Cam.
Sir, I'll tell you;
Since I am charg'd in honour, and by him
That I think honourable: Therefore, mark my
counsel;

Which must be even as swiftly follow'd, as
I mean to utter it; or both yourself and me
Cry, lost, and so good-night.
Pol
On, good Camillo.
Cam. I am appointed him to murder you.
Pol. By whom, Camillo ?
Cam.

Pol.

By the king.

I were a baby still.-I love you better.
2 Lady. And why so, my lord?
Mam.

Not for because Your brows are blacker; yet black brows, they say,

For what ? Become some women best; so that there be not Cam. He thinks, nay, with all confidence he Too much hair there, but in a semicircle, Or half-moon made with a pen. 2 Lady.

swears,

As he had seen't, or been an instrument

Who taught you this

To vice you to't,-that you have touch'd his Mam. I learn'd it out of women's faces-Pray

queen

Fobiddenly.

Pol.

O, then my best blood turn
To an infected jelly; and my name
Be yok'd with his, that did betray the best!
Turn then my freshest reputation to

A savour, that may strike the dullest nostril
Where I arrive; and my approach be snunn'd,
Nay, hated too, worse than the great'st infection
That e'er was heard, or read!
Cam.
Swear his thought over
By each particular star in heaven, and
By all their influences, you may as well
Forbid the sea for to obey the moon,
As or, by oath, remove, or counsel, shake
The fabrick of his folly; whose foundation
Is pil'd upon his faith, and will continue
The standing of his body.
Pol.
How should this grow?"
Cam. I know not: but, I am sure, 'tis safer to
Avoid what's grown, than question how 'tis born.
If therefore you dare trust my honesty,-
That lies enclosed in this trunk, which you
Shall bear along impawn'd,-away to-night.
Your followers I will whisper to the business;
And will, by two's, and three's, at several posterns,
Clear them o' the city: For myself, I'll put
My fortunes to your service, which are here
By this discovery lost. Be not uncertain:
For, by the honour of my parents, I
Have utter'd truth: which if you seek to prove,
I dare not stand by; nor shall you be safer
Than one condemn'd by the king's own mouth,
thereon

I saw his heart in his face. Give me thy hand;
Be pilot to me, and thy places shall
Still neighbour mine; My ships are ready, and
My people did expect my hence departure
Two days ago.-This jealousy,

Is for a precious creature: as she's rare,
Must it be great; and, as his person's mighty,
Must it be violent; and, as he does conceive,
He is dishonour'd by a man which ever
Profess'd to him, why, his revenges must
In that be made more bitter. Fear o'ershades me:
Good expedition be my friend, and comfort
The gracious queen, part of his theme,
nothing

Of his ill-ta'en suspicion! Come, Camillo ;
1 will respect thee as a father, if

but

Thou bear'st my life off hence: Let us avoid.
Cam. It is in mine authority, to command
The keys of all the posterns: Please your high-

With violent hefts :-I have drunk, and seen the
spider.

Camillo was his help in this, his pander :-
There is a plot against my life, my crown;
Ali's true that is mistrusted :-that false villain,
Whom I employ'd, was pre-employ'd by him:
He has discover'd my design, and I

Remain a pinch'd thing; yea, a very trick
For them to play at will:-How came the pos

terns

So easily open?

1 Lord.

By his great authority;
Which often hath no less prevail'd than so,
On your command.

Leon.
I know 't too well.-
Give me the boy; I am glad you did not nurse

Though he does bear some signs of me, yet you
Have too much blood in him.
Her.

There is no cause: when you shall know your
mistress

As I come out: this action, I now go on,
Has deserv'd prison, then abound in tears,
Is for my better grace.-Adieu, my lord:
What is this? sport? I never wish'd to see you sorry; now,
I trust, I shall. My women, come; you have
leave.
Leon. Go, do our bidding; hence.

Leon. Bear the boy hence, he shall not come

Away with him :-and let her sport herself
With that she's big with; for 'tis Polixenes
Has made thee swell thus.
Her.

