more.

Aut. I humbly beseech you, sir, to pardon

3 Gent. No: the princess hearing of her Shep. We may live, son, to shed many mother's statue, which is in the keeping of Paulina,—a piece many years in doing, and Clo. Ay; or else 'twere hard luck, being in now newly performed by that rare Italian so preposterous estate as we are. master, Julio Romano, who, had he himself eternity, and could put breath into his work, me all the faults I have committed to your would beguile nature of her custom, so per- worship, and to give me your good report to fectly he is her ape: he so near to Hermione the prince my master. hath done Hermione, that, they say, one would speak to her, and stand in hope of answer :--thither, with all greediness of affection, are they gone; and there they intend to

sup.

2 Gent. I thought she had some great matter there in hand; for she hath privately twice or thrice a day, ever since the death of Hermione, visited that removed house. Shall we thither, and with our company piece the rejoicing?

Shep. Pr'ythee, son, do; for we must be gentle, now we are gentlemen.

Clo. Thou wilt amend thy life?
Aut. Ay, an it like your good worship.
Clo. Give me your 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 wouldst be a tall fellow of thy hands.

1 Gent. Who would be thence, that has the benefit of access? every wink of an eye, some new grace will be born: our absence makes it unthrifty to our knowledge. Let's along. [Exeunt Gentlemen. Aut. Now, had I not the dash of my former life in me, would preferment drop on my head. I brought the old man and his son aboard the prince; told him I heard them talk of a fardel, Aut. I will prove so, sir, to my power. and I know not what: but he at that time, Clo. Ay, by any means prove a tall fellow : over-fond of the shepherd's daughter, (so he if I do not wonder how thou darest venture to then took her to be,) who began to be much be drunk, not being a tall fellow, trust me sea-sick, and himself little better, extremity of not.-Hark! the kings and the princes, our weather continuing, this mystery remained kindred, are going to see the queen's picture. undiscovered. But 'tis all one to me; for had Come, follow us: we'll be thy good masters. I been the finder out of this secret, it would not have relished among my other discredits. [Enter Shepherd and Clown.] Here come those I have done good to against my will, and already appearing in the blossoms of their fortune.

Shep. Come, boy; I am past more children, but thy sons and daughters will be all gentlemen born.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-Sicilia. In Paulina's House.
Enter Leontes, Polixenes, Florizel, Perdita,

Camillo, Paulina, Lords, and Attendants.
Leon. O grave and good Paulina, the great
That I have had of thee!
[comfort

Paul.

What, sovereign sir, I did not well, I meant well. All my services Clo. You are well met, sir. You denied to You have paid home: but that you have fight with me this other day, because I was vouchsaf'd [contracted no gentleman born. See you these clothes? With your crown'd brother, and these your say, you see them not, and think me still no Heirs of your kingdoms, my poor house to gentleman born: you were best say, these robes are not gentleman born: give me the lie, do; and try whether I am not now gentleman born.

Aut. I know you are now, sir, a gentleman born.

Clo. Ay, and have been so any time these four 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 called me, brother; and then the two kings called my father, brother; and then the prince, my brother, and the princess, my sister, called my father, father; and so we wept; and there was the first gentleman-like tears that ever we shed.

visit,

It is a surplus of your grace, which never
My life may last to answer.
Leon.

O Paulina,

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
I could afflict you further.
[you; but

Leon.

Still sleep mock'd death: behold! and say,
'tis well. [Paulina draws back a cur-
tain, and discovers a statue.
I like your silence,-it the more shows off
Your wonder: but yet speak ;-first, you, my
Comes it not something near?
[liege.
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 excel-Could ever yet cut breath?
lence;
Which lets go by some sixteen years, and
As she lived now.
makes her
Leon. And 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!

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

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.
[laid on,
Cam. My lord, your sorrow was too sore
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.
Pal.
Dear my brother,
Let him that was the cause of this have power
To take off so much grief from you, as he
Will piece up in himself.

