L

If not, my fenfes, better pleas'd with madnefs,
Do bid it welcome.

CAM.

This is defperate, fir.
FLO. So call it: but it does fulfil my vow;
I needs must think it honefty. Camillo,
Not for Bohemia, nor the pomp that may
Be thereat glean'd; for all the fun fees, or
The close earth wombs, or the profound feas hide
In unknown fathoms, will I break my oath
To this my fair belov'd: Therefore, I pray you,
As you have e'er been my father's honour'd friend,
When he fhall mifs me, (as, in faith, I mean not
To fee him any more,) caft your good counfels
Upon his paffion; Let myself, and fortune,
Tug for the time to come. This you may know,

And fo deliver,-I am put to fea

With her, whom here I cannot hold on shore ;
And, moft opportune to our need, I have
A veffel rides faft by, but not prepar'd

For this defign. What courfe I mean to hold,
Shall nothing benefit your knowledge, nor
Concern me the reporting.

CAM.

O, my lord,

I would your spirit were easier for advice,
Or stronger for your need.

He's irremovable,

Refolv'd for flight: Now were I happy, if
His going I could frame to ferve my turn;
Save him from danger, do him love and honour;

7-whom bere-] Old Copy-who. Corrected by the editor of the fecond folio. MALONE.

8 And, moft opportune to our need,] The old copy has—ber need. This neceffary emendation was made by Mr. Theobald.

MALONE.

Purchase the fight again of dear Sicilia,
And that unhappy king, my master, whom
I fo much thirst to see,

Flo.

Now, good Camillo,

I am fo fraught with curious bufiness, that

I leave out ceremony.

[Going.

You have heard of my poor fervices, i'the love
That I have borne your father?

Сам.

FLO.
Very nobly
Have you deferv'd: it is my father's mufick,
To speak your deeds; not little of his care
To have them recompens'd as thought on.
Well, my lord,
If you may please to think I love the king;
And, through him, what is nearest to him, which is
Your gracious felf; embrace but my direction,
(If your more ponderous and fettled project
May fuffer alteration,) on mine honour

I'll point you where you shall have such receiving
As fhall become your highness; where you may
Enjoy your mistress; (from the whom, I fee,
There's no disjunction to be made, but by,
As heavens forefend! your ruin :) marry her;
And (with my beft endeavours, in your abfence,)
Your difcontenting father ftrive to qualify,
And bring him up to liking."

FLO.

How, Camillo,

9 And (with my beft endeavours, in your abfence,) Your difcontenting father ftrive to qualify,

And bring him up to liking.] And where you may, by letters, intreaties, &c. endeavour to foften your incenfed father, and reconcile him to the match; to effect which, my beft fervices fhall not be wanting during your abfence. Mr. Pope, without either authority or neceffity, reads-I'll frive to qualify;-which has been followed by all the fubfequent editors.

Difcontenting is in our author's language the fame as difcontented.

May this, almost a miracle, be done?

That I may call thee something more than man, And, after that, trust to thee.

But as the unthought-on accident is guilty
To what we wildly do; fo we profess

Ourselves to be the flaves of chance,' and flies
Of every wind that blows.

CAM.
Then lift to me:
This follows,-if you will not change your purpose,
But undergo this flight ;-Make for Sicilia;
And there present yourself, and your fair princess,
(For fo, I fee, fhe muft be,) 'fore Leontes;
She shall be habited, as it becomes

The partner of your bed. Methinks, I fee
Leontes, opening his free arms, and weeping
His welcomes forth: afks thee, the fon,' forgiveness,
As 'twere i'the father's perfon: kiffes the hands
Of your fresh princefs: o'er and o'er divides him

9 But as the unthought on accident is guilty

To what we wildly do;] Guilty to, though it founds harsh to our ears, was the phrafeology of the time, or at least of Shakspeare: and this is one of those paffages that should caution us not to disturb his text merely because the language appears different from that now in ufe. See The Comedy of Errors, Act III. fc. ii:

"But left myself be guilty to felf-wrong,

"I'll stop mine ears against the mermaid's fong."

MALONE.

The unthought-on accident is the unexpected discovery made by Polixenes. M. MASON.

Ourselves to be the flaves of chance,] As chance has driven me to these extremities, fo I commit myself to chance, to be conducted through them. JOHNSON.

3 afks thee, the fon,] The old copy reads-thee there son. Corrected by the editor of the third folio. MALONE.

Perhaps we should read-(as Mr. Ritfon obferves)

"Afks there the fon forgiveness,"- STEEVENS.

'Twixt his unkindness and his kindness; the one He chides to hell, and bids the other grow, Fafter than thought, or time.

FLO.

Worthy Camillo,

What colour for my visitation shall I up before him?

Hold

CAM. Sent by the king your father To greet him, and to give him comforts. Sir, The manner of your bearing towards him, with What you, as from your father, fhall deliver, Things known betwixt us three, I'll write you down: The which shall point you forth, at every fitting, What you must fay; that he fhall not perceive, But that you have your father's bofom there, And speak his very heart.

FLO.

There is fome fap in this."

CAM.

I am bound to you:

A courfe more promising

Than a wild dedication of yourselves

Tounpath'd waters, undream'd fhores; moft certain,
To miferies enough: no hope to help you;
But, as you shake off one, to take another:"

you

down:

4 Things known betwixt us three, I'll write
The which shall point you forth, at every fitting,

But a poor

What you must fay ;] Every fitting, fays Mr. Theobald, methinks, gives but a very poor idea. idea is better than none; which it comes to, when he has alter'd it to every fitting. The truth is, the common reading is very expreffive; and means, at every audience you fhall have of the king and council. The council-days being, in our author's time, called, in common fpeech, the fittings. WARBURTON.

Howel, in one of his letters, fays: "My lord prefident hopes to be at the next fitting in York." FARMER.

5 There is fome fap in this.] So, in Antony and Cleopatra :

6

"There's fap in't yet." STEEVENS.

miferies

But, as you fbake off one, to take another:] So, in Cymbeline:

to thift his being,

"Is to exchange one mifery with another." STEEVENS.

Nothing fo certain, as your anchors; who
Do their best office, if they can but stay you
Where you'll be loth to be: Besides, you know,
Profperity's the very bond of love;

Whofe fresh complexion and whose heart together
Affliction alters.

PER.

One of these is true:

I think, affliction may fubdue the cheek,
But not take in the mind."

CAM.

Yea, fay you fo?

There shall not, at your father's houfe, these seven

years,

Be born another fuch.

FLO.

She is as forward of her breeding, as

I'the rear of birth."

CAM.

My good Camillo,

I cannot fay, 'tis pity

She lacks inftructions; for fhe feems a miftrefs

5 But not take in the mind.] To take in anciently meant to conquer, to get the better of. So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

"He could fo quickly cut th' Ionian feas,

"And take in Toryne."

Mr. Henley, however, fuppofes that to take in, in the present inftance, is fimply to include or comprehend. STEEVENS.

i'the rear of birth.] Old copy-i'th rear our birth. Corrected by Sir Thomas Hanmer. The two redundant words in this line, She is, ought perhaps to be omitted. I fufpect that they were introduced by the compofitor's eye glancing on the preceding line. MALONE.

These unneceffary words are here omitted. STEEVENS.

"Your pardon, fir, for this;

I'll blush you thanks.] Perhaps this paffage fhould be rather pointed thus:

Your pardon, fir; for this

I'll blush you thanks. MALONE.