Leon. Never, Paulina; so be bless'd my spirit! Yet, if my lord will marry,—if you will, sir, No remedy, but you will; give me the office As, walk'd your first queen's ghost, it should take joy 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. Enter a Gentleman. Gent. One that gives out himself prince Florizel, Son of Polixenes, with his princess, (she The fairest I have yet beheld,) desires access Leon. What with him? he comes not Like to his father's greatness: his approach, So out of circumstance, and sudden, tells us, Gent. But few, And those but mean. Leon. His princess, say you, with him? Gent. Ay; the most peerless piece of earth, I think, That e'er the sun shone bright on. Paul. O Hermione, As every present time doth boast itself Above a better, gone; so must thy grave Give way to what's seen now. Sir, you yourself Is colder than that theme,) She had not been, Pardon, madam: Gent. The one I have almost forgot; (your pardon,) The other, when she has obtain'd your eye, Will have your tongue too. This is such a creature, Would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal Of all professors else; make proselytes Of who she but bid follow. Paul. How? not women? Gent. Women will love her, that she is a woman More worth than any man; men, that she is The rarest of all women. Leon. Go, Cleomenes; Yourself, assisted with your honour'd friends, Bring them to our embracement.-Still 'tis strange, [Exeunt Cleomenes, Lords, and Gentleman. He thus should steal upon us. Paul. Had our prince, (Jewel of children) seen this hour, he had pair'd Well with this lord; there was not full a month Between their births. Leon. Pr'ythee, no more; thou know'st, He dies to me again, when talk'd of: sure, When I shall see this gentleman, thy speeches Will bring me to consider that, which may Unfurnish me of reason.-They are come. Re-enter Cleomenes, with Florizel, Perdita, and Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince; His very air, that I should call you brother, Amity too, of your brave father; whom, Flo. By his command Have I here touch'd Sicilia; and from him Give you all greetings, that a king, at friend, (Which waits upon worn times,) hath something seiz'd His wish'd ability, he had himself The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his Leon. Of my behind-hand slackness!-Welcome hither, Flo. She came from Libya. Leon. Good my lord, Where the warlike Smalus, That noble honour'd lord, is fear'd, and lov'd? Flo. Most royal sir, from thence; from him, whose daughter His tears proclaim'd his, parting with her: thence Not only my success in Libya, sir, But my arrival, and my wife's, in safety Here, where we are. Leon. The blessed gods Purge all infection from our air, whilst you A graceful gentleman; against whose person, For which the heavens, taking angry note, Have left me issueless: and your father's bless'd, (As he from heaven merits it,) with you, Worthy his goodness. What might I have been, Might I a son and daughter now have look'd on, Such goodly things as you? Lord. Enter a Lord. Most noble sir, That, which I shall report, will bear no credit, Were not the proof so nigh. Please you, great sir, (His dignity and duty both cast off,) Fled from his father, from his hopes, and with Leon. Where's Bohemia? speak. Lord. Here in your city; I now came from him: I speak amazedly; and it becomes My marvel, and my message. To your court Her brother, having both their country quitted Flo. Camillo has betray'd me; Whose honour, and whose honesty, till now, Endur'd all weathers. Lord. Lay't so, to his charge; He's with the king your father. |