little ac cuse us. Cam. You pay a great deal too dear, for what's given freely. Arch. Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me, and as mine honesty puts it to utterance. Cam. Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to Bohemia. They were trained together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection, which cannot choose but branch now. mature dignities, and royal necessities, made separation Since their more of their society, their encounters, though not personal, [1] Though we cannot give you equal entertainment, yet the consciousness of our good will shall justify us. JOHNSON. have been royally attornied, 2 with interchange of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seemed to be together, though absent; shook hands, as over a vast ;3 and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves! Arch. I think, there is not in the world either malice, or matter, to alter it. You have an unspeakable comfort of your young prince Mamillius; it is a gentleman of the greatest promise, that ever came into my note. Cam. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: It is a gallant child; one that, indeed, physicks the subject,4 makes old hearts fresh: they, that went on crutches ere he was born, desire yet their life, to see him a man. Arth. Would they else be content to die? Cam. Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live. Arch. If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. A Room of State in the Palace. Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS, CAMILLO, and Attendants. Pol. Nine changes of the watry star have been Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks; Go hence in debt: And therefore, like a cypher, [2] Nobly supplied by substitution of embassies, &c. JOHNS. [3] Vastum was the ancient term for waste uncultivated land. Over a vast, therefore, means at a great and vacant distance from each other. Vast, however, may be used for the sea. STEEVENS. Shakspeare has, more than once, taken his imagery from the prints, with which the books of his time were ornamented. If my memory do not deceive me he had his eye on a wood cut in Holinshed, while writing the incantation of the weird sisters in Macbeth. In this passage he refers to a device common in the title-page of old books, of two hands extended from opposite clouds, and joined as in token of friendship over a wide waste of country. HENLEY. [4] Affords a cordia to the state; has the power of assuaging the sense of misery. JOHNSON. Leo. Stay your thanks awhile; And pay them when you part. Pol. Sir, that's to-morrow. I am question'd by my fears, of what may chance, Or breed upon our absence: That may blow No sneaping winds at home, 5 to make us say, Leo. We are tougher, brother, Than you can put us to't. Pol. No longer stay.. Leo. One seven-night longer. Pol. Very sooth, to-morrow. Leo. We'll part the time between's then: and in that I'll no gain-saying. Pol. Press me not, 'beseech you, so; Do even drag me homeward: which to hinder, Leo. Tongue-tied, our queen? speak you. Her. I had thought, sir, to have held my peace, until. The by-gone day proclaim'd ;6 say this to him, Leo. Well said, Hermione. Her. To tell, he longs to see his son, were strong : But let him say so then, and let him go ; The borrow of a week. When at Bohemia [TO POLIXENES. [5] Nipping winds. HOLT WHITE. [6] We had satisfactory accounts yesterday of the state of Bohemia. 23* VOL. 111. JOHNSON, To let him there a month, behind the gest 7 Pol. No, madam. Her. Nay, but you will? Pol. I may not, verily. Her. Verily! You put me off with limber vows: But I, Should yet say, Sir, no going. Verily, You shall not go; a lady's verily is As potent as a lord's. Will you go yet? Force me to keep you as a prisoner, Not like a guest; so you shall pay your fees, When you depart, and save your thanks. How say you My prisoner? or my guest? by your dread verily, One of them you shall be. Pol. Your guest then, madam : To be your prisoner, should import offending; Which is for me less easy to commit, Than you to punish. Her. Not your gaoler then, But your kind hostess. Come, I'll question you Of my lord's tricks, and yours, when you were boys; You were pretty lordlings then.9 Pol. We were, fair queen, Two lads, that thought there was no more behind, But such a day to-morrow as to-day, And to be boy eternal. Her. Was not my lord the verier wag o' the two? And bleat the one at the other: what we chang'd, And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd [7] In the time of royal progresses the king's stages, as we may see by the journals of them in the herald's office, were called his gests; from the old French word giste diversorium. WARB. Gests, or rather gists, from the French giste, (which signifies both a bed, and a lodging place,) were the names of the houses or towns where the King or Prince intended to lie every night during his Progress. MAL. [8] A jar is, I believe, a single repetition of the noise made by the pendu STEEVENS. 'lum of a clock; what children call the ticking of it. [9] This diminutive of lord is often used by Chaucer. STEEV. With stronger blood, we should have answer'd heaven Boldly, Not guilty; the imposition clear'd, Hereditary ours. Her. By this we gather, You have tripp'd since. Pol. O my most sacred lady, Temptations have since then been born to us: for Her. Grace to boot! Of this make no conclusion; lest you say, You did continue fault, and that you slipp'd not, With any but with us. Leo. Is he won yet? Her. He'll stay, my lord. Leo. At my request, he would not. Hermione, my dearest, thou never spok'st To better purpose. Her. Never? Leo. Never, but once. Her. What? have I twice said well? when was't be fore? I pr'ythee, tell me: Cram us with praise, and make us What was my first? it has an elder sister, Or I mistake you: O, would her name were Grace ! Leo. Why, that was when Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to death, Ere I could make thee open thy white hand, [1] That is, setting aside original sin; bating the imposition from the offence of our first parents, we might have boldly protested our innocence to Heaven. WARB. |