Her.

Leon.

Never, but once.

Her. What? have I twice said well? when was't be

Never?

fore?

I pr'ythee, tell me : Cram us with praise, and make us
As fat as tame things: One good deed, dying tongueless,
Slaughters a thousand, waiting upon that.
Our praises are our wages: You may ride us,
With one soft kiss, a thousand furlongs, ere
With spur we heat an acre.
But to the goal;-
My last good was, to entreat his stay;
What was my first? it has an elder sister,
Or I mistake you: O, would her name was Grace:
But once before I spoke to the purpose: When?
Nay, let me have't; I long.

Leon.

Why, that was when Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to death, Ere I could make thee open thy white hand,

And clap thyself my love'; then didst thou utter,
I am yours for ever.

Her.

It is Grace, indeed.— Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose twice: The one for ever earn'd a royal husband; The other, for some while a friend.

[Giving her hand to POLIXENES. Leon. Too hot, too hot: [Aside. To mingle friendship far, is mingling bloods, I have tremor cordis on me :-my heart dances; But not for joy,-not joy.-This entertainment May a free face put on; derive a liberty From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom, And well become the agent: it may, I grant: But to be paddling palms, and pinching fingers,

4 And clap thyself my love ;] She opened her hand, to clap the palm of it into his, as people do when they confirm a bargain. Hence the phrase-to clap up a bargain, i. e. make one with no other ceremony than the junction of hands.

As now they are; and making practis'd smiles,
As in a looking glass;-and then to sigh, as 'twere
The mort o'the deer'; O, that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows.-Mamillius,
Art thou my boy?

Mam.

Ay, my good lord.

Leon.

I'fecks"?

Why, that's my bawcock'. What, has smutch'd thy nose?

They say, it's a copy out of mine. Come, captain,
We must be neat; not neat, but cleanly, captain:
And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf,
Are all call'd, neat.-Still virginalling

8

[Observing POLIXENES and HERMIONE. Upon his palm ?-How now, you wanton calf, Art thou my calf?

Mam.

Yes, if you will, my lord.

Leon. Thou want'st a rough pash, and the shoots that I have",

To be full like me:-yet, they say we are

Almost as like as eggs; women say so,
That will say any thing: But were they false

5 The mort o'the deer;] A lesson upon the horn at the death of the deer.

rfecks?] A supposed corruption of-in faith. Our present vulgar pronounce it-fegs.

7 Why, that's my bawcock.] Perhaps from beau and coq. It is still said in vulgar language that such a one is a jolly cock, a cock of the game.

8

Still virginalling -] Still playing with her fingers, as

a girl playing on the virginals. A virginal is a very small kind of spinnet. Queen Elizabeth's virginal-book is yet in being, and many of the lessons in it have proved so difficult, as to baffle our most expert players on the harpsichord. STEEVENS.

9 Thou want'st a rough pash, and the shoots that I have,] I have lately learned that pash in Scotland signifies a head. The meaning, therefore, I suppose, is this: You tell me (says Leontes to his son), that you are like me; that you are my calf. I am the horned bull: thou wantest the rough head and the horns of that animal, completely to resemble your father. MALONE.

2

As o'er-died blacks', as wind, as waters; false
As dice are to be wish'd by one that fixes
No bourn 'twixt his and mine; yet were it true
To say this boy were like me.-Come, sir page,
Look on me with your welkin eye: Sweet villain !
Most dear'st! my collop!-Can thy dam ?-may't be?
Affection! thy intention stabs the center 3:
Thou dost make possible, things not so held,
Communicat'st with dreams ;-(How can this be?)—
With what's unreal thou co-active art,

And fellow'st nothing: Then, 'tis very credent,
Thou may'st co-join with something; and thou dost ;
(And that beyond commission; and I find it,)
And that to the infection of my brains,
And hardening of my brows.

Pol.
What means Sicilia?
Her. He something seems unsettled.
Pol.
What cheer? how is't with you, best brother?
Her.

How, my lord?

You look,

As if you held a brow of much distraction:
Are you mov'd, my lord?