Paul.

Indeed, my lord,
If I had thought the sight of my poor image
Would thus have wrought you, (for the stone
I'd not have show'd it.
[is mine,)
Leon.
Do not draw the curtain.
Paul. No longer shall you gaze on't, lest
May think anon it moves.
[your fancy
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
Did verily bear blood?
[those veins
Pol.
Masterly done :
The very life seems warm upon her lip.
Leon. The fixture of her eye has motion in't,
As we are mock'd with art.

Let no man
For I will kiss her.
[mock me,
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 1 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:

Paul. Music, awake her; strike!--[Music. '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
[stirs.
Dear life redeems you. You perceive, she
[Hermione comes down from the pedestal.
Start not; her actions shall be holy, as
You hear my speil 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. [Embracing her.] O, she's warm!
If this be magic, 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 make it manifest that she has
Or how stol'n from the dead.
[liv'd,
Paul.
That she is living,
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.-

own,

Please you to interpose, fair madam: kneel,
And pray your mother's blessing.-Turn, good
Our Perdita is found.
[lady:
[Presenting Perdita, who kneels to Hermione.
Her.
You gods, look down,
And from your sacred vials pour your graces
Upon my daughter's head!-Tell me, mine
[how found
Where hast thou been preserv'd? where liv'd?
Thy father's court? for thou shalt hear, that
Knowing by Paulina that the oracle [1,—
Gave hope thou wast in being,-have pre-
Myself to see the issue.
[serv'd
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,

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
Is richly noted, and here justified [honesty
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, {ing,)
And son unto the king, (whom heavens direct-
Is troth-plight to your daughter.-Good Pau-
lina,

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.

KING JOHN.

[Exeunt.

King John.

Prince Henry, his Son.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

Arthur, Son of Geffrey, late Duke of Bretagne,
and Nephew to King John.
William Mareshall, Earl of Pembroke.
Geffrey Fitz-Peter, Earl of Essex, Chief
Justiciary of England.

William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury.
Robert Bigot, Earl of Norfolk.

Hubert de Burgh, Chamberlain to the King.
Robert Faulconbridge, Son of Sir Robert
Faulconbridge.

Philip Faulconbridge, his Half-brother.
James Gurney, Servant to Lady Faulcon-
bridge.

Peter of Pomfret, a Prophet.

Philip, King of France.
Lewis, the Dauphin.
Archduke of Austria.

Cardinal Pandulpho, the Pope's Legate.
Melun, a French Lord.

Chatillon, Ambassador from France.
Elinor, Widow of King Henry II., and
Mother to King John.

Constance, Mother to Arthur.
Blanch, Daughter to Alphonso, King of
Castile, and Niece to King John.

Lady Faulconbridge, Mother to Robert and
Philip Faulconbridge.

Lords, Ladies, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff,
Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers,
and Attendants.

SCENE, Sometimes in England, and sometimes in France.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-Northampton. A Room of State

in the Palace.

Enter King John, Queen Elinor, Pembroke,
Essex, Salisbury, and others, with Chatillon.
K. John. Now, say, Chatillon, what would
France with us?

Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the King
The borrow'd majesty of England here.
In my behaviour, to the majesty, [of France,

Eli. A strange beginning;-borrow'd ma-
jesty!
[embassy.

K. John. Silence, good mother; hear the
Chat. Philip of France, in right and true be-
Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son, [half

Your tale must be, how he employ'd my
[bassy
Rob. And once despatch'd him in an em-
To Germany, there, with the emperor,
To treat of high affairs touching that time.
The advantage of his absence took the king,
And in the mean time sojourn'd at my father's;
Where how he did prevail, I shame to speak;
But truth is truth: large lengths of seas and
shores

Between my father and my mother lay,
(As I have heard my father speak himself,)
When this same lusty gentleman was got.
Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd
His lands to me; and took it, on his death,

That this, my mother's son, was none of his ;
And if he were, he came into the world
Full fourteen weeks before the course of time.
Then, good my liege, let me have what is
mine,

My father's land, as was my father's will.

