ACT IISCENE I. Sicilia. A Room in the Palace.EnterHermione, Mamilliusand Ladies.HERMIONE.Take the boy to you: he so troubles me,’Tis past enduring.FIRST LADY.Come, my gracious lord,Shall I be your playfellow?MAMILLIUS.No, I’ll none of you.FIRST LADY.Why, my sweet lord?MAMILLIUS.You’ll kiss me hard, and speak to me as ifI were a baby still. I love you better.SECOND LADY.And why so, my lord?MAMILLIUS.Not for becauseYour brows are blacker; yet black brows, they say,Become some women best, so that there be notToo much hair there, but in a semicircleOr a half-moon made with a pen.SECOND LADY.Who taught this?MAMILLIUS.I learn’d it out of women’s faces. Pray now,What colour are your eyebrows?FIRST LADY.Blue, my lord.MAMILLIUS.Nay, that’s a mock. I have seen a lady’s noseThat has been blue, but not her eyebrows.FIRST LADY.Hark ye,The queen your mother rounds apace. We shallPresent our services to a fine new princeOne of these days, and then you’d wanton with us,If we would have you.SECOND LADY.She is spread of lateInto a goodly bulk: good time encounter her!HERMIONE.What wisdom stirs amongst you? Come, sir, nowI am for you again. Pray you sit by us,And tell ’s a tale.MAMILLIUS.Merry or sad shall’t be?HERMIONE.As merry as you will.MAMILLIUS.A sad tale’s best for winter. I have oneOf sprites and goblins.HERMIONE.Let’s have that, good sir.Come on, sit down. Come on, and do your bestTo fright me with your sprites: you’re powerful at it.MAMILLIUS.There was a man,—HERMIONE.Nay, come, sit down, then on.MAMILLIUS.Dwelt by a churchyard. I will tell it softly,Yond crickets shall not hear it.HERMIONE.Come on then,And give’t me in mine ear.EnterLeontes, Antigonus,Lords and Guards.LEONTES.Was he met there? his train? Camillo with him?FIRST LORD.Behind the tuft of pines I met them, neverSaw I men scour so on their way: I ey’d themEven to their ships.LEONTES.How blest am IIn my just censure, in my true opinion!Alack, for lesser knowledge! How accurs’dIn being so blest! There may be in the cupA spider steep’d, and one may drink, depart,And yet partake no venom, for his knowledgeIs not infected; but if one presentTh’ abhorr’d ingredient to his eye, make knownHow he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides,With violent hefts. I have drunk, and seen the spider.Camillo was his help in this, his pander.There is a plot against my life, my crown;All’s true that is mistrusted. That false villainWhom I employ’d, was pre-employ’d by him.He has discover’d my design, and IRemain a pinch’d thing; yea, a very trickFor them to play at will. How came the posternsSo easily open?FIRST LORD.By his great authority,Which often hath no less prevail’d than soOn your command.LEONTES.I know’t too well.Give me the boy. I am glad you did not nurse him.Though he does bear some signs of me, yet youHave too much blood in him.HERMIONE.What is this? sport?LEONTES.Bear the boy hence, he shall not come about her,Away with him, and let her sport herselfWith that she’s big with; for ’tis PolixenesHas made thee swell thus.[ExitMamilliuswith some of the Guards.]HERMIONE.But I’d say he had not,And I’ll be sworn you would believe my saying,Howe’er you learn th’ nayward.LEONTES.You, my lords,Look on her, mark her well. Be but aboutTo say, “she is a goodly lady,” andThe 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 straightThe shrug, the hum or ha, these petty brandsThat calumny doth use—O, I am out,That mercy does; for calumny will searVirtue itself—these shrugs, these hum’s, 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!HERMIONE.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.LEONTES.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 outBetwixt the prince and beggar. I have saidShe’s an adultress; I have said with whom:More, she’s a traitor, and Camillo isA federary with her; and one that knowsWhat she should shame to know herselfBut with her most vile principal, that she’sA bed-swerver, even as bad as thoseThat vulgars give bold’st titles; ay, and privyTo this their late escape.HERMIONE.No, by my life,Privy to none of this. How will this grieve you,When you shall come to clearer knowledge, thatYou thus have publish’d me! Gentle my lord,You scarce can right me throughly then, to sayYou did mistake.LEONTES.No. If I mistakeIn those foundations which I build upon,The centre is not big enough to bearA school-boy’s top. Away with her to prison!He who shall speak for her is afar off guiltyBut that he speaks.HERMIONE.There’s some ill planet reigns:I must be patient till the heavens lookWith an aspect more favourable. Good my lords,I am not prone to weeping, as our sexCommonly are; the want of which vain dewPerchance shall dry your pities. But I haveThat honourable grief lodg’d here which burnsWorse than tears drown: beseech you all, my lords,With thoughts so qualified as your charitiesShall best instruct you, measure me; and soThe king’s will be perform’d.LEONTES.Shall I be heard?HERMIONE.Who is’t that goes with me? Beseech your highnessMy women may be with me, for you seeMy plight requires it. Do not weep, good fools;There is no cause: when you shall know your mistressHas deserv’d prison, then abound in tearsAs I come out: this action I now go onIs for my better grace. Adieu, my lord:I never wish’d to see you sorry; nowI trust I shall. My women, come; you have leave.LEONTES.Go, do our bidding. Hence![ExeuntQueenand Ladies with Guards.]FIRST LORD.Beseech your highness, call the queen again.ANTIGONUS.Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justiceProve violence, in the which three great ones suffer,Yourself, your queen, your son.FIRST 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 spotlessI’ th’ eyes of heaven and to you—I meanIn this which you accuse her.ANTIGONUS.If it proveShe’s otherwise, I’ll keep my stables whereI 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.LEONTES.Hold your peaces.FIRST LORD.Good my lord,—ANTIGONUS.It is for you we speak, not for ourselves:You are abus’d, and by some putter-onThat 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 ’em all; fourteen they shall not see,To bring false generations: they are co-heirs,And I had rather glib myself than theyShould not produce fair issue.LEONTES.Cease; no more.You smell this business with a sense as coldAs is a dead man’s nose: but I do see’t and feel’t,As you feel doing thus; and see withalThe instruments that feel.ANTIGONUS.If it be so,We need no grave to bury honesty.There’s not a grain of it the face to sweetenOf the whole dungy earth.LEONTES.What! Lack I credit?FIRST LORD.I had rather you did lack than I, my lord,Upon this ground: and more it would content meTo have her honour true than your suspicion,Be blam’d for’t how you might.LEONTES.Why, what need weCommune with you of this, but rather followOur forceful instigation? Our prerogativeCalls not your counsels, but our natural goodnessImparts this; which, if you, or stupifiedOr seeming so in skill, cannot or will notRelish a truth, like us, inform yourselvesWe need no more of your advice: the matter,The loss, the gain, the ord’ring on’t, is allProperly ours.ANTIGONUS.And I wish, my liege,You had only in your silent judgement tried it,Without more overture.LEONTES.How could that be?Either thou art most ignorant by age,Or thou wert born a fool. Camillo’s flight,Added to their familiarity,(Which was as gross as ever touch’d conjecture,That lack’d sight only, nought for approbationBut only seeing, all other circumstancesMade up to th’ deed) doth push on this proceeding.Yet, for a greater confirmation(For in an act of this importance, ’twereMost piteous to be wild), I have dispatch’d in postTo sacred Delphos, to Apollo’s temple,Cleomenes and Dion, whom you knowOf stuff’d sufficiency: now from the oracleThey will bring all, whose spiritual counsel had,Shall stop or spur me. Have I done well?FIRST LORD.Well done, my lord.LEONTES.Though I am satisfied, and need no moreThan what I know, yet shall the oracleGive rest to the minds of others, such as heWhose ignorant credulity will notCome up to th’ truth. So have we thought it goodFrom our free person she should be confin’d,Lest that the treachery of the two fled henceBe left her to perform. Come, follow us;We are to speak in public; for this businessWill raise us all.ANTIGONUS.[Aside.] To laughter, as I take it,If the good truth were known.[Exeunt.]SCENE II. The same. The outer Room of a Prison.EnterPaulina,aGentlemanand Attendants.PAULINA.The keeper of the prison, call to him;Let him have knowledge who I am.[Exit the Gentleman.]Good lady!No court in Europe is too good for thee;What dost thou then in prison?EnterGentlemanwith theGaoler.Now, good sir,You know me, do you not?GAOLER.For a worthy ladyAnd one who much I honour.PAULINA.Pray you then,Conduct me to the queen.GAOLER.I may not, madam.To the contrary I have express commandment.PAULINA.Here’s ado, to lock up honesty and honour fromTh’ access of gentle visitors! Is’t lawful, pray you,To see her women? any of them? Emilia?GAOLER.So please you, madam,To put apart these your attendants, IShall bring Emilia forth.PAULINA.I pray now, call her.Withdraw yourselves.[ExeuntGentlemanand Attendants.]GAOLER.And, madam,I must be present at your conference.PAULINA.Well, be’t so, prithee.[ExitGaoler.]Here’s such ado to make no stain a stainAs passes colouring.Re-enterGaolerwithEmilia.Dear gentlewoman,How fares our gracious lady?EMILIA.As well as one so great and so forlornMay hold together: on her frights and griefs,(Which never tender lady hath borne greater)She is, something before her time, deliver’d.PAULINA.A boy?EMILIA.A daughter; and a goodly babe,Lusty, and like to live: the queen receivesMuch comfort in ’t; says “My poor prisoner,I am as innocent as you.”PAULINA.I dare be sworn.These dangerous unsafe lunes i’ th’ king, beshrew them!He must be told on’t, and he shall: the officeBecomes 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 beThe 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 beHer advocate to th’ loud’st. We do not knowHow he may soften at the sight o’ th’ child:The silence often of pure innocencePersuades, when