ACT I.

Clown, his son.

Servant to the old shepher u.
Autolycus, a rogue.
Time, as Chorus.

Hermione, queen to Leontes.

Perdita, daughter to Leontes and Hermione.

Paulina, wife to Antigonus.

Emilia, a lady,

Two other ladies,

Mopsa,

Dorcas,

attending the queen.

Shepherdesses.

Lords, ladies, and attendants; satyrs for a dance, shepherds, shepherdesses, guards, &c.

Scene, sometimes in Sicilia, sometimes in Bohemia.

malice, or matter, to alter it. You have an unspeakable comfort of your young prince Mamillius; SCENE I-Sicilia. An Antechamber in Leon-it is a gentleman of the greatest promise, that ever tes' palace. Enter Camillo and Archidamus.

Archidamus.

If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on

the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia.

Cam. I think, this coming summer, the king of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which ne justly owes him.

Arch. Wherein our entertainment shall shame

us, we will be justified in our loves: for, indeed, Cam. 'Beseech you,

came into my note.

Cam. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: it is a gallant child; one that, indeed, phywent on crutches ere he was born, desire yet their sics the subject,' makes old hearts fresh: they, that

life, to see him a man.

Arch. Would they else be content to die? Cam. Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live.

Arch. If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one.

[Exeunt. SCENE II.-The same. A room of state in the palace. Enter Leontes, Polixenes, Hermione, Mamillius, Camillo, and attendants.

Arch. Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we cannot with such magnificence- Pol. Nine changes of the wat'ry star have been in so rare-I know not what to say.--We will The shepherd's note, since we have left our throne give you sleepy drinks; that your senses, unintelli-Without a burden: time as long again

And yet we should, for perpetuity,

gent of our insufficience, may, though they can-Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks: not praise us, as little accuse us. Cam. You pay a great deal too dear, for what's Go hence in debt: And therefore, like a cipher, given freely. Yet standing in rich place, I multiply, Arch. Believe me, I speak as my understanding With one we-thank-you, many thousands more instructs me, and as mine honesty puts it to utter-That go before it.

ance.

Leon.

Stay your thanks awhile; Cam. Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to And pay them when you part. Bohemia. They were trained together in their Pol. Sir, that's to-morrow. childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then I am question'd by my fears, of what may chance, such an affection, which cannot choose but branch Or breed upon our absence: That may blow now. Since their more mature dignities, and royal No sneaping winds at home, to make us say, necessities, made separation of their society, their This is put forth too truly! Besides, I have stay'd encounters, though not personal, have been royally To tire your royalty. attornied with interchange of gifts, letters, loving Leon.

embassies; that they have seemed to be together, Than you can put us to't.
though absent; shook hands, as over a vast; and
embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed
winds. The heavens continue their loves!

Arch. I think, there is not in the world either

(1) Nobly supplied by substitution of embassies. (2) Wide waste of country,

Pol.
Leon. One seven-night
Pol.

We are tougher, brother,

No longer stay. longer.

Very sooth, to-morrow. Leon. We'll part the time between's then; and in that

(3) Affords a cordial to the state, (4) Nipping

Though you would seek to unsphere the stars with Or I mistake you: O, would her name were Grace!

there?

We must be neat; not neat, but cleanly, captain : We are yours i'the garden: Shall's attend you
And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf,
Are all call'd, neat.-Still virginalling!

[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
Almost as like as eggs; women say so,
That will say any thing: But were they false
As o'er-died blacks, as wind, as waters; false
As dice are to be wish'd, by one that fixes
No bourn' twixt his and mine; yet were it true
To say this boy were like me.-Come, sir page,
Look on me with your welkin' eye: Sweet villain!
Most dear'st! my collop!-Can thy dam ?-may't
be?

