pity, yet it is necessary. An old sheep-whistling rogue, a ram-tender, to offer to have his daughter come into grace! Some say, he shall be stoned; but that death is too soft for him, say I Draw our throne into a sheep-cote! all deaths are too few, the sharpest too easy.

Clo. Has the old man e'er a son, sir, do you hear, an't like you, sir?

Leon.

If, one by one, you wedded all the world,
Or, from the all that are, took something good,
To make a perfect woman; she, you kill'd,
Would be unparallel'd.
I think so. Kili'd?
She I kill'd? I did so: but thou strik'st me
Sorely, to say I did; it is as bitter
Upon thy tongue, as in my thought: Now, good now,
Say so but seldom.
Cleo.
Not at all, good lady:
You might have spoken a thousand things that would
Have done the time more benefit, and grae'd
Your kindness better.
You are one of those,
Would have him wed again.
Dion.

Paul.

Aut. He has a son, who shall be flayed alive; then, 'nointed over with honey, set on the head of a wasps' nest; then stand, till he be three quarters and a dram dead: then recovered again with aquavitæ, or some other hot infusion: then, raw as he is, and in the hottest day prognostication proclaims, shall be set against a brick-wall, the sun looking with a southward eye upon him; where he is to beIf you would not so, hold him, with flies blown to death. But what talk You pity not the state, nor the remembrance we of these traitorly rascals, whose miseries are to Of his most sovereign dame; consider little, be smiled at, their offences being so capital? Tell What dangers, by his highness' fail of issue, me, (for you seem to be honest plain men,) what you May drop upon his kingdom, and devour have to the king: being something gently considered, Incertain lookers-on. What were more holy, I'll bring you where he is aboard, tender your per-Than to rejoice, the former queen is well? sons to his presence, whisper him in your behalfs; What holier, than,-for royalty's repair, and, if it be in man, besides the king, to effect your For present comfort and for future good,suits, here is man shall do it. To bless the bed of majesty again With a sweet fellow to't?"

Clo. He seems to be of great authority; close with him, give him gold; and though authority be a stubborn bear, yet he is oft led by the nose with gold: show the inside of your purse to the outside of his hand, and no more ado: Remember stoned, and flayed alive.

Paul.

There is none worthy,
Respecting her that's gone. Besides, the gods
Will have fulfill'd their secret purposes:
For has not the divine Apollo said,
Is't not the tenor of his oracle,

Shep. An't please you, sir, to undertake the busi-That king Leontes shall not have an heir,
ness for us, here is that gold I have: I'll make it as
much more; and leave this young man in pawn, till
I bring it you.

Aut. After I have done what I promised?
Shep. Ay, sir.

Aut. Well, give me the moiety :-Are you a party in this business?

Clo. In some sort, sir: but though my case be a pitiful one, I hope I shall not be flayed out of it.

Aut, O, that's the case of the shepherd's son :Hang him, he'll be made an example,

Clo. Comfort, good comfort: we must to the king, and show our strange sights; he must know, 'tis none of your daughter, nor my sister; we are gone else. Sir, I will give you as much as this old man does, when the business is performed; and remain. as he says, your pawn, till it be brought you.

Aut. I will trust you. Walk before toward the sea-side; go on the right hand; I will but look upon the hedge, and follow you.

Clo. We are blessed in this man, as I may say, even blessed.

Shep. Let's before, as he bids us: he was provided to do us good. [Exeunt Shep, and Clown. Aut. If I had a mind to be honest, I see, fortune would not suffer me; she drops booties in my mouth. I am courted now with a double occasion; gold, and a means to do the prince my master good; which, who knows how that may turn back to my advance ment? I will bring these two moles, these blind ones, aboard him if he think it fit to shore them again, and that the complaint they have to the king concerns him nothing, let him call me rogue, for being so far officious; for I am proof against that title, and what else shame belongs to it: To him will I present them, there may be matter in it. [Exit.

ACT V.

SCENE I. Sicilia. A Room in the Palace of
Leontes.

Enter Leontes, Cleomenes, Dion, Paulina, and

others.

Cleo. Sir, you have done enough, and have per-
form'd

A saint-like sorrow no fault could you make,
Which you have not redeem'd; indeed, paid down
More penitence, than done trespass: At the last,
Do, as the heavens have done; forget your evil;
With them, forgive yourself.

