First Lord.
Dion.
'Beseech you, sir, were you present at this relation?
1st Lord.
I was by at the opening of the fardel, heard
the old shepherd deliver the manner how he found it:
whereupon, after a little amazedness, we were all commanded
out of the chamber: only this, methought, I heard
the shepherd say, he found the child.
Dion.
I would most gladly know the issue of it.
1st Lord.
I make a broken delivery of the business;—
But the changes I perceived in the King, and Camillo, were
very notes of admiration: there was speech in their dumbness,
language in their very gesture.
Enter Second Lord.
Here comes a gentleman, that, happily, knows more:—
The news?
2nd Lord.
The oracle is fulfill'd; the king's daughter is
found: such a deal of wonder is broken out within this
hour, that ballad-makers cannot be able to express it.
Enter Cleomenes.
How goes it now, sir? Has the king found his heir?
Cleo.
Most true; if ever truth were proved by circumstance.
The mantle of Queen Hermione;—her jewel
-- 95 --
about the neck of it;—the letters of Antigonus, found with
it, which they know to be his character;—the majesty of
the creature, in resemblance of the mother;—and many
other evidences, proclaim her, with all certainty to be the
king's daughter. Did you see the meeting of the two
kings?
Dion.
No.
Cleo.
Then have you lost a sight, which was to be seen,
cannot be spoken of. Our king, being ready to leap out of
himself for joy of his found daughter, cries, O, thy mother,
thy mother! then asks Bithynia forgiveness; then embraces
his son-in-law; then thanks the old shepherd. I
never heard of such another encounter, which lames report
to follow it, and undoes description to show it.
1st Lord.
What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that
carried hence the child?
Cleo.
He was torn to pieces with a bear: this avouches
the shepherd's son, who has not only his innocence (which
seems much) to justify him, but a handkerchief, and rings,
of his, that Paulina knows.
2nd Lord.
What became of his bark, and his followers?
Cleo.
Wreck'd, the same instant of their master's death;
and in the view of the shepherd: so that all the instruments,
which aided to expose the child, were even then lost,
when it was found.
Dion.
Are they returned to the court?
Cleo.
No: the princess hearing of her mother's statue,
which is in the keeping of Paulina, thither with all greediness
of affection, are they gone.
1st Lord.
She hath privately, twice or thrice a day, ever
since the death of Hermione, visited that removed house.
Shall we thither, and with our company piece the rejoicing?
Cleo.
Who would be thence, that has the benefit of
access? Our absence makes us unthrifty to our knowledge,
Let's along.
[Exeunt Dion, Cleomenes, and Lords.
-- 96 --
Charles Kean [1856], Shakespeare's play of the Winter's Tale, arranged for representation at the Princess's Theatre, with historical and explanatory notes, by Charles Kean. As first performed on Monday, April 28th, 1856 (Printed by John K. Chapman and Co. [etc.], London) [word count] [S33200].
