Her. Take the boy to you: he so troubles me, 'Tis past enduring. 1 Lady. Come, my gracious lord, Shall I be your play-fellow? Mam.

No, I'll none of you.

you

1 Lady. Why, my sweet lord? Mam. You'll kiss me hard; and speak to me as if I were a baby still.-I love 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 semi-circle, Or half-moon made with a pen.

2 Lady. Who taught you this? Mam. I learn'd it out of women's faces.-Pray

That has been blue, but not her eye-brows. 2 Lady.

Hark ye: The queen, your mother, rounds apace: we shall Present our services to a fine new prince, One of these days; and then you'd wanton with us, If we would have you.

1 Lady. She is spread of late Into a goodly bulk: Good time encounter her! Her. What wisdom stirs amongst you? Come, sir, now

I am for you again: Pray you sit by us,
And tell 's a tale.

Mam.

Merry, or sad, shall't be?

Her. As merry as you will.
Mam.

A sad tale's best for winter:
I have one of sprites and goblins.
Her.
Let's have that, sir.
Come on, sit down :-Come on, and do your best
To fright me with your sprites: you're powerful

at it.

1 Lord.

I know't too well.—

By his great authority; Which often hath no less prevail'd than so, On your command. Leon. Give me the boy; I am glad, you did not nurse him: Though he does bear some signs of me, yet you Have too much blood in him. Her. What is this? sport? Leon. Bear the boy hence, he shall not come about her;

Away with him :-and let her sport herself
With that she's big with; for 'tis Polixenes
Has made thee swell thus.
Her.
But I'd say, he had not,
And, I'll be sworn you would believe my saying,
Howe'er you lean to the nayward.

Leon.

You, my lords, Look on her, mark her well; be but about To say, she is a goodly lady, and 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 :-O, I am out,
That mercy does; for calumny will sear
Virtue itself:-These shrugs, these hums, and ha's,
When you have said, she's goodly, come between,
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.
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..

Her.

Leon.

You have mistook, my lady,
Polixenes for Leontes: O 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,
But8 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,
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.-Away with her to prison:
He, who shall speak for her, is afar off guilty,1
But that he speaks.2

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, my
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? [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 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,

We need no grave to bury honesty ;
There's not a grain of it, the face to sweeten
Of the whole dungy earth.

Leon.

What! lack I credit? 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 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 matter,
The loss, the gain, 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.

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; 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.

1 Lord. Good my lord,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 co-heirs;
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: I see't, and feel't,
As you feel doing thus; and see withal
The instruments that feel.

(1) Remotely guilty. (2) In merely speaking. Take my station. (4) Instigator.

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;6 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 confin'd;
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.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II-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.

Conduct me to the queen.

Pray you, then,

And, madam,

I must be present at your conference.
Paul. Well, be it so, pr'ythee. [Exit Keeper.
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 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 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
ship

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.

And level2 of my brain, plot-proof: but she
Is quite beyond mine arm, out of the blank
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.

Leon. How does the boy? 1 Atten.

My lord? [Advancing.

He took good rest to-night; 'Tis hop'd, his sickness is discharg'd. Leon.

His nobleness!

To see,

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 :3
-go,

See how he fares. [Exit attend.]-Fie, fie! 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:

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

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 medicinal 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.

The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger :--
And thou, good goddess nature, which hast made it
So like to him that got it, if thou hast

The ordering of the mind too, 'mongst all colours
No yellows in't; lest she suspect, as he does,
Her children not her husband's!

Leon.
A gross hag!-
And, lozel,9 thou art worthy to be hang'd,
That wilt not stay her tongue.

Ant. Hang all the husbands That cannot do that feat, you'll leave yourself Hardly one subject. Leon. Once more, take her hence. Paul. A most unworthy and unnatural lord Can do no more. Leon.

Paul.

I'll have thee burn'd.

I care not:

It is a heretic, that makes the fire,
Not she, which burns in't. I'll not call you tyrant;
But this most cruel usage of your queen
(Not able to produce more accusation
Than your own weak-hing'd fancy,) something

savours

Of tyranny, and will ignoble make you,
Yea, scandalous to the world.
Leon.

On your allegiance,

Leon.

Traitors

Will you not push her out? Give her the bastard:Thou dotard, [To Antigonus.] thou art womantir'd, unroosted

By thy dame Partlet here,-take up the bastard;
Take't up, I say; give't to thy crone.5
Paul.

Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou

For ever

Tak'st up the princess, by that forced baseness Which he has put upon't!

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: eve, nose, lip, The trick of his frown, his forehead; nay, the valley, The pretty dimples of his chin, and cheek; his smiles;

(1) Abetting your ill courses. (2) Lowest. (3) Masculine.

(4) Pecked by a woman; hen-pecked.

Worn-out old woman.

Where were her life? she durst not call me so, If she did know me one. Away with her.

Paul. I pray you, do not push me; I'll be gone. Look to your babe, my lord; 'tis yours: Jove send

her

A better guiding spirit!-What need these hands?—
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.

Leon. 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 none but thou. Take it up straight:
Within this hour 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 so;
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,
Can clear me in't.

We have always truly serv'd you; and beseech So to esteem of us: And on our knees we beg (As recompense of our dear services,

Past, and to come,) that you do change this purpose;

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. But be it; let it live:
It shall not neither.-You, sir, come you hither;
[To Antigonus.

You, that have been so tenderly officious

(6) Forced is false; uttered with violence to truth. (7) Trull. (8) The colour of jealousy. Worthless fellow.