Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way, And merrily hent the stile-a*: SCENE III. The same. A Shepherd's Cottage. Enter FLORIZEL and PERDITA. [Exit. Flo. These your unusual weeds to each part of you Do give a life: no shepherdess; but Flora, Peering in April's front. This your sheep-shearing And you the queen on't. 6 Sir, my gracious lord, Per. Flo. I bless the time, When my good falcon made her flight across Thy father's ground. To 4 Per. of it. 5 8 Now Jove afford you cause! me, the difference forges dread; your greatness hent the stile-a :] To hent the stile, is to take hold your extremes,] That is, the extravagance of his conduct, in obscuring himself "in a swain's wearing," while he "pranked her up most goddess-like." 6 The gracious mark - The object of all men's notice. prank'd up] To prank is to dress with ostentation. 7 $ To me, the difference] i. e. between his rank and hers. Hath not been used to fear. Even now I tremble Flo. Apprehend Per. O but, dear sir †, Your resolution cannot hold, when 'tis Oppos'd, as it must be, by the power o'the king: One of these two must be necessities, Which then will speak; that you must change this purpose, Or I my life. Flo. Thou dearest Perdita, With these forc'd thoughts, I pr'ythee, darken not Vilely bound up?] It is impossible for any man to rid his mind of his profession. The authorship of Shakspeare has supplied him with a metaphor, which, rather than he would lose it, he has put with no great propriety into the mouth of a country maid. Thinking of his own works, his mind passed naturally to the binder. I am glad that he has no hint at an editor. JOHNSON. "O but, sir,"-MALONE. Mine own, nor any thing to any, if I be not thine: to this I am most constant, Of celebration of that nuptial, which We two have sworn shall come. Per. Stand you auspicious! O lady fortune, Enter Shepherd, with POLIXENES and CAMILLO disguised; Clown, MOPSA, DORCAS, and Others. Flo. See, your guests approach: Address yourself to entertain them sprightly, Shep. Fye, daughter! when my old wife liv'd, upon This day, she was both pantler, butler, cook; Both dame and servant: welcom'd all: serv'd all: With labour; and the thing, she took to quench it, As your good flock shall prosper. Per. Welcome, sir! [TO POL. It is my father's will, I should take on me The hostess-ship o'the day :-You're welcome, sir! [TO CAMILLO. Give me those flowers there, Dorcas.-Reverend sirs, For you there's rosemary, and rue; these keep Pol. Shepherdess, (A fair one are you,) well you fit our ages With flowers of winter. Per. Sir, the year growing ancient, Not yet on summer's death, nor on the birth Of trembling winter,-the fairest flowers o'the season Pol. Do you neglect them? Per. Wherefore, gentle maiden, 1 For I have heard it said, There is an art, which, in their piedness, shares Pol. Say, there be; Yet nature is made better by no mean, But nature makes that mean: so, o'er that art, Which you say, adds to nature, is an art That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry A gentler scion to the wildest stock; And make conceive a bark of baser kind By bud of nobler race; This is an art Which does mend nature,-change it rather: but Pol. Then make your garden rich in gillyflowers, And do not call them bastards. Per. I'll not put The dibble' in earth to set one slip of them: 2 1 For I have-] For, in this place, signifies-because that. dibble-] An instrument used by gardeners to make holes in the earth for the reception of young plants. No more than, were I painted, I would wish This youth should say, 'twere well; and only therefore Desire to breed by me.-Here's flowers for you; Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram ; The marigold, that goes to bed with the sun, Per. Out, alas! You'd be so lean, that blasts of January Would blow you through and through. Now, my fairest friend, I would, I had some flowers o'the spring, that might That come before the swallow dares, and take Flo. What? like a corse? 3 violets, dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes,] I suspect that our author mistakes Juno for Pallas, who was the goddess of blue eyes. Sweeter than an eye-lid is an odd image, but perhaps he uses sweet in the general sense for delightful. JOHNSON. |