The Winter's Tale Read online

  The which shall point you forth at every sitting625

  What you must say, that he shall not perceive

  But that you have your father's bosom627 there

  And speak his very heart.

  FLORIZEL I am bound to you.

  There is some sap630 in this.

  CAMILLO A course more promising

  Than a wild dedication of yourselves

  To unpathed633 waters, undreamed shores, most certain

  To miseries enough, no hope to help you,

  But as you shake off one635 to take another.

  Nothing so certain as636 your anchors, who

  Do their best office if they can but stay637 you

  Where you'll be loath to be. Besides, you know

  Prosperity's the very bond of love639,

  Whose fresh complexion and whose heart together

  Affliction alters641.

  PERDITA One of these is true:

  I think affliction may subdue the cheek643,

  But not take in644 the mind.

  CAMILLO Yea? Say you so?

  There shall not at your father's house these seven years646

  Be born another such647.

  FLORIZEL My good Camillo,

  She's as forward of her breeding as

  She is i'th'rear our birth649.

  CAMILLO I cannot say 'tis pity

  She lacks instructions652, for she seems a mistress

  To most that teach.

  PERDITA Your pardon, sir. For this

  I'll blush you thanks.

  FLORIZEL My prettiest Perdita!

  But, O, the thorns we stand upon!-- Camillo,

  Preserver of my father, now of me,

  The medicine of our house, how shall we do?

  We are not furnished660 like Bohemia's son,

  Nor shall appear661 in Sicilia.

  CAMILLO My lord,

  Fear none of this. I think you know my fortunes663

  Do all lie there. It shall be so my care

  To have you royally appointed665 as if

  The scene you play were mine666. For instance, sir,

  That you may know you shall not want667, one

  They talk apart

  word.

  Enter Autolycus

  AUTOLYCUS Ha, ha! What a fool honesty is! And trust, his sworn

  brother, a very simple gentleman. I have sold all my

  trumpery670: not a counterfeit stone, not a ribbon, glass,

  pomander671, brooch, table-book, ballad, knife, tape, glove,

  shoe-tie, bracelet, horn-ring672, to keep my pack from fasting.

  They throng who should buy first, as if my trinkets had been

  hallowed674 and brought a benediction to the buyer, by which

  means I saw whose purse was best in picture675, and what I saw,

  to my good use676 I remembered. My clown, who wants but

  something677 to be a reasonable man, grew so in love with the

  wenches' song, that he would not stir his pettitoes678 till he had

  both tune and words, which so drew the rest of the herd to me

  that all their other senses stuck in ears680. You might have

  pinched a placket681, 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's683 song, and

  admiring the nothing684 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 whoo-bub686 against his daughter and

  the king's son and scared my choughs687 from the chaff, I had

  not left a purse alive in the whole army.

  Camillo, Florizel and Perdita come forward

  CAMILLO Nay, but my letters, by this means being there

  So soon as you arrive, shall clear that doubt.

  FLORIZEL And those that you'll procure from King Leontes--

  CAMILLO Shall satisfy692 your father.

  PERDITA Happy be you!

  All that you speak shows fair.

  CAMILLO Who have we here?

  Sees Autolycus

  We'll make an instrument of this, omit

  Nothing697 may give us aid.

  AUTOLYCUS If they have overheard me now, why, hanging.

  Aside

  CAMILLO How now, good fellow? Why shakest thou so? Fear

  not, man. Here's no harm intended to thee.

  AUTOLYCUS I am a poor fellow, sir.

  CAMILLO Why, be so still. Here's nobody will steal that from

  thee. Yet for the outside of thy poverty703 we must make an

  exchange: therefore discase704 thee instantly -- thou must

  think705 there's a necessity in't -- and change garments with

  this gentleman. Though the pennyworth706 on his side be the

  worst, yet hold thee, there's some boot707.

  Gives money

  AUTOLYCUS I am a poor fellow, sir.-- I know ye well

  Aside

  enough.

  CAMILLO Nay, prithee, dispatch710: the gentleman is half flayed

  already.

  AUTOLYCUS Are you in earnest712, sir? I smell the trick on't.

  Aside

  FLORIZEL Dispatch, I prithee.

  AUTOLYCUS Indeed, I have had earnest, but I cannot with

  conscience take it.

  Florizel and Autolycus exchange clothes

  CAMILLO Unbuckle, unbuckle.

  Fortunate mistress -- let my prophecy

  Come home to ye718! -- you must retire yourself

  Into some covert719; take your sweetheart's hat

  And pluck720 it o'er your brows, muffle your face,

  Dismantle you721, and, as you can, disliken

  The truth of your own seeming722, that you may --

  For I do fear eyes over723 -- to shipboard

  Get undescried724.

  PERDITA I see the play so lies725

  That I must bear a part.

  CAMILLO No remedy727.

  Have you done there?

  FLORIZEL Should I now meet my father,

  He would not call me son.

  CAMILLO Nay, you shall have no hat.

  Gives hat to Perdita

  Come, lady, come. Farewell, my friend.

