I'll no gain-saying. So soon as yours, could win me: so it should now, Do even drag me homeward: which to hinder, Leon. Tongue-tied, our queen? speak you. Her. I had thought, sir, to have held my peace, until You had drawn oaths from him, not to stay. You, sir, Leon. Well said, Hermione. Her. To tell, he longs to see his son, were strong: But let him say so then, and let him go; But let him swear so, and he shall not stay, We'll thwack him hence with distaffs.Yet of your royal presence [To Polixenes.] I'll ad You put me off with limber vows: But I, As fat as tame things: One good deed, dying tongueless, Slaughters a thousand, waiting upon that. Though you would seek to unsphere the stars with Or I mistake you: 0, would her name were Grace! oaths, Should yet say, Sir, no going. Verily, You shall not go; a lady's verily is As potent as a lord's. Will you go yet? Not like a guest; so you shall pay your fees, When you depart, and save your thanks. How say you? My prisoner? or my guest? by your dread verily, One of them you shall be. Pol. Your guest then, madam: To be your prisoner, should import offending; Which is for me less easy to commit, Than you to punish. Her. Not your gaoler then, But your kind hostess. Come, I'll question you Her. Was not my lord the verier wag o' the two? i' the sun, And bleat the one at the other: what we chang'd, (1) Gests were the names of the stages where the king appointed to lie, during a royal progress. (2) Indeed. (3) Tick. (4) Flimsy. (5) A diminutive of lords. But once before I spoke to the purpose. When? Nay, let me have't; I long. Leon. Why, that was when Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to death, Ere I could make thee open thy white hand, And clap thyself my love; then didst thou utter, am yours for ever. I Her. It is Grace, indeed. Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose twice: The one for ever earn'd a royal husband; The other, for some while a friend. [Giving her hand to Polixenes. Leon. Too hot, too hot: [Aside. To mingle friendship far, is mingling bloods. I have tremor cordis on me: my heart dances; But not for joy,-not joy.-This entertainment May a free face put on; derive a liberty From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom, And well become the agent: it may, I grant: But to be paddling palms, and pinching fingers, As now they are; and making practis'd smiles, As in a looking-glass;-and then to sigh, as 'twere The mort o'the deer; O, that is entertainment My bosom likes not, nor my brows.-Mamillius, Art thou my boy? there? We must be neat; not neat, but cleanly, captain: We are yours i'the garden: Shall's attend you [Observing Polixenes and Hermione. Upon his palm ?-How now, you wanton calf? Art thou my calf? Mam. Yes, if you will, my lord. Leon. Thou want'st a rough pash, and the shoots that I have,2 To be full like me :-yet, they say, we are No bourn3 twixt his and mine; yet were it true Affection! thy infection stabs the centre: Leon. To your own bents dispose you: you'll be found, Be you beneath the sky :-I am angling now, [Aside. Observing Polixenes and Hermione. How she holds up the neb, 10 the bill to him! And arms her with the boldness of a wife To her allowing husband! Gone already; Inch-thick, knee-deep; o'er head and ears a fork'd one. 12 [Exeunt Polixenes, Hermione, and attendants. Go, play, boy, play ;-thy mother plays, and I Play too; but so disgrac'd a part, whose issue Will hiss me to my grave; contempt and clamour Will be my knell.-Go, play, boy, play;-There have been, Or I am much deceiv'd, cuckolds ere now; Communicat'st with dreams;--(How can this be?)-Now, while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm, With what's unreal thou coactive art, And fellow'st nothing: Then, 'tis very credent, Thou may'st co-join with something; and thou dost; (And that beyond commission; and I find it,) How, my lord? You look, As if you held a brow of much distraction: That little thinks she has been sluic'd in his absence, As mine, against their will: Should all despair It will let in and out the enemy, With bag and baggage: many a thousand of us How sometimes nature will betray its folly, Mam. No, my lord, I'll fight. Leon. You will? why, happy man be his dole !- Are you so fond of your young prince, as we Pol. If you would seek us, Why, that's some comfort.- What! Camillo there? Cam. Ay, my good lord. man. Leon. Go play, Mamillius; thou'rt an honest [Exit Mamillius. Camillo, this great sir will yet stay longer. Cam. You had much ado to make his anchor hold: When you cast out, it still came home. Leon. Didst note it? Cam. He would not stay at your petitions; made His business more material. ing, 13 Sicilia is a so-forth: 'Tis far gone, When I shall gust it last.