Camillo.
Pol.
I pray thee, good Camillo, be no more importunate:
'tis a sickness, denying thee any thing;
a death, to grant this.
Cam.
It is fifteen years3 note
, since I saw my country:
though I have, for the most part, been aired abroad,
I desire to lay my bones there. Besides, the penitent
king, my master, hath sent for me: to whose
feeling sorrows I might be some allay, or I o'erween
to think so; which is another spur to my departure.
Pol.
As thou lovest me, Camilllo, wipe not out
the rest of thy services, by leaving me now: the
need I have of thee, thine own goodness hath made;
better not to have had thee, than thus to want
thee: thou, having made me businesses, which none,
without thee, can sufficiently manage, must either
stay to execute them thyself, or take away with thee
the very services thou hast done: which if I have
not enough considered, (as too much I cannot,) to
be more thankful to thee, shall be my study; and
my profit therein, the heaping friendships4 note
. Of
-- 332 --
that fatal country Sicilia, pr'ythee speak no more:
whose very naming punishes me with the remembrance
of that penitent, as thou call'st him, and
reconciled king, my brother; whose loss of his
most precious queen, and children, are even now
to be afresh lamented. Say to me, when saw'st thou
the prince Florizel my son? Kings are no less unhappy,
their issue not being gracious, than they are
in losing them, when they have approved their
virtues.
Cam.
Sir, it is three days, since I saw the prince:
What his happier affairs may be, are to me unknown:
but I have, missingly, noted5 note, he is of late
much retired from court; and is less frequent to
his princely exercises, than formerly he hath appeared.
Pol.
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.
Cam.
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.
-- 333 --
Pol.
That's likewise part of my intelligence.
But, I fear the angle6 note
that plucks our son thither.
Thou shalt accompany us to the place: where we
will, not appearing what we are, have some question7 note
with the shepherd; from whose simplicity, I
think it not uneasy to get the cause of my son's
resort thither. Pr'ythee, be my present partner
in this business, and lay aside the thoughts of
Sicilia.
Cam.
I willingly obey your command.
Pol.
My best Camillo!—We must disguise ourselves.
[Exeunt.
James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
