once or twice I was about to speak, and tell him
plainly that the self-same sun which shines upon his palace, hides not
his face from our cottage, but looks on both alike." Then sorrowfully
she said, "But now I am awakened from this dream, I will queen it no
farther. Leave me, sir; I will go milk my ewes, and weep."

The kind-hearted Camillo was charmed with the spirit and propriety
of Perdita's behaviour; and perceiving that the young prince was too
deeply in love to give up his mistress at the command of his royal
father, he thought of a way to befriend the lovers, and at the same
time to execute a favourite scheme he had in his mind.

Camillo had long known that Leontes, the king of Sicily, was become
a true penitent; and though Camillo was now the favoured friend of
king Polixenes, he could not help wishing once more to see his late
royal master and his native home. He therefore proposed to Florizel
and Perdita, that they should accompany him to the Sicilian court,
where he would engage Leontes should protect them, till through his
mediation they could obtain pardon from Polixenes, and his consent to
their marriage.

To this proposal they joyfully agreed; and Camillo, who conducted
every thing relative to their flight, allowed the old shepherd to go
along with them.

The shepherd took with him the remainder of Perdita's jewels, her baby
clothes, and the paper which he had found pinned to her mantle.

After a prosperous voyage, Florizel and Perdita, Camillo and the old
shepherd, arrived in safety at the court of Leontes. Leontes, who
still mourned his dead Hermione and his lost child, received Camillo
with great kindness, and gave a cordial welcome to prince Florizel.
But Perdita, whom Florizel introduced as his princess, seemed to
engross all Leontes' attention: perceiving a resemblance between her
and his dead queen Hermione, his grief broke out afresh, and he said,
such a lovely creature might his own daughter have been, if he had not
so cruelly destroyed her. "And then too," said he to Florizel, "I lost
the society and friendship of your brave father, whom I now desire
more than my life once again to look upon."

When the old shepherd heard how much notice the king had taken of
Perdita, and that he had lost a daughter, who was exposed in infancy,
he fell to comparing the time when he found the little Perdita with
the manner of its exposure, the jewels and other tokens of its high
birth; from all which it w