Arise Sir Richard, and Plantagenet.
Bast. Brother, by the mother's side, give
me your hand :

My father gave me honour, yours gave land.-
Now blessed be the hour, by night or day,
When I was got, Sir Robert was away.

Eli. The very spirit of Plantagenet!
I am thy grandam, Richard; call me so.
Bast. Madam, by chance, but not by truth:
what though?

Something about, a little from the right,
In at the window, or else o'er the hatch;
Who dares not stir by day, must walk by
night;

K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate; Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him; And if she did play false, the fault was hers; Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands [brother, That marry wives. Tell me, how if my Who, as you say, took pains to get this son, Had of your father claim'd this son for his? In sooth, good friend, your father might have And have is have, however men do catch; kept [world; Near or far off, well won is still well shot; This calf, bred from his cow, from all the And I am I, howe'er I was begot. In sooth, he might: then, if he were my K. John. Go, Faulconbridge: now hast brother's, thou thy desire ; ['squire.My brother might not claim him; nor your A landless knight makes thee a landed Being none of his, refuse him : this concludes, Come, madam,-and come, Richard; we My mother's son did get your father's heir; [need. Your father's heir must have your father's For France, for France; for it is more than land. Bast. Brother, adieu : good fortune come to Rob. Shall, then, my father's will be of no thee! To dispossess that child which is not his? Bast. Of no more force to dispossess me, sir, Than was his will to get me, as I think. Eli. Whether hadst thou rather be a conbridge,

[father,

[force

must speed

For thou wast got i' the way of honesty. [Exeunt all except the Bastard. A foot of honour better than I was : Faul-But many a many foot of land the worse. Well, now can I make any Joan a lady :Good den, Sir Richard"—" God-a-mercy, fellow:

And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land,
Or the reputed son of Cœur-de-lion,
Lord of thy presence, and no land beside?
Bast. Madam, an if my brother had
shape,

And I had his, Sir Robert his, like him;
And if my legs were two such riding-rods,
My arms such eel-skins stuffd; my face
thin,

my

so

That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose,
Lest men should say, Look, where three-
farthings goes!'

And, to his shape, were heir to all this land,
Would I might never stir from off this place,
I'd give it every foot to have this face;
I would not be Sir Nob in any case. [fortune,
Eli. I like thee well: wilt thou forsake thy
Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me?
I am a soldier, and now bound to France.
Bast. Brother, take you my land, I'll take
my chance:
[year;
Your face hath got five hundred pounds a
Yet sell your face for five pence, and 'tis
dear.-

Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.
Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me
thither.
[way.
Bast. Our country manners give our betters
K. John. What is thy name? [begun,
Bast. Philip, my liege, so is my name
Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldest son.
K. John. From henceforth bear his name
whose form thou bearest :
Kneel thou down Philip, but arise more great ;

"

"

And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter;
For new-made honour doth forget men's names,
'Tis too respective, and too sociable,

For your conversion. Now your traveller,—
He and his toothpick at my worship's mess;
And when my knightly stomach is suffic'd,
Why then I suck my teeth, and catechize
My picked man of countries :-" My dear sir,"
(Thus leaning on mine elbow, I begin,)
"I shall beseech you "--that is question now
And then comes auswer like an A. B. C.
book:-

And so, ere answer knows what question would,
(Saving in dialogue of compliment,
And talking of the Alps and Apennines,
The Pyrenean, and the river Po,)
It draws toward supper, in conclusion so.
But this is worshipful society,
And fits the mounting spirit, like myself;
For he is but a bastard to the time,
That doth not smack of observation;
And so am I, whether I smack, or no;
And not alone in habit and device,
Exterior form, outward accoutrement,
But from the inward motion to deliver
Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age's tooth
Which, though I will not practise to deceive,
Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;