say these robes are not gentlemen born.

Give me the

lie; do; and try whether I am not now a gentleman born.

Aut. I know you are now, sir, a gentleman born. Ay, and have been so any time these four

Clo. hours.

Shep. And so have I, boy.

Clo. So you have: but I was a gentleman born before my father; for the King's son took me by the hand, and call'd me brother; and then the two Kings call'd my father brother; and then the Prince, my brother, and the Princess, my sister, call'd my father father; and so we wept: and there was the first gentlemanlike tears that ever we shed.

Shep. We may live, son, to shed many more.

Clo. Ay; or else 'twere hard luck; being in so preposterous estate as we are.

Aut. I humbly beseech you, sir, to pardon me all the faults I have committed to your worship, and to give me your good report to the Prince my master. Shep. Pr'ythee, son, do; for we must be gentle, now we are gentlemen.

Clo.

Aut.

Thou wilt amend thy life?

Ay, an it like your good worship.

Clo. Give me thy hand: I will swear to the Prince thou art as honest a true fellow as any is in Bohemia.

Shep. You may say it, but not swear it.

Clo.

Not swear it, now I am a gentleman? Let

boors and franklins say it, I'll swear it.

Shep. How if it be false, son?

Clo. If it be ne'er so false, a true gentleman may swear it, in the behalf of his friend. And I'll swear

to the Prince thou art a tall fellow of thy hands, and that thou wilt not be drunk; but I know thou art

no tall fellow of thy hands, and that thou wilt be drunk; but I'll swear it and I would thou would'st be a tall fellow of thy hands.

Aut. I will prove so, sir, to my power.

Hark! the

Clo. Ay, by any means prove a tall fellow. If I do not wonder how thou dar'st venture to be drunk, not being a tall fellow, trust me not. Kings and the Princes, our kindred, are the Queen's picture. Come, follow us: good masters.

going to see we'll be thy [Exeunt.

SCENE III.

The Same. A Chapel in PAULINA'S House.

Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, FLORIZEL, PERDITA, CAMILLO, PAULINA, Lords, and Attendants.

Leon. O grave and good Paulina, the great com

fort

That I have had of thee!

Paul.

What, sovereign sir,

I did not well, I meant well. All my services
You have paid home: but that you have vouchsaf'd,
With your crown'd brother, and these your contracted
Heirs of your kingdoms, my poor house to visit
It is a surplus of your grace, which never

My life may last to answer.

Leon.

O Paulina,

We honour you with trouble: but we come

To see the statue of our Queen: your gallery
Have we pass'd through, not without much content

In many singularities; but we saw not

That which my daughter came to look upon,

The statue of her mother.

Paul.

As she liv'd peerless,

So her dead likeness, I do well believe,

Excels whatever yet you look'd upon,

Or hand of man hath done; therefore I keep it
Lonely, apart. But here it is: prepare

To see the life as lively mock'd as ever

Still sleep mock'd death: behold, and say 'tis well. [PAULINA draws a curtain, and discovers a statue.

I like your silence, it the more shews off

Your wonder. But yet speak: first, you, my liege. Comes it not something near?

Leon. Her natural posture ! — Chide me, dear stone; that I may say, indeed, Thou art Hermione: or, rather, thou art she, In thy not chiding; for she was as tender As infancy and grace. But yet, Paulina, Hermione was not so much wrinkled; nothing So aged as this seems.

Pol.

O, not by much.

Paul. So much the more our carver's excellence; Which lets go by some sixteen years, and makes her As she liv'd now.

Leon.

As now she might have done, So much to my good comfort, as it is

Now piercing to my soul. O, thus she stood,
Even with such life of majesty, (warm life,

As now it coldly stands,) when first I woo'd her!
I am asham'd. Does not the stone rebuke me
For being more stone than it? —O royal piece,
There's magic in thy majesty, which has
My evils conjur'd to remembrance; and
From thy admiring daughter took the spirits,
Standing like stone with thee !

Per.

And give me leave;

And do not say 'tis superstition, that

I kneel, and then implore her blessing. Lady,
Dear Queen, that ended when I but began,

Give me that hand of yours to kiss.

Paul.

O, patience:

The statue is but newly fix'd; the colour's

Not dry.

Cam. My lord, your sorrow was too sore laid on; Which sixteen winters cannot blow away,

So many summers dry: scarce any joy

Did ever so long live; no sorrow,

But kill'd itself much sooner.

Pol.

Dear my brother,

Let him that was the cause of this have pow'r
To take off so much grief from you as he

Will piece upon himself.

Paul.

Indeed, my lord,

If I had thought the sight of my poor image Would thus have wrought you, (for the stone is mine,) I'd not have shew'd it.

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.

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 farther.

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 chisel

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

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.

Leon.

No foot shall stir.

Proceed;