Aut.
Ha, ha, what a fool Honesty is! and Trust,
his sworn brother, a very simple gentleman! I have
sold all my trumpery; not a counterfeit stone, not a
ribbon, glass, pomander6Q0079, browch, table-hook, ballad,
knife, tape, glove, shoe-tye, bracelet, horn-ring to
keep my Pack from fasting: they throng who should
buy first, as if my trinkets had been* note hallowed, 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 would
not stir his pettitoes 'till he had both tune and words;
which so drew the rest of the herd to me, that all
their other senses stuck in ears; you might have
pinch'd a placket, it was senseless; 'twas nothing to
geld a codpiece of a purse; I would have filed keys
off, that hung in chains: no hearing, no feeling, but
my Sir's song, and admiring the nothing of it. So
that in this time of lethargy, 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, and scar'd my choughs from the chaff, I had not
left a purse alive in the whole army.
Perdita come forward.
Cam.
Nay; but my letters by this means being there,
So soon as you arrive, shall clear that Doubt.
Flo.
And those that you'll procure from King
Leontes—
Cam.
Shall satisfy your father.
Per.
Happy be you!
All that you speak shews fair.
Cam.
Who have we here?
[Seeing Autolycus.
-- 321 --
We'll make an instrument of this; omit
Nothing may give us aid.
Aut.
If they have over-heard me now,—why hanging.
[Aside.
Cam.
How now, good fellow,
Why shak'st thou so? fear not, man,
Here's no harm intended to thee.
Aut.
I am a poor fellow, Sir.
Cam.
Why, be so still; here's no body will steal
that from thee; yet for the outside of thy poverty, we
must make an exchange: therefore discase thee instantly,
thou must think, there's necessity in't, and change
garments with this gentleman: tho' the pennyworth,
on his side, be the worst, yet hold thee, there's some
* noteboot.
Aut.
I am a poor fellow, Sir;—I know ye well
enough.
[Aside.
Cam.
Nay, pr'ythee, dispatch: the gentleman is
half flead already.
Aut.
Are you in earnest, Sir?—I smell the trick
on't.—
[Aside.
Flo.
Dispatch, I pr'ythee.
Aut.
Indeed, I have had Earnest, but I cannot with
conscience take it.
Cam.
Unbuckle, unbuckle.
Fortunate Mistress!—let my Prophecy
Come home to ye,—you must retire yourself
Into some covert; take your sweet-heart's hat,
And pluck it o'er your brows; muffle your face,
Dismantle you; and, as you can, disliken
The truth of your own Seeming; that you may,
For I do fear eyes over you, to ship-board
Get undescry'd.
Per.
I see, the Play so lies,
That I must bear a Part.
Cam.
No remedy—
-- 322 --
Have you done there?
Flo.
Should I now meet my father,
He would not call me son.
Cam.
Nay, you shall have no hat:
Come, Lady, come.—Farewel, my friend.
Aut.
Adieu, Sir.
Flo.
O Perdita, what have we twain forgot?
Pray you, a word.
Cam.
What I do next, shall be to tell the King
[Aside.
Of this Escape, and whither they are bound:
Wherein my hope is, I shall so prevail
To force him after; in whose company
I shall review Sicilia; for whose sight
I have a woman's Longing.
Flo.
Fortune speed us!
Thus we set on, Camillo, to th' sea-side.
[Exit Flor. with Per.
Cam.
The swifter speed, the better.
[Exit.
Samuel Johnson [1765], The plays of William Shakespeare, in eight volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of Various Commentators; To which are added notes by Sam. Johnson (Printed for J. and R. Tonson [and] C. Corbet [etc.], London) [word count] [S11001].