  AUTOLYCUS Adieu, sir.

  FLORIZEL O Perdita, what have we twain734 forgot!

  Pray you a word.

  CAMILLO 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 after739, in whose company

  I shall review740 Sicilia, for whose sight

  I have a woman's741 longing.

  FLORIZEL Fortune speed742 us!

  Thus we set on, Camillo, to th'seaside.

  CAMILLO The swifter speed the better.

  Exeunt [Florizel, Perdita and Camillo]

  AUTOLYCUS I understand the business, I hear it. To have an

  open ear, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, is necessary for a

  cutpurse747; a good nose is requisite also, to smell out work for

  th'other senses. I see this is the time that the unjust man

  doth thrive. What an exchange749 had this been without boot?

  What a boot750 is here with this exchange? Sure, the gods do

  this year connive at751 us, and we may do anything extempore.

  The prince himself is about a piece of iniquity752, stealing away

  from his father with his clog753 at his heels. If I thought it were

  a piece of honesty to acquaint the king withal754, I would not

  do't. I hold it the more knavery to conceal it; and therein am

  I constant756 to my profession.

  Enter Clown and Shepherd

  Carrying fardel and box

  Aside, aside. Here is more matter for a hot757 brain.<
br />
  He stands aside

  Every lane's end, every shop, church, session758, hanging,

  yields a careful759 man work.

  CLOWN See, see. What a man you are now! There is no other

  way but to tell the king she's a changeling761 and none of your

  flesh and blood.

  SHEPHERD Nay, but hear me.

  CLOWN Nay, but hear me.

  SHEPHERD Go to765, then.

  CLOWN She being none of your flesh

  and blood, your flesh and blood has not offended the king, and so your flesh

  and blood is not to be punished by him. Show those things

  you found about her, those secret things, all but what she

  has with her. This being done, let the law go whistle, I

  warrant you.

  SHEPHERD I will tell the king all, every word, yea, and his

  son's pranks too; who, I may say, is no honest man, neither

  to his father nor to me, to go about to make me the king's

  brother-in-law.

  CLOWN Indeed, brother-in-law was the farthest off you

  could have been to him and then your blood had been the

  dearer by I know how much an ounce778.

  AUTOLYCUS Very wisely, puppies779!

  Aside

  SHEPHERD Well, let us to the king. There is that in this fardel780

  will make him scratch his beard.

  AUTOLYCUS I know not what impediment this complaint782

  Aside

  may be to the flight of my master783.

  CLOWN Pray heartily he be at palace.

  Aside

  AUTOLYCUS Though I am not naturally honest, I am so

  sometimes by chance: let me pocket up786 my pedlar's

  excrement787.-- How now, rustics! Whither are you

  bound?

  Takes off his false beard

  SHEPHERD To th'palace, an it like789 your worship.

  AUTOLYCUS Your affairs there? What? With whom? The

  condition791 of that fardel, the place of your dwelling, your

  names, your ages, of what having792, breeding, and any thing

  that is fitting to be known, discover793.

  CLOWN We are but plain794 fellows, sir.

  AUTOLYCUS A lie; you are rough and hairy. Let me have no lying;

  it becomes none but tradesmen, and they often give us

  soldiers the lie796, but we pay them for it with stamped coin, not

  stabbing steel: therefore they do not give us the lie797.

  CLOWN Your worship had like to have given us one799, if you

  had not taken yourself with the manner800.

  SHEPHERD Are you a courtier, an't like you, sir?

  AUTOLYCUS Whether it like me or no, I am a courtier. See'st thou

  not the air of the court in these enfoldings803? Hath not my

  gait804 in it the measure of the court? Receives not thy nose

  court-odour from me? Reflect I not on thy baseness805 court-contempt?

  Think'st thou, for that806 I insinuate or toaze from

  thee thy business, I am therefore no courtier? I am courtier

  cap-a-pie808; and one that will either push on or pluck back thy

  business there: whereupon I command thee to open thy

  affair809.

  SHEPHERD My business, sir, is to the king.

  AUTOLYCUS What advocate812 hast thou to him?

  SHEPHERD I know not, an't like you.

  Aside to the Shepherd

  CLOWN Advocate's the court-word for a pheasant814.

  Say you have none.

  SHEPHERD None, sir. I have no pheasant, cock nor hen.

  AUTOLYCUS How blessed are we that are not simple men!

  Aside

  Yet nature might have made me as these are, therefore I will

  not disdain.

  CLOWN This cannot be but820 a great courtier.

  To Shepherd

  SHEPHERD His garments are rich, but he wears them not

  handsomely.

  CLOWN He seems to be the more noble in being fantastical823.

  A great man, I'll warrant; I know by the picking on's teeth824.

  AUTOLYCUS The fardel there? What's i'th'fardel? Wherefore that

  box?

  SHEPHERD Sir, there lies such secrets in this fardel and box,

  which none must know but the king, and which he shall

  know within this hour, if I may come to th'speech of him.

