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'st 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 centre is not big enough to bear

A school-boy's top.3-Away with her to prison:
He, who shall speak for her, is afar off guilty,
But that he speaks.4

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,
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?

my

[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;

Ant. It is for you we speak, not for ourselves: You are abus'd, and by some putter-on, 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 honour, I'll geld them all: fourteen they shall not see, To bring false generations; they are coheirs; And I had rather glib myself, than they Should not produce fair issue. Leon.

Cease; no more. You smell this business with a sense as cold As is a dead man's nose: but I do see't and feel't, As you feel doing thus; and see withal The instruments that feel."

What! lack I credit?

ì 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 matte", The loss, the gain, the ordering on't, is ali 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,

tress

Has deserv'd prison, then abound in tears, As I come out: this action, I now go on,

Is for my better grace.-Adieu, my lord:

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

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. Ant.

If it prove She's otherwise, I'll keep my stables where I lodge my wife; I'll go in couples with her; Then 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.

1 Federary. This word, which is probably of the poet's own invention, is used for confederate, accomplice. 2 One that knows what she should be ashamed to know herself, even if the knowledge of it was shared but with her paramour. It is the use of but for be-out (only, according to Malone) that obscures the sense. 3 i. e. no foundation can be trusted.

4 'He who shall speak for her is afar off guilty, But that he speaks.'

He who shall speak for her is remotely guilty in merely speaking.

5 i. e. what I am now about to do.

6 Much has been said about this passage: one has thought it should be stable-stand; another that it means station. But it may be explained thus:-'If she prove

(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:12 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,
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. [Exeun.

false, I'll make my stables or kennel of my wife's cham ber; I'll go in couples with her like a dog, and never leave her for a moment; trust her no further than I can feel and see her.'

7 I would land-damn him.' Johnson interprets this: 'I will damn or condemn him to quit the land.' 9 Glib or lib, i. e. castrate.

9 I see and feel my disgrace, as you, Antigonus, now feel my doing this to you, and as you now see the instruments that feel, i. e. my fingers. Leontes must here be supposed to touch or lay hold of Antigonus.

10 The old copy reads a truth. Rowe made the cor rection.

11 i. e. proof.

12 i. e. of abilities more than sufficient

Paul.

Conduct me to the queen.

For a worthy lady,

Pray you, then,

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 visitors!Is it lawful,
Prasy 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.

[Exeunt Attend.

Кеер.

And, madam,

[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.

I dare be sworn:

Paul. 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;
The silence often of innocence
pure
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 poldness 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 nearer. Keep. Madam, if't please the queen to send the babe,

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

You need not fear it, sir:

1 Lunes. This word has not been found in any other English writer; but it is used in old French for frenzy, lunacy, folly. A similar expression occurs in The Revenger's Tragedy, 1608.

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:-ge,
See how he fares. [Exit Attend.]-Fye, fye! 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
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 tyrannous passion more, alas, Than the queen's life? a gracious innocent soul; More free, than he is jealous.

"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!

Leon.

4 I ne'er heard yet,
That any of these bolder vices wanted
Less impudence to gainsay what they did,
Than to perform it first.2

Her.
That's true enough;
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,
I 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;

And, why he left your court, the gods themselves, 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

bably derived from Ecclesiasticus, iii. II, cannot be too often impressed on the female mind: The glory of a man is from the honour of his father; and a mother in dishonour is a reproach to her children.'

1 Encounter so uncurrent is unallowed or unlawful meeting.-Strain'd means swerv'd or gone astray from the line of duty.

2 It is to be observed that originally in our language, two negatives did not affirm, but only strengthen the negation. Examples of similar phraseology occur in several of our author's plays, and even in the first act of this very drama: in this passage, Johnson observes that, according to the present use of words, less should be more, or wanted should be had.

3 See note 2, p. 316. To stand within the level of a zun is to stand in a direct line with its mouth, and in danger of being hurt by its discharge. This expression often occurs in Shakspeare.

To women of all fashion :-Lastly, harried
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:
O, that he were alive, and here beholding
His daughter's trial! that he did but see
The flatness of my misery; yet with eyes
Of pity, not revenge!

Re-enter Officers with CLEOMENES and DION. Ofi. 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

This seal'd-up oracle, by the hand deliver'd great Apollo's priest; and that, since then, You have not dar'd to break the holy seal, Nor read the secrets in't.

Cleo. Dion.
Leon. Break up the seals and read.

All this we swear.

blameless, Camillo a true subject, Leontes a jealous Offi. [Reads. Hermione is chaste, Polxenes tyrant, his innocent babe truly begotten; and the king shall live without an heir, if that, which is lost, be not found.19

10

Lords. Now blessed be the great Apollo! Her.

Leon. Hast thou read truth?

Offi.

As it is here set down.

Praised!

Ay, my Lord; even so

And see what death is doing.

Take her hence;

Leon. Her heart is but o'ercharg'd; she will recover.I have too much believed mine own suspicion :Beseech you, tenderly apply to her

4 i. e. they who have done like you. Shakspeare had this from Dorastus and Fawnia, it was her part to deny such a monstrous crime, and to be impudent in forswear. ing the fact, since she had passed all shame in commit. ting the fault."

5 It is your business to deny this charge; but the mere denial will be useless, will prove nothing. 6 Bugbear.

7 Starr'd most unluckily,' Ill-starred; born under an inauspicious planet.

S Strength of limit, i. e. the degree of strength which it is customary to acquire before women are suffered to go abroad after child-bearing.

9 The flatness of my misery,' that is absoluteness, the completeness of my misery.

10 This is almost literally from Greene's novel. 11 i. e. of the event of the queen's trial. We still say, he sped well or ill.