Cam. My lord, your forrow was too fore laid on; Which fixteen winters cannot blow away,

So many fummers, dry: fcarce any joy

Did ever fo long live; no forrow,

But kill'd itself much fooner.

Pol. Dear my brother,

Let him, that was the cause of this, have power
To take off fo much grief from you, as he
Will piece up in himself.

Paul. Indeed, my lord',

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

Leo. Do not draw the curtain.

Paul. No longer fhall you gaze on't; left your fancy

May think anon, it moves.

Leo. Let be, let be.

'Would I were dead, but that, methinks, alreadyWhat was he, that did make it ?-See, my lord,

Indeed, my lord,

If I had thought, the fight of my poor image

Would thus have wrought you (for the stone is mine)
I'd not have fhew'd it.]

I do not know whether we fhould not read, without a parenthesis: for the stone i'th' mine

I'd not have fhew'd it.

A mine of ftone, or marble, would not perhaps at prefent be esteemed an accurate expreffion, but it may ftill have been used by Shakefpeare, as it has been used by Holinfhed. Defcript. of Engl. c. ix. P. 235: "Now if you have regard to their ornature, how many mines of fundrie kinds of coarfe and fine marble are there to be had in England?"-And a little lower he ufes the fame word again for a quarry of ftone, or plaifter: "And fuch is the mine of it, that the ftones thereof lie in flakes, &c." TYRWHITT.

To change an accurate expreffion for an expreffion confessedly not accurate, has fomewhat of retrogradation. JOHNSON.

6 Would I were dead, but that, methinks, already-]

The fentence compleated is:

but that, methinks, already I converfe with the dead. But there his paffion made him break off.

WARBURTON.

Would

Would you not deem, it breath'd? and that those

veins

Did verily bear blood?

Pol. Masterly done :

The very life feems warm upon her lip.

Leo. 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 almoft so far tranfported, that
He'll think anon, it lives.

Leo. O fweet Paulina,

Make me to think fo twenty years together;
No fettled fenfes of the world can match
The pleasure of that madness. Let't alone.
Paul. I am forry, fir, I have thus far stirr❜d you:
but

I could afflict you further.

Leo. 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 kifs her.

Paul. Good my lord, forbear:

The ruddinefs upon her lip is wet;

You'll mar it, if you kifs it; ftain your own
With oily painting: Shall I draw the curtain?
Leo, No, not these twenty years.

The fiffure of her eye

i. e. the focket, the place where the eye is. WARBURTON. Fixure is right. The meaning is, that her eye, though fired, as in an earneft gaze, has motion in it. EDWARDS.

The word fixure, which Shakespeare has ufed both in the Merry Wives of Windfor, and Troilus and Creffida, is likewife employ'd by Drayton in the first canto of the Barons' Wars:

Whofe glorious fixure in fo clear a fky." STEEVENS.

Per

Quit presently the chapel; or refolve you
For more amazement: If you can behold it,
I'll make the ftatue move indeed; defcend,
And take you by the hand: but then you'll think,
(Which I protest against) I am affisted

By wicked powers.

Leo. What you can make her do,

I am content to look on: what to fpeak,
I am content to hear; for 'tis as eafy
To make her speak, as move.

Paul. It is requir'd,

You do awake your faith: Then, all stand still
Or, thofe, that think it is unlawful business
I am about, let them depart.

Leo. Proceed;

No foot fhall ftir.

[Mufick!

Paul. Mufick; awake her: ftrike. 'Tis time; defcend; be ftone no more: approach; Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come; I'll fill your grave up: ftir; nay; come away; Bequeath to death your numbnefs, for from him Dear life redeems you.-You perceive, the ftirs: [Hermione comes down

Start not; her actions fhall be holy, as,
You hear, my fpell is lawful: do not fhun her,
Until you fee her die again; for then

You kill her double: Nay, prefent your hand :
When he was young, you woo'd her; now, in age,

Is fhe become the fuitor.

Leo. Oh, he's warm!

If this be magick, let it be an art

Lawful as eating.

Pol. She embraces him.

Cam. She hangs about his neck;

If the pertain to life, let her fpeak toọ.

Ff2

[Embracing her

Pol

Pol. Ay, and make't manifeft where fhe has-liv'd, Or how ftol'n from the dead?

Paul. That fhe is living,

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

Though yet the fpeak not.

Mark a little while.

Please you to interpofe, fair madam; kneel,
And pray your mother's bleffing-Turn, good lady;
Our Perdita is found.

[Prefenting Perdita, who kneels to Hermione.

Her. You gods, look down,

And from your facred vials pour your graces
Upon my daughter's head!-Tell me, mine own,
Where haft thou been preferv'd? where liv'd? how

found

Thy father's court? for thou fhalt hear, that I,—
Knowing by Paulina, that the oracle
Gave hope thou waft in being,-have preferv'd
Myfelf, to fee the iffue.

Paul. There's time enough for that;
Left they defire, 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,

You precious winners all ;

Will

You who by this discovery have gained what you defired,, may join in feftivity, in which I, who have loft what never can be reco vered, can have no part. JOHNSON.

9

I, an old turtle,

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

Lament 'till I am loft.]

So, Orpheus, in the exclamation which Johannes Secundus has written for him, fpeaking of his grief for the lofs of Euridice, fays: "Sic gemit arenti viduatus ab arbore turtur."

It is obfervable, that the two poets, in order to heighten the image, have ufed the very fame phrafe, having both placed their turtles on a dry and withered bough. I have fince difcovered the fame idea in Lodge's Rofalynd or Euphues' golden Legacie, 1592, a book which Shakespeare is known to have read;

Will wing me to fome wither'd bough; and there
My mate, that's never to be found again,
Lament 'till I am loft.

Leo. O peace, Paulina;

Thou should'ft a husband take by my confent,
As I by thine, a wife: this is a match,

And made between's by vows. Thou haft found mine;
But how, is to be queftion'd: for I faw her,

As I thought, dead; and have, in vain, faid many
A prayer upon her grave: I'll not feek far
(For him, I partly know his mind) to find thee
An honourable hufband :-Come, Camillo,
And take her by the hand: whose worth, and honesty,
Is richly noted; and here justify'd

By us, a pair of kings.-Let's from this place.-
What? Look upon my brother?—both your par-

dons,

That e'er I put between your holy looks
My ill fufpicion.-This your fon-in-law,

And fon unto the king; who, heavens directing,
Is troth-plight to your daughter.-Good Paulina,
Lead us from hence; where we may leisurely
Each one demand, and anfwer to his part
Perform'd in this wide gap of time, fince first
We were diffever'd: Haftily lead away.

"A turtle fat upon a leavelefs tree,
"Mourning her abfent pheer
"With fad and sorry cheere,
"And whilst her plumes fhe rents,

"And for her love laments, &c."

[Exeunt omnes.

Chapman seems to have imitated this paffage in his Widow's Tears, 1612: "Whether fome wandering Eneas fhould enjoy your reverfion, or whether your true turtle would fit mourning on a withered bough till Atropos cut her throat." MALONE.

Of this play no edition is known published before the folio of 1623.

This play, as Dr. Warburton justly obferves, is, with all its abfurdities, very entertaining. The character of Autolycus is very naturally conceived, and strongly reprefented. JOHNSON.