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;
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
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 you ad-

Of ow: dominions; and that there thou leave it,
Without more mercy, to its own protection,
And favor 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,-
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,
Ca sting their savageness aside, have done
Like offices of pity.-Sir, be prosperous
In more than this deed doth require! and blessing,
A gainst this cruelty, fight on thy side.
Foor thing, condemn'd to loss! [Exit with the Child.
Leon.
No, I'll not rear
Another's issue.

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.

SCENE I-A Street in some Town.

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
And the ear-deafening voice o' the oracle.
Kin to Jove's thunder, so surprised 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 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,
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

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

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 honor, 'fore
Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it,
As I weigh grief, which I would spare: for honor,
"Tis a derivative from me to mine,
And only that I stand for. I appeal
To your 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 honor; 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, 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
At all acknowledge. For Polixenes,
(With whom I am accused.) I do confess,
I lov'd him, as in honor he required;

With such a kind of love, as might become
A lady like me; with a love, even such,
So, and no other, as yourself commanded:
Which not to have done, I think, had been in me
Both disobedience and ingratitude,

To you, and toward your friend; whose love had spoke,

Even since it could speak, from an infant, freely,
That it was yours. Now, for conspiracy,
I know not how it tastes; though it be dish'd
For me to try how: all I know of it
Is, that Camillo was an honest man;
And, why he left your court, the gods themselves,
Wotting no more than I, are ignorant.

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:
My life stands in the level of your dreams,
Which I'll lay down.

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,
And first fruits of my body, from his presence,
I am barr'd like one infectious: My third comfort,
Starr'd most unluckily, is from my breast,
The innocent milk in its most innocent mouth,
Haled out to murder: Myself on every post
Proclaim'd a strumpet; With immodest hatred,
The child-bed privilege denied, which 'longs
To women of all fashion:-Lastly, hurried
Here to this place, i' the open air, before
I have got strength of limit. Now, my liege,
Tell me what blessings I have here alive,
That I should fear to die? Therefore, proceed.
But yet, hear this; mistake me not;-No! life,
I prize it not a straw:-but for mine honor,
(Which I would free,) if I shall be condemn'd
Upon surmises; all proofs sleeping else,
But what your jealousies awake; I tell you,
"Tis rigor, and not law.-Your honors all,
I do refer me to the oracle;
Apollo be my judge.

1 Lord.

This your request

Is altogether just: therefore, bring forth,
And in Apollo's name, his oracle.

[Exeunt certain Officers.
Her. The emperor of Russia was my father:
O, that he were alive, and here beholding
His daughter's trial! that he did but see
The flatness of my misery; yet with eyes
Of pity, not revenge!

Re-enter Officers with CLEOMENES and DION. Offi. You here shall swear upon this sword of justice,

That you, Cleomenes and Dion, have
Been both at Delphos; and from thence have brought
This seal'd up oracle, by the hand deliver'd
Of great Apollo's priest: and that, since then,
You have not dared to break the holy seal,
Nor read the secrets in't.

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!
Her.

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;
Whom I proclaim a man of truth, of mercy:
For, being transported by my jealousies
To bloody thoughts and to revenge, I chose
Camillo for the minister, to poison
My friend Polixenes: which had been done,
But that the good mind of Camillo tardied
My swift command, though I with death, and with
Reward, did threaten and encourage him,
Not doing it, and being done: he, most humane,
And fill'd with honor, to my kingly guest
Unclasp'd my practice; quit his fortunes here,
Which you knew great; and to the certain hazard

Of all incertainties himself commended,
No richer than his honor:-How he glisters
Thorough my rust! and how his piety
Does my deeds make the blacker!

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
Tincture, or lustre, in her lip, her eye,
As I would do the gods.-But, O thou tyrant!
Heat outwardly, or breath within, I'll serve you
Than all thy woes can stir: therefore betake thee
Do not repent these things; for they are heavier
To nothing but despair. A thousand knees
Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting,
Upon a barren mountain, and still winter
In storm perpetual, could not move the gods
To look that way thou wert.

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;
All faults I make, when I shall come to know them,
I do repent: Alas, I have show'd too much
The rashness of a woman: he is touch'd
To the noble heart.-What's gone, and what's past
help,

Should be past grief: Do not receive affliction
At my petition, I beseech you; rather

Let me be punish'd, that have minded you
Of what you should forget. Now, good my liege,
The love I bore your queen,-lo, fool again!—
Sir, royal sir, forgive a foolish woman:
I'll speak of her no more, nor of your children;
I'll not remember you of my own lord,
Who is lost too: Take your patience to you,
And I'll say nothing.

Leon.
Thou didst speak but well,
When most the truth; which I receive much better
Than to be pitied of thee. Pr'ythee, bring me
To the dead bodies of my queen and son:
One grave shall be for both; upon them shall
The causes of their death appear, unto
Our shame perpetual: Once a day I'll visit
The chapel where they lie; and tears shed there,
Shall be my recreation: So long as
Nature will bear up with this exercise,
So long I daily vow to use it. Come,
And lead me to these sorrows.

[Exeunt.

And then run mad, indeed; stark mad! for all
Thy by-gone fooleries were but spices of it.
That thou betray'dst Polixenes, 'twas nothing;
That did but show thee, of a fool, inconstant,
And damnable ungrateful: nor was't much,
Thou wouldst have poison'd good Camillo's honor,
To have him kill a king; poor trespasses,
More monstrous standing by: whereof I reckon
The casting forth to crows thy baby daughter,
To be or none, or little; though a devil
Would have shed water out of fire, ere done't;
Nor is't directly laid to thee, the death

Of the young prince, whose honorable thoughts
(Thoughts high for one so tender) cleft the heart
That could conceive, a gross and foolish sire
Blemish'd his gracious dam: this is not, no,
Laid to thy answer: But the last,-0, lords,

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.
Ant. Thou art perfect' then, our ship hath
touch'd upon
The deserts of Bohemia?

Mar.
Ay, my lord, and fear
We have landed in ill time: the skies look grimly,
And threaten present blusters. In my conscience,
The heavens with that we have in hand are angry,
And frown upon us.

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.