Which, being so horrible, so bloody, must
Lead on to some foul issue: We all kneel.

Leon. 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.
It shall not neither.

But, be it ; let it live:

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, what will

venture

To save this brat's life?

Ant.

you

Any thing, my lord,
That my ability may undergo,

ad

And nobleness impose: at least, thus much;
I'll
pawn the little blood which I have left,
To save the innocent: any thing possible.
Leon. It shall be possible: Swear by this sword",
Thou wilt perform my bidding.

Ant.

I will, my lord. Leon. Mark, and perform it; (seest thou?) for the fail

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,

6 It was anciently a practice to swear by the cross at the hilt of a sword.

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

Hath been beyond account.

Leon.

Twenty-three days

They have been absent: 'Tis good speed; foretels,
The great Apollo suddenly will have

The truth of this appear. Prepare you lords;
Summon a session, that we may arraign
Our most disloyal lady: for, as she hath
Been publickly accus'd, so shall she have
A just and open trial. While she lives,
My heart will be a burden to me.
And think upon my bidding.

Leave me ;

[Exeunt.

7 i, e. Commit it to some place as a stranger.

ACT THE THIRD.

SCENE 1.

A Street in some Town.

Enter CLEOMENES and DION.

Cleo, The climate's delicate; the air most sweet; Fertile the isle; the temple much surpassing

The common praise it bears.

Dion.

I shall report,

For most it caught me, the celestial habits, (Methinks, I so should term them,) and the re

verence

Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice!

How ceremonious, solemn, and unearthly
It was i'the offering!

Cleo.

But, of all, the burst
And the ear-deafening voice o'the oracle,
Kin to Jove's thunder, so surpriz'd my sense,
That I was nothing.

Dion.
If the event o'the journey
Prove as successful to the queen, - O, be't so!
As it hath been to us, rare, pleasant, speedy,
The time is worth the use on't.

Cleo.

Great Apollo

Turn all to the best! These proclamations,
So forcing faults upon Hermione,

I little like.

Dion.

The violent carriage of it

Will clear, or end, the business: When the oracle, Thus (by Apollo's great divine scal'd up,)

Shall the contents discover, something rare,
Even then, will rush to knowledge.

fresh horses;

And gracious be the issue!

Go,

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

A Court of Justice.

LEONTES, Lords, and Officers, appear properly seated.

Leon. This sessions (to our great grief, we pro nounce,)

Even pushes 'gainst our heart: The party tried,
The daughter of a king; our wife; and one
Of us too much belov'd.—Let us be clear'd
Of being tyrannous, since we so openly
Proceed in justice; which shall have due course,
Even to the guilt, or the purgation.

Produce the prisoner.

*

Offi. It is his highness' pleasure, that the queen Appear in person here in court. Silence!

HERMIONE is brought in, guarded; PAULINA and Ladies attending.

Leon. Read the indictment,

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 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

9 Equal.

1 Scheme laid.

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;

The testimony on my part, no other

and

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!

Leon.

I ne'er heard yet,

*Own, possess.