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Leon.

Take her hence:

Her heart is but o'ercharg'd; she will recover.

I have too much believ'd mine own suspicion:

Beseech you, tenderly apply to her

Some remedies for life. -Apollo, pardon

[Exeunt PAULINA and Ladies, with HERMIONE.

My great profaneness 'gainst thine oracle!-
I'll reconcile me to Polixenes,

New woo my queen, recall the good Camillo,
Whom I proclaim a man of truth, of mercy;
For, being transported by my jealousies
To bloody thoughts and to revenge, I chose
Camillo for the minister, to poison
My friend Polixenes: which had been done,
But that the good mind of Camillo tardied
My swift command; though I with death, and with
Reward, did threaten and encourage him,
Not doing it, and being done: he, most humane,
And fill'd with honour, to my kingly guest
Unclasp'd my practice; quit his fortunes here,
Which you knew great, and to the certain hazard
Of all incertainties himself commended,
No richer than his honour.-How he glisters
Thorough my rust! and how his piety
Does my deeds make the blacker!

Paul.

Re-enter PAULINA.

Woe the while!

O! cut my lace, lest my heart, cracking it,
Break too.

1 Lord. What fit is this, good lady?

Paul. What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me?
What wheels? racks? fires? What flaying? boiling,
In leads, or oils? what old, or newer torture
Must I receive, whose every word deserves
To taste of thy most worst? Thy tyranny,
Together working with thy jealousies, -
Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle

• Which you knew great, and to the CERTAIN hazard] This line, in the folio of 1623, is deficient two syllables, and the editor of the folio of 1632 supplied them by the word "certain." It is needed as far as metre is concerned, and as it is not erased in the corr. fo. 1632, we may be pretty sure that it was formerly recited on the stage, and ought to be included in our text.

For girls of nine,-O! think, what they have done,
And then run mad, indeed; stark mad, for all
Thy by-gone fooleries were but spices of it.
That thou betray'dst Polixenes, 'twas nothing;
That did but show thee of a fool', inconstant,
And damnable ungrateful: nor was't much,
Thou wouldst have poison'd good Camillo's honour,
To have him kill a king; poor trespasses,
More monstrous standing by! whereof I reckon
The casting forth to crows thy baby-daughter,
To be or none, or little; though a devil
Would have shed water out of fire, ere don't:
Nor is't directly laid to thee, the death
Of the young prince, whose honourable thoughts
(Thoughts high for one so tender) cleft the heart
That could conceive a gross and foolish sire
Blemish'd his gracious dam: this is not, no,
Laid to thy answer: but the last, -O, lords!
When I have said, cry, woe!-the queen, the queen,
The sweet'st, dear'st creature's dead; and vengeance for't

Not dropp'd down yet.

1 Lord.

The higher powers forbid!

Paul. I say, she's dead; I'll swear't: if word, nor oath,
Prevail not, go and see. If you can bring
Tincture, or lustre, in her lip, her eye,

Heat outwardly, or breath within, I'll serve you
As I would do the gods. --But, O thou tyrant!
Do not repent these things, for they are heavier
Than all thy woes can stir; therefore, betake thee
To nothing but despair. A thousand knees
Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting,
Upon a barren mountain, and still winter,
In storm perpetual, could not move the gods
To look that way thou wert.

Leon.

Go on, go on; Thou canst not speak too much: I have deserv'd All tongues to talk their bitterest.

1 Lord.

Say no more:

1 That did but show thee of a FOOL,] Theobald would read soul for "fool;" and Warburton, "that did but show thee off a fool." No change seems necessary; but in "Twelfth-Night," A. v. sc. 1, p. 723, we have, however, seen "soul" misprinted fool, and such may have been the case here. As a mere matter of taste we might prefer " soul," but no such emendation is found in the corr. fo. 1632. 2 At REPETITION, I beseech you;] Paulina sees that she has gone too far, and has moved the grieved king too much. She repents, therefore, the recapitulation she has made, in her speech beginning "What studied torments," &c. of the consequences of his jealousy, and says, as the text stands in the corr. fo. 1632,

Howe'er the business goes, you have made fault

I' the boldness of your speech.

Paul.

I am sorry for't :

All faults I make, when I shall come to know them,

I do repent. Alas! I have show'd too much

The rashness of a woman. He is touch'd

To the noble heart. - What's gone, and what's past help,
Should be past grief: do not receive affliction

At repetition, I beseech you2; rather,

Let me be punish'd, that have minded you
Of what you should forget. Now, good my liege,
Sir, royal sir, forgive a foolish woman :

The love I bore your queen, -lo, fool again!-
I'll speak of her no more, nor of your children;
I'll not remember you of my own lord,
Who is lost too. Take your patience to you,
And I'll say nothing.

