To give mine enemy a lasting wink; Which draught to me were cordial.

Cam. Sir, my lord,

I could do this; and that with nu rash⚫ potion, But with a lingering dram, that should not work Maliciously like poison: but I cannot

Believe this crack to be in my dread mistress, So sovereignly being honourable.

I have loved thee,-

Leon. Make't thy question, and go rot! Dost think, I am so muddy, so unsettled, To appoint myself in this vexation? Sully The purity and whiteness of my sheets,

Which to preserve, is sleep; which being spotted,
Is goads, thorns, nettles, tails of wasps ?

Give scandal to the blood o' the prince my son,
Who, I do think, is mine, and love as mine;
Without right moving to't? Would I do this?
Could man so blench?

Cam. I must believe you, Sir;

I do; and will fetch off Bohemia for't:
Provided, that when he's removed, your highness
Will take again your queen, as yours at first;
Even for your son's sake; and, thereby, for sealing
The injury of tongues, in courts and kingdoms
Known and allied to yours.

Leon. Thou dost advise me,

Even so as I mine own course have set down:
I'll give no blemish to her honour, none.

Cam. My lord,

Go then; and with a countenance as clear

As friendship wears at feasts, keep with Bohemia,
And with your queen: I am his cupbearer;
If from me he have wholesome beverage,
Account me not your servant.

Leon. This is all :

Do't and thou hast the one half of my heart; Do't not, thou split'st thine own.

Cam. I'll do't my lord.

Leon. I will seem friendly, as thou hast advised

me.

[Exit.

Cam. O miserable lady!-But, for me, What case stand I in? I must be the poisoner Of good Polixenes: and my ground to do't Is the obedience to a master; one, Who, in rebellion with himself, will have All that are his, so too.-To do this deed, Promotion follows: if I could find example Of thousands, that had struck auointed kings, And flourish'd after, I'd not do't: Lut since Nor brass, nor stone, nor parchment, bears not one, Let villainy itself forswear't. I must Forsake the court: to do't, or no, is certain To me a break-neck. Happy star, reign now! Here comes Bohemia.

Enter POLIXENES.

Pol. This is strange! Methinks,

My favour here begins to warp. Not speak?-
Good-day, Camillo.

Cam. Hail, most royal Sir!

Pol. What is the news i' the court?

Cam. None rare, my lord.

Pol. The king hath on him such a countenance, As he had lost some province, and a region Loved as he loves himself: even now I met him With castomary compliment; when he, Waiting his eyes to the contrary, and falling A lip of much contempt, speeds from me; and So leaves me, to consider what is breeding, That changes thus his manners.

Cam. I dare not know, my lord.

I have look'd on thousands, who have sped the better

By my regard, but kill'd none so. Camillo,--
As you are certainly a gentleman; thereto
Clerk-like, experienced, which no less adorns
Our gentry, than our parents' noble names,

In whose success we are gentle,-I beseech you If you know aught which does behove my know ledge

Thereof to be inform'd, imprison it not

In ignorant concealment.

Cam. I may not answer.

Pol. A sickness caught of me, and yet I well! I must be answer'd-Dost thou hear, Camillo,

I conjure thee, by all the parts of man,

Which honour does acknowledge,-whereof the least

Is not this suit of mine,-that thou declare
What incidency thou dost guess of harm

Is creeping toward n.e; how far off, how near;
Which way to be prevented, if to be;
If not, how best to bear it.

Pol. Sir, I'll tell you;

Since I am charged in honour, and by him
That I think honourable: therefore, mark my
counsel;

Which must be even as swifty 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. By the king.

Pol. For what?

Cam. He thinks, nay, with all confidence he

swears,

As he had seen't, or been an instrument

To vice you to't,-that you have touch'd his queen Forbiddenly.

Pol. O, then my best blood turn
To an infected jelly; and my name

Be yoked with his, that did betray the best!
Turu then my freshest reputation to

A savour, that may strike the dullest nostril
Where I arrive; and my approach be shunn'd,
Nay, hated too, worse than the great'st infection
That e'er was heard, or read!

Cam. Swear his thought over

By cach 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 fabric of his folly; whose foundation
Is piled 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 bor?
If therefore you dare trust my honesty,-
That lies enclosed in his trunk, which you
Shall bear along impawn'd,-away to-night.
Your followers I will whisper to the business;

And will, by twos, and threes, 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

His execution sworn.
Pol. I do believe thee:

dare not

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, but nothing

'Tis past enduring.

1 Lady. Come, my gracious lord.

Shall I be your play-fellow?

Mam. No, I'll none of you.

1 Lady. Why, my sweet lord?

Leon. You, my lords,

I were a baby still. I love you better.

2 Lady. And why so, my good lord? Mam. Not for because

Your brows are blacker; yet black brows, they say, Become some women best; so that there be not Too much hair there, but in a semicircle,

Or half-moon made with a pen.

2 Lady. Who taught you this?

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 :-0, I am out,
That mercy does; for calumny will sear

Mam. There was a man,

Her. Nay, come, sit down; then on.

When have said, she's goodly, come between,
you
Ere you can say she's honest: but be it known,
From him that has most cause to grieve it should be,
She's an adultress.

