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If we would have you.

2 Lady. She is fpread of late

Into a goodly bulk; (good time encounter her!)

Her. What wifdom ftirs amongst you? come, Sir, now I am for you again. Pray you fit by us,

And tell's a tale.

Mam. Merry, or fad, fhall't be?
Her. As merry as you will.

Mam. A fad tale's best for winter.
I have one of sprights and goblins.
Her. Let's have that, good Sir.

Come on, fit down. Come on, and do your best
To fright me with your sprights: you're powerful at it.
Mam. There was a man--

Her. Nay, come fit down; then on.

Mam. Dwelt by a church-yard;-I will tell it foftly: Yond crickets fhall not hear it.

Her. Come on then, and give't me in mine ear.

Enter Leontes, Antigonus, and Lords.

Leo. Was he met there? his train? Camillo with him? Lord. Behind the tuft of pines I met them; never Saw I men fcowr fo on their way: Iey'd them Even to their fhips.

Leo. How bleft am I

In my juft cenfure! in my true opinion!
Alack, for leffer knowledge, how accurs'd
In being fo bleft! 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

Th' abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known
How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his fides
With violent hefts.-I have drunk, and feen the spider.→
Camillo was his help in this, his Pander:
There is a plot against my life, my crown;
All's true, that is miftrufted: that falfe villain,
Whom I employ'd, was pre-employ'd by him:
He hath difcover'd my defign, and I
Remain a pinch'd thing; yea, a very trick

For

For them to play at will: how came the pofterns
So eafily open?

Lord. By his great authority,

Which often hath no lefs prevail'd than fo
On your command.

Leo. I know't too well.

Give me the boy; I'm glad, you did not nurfe him: Though he does bear fome figns of me, yet you Have too much blood in him.

Her. What is this, fport?

Leo. Bear the boy hence, he fhall not come about her; Away with him, and let her fport herself

With that she's big with: for 'tis Polixenes
Has made thee fwell thus.

Her. But I'd fay, he had not;

And, I'll be fworn, you would believe my saying,
Howe'er you lean to the nayward.

Leo. You, my Lords,

Look on her, mark her well; be but about
To fay, fhe is a goodly Lady, and

The juftice of your hearts will thereto add,

'Tis pity, he's not honeft, honourable :

Praife her but for this her without-door form,

(Which on my faith deserves high speech,) and straight
The fhrug, the hum, or ha,(thefe petty-brands,
That calumny doth ufe: oh, I am out,-
That mercy do's; for calumny will fear

Virtue itself.) Thefe fhrugs, thefe hums, and ha's,
When you have faid fhe's goodly, come between,
Ere you can fay fhe's honeft: but be't known,
(From him, that has moft caufe to grieve it should be}}
She's an adultrefs.

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.

Leo. You have mistook, my Lady,

Polixenes for Leontes. O thou thing,

Which I'll not call a creature of thy place,
Left barbarism, making me the precedent,

Should

Should a like language ufe to all degrees;
And mannerly diftinguishment leave out
Betwixt the Prince and beggar.—I have said,
She's an adultrefs; I have faid with whom':
More; fhe's a traitor, and Camillo is

A federary with her; and one that knows
What she should shame to know herself,
But with her moft vile principal, that she's
A bed-fwerver, even as bad as those

That vulgars give bold'ft 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 fhall come to clearer knowledge, that
You thus have publish'd me? gentle my Lord,
You fcarce can right me throughly then, to fay
You did miftake.

Leo. No, if I mistake

In these 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 far of guilty, (8)
But that he speaks.

Her. There's fome 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 fex
Commonly are,) the want of which vain dew,
Perchance, fhall dry your pities; but I have
That honourable grief lodg'd here, which burns
Worfe than tears drown: 'befeech you all, my Lords,
With thoughts fo qualified as your charities
Shall best instruct you, measure me; and fo
The King's will be perform'd!-

(8) He, who fhall speak for her, is far off guilty,

But that be fpeaks.] This cannot be the Speaker's meaning. Leontes would fay, I fhall hold the perfon in a great measure guilty, who fhall dare to intercede for her: And this, I believe, Shakespeare ventur'd to exprefs thus:

He, who fhall Speak for her, is far of guilty, &c. i. e. partakes far, deeply of her guilt. VOL. III.

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Leo.

Leo. Shall I be heard?

Her. Who is't, that goes with me? 'befeech your HighMy women may be with me, for, you fee

[nefs,
My plight requires it. Do not weep, good fools,
There is no caufe; when you fhall know, your mistrefs
Has deferv'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,

I truft, I hall. My women,-come, you've leave.
Leo. Go, do our bidding; hence.

[Exit Queen, guarded; and Ladies. Lord. 'Befeech your Highness call the Queen again. Ant. Be certain what you do, Sir, left your juftice Prove violence; in the which three great ones fuffer, Yourself, your Queen, your fon.

Lord. For her, my Lord,

J dare my life lay down, and will do't, Sir,
Please you t'accept it, that the Queen is spotlefs
I'th' eyes of heaven, and to you, (I mean,

In this which you accuse her.)

Ant. If it prove

She's otherwife, I'll keep my ftables where

I lodge my wife, I'll go in couples with her:

Than when I feel, and fee her, no farther trust her;

For every inch of woman in the world,

Ay, every dram of woman's flesh is false,

If she be.

Leo. Hold your peaces.

Lord. Good my Lord,

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Ant. It is for you we fpeak, not for ourselves: You are abus'd, and by fome putter on,

That will be damn'd for't; 'would, I knew the villain, I would land-damn him: be the honour-flaw'd,

I have three daughters; the eldest is eleven; (9)

(9)

I bave three daughters; the eldeft is eleven;
The fecond and the third, nine; and fons five;

The

If this prove true, they'll pay for't.] The 2d folio edition led Mr. Rowe first inadvertently to fix five fons upon Antigonus, more than the Poet ever defign'd him: and Mr. Pope ftumbled implicitly

The fecond, and the third, nine, and fome five;

If this prove true, they'll pay for't. By mine honour,
I'll geld 'em all fourteen they fhall not fee,
To bring falfe generations: they are co-heirs,
And I had rather glib myfelf, than they
Should not produce fair iffue.

Leo. Ceafe; no more:

You smell this bufinefs with a fenfe as cold
As is a dead man's nofe; I fee't and feel't,
As you feel doing thus; and fee withal
The inftruments that feel.

Ant. If it be so,

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

Leo. What? lack I credit?

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 fufpicion; Be blam'd for't, how you might.

Leo. Why, what need we

Commune with you of this? but rather follow
Our forceful inftigation? our prerogative
Calls not your counfels, but our natural goodnefs
Imparts this; which, if you, (or stupified,
Or feeming fo, in kill,) cannot, or will not
Relish a truth like us; inform yourselves,
We need no more of your advice; the matter,
The lofs, the gain, the ordering on't, is all
Properly ours.

Ant. And I wifh, my Liege,

into the mistake. But what encreases the jeft, thefe three daughters, and five fons were cobeirs: If this was ever according to the laws of Sicily, 'tis fo peculiar, that Goltzius, Fazellus or Cluverius would have thought it worthy of a fhort notice. But the reading of the 1ft folia edition, which I have reftor'd to the text, makes no mention of any fons, and fo the girls remain properly coheirs; the eldeft, eleven years of age; the second, nine; and the third, fome five. I'll fubjoin two inftances of this manner of expreffion from our Author's King Lear. But I have a fon, Sir, by order of law, fome year elder than this; For that I am feme twelve or fourteen moon fhines lag of a brother? You

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