Leon,
Thou didst speak but well,
When most the truth, which I receive much better,
Than to be pitied of thee. Pr'ythee, bring me
To the dead bodies of my queen, and son.
One grave shall be for both: upon them shall
The causes of their death appear, unto
Our shame perpetual. Once a day I'll visit
The chapel where they lie; and tears shed there
Shall be my recreation: so long as nature
Will bear up with this exercise, so long
I daily vow to use it. -Come, and lead me
To these sorrows.

[Exeunt.

"do not receive affliction

At repetition, I beseech you;"

viz. at the repetition of the misfortunes Leontes has brought upon himself. The usual reading, that of all the folios, has been "at my petition;" but it is a decided corruption, arising from the word "repetition" having been misheard " my petition." Mr. Singer's unhappy guess of "at my relation" shows that he was aware of a defect, but did not know how to amend it, without unwilling resort to the change introduced by the old annotator upon my second folio. There can be no doubt that "at repetition" is the true language of the poet.

SCENE III.

Bohemia. A Desert Country near the Sea.

Enter ANTIGONUS, with the Babe'; and a Mariner. Ant. Thou art perfect, then, our ship hath touch'd upon

The deserts of Bohemia?

Mar.
Ay, my lord; and fear
We have landed in ill time: the skies look grimly,
And threaten present blusters. In my conscience,
The heavens with that we have in hand are angry,
And frown upon us.

Ant. Their sacred wills be done! - Go, get aboard;
Look to thy bark: I'll not be long before
I call upon thee.

Mar. Make your best haste, and go not
Too far i' the land; 'tis like to be loud weather :

Besides, this place is famous for the creatures

Of prey that keep upon't.

Ant.

Go thou away:

I'll follow instantly.
Mar.

I am glad at heart

Come, poor babe.

To be so rid o' the business.
Ant.

I have heard, (but not believ'd) the spirits o' the dead
May walk again: if such thing be, thy mother
Appear'd to me last night, for ne'er was dream
So like a waking. To me comes a creature,

Sometimes her head on one side, some another;

I never saw a vessel of like sorrow,

So fill'd, and so o'er-running: in pure white robes,

[Exit.

3 Enter Antigonus, with the BABE;] It is called "Babe" in the old copies, nor can we see any ground for changing, with modern editors, "babe" to child, and every ground for preserving the word which, we may reasonably suppose, Shakespeare wrote.

4 So fill'd, and so O'ER-RUNNING :) The text has hitherto been "So fill'd, and so becoming:" the emendation, from the corr. fo. 1632, appears to us incontrovertible. Hermione, in the dream of Antigonus, seemed a vessel of sorrow not only "fill'd" but "o'er-running" from the abundant tears she shed. How the blunder was made by the scribe, or by the old printer, cannot now, perhaps, be explained, but that becoming is a blunder for o'er-running cannot, we think, be disputed; and we receive the change as a welcome restoration of the poet's original

Like very sanctity, she did approach
My cabin where I lay, thrice bow'd before me,
And, gasping to begin some speech, her eyes
Became two spouts: the fury spent, anon
Did this break from her :-"Good Antigonus,
"Since fate, against thy better disposition,
"Hath made thy person for the thrower-out
"Of my poor babe, according to thine oath,
"Places remote enough are in Bohemia,
"There wend, and leave it crying'; and, for the babe
"Is counted lost for ever, Perdita

"I pr'ythee, call't: for this ungentle business,
"Put on thee by my lord, thou ne'er shalt see
"Thy wife Paulina more:"-and so, with shrieks
She melted into air. Affrighted much,
I did in time collect myself, and thought
This was so, and no slumber. Dreams are toys ;
Yet for this once, yea, superstitiously,
I will be squar'd by this. I do believe,
Hermione hath suffer'd death; and that
Apollo would, this being indeed the issue
Of king Polixenes, it should here be laid,
Either for life or death, upon the earth
Of its right father. -Blossom, speed thee well!

[Laying down the Babe.

There lie; and there thy character: there these,

[Laying down a bundle.

Which may, if fortune please, both breed thee, pretty,
And still rest thine. -The storm begins.-Poor wretch!
That for thy mother's fault art thus expos'd

To loss, and what may follow. - Weep I cannot,

But my heart bleeds, and most accurs'd am I,

To be by oath enjoin'd to this. - Farewell!

[Thunder.

The day frowns more and more: thou art like to have

word in a situation where it was much needed. Uberflutend is the German translation in Das Wintermährchen.

"There WEND, and leave it crying;) Here, again, we are greatly indebted to the corr. fo. 1632: for "wend," i. e. go, the old copies have "weep;" but the spirit of Hermione did not tell Antigonus to weep, but to "wend" to Bohemia, and there leave the infant crying. The word "crying" probably misled the compositor, and he fancied that "wend" was weep, and so printed. Dort wandle hin is the rendering in German.

6

thy CHARACTER:] i. e. Thy description, with the name, "Perdita," as prescribed in the dream of Antigonus.

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