His princess, say you, with him?
Leontes
His princess, say you, with him?
Servant
Ay, the most peerless piece of earth, I think,
That e'er the sun shone bright on.
Paulina
O Hermione,
As every present time doth boast itself
Above a better gone, so must thy grave
Give way to what's seen now.
To Servant.
Sir, you yourself
Have said and writ so—but your writing now
Is colder than that theme—she had not been
Nor was not to be equalled. Thus your verse
Flowed with her beauty once. ‘Tis shrewdly ebbed
To say you have seen a better.
Servant
Pardon, madam.
The one I have almost forgot—your pardon;
The other, when she has obtained your eye,
Will have your tongue too. This is a creature,
Would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal
Of all professors else, make proselytes
Of who she but bid follow.
Paulina
How, not women?
Servant
Women will love her that she is a woman
More worth than any man; men, that she is
The rarest of all women.
His princess, say you, with him?
Servant
Ay, the most peerless piece of earth, I think,
That e'er the sun shone bright on.
Paulina
O Hermione,
As every present time doth boast itself
Above a better gone, so must thy grave
Give way to what's seen now.
To Servant.
Sir, you yourself
Have said and writ so—but your writing now
Is colder than that theme—she had not been
Nor was not to be equalled. Thus your verse
Flowed with her beauty once. ‘Tis shrewdly ebbed
To say you have seen a better.
Servant
Pardon, madam.
The one I have almost forgot—your pardon;
The other, when she has obtained your eye,
Will have your tongue too. This is a creature,
Would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal
Of all professors else, make proselytes
Of who she but bid follow.
Paulina
How, not women?
Servant
Women will love her that she is a woman
More worth than any man; men, that she is
The rarest of all women.