-How came't, Camillo, Cam. But so it is, it is not. Was this taken (8) May his share of life be a happy one! Cam. From course requir'd: Or else thou must be counted I say, thou liest, Camillo, and I hate thee; Canst with thine eyes at once see good and evil, Cam. Who does infect her? Leon. Why he, that wears her like her medal, hanging That seest a game play'd home, the rich stake About his neck, Bohemia: Who-if I drawn, And tak'st it all for jest. Cam. My gracious lord, It was my folly; if industriously I play'd the fool, it was my negligence, Leon. Had servants true about me; that bare eyes see Plainly, as heaven sees earth, and earth sees heaven, To give mine enemy a lasting wink; Cam. Sir, my lord, I could do this; and that with no rash potion, Leon. Cam. To have nor eyes, nor ears, nor thought,) then say, I do; and will fetch off Bohemia for't: My wife's a hobby-horse; deserves a name 2 With the pin and web, but theirs, theirs only, (1) To hox is to hamstring. (2) Disorders of the eye. (3) Hour-glass. (4) Hasty. Provided, that when he's remov'd, your highness Leon. Thou dost advise me, Go then; and with a countenance as clear Leon. This is all: Leon. I will seem friendly, as thou hast advis'd Since I am charg'd in honour, and by him me. [Exit. That I think honourable: Therefore, mark my Which must be even as swiftly follow'd, as Cam. O miserable lady !-But, for me, What case stand I in? I must be the poisoner Of good Polixenes: and my ground to do't Is the obedience to a master; one, Who, in rebellion with himself, will have All that are his, so too. To do this deed, Promotion follows: If I could find example Of thousands, that had struck anointed kings, And flourish'd after, I'd not do't: but since Nor brass, nor stone, nor parchment, bears not one, Let villany itself forswear't. I must Forsake the court: to do't, or no, is certain To me a break-neck. Happy star, reign now! Here comes Bohemia. Enter Polixenes. Pol. This is strange! methinks, My favour here begins to warp. Not speak?Good-day, Camillo. Cam. Hail, most royal sir! Pol. What is the news i'the court? Cam. None rare, my lord. Po!. The king hath on him such a countenance, As he had lost some province, and a region, Lov'd as he loves himself: even now I met him With customary compliment; when he, Wafting his eyes to the contrary, and falling A lip of much contempt, speeds from me; and So leaves me to consider what is breeding, That changes thus his manners. Cam. I dare not know, my lord. Pol. How! dare not? do not. Do you know, and dare not Be intelligent to me? "Tis thereabouts; Cam. There is a sickness Which puts some of us in distemper; but I cannot name the disease; and it is caught Of you that yet are well. Pol. How! caught of me? Make me not sighted like the basilisk: counsel; I mean to utter it; or both yourself and me Pol. Cam. Pol. By the king. For what? Cam. He thinks, nay, with all confidence he swears, As he had seen't, or been an instrument Pol. O, then my best blood turn To an infected jelly; and my name Be yok'd with his, that did betray the best! Turn then my freshest reputation to A savour, that may strike the dullest nostril Where I arrive; and my approach be shunn'd, Nay, hated too, worse than the great'st infection That e'er was heard, or read! Cam. Swear his thought over By each particular star in heaven, and By all their influences, you may as well Forbid the sea for to obey the moon, As or, by oath, remove, or counsel, shake The fabric of his folly; whose foundation Is pil'd upon his faith, and will continue The standing of his body. 5 Pol. Have utter'd truth: which if you seek to prove, thereon I saw his heart in his face. Give me thy hand; I have look'd on thousands, who have sped the better Cam. I may not answer. Pol. A sickness caught of me, and yet I well! Is not this suit of mine,-that thou declare Is creeping toward me; how far off, how near; (1) For succession. Sir, I'll tell you; (2) Gentle was opposed to simple: well born. Is for a precious creature: as she's rare, [Exeunt. (3) i. e. I am the person appointed, &c. (4) Draw. (5) Settled belief." ACT II. SCENE I.-The same. Enter Hermione, millius, and Ladies. With violent hefts :-I have drank, and seen the spider. Ma-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 villain, Whom I employ'd, was pre-employ'd by him: He has discover'd my design, and I Her. Take the boy to you: he so troubles me, "Tis past enduring. 1 Lady. Come, my gracious lord, Shall I be your play-fellow? No, I'll none of you. 2 Lady. And why so, my good lord? Mam. Not for because if Your brows are blacker: yet black brows, they say, Saw I men scour so on their way: I ey'd them The abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known Remain a pinch'd thing: yea, a very trick 1 Lord. Leon. I know't too well. Away with him:-and let her sport herself Leon. The justice of your hearts will thereto add, The shrug, the hum, or ha; these petty brands, Her. Leon. 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 out Betwixt the prince and beggar!-I have said, She's an adultress; I have said with whom : More, she's a traitor; and Camillo is A federary with her; and one that knows What she should shame to know herself, But with her most vile principal, that she's A bed-swerver, even as bad as those That vulgars give bold titles; ay, and privy To this their late escape. Her. No, by my life, Privy to none of this: How will this grieve you, When you shall come to clearer knowledge, that You thus have publish'd me? Gentle my lord, You scarce can tight me throughly then, to say You did mistake. (4) Heavings. (5) A thing pinched out of clouts, a puppet. (6) Brand as infamous. (7), Confederate. (S) Only. |