Leon.

Do not draw the curtain.

Paul. No longer shall you gaze on't; lest your fancy May think anon, it moves.

Leon.

Let be, let be.

Would I were dead, but that, methinks, already

What was he, that did make it ?-See, my lord,

Would you not deem, it breath'd? and that those veins Did verily bear blood?

Pol.

Masterly done:

The very life seems warm upon her lip.

Leon. The fixure of her eye has motion in't,"

As we are mock'd with art.h

Paul.

I'll draw the curtain ;

My lord's almost so far transported, that
He'll think anon, it lives.

Leon.
O sweet Paulina,
Make me to think so twenty years together;
No settled senses of the world can match
The pleasure of that madness. Let't alone.

Paul. I am sorry, sir, I have thus far stirr'd you: but I could afflict you further.

Leon.

Do, Paulina;

For this affliction has a taste as sweet

As any cordial comfort. Still, methinks,

There is an air comes from her: What fine chizzel

Could ever yet cut breath? Let no man mock me,
For I will kiss her.

Paul.

Good my lord, forbear:

The ruddiness upon her lip is wet;

You'll mar it, if you kiss it: stain your own

With oily painting: Shall I draw the curtain?

Leon. No, not these twenty years.

Per.

Stand by, a looker on.

Paul.

So long could I

Either forbear,

Quit presently the chapel; or resolve you

g -fixure-] i. e. That by which any thing is fixed. Leontes means to say that there is motion in the fastenings by which the eye is fixed in the head. This is the explanation of Archdeacon Nares.

h As we are mock'd with art.] As, is used by our author here as in some other places, for "as if."-M. MASON.

For more amazement: If you can behold it,
I'll make the statue move indeed; descend,
And take you by the hand: but then you'll think,
(Which I protest against,) I am assisted

By wicked powers.

Leon.

What you can make her do,

I am content to look on: what to speak,

I am content to hear; for 'tis as easy

To make her speak, as move.

Paul.

It is requir'd,

You do awake your faith: Then, all stand still;
Or those, that think it is unlawful business

I am about, let them depart.

'Tis time; descend; be stone no more: approach;
Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come;
I'll fill your grave up: stir; nay, come away;
Bequeath to death your numbness, for from him
Dear life redeem you. You perceive, she stirs ;

--

[HERMIONE comes down from the Pedestal.
Start not her actions shall be holy, as,
You hear, my spell is lawful: do not shun her,
Until you see her die again; for then

You kill her double; Nay present your hand:
When she was young, you woo'd her; now, in age,
Is she become the suitor.

Leon.

O, she's warm! [Embracing her.

If this be magick, let it be an art

Lawful as eating.

Pol.

She embraces him.

Cam. She hangs about his neck;

If she pertain to life, let her speak too.

Pol. Ay, and mak't manifest where she has liv'd,

Or, how stol'n from the dead?

That she is living,

Paul.
Were it but told you, should be hooted at
Like an old tale; but it appears, she lives,

Though yet she speak not.

Mark a little while.

Please you to interpose, fair madam; kneel,

And pray your mother's blessing.-Turn, good lady;
Our Perdita is found...

Her.

[Presenting PERDITA, who kneels to HERMIONE. 'You gods, look down,

And from your sacred vials pour your graces

Upon my daughter's head !—Tell me, mine own,
Where hast thou been preserv'd? where liv'd? how found
Thy father's court? for thou shalt hear, that I,-
Knowing by Paulina, that the oracle

Gave hope thou wast in being,-have preserv'd
Myself, to see the issue.

Paul.

There's time enough for that;

Lest they desire, upon this push, to trouble
Your joys with like relation.-Go together,
You precious winners all; your exultation
Partake to every one. I, an old turtle,

Will wing me to some wither'd bough; and there
My mate, that's never to be found again,

Lament till I am lost.

Leon.

O peace, Paulina;

Thou should'st a husband take by my consent,

As I by thine, a wife: this is a match,

And made between's by vows. Thou hast found mine;

But how, is to be question'd: for I saw her,

As I thought, dead; and have, in vain, said many

A prayer upon her grave: I'll not seek far

(For him, I partly know his mind,) to find thee

An honourable husband:-Come, Camillo,

And take her by the hand: whose worth, and honesty,
Is richly noted; and here justified

By us, a pair of kings.-Let's from this place.-
What?-Look upon my brother:-both your pardons,
That e'er I put between your holy looks

My ill suspicion. This your son-in-law,

i You precious winners all;] You who by this discovery have gained what you desired, may join in festivity, in which I, who have lost what never can be recovered, can have no part.-JOHNSON.

k

your exultation

Partake-] Here used in the sense of participate.

And son unto the king, (whom heavens directing,)
Is troth-plight to your daughter.-Good Paulina,
Lead us from hence; where we may leisurely
Each one demand, and answer to his part
Perform'd in this wide gap of time, since first
We were dissever'd: Hastily lead away.

[Exeunt!1

This play, as Dr. Warburton justly observes, is, with all its absurdities, very entertaining. The character of Autolycus is naturally conceived, and strongly represented.-JOHNSON.

Warburton is not guilty of a criticism so frigid as Johnson has represented. -His words are

"This play, throughout, is written in the very spirit of its author. And in telling this homely and simple, though agreeable, country tale,

Our sweetest Shakspeare, fancy's child,

Warbles his native wood-notes wild.

This was necessary to observe in mere justice to the play; as the meanness of the fable, and the extravagant conduct of it, had misled some of great name into a wrong judgment of its merit; which, as far as it regards sentiment and character, is scarce inferior to any in the whole collection."

The persons of great name to whom Warburton alludes are Dryden and Pope. The former of whom mentions this play with no great indulgence, in the Essay at the end of the second part of the Conquest of Grenada; while the latter, in the preface to his edition of our author's works, is rash enough to class it with Love's Labour's Lost, the Comedy of Errors, and Titus Andronicus, as one of the plays, in which Shakspeare had produced, only some characters, or single scenes, or perhaps a few particular passages.

END OF VOL. III.

Printed by J. F. Dove, St. John's Square.

mey