Imagens da página
PDF
ePub

Do all lye there, it fhall be fo my care
To have you royally appointed, as if

The scene you play were mine. For inftance, Sir,
That you may know you fhall not want

; one word.
[They talk afide.

SCENE X. Enter Autolicus.

Aut. Ha, ha, what a fool honefty is! and truft, his fworn brother, a very fimple gentleman! I have fold all my trumpery; not a counterfeit ftone, not a ribbon, glass, pomander, browch, table-book, ballad, knife, tape, glove, fhoe-tye, bracelet, horn-ring, to keep my pack from fasting: they throng who fhould buy firft, as if my trinkets had been hallowed and brought a benediction to the buyer; by which means, I faw whofe purse was beft in picture; and what I faw, to my good ufe, I remember'd. My good Clown (who wants but fomething to be a reasonable man) grew fo in love with the wenches fong, that he would not ftir his pettitoes 'till he had both tune and words, which fo drew the rest of the herd to me, that all their other fenfes ftruck in ears; you might have pinch'd a placket, it was fenfelefs; 'twas nothing to geld a cod-piece of a pusse; I would have filed keys off that hung in chains: no hearing, no feeling, but my Sir's fong, and admiring the nothing of it. So that in this time of lethargy, I pick'd and cut most of their feftival purses; and had not the old man come in with a whoo-bub against his daughter and the King's fon, and scar'd my choughs from the chaff, I had not left a purfe alive in the whole army.

Camillo, Florizel, and Perdita come forward.

Cam. Nay; but my letters by this means being there, So foon as you arrive, fhall clear that doubt.

Flo. And those that you'll procure from King Leontes→→→→ Cam. Shall fatisfie your father.

Per. Happy be you!

All that you speak fhews fair.

Cam. Who have we here?

We'll make an inftrument of this; omit

Nothing may give us aid.

[Seeing Autol.

Aut. If they have over-heard me now: why, hanging.

Cam.

Cam. How now, good fellow, come, why fhak'ft thou fo? Fear not, man, here's no harm intended to thee.

Aut. I am a poor fellow, Sir.

Cam. Why, be fo ftill:

Here's no body will steal that from thee; yet for the outfide of thy poverty, we must make an exchange: therefore difcafe thee inftantly, (thou must think there's a neceffity in't) and change garments with this gentleman: tho' the penny-worth on his fide be the worst, yet hold thee, there's fome boot.

Aut. I am a poor fellow, Sir; I know ye well enough.

[Afide. Cam. Nay, pr'ythee dispatch: the gentleman is half flead already.

Aut. Are you in earneft, Sir? I fmell the trick on't.

Flo. Difpatch, I pr'ythee.

[Afide

Aut. Indeed I have had earneft, but I cannot with confcience take it.

Cam. Unbuckle, unbuckle.

Fortunate miftrefs, (let my prophecy

Come home to ye!) you must retire yourself
Into fome covert; take your fweet-heart's hat
And pluck it o'er your brows, muffle your face,
Dismantle you, and as you can, difliken
The truth of your own feeming, that you may
(For I do fear eyes over you) to fhip-board
Get undefcry'd.

Per. I fee the play fo lyes

That I must bear a part.
Cam. No remedy-

Have you done there?

Flo. Should I now meet my father,

He would not call me fon.

Cam. Nay, you shall have

No hat: come, Lady, come: farewel, my friend.

Aut, Adieu, Sir.

Flo. O Perdita, what have we twain forgot?

Pray you a word.

Cam. What I do next, fhall be to tell the King. [Afide.

G 3

Of this escape, and whither they are bound a
Wherein my hope is, I fhall fo prevail
To force him after; in whofe company
I fhall review Sicilia; for whofe fight
I have a woman's longing.

Flo. Fortune speed us!

Thus we fet on, Camillo, to th' fea-fide.

Cam. The fwifter fpeed, the better,

SCENE XI.

[Exe. Flo.and Per.

[Exit.

Aut. I understand the business, I heard it: to have an open ear, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, is neceffary for a cut-purfe; a good nofe is requifite alfo, to fmell out work for th' other fenfes. I fee 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 ! fure the Gods do this year connive at us, and we may do any thing extempore. The Prince himself is about a piece of iniquity, ftealing 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 conftant to my profeffion.

Enter Clown and Shepherd.

