1 Lord. 'Beseech your highness, give us better credit; 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; Of ow: dominions; and that there thou leave it, Ant. I swear to do this, though a present death 1 Atten. 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; foretells, 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 publicly 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. ACT III. SCENE I-A Street in some Town. Shall the contents discover, something rare, Enter CLEOMENES and DION. The common praise it bears. Dion. I shall report, For most it caught me, the celestial habits, (Methinks, I should so term them,) and the reve rence Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice! How ceremonious, solemn, and unearthly It was i' the offering! Clev. But, of all, the burst 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 seal'd up,) It was anciently a practice to swear by the cross at the hilt of the sword. [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, 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 1 i. e. Commit it to some place as a stranger. อ Equal. 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 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; and The testimony on my part, no other 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 But what comes from myself; it shall scarce boot me Shalt feel our justice; in whose easiest passage, To say, Not guilty: mine integrity, Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it, I doubt not then, but innocence shall make A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter, Have strain'd to appear thus: if one jot beyond Leon. I ne'er heard yet, That any of these bolder vices wanted Less impudence to gainsay what they did, Than to perform it first. Her. That's true enough; Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not With such a kind of love, as might become To you, and toward your friend; whose love had spoke, Even since it could speak, from an infant, freely, 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: 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 favor, I do give lost; for I do feel it gone, But know not how it went: My second joy, 1 Lord. This your request Is altogether just: therefore, bring forth, [Exeunt certain Officers. Re-enter Officers with CLEOMENES and DION. Offi. You here shall swear upon this sword of justice, That you, Cleomenes and Dion, have Cleo. Dion. All this we swear. Leon. Break up the seals and read. Offi. [Reads.] Hermione is chaste, Polixenes blameless, Camillo a true subject, Leontes a jeal ous tyrant, his innocent babe truly begotten; and the king shall live without an heir, if that, which is lost, be not found. Lords. Now blessed be the great Apollo! Praised. And see what death is doing. Leon. Take her hence: Her heart is but o'ercharged; she will recover.— I have too much believ'd mine own suspicion:'Beseech you, tenderly apply to her Some remedies for life.-Apollo, pardon [Exeunt PAULINA and Ladies, with HERM. My great profaneness 'gainst thine oracle!I'll reconcile me to Polixenes; New woo my queen; recall the good Camillo; Of all incertainties himself commended, Paul. Re-enter PAULINA. Woe the while! O, cut my lace; lest my heart, cracking it, Break too! 1 Lord. What fit is this, good lady? Paul. What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me? What wheels? racks? fires? What flaying? boiling, In leads, or oils? what old, or newer torture Must I receive; whose every word deserves To taste of thy most worst? Thy tyranny Together working with thy jealousies,Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle Prevail not, go and see: if you can bring Thou canst not speak too much: I have deserv'd All tongues to talk their bitterest. 1 Lord. Say no more; Howe'er the business goes, you have made fault I'the boldness of your speech. Paul. I am sorry for❜t; Should be past grief: Do not receive affliction Let me be punish'd, that have minded you Leon. [Exeunt. For girls of nine!-O, think, what they have done, SCENE III.—Bohemia. A desert Country near And then run mad, indeed; stark mad! for all Of the young prince, whose honorable thoughts Of the event of the queen's trial. e. A devil would have shed tears of pity, ere he would have perpetrated such an action. the Sea. Enter ANTIGONUS, with the Child; and a Mariner. Mar. Ant. Their sacred wills be done!-Go, get aboard; Look to thy bark; I'll not be long, before I call upon thee. Mar. Make your best haste; and go not Too far i'the land: 'tis like to be loud weather; Besides, this place is famous for the creatures Of prey, that keep upon't. Well-assured. Ant. [Exit. Come, po or babe:- May walk again: if such thing be, thy mother I pr'ythee, call't; for this ungentle business, I did in time collect myself; and thought stair-work, some trunk-work, some behind-doorwork: they were warmer that got this, than the poor thing is here. I'll take it up for pity: Yet I'll tarry till my son come; he hollaed but even now. Whoa, họ hoa! Enter Clown. Clo. Hilloa, loa! Shep. What, art so near? if thou'lt see a thing to talk on when thou art dead and rotten, come hither. What ailest thou, man? Clo. I have seen two such sights, by sea and by land; but I am not to say, it is a sea, for it is now the sky; betwixt the firmament and it, you cannot thrust a bodkin's point. Shep. Why, boy, how is it? Clo. I would you did but see how it chafes, how it rages, how it takes up the shore! but that's not to the point: O, the most piteous cry of the poor souls! sometimes to see 'em, and not to see 'em: now the ship boring the moon with her main-mast; and anon swallowed with yest and froth, as you'd thrust a cork into a hogshead. And then for the land service.To see how the bear tore out his shoulder-bone; how he cried to me for help, and said his name was Antigonus, a nobleman:-But to make an end of the ship:-to see how the sea flap-dragoned it:-but, first, how the poor souls roared, and the sea mocked them;-and how the This was so, and no slumber. Dreams are toys: poor gentleman roared, and the bear mocked him, Yet, for this once, yea, superstitiously, wretch, Shep. I would there were no age between ten both roaring louder than the sea or weather. Shep. 