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! I come 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 dares Less appear so, in comforting your evils, Than such as most seem yours: -I say, From your good queen. Leo. Good queen! [good queen; Paul. Good queen, my lord, good queen! I say, And would by combat make her good, so were I A man, the worst' about you. Leo. Force her hence. Leves, Paul. Let him, that makes but trifles of his First hand me: on mine own accord, I'll off; But, first, I'll do my errand.-The good queen, For she is good, hath brought you forth a daughter; Here 'tis; commends it to your blessing. Leo. Out! [Laying down the child. You'd call your children yours. Leo. A nest of traitors! Ant. I am none, by this good light. 5 But one, that's here; and that's himself: for he 10 He cannot be compell'd to't) once remove The root of his opinion, which is rotten, As ever oak, or stone, was found. Leo. A callat, [band, 20 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, 25 The pretty dimples of his chin, and cheek; his smiles; 30 35 A mankind witch' Hence with her, out o' door:-40 A most intelligencing bawd! Paul. Not so: I am as ignorant in that, as you In so intitling me: and no less honest Than you are mad; which is enough, I'll warrant, 45 Not she, which burns in't. I'll not call you tyrant; As this world goes, to pass for honest. Worst here implies lowest. The phrase of mankind-woman is still in use in some counties, for a woman violent, ferocious, and mischievous; which is its meaning in this passage. 'Woman-tyr'd is synonymous with the modern hen-pecked. A croun means an old toothless sheep: thence an old woman. 'i. e. false baseness. Yellow is the colour of jealousy. term of contempt, meaning a worthless fellow. Lozel is an ancient You, 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. Leo. 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 uone but thou. Take it up straight: Within this bour 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 30; 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, Lord. We can; my royal liege, [credit: Leo. 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, this bastard's life:-for 'tis a bastard, So sure as this beard's grey,-what will you adTo save this brat's life? To save Ant. Any thing, my lord, That my ability may undergo, [venture And nobleness impose: at least, thus much; I'll pawn the little blood which I have left, To save the innocent: any thing possible. 5 Ant. I will, my lord. [the fail Leo. Mark, and perform it! (seest thou?) for 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, 10/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, 15 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, 20 Casting their savageness aside, have done Like offices of pity. Sir, be prosperous In more than this deed does require! and blessing, Against this cruelty, fight on thy side, Poor thing, condemn'd to loss! 23 Leo. No, I'll not rear Another's issue. [Exit, with the child. Enter a Messenger. Mes. Please your highness, posts, 30 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. Lord. So please you, sir, their speed 35 Hath been beyond account. Leo. Twenty-three days [te's, They have been absent: 'Tis good speed; fore- The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords; Leo. It shall be possible: Swear by this sword, 45 And think upon my bidding. [Exeunt. Prove as successful to the queen,-O, be't so !- Cleo. Great Apollo Turn all to the best! These proclamations, Dion. The violent carriage of it Will clear, or end, the business: When the oracle,] And gracious be the issue! SCENE A Court of Justice. [Exeunt. II. Leontes, Lords, andOfficers,appear properly seated Of. It is his highness' pleasure, that the queen Leo. Read the indictment. Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it 5 To your own conscience, sir, betore Polixenes Leo. I ne'er heard yet, 15 That any of these bolder vices wanted 20| Her. That's true enough; Though 'tis a saying, sir not due to me. Her. More than mistress of, Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not At all acknowledge. For Polixenes, Offi. "Hermione, queen to the worthy Leontes, "king of Sicilia, thou art here accused and arraigned of high treason, in committing adultery "with Polixenes, king of Bohemia; and conspi-35 "ring 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 40 "counsel and aid them, for their better safety, to "fly away by night." [me 45 Her. Since what I am to say, must be but that A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter, Leo. You knew of his departure, as you know You speak a language that I understand not: Leo. Your actions are my dreams; [shame, 155 Her. Sir, spare your threats; The bug, which you will fright me with, I seek. The crown and comfort of my life, your favour, I do give lost; for I do feel it gone, 60 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, 1i. e. equal. 21. e. the design. 3 To spare means here, to let it go, to quit the possession of it." To be in the level means io be within the reach. i. e. those who have done as you are supposed to have done, Starr'd Starr'd most unluckily, is from my breast, I Her heart is but o'ercharg'd; she will recover. [Exeunt Paulina and Ladies, with Hermione. 5 Some remedies for life.-Apollo, pardon New woo my queen; recall the good Camillo; My friend Polixenes: which had been done, 125 Off. You here shall swear upon the sword of Cleo. Dion. All this we swear. 35 Offi. "Hermione is chaste, Polixenes blameless, Lords. Now blessed be the great Apollo ! Leo. Hast thou read truth? Offi. Ay, my lord; even so as it is here set down. 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 Leo. How! gone? Ser. Is dead. Leo. Apollo's angry; and the heavens themselves Re-enter Paulina. Paul. Woe the while! O, cut my lace; lest my heart, cracking it, [me? Lord. What fit is this, good lady? 50 Of the young prince; whose honourable thoughts [down, 60 Paul. I am sorry for't; I'll follow instantly. [Exit. [dead 5 I have heard, (but not believ'd) the spirits of the So fill'd, and so becoming: in pure white robes, My cabin where I lay; thrice bow'd before me; All faults I make, when I shall come to know them, The love I bore your queen,—lo, fool again!-- Leon. Thou didst speak but well, And lead me to these sorrows. SCENE III. [Exeunt. Bohemia. A desert Country near the Sea. Mar. Ay, my lord; and fear "I pr'ythee, call't: for this ungextle business, "Put on thee by my lord, thou ne'er shalt see 25" Thy wife Paulina more:"-and so, with shrieks, She melted into air. Affrighted much, I did in time collect myself; and thought That, for thy mother's fault, art thus expos'd The heavens so dim by day.--A savage clamour!- Enter an old Shepherd. We have landed in ill time: the skies look grimly, 50I am gone for ever. [Exit, pursued by a bear. [aboard: Mar. Make your best haste; and go not Ant. Go thou away: Shep. I would, there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty; or that youth would sleep out the rest: for there is nothing in the between 55but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting.-Hark you now!Would any but these boil'd brains of nineteen, and two-and-twenty, hunt this weather? They have scar'd away two of my best sheep; which, I fear, 60 the wolf will sooner find, than the master: if any where I have them, 'tis by the sea-side, brouzing Perfect here means certain, or well assured, as in many other passages of our Anthor's Plays. * Meaning, the writing afterwards discovered with Perdita. of |