speaking fails.EMILIA.Most worthy madam,Your honour and your goodness is so evident,That your free undertaking cannot missA thriving issue: there is no lady livingSo meet for this great errand. Please your ladyshipTo visit the next room, I’ll presentlyAcquaint the queen of your most noble offer,Who but today hammer’d of this design,But durst not tempt a minister of honour,Lest she should be denied.PAULINA.Tell her, Emilia,I’ll use that tongue I have: if wit flow from ’tAs boldness from my bosom, let’t not be doubtedI shall do good.EMILIA.Now be you blest for it!I’ll to the queen: please you come something nearer.GAOLER.Madam, if ’t please the queen to send the babe,I know not what I shall incur to pass it,Having no warrant.PAULINA.You need not fear it, sir:This child was prisoner to the womb, and is,By law and process of great nature thenceFreed and enfranchis’d: not a party toThe anger of the king, nor guilty of,If any be, the trespass of the queen.GAOLER.I do believe it.PAULINA.Do not you fear: upon mine honour, IWill stand betwixt you and danger.[Exeunt.]SCENE III. The same. A Room in the Palace.EnterLeontes, Antigonus,Lords and other Attendants.LEONTES.Nor night nor day no rest: it is but weaknessTo bear the matter thus, mere weakness. IfThe cause were not in being,—part o’ th’ cause,She th’ adultress; for the harlot kingIs quite beyond mine arm, out of the blankAnd level of my brain, plot-proof. But sheI can hook to me. Say that she were gone,Given to the fire, a moiety of my restMight come to me again. Who’s there?FIRST ATTENDANT.My lord.LEONTES.How does the boy?FIRST ATTENDANT.He took good rest tonight;’Tis hop’d his sickness is discharg’d.LEONTES.To see his nobleness,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: go,See how he fares.[ExitFirst Attendant.]Fie, fie! no thought of him.The very thought of my revenges that wayRecoil 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 PolixenesLaugh at me; make their pastime at my sorrow:They should not laugh if I could reach them, norShall she, within my power.EnterPaulinacarrying a baby, withAntigonus,lords and servants.FIRST LORD.You must not enter.PAULINA.Nay, rather, good my lords, be second to me:Fear you his tyrannous passion more, alas,Than the queen’s life? a gracious innocent soul,More free than he is jealous.ANTIGONUS.That’s enough.SERVANT.Madam, he hath not slept tonight; commandedNone should come at him.PAULINA.Not so hot, good sir;I come to bring him sleep. ’Tis such as you,That creep like shadows by him, and do sighAt each his needless heavings,—such as youNourish the cause of his awaking. IDo come with words as med’cinal as true,Honest as either, to purge him of that humourThat presses him from sleep.LEONTES.What noise there, ho?PAULINA.No noise, my lord; but needful conferenceAbout some gossips for your highness.LEONTES.How!Away with that audacious lady! Antigonus,I charg’d thee that she should not come about me.I knew she would.ANTIGONUS.I told her so, my lord,On your displeasure’s peril and on mine,She should not visit you.LEONTES.What, canst not rule her?PAULINA.From all dishonesty he can. In this,Unless he take the course that you have done,Commit me for committing honour—trust it,He shall not rule me.ANTIGONUS.La you now, you hear.When she will take the rein I let her run;But she’ll not stumble.PAULINA.Good my liege, I come,—And, I beseech you hear me, who professesMyself your loyal servant, your physician,Your most obedient counsellor, yet that daresLess appear so, in comforting your evils,Than such as most seem yours—I say I comeFrom your good queen.LEONTES.Good queen!PAULINA.Good queen, my lord, good queen: I say, good queen,And would by combat make her good, so were IA man, the worst about you.LEONTES.Force her hence.PAULINA.Let him that makes but trifles of his eyesFirst hand me: on mine own accord I’ll off;But first I’ll do my errand. The good queen,(For she is good) hath brought you forth a daughter;Here ’tis; commends it to your blessing.[Laying down the child.]LEONTES.Out!A mankind witch! Hence with her, out o’ door:A most intelligencing bawd!PAULINA.Not so.I am as ignorant in that as youIn so entitling me; and no less honestThan you are mad; which is enough, I’ll warrant,As this world goes, to pass for honest.LEONTES.Traitors!Will you not push her out? [To Antigonus.] Give her the bastard,Thou dotard! Thou art woman-tir’d, unroostedBy thy Dame Partlet here. Take up the bastard,Take’t up, I say; give’t to thy crone.PAULINA.For everUnvenerable be thy hands, if thouTak’st up the princess by that forced basenessWhich he has put upon ’t!LEONTES.He dreads his wife.PAULINA.So I would you did; then ’twere past all doubtYou’d call your children yours.LEONTES.A nest of traitors!ANTIGONUS.I am none, by this good light.PAULINA.Nor I; nor anyBut one that’s here, and that’s himself. For heThe sacred honour of himself, his queen’s,His hopeful son’s, his babe’s, betrays to slander,Whose sting is sharper than the sword’s; and will not,(For, as the case now stands, it is a curseHe cannot be