Another Sicilian lord. ROGERO, a Sicilian gentleman. An Attendant on the young prince Mamillius. FLORIZEL, his son. ARCHIDAMUS, a Bohemian lord. Gaoler. An old Shepherd, reputed father of Perdita. Servant to the old shepherd. AUTOLYCUS, a rogue. TIME, as chorus. HERMIONE, queen to Leontes. PERDITA, daughter to Leontes and Hermione. PAULINA, wife to Antigonus. EMILIA, a lady attending the queen. MORSA, DORCAS. shepherdesses. Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Satyrs for a dance; Shepherds, Shepherdesses, Guards, &c. SCENE-Sometimes in Sicilia; sometimes in Bohemia. WINTER'S TALE. ACT I. SCENE I.-Sicilia. An Antechamber in LEONTES' Palace. Enter CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS. Archidamus. IF you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our. Bohemia, and your Sicilia. Cam. I think, this coming summer, the king of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him. Arch. Wherein our entertainment shall shame us, we will be justified in our loves :' for, indeed, Cam. 'Beseech you, Arch. Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge we cannot with such magnificence-in so rareI know not what to say.- -We will give you sleepy drinks; that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little ac cuse us. Cam. You pay a great deal too dear, for what's given freely. Arch. Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me, and as mine honesty puts it to utterance. Cam. Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to Bohemia. They were trained together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection, which cannot choose but branch now. Since their more mature dignities, and royal necessities, made separation. of their society, their encounters, though not personal, [1] Though we cannot give you equal entertainment, yet the consciousness of our good will shall justify us. JOHNSON. have been royally attornied, with interchange of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seemed to be together, though absent; shook hands, as over a vast ;3 and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves! Arch. I think, there is not in the world either malice, or matter, to alter it. You have an unspeakable comfort of your young prince Mamillius; it is a gentleman of the greatest promise, that ever came into my note. 4 Cam. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him : It is a gallant child; one that, indeed, physics the subject, makes old hearts fresh: they, that went on crutches ere he was born, desire yet their life, to see him a man. Arch. Would they else be content to die? Cam. Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live. Arch. If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. A Room of State in the Palace. Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS, CAMILLO, and Attendants. Pol. Nine changes of the watry star have been Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks ; Go hence in debt: And therefore, like a cypher, With one we-thank-you, many thousands more [2] Nobly supplied by substitution of embassies, &c. JOHNSON. [3] Vastum was the ancient term for waste uncultivated land. Over a vast, therefore, means at a great and vacant distance from each other. Vast, however, may be used for the sea. STEEVENS. Shakespeare has, more than once, taken his imagery from the prints, with which the books of his time were ornamented. If my memory do not deceive me he had his eye on a wood cut in Holinshed, while writing the incantation of the weird sisters in Macbeth. In this passage he refers to a device common in the title-page of old books, of two hands extended from opposite clouds, and joined as in token of friendship over a wide waste of country. HENLEY. [4] Affords a cordial to the state; has the power of assuaging the sense of misery. JOHNSON |