Her.

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.

Leon.

You have mistook, my lady, Polixenes for Leontes: O thou thing, Which I'll not call a creature of thy place, Lest barbarism, making me the precedent, Should a like language use to all degrees, And mannerly distinguishment leave out Betwixt the prince and beggar! - I have said, She's an adultress; I have said, with whom : More, she's a traitor; and Camillo is A federary with her; and one that knows What she should shame to know herself, But with her most vile principal, that she's A bed-swerver, even as bad as those That vulgars give bold titles; ay, and privy To this their late escape.

Her.

No, by my life, Privy to none of this: How will this grieve you, When you shall come to clearer knowledge, that You thus have publish'd me? Gentle my lord, You scarce can right me throughly then, to say You did mistake.

Leon.

No, no; if I mistake

In those foundations which I build upon,
The center is not big enough to bear

A school-boy's top. - Away with her to prison :
He, who shall speak for her, is afar off guilty,
But that he speaks.

Her.
There's some ill planet reigns:
I must be patient, till the heavens look
With an aspect more favourable. — Good my lords,
I am not prone to weeping, as our sex
Commonly are; the want of which vain dew,
Perchance, shall dry your pities: but I have
That honourable grief lodg'd here, which burns
Worse than tears drown: 'Beseech you all, my
lords,

With thoughts so qualified as your charities
Shall best instruct you, measure me; - and so
The king's will be perform'd !

Leon.

Shall I be heard? [To the Guards. Her. Who is't, that goes with me?-'Beseech your highness,

My women may be with me; for, you see,
My plight requires it. Do not weep, good fools;
There is no cause: when you shall know, your

mistress

I never wish'd to see you sorry; now,

If it prove She's otherwise, I'll keep my stables where

I lodge my wife; I'll go in couples with her;
Than when I feel, and see her, no further trust her,
For every inch of woman in the world,

Ay, every dram of woman's flesh, is false,
If she be.

Leon. Hold your peaces.

1 Lord.

Good my lord,

We need no grave to bury honesty ;
There's not a grain of it, the face to sweeten
Of the whole dungy earth.

Leon.

What! lack I credit? 1 Lord. I had rather you did lack, than I, my lord,

Upon this ground: and more it would content me
To have her honour true, than your suspicion;
Be blam'd for't how you might.

Leon.
Why, what need we
Commune with you of this? but rather follow
Our forceful instigation? Our prerogative
Calls not your counsels; but our natural goodness
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.

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,

But only seeing, all other circumstances
Made up to the deed,) doth push on this proceeding.
Yet, for a greater confirmation,

(For, in an act of this importance, 'twere
Most piteous to be wild,) I have dispatch'd in 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 publick; for this business
Will raise us all.

Ant. [Aside.] To laughter, as I take it,
If the good truth were known.

[Exeunt. The outer Room of a

Keep.

call her.

[Exeunt Attend.

And, madam,

I must be present at your conference.
Paul. Well, be it so, pry'thee. [Exit Keeper.
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! beshrew them!

He must be told on't, and he shall the office
Becomes 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
Her advocate to th' loudest: We do not know
How he may soften at the sight o'the child;

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

babe,

I know not what I shall incur, to pass it,
Having no warrant.

Paul. You need not fear it, sir :
The child was prisoner to the womb; and is,
By law and process of great nature, thence
Free'd and enfranchis'd: not a party to
The anger of the king; nor guilty of,
If any be, the trespass of the queen.
Keep. I do believe it.
Paul.

Do not you fear: upon
Mine honour, I will stand 'twixt you and danger.
[Exeunt.
The same. A Room in the
Palace.

T

SCENE III..

Enter LEONTES, ANTIGONUS, Lords, and other

Attendants.

Leon. Nor night nor day, no rest: It is but weakness

the matter thus; mere weakness, if

e 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 Atten.

Leon. How does the boy? 1 Atten.

My lord ? [Advancing.

He took good rest to-night; 'Tis hop'd, his sickness is discharg’d. Leon.

His nobleness!

To see,

I krew, she would.

I told her so, my lord,

On your displeasure's peril, and on mine,
She should not visit you.

Leon.
What, canst not rule her?
Paul. From all dishonesty, he can: in this,
(Unless he take the course that you have done,
Commit me, for committing honour,) trust it,
He shall not rule me.

Ant.
Lo you now; you hear!
When she will take the rein, I let her run;
But she'll not stumble.

Paul.
Good my liege, I come,
And, I beseech you, hear me, who profess
Myself your loyal servant, your physician,
Your most obedient counsellor; yet that dare
Less appear so, in comforting your evils,

Than such as most seem yours: -I say, I come
From your good queen.

Good queen!

Leon. Paul. Good queen, my lord, good queen: I say, good queen;

And would by combat make her good, so were I A man, the worst about you.

Leon.

Force her hence.

la so entitling me: and no less honest

tir'd, unroosted

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

Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou
Tak'st up the princess, by that forced baseness
Which he has put upon't!

Leon.
He dreads his wife.
Paul. So, I would, you did; then 'twere past all

doubt,

You'd call your children yours. Leon.

Ant. I am none, by this good

Paul.

A nest of traitors!

light.

Nor I; nor any, But one, that's here; and that's himself: for he The sacred honour of himself, his queen's, His hopeful son's, his babe's, betrays to slander, Whose sting is sharper than the sword's; and will

not

Paul. And, might we lay the old proverb to your charge, So like you, 'tis the worse. Behold, my lords, Although the print be little, the whole matter And copy of the father: eye, nose, lip,

The trick of his frown, his forehead; nay, the valley, The pretty dimples of his chin, and cheek; his smiles;

The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger :-
And thou, good goddess nature, which hast made it
So like to him that got it, if thou hast

The ordering of the mind too, 'mongst all colours
No yellow in't; lest she suspect, as he does,
Her children not her husband's !