compell’d to’t) once removeThe root of his opinion, which is rottenAs ever oak or stone was sound.LEONTES.A callatOf boundless tongue, who late hath beat her husband,And now baits me! This brat is none of mine;It is the issue of Polixenes.Hence with it, and together with the damCommit them to the fire.PAULINA.It is yours;And, might we lay th’ old proverb to your charge,So like you ’tis the worse. Behold, my lords,Although the print be little, the whole matterAnd copy of the father: eye, nose, lip,The trick of ’s frown, his forehead; nay, the valley,The pretty dimples of his chin and cheek; his smiles;The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger:And thou, good goddess Nature, which hast made itSo like to him that got it, if thou hastThe ordering of the mind too, ’mongst all coloursNo yellow in ’t, lest she suspect, as he does,Her children not her husband’s!LEONTES.A gross hag!And, losel, thou art worthy to be hang’dThat wilt not stay her tongue.ANTIGONUS.Hang all the husbandsThat cannot do that feat, you’ll leave yourselfHardly one subject.LEONTES.Once more, take her hence.PAULINA.A most unworthy and unnatural lordCan do no more.LEONTES.I’ll have thee burnt.PAULINA.I care not.It is an 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 accusationThan your own weak-hing’d fancy, something savoursOf tyranny, and will ignoble make you,Yea, scandalous to the world.LEONTES.On your allegiance,Out of the chamber with her! Were I a tyrant,Where were her life? She durst not call me so,If she did know me one. Away with her!PAULINA.I pray you, do not push me; I’ll be gone.Look to your babe, my lord; ’tis yours: Jove send herA better guiding spirit! What needs 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.]LEONTES.Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this.My child? Away with’t. Even thou, that hastA 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 that thou else call’st thine. If thou refuseAnd wilt encounter with my wrath, say so;The bastard brains with these my proper handsShall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire;For thou set’st on thy wife.ANTIGONUS.I did not, sir:These lords, my noble fellows, if they please,Can clear me in ’t.LORDSWe can: my royal liege,He is not guilty of her coming hither.LEONTES.You’re liars all.FIRST LORD.Beseech your highness, give us better credit:We have always truly serv’d you; and beseechSo to esteem of us. And on our knees we beg,As recompense of our dear servicesPast and to come, that you do change this purpose,Which being so horrible, so bloody, mustLead on to some foul issue. We all kneel.LEONTES.I am a feather for each wind that blows.Shall I live on to see this bastard kneelAnd call me father? better burn it nowThan curse it then. But be it; let it live.It shall not neither. [To Antigonus.] You, sir, come you hither,You that have been so tenderly officiousWith 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 adventureTo save this brat’s life?ANTIGONUS.Anything, my lord,That my ability may undergo,And nobleness impose: at least thus much:I’ll pawn the little blood which I have leftTo save the innocent. Anything possible.LEONTES.It shall be possible. Swear by this swordThou wilt perform my bidding.ANTIGONUS.I will, my lord.LEONTES.Mark, and perform it, seest thou? for the failOf any point in’t shall not only beDeath to thyself, but to thy lewd-tongu’d wife,Whom for this time we pardon. We enjoin thee,As thou art liegeman to us, that thou carryThis female bastard hence, and that thou bear itTo some remote and desert place, quite outOf our dominions; and that there thou leave it,Without more mercy, to it own protectionAnd favour of the climate. As by strange fortuneIt 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 placeWhere chance may nurse or end it. Take it up.ANTIGONUS.I swear to do this, though a present deathHad been more merciful. Come on, poor babe:Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravensTo be thy nurses! Wolves and bears, they say,Casting their savageness aside, have doneLike offices of pity. Sir, be prosperousIn more than this deed does require! And blessingAgainst this cruelty, fight on thy side,Poor thing, condemn’d to loss![Exit with the child.]LEONTES.No, I’ll not rearAnother’s issue.Enter aServant.SERVANT.Please your highness, postsFrom those you sent to th’ oracle are comeAn hour since: Cleomenes and Dion,Being well arriv’d from Delphos, are both landed,Hasting to th’ court.FIRST LORD.So please you, sir, their speedHath been beyond account.LEONTES.Twenty-three daysThey have been absent: ’tis good speed; foretellsThe great Apollo suddenly will haveThe truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords;Summon a session, that we may arraignOur most disloyal lady; for, as she hathBeen publicly accus’d, so shall she haveA just and open trial. While she lives,My heart will be a burden to me. Leave me,And think upon my bidding.[Exeunt.]
EnterHermione, Mamilliusand Ladies.
HERMIONE.Take the boy to you: he so troubles me,’Tis past enduring.
