Florizel. Thou dearest Perdita, With these forced thoughts, I pr'ythee, darken not the mirth of the feast. Thy father's ground. Per. Now Jove afford you cause ! To me, the difference forges dread; your greatness Hath not been us'd to fear. Even now I tremble To think, your father, by some accident, Should pass this way as you did: Oh, the fates ! How would he look, to see his work, so noble, Vilely bound up!2 what would he say? Or how Should I, in these my borrow'd flaunts, behold The sternness of his presence ! Flo. Apprehend Nothing but jollity. The gods themselves, Per. O but, dear sir, Your resolution cannot hold, when 'tis Which then will speak; that you must change this pur- Flo. Thou dearest Perdita, With these forc'd thoughts, I pr'ythee, darken not Mine own, nor any thing to any, if [pose, I be not thine : to this I am most constant, Of celebration of that nuptial, which We two have sworn shall come. [1] Meaning the difference between his rank and hers. M. MASON. "To beautify him only lacks a cover." STEEV. VOL. 111. Per. O lady fortune, Stand you auspicious! Enter Shepherd, with POLIXENES and CAMILLO, disguised, Clown, MOPSA, DORCAS, and others. Flo. See, your guests approach: Address yourself to entertain them sprightly, And let's be red with mirth. Shep. Fie, daughter! when my old wife liv'd, upon This day, she was both pantler, butler, cook; Both dame and servant: welcom'd all, serv'd all; Would sing her song, and dance her turn: now here, At upper end o'the table, now, i'the middle; On his shoulder, and his her face o' fire With labour; and the thing, she took to quench it, She would to each one sip. You are retir'd, As if you were a feasted one, and not The hostess of the meeting: Pray you, bid These unknown friends to us welcome; for it is A way to make us better friends, more known. Come, quench you blushes; and present yourself That which you are, mistress o'the feast. Come on, And bid us welcome to your sheep-shearing, As your good flock shall prosper. Per. Welcome, sir! [TO POL It is my father's will, I should take on me The hostesship o'the day. - You're welcome, sir. [TOCAM. those flowers there, Dorcas. -Reverend sirs: sirs, -Give me For you there's rosemary, and rue ;3 these keep Pol. Shepherdess ! (A fair one are you,) well you fit our ages With flowers of winter. Per. Sir, the year growing ancient,Not yet on summer's death, nor on the birth Of trembling winter, -the fairest flowers o'the season Are our carnations, and streak'd gilly-flowers. Which some call nature's bastards: of that kind Our rustic garden's barren; and I care not To get slips of them. [3] Rue was called herb of grace. Rosemary was the emblem of remembrance; I know not why unless because it was carried at funerals. JOHNS. Rosemary was anciently opposed to strengthen the memory, and is prescribed for that purpose in the books of ancient physic. STEEV. Pol. Wherefore, gentle maiden, Do you neglect them? Per. For I have heard it said, There is an art, which, in their piedness, shares With great creating nature. Pol. Say, there be; Yet nature is made better by no mean, But nature makes that mean: so o'er that art, Which, you say, adds to nature, is an art That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry A gentler scyon to the wildest stock; And make conceive a bark of baser kind By bud of nobler race. This is an art Which does mend nature,-change it rather: but Per. So it is. Pol. Then make your garden rich in gilly-flowers, And do not call them bastards. Per. I'll not put The dibble in earth to set one slip of them; The marigold, that goes to bed with the sun, Cam. I should leave grazing, were I of your flock, And only live by gazing. Per. Out, alas! You'd be so lean, that blasts of January Would blow you through and through.-Now, my fairest friend, I would, I had some flowers o'the spring, that might For the flowers now, that, frighted, thou let'st fall That come before the swallow dares, and take [4] So, in Ovid's Metam. B. V: "-ut summa vestem laxavit ab ora, STEEV. |