Affection! thy infection stabs the centre:
Thou dost make possible, things not so held,
Communicat'st with dreams;--(How can this
With what's unreal thou coactive art,

Leon. To your own bents dispose you: you'll be

found,

Be you beneath the sky:-I am angling now,
Though you perceive me not how I give line.
Go to, go to!

[Aside. Observing Polixenes and Hermione.
How she holds up the neb, 1° 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;
And many a man there is, even at this present,
be?)-Now, while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm,
That little thinks she has been sluic'd in his absence,
And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour, by
Sir Smile, his neighbour : nay, there's comfort in't,
Whiles other men have gates; and those gates
open'd,

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,)
And that to the infection of my brains,
And hardening of my brows.
Pol.

What means Sicilia?
Her. He something seems unsettled.
Pol.

How, my lord?
What cheer? how is't with you, best brother?
Her.
You look,
As if you held a brow of much distraction:
Are you mov'd, my lord?
Leon.
No, in good carnest.
How sometimes nature will betray its folly,
Its tenderness, and make itself a pastime
To harder bosoms! Looking on the lines
Of my boy's face, methoughts, I did recoil
Twenty-three years; and saw myself unbreech'd,|
In my green velvet coat; my dagger muzzled,
Lest it should bite its master, and so prove,
As ornaments of do, too dangerous.
How like, methought, I then was to this kernel,
This squash, this gentleman :-mine honest friend,
Will you take eggs for money?"

Mam. No, my lord, I'll fight.

Leon. You will? why, happy man be his dole!-
My brother,

Are you so fond of your young prince, as we
Do seem to be of ours?

Pol.
If at home, sir,
He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter:
Now my sworn friend, and then mine enemy;
My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all;
He makes a July's day short as December;
And, with his varying childness, cures in me
Thoughts that would thick my blood.
Leon.
So stands this squire
Offic'd with me: We two will walk, my lord,
And leave you to your graver steps.-Hermione,
How thou lov'st us, show in our brother's welcome;
Let what is dear in Sicily, be cheap:
Next to thyself, and my young rover,
Apparent to my heart.
Her.

he's

If you would scek us,

As mine, against their will: Should all despair
That have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind
Would hang themselves. Physic for't there is none;
It is a bawdy planet, that will strike

Where 'tis predominant; and 'tis powerful, think it,
From east, west, north, and south: Be it concluded,
No barricado for a belly; know it;
It will let in and out the enemy,

With bag and baggage: many a thousand of us.
Have the disease, and feel't not.-How now, boy?
Mam. I am like you, they say.
Leon.

Why, that's some comfort.--
What! Camillo there?

ing,

Sicilia is a so-forth: 'Tis far gone,
When I shall gust4 it last.-How came't, Camillo,
That he did stay?

Cam.
At the good queen's entreaty.
Leon. At the queen's, be't: good, should be
pertinent;

But so it is, it is not. Was this taken
By any understanding pate but thine?
For thy conceit is soaking, will draw in
More than the common blocks:-Not noted, is't,
But of the finer natures? by some severals,
Of head-piece extraordinary? lower messes, 15
Perchance, are to this business purblind: say.
Cam. Business, my lord? I think, most under-
stand
Bohemia stays here longer.

(8) May his share of life be a happy one!
(9) Heir apparent, next claimant. (10) Mouth.
(11) Approving. (12) A horned one, a cuckold.
(13) To round in the ear was to tell secretly.
(14) Taste.
(15) Inferiors in rank.

That would unseen be wicked? is this nothing? Stays here longer. Why, then the world, and all that's in't, is nothing; The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing; My wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings, If this be nothing.

Cam. To satisfy your highness, and the entreaties Of our most gracious mistress.

Leon.

Satisfy

The entreaties of your mistress?-satisfy ?—
Let that suffice. I have trusted thee, Camillo,
With all the nearest things to my heart, as well
My chamber-counsels: wherein, priest-like, thou
Hast cleans'd my bosom; I from thee departed
Thy penitent reform'd: but we have been
Deceiv'd in thy integrity, deceiv'd

In that which seems so.

