 | Florizel and Perdita |  |
Enter Autolicus, in rich cloaths.
Autolicus.
How fortune drops into the mouth of the diligent
man?—see, if I be not transform'd courtier
again—four silken gamesters, who attended the king,
and were revelling by themselves, at some distance
from the shepherds, have drank so plentifully, that
their weak brains are turn'd topsy-turvy—I found
one of 'em, an old court comrade of mine, retir'd from
the rest, sobering himself with sleep under the shade
of a hawthorn; I made use of our antient familiarity
to exchange garments with him; the pedlar's cloaths
are on his back, and the pack by his side, as empty
as his pockets, for I have sold all my trumpery;
not a counterfeit stone, nor a ribband, glass, pomander,
browch, table-book, ballad, knife, tape,
glove, shoe-tie, bracelet, horn; they throng'd who
shou'd buy first, as if my trinkets had been hallow'd,
and brought a benediction to the buyer; by
which means, I saw whose purse was best in picture;
and what I saw to my good use I remember'd—my
good Clown (who wants but something to be a reasonable
man) grew so in love with the wenches song,
that he wou'd not stir his pettitoes 'till he had tune
and words, which so drew the rest of the herd to
me, that all their other senses stuck in ears: no hearing,
no feeling, but my Sir's song, and admiring the
nothing of it. I pick'd and cut most of their festival
purses: and had not the old man come in with a
whoo-bub against his daughter and the king's son,
left a purse alive in the whole army;—ha, ha, ha,
what a fool honesty is! and trust, his sworn brother, a
very simple gentleman! I see this is the time the unjust
man doth thrive; the gods do this year connive
at us, and we may do any thing extempore—aside,
aside, here is more matter for a hot brain. Ev'ry
lane's end, ev'ry shop, church, session, hanging,
yields a careful man work.
Enter Clown and Old Shep.
Clown.
See, see, what a man you are now—there is no
other way, but to tell the king she is a changeling,
and none of your flesh and blood.
Old Shep.
Nay, but hear me.
Clown.
Nay, but hear me.
Old Shep.
Go to, then—
Clown.
Let him know the truth of the matter; how you
found her by the sea-side some eighteen years agone;
that there was this bundle with her, with the things
and trinkets contained therein; but there was some
money too, which being spent in nursing her, you
need say nothing about it, together with all the circumstances
of the whole affair; do it, I say.
Old Shep.
And what then, think'st thou?
Why then, 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 punish'd
by him: shew those things—I say, you
found about her, those secret things: this being done,
let the law go whistle—I warrant you.
Old Shep.
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
cou'd have been to him; and then your blood had
been the dearer, by I know not how much an ounce.
Autolicus.
(Aside.)
Very wisely, puppies.
Old Shep.
Well, let us to the king; there is that in this
fardel, will make him scratch his beard.
Clown.
Pray heartily he be at the palace.
Autolicus.
(Coming forward.)
How now, rustics, whither are you bound?
Old Shep.
To th' palace, an' it like your worship.
Autolicus.
Your affairs there? what? with whom? the condition
of that fardel, the place of your dwelling,
and any thing that is fitting to be known, discover.
Clown.
We are but plain fellows, Sir.
Autolicus.
A lye—you are rough and hairy; let me have no
lying, it becomes none but tradesmen.
Old Shep.
Are you a courtier, an' like you, Sir?
Autolicus.
Whether it like me or no, I am a courtier—see'st
thou not the air of the court in these enfoldings?
hath not my gait in it the measure of the court?
receives not thy nose court-odour from me? reflect
not I on thy baseness, court-contempt? think'st
thou for that I insinuate, or toze from thee thy business,
I am therefore no courtier? I am a courtier
cap-à-pee; and one that will either push on, or push
back thy business there; whereupon, I command
thee to open thy affair.
Old Shep.
My business, Sir, is to the king.
Autolicus.
