ther function.

I take thy hand; this hand
As soft as dove's down, and as white as it;
Or Ethiopian's tooth, or the fann'd snow,
That's bolted by the northern blasts twice o'er.

The artless manner in which her innate nobility of soul shines forth
through her pastoral disguise, is thus brought before us at once:--

This is the prettiest low-born lass that ever
Ran on the green sward; nothing she does or seems,
But smacks of something greater than herself;
Too noble for this place.

Her natural loftiness of spirit breaks out where she is menaced and
reviled by the King, as one whom his son has degraded himself by merely
looking on; she bears the royal frown without quailing; but the moment
he is gone, the immediate recollection of herself, and of her humble
state, of her hapless love, is full of beauty, tenderness, and nature:--

Even here undone!
I was much afeard: for once or twice,
I was about to speak; and tell him plainly
The self-same sun, that shines upon his court
Hides not his visage from our cottage, but
Looks on alike.

Will't please, you Sir, be gone?
I told you what would come of this. Beseech you,
Of your own state take care; this dream of mine--
Being now awake--I'll queen it no inch further,
But milk my ewes, and weep.

How often have I told you 'twould be thus
How often said, my dignity would last
But till 'twere known!

FLORIZEL.

It cannot fail, but by
The violation of my faith; and then
Let nature crush the sides o' the earth together
And mar the seeds within! Lift up thy looks.

* * * *

Not for Bohemia, nor the pomp that may
Be thereat glean'd! for all the sun sees, or
The close earth wombs, or the profound seas hide
In unknown fathoms, will I break my oath
To thee, my fair beloved!

Perdita has another characteristic, which lends to the poetical delicacy
of the delineation a certain strength and moral elevation, which is
peculiarly striking. It is that sense of truth and rectitude, that
upright simplicity of mind, which disdains all crooked and indirect
means, which would not stoop for an instant to dissemblance, and is
mingled with a noble confidence in her love and in her lover. In this
spirit is her answer to Camilla, who says, courtier like,--