Leon. Whilst I remember
Her, and her virtues, I cannot forget

My blemishes in them; and so still think of
The wrong I did myself: which was so much,
That heirless it hath made my kingdom; and
Destroy'd the sweet'st companion, that e'er man
Bred his hopes out of.
Paul.

True, too true, my lord:

Till bis lost child be found? which, that it shall,
Is all as monstrous to our human reason,
As my Antigonus to break his grave,
And come again to me; who, on my life,
Did perish with the infant. "Tis your counsel,
My lord should to the heavens be contrary,
Oppose against their will.-Care not for issue;
[To Leontes.
The crown will find an heir: Great Alexander
Left his to the worthiest; so his successor
Was like to be the best.

Leon.

Good Paulina,-
Who hast the memory of Hermione,
I know, in honour,-0, that ever I
Had squar'd me to thy counsel!-then, even now,
I might have look'd upon my queen's full eyes;
Have taken treasure from her lips,-
Paul.

And left them
More rich, for what they yielded.
Leon.
Thou speak'st truth.
No more such wives; therefore, no wife: one worse,
And better us'd, would make her sainted spirit
Again possess her corpse; and, on this stage,
Where we offenders now appear,) soul-vex'd,
Begin, And why to me?
Paul.
Had she such power,

She had just cause.
Leon. She had; and would incense me
To murder her I married.
Paul.
I should so:
Were I the ghost that walk'd, I'd bid you mark
Her eye; and tell me, for what dull part in't
You chose her: then I'd shriek, that even your ears
Should rift to hear me; and the words that follow'd
Should be, Remember mine.
Leon.
Stars, very stars,
And all eyes else dead coals!-fear thou no wife,
I'll have no wife, Paulina.
Paul.
Will you swear
Never to marry, but by my free leave?

Leon. Never, Paulina; so be bless'd my spirit!
Paul, Then, good my lords, bear witness to his oath.
Cleo. You tempt him over-much.
Paul.
Unless another,

As like Hermione, as is her picture,
Affront his eye.

Cleo.

Paul.

Good madam,

I have done.
Yet, if my lord will marry,-if you will, sir,
No remedy, but you will; give me the office
To choose you a queen: she shall not be so young
As was your former; but she shall be such,
As walk'd your first queen's ghost, it should take joy
To see her in your arms.

Leon.
My true Paulina,
We shall not marry, till thou bidd'st us.
Paul.

That

Shall be, when your first queen's again in breath;
Never till then.

I am a friend to them, and you: upon which errand
I now go toward him; therefore, follow me,
And mark what way I make: Come, good my lord.
[Exeunt.

SCENE II. The same. Before the Palace.
Enter Autolycus and a Gentleman.
Aut. 'Beseech you, sir, were you present at this

relation ?

1 Gent. I was by at the opening of the fardel, heard the old shepherd deliver the manuer how he found it: whereupon, after a little amazedness, we were all commanded out of the chamber; only this, methought I heard the shepherd say, he found the child.

Aut. I would most gladly know the issue of it.
1 Gent. I make a broken delivery of the business ;-
But the changes I perceived in the king, and Ca-
millo, were very notes of admiration: they seemed
almost, with staring on one another, to tear the cases
of their eyes; there was speech in their dumbness,
language in their very gesture; they looked, as they
had heard of a world ransomed, or one destroyed:
A notable passion of wonder appeared in them but
the wisest beholder, that knew no more but seeing,
could not say, if the importance were joy, or sorrow:
but in the extremity of the one, it must needs be.
Enter another Gentleman.

Here comes a gentleman, that, happily, knows more :
The news, Rogero?

would pin her to her heart, that she might no more be in danger of losing.

1 Gent. The dignity of this act was worth the audience of kings and princes; for by such was it acted.

3 Gent. One of the prettiest touches of all, and that which angled for mine eyes, (caught the water, though not the fish,) was, when at the relation of the queen's death, with the manner how she came to it, (bravely confessed, and lamented by the king,) how attentiveness wounded his daughter: till, from one sign of dolour to another, she did, with an alas! I would fain say, bleed tears; for, I am sure, my heart wept blood. Who was most marble there, changed colour; some swooned, all sorrowed: if all the world could have seen it, the woe had been universal.

