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.

1 Lord.

Enter PAULINA, with a Child.

You must not enter.

Paul. Nay, rather, good my lords, be second to me. Fear you his tyrannous passion more, alas!

Than the queen's life? a gracious innocent soul,
More free than he is jealous.

Ant.

That's enough.

1 Atten. Madam, he hath not slept to-night; com

manded

None should come at him.

Paul.

I come to bring him sleep.

Not so hot, good sir:

'Tis such as you,-
That creep like shadows by him, and do sigh
At each his needless heavings,-such as you
Nourish the cause of his awaking: I

Do come with words as medicinal as true,

Honest as either, to purge him of that humour,
That presses him from sleep.

Leon.

What noise there, ho"?

Paul. No noise, my lord; but needful conference, About some gossips for your highness.

And in his parties, his ALLIANCE,] So, in Greene's novel: "Pandosto, although he felt that recenge was a spurre to warre, and that envy alwaies proffereth steele, yet he saw Egistus was not only of great puissance and prowesse to withstand him, but also had many kings of his alliance to ayde him, if neede should serve; for he married the Emperour's daughter of Russia. These and the like considerations something