But I'd say, he had not,
And, I'll be sworn, you would believe my saying,
Howe'er you lean to the nayward
Leon.
You, my lords,
Look on her, mark her well; be but about
To say, she is a goodly lady, and
The justice of your hearts will thereto add,
Tis pity, she's not honest, honourable:
Praise her but for this her without-door form,
(Which, on my faith, deserves high speech,) and
straight

The shrug, the hum, or ha; these petty brands,
That calumny doth use: O, I am out,
That mercy does; for calumny will sear
Virtue itself;-these shrugs, these hums,and ha's,
When you have said, she's goodly, come be-

Ere you can say she's honest: But be it known, From him that has most cause to grieve it should be,

Should a villain say so,
The most replenish'd villain in the world,
He were as much more villain: you, my lord,
Do but mistake.

Imparts this; which,-if you (or stupified,
Or seeming so in skill) cannot, or will not,
Relish as truth, like us; inform yourselves,
We need no more of your advice: the matter,
The loss, the gain, the ordering on't, is all
Properly ours.
Ant.
And I wish, my liege,
You had only in your silent judgment tried it,
Without more overture.
Leon.
How could that be?
Either thou art most ignorant by age,
Or thou wert born a fool. Camillo's flight,
Added to their familiarity,

(Which was as gross as ever touch'd conjecture,
That lack'd sight only, nought for approbation,
But only seeing, all other circumstances

Made up to the deed) doth push on this proceed- Her advocate to the loudest: We do not know ing:

Yet, for a greater confirmation,
(For, in act of this importance, 'twere

How he may soften at the sight of the child;
The silence often of pure innocence
Persuades, when speaking fails.

Most piteous to be wild,) I have despatch'd in Emil.

post,

To sacred Delphos, to Apollo's temple,
Cleomenes and Dion, whom you know

Of stuff'd sufficiency: Now, from the oracle
They will bring all whose spiritual counsel had
Shall stop, or spur me. Have I done well?
1 Lord. Well done, my lord.

Leon. Though I am satisfied, and need no more
Than what I know, yet shall the oracle
Give rest to the minds of others; such as he,
Whose ignorant credulity will not

Come up to the truth: So have we thought it
good,

From our free person she should be confin'd;
Lest that the treachery of the two fled hence,,
Be left her to perform. Come, follow us;
We are to speak in public: for this business
Will raise us all.

Ant. [Aside. To laughter, as I take it,
If the good truth were known.
SCENE II. The same.

[Exeunt.
The outer Room of a

Prison.
Enter Paulina and Attendants.
Paul. The keeper of the prison,-call to him;
[Exit an Attendant.
Let him have knowledge who I am.-Good lady!
No court in Europe is too good for thee,
What dost thou then in prison ?-Now, good sir,
Re-enter Attendant, with the Keeper.
You know me, do you not?
Keep.

For a worthy lady,
And one whom much I honour.
Pray you, then,

Paul.

Conduct me to the queen.

Keep. I may not, madam; to the contrary
I have express commandment.
Paul.

Here's ado,
To lock up honesty and honour from
The access of gentle visiters!-Is it lawful,
Pray you, to see her women? any of them?
Emilia ?

Keep. So please you, madam, to put
Apart these your attendants, I shall bring
Einilia forth.
Paul.
I pray now, call her.
Withdraw yourselves.
Keep.

Most worthy madam,
Your honour, and your goodness, is so evident,
That your free undertaking cannot miss
A thriving issue; there is no lady living,
So meet for this great errand: Please your lady-
ship

To visit the next room, I'll presently
Acquaint the queen of your most noble offer;
Who, but to-day, hammer'd of this design;
But durst not tempt a minister of honour,
Lest she should be denied.

Paul.

Tell her, Emilia,
I'll use the tongue I have: if wit flow from it,
As boldness from my bosom, let it not be doubted
I shall do good.

Emil.

Now be you blest for it!
I'll to the queen: Please you, come something

Leon. Nor night, nor day, no rest: It is but
weakness
To bear the matter thus; mere weakness, if
The cause were not in being;-part o' the cause,
She, the adultress;-for the harlot king
Is quite beyond mine arm, out of the blank
And level of my brain, plot-proof: but she
I can hook to me: Say, that she were gone,
Given to the fire, a moiety of my rest,
Might come to me again-Who's there?
1 Attend.

