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approved their virtues. |
CAMILLO. Sir, it is three days since I saw the Prince. What his |
happier affairs may be are to me unknown; but I have missingly |
noted he is of late much retired from court, and is less frequent |
to his princely exercises than formerly he hath appeared. |
POLIXENES. I have considered so much, Camillo, and with some care, |
so far that I have eyes under my service which look upon his |
removedness; from whom I have this intelligence, that he is |
seldom from the house of a most homely shepherd- a man, they say, |
that from very nothing, and beyond the imagination of his |
neighbours, is grown into an unspeakable estate. |
CAMILLO. I have heard, sir, of such a man, who hath a daughter of |
most rare note. The report of her is extended more than can be |
thought to begin from such a cottage. |
POLIXENES. That's likewise part of my intelligence; but, I fear, the |
angle that plucks our son thither. Thou shalt accompany us to the |
place; where we will, not appearing what we are, have some |
question with the shepherd; from whose simplicity I think it not |
uneasy to get the cause of my son's resort thither. Prithee be my |
present partner in this business, and lay aside the thoughts of |
Sicilia. |
CAMILLO. I willingly obey your command. |
POLIXENES. My best Camillo! We must disguise ourselves. |
Exeunt |
SCENE III. |
Bohemia. A road near the SHEPHERD'S cottage |
Enter AUTOLYCUS, singing |
When daffodils begin to peer, |
With heigh! the doxy over the dale, |
Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year, |
For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale. |
The white sheet bleaching on the hedge, |
With heigh! the sweet birds, O, how they sing! |
Doth set my pugging tooth on edge, |
For a quart of ale is a dish for a king. |
The lark, that tirra-lirra chants, |
With heigh! with heigh! the thrush and the jay, |
Are summer songs for me and my aunts, |
While we lie tumbling in the hay. |
I have serv'd Prince Florizel, and in my time wore three-pile; |
but now I am out of service. |
But shall I go mourn for that, my dear? |
The pale moon shines by night; |
And when I wander here and there, |
I then do most go right. |
If tinkers may have leave to live, |
And bear the sow-skin budget, |
Then my account I well may give |
And in the stocks avouch it. |
My traffic is sheets; when the kite builds, look to lesser linen. |
My father nam'd me Autolycus; who, being, I as am, litter'd under |
Mercury, was likewise a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles. With |
die and drab I purchas'd this caparison; and my revenue is the |
silly-cheat. Gallows and knock are too powerful on the highway; |
beating and hanging are terrors to me; for the life to come, I |
sleep out the thought of it. A prize! a prize! |
Enter CLOWN |
CLOWN. Let me see: every 'leven wether tods; every tod yields pound |
and odd shilling; fifteen hundred shorn, what comes the wool to? |
AUTOLYCUS. [Aside] If the springe hold, the cock's mine. |
CLOWN. I cannot do 't without counters. Let me see: what am I to |
buy for our sheep-shearing feast? Three pound of sugar, five |
pound of currants, rice- what will this sister of mine do with |
rice? But my father hath made her mistress of the feast, and she |
lays it on. She hath made me four and twenty nosegays for the |
shearers- three-man song-men all, and very good ones; but they |
are most of them means and bases; but one Puritan amongst them, |
and he sings psalms to hornpipes. I must have saffron to colour |
the warden pies; mace; dates- none, that's out of my note; |
nutmegs, seven; race or two of ginger, but that I may beg; four |
pound of prunes, and as many of raisins o' th' sun. |
AUTOLYCUS. [Grovelling on the ground] O that ever I was born! |
CLOWN. I' th' name of me! |
AUTOLYCUS. O, help me, help me! Pluck but off these rags; and then, |
death, death! |
CLOWN. Alack, poor soul! thou hast need of more rags to lay on |
thee, rather than have these off. |
AUTOLYCUS. O sir, the loathsomeness of them offend me more than the |
stripes I have received, which are mighty ones and millions. |
CLOWN. Alas, poor man! a million of beating may come to a great |
matter. |
AUTOLYCUS. I am robb'd, sir, and beaten; my money and apparel ta'en |
from me, and these detestable things put upon me. |
CLOWN. What, by a horseman or a footman? |
AUTOLYCUS. A footman, sweet sir, a footman. |
CLOWN. Indeed, he should be a footman, by the garments he has left |
with thee; if this be a horseman's coat, it hath seen very hot |
service. Lend me thy hand, I'll help thee. Come, lend me thy |
hand. [Helping him up] |
AUTOLYCUS. O, good sir, tenderly, O! |
CLOWN. Alas, poor soul! |
AUTOLYCUS. O, good sir, softly, good sir; I fear, sir, my shoulder |
blade is out. |
CLOWN. How now! Canst stand? |
AUTOLYCUS. Softly, dear sir [Picks his pocket]; good sir, softly. |
You ha' done me a charitable office. |
CLOWN. Dost lack any money? I have a little money for thee. |
AUTOLYCUS. No, good sweet sir; no, I beseech you, sir. I have a |
kinsman not past three quarters of a mile hence, unto whom I was |
going; I shall there have money or anything I want. Offer me no |
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