FIRST LADY.Come, my gracious lord,Shall I be your playfellow?
MAMILLIUS.No, I’ll none of you.
FIRST LADY.Why, my sweet lord?
MAMILLIUS.You’ll kiss me hard, and speak to me as ifI were a baby still. I love you better.
SECOND LADY.And why so, my lord?
MAMILLIUS.Not for becauseYour brows are blacker; yet black brows, they say,Become some women best, so that there be notToo much hair there, but in a semicircleOr a half-moon made with a pen.
SECOND LADY.Who taught this?
MAMILLIUS.I learn’d it out of women’s faces. Pray now,What colour are your eyebrows?
FIRST LADY.Blue, my lord.
MAMILLIUS.Nay, that’s a mock. I have seen a lady’s noseThat has been blue, but not her eyebrows.
FIRST LADY.Hark ye,The queen your mother rounds apace. We shallPresent our services to a fine new princeOne of these days, and then you’d wanton with us,If we would have you.
SECOND LADY.She is spread of lateInto a goodly bulk: good time encounter her!
HERMIONE.What wisdom stirs amongst you? Come, sir, nowI am for you again. Pray you sit by us,And tell ’s a tale.
MAMILLIUS.Merry or sad shall’t be?
HERMIONE.As merry as you will.
MAMILLIUS.A sad tale’s best for winter. I have oneOf sprites and goblins.
HERMIONE.Let’s have that, good sir.Come on, sit down. Come on, and do your bestTo fright me with your sprites: you’re powerful at it.
MAMILLIUS.There was a man,—
HERMIONE.Nay, come, sit down, then on.
MAMILLIUS.Dwelt by a churchyard. I will tell it softly,Yond crickets shall not hear it.
HERMIONE.Come on then,And give’t me in mine ear.
EnterLeontes, Antigonus,Lords and Guards.
LEONTES.Was he met there? his train? Camillo with him?
FIRST LORD.Behind the tuft of pines I met them, neverSaw I men scour so on their way: I ey’d themEven to their ships.
LEONTES.How blest am IIn my just censure, in my true opinion!Alack, for lesser knowledge! How accurs’dIn being so blest! There may be in the cupA spider steep’d, and one may drink, depart,And yet partake no venom, for his knowledgeIs not infected; but if one presentTh’ abhorr’d ingredient to his eye, make knownHow he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides,With violent hefts. I have drunk, and seen the spider.Camillo was his help in this, his pander.There is a plot against my life, my crown;All’s true that is mistrusted. That false villainWhom I employ’d, was pre-employ’d by him.He has discover’d my design, and IRemain a pinch’d thing; yea, a very trickFor them to play at will. How came the posternsSo easily open?
FIRST LORD.By his great authority,Which often hath no less prevail’d than soOn your command.
LEONTES.I know’t too well.Give me the boy. I am glad you did not nurse him.Though he does bear some signs of me, yet youHave too much blood in him.
HERMIONE.What is this? sport?
LEONTES.Bear the boy hence, he shall not come about her,Away with him, and let her sport herselfWith that she’s big with; for ’tis PolixenesHas made thee swell thus.
[ExitMamilliuswith some of the Guards.]
HERMIONE.But I’d say he had not,And I’ll be sworn you would believe my saying,Howe’er you learn th’ nayward.
LEONTES.You, my lords,Look on her, mark her well. Be but aboutTo say, “she is a goodly lady,” andThe 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 straightThe shrug, the hum or ha, these petty brandsThat calumny doth use—O, I am out,That mercy does; for calumny will searVirtue itself—these shrugs, these hum’s, 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!
HERMIONE.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.
LEONTES.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 outBetwixt the prince and beggar. I have saidShe’s an adultress; I have said with whom:More, she’s a traitor, and Camillo isA federary with her; and one that knowsWhat she should shame to know herselfBut with her most vile principal, that she’sA bed-swerver, even as bad as thoseThat vulgars give bold’st titles; ay, and privyTo this their late escape.
HERMIONE.No, by my life,Privy to none of this. How will this grieve you,When you shall come to clearer knowledge, thatYou thus have publish’d me! Gentle my lord,You scarce can right me throughly then, to sayYou did mistake.
LEONTES.No. If I mistakeIn those foundations which I build upon,The centre is not big enough to bearA school-boy’s top. Away with her to prison!He who shall speak for her is afar off guiltyBut that he speaks.
HERMIONE.There’s some ill planet reigns:I must be patient till the heavens lookWith an aspect more favourable. Good my lords,I am not prone to weeping, as our sexCommonly are; the want of which vain dewPerchance shall dry your pities. But I haveThat honourable grief lodg’d here which burnsWorse than tears drown: beseech you all, my lords,With thoughts so qualified as your charitiesShall best instruct you, measure me; and soThe king’s will be perform’d.
LEONTES.Shall I be heard?
