Re-enter Officers, with CLEOMENES and DION. Offi. You here shall swear upon this sword of justice, That you, Cleomenes and Dion, have Been both at Delphos; and from thence have brought Of great Apollo's priest; and that, since then, Cle. Dion. All this we swear. Leo. Break up the seals, and read. Offi. [Reads.] Hermione is chaste, Polixenes blameless, Camillo a true subject, Leontes a jealous tyrant, his innocent babe truly begotten: and the king shall live without an heir, if that, which is lost, be not found. Lords. Now blessed be the great Apollo ! Her. Praised! Leo. Hast thou read truth? Offi. Ay, my lord; even so As it is here set down. Leo. There is no truth at all i' th' oracle : The sessions shall proceed; this is mere falsehood. Ser. My lord the king, the king! Leo. What is the business? Ser. O sir, I shall be hated to report it: The prince your son, with mere conceit and fear Of the queen's speed, is gone. Leo. How! gone? Ser. Is dead. Leo. Apollo's angry; and the heavens themselves Do strike at my injustice. [HERMIONE faints.] How now there? Paul. This news is mortal to the queen :-Look down, And see what death is doing. Leo. Take her hence: Her heart is but o'ercharg'd; she will recover. I have too much believ'd mine own suspicion : 'Beseech you, tenderly apply to her Some remedies for life.-Apollo, pardon [Exeunt PAULINA and Ladies, with HERMIONE. My great profaneness 'gainst thine oracle! [9] of the event of the queen's trial: so we still say, he sped well or ill. JOHNSON. I'll reconcile me to Polixenes : New woo my queen; recal the good Camillo; My friend Polixenes: which had been done, Not doing it, and being done : he, most humane, No richer than his honour :-How he glisters Does my deeds make the blacker!! Re-enter PAULINA. Paul. Woe the while! O, cut my lace; lest my heart, cracking it, 1 Lord. What fit is this, good lady? Paul. What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me? [1] This vehement retraction of Leontes, accompanied with the confession of more crimes than he was suspected of, is agreeable to our daily experience of the vicissitudes of violent tempers, and the eruptions of minds oppressed with guilt. JOHNSON To be or none, or little; though a devil Of the young prince; whose honourable thoughts When I have said, cry, woe !—the queen, the queen, The sweetest, dearest creature's dead; and vengeance for't Not dropp'd down yet. 1 Lord. The higher powers forbid ! Puul. I say, she's dead; I'll swear't: if word, nor oath, Prevail not, go and see: if you can bring Tincture, or lustre, in her lip, her eye, Heat outwardly, or breath within, I'll serve you Leo. Go on, go on : Thou canst not speak too much; I have deserv'd 1 Lord. Say no more; Howe'er the business goes, you have made fault I' th' boldness of your speech. Paul. I am sorry for❜t;3 All faults I make, when I shall come to know them, I do repent: Alas, I have show'd too much The rashness of a woman: he is touch'd To th' noble heart.-What's gone, and what's past help, Should be past grief: Do not receive affliction At my petition, I beseech you; rather Let me be punish'd, that have minded you Of what you should forget. Now, good my liege, [2] i. e. a devil would have shed tears of pity o'er the damned, ere he would have committed such an action. STEEVENS. [3] This is another instance of the sudden changes incident to vehement and w governable minds. JOHNSON. 14 VOL. IV. Sir, royal sir, forgive a foolish woman: Who is lost too: Take your patience to you, Leo. Thou didst speak but well, When most the truth; which I receive much better Than to be pitied of thee. Pr'ythee, bring me To the dead bodies of my queen, and son : One grave shall be for both; upon them shall Our shame perpetual: Once a day I'll visit The chapel where they lie; and tears, shed there, Nature will bear up with this exercise, SCENE III. [Exeunt. Bohemia. A desert Country near the Sea. Enter ANTIGONUS with the Child, and a Mariner. Ant. Thou art perfect' then, our ship hath touch'd upon The deserts of Bohemia ? Mar. Ay, my lord; and fear We have landed in ill time the skies look grimly, And threaten present blusters. In my conscience, The heavens with that we have in hand are angry, And frown upon us. Ant. Their sacred wills be done !-Go, get aboard; Look to thy bark; I'll not be long, before I call upon thee. Mar. Make your best haste; and go not Too far i' th' land: 'tis like to be loud weather; Of prey, that keep upon't. Ant. Go thou away: I'll follow instantly. Mar. I am glad at heart To be so rid o' th' business. Ant. Come, poor babe : [Exit. [4] Perfect is often used by Shakespeare for certain, well assured, or well informed. JOHNSON. I have heard, (but not believ'd,) the spirits of the dead So fill'd, and so becoming: in pure white robes, My cabin where I lay: thrice bow'd before me; There weep, and leave it crying; and, for the babe 1 pr'ythee, call't: for this ungentle business, There lie; and there thy character: there these; [Laying down a bundle. Which may, if fortune please, both breed thee, pretty, And still rest thine.-The storm begins :-Poor wretch, That, for thy mother's fault, art thus expos'd To loss, and what may follow!--Weep I cannot, But my heart bleeds: and most accurs'd am I, The day frowns more and more; thou art like to have [5] Thy description; i. e. the writing afterwards discovered with Perdita. STEEVENS. |