My lord! [Advancing.

[Exeunt Attend. Leon. How does the boy? And, madam, 1 Attend. He took good rest to-night. I must be present at your conference. 'Tis hop'd his sickness is discharg'd. Paul. Well, be it so, pr'ythee. [Exit Keeper. Leon To see, Here's such ado to make no stain a stain, As passes colouring.

Re-enter Keeper, with Emilia.
Dear gentlewoman, how fares our gracious lady?
Emil. As well as one so great, and so forlorn,
May hold together: On her frights and griefs,
(Which never tender lady hath borne greater,)
She is, something before her time, deliver'd.
Paul. A boy?

Emil.

A daughter; and a goodly babe,
Lusty, and like to live: the queen receives
Much comfort in't: says, My poor prisoner,
I am innocent as you.
Paul.

I dare be sworn:
These dangerous unsafe lunes o' the king! be-
shrew them!

He must be told on't, and he shall: the office
Becomeɛ a woman best; I'll take't upon me:
If I prove honey-mouth'd, let my tongue blister;
And never to my red-look'd anger be

The trumpet any more:-'Pray you, Emilia,
Commend my best obedience to the queen;
If she dares trust me with her little babe,
I'll show't the king, and undertake to be

His nobleness!

Conceiving the dishonour of his mother,
He straight declin'd, droop'd, took it deeply,
Fasten'd and fix'd the shame on't in himself,
Threw off his spirit, his appetite, his sleep,
And downright languish'd-Leave me solely:

go,

See how he fares. [Erit Attend. ]-Fie, fie! no
thought of him ;-

The very thought of my revenges that way
Recoil upon me: in himself too mighty;
And in his parties, his alliance,-Let him be,
Until a time may serve: for present vengeance
Take it on her. Camillo and Polixenes
Laugh at me; make their pastime at my sorrow:
They should not laugh, if I could reach them; nor
Shail she, within my power.

Enter Paulina, with a Child.

1 Lord.
You must not enter
Paul. Nay, rather, good my lords, be second

to me:

Fear you his tyrannous passion more, alas,
Than the queen's life? a gracious innocent soul,
More free, than he is jealous.

That's enough. His hopeful son's, his babe's, betrays to slander, Whose sting is sharper than the sword's; and will not

(For, as the case now stands, it is a curse
He cannot be compell'd to't,) once remove
I come to bring him sleep. 'Tis such as you,-The root of his opinion, which is rotten,
As ever oak, or stone, was sound.
Leon.

Than you are mad; which is enough, I'll war- A better guiding spirit!-What need these rant,

As this world goes to pass for honest.
You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies,
Leon.
Traitors! Will never do him good, not one of you.
Will you not push her out? Give her the bas-So, so :-Farewell, we are gone.
tard:-

Thou dotard [To Antigonus,] thou art woman-
tir'd, unroosted

By thy dame Partlet here:-take up the bastard;
Take't up, I say; give't to thy crone.
Paul

Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou

He is not guilty of her coming hither.
Leon. You are liars all.

ACT III.

1 Lord. 'Beseech your highness, give us better SCENE I. The same. A Street in scme Town

credit :

We have always truly serv'd you; and beseech
So to esteem of us; and on our knees we beg
(As recompense of our dear services,

Past, and to come,) that you do change this pur-
pose;

Which, being so horrible, so bloody, must
Lead on to some foul issue: We all kneel.
Leon. I am a feather for each wind that

blows:

Shall I live on, to see this bastard kneel
And call me father? Better burn it now,
Than curse it then. But, be it; let it live:
It shall not neither.-You, sir, come you hither;
[To Antigonus.
You, that have been so tenderly officious
With lady Margery, your midwife, there,
To save this bastard's life :-for 'tis a bastard,
So sure as this beard's gray,-what will you ad-

venture

for the fail

Of any point in't shall not only be
Death to thyself, but to thy lewd-tongu'd wife;
Whom, for this time we pardon. We enjoin
thee,