HERMIONE.Who is’t that goes with me? Beseech your highnessMy women may be with me, for you seeMy plight requires it. Do not weep, good fools;There is no cause: when you shall know your mistressHas deserv’d prison, then abound in tearsAs I come out: this action I now go onIs for my better grace. Adieu, my lord:I never wish’d to see you sorry; nowI trust I shall. My women, come; you have leave.
LEONTES.Go, do our bidding. Hence!
[ExeuntQueenand Ladies with Guards.]
FIRST LORD.Beseech your highness, call the queen again.
ANTIGONUS.Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justiceProve violence, in the which three great ones suffer,Yourself, your queen, your son.
FIRST 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 spotlessI’ th’ eyes of heaven and to you—I meanIn this which you accuse her.
ANTIGONUS.If it proveShe’s otherwise, I’ll keep my stables whereI 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.
LEONTES.Hold your peaces.
FIRST LORD.Good my lord,—
ANTIGONUS.It is for you we speak, not for ourselves:You are abus’d, and by some putter-onThat 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 ’em all; fourteen they shall not see,To bring false generations: they are co-heirs,And I had rather glib myself than theyShould not produce fair issue.
LEONTES.Cease; no more.You smell this business with a sense as coldAs is a dead man’s nose: but I do see’t and feel’t,As you feel doing thus; and see withalThe instruments that feel.
ANTIGONUS.If it be so,We need no grave to bury honesty.There’s not a grain of it the face to sweetenOf the whole dungy earth.
LEONTES.What! Lack I credit?
FIRST LORD.I had rather you did lack than I, my lord,Upon this ground: and more it would content meTo have her honour true than your suspicion,Be blam’d for’t how you might.
LEONTES.Why, what need weCommune with you of this, but rather followOur forceful instigation? Our prerogativeCalls not your counsels, but our natural goodnessImparts this; which, if you, or stupifiedOr seeming so in skill, cannot or will notRelish a truth, like us, inform yourselvesWe need no more of your advice: the matter,The loss, the gain, the ord’ring on’t, is allProperly ours.
ANTIGONUS.And I wish, my liege,You had only in your silent judgement tried it,Without more overture.
LEONTES.How could that be?Either thou art most ignorant by age,Or thou wert born a fool. Camillo’s flight,Added to their familiarity,(Which was as gross as ever touch’d conjecture,That lack’d sight only, nought for approbationBut only seeing, all other circumstancesMade up to th’ deed) doth push on this proceeding.Yet, for a greater confirmation(For in an act of this importance, ’twereMost piteous to be wild), I have dispatch’d in postTo sacred Delphos, to Apollo’s temple,Cleomenes and Dion, whom you knowOf stuff’d sufficiency: now from the oracleThey will bring all, whose spiritual counsel had,Shall stop or spur me. Have I done well?
FIRST LORD.Well done, my lord.
LEONTES.Though I am satisfied, and need no moreThan what I know, yet shall the oracleGive rest to the minds of others, such as heWhose ignorant credulity will notCome up to th’ truth. So have we thought it goodFrom our free person she should be confin’d,Lest that the treachery of the two fled henceBe left her to perform. Come, follow us;We are to speak in public; for this businessWill raise us all.
ANTIGONUS.[Aside.] To laughter, as I take it,If the good truth were known.
[Exeunt.]
EnterPaulina,aGentlemanand Attendants.
PAULINA.The keeper of the prison, call to him;Let him have knowledge who I am.
[Exit the Gentleman.]
Good lady!No court in Europe is too good for thee;What dost thou then in prison?
EnterGentlemanwith theGaoler.
Now, good sir,You know me, do you not?
GAOLER.For a worthy ladyAnd one who much I honour.
PAULINA.Pray you then,Conduct me to the queen.
GAOLER.I may not, madam.To the contrary I have express commandment.
PAULINA.Here’s ado, to lock up honesty and honour fromTh’ access of gentle visitors! Is’t lawful, pray you,To see her women? any of them? Emilia?
GAOLER.So please you, madam,To put apart these your attendants, IShall bring Emilia forth.
PAULINA.I pray now, call her.Withdraw yourselves.
[ExeuntGentlemanand Attendants.]
GAOLER.And, madam,I must be present at your conference.
PAULINA.Well, be’t so, prithee.
[ExitGaoler.]
Here’s such ado to make no stain a stainAs passes colouring.
Re-enterGaolerwithEmilia.
Dear gentlewoman,How fares our gracious lady?
EMILIA.As well as one so great and so forlornMay hold together: on her frights and griefs,(Which never tender lady hath borne greater)She is, something before her time, deliver’d.
PAULINA.A boy?
EMILIA.A daughter; and a goodly babe,Lusty, and like to live: the queen receivesMuch comfort in ’t; says “My poor prisoner,I am as innocent as you.”
PAULINA.I dare be sworn.These dangerous unsafe lunes i’ th’ king, beshrew them!He must be told on’t, and he shall: the officeBecomes 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 beThe 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 beHer advocate to th’ loud’st. We do not knowHow he may soften at the sight o’ th’ child:The silence often of pure innocencePersuades, when speaking fails.