What advocate hast thou to him?
Old Shep.
I know not, and't like you.—Advocate!
[Aside to Clown.
Clown.
Advocate's the court word for a pheasant; say
you have none.
[Apart.
None, Sir; I have no pheasant, cock nor hen.
Autolicus.
How blest are we, that are not simple men!
Yet nature might have made as these are,
Therefore I will not disdain.
[Aside.
Clown
, to Shep.
This cannot be but a great courtier.
Old Shep.
to Clown.
His garments are rich, but he wears 'em not handsomely.
Clown.
He seems to be more noble in being fantastical;
a great man, I'll warrant, I know by the picking
on's teeth.
Autolicus.
The fardel there, what's in the fardel?
Wherefore that box?
Old Shep.
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.
Autolicus.
Age, thou hast lost thy labour.
Old Shep.
Why, Sir?
Autolicus.
The king is not at the palace, he's gone aboard a
new ship to purge melancholy, and air himself; for
if thou be'st capable of things serious, thou must
know the king is full of grief.
So, 'tis said, Sir, about his son that shou'd have
marry'd a shepherd's daughter.
Autolicus.
If that shepherd be not in hand fast, let him fly;
the curses he shall have, the tortures he shall feel,
will break the heart of man, the back of monster.
Old Shep.
Think you so, Sir?
Autolicus.
Not he, alone, shall suffer what wit can make
heavy, and vengeance bitter; but those that are germain
to him, tho' remov'd fifty times, shall all come
under the hangman; which, tho' it be great 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 ston'd; but that
death is too soft for him, say I: draw our throne
into a sheep-cot! 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?
Autolicus.
He has a son, who shall be stay'd alive, then
'nointed over with honey, set on the head of a wasp's
nest; then stand 'till he be three quarters and a dram
dead; then recover'd again with aqua-vita, or some
other hot infusion; then (raw as he is, and in the
hottest day prognostication proclaims) shall he be set
against a brick wall, the sun looking with a southward
eye upon him, where he is to behold him with
traitorly rascals, whose miseries are to be smil'd at, their
offences being so capital? tell me, (for you seem to
be honest, plain men) what you have to the king;
being something gently consider'd, I'll bring you
where he is, tender your persons to his presence,
whisper him in your behalf, and if it be in man, besides
the king, to effect your suits, here is a man
shall do it.
Clown.
He seems to be of great authority, close with him,
give him gold; tho' authority be a stubborn bear,
yet he is often led by the nose with gold; shew the
inside of your purse to the outside of his hand, and
no more ado; remember ston'd and stay'd alive.
(Aside to Old Shep.
Old Shep.
And't please you, Sir, to undertake the business
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.
Autolicus.
After I have done what I promis'd—
Clown.
Ay, Sir.
Autolicus.
Well, give me the moiety—are you a party in
this business?
Clown.
In some sort, Sir: but tho' my case be a pitiful
one, I hope I shall not be stay'd out of it.
Autolicus.
O, that's the case of the shepherd's son; hang
him, he'll be made an example.
(To Shep.)
Comfort! good comfort! we must to the king,
and shew 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 perform'd, and remain, as he
says, your pawn 'till it be brought you.
Autolicus.
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.
Clown.
We are blest in this man, as I may say, ev'n
blest.
Old Shep.
Let's before as he bids us; he was provided to do
us good.
[Exeunt Shep. and Clown.
Autolicus.
If I had a mind to be honest, I see fortune wou'd
not suffer me; she drops booties in my mouth—
I am courted now, with a double occasion: gold,
and a means to do the king good; which, who
knows how that may turn to my advancment! I will
bring these two moles, these blind ones before him;
if that the complaint they have to the king concerns
him nothing, let him call me rogue for being so far
officious; I am proof against that title, and what
shame else belongs to it: to him will I present them;
there may be matter in it.
[Exit.
| Florizel and Perdita | |