THE WINTER'S TALE. ACT THE FIRST. SCENE I, Sicilia. A Square before the Palace of LEONTES. Enter CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS. Arch. 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, indeedCam. 'Beseech you, magnificence-in We will give you Arch. Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we cannot, with such so rare-I know not what to say. sleepy drinks, that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuse us. Cam. You pay a great deal too dear for whats given freely. Arch. Believe me, I speak as my understanding in. structs me, and as mine honesty puts it to utterance. Cam. Sicilia cannot show himself over kind to Bos hemia: They were train'd together in their childhoods and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection, which cannot chuse but branch now. Since their more mature dignities, and royal necessities, made separation of their society, their encounters, though not personal, have been royally attornied with interchange of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seemed to be together, though absent; shook hands, as over a vast; 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, physics the subject-makes old hearts fresh: they that went on crutches ere he was born, desire yet their life to see him a man. Arch. 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. [Trumpets sound.] Cam. Come, my lord. [Exeunt. SCENE II. A Room of State in the Palace, Trumpets sound. LEONTES, HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS, POLIXEN ES, ANTIGONUS, CAMILLO, ARCHIDAMUS, CLEOMENES, DION, PHOCION, THASIUS, PAULINA, EMILIA, LAMIA, HERO and ATTENDANTS, discovered. Pol. Nine changes of the watery star hath been Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks; Go hence in debt: and therefore, like a cypher, With one We-thank-you, many thousands more Leon. Stay your thanks awhile, And pay them when you part. Pol. Sir, that's to-morrow. I'm question'd by my fears, of what may chance Or breed upon our absence; Besides, I have stay'd To tire your royalty. Leon. We are tougher, brother, Than you can put us to❜t. Pol. No longer stay. Leon. One seven-night longer. Pol. Very sooth, to-morrow. Leon. We'll part the time between's then; and in that I'll no gain-saying. Pol. Press me not, 'beseech you, so; There is no tongue that moves, none, none i'the world, Leon. Tongue-tied our queen? Speak you. Her. I had thought, sir, to have held my peace, until You had drawn oaths from him not to stay. You, sir, Charge him too coldly: tell him, you are sure The by-gone day proclaimed; say this to him, Leon. Well said, Hermione. Her. To tell he longs to see his son, were strong: But let him say so then, and let him go; But let him swear so, and he shall not stay; Her. Nay, but you will? Pol. I may not, verily. Her. Verily! You put me off with limber vows: but I, Though you would seek to unsphere the stars with oaths, 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? you? How say 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: Than you to punish. Her. Not your gaoler then, But your kind hostess.-Come, I'll question you Pol. We were, fair queen, Two lads, that thought there was no more behind, And to be boy eternal. Her. Was not my lord the verier wag o'the two? Pol. We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i'the sun, And bleat the one at the other: what we chang'd 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! C |