Leon.

No, in good earnest,—
How sometimes nature will betray its folly,
Its tenderness, and make itself a pastime
To harder bosoms! Looking on the lines
Of my boy's face, methoughts, I did recoil
Twenty-three years; and saw myself unbreech'd,

1 As o'er-died blacks,] Sir T. Hanmer understands blacks died too much, and therefore rotten. JOHNSON.

Bourn is boundary.

2 No bourn

3 welkin eye:] Blue eye; an eye of the same colour with the welkin, or sky.

my collop!] So, in The First Part of King Henry VI.
"God knows, thou art a collop of my flesh."

Affection! thy intention stabs the center ] Affection means here imagination, or perhaps more accurately "the disposition of the mind when strongly affected, or possessed by a particular idea.” 6 credent,] i. e. credible.

VOL. III.

Ee

In my green velvet coat; my dagger muzzled,
Lest it should bite its master, and so prove,

As ornaments oft do, too dangerous.

How like, methought, I then was to this kernel,
This squash, this gentleman :-Mine honest friend,
Will you take eggs for money?

Mam. No, my lord, I'll fight.

Leon. You will? why, happy man be his dole'!— My brother,

Are you so fond of your young prince, as we
Do seem to be of ours?

Pol.
If at home, sir,
He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter:
Now my sworn friend, and then mine enemy;
My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all:
He makes a July's day short as December;
And, with his varying childness, cures in me
Thoughts that would thick my blood.

Leon.

So stands this squire
Offic'd with me: We two will walk, my lord,
And leave you to your graver steps.-Hermione,
How thou lov'st us, show in our brother's welcome;
Let what is dear in Sicily, be cheap :

Next to thyself, and my young rover, he's
Apparent to my heart.

1

This squash,] A squash is a pea-pod, in that state when the young peas begin to swell in it.

8 Will you take eggs for money?] The meaning of this is, Will you put up affronts? The French have a proverbial saying, A qui vendez vouz coquilles? i. e. whom do you design to affront? Mamillius's answer plainly proves it. Mam. No, my lord, I'll fight. SMITH.

happy man be his dole!] May his dole or share in life be to be a happy man. The expression is proverbial. Dole was the term for the allowance of provision given to the poor, in great families. The alms immemorially given to the poor by the Archbishops of Canterbury is still called the dole. See The History of Lambeth Palace, p. 31, in Bibl. Top. Brit. NICHOLS.

1

Apparent That is, heir apparent, or the next claimant.

Her.

If you would seek us,

We are your's i'the garden: Shall's attend you there? Leon. To your own bents dispose you: you'll be found,

Be you beneath the sky :-I am angling now,
Though you perceive me not how I give line.
Go to, go to !

[Aside. Observing POLIXENES and HERMIONE. How she holds up the neb, the bill to him! And arms her with the boldness of a wife To her allowing husband'! Gone already; Inch-thick, knee-deep, o'er head and ears a fork'd one. [Exeunt POLIXENES, HERMIONE, and Attendants. Go, play, boy, play;-thy mother plays, and I Play too; but so disgrac'd a part, whose issue Will hiss me to my grave; contempt and clamour Will be my knell. - Go, play, boy, play ;-There have

been,

Or I am much deceiv'd, cuckolds ere now;
And

many a man there is, even at this present,
Now, while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm,
That little thinks she has been sluic'd in his absence,
And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour, by
Sir Smile, his neighbour: nay, there's comfort in't,
Whiles other men have gates; and those gates open'd,
As mine, against their will: Should all despair,
That have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind
Would hang themselves. Physick for't there is none;
It is a bawdy planet, that will strike

Where 'tis predominant; and 'tis powerful, think it,
From east, west, north, and south: Be it concluded,
No barricado for a belly; know it;

2

the neb,] The word is commonly pronounced and written nib. It signifies here the mouth.

3 To her allowing husband!] Allowing in old language is approving. MALONE.

4 - a fork'd one.] That is, a horned one; a cuckold.