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 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 gray14,-what will you ad-

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.
Leon. It shall be possible: Swear by this sword15,
Thou wilt perform my bidding.

Ant.

I will, my lord. Leon. Mark, and perform it; (seest thou?) for the fail

Of any point in't shall not only be

14 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 unbreech'd, of course his age must be under thirty, and his own beard would hardly be gray.

15 It was anciently a practice to swear by the cross at the hilt of a sword.

Death to thyself, but to thy lew'd-tongu'd 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
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 favour 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 place16,
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 blessing17,
Against this cruelty, fight on thy side,
Poor thing, condemn'd to loss18!

Leon.

Another's issue.

[Exit, with the Child. No, I'll not rear

1 Attend. 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

16 i. e. commit it to some place as a stranger. To commend is to commit, according to the old dictionaries.

17 i. e. the favour of heaven.

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

Our most disloyal lady: for, as she hath
Been publickly 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. The same. A Street in some Town.

Enter CLEOMENES and DION.

Cleo. The climate's delicate; the air most sweet; Fertile the isle1; 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 the ear-deafening voice o'the oracle,

Kin to Jove's thunder, so surpris'd my sense,

That I was nothing.

If the event o' the journey

Dion.
Prove as successful to the queen,-0, be't so!-
As it hath been to us, rare, pleasant, speedy,
The time is worth the use on't2.

Cleo.
Great Apollo,
Turn all to the best! These proclamations,

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.

2 "The time is worth the use on't; that is, the event of our journey will recompense us for the time we spent in it. Thus in Florio's Translation of Montaigne, 1603: The common saying is, the time we live is worth the money we pay for it.'

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) Shall the contents discover, something rare,

Even then will rush to knowledge.--Go,—fresh horses;

And gracious be the issue!

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. The same. A Court of Justice.

LEONTES, Lords, and Officers, appear properly seated.

Leon. This sessions (to our great grief, we pronounce)

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
O 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 the king, thy royal husband; the pretence whereof

1 i.e the design. Shakspeare often uses the word for design or intention. So in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: 'publisher of this pretence.' And in Macbeth:

'Against the undivulg'd pretence I fight

Of treason's malice,"

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 falsehood2, 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; which3 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 owe4

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 honour, 'fore.
Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it
As I weigh grief, which I would spares; for honour,
'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

2 i. e. my virtue being accounted wickedness, my assertion of it will pass but for a lie. Falsehood means both treachery and lie. 3 Which, that is, which unhappiness.

4 Own, possess.

I prize my life no more than I value grief, which I would willingly spare. This sentiment, which is probably derived from Ecclesiasticus, iii. 11, cannot be too often impressed on the female mind: The glory of a man is from the honour of his father; and. a mother in dishonour is a reproach to her children.'