Leon.
A gross hag!
And, lozel, thou art worthy to be hang'd,
That wilt not stay her tongue.

Ant.

Hang all the husbands, That cannot do that feat, you'll leave yourself Hardly one subject.

Leon. Once more, take her hence. Paul. A most unworthy and unnatural lord Can do no more.

Leon. Paul.

It is an heretick, that makes the fire, Not she, which burn's in't.

tyrant ;

But this most cruel usage of your queen (Not able to produce more accusation Than your own weak-hing'd fancy,) something

savours

Of tyranny, and will ignoble make you,
Yea, scandalous to the world.
Leon.

On your allegiance, Were I a tyrant,

Where were her life? she durst not call me so,
If she did know me one. Away with her.

Paul. I pray you, do not push me; I'll be gone.

Look to your babe, my lord; 'tis yours: Jove send

her

A better guiding spirit!-What need these hands?—
You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies,
Will never do him good, not one of you.
So, so: - Farewell; we are gone,

[Exit.

Leon. Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this.My child? away with't! - even thou, that hast A heart so tender o'er it, take it hence, And see it instantly consum'd with fire;

Even thou, and none but thou. Take it up straight:

Within this hour bring me word 'tis done,
(And by good testimony,) or I'll seize thy life,
With what thou else call'st thine: If thou refuse,
And wilt encounter with my wrath, say so;
The bastard brains with these my proper hands
Shall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire;
For thou sett'st on thy wife.
Ant.
I did not, sir:
These lords, my noble fellows, if they please,
Can clear me in't.

And call me father?
Than curse it then.
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 grey,·
adventure

To save this brat's life?

Ant.

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

Leon. Another's issue.

1 Atten.

[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

Any thing, my lord, That my ability may undergo, And nobleness impose: at least, thus much;

Leave me ;

[Exeunt.

That's true enough;

Her.
Though 'tis a saying, sir, not due to me.
Leon. You will not own it.
Her.

More than mistress of,
Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not
At all acknowledge. For Polixenes,
(With whom I am accus'd,) I do confess,
lov'd him, as in honour he requir'd;
With such a kind of love, as might become
A lady like me; with a love, even such,
So, and no other, as yourself commanded :
Which not to have done, I think, had been in me
Both disobedience and ingratitude,

To you, and toward your friend; whose love had spoke,

Even since it could speak, from an infant, freely,
That it was yours. Now, for conspiracy,

I know not how it tastes; though it be dish'd
For me to try how: all I know of it,
Is, that Camillo was an honest man;

Ladies, attending.

Leon. Read the indictment.

Of Hermione, queen to the worthy Leontes, ling of Sicilia, thou art here accused and arraigned of high treason, in_committing adultery with Pofirenes, king of Bohemia; and conspiring 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 subject, didst counsel and aid them, for their better safety, to fly away by night.

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,
And play'd, to take spectators: For behold me,
A fellow of the royal bed, which owe

A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter, The mother to a hopeful prince, - here standing, To prate and talk for life, and honour 'fore Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it, As I weigh grief, which I would spare: for honour, 'Tis a derivative from me to mine, And only that I stand for. I appeal To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes Came to your court, how I was in your grace, How merited to be so; since he came, With what encounter so uncurrent I Have strain'd, to appear thus: if one jot beyond The bound of honour; or, in act, or will, That way inclining; harden'd be the hearts Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin Cry, Fye upon my grave!

I ne'er heard yet,

That any of these bolder vices wanted Less impudence to gainsay what they did, Than to perform it first.

Wotting no more than I, are ignorant.

Leon. You knew of his departure, as you know What you have underta’en to do in his absence. Her. Sir,

You speak a language that I understand not:
My life stands in the level of your dreams,
Which I'll lay down.

Leon.

Your actions are my dreams;
You had a bastard by Polixenes,
And I but dream'd it: - As you were past all shame,
(Those of your fact are so,) so past all truth :
Which to deny, concerns more than avails:
For as

Thy brat hath been cast out, like to itself,
No father owning it, (which is, indeed,
More criminal in thee, than it,) so thou
Shalt feel our justice; in whose easiest passage,
Look for no less than death.

Her.
Sir, spare your threats;
The bug, which you would fright me with, I seek.
To me can life be no commodity :

The crown and comfort of my life, your favour,

I do give lost; for I do feel it gone,

But know not how it went: My second joy,
And first-fruits of my body, from his presence,

I am barr'd, like one infectious: My third comfort,
Starr'd most unluckily, is from my breast,

The innocent milk in its most innocent mouth,
Haled out to murder: Myself on every post
Proclaim'd a strumpet; with immodest hatred,
The child-bed privilege denied, which 'longs
To women of all fashion: - Lastly, hurried
Here to this place, i' the open air, before
I have got strength of limit. Now, my liege,
Tell me what blessings I have here alive,
That I should fear to die? Therefore, proceed.
But yet hear this; mistake me not; No! life,
I prize it not a straw :- but for mine honour,
(Which I would free,) if I shall be condemn'd
Upon surmises; all proofs sleeping else,
But what your jealousies awake; I tell you
'Tis rigour, and not law. - Your honours all,
I do refer me to the oracle?
Apollo be my judge.

1 Lord.

This your request Is altogether just therefore, bring forth, And in Apollo's name, his oracle.

[Exeunt certain Officers.

Her. The emperor of Russia was my father: