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 sword
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

Death to thyself, but to thy lewd-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 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

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

Poor thing, condemn'd to loss!

Leon.

[Exit with the Child

No; I'll not rear

Another's issue.

1 Atten.

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

Twenty-three days

Hath been beyond account.

Leon.

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 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 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

The critics have remarked upon what they are pleased to call Shakespeare's blunder in speaking of Delphos as an island. In this, however, he followed Greene, who, being Master of Arts in both the Universities, would hardly be suspected of blundering in his geography.

Н

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.

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.

Turn all to the best!

Great Apollo,

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 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.

Enter LEONTES, Lords, and Officers.

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

2 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 commou saying is, the time we live is worth the money we pay for it."

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.'

Enter HERMIONE 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 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 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

1 Even in the sense of equally or indifferently

.

In the original silence is printed as a stage-direction in modern editions it is given as a part of the text. We agree with Mr. Collier that the word was probably meant to mark the impressive stillness which ought to be kept on the stage at the entrance of the Queen.

H.

3 Shakespeare often uses pretence for design or intention. So in Macbeth: 66 Against the undivulg'd pretence I fight of treasonous malice."

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 devis'd,
And play'd to take spectators. For behold me,
A fellow of the royal bed, which owe

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 spare: 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

Have strain'd, t' appear thus: if one jot beyond
The bound of honour, or in act or will
That way inclining, harden'd 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."

4 Own, possess.

I prize my life no more than I value grief, which I would willingly spare.

6 Encounter so uncurrent is unallowed or unlawful meeting. · Strain'd means swerv'd or gone astray from the line of duty. So in Romeo and Juliet: "Nor aught so good, but strain'd from that fair use, revolts." To appear thus is to seem guilty.

7 It is to be observed that originally in our language, two neg atives did not affirm, but only strengthen the negation. Examples of similar phraseology occur in several of our author's plays, and