'Name of mercy, when was this, boy? Clo. Now, now; I have not winked since I saw these sights: the men are not yet cold under water, nor the bear half dined on the gentleman: he's at it now. Shep. Would I had been by, to have helped the old man! Clo. I would you had been by the ship side, to have helped her; there your charity would have lacked footing. [Aside. Shep. Heavy matters! heavy matters! but look thee here, boy. Now bless thyself; thou met'st with things dying, I with things new-born. Here's a sight for thee; look thee, a bearing-cloth for a squire's child! Look thee here: take up, take up, boy; open't. So, let's see: It was told me, I should be rich by the fairies: this is some changeling:open't: What's within, boy? Clo. You're a made old man: if the sins of your youth are forgiven you, you're well to live. Gold! all gold! Shep. This is fairy gold, boy, and 'twill prove so: up with it, keep it close; home, home, the next way. We are lucky, boy; and to be so still, requires nothing but secrecy.-Let my sheep go:Come, good boy, the next way home. Clo. Go you the next way with your findings; I'll go see if the bear be gone from the gentleman, and how much he hath eaten: they are never curst, but when they are hungry: if there be any of him left, I'll bury it. Shep. That's a good deed: If thou mayst discern by that which is left of him, what he is, fetch me to the sight of him. Clo. Marry, will I; and you shall help to put him i'the ground. Shep. "Tis a lucky day, boy; and we'll do good deeds on't. [Exeunt. 5 Swallowed. The mantle in which a child was carried to be baptized. ཞ་ ACT IV. Enter Time, as Chorus. their issue not being gracious, than they are in losing Time. I, that please some, try all; both joy them, when they have approved their virtues. and terror, Of good and bad; that make, and unfold error,- O'er sixteen years, and leave the growth untried you In fair Bohemia; and remember well, I mentioned a son o' the king's, which Florizel Be known, when 'tis brought forth :-a shepherd's daughter, And what to her adheres which follows after, Enter POLIXENES and CAMILLO. Pol. I pray thee, good Camillo, be no more importunate: 'tis a sickness, denying thee anything; a death, to grant this. Cam. It is fifteen years, since I saw my country: though I have, for the most part, been aired abroad, I desire to lay my bones there. Besides, the penitent king, my master, hath sent for me: to whose feeling sorrows I might be some allay, or I o'erween' to think so; which is another spur to my departure. Cam. Sir, it is three days, since I saw the prince: What his happier affairs may be, are to me unknown: but I have, missingly, noted,' he is of late much retired from court; and is less frequent to his princely exercises, than formerly he hath appeared. Pol. I have considered so much, Camillo; and with some care; so far, that I have eyes under my service, which look upon his removedness; from whom I have this intelligence: That he is seldom from the house of a most homely shepherd; a man, they say, that from very nothing, and beyond the imagination of his neighbors, is grown into an unspeakable estate. Cam. I have heard, sir, of such a man, who hath a daughter of most rare note: the report of her is extended more, than can be thought to begin from such a cottage. Pol. That's likewise part of my intelligence. But, I fear the angle that plucks our son thither. Thou shalt accompany us to the place: where we will, not appearing what we are, have some question with the shepherd; from whose simplicity, I think it not uneasy to get the cause of my son's resort thither. Pr'ythee, be my present partner in this business, and lay aside the thoughts of Sicilia. Cam. I willingly obey your command. Pol. My best Camillo!-We must disguise ourselves. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-A Road near the Shepherd's Cottage. Enter AUTOLYCUs, singing. When daffodils begin to peer,— With heigh! the doxy over the dale,— For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale. I For a quart of ale is a dish for a king. The lark, that tirra-lirra chants,With, hey! with hey! the thrush and the jay: Are summers' songs for me and my aunts, While we lie tumbling in the hay. have served prince Florizel, and, in my time, wore three-pile; but now I am out of service: But shall I go mourn for that, my dear? [Sings. The pale moon shines by night: And when I wander here and there, I then do most go right. If tinkers have leave to live, may And bear the sow-skin budget; Then account I well may give, my And in the stocks avouch it. Pol. As thou lovest me, Camillo, wipe not out the rest of thy services, by leaving me now: the need I have of thee, thine own goodness hath made; better not to have had thee, than thus to want thee: thou, having made the businesses, which none, without thee, can sufficiently manage, must either stay to execute them thyself, or take away with thee the very services thou hast done: which if I have not enough considered, (as too much I cannot,) to be more thankful to thee, shall be my study; and my My traffic is sheets; when the kite builds, look to profit therein, the heaping friendships. Of that lesser linen. My father named me, Autolycus; fatal country, Sicilia, pr'ythee speak no more: who, being, as I am, littered under Mercury, was whose very naming punishes me with the remem-likewise a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles: With brance of that penitent, as thou call'st him, and reconciled king, my brother; whose loss of his most precious queen, and children, are even now to be afresh lamented. Say to me, when saw'st thou the prince Florizel, my son? Kings are no less unhappy, * Subject. • Think too highly of myself. die, and drab, I purchased this caparison; and my revenue is the silly cheat:' Gallows, and knock, are too powerful on the highway; beating and hanging, are terrors to me; for the life to come, I sleep out the thought of it.-A prize! a prize! Observed at intervals. 1 Rich velvet. Picking pockets. |