1 Gent. Are they returned to the court? 3 Gent. No: the princess hearing of her mother's statue, which is in the keeping of Paulina,-a piece many years in doing, and now newly performed by that rare Italian master, Julio Romano; who, had he himself eternity, and could put breath into his work, would beguile Nature of her custom, so perfectly he is her ape: he so near to Hermione bath 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 2 Gent. Nothing but bonfires: The oracle is ful-removed house. Shall we thither, and with our comfilled; the king's daughter is found: such a deal of wonder is broken out within this hour, that bailadmakers cannot be able to express it.

Enter a third Gentleman.

Here comes the lady Paulina's steward; he can deliver you more. How goes it now, sir? this news, which is called true, is so like an old tale, that the verity of it is in strong suspicion: Has the king found his heir?

pany piece the rejoicing?

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 us 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 him talk of a fardel, and I know not what but he at that time, over-fond of the shepherd's 3 Gent. Most true; if ever truth were pregnant by daughter, (so he then took her to be,) who began to circumstance that, which you hear, you'll swear you be much sea-sick, and himself little better, extremity see, there is such unity in the proofs. The mantle of of weather continuing, this mystery remained undisqueen Hermione :-her jewel about the neck of it:-covered. But 'tis all one to me for had I been the the letters of Antigonus, found with it, which they finder-out of this secret, it would not have relished know to be his character:-the majesty of the crea- among my other discredits. ture, in resemblance of the mother;-the affection of nobleness, which nature shows above her breeding,and many other evidences, proclaim her, with all certainty, to be the king's daughter. Did you see the meeting of the two kings?

2 Gent. No.

3 Gent. Then have you lost a sight which was to be seen, cannot be spoken of. There might you have beheld one joy crown another; so, and in such manner, that, it seemed, sorrow wept to take leave of them; for their joy waded in tears. There was casting up of eyes, holding up of hands; with countenance of such distraction, that they were to be known by garment, not by favour. Our king, being ready to leap out of himself for joy of his found daughter; as if that joy were now become a loss, cries, O, thy mother, thy mother! then asks Bohemia forgiveness; then embraces his son-in-law; then again worries he his daughter, with clipping her; now he thanks the old shepherd, which stands by, like a weather-bitten conduit of many kings' reigns. I never heard of such another encounter, which lames report to follow it, and undoes description to do it.

2 Gent. What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that carried hence the child?

3 Gent. Like an old tale still; which will have matter to rehearse, though credit be asleep, and not an ear open: He was torn to pieces with a bear: this avouches the shepherd's son; who has not only his innocence (which seems much,) to justify him, but a handkerchief, and rings, of his, that Paulina knows.

1 Gent. What became of his bark, and his followers?

3 Gent. Wrecked, the same instant of their master's death; and in the view of the shepherd: so that all the instruments, which aided to expose the child, were even then lost, when it was found. But, O, the noble combat, that, 'twixt joy and sorrow, was fought in Paulina! She had one eye declined for the loss of her husband; another elevated that the oracle was fulfilled: She lifted the princess from the earth; and so locks her in embracing, as if she

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.

Clo. You are well met, sir: You denied to tight with me this other day, because I was no gentleman born: See you these clothes? say, you see them not, and think me still no gentleman born: you were best say, these robes are not gentlemen born. Give me the lie; do; and try whether I am not now a 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, aud cailed 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.

Shep. We may live, son, to shed many more. Clo. Ay; or else 'twere hard luck, being in so preposterous estate as we are.

Aut. I humbly beseech you, sir, to pardon me all the faults I have committed to your worship, and to give me your good report to the prince my master. 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 thy 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

Cam. My lord, your sorrow was too sore laid on; Our Perdita is found. Which sixteen winters cannot blow away, So many summers, dry: scarce any joy Did ever so long live; no sorrow,

And take her by the hand: whose worth, and honesty,
Is richly noted; and here justified

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,
And son unto the king, (whom heavens directing,)
Is troth-plight to your daughter.-Good Paulina,
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. [Exeunt.

Comedy of Errors.

Solinus, Duke of Ephesus.
Ægeon, a Merchant of Syracuse.
Antipholus of Ephesus, S
Antipholus of Syracuse,

Dromio of Ephesus,
Dromio of Syracuse,
Balthazar, a Merchant.

Angelo, a Goldsmith.

DRAMATIS PERSONE.

A Merchant, Friend to Antipholus of Syracuse.
Pinch, a Schoolmaster and a Conjurer.

