But undergo this flight ;-Make for Sicilia ;

And there present yourself, and your fair princess,
(For so, I see, she must be,) 'fore Leontes;
She shall be habited, as it becomes

The partner of your bed. Methinks, I see
Leontes, opening his free arms, and weeping
His welcomes forth: asks thee, the son, forgiveness,
As 'twere i'the father's person: kisses the hands
Of your fresh princess: o'er and o'er divides him
"Twixt his unkindness and his kindness; the one
He chides to hell, and bids the other grow,
Faster than thought, or time.

Flo.

Worthy Camillo,

What colour for my visitation shall I

Hold up before him?

Cam.

Sent by the king your father

To greet him, and to give him comforts. Sir,
The manner of your bearing towards him, with
What you, as from your father, shall deliver,
Things known betwixt us three, I'll write you down:
The which shall point you forth at every sitting,
What you must say; that he shall not perceive,
But that you have your father's bosom there,
And speak his very heart.

Flo.

There is some sap in this.

Cam.

I am bound to you:

A course more promising

Than a wild dedication of yourselves

To unpath'd waters, undream'd shores; most certain,
To miseries enough: no hope to help you;
But as you shake off one, to take another:
Nothing so certain as your anchors; who
Do their best office, if they can but stay you
Where you'll be loath to be: Besides, you know,
Prosperity's the very bond of love;

Whose fresh complexion and whose heart together
Affliction alters.

Per.

One of these is true:

I think affliction may subdue the cheek,
But not take in the mind'.

Cam

Yea, say you so?

There shall not, at your father's house, these seven

But, O, the thorns we stand upon !-Camillo,-
Preserver of my father, now of me;

The medicin of our house!-how shall we do?

We are not furnish'd like Bohemia's son;

Nor shall appear in Sicily—

Cam.

My lord,

Fear none of this; I think, you know, my fortunes
Do all lie there it shall be so my care

To have you royally appointed, as if

The scene you play, were mine. For instance, sir, know you shall not want,—one word. [They talk aside.

That you may

Enter AUTOLYCUS.

Aut. Ha, ha! what a fool honesty is! and trust, his sworn brother, a very simple gentleman! I have sold all my trumpery; not a counterfeit stone, not a riband,

? But not take in the mind.] To take in anciently meant to conquer, to get the better of.

+"She is i'the rear our birth." MALONE.

glass, pomander', brooch, table-book, ballad, knife, tape, glove, shoe-tye, bracelet, horn-ring, to keep my pack from fasting: they throng who should buy first; as if my trinkets had been hallowed, and brought a benediction to the buyer: by which means, I saw whose purse was best in picture; and, what I saw, to my good use, I remembered. My clown, (who wants but something to be a reasonable man,) grew so in love with the wenches' song, that he would not stir his pettitoes, till he had both tune and words; which so drew the rest of the herd to me, that all their other senses stuck in ears: you might have pinched a placket, it was senseless; 'twas nothing, to geld a codpiece of a purse; I would have filed keys off, that hung in chains: no hearing, no feeling, but my sir's song, and admiring the nothing of it. So that, in this time of lethargy, I picked and cut most of their festival purses: and had not the old man come in with a whoobub against his daughter and the king's son, and scared my choughs from the chaff, I had not left a purse alive in the whole army.

[CAMILLO, FLORIZEL, and PERDITA, come forward.

Cam. Nay, but my letters by this means being there So soon as you arrive, shall clear that doubt.

Flo. And those that you'll procure from king

We'll make an instrument of this; omit

Nothing, may give us aid.

3

pomander,] A pomander was a little ball made of perfumes and worn in the pocket, or about the neck, to prevent infection in times of plague.

Aut. If they have overheard me now,why hang

ing.

[Aside. Cam. How now, good fellow? why shakest thou so? Fear not, man; here's no harm intended to thee.

Aut. I am a poor fellow, sir.

Cam. Why, be so still; here's nobody will steal that from thee: Yet, for the outside of thy poverty, we must make an exchange; therefore, discase thee instantly, (thou must think, there's necessity in't,) and change garments with this gentleman: Though the pennyworth, on his side, be the worst, yet hold thee, there's some boot*. Aut. I am a poor fellow, sir: -I know ye well enough. [Aside. Cam. Nay, pr'ythee, despatch: the gentleman is half flayed already".

Aut. Are you in earnest, sir?-I smell the trick of it.

Flo. Despatch, I pr’ythee.

[Aside.

Aut. Indeed, I have had earnest; but I cannot with conscience take it.

Cam. Unbuckle, unbuckle.

[FLO. and AUTOL. exchange garments. Fortunate mistress,-let my prophecy Come home to you!—you must retire yourself Into some covert: take your sweetheart's hat, And pluck it o'er your brows; muffle your face; Dismantle you; and as you can, disliken The truth of your own seeming; that you may, (For I do fear eyes over you,) to shipboard Get undescried.

4

boot.] That is, something over and above; or, as we now

say, something to boot.

5

is half flayed already.] i. e. half stripped already.

Flo.

He would not call me son.

Cam.

Should I now meet my father,

Nay, you shall have

No hat:-Come, lady, come.-Farewell, my friend.

Aut. Adieu, sir.

Flo. O, Perdita, what have we twain forgot?

Pray you, a word.

[They converse apart.

Cam. What I do next, shall be to tell the king [Aside. Of this escape, and whither they are bound; Wherein, my hope is, I shall so prevail, To force him after; in whose company I shall review Sicilia; for whose sight I have a woman's longing.

Flo.
Thus we set on, Camillo, to the sea-side.
Cam. The swifter speed the better.

Fortune speed us!—

[Exeunt FLORIZEL, PERDITA, and CAMILLO.

Aut. I understand the business, I hear it: To have an open ear, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, is necessary for a cut-purse; a good nose is requisite also, to smell out work for the other senses. I see, this is the time that the unjust man doth thrive. What an exchange had this been, without boot? what a boot is here, with this exchange? Sure, the gods do this year connive at us, and we may do any thing extempore. The prince himself is about a piece of iniquity; stealing away from his father, with his clog at his heels: If I thought it were not a piece of honesty to acquaint the king withal, I would + do't: I hold it the more knavery to conceal it and therein am I constant to my profession.

6 what have we twain forgot?] This is one of our author's dramatick expedients to introduce a conversation apart, account for a sudden exit, &c. So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Dr. Caius suddenly exclaims — Q'ay j'oublié ?-and Mrs. Quickly — “ Out upon't! what have I forgot?" STEEVENS.

"If I thought it were a piece of honesty to acquaint the king withal, I would not do't." MALONE.