I may not answer.

POL. A sickness caught of me, and yet I well!
I must be answer'd.-Dost thou hear, Camillo ?
I conjure thee, by all the parts of man
Which honour does acknowledge, whereof the
least

Is not this suit of mine,-that thou declare
What incidency thou dost guess of harm

Is creeping toward me; how far off, how near;
Which way to be prevented, if to be;
If not, how best to bear it.

CAM.
Sir, I will tell you;
Since I am charg'd in honour, and by him
That I think honourable: therefore, mark my
counsel,

Which must be even as swiftly follow'd as
I mean to utter it, or both yourself and me
Cry lost, and so good night!
POL.
On, good Camillo.
CAM. I am appointed him to murder you!"
POL. By whom, Camillo ?
CAM.
By the king.
POL.
For what?
CAM. He thinks, nay, with all confidence, he

swears,

a I am appointed him to murder you!] I am the agent fixed upon to murder you.

b To vice you to 't,-] To screw you to it. So in "Twelfth Night," Act V. Sc. 1,

"I partly know the instrument

That screws me from my true place in vour favour."

As he had seen 't, or been an instrument
To vice" you to't,-that you have touch'd his queen
Forbiddenly.

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 overd 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.

POL. How should this grow? CAM. I know not: but I am sure 't is safer to Avoid what's grown than question how 'tis born. If therefore you dare trust my honesty,That lies enclosed in this trunk, which you Shall bear along impawn'd,-away to-night! Your followers I will whisper to the business; And will, by twos and threes, at several posterns,

Be yok'd with his that did betray the Best!] That is, with the name of Judas.

d Swear his thought over-] Theobald suggested,-"Swear this though, over," which, besides being foreign to the mode of expression in Shakespeare's time, is a change quite uncalled for; to swear over over-swear, is merely to out-swear.

Must it be great; and, as his person's mighty,
Must it be violent: and as he does conceive
He is dishonour'd by a man which ever
Profess'd to him, why, his revenges must

In that be made more bitter. Fear o'ershades me:
Good expedition be my friend, and comfort
The gracious queen, part of his theme, but nothing
Of his ill-ta'en suspicion ! Come, Camillo ;
I will respect thee as a father, if

Thou bear'st my life off hence: let us avoid.
CAM. It is in mine authority to command
The keys of all the posterns. Please your high-

And I'll be sworn,-you would believe my saying, Howe'er you lean to the nayward.

HER.
Nay, come, sit down; then on.
MAM. Dwelt by a churchyard;-I will tell it
softly;

Yond crickets shall not hear it.

HER.

And give❜t me in mine ear.

Come on then,

LEON. You, my lords, Look on her, mark her well; be but about To say, she is a goodly lady, and The justice of your hearts will thereto add, 'Tis pity she's not honest, honourable : Praise her but for this her without-door form,

LEON. Was he met there? his train? Camillo with him?

[never 1 LORD. Behind the tuft of pines I met them; Saw I men scour so on their way: I ey'd them Even to their ships.

LEON. How bless'd am I In my just censure!-in my true opinion!Alack, for lesser knowledge !—how accurs'd In being so bless'd !-There may be in the cup A spider steep'd," and one may drink, depart," And yet partake no venom; for his knowledge Is not infected: but if one present

The abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides, With violent hefts: -I have drunk, and seen the spider.

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
Remain a pinch'd thing; yea, a very trick
For them to play at will.-How came the posterns
So easily open?

a A spider steep'd,-] It was a prevalent belief anciently that spiders were venomous, and that a person might be poisoned by drinking any liquid in which one was infused. From the context

it would appear, however, that to render the draught fatal, the victim ought to see the spider. So, in Middleton's "No Wit, no Help like a Woman's," Act II. Sc. 1,

"Even when my lip touch'd the contracting cup,
Even then to see the spider?"

band one may drink, depart, &c.] Mr. Collier's annotator

She's an adultress!