Twin Brothers, and Sons to
Egeon and Emilia, but Emilia, Wife to Ageon, an Abbess at Ephesus.
unknown to each other. Adriana, Wife to Antipholus of Ephesus.
Twin Brothers, and Atten-Luciana, her Sister.
dants on the two Anti-Luce, her Servant.
pholus's.
A Courtesan.

ACT 1.

Gaoler, Officers, and other Attendants.

SCENE, Ephesus.

SCENE 1. A Hall in the Duke's Palace. Enter Duke, Ægeon, Gaoler, Officers, and other Attendants.

Age. PROCEED, Solinus, to procure my fall,
And, by the doom of death, end woes and all.

Duke. Merchant of Syracusa, plead no more;
I am not partial, to infringe our laws:
The enmity and discord, which of late

Sprung from the rancorous outrage of your duke
To merchants, our well-dealing countrymen,-
Who, wanting gilders to redeem their lives,

Had made provision for her following me,
And soon, and safe, arrived where I was.
There she had not been long, but she became
A joyful mother of two goodly sons;
And, which was strange, the one so like the other,
As could not be distinguish'd but by names.
That very hour, and in the self-same inn,
A poor mean woman was delivered

Of such a burden, male twins, both alike:
Those, for their parents were exceeding poor,
I bought, and brought up to attend my sons.
My wife, not meanly proud of two such boys,
Made daily motions for our home return:
Unwilling I agreed; alas, too soon.

A league from Epidamnum had we sail'd,
Before the always-wind-obeying deep
Gave any tragic instance of our harm:
But longer did we not retain much hope;
For what obscured light the heavens did grant
Did but convey unto our fearful minds

Have seal'd his rigorous statutes with their bloods,We came aboard:
Excludes all pity from our threat'ning looks.
For, since the mortal and intestine jars
'Twixt thy seditious countrymen and us,
It hath in solemn synods been decreed,
Both by the Syracusans and ourselves,
To admit no traffic to our adverse towns:
Nay, more,

If any, born at Ephesus, be seen
At any Syracusan marts and fairs;
Again, If any Syracusan born,
Come to the bay of Ephesus, he dies,

His goods confiscate to the duke's dispose:
Unless a thousand marks be levied,
To quit the penalty, and to ransom him.
Thy substance, valued at the highest rate,
Cannot amount unto a hundred marks;
Therefore, by law thon art condemn'd to die.
Ege. Yet this my comfort; when your words are
My woes end likewise with the evening sun. [done,
Duke. Well, Syracusan, say, in brief, the cause
Why thou departed'st from thy native home;
And for what cause thou cam'st to Ephesus.
Ege. A heavier task could not have been impos'd,
Than I to speak my griefs unspeakable:
Yet, that the world may witness, that my end
Was wrought by nature, not by vile offence,
I'll utter what my sorrow gives me leave.
In Syracusa was I born; and wed

Unto a woman, happy but for me,
And by me too, had not our hap been bad.
With her I liv'd in joy; our wealth increas'd,
By prosperous voyages I often made.
To Epidamnum, till my factor's death
And he (great care of goods at random left);
Drew me from kind embracements of my spouse:

From whom my absence was not six months old,
Before herself (almost at fainting, under
The pleasing punishment that women bear),

A doubtful warrant of immediate death;

Which, though myself would gladly have embrac'd,
Yet the incessant weepings of my wife,
Weeping before for what she saw must come,
And piteous plainings of the pretty babes,
That mourn'd for fashion, ignorant what to fear,
Forc'd me to seek delays for them and me.
And this it was,-for other means was none.-
The sailors sought for safety by our boat,
And left the ship, then sinking-ripe, to us:
My wife, more careful for the latter-born,
Had fasten'd him unto a small spare mast,
Such as sea-faring men provide for storms;
To him one of the other twins was bound,
Whilst I had been like heedful of the other.
The children thus dispos'd, my wife and I,
Fixing our eyes on whom our care was fix'd,
Fasten'd ourselves at either end the mast;
And floating straight, obedient to the stream,
Were carried towards Corinth, as we thought.
At length the sun, gazing upon the earth,
Dispers'd those vapours that offended us;
And, by the benefit of his wish'd light,
The seas wax'd calm, and we discovered
Two ships from far making amain to us,
Of Corinth that, of Epidaurus this:

But ere they came,-0, let me say no more!
Gather the sequel by that went before.

Duke. Nay, forward, old man, do not break off so ;

For we may pity, though not pardon thee.

Ege. O, had the gods done so, I had not now Worthily term'd them merciless to us!