1

Shall I dash out: go take it to the fire,
For thou fett'ft on thy wife.

Ant. I did not, Sir:

Thefe lords, my noble fellows, if they please,
Can clear me in't.

Lord. We can; my royal Liege,

He is not guilty of her coming hither:
Leo. You're liars all.

Lords. 'Befeech your Highness, give us better credit.
We've always truly ferv'd you, and befeech you
So to esteem of us: and on our knees we beg,
(As recompence of our dear fervices

Paft, and to come) that you do change this purpose,
Which being fo horrible, fo bloody, must

Lead on to fome foul iffue. We all kneel
Leo. I am a feather for each wind that blows:
Shall I live on, to fee this baftard kneel

And call me father? better burn it now,
Than curfe it then. But be it; let it live:

It shall not neither.-You, Sir, come you hither;

[To Antigonus.

You, that have been fo tenderly officious

With lady Margery, your midwife there,

To fave this baftard's life; (for 'tis a baftard,

So fure as this beard's grey) what will you adventure
To fave this brat's life?

Ant. Any thing, my Lord,

That my ability may undergo,

And nobleness impofe: at leaft, thus much;

I'll pawn the little blood which I have left,

To fave the innocent; any thing poffible.

Leo. It fhall be poffible; fwear by this fword,
Thou wilt perform my bidding.

Ant. I will, my Lord.

Leo. Mark and perform it; feeft thou? for the fail Of any point in't shall not only be

Death to thyself, but to thy lewd-tongu'd wife,

Whom

Whom for this time we pardon. We enjoyn thee,
As thou art liege-man to us, that thou carry
This female baftard hence, and that thou bear it
To fome remote and defart 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 ftrange fortune
It came to us, I do in juftice charge thee,
On thy foul's peril and thy body's torture,
That thou commend it ftrangely to fome place,
Where chance may nurfe, or end it. Take it up.
Ant. I fwear to do this: tho' a prefent death
Had been more merciful. Come on, poor babe;
Some powerful spirit inftruct the kites and ravens
To be thy nurses! Wolves and bears, they fay,
(Cafting their favagenefs afide) have done
Like offices of pity. Sir, be profperous

In more than this deed does require; and bleffing,
Against this cruelty, fight on thy fide!

Poor thing condemn'd to lofs.

Leo. No; I'll not rear

Another's iffue.

[Exit, with the child.

Enter a Messenger.

Mes. Please your Highness, pofts,

From those you sent to th' oracle, are come
An hour fince. Cleomines and Dion,

Being well arriv'd from Delphos, are both landed,
Hafting to th' court.

Lord. So please you, Sir, their speed

Hath been beyond account.

Leo. Twenty-three days

They have been abfent: this good speed foretels,

The great Apollo fuddenly will have

The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords,
Summon a feffion, that we may arraign

Our

Our moft difloyal Lady; for as fhe hath
Been publickly accus'd, fo fhall fhe have
A juft and open tryal. While fhe lives,
My heart will be a burthen to me. Leave me,
And think upon my bidding. [Exeunt feverally.

ACT III.

SCENE

I.

A Part of Sicily, near the Sea-fide.

Enter Cleomines and Dion.

CLEOMINES.

HE climate's delicate, the air most sweet, 'Fertile the ifle, the temple much furpaffing The common praise it bears.

2

Dion. It fhames report.

Foremost it caught me, the celeftial habits, (Methinks, I fo fhould term them,) and the reverence

Fertile the ifle,] But the temple of Apollo at Delphi was not in an ifland, but in Phocis, on the continent. Either Shake fpear, or his Editors, had their heads running on Delos, an ifland of the Cyclades. If it was the Editor's blunder, then Shakespear wrote, Fertile the foil,

which is more elegant too, than the prefent reading.

2 I SHALL report,

FOR MOST it caught me, &c.] What will he report? And what means this reafon of his report, that the celestial habits most ftruck his obfervation? We fhould read,

IT SHAMES report.

FOREMOST it caught me,

Cleomines had just before faid, that the Temple much surpassed the common praise it bore. The other, very naturally, replies — it fhames report, as far furpaffing what report faid of it. He then goes on to particularize the wonders of the place: Foremost, or firit of all, the priests garments, then their behaviour, their act of facrifice, & in reasonable good order.

of

Of the grave wearers. O, the facrifice-
How ceremonious, folemn, and unearthly
It was i'th' offering!

Cleo. But of all, the burst

And the ear-deafning voice o'th' oracle,

Kin to Jove's thunder, fo furpriz'd my sense,
That I was nothing.

Dion. If th' event o'th' journey

Prove as fuccessful to the Queen, (O be't fo!) As it hath been to us, rare, pleasant, speedy, 3 The ufe is worth the time on't.

Cleo. Great Apollo,

Turn all to th' beft! 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 feal'd up,)

Shall the contents difcover: fomething rare

Even then will rush to knowledge. Go; fresh horses: And gracious be the iffue!

[Exeunt.

Leontes, Lords and Officers, appear properly feated.

Leo.

HIS feffion, (to our great grief, we pro

TH nounce,)

Ev'n pushes 'gainft our heart. The party try'd,
The daughter of a King, our wife, and one
Of us too much belov'd ;-let us be clear'd
Of being tyrannous, fince we fo openly

3 The time is worth the ufe on't.] It should be just the reverse, The ufe is worth the time on't.

and this alteration the Oxford Editor approves.

Pro

Proceed in justice, which fhall have due courfe,
Even to the guilt, or the purgation.

Produce the prifoner.—

Offi. It is his Highness' pleasure, that the Queen Appear in perfon here in court.

Hermione is brought in, guarded;

attending.

Leo. Read the indictment.

Silence!

Paulina, and Ladies

Offi. Hermione, Queen to the worthy Leontes, King of Sicilia, thou art here accufed and arraigned of high treafon, in committing adultery with Polixenes, King of Bohemia, and confpiring with Camillo to take away the life of our fovereign lord the King, thy royal bufband; the pretence whereof being by circumstances partly laid open, thou, Hermione, contrary to the faith and allegiance of a true fubject, didst counsel and aid them, for their better fafety, to fly away by night.

Her. Since what I am to fay, must be but That Which contradicts my accufation; and

The teftimony on my part, no other

But what comes from myfelf; it shall scarce boot me
To fay, Not guilty: mine integrity,
Being counted falfhood, fhall, as I exprefs
Be fo receiv'd. But thus, if powers divine
Behold our human actions, as they do,
I doubt not then, but innocence shall make
Falfe accufation blufh," and tyranny
"Tremble at patience.-You, my Lord, best know,
Who leaft will feem to do fo, my paft life
Hath been as continent, as chafte, as true,
As I am now unhappy; which is more
Than history can pattern, tho' 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