Afide, afide, here's more matter for a hot brain; every lane's end, every fhop, church, feffion, hanging, yields a careful man work,

Clo. See, fee; what a man you are now! there is no other way, but to tell the King she's a changeling, and none of your flesh and blood.

Shep. Nay, but hear me.

Clo. Nay, but hear me.
Shep. Go to then,

Clo. She being none of your fiefh and blood, your flefh and blood has not offended the King, and fo your flesh and blood is not to be punish'd by him. Shew those things you found about her, thofe fecret things, all but what the has with her; this being done, let the law go while; I warrant you.

Shep. I will tell the King all, every word, yea, and his

fon's

fon's pranks too; who, I may fay, is no honeft man neither to his father, nor to me, to go about to make me the King's brother-in-law.

Clo. Indeed brother-in-law was the fartheft off you could have been to him, and then your blood had been the dearer by I know not how much an ounce.

Aut. Very wifely, puppies!

[Afide Shep. Well; let us to the King; there is that in this farthel will make him scratch his beard.

Aut. I know not what impediment this complaint may · be to the flight of my mafter.

Clo. 'Pray heartily he be at the palace,

Aut. Tho' I am not naturally boneft, I am fo fometimes by chance: let me pocket up my pedler's excrement. How now, ruftiques, whither are you bound? Shep. To th' palace, an it like your worship.

Aut. Your affairs there, what, with whom, the condition of that farthel, the place of your dwelling, your names, your age, of what having, breeding, and any thing that is fitting for to be known, difcover,

[ocr errors]

Clo. We are but plain fellows, Sir.

Aut. A lie; you are rough and hairy; let me have no lying; it becomes none but tradefmen, and they often give us foldiers the lie, but we pay them for it with stamped coin, not stabbing fteel, therefore they do give us the lie. Clo. Your Worship had like to have given us one, if you had not taken yourself with the manour.

Shep. Are you a Courtier, an't like you, Sir?

Aut. Whether it like me, or no, I am a Courtier. Seelt thou not the air of the Court in these enfoldings ? hath not my gate in it the measure of the Court? receives not thy nofe Court-odour from me? reflect I not on thy bafenefs, Court-contempt? think'ft thou, for that I infinuate, or toze from thee thy bufinefs, I am therefore no Courtier ? Iam Courtier Cap-a-pe: and one that will either push on, or puth back thy business there, whereupon 1 command thee to open thy affair.

Shep. My bufinefs, Sir, is to the King.

Aut. What advocate haft thou to him?

Meaning his falfe beard,

Shep

Shep. I know not, an't like you.

Clo. Advocate's the Court-word for a pheafant; fay you have none.

Shep. None, Sir; I have no pheasant cock, nor hen. Aut. How blefs'd are we, that are not fimple men! Yet nature might have made me as thefe are,

Therefore I will not disdain.

Clo. This cannot but be a great Courtier.

Shep. His garments are rich, but he wears them not handfomly.

Clo. He feems to be the more noble in being fantastical; a great man, I'll warrant; I know by the picking on's teeth.

Aut. The farthel there; what's i'th' farthel?

Wherefore that box?

Shep. Sir, there lyes fuch fecrets in this farthel and box, which none muft know but the King, and which he fhall know within this hour, if I may come to the fpeech of him. Aut. Age, thou haft loft thy labour,

Shep. Why, Sir?

Aut. The King is not at the palace, he is gone aboard a new fhip, to purge melancholy and air himself; for if thou be'ft capable of things ferious, thou must know the King is full of grief.

Shep. So 'tis faid, Sir, about his fon that should have married a fhepherd's daughter.

Aut. If that shepherd be not in hand-faft, let him fly; the curfes he fhall have, the tortures he fhall feel, will break the back of man, the heart of monster.

Clo. Think you fo, Sir?

Aut. Not he alone shall suffer what wit can make heavy, and vengeance bitter; but those that are germain to him, tho' removed fifty times, fhall all come under the hangman; which, tho' it be great pity, yet it is neceffary. An old fheep-whistling rogue, a ram-tender to offer to have his daughter come into grace! fome fay he shall be fton'd ; but that death is too foft for him,fay I: draw our throne into a fheep-cote! all deaths are too few, the fharpest too eafie. Glo. Has the old man e'er a fon, Sir, do you hear, an't like you, Sir?

Aut,

« AnteriorContinuar »