Her. Who is 't that goes with me?-'Beseech your highness,

My women may be with me; for you see
My plight requires it. Do not weep, good fools;
There is no cause: when you shall know your
mistress

Has deserved a prison, then abound in tears,
As I come out; this action I now go on,
Is for my better grace.-Adieu, my lord:

I never wished to see you sorry; now

I trust I shall.-My women, come; you have leave.

Leon. Go, do our bidding; hence!

[Exeunt QUEEN and Ladies.

1st Lord. 'Beseech your highness, call the queen again.

Ant. Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justice

Prove violence; in the which three great ones suffer,

Yourself, your queen, your son.

You had only in your silent judgement tried it,
Without more overture.

Leon.
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 touched conjuncture,
That lacked sight only, nought for approbation,
But only seeing, all other circumstances
Made up to the deed), doth push on this proceed-
ing:

Yet, for a greater confirmation

(For, in an act of this importance, 't were
Most piteous to be wild), I have despatched in
post,

To sacred Delphos, to Apollo's temple,
Cleomenes and Dion, whom you know
Of stuffed sufficiency. Now, from the oracle
They will bring all; whose spiritual counsel had,
Shall stop or spur me. Have I done well?

1st Lord. Well done, my lord.

Leon. Though I am satisfied, and need no more Than what I know, yet shall the oracle Give rest to the minds of others; such as he Whose ignorant credulity will not Come up to the truth. So have we thought it good, From our free person she should be confined; Lest that the treachery of the two, fled hence, Be left her to perform. Come, follow us; We are to speak in public: for this business Will raise us all.

Ant. [aside]. To laughter, as I take it, If the good truth were known. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The same. The outer Room of a Prison.
Enter PAULINA and Attendants.
Paul. The keeper of the prison,-call to him ;
[Exit an Attendant.

I must be present at your conference.

Paul. Well, be it so, pr'y thee. [Exit Keeper. Here's such ado to make no stain a stain, As passes colouring.

Re-enter Keeper, with EMILIA.

Dear gentlewoman, how fares our gracious lady?
Emil. As well as one so great and so forlorn;
May hold together: on her frights and griefs
(Which never tender lady hath borne greater),
She is, something before her time, delivered.
Paul. A boy?
Emil. A daughter; and a goodly babe,
Lusty, and like to live: the queen receives
Much comfort in't: says, "My poor prisoner,
I am innocent as you."

I dare be sworn :

Paul. These dangerous unsafe lunes o' the king! beshrew them!

He must be told on 't, and he shall: the office
Becomes a woman best; I'll take 't upon me:
If I prove honey-mouthed, let my tongue blister;
And never to my red-looked anger be
The trumpet any more.-Pray you, Emilia,
Commend my best obedience to the queen;
If she dares trust me with her little babe,
I'll shew't the king, and undertake to be
Her advocate to th' loudest. We do not know
How he may soften at the sight o' the child;
The silence often of pure innocence
Persuades, when speaking fails.

Emil. Most worthy madam,

Your honour and your goodness is so evident, That your free undertaking cannot miss

See how he fares. [Exit Attendant.]-Fie, fie! no thought of him:

The very thought of my revenges that way
Recoil 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 Polixenes

Laugh at me; make their pastime at my sorrow:
They should not laugh if I could reach them; nor
Shall she, within my power.

Enter PAULINA, with a Child.

Of 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 dam,
Commit them to the fire.

Paul.
It is yours;
And, might we lay the old proverb to your charge,
So like you 'tis the worse.-Behold, my lords,

Leon. Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this.

My child! away with 't!-even thou, that hast
A heart so tender o'er it, take it hence,
And see it instantly consumed with fire;
Even thou, and none but thou. Take it up straight:
Within this hour bring me word 't is done
(And by good testimony), or I 'll seize thy life,
With what thou else call'st thine. If thou refuse,
And wilt encounter with my wrath, say so;
The bastard brains with these my proper hands
Shall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire;
For thou sett'st on thy wife.

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 't is a bastard,
So sure as this beard's grey,--what will you ad-
venture

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

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
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 for-

tune

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,
Casting their savageness aside, have done
Like offices of pity.-Sir, be prosperous