EMILIA.Most worthy madam,Your honour and your goodness is so evident,That your free undertaking cannot missA thriving issue: there is no lady livingSo meet for this great errand. Please your ladyshipTo visit the next room, I’ll presentlyAcquaint the queen of your most noble offer,Who but today hammer’d of this design,But durst not tempt a minister of honour,Lest she should be denied.
PAULINA.Tell her, Emilia,I’ll use that tongue I have: if wit flow from ’tAs boldness from my bosom, let’t not be doubtedI shall do good.
EMILIA.Now be you blest for it!I’ll to the queen: please you come something nearer.
GAOLER.Madam, if ’t please the queen to send the babe,I know not what I shall incur to pass it,Having no warrant.
PAULINA.You need not fear it, sir:This child was prisoner to the womb, and is,By law and process of great nature thenceFreed and enfranchis’d: not a party toThe anger of the king, nor guilty of,If any be, the trespass of the queen.
GAOLER.I do believe it.
PAULINA.Do not you fear: upon mine honour, IWill stand betwixt you and danger.
[Exeunt.]
EnterLeontes, Antigonus,Lords and other Attendants.
LEONTES.Nor night nor day no rest: it is but weaknessTo bear the matter thus, mere weakness. IfThe cause were not in being,—part o’ th’ cause,She th’ adultress; for the harlot kingIs quite beyond mine arm, out of the blankAnd level of my brain, plot-proof. But sheI can hook to me. Say that she were gone,Given to the fire, a moiety of my restMight come to me again. Who’s there?
FIRST ATTENDANT.My lord.
LEONTES.How does the boy?
FIRST ATTENDANT.He took good rest tonight;’Tis hop’d his sickness is discharg’d.
LEONTES.To see his nobleness,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: go,See how he fares.
[ExitFirst Attendant.]
Fie, fie! no thought of him.The very thought of my revenges that wayRecoil 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 PolixenesLaugh at me; make their pastime at my sorrow:They should not laugh if I could reach them, norShall she, within my power.
EnterPaulinacarrying a baby, withAntigonus,lords and servants.
FIRST LORD.You must not enter.
PAULINA.Nay, rather, good my lords, be second to me:Fear you his tyrannous passion more, alas,Than the queen’s life? a gracious innocent soul,More free than he is jealous.
ANTIGONUS.That’s enough.
SERVANT.Madam, he hath not slept tonight; commandedNone should come at him.
PAULINA.Not so hot, good sir;I come to bring him sleep. ’Tis such as you,That creep like shadows by him, and do sighAt each his needless heavings,—such as youNourish the cause of his awaking. IDo come with words as med’cinal as true,Honest as either, to purge him of that humourThat presses him from sleep.
LEONTES.What noise there, ho?
PAULINA.No noise, my lord; but needful conferenceAbout some gossips for your highness.
LEONTES.How!Away with that audacious lady! Antigonus,I charg’d thee that she should not come about me.I knew she would.
ANTIGONUS.I told her so, my lord,On your displeasure’s peril and on mine,She should not visit you.
LEONTES.What, canst not rule her?
PAULINA.From all dishonesty he can. In this,Unless he take the course that you have done,Commit me for committing honour—trust it,He shall not rule me.
ANTIGONUS.La you now, you hear.When she will take the rein I let her run;But she’ll not stumble.
PAULINA.Good my liege, I come,—And, I beseech you hear me, who professesMyself your loyal servant, your physician,Your most obedient counsellor, yet that daresLess appear so, in comforting your evils,Than such as most seem yours—I say I comeFrom your good queen.
LEONTES.Good queen!
PAULINA.Good queen, my lord, good queen: I say, good queen,And would by combat make her good, so were IA man, the worst about you.
LEONTES.Force her hence.
PAULINA.Let him that makes but trifles of his eyesFirst hand me: on mine own accord I’ll off;But first I’ll do my errand. The good queen,(For she is good) hath brought you forth a daughter;Here ’tis; commends it to your blessing.
[Laying down the child.]
LEONTES.Out!A mankind witch! Hence with her, out o’ door:A most intelligencing bawd!
PAULINA.Not so.I am as ignorant in that as youIn so entitling me; and no less honestThan you are mad; which is enough, I’ll warrant,As this world goes, to pass for honest.
LEONTES.Traitors!Will you not push her out? [To Antigonus.] Give her the bastard,Thou dotard! Thou art woman-tir’d, unroostedBy thy Dame Partlet here. Take up the bastard,Take’t up, I say; give’t to thy crone.
PAULINA.For everUnvenerable be thy hands, if thouTak’st up the princess by that forced basenessWhich he has put upon ’t!
LEONTES.He dreads his wife.
PAULINA.So I would you did; then ’twere past all doubtYou’d call your children yours.
LEONTES.A nest of traitors!