HER. The most replenish'd villain in the world, He were as much more villain: you, my lord, Do but mistake.

Should a villain say so,

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

e

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'st 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 right me throughly then, to say You did mistake.

In those foundations which I build upon,
The centre is not big enough to bear
A schoolboy's top.-Away with her to prison!
He who shall speak for her is afar off guilty
But that he speaks.

reads," and one may drink a part;" but what Shakespeare wrote, we are persuaded, was,

HER.

There's some ill planet reigns: I must be patient till the heavens look With an aspéct more favourable.-Good my lords, I am not prone to weeping, as our sex Commonly are, the want of which vain dew Perchance shall dry your pities,—but I have That honourable grief lodg'd here, which burns Worse than tears drown: beseech you all, my lords, With thoughts so qualified as your charities Shall best instruct you, measure me ;—and so The king's will be perform'd!

LEON. Shall I be heard? [To the Guards.
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 deserv'd 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 wish'd to see you sorry; now
I trust I shall.(1)-My women, come; you have
LEON. Go, do our bidding; hence!

[leave.

[Exeunt QUEEN and Ladies, with Guards. 1 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.

1 LORD.

lord,

For her, my I dare my life lay down, and will do 't, sir, Please you to accept it, that the queen is spotless I' the eyes of heaven and to you; I mean, In this which you accuse her. ANT.

If it prove She's otherwise, I'll keep my stables where I lodge my wife; I'll go in couples with her ;* Than when I feel and see her, no farther trust her; For every inch of woman in the world, Ay, every dram of woman's flesh, is false, If she be.

LEON. Hold your peaces.

If it prove

She's otherwise, I'll keep my stables where I lodge my wife; I'll go in couples with her ;] A prodigious amount of nonsense has been written on this unfortunate passage, but not a single editor or critic has shown the faintest perception of what it means. The accepted explanation, that by "I'll keep my stables where I lodge my wife," &c. Antigonus declares that he will have his stables in the same place with his wife; or, as some writers express it, he will make his stable or dog-kennel of his wife's chamber"! sets gravity completely at defiance. What he means-and the excessive grossness of the idea can hardly be excused-is, unquestionably, that if Hermione be proved incontinent he should believe every woman is unchaste; his own wife as licentious as Semiramis, (Equum adamatum a Semiramide," &c.-Pliny, 1. viii. c. 42,) and where he lodged her he would "keep." that is, guard, or fasten the entry of his stables. This sense of the word "keep" is so common, even in Shakespeare, that it is amazing no one should have seen its application here. For example:

b "Dromio, keep the gate."-Comedy of Errors, Act II. Sc. 2. c "Keep the door close, sirrah."-Henry VIII. Act V. Sc. 1. VOL. III. 209

1 LORD. Good my lord,ANT. It is for you we speak, not for ourselves, You are abus'd, and by some putter-on," That will be damn'd for 't; would I knew the villain,

I would land-damn him. Be she honour-flaw'd,—
I have three daughters; the eldest is eleven ;
The second, and the third, nine, and some five;
If this prove true, they'll pay for't: by mine
honour,

I'll geld 'em all; fourteen they shall not see,
To bring false generations: they are co-heirs;
And I had rather glib myself than they
Should not produce fair issue.

LEON.

Cease! no more.

LEON.

How could that be? Either thou art most ignorant by age,

"I thank you: keep the door."-Hamlet, Act IV. Sc. 5. "Gratiano, keep the house," &c.-Othello, Act V. Sc. 2. band by some putter-on,-] "Putter-on" appears to have been a term of reproach, implying an instigator, or plotter. It occurs again in "Henry VIII." Act I. Sc. 2. See note (b), p. 650, Vol. II.

cland-damn him.] "Land-damn " may almost with certainty be pronounced corrupt. The only tolerable attempt to extract sense from it, as it stands, is that of Rann, who conjectured that it meant "condemned to the punishment of being built up in the earth "-a torture mentioned in "Titus Andronicus," Act V. Sc. 3,