Cam.

Be it forbid, my lord!

Leon. To bide upon't;-Thou art not honest: or,
If thou inclin'st that way, thou art a coward;
Which hoxes' honesty behind, restraining
From course requir'd: Or else thou must be counted
A servant, grafted in my serious trust,

And therein negligent; or else a fool,

I say, thou liest, Camillo, and I hate thee;
Pronounce thee a gross lout, a mindless slave;
Or else a hovering temporizer, that

Canst with thine eyes at once see good and evil,
Inclining to them both: Were my wife's liver
Infected as her life, she would not live
The running of one glass.

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,
I may be negligent, foolish, and fearful;
In every one of these no man is free,
But that his negligence, his folly, fear,
Amongst the infinite doings of the world,
Sometime puts forth: In your affairs, my lord,
If ever I were wilful-negligent,
It was my folly; if industriously
I play'd the fool, it was my negligence,
Not weighing well the end; if ever fearful
To do a thing, where I the issue doubted,
Whereof the execution did cry out
Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear
Which oft affects the wisest: these, my lord,
Are such allow'd infirmities, that honesty
Is never free of. But, 'beseech your grace,
Be plainer with me; let me know my trespass
By its own visage: if I then deny it,
'Tis none of mine.

Leon.
Have not you seen, Camillo,
(But that's past doubt: you have; or your eye-glass
Is thicker than a cuckold's horn;) or heard
(For, to a vison so apparent, rumour
Cannot be mute,) or thought (for cogitation
Resides not in that man, that does not think it,)
My wife is slippery? If thou wilt confess,
(Or else be impudently negative,

Had servants true about me; that bare eyes
To see alike mine honour as their profits,
Their own particular thrifts,-they would do that
Which should undo more doing: Ay, and thou
His cup-bearer,-whom I from meaner form
Have bench'd, and rear'd to worship; who may'st

Sir, my lord,

I could do this; and that with no rash potion,
But with a ling ring dram, that should not work
Maliciously like poison: But I cannot
Believe this crack to be in my dread mistress,
So sovereignly being honourable.
I have lov'd thee,-

Leon.
Make't thy question, and go 10t.
Dost think, I am so muddy, so unsettled,
To appoint myself in this vexation? sully
The purity and whiteness of my sheets,
Which to preserve is sleep; which being spotted,
Is goads, thorns, nettles, tails of wasps?
Give scandal to the blood o' the prince my son,
Who, I do think is mine, and love as mine;
Without ripe moving to't? Would I do this?
Could man so blench?
I must believe you, sir;

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
As rank as any flax-wench, that puts to
Before her troth-plight: say it, and justify it.
Cam. I would not be a stander-by, to hear
My sovereign mistress clouded so, without
My present vengeance taken: 'Shrew my heart,
You never spoke what did become you less
Than this: which to reiterate, were sin
As deep as that, though true.
Leon.
Is whispering nothing?
Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career
Of laughter with a sigh? (a note infallible
Of breaking honesty :) horsing foot on foot?
Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift?
Hours, minutes? noon, midnight? and all eyes
blind

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
Will take again your queen, as yours at first;
Even for your son's sake; and, thereby, for sealing
The injury of tongues, in courts and kingdoms
Known and allied to yours.
Leon.
Thou dost advise me,
Even so as I mine own course have set down:
I'll give no blemish to her honour, none.
Cam. My lord,

Go then; and with a countenance as clear
As friendship wears at feasts, keep with Bohemia,
And with your queen: I am his cupbearer;
If from me he have wholesome beverage,
Account me not your servant.

Leon.
This is all:
Do't, and thou hast the one half of my heart;
Do't not, thou splitt'st thine own.
Cam.

I'll do't, my lord.

(5) Maliciously, with effects openly hurtful. (6) i. e. Could any man so start off from pro priety?