  AUTOLYCUS Age830, thou hast lost thy labour.

  SHEPHERD Why, sir?

  AUTOLYCUS The king is not at the palace. He is gone aboard a

  new ship to purge melancholy and air himself, for, if thou

  be'st capable of things serious834, thou must know the king is

  full of grief.

  SHEPHERD So 'tis said, sir, about his son, that should have

  married a shepherd's daughter.

  AUTOLYCUS If that shepherd be not in hand-fast838, let him fly; the

  curses he shall have, the tortures he shall feel, will break the

  back of man, the heart of monster.

  CLOWN Think you so, sir?

  AUTOLYCUS Not he alone shall suffer what wit can make heavy842

  and vengeance bitter, but those that are germane843 to him,

  though removed fifty times, shall all come under the

  hangman, which though it be great pity, yet it is necessary.

  An old sheep-whistling rogue846 a ram-tender, to offer to have

  his daughter come into grace847! Some say he shall be stoned,

  but that death is too soft for him, say I. Draw our throne

  into a sheep-cote849? All deaths are too few, the sharpest too

  easy.

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

  you, sir?

  AUTOLYCUS He has a son, who shall be flayed alive, then

  'nointed854 over with honey, set on the head of a wasp's nest,

  then stand till he be three quarters and a dram855 dead, then

  recovered again with aqua-vitae856 or some other hot infusion,

  then, raw as he is, and in the hottest day prognostication

  proclaims857, shall he be set against a brick wall, the sun

  looking with a southward eye upon him, where he is to

  behold him with flies blown860 to death. But what talk we of

  these traitorly rascals, whose miseries are to be smiled at,

  their offences being so capital862? Tell me, for you seem to

  be honest plain men, what you have to863 the king. Being

  something gently considered, I'll bring you where he is

  aboard, tender865 your persons to his presence, whisper him in

  your behalfs; and if it be in man866 besides the king to effect

  your suits, here is man shall do it.

  CLOWN He seems to be of great authority. Close868

  To Shepherd

  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'.

  SHEPHERD An't please you, sir, to undertake the business for

  us, here is that874 gold I have. I'll make it as much

  Offers gold

  more and leave this young man in pawn875 till I bring it you.

  AUTOLYCUS After I have done what I promised?

  SHEPHERD Ay, sir.

  Takes gold/To Clown

  AUTOLYCUS Well, give me the moiety878.-- Are you a

  party in this business?

  CLOWN In some sort, sir. But though my case880 be a pitiful

  one, I hope I shall not be flayed out of it.

  AUTOLYCUS O, that's the case of the shepherd's son. Hang him,

  he'll be made an example.

  CLOWN Comfort, good comfort! We must to
the

  To Shepherd

  king and show our strange sights. He must know 'tis none of

  your daughter nor my sister. We are gone else886. 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.

  AUTOLYCUS I will trust you. Walk before890 toward the seaside. Go

  on the right hand, I will but look upon the hedge891 and follow

  you.

  CLOWN We are blest in this man, as I may say, even blest.

  SHEPHERD Let's before as he bids us. He was provided to do

  us good.

  [Exeunt Shepherd and Clown]

  AUTOLYCUS If I had a mind to be honest, I see fortune would

  not suffer897 me. She drops booties in my mouth. I am courted

  now with a double occasion898: gold and a means to do the

  prince my master good; which who knows how that may

  turn back to my advancement? I will bring these two

  moles, these blind ones, aboard him901. If he think it fit to

  shore them902 again and that the complaint they have to the

  king concerns him nothing, let him call me rogue for being

  so far officious904, for I am proof against that title and what

  shame else belongs to't. To him will I present them. There

  may be matter906 in it.

  Exit

  Act 5 Scene 1 running scene 12

  Location: Sicilia

  * * *

  Enter Leontes, Cleomenes, Dion, Paulina [and] Servants

  CLEOMENES Sir, you have done enough, and have performed

  A saint-like sorrow2. No fault could you make,

  Which you have not redeemed; indeed, paid down

  More penitence than done trespass3. At the last,

  Do as the heavens have done, forget your evil.

  With them forgive yourself.

  LEONTES Whilst I remember

  Her and her virtues, I cannot forget

  My blemishes in them9, and so still think of

  The wrong I did myself, which was so much

  That heirless it hath made my kingdom and

  Destroyed the sweet'st companion that e'er man

  Bred his hopes out of. True?

  PAULINA Too true, my lord.

  If, one by one, you wedded all the world,

  Or from the all that are16 took something good

  To make a perfect woman, she you killed

  Would be unparalleled.

  LEONTES I think so. Killed?

  She I killed? 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 now22,

  Say so but seldom.

  CLEOMENES Not at all, good lady.

  You might have spoken a thousand things that would

  Have done the time more benefit26 and graced

  Your kindness better.

  PAULINA You are one of those

  Would have him wed again.

  DION If you would not so,

  You pity not the state, nor the remembrance

  Of his most sovereign name32, consider little

  What dangers by his highness' fail of issue33