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: 0 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,

softly:

Yon crickets shall not hear it.

Her. Come on then,

And give 't me, in mine ear.

Enter LEONTES, ANTIGONUS, LORDS, and Others. Lean. Was he met there? His train? Camillo with him?

1 Lord. Behind the tuft of pines I met them;

never

Saw Imen scour so on their way: I eyed them
Even to their ships.

Leon. How bless'd am I

In my just censure? In my true opinion?-
Alack, for lesser knowledge +?-How accursed,
In being so blest!-There may be in the cup
A spider steep'd, and one may drink; depart,
And yet partake no venom; for his knowledge
Is not infected; but if one present

The abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known
How he hath drank, he cracks his gorge, his sides,
With violent herts :-I have drank and seen the
spider.

Canillo was his help in this, his pander :-
There is a plot against my life, my crown;
All's true, that is mistrusted :-That false villain,
Whom I employ'd, was pre-employ'd by him:
He has discover'd ny design, and I
Remain a pinch'd thing; yea, a very trick
For them to play at will:-How came the posterns
So easily open?

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 lodged 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 pertorm'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

Has deserved prison, then abound in tears,
As I came out; this action, I now go on,
Is for my better grace.-Adieu, my lord:
I never wish'd to see you sorry; now,

I trust, I shall.- -ly women, come; you have leave.

Leon. Go, do our bidding: hence.

[Exeunt Queen and Ladies. 1 Lord. 'Beseech your highness, call the queen again. Ant. Be certain what you do, Sir; lest your justice

Prove violence; in the which three great ones suffer,

Yourself, your queen, your son.

1 Lord. For her, my lord,

I dare my life lay down, and will do't, Sir,
Please you to accept it, that the queen is spotless
I' the eyes of heaven, and to you; I mean,
In this which you accuse her.

Aut. 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.

A Lord. Good, my lord,

Ant. It is for you we speak, not for ourselves: You are abused, and by some putter on t

That will be damn'd for't; 'would I knew the villain,

I would land-damn him: be she honour-flaw'd,-
I have three daughters; the eldest is eleven;
The second, and the third, nine, and some five;
If this prove true, they'll pay for't: by mine ho-

nour,

I'll geld them all; fourteen they shall not see, To bring false generations: they are co-heirs; And I had rather glib myself, than they Should not produce fair issue.

Leon. Cease; o more.

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 blamed 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,
O 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 guin, 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 tool. 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 proceeding:

Yet, for a greater confirmation.

(For, in an act of this importance, 'twere

Most piteous to be wild), I have despatch'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 confined;
Lest that the treachery of the two, fled hence,
+ Instigator.
Of abilities more than sufficient.

Take my station. : Proof.

SCENE 11.-The same-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.
Paul. Pray you then,

Conduct me to the queen.

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

Paul. Here's ado,

To lock up honesty and honour from
The access of gentle visitors!-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
Emilia forth.

Paul. I pray now, call her. Withdraw yourselves.

Keep. And, madam,

[Exeunt Attend.

[Exit Keeper.

I must be present at your conference.
Paul. Well, be it so, pr'ythee.
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
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 shew'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;
The silence often of pure innocence
Persuades, when speaking fails.

Emil. 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 ladyship
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 that 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

SCENE III.-The same.-A Room in the Palace. Enter LEONTES, ANTIGONUS, LORDS, and other ATTENDANTS.

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 Atten. My lord?

Leon. How does the boy?

1 Atten. He took good rest to-night; 'Tis hoped, his sickness is discharged. Leon. To see,

His nobleness!

[Advancing.

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 pastin.e at my sorrow:
They should not laugh, if I could reach them; nor
Shall 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 tyranous passion more, alas,
Than the queen's life? A gracious innocent soul;
More free, than he is jealous.

Ant. That's enough.

1 Atten. Madam, he hath not slept to-night; commanded

None should come at him.

Paul. Not so hot, good, Sir:

I come to bring him sleep. Tis such as you,-
That creep like shadows by him, and do sigh
At each his needless heavings, such as you
Nourish the cause of his awaking: I
Do come with words as med'cinal as true;
Honest, as either; to purge him of that humour,
That presses him from sleep.

Leon. What noise there, ho?

Paul. No noise, my lord; but needful conference, About some gossips for your highness.

Leon. How ?

Away with that audacious lady: Antigonus,

Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou

Takest 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. A nest of traitors!

Ant. I am none, by this good light.
Paul. Nor 1; 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
(For, as the case now stands, it is a curse
He cannot be compell'd to't,) once remove
The root of his opinion, which is rotten,
As ever oak, or stone, was sound.
Leon. A callat ¶,

Of boundless tongue; who late hath beat her husband,

And now baits me!-This brat is none of mine;
It is the issue of Polixenes:

Hence with it; and, together with the dam,
Commit them to the fire.

Paul, It is yours ;

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 has 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!

I knew, she would.

Ant. 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 conforting your evils 1.
Than such as most seem yours:-I say,
From your good queen.

Leon. Good queen!

• Mark and aim.

Abetting your ill courses.

come

+ Alone.