As thou art liegeman to us, that thou carry
This female bastard hence; and that thou
bear it

To some remote and desert place, quite out
Of our dominions; and that there thou leave it,
Without more mercy, to its own protection,
And favour of the climate. As by strange fortune
It came to us, I do in justice charge thee,-
On thy soul's peril, and thy body's torture,-
That thou commend it strangely to some place,
Where chance may nurse, or end it: Take it up.
Ant. I swear to do this, though a present death
Had been more merciful.-Come on, poor babe.
Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and

ravens,

To be thy nurses! Wolves and bears, they say,
Casting their savageness aside, have done
Like offices of pity.-Sir, be prosperous
In more than this deed doth require! and
ing,

Against this cruelty, fight on thy side,
Poor thing, condemn'd to loss!

Leon. Another's issue.

1 Atten.

Enter Cleomenes and Dion.

Cleo. The climate's delicate; the air most
sweet;

Fertile the isle; the temple much surpassing
The common praise it bears.
Dion.
I shall report,
For most it caught me, the celestial habits,
(Methinks, I so should term them,) and the re

verence

Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice!
How ceremonious, solemn, and unearthly
It was i' the offering!
Cleo.
But, of all, the burst
And the ear-deaf'ning voice o' the oracle,
Kin to Jove's thunder, so surpris'd my sense,
That I was nothing.
If the event o' the journey
Prove as successful to the queen,-O, be't so!-
As it hath been to us, rare, pleasant, speedy,
The time is worth the use on't.
Cleo.
Great Apollo,
Turn all to the best: These proclamations,
So forcing faults upon Hermione,

Dion.

I little like.

Dion.

The violent carriage of it Will clear, or end, the business: When the oracle, (Thus by Apollo's great divine seal'd up,) Shall the contents discover, something rare, Even then will rush to knowledge. Go,fresh horses;

And gracious be the issue!

[Exeunt

SCENE II. The same. A Court of Justice. Leontes, Lords, and Officers, appear properly seated.

Leon. This sessions (to our great grief, we
pronounce)

Even pushes 'gainst our heart: the party tried,
The daughter of a king; our wife; and one
Of us too much belov'd.-Let us be clear'd
Of being tyrannous, since we so openly
Proceed in justice; which shall have due course,
Even to the guilt, or the purgation.
Produce the prisoner.

Offi. It is his highness' pleasure, that the queen
Appear in person here in court.-Silence !
Hermione is brought in, guarded; Paulina and
Ladies, attending.

Leon. Read the indictment.

Offi. Hermione, queen to the worthy Leontes, bless-king of Sicilia, thou art here accused and ar raigned of high treason, in committing adul tery with Polixenes, king of Bohemia; and con spiring with Camillo to take away the life of our sovereign lord the king, thy royal husband; the pretence whereof being by circumstances partly laid open, thou, Hermione, contrary to the faith and allegiance of a true sub ject, didst counsel and aid them, for their better safety, to fly away by night.

[Exit, with the child.
No, I'll not rear

Please your highness, posts,
From those you sent to the oracle, are come
An hour since: Cleomenes and Dion,
Being well arriv'd from Delphos, are both
landed,

Hasting to the court.
1 Lord.
So please you, sir, their speed
Hath been beyond account.
Leon.
Twenty-three days
They have been absent: 'Tis good speed: fore-
tells,

The great Apollo certainly will have
The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords;
Summon a session, that we may arraign
Our most disloyal lady; for, as she hath
Been publickly accus'd, so shall she have
A just and open trial. While she lives,
My heart will be a burden to me. Leave me ;
And think upon my bidding.

[Exeunt.

Her. Since what I am to say, must be but that
Which contradicts my accusation; and
The testimony on my part, no other
But what comes from myself; it shall scarce
boot me

To say, Not guilty: mine integrity,
Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,
Be so receiv'd. But thus,-If powers divine
Behold our human actions, (as they do,)

I doubt not then, but innocence shall make
False accusation blush, and tyranny
Tremble at patience.-You, my lord, best know
(Who least will seem to do so) my past life
Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true,
As I am now unhappy; which is more
Than history can pattern, though devis'd,