ANTIGONUS.I am none, by this good light.
PAULINA.Nor I; nor anyBut one that’s here, and that’s himself. For heThe sacred honour of himself, his queen’s,His hopeful son’s, his babe’s, betrays to slander,Whose sting is sharper than the sword’s; and will not,(For, as the case now stands, it is a curseHe cannot be compell’d to’t) once removeThe root of his opinion, which is rottenAs ever oak or stone was sound.
LEONTES.A callatOf boundless tongue, who late hath beat her husband,And now baits me! This brat is none of mine;It is the issue of Polixenes.Hence with it, and together with the damCommit them to the fire.
PAULINA.It is yours;And, might we lay th’ old proverb to your charge,So like you ’tis the worse. Behold, my lords,Although the print be little, the whole matterAnd copy of the father: eye, nose, lip,The trick of ’s frown, his forehead; nay, the valley,The pretty dimples of his chin and cheek; his smiles;The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger:And thou, good goddess Nature, which hast made itSo like to him that got it, if thou hastThe ordering of the mind too, ’mongst all coloursNo yellow in ’t, lest she suspect, as he does,Her children not her husband’s!
LEONTES.A gross hag!And, losel, thou art worthy to be hang’dThat wilt not stay her tongue.
ANTIGONUS.Hang all the husbandsThat cannot do that feat, you’ll leave yourselfHardly one subject.
LEONTES.Once more, take her hence.
PAULINA.A most unworthy and unnatural lordCan do no more.
LEONTES.I’ll have thee burnt.
PAULINA.I care not.It is an 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 accusationThan your own weak-hing’d fancy, something savoursOf tyranny, and will ignoble make you,Yea, scandalous to the world.
LEONTES.On your allegiance,Out of the chamber with her! Were I a tyrant,Where were her life? She durst not call me so,If she did know me one. Away with her!
PAULINA.I pray you, do not push me; I’ll be gone.Look to your babe, my lord; ’tis yours: Jove send herA better guiding spirit! What needs 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.]
LEONTES.Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this.My child? Away with’t. Even thou, that hastA 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 that thou else call’st thine. If thou refuseAnd wilt encounter with my wrath, say so;The bastard brains with these my proper handsShall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire;For thou set’st on thy wife.
ANTIGONUS.I did not, sir:These lords, my noble fellows, if they please,Can clear me in ’t.
LORDSWe can: my royal liege,He is not guilty of her coming hither.
LEONTES.You’re liars all.
FIRST LORD.Beseech your highness, give us better credit:We have always truly serv’d you; and beseechSo to esteem of us. And on our knees we beg,As recompense of our dear servicesPast and to come, that you do change this purpose,Which being so horrible, so bloody, mustLead on to some foul issue. We all kneel.
LEONTES.I am a feather for each wind that blows.Shall I live on to see this bastard kneelAnd call me father? better burn it nowThan curse it then. But be it; let it live.It shall not neither. [To Antigonus.] You, sir, come you hither,You that have been so tenderly officiousWith 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 adventureTo save this brat’s life?
ANTIGONUS.Anything, my lord,That my ability may undergo,And nobleness impose: at least thus much:I’ll pawn the little blood which I have leftTo save the innocent. Anything possible.
LEONTES.It shall be possible. Swear by this swordThou wilt perform my bidding.
ANTIGONUS.I will, my lord.
LEONTES.Mark, and perform it, seest thou? for the failOf any point in’t shall not only beDeath to thyself, but to thy lewd-tongu’d wife,Whom for this time we pardon. We enjoin thee,As thou art liegeman to us, that thou carryThis female bastard hence, and that thou bear itTo some remote and desert place, quite outOf our dominions; and that there thou leave it,Without more mercy, to it own protectionAnd favour of the climate. As by strange fortuneIt 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 placeWhere chance may nurse or end it. Take it up.
ANTIGONUS.I swear to do this, though a present deathHad been more merciful. Come on, poor babe:Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravensTo be thy nurses! Wolves and bears, they say,Casting their savageness aside, have doneLike offices of pity. Sir, be prosperousIn more than this deed does require! And blessingAgainst this cruelty, fight on thy side,Poor thing, condemn’d to loss!
[Exit with the child.]
LEONTES.No, I’ll not rearAnother’s issue.
Enter aServant.
SERVANT.Please your highness, postsFrom those you sent to th’ oracle are comeAn hour since: Cleomenes and Dion,Being well arriv’d from Delphos, are both landed,Hasting to th’ court.
FIRST LORD.So please you, sir, their speedHath been beyond account.
LEONTES.Twenty-three daysThey have been absent: ’tis good speed; foretellsThe great Apollo suddenly will haveThe truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords;Summon a session, that we may arraignOur most disloyal lady; for, as she hathBeen publicly accus’d, so shall she haveA just and open trial. While she lives,My heart will be a burden to me. Leave me,And think upon my bidding.
[Exeunt.]