1 Lord.

We can; my royal liege,

He is not guilty of her coming hither.

Leon. You are liars all.

1 Lord. 'Beseech your highness, give us better credit. We have always truly served 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 gray,'-what will you
To save this brat's life?

Ant.
Any thing, my lord,
That my ability may undergo,

And nobleness impose. At least, thus much;
I'll pawn the little blood which I have left,
To save the innocent: any thing possible.

adventure

Leon. It shall be possible. Swear by this sword, Thou wilt perform my bidding.

Ant.

Leon. Mark, and perform it; fail

I will, my lord.

(seest thou?) for the

Of any point in't shall not only be

Death to thyself, but to thy lewd-tongued wife;
Whom, for this time, we pardon. We enjoin thee,
As thou art liegeman to us, that thou carry
This female bastard hence; and that thou bear it

1 Leontes must mean the beard of Antigonus, which he may be supposed to touch. He himself tells us that twenty-three years ago he was unbreeched; of course his age must be under thirty, and his own beard would hardly be gray.

To some remote and desert place quite out
Of our 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,1
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,
Casting their savageness aside, have done
Like offices of pity.-Sir, be prosperous

In more than this deed doth require! and blessing,2
Against this cruelty, fight on thy side,

Poor thing, condemned to loss! [Exit, with the Child. No, I'll not rear

Leon.

Another's issue.

1 Attend.

Please your highness, posts,

From those you sent to the oracle, are come

An hour since. Cleomenes and Dion,

Being well arrived from Delphos, are both landed,

Hasting to the court.

1 Lord.

So please you, sir, their speed

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 accused, 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.

1 i. e. commit it to some place as a stranger. To commend is to commit,

according to the old dictionaries.

2 i. e. the favor of Heaven.

3 i. e. to exposure, or to be lost or dropped.

ACT III.

SCENE 1. The same. A Street in some Town.

Enter CLEOMENES and DION.

Cleo. The climate's delicate; the air most sweet; Fertile the isle; the temple much surpassing

The common praise it bears.

Dion.

I shall report

For most it caught me-the celestial habits

(Methinks I so should term them) and the reverence Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice!

How ceremonious, solemn, and unearthly

It was i' the offering!

Cleo.

But of all, the burst

And 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 sealed up) Shall the contents discover, something rare Even then will rush to knowledge.horses!

And gracious be the issue!

-Go,-fresh

[Exeunt.

1 Warburton has remarked that the temple of Apollo was at Delphi, which was not an island. But Shakspeare little regarded geographical accuracy. He followed Green's Dorastus and Fawnia, in which it is called the isle of Delphos. There was a temple of Apollo in the isle of Delos

SCENE II. The same. 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 beloved.-Let us be cleared
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 Camillo to take away the life of our sovereign lord and 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

But what comes from myself; it shall scarce boot me To say, Not guilty: mine integrity,

Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,

Be so received. But thus,-If powers divine
Behold our human actions, (as they do,)
I doubt not, then, but innocence shall make

11. e. the design. Shakspeare often uses the word for design or

intention.

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 devised,
And played to take spectators. For behold me,-
A fellow of the royal bed, which owe 1

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 own 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 strained, to appear thus: if one jot beyond
The bound of honor; or, in act, or will,
That way inclining; hardened be the hearts
Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin

Cry, Fie 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.3

Her.

Though 'tis a saying, sir, not due to me.

That's true enough;

More than mistress of,

Leon. You will not own it.

Her.

Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not

1 Own, possess.

2 Encounter so uncurrent is unallowed or unlawful meeting.--Strained means swerved or gone astray from the line of duty. The explanations of this passage are not very satisfactory. It appears to be designed as a question.

3 It is to be observed that originally, in our language, two negatives did not affirm, but only strengthen the negation. In this passage, Johnson observes that, according to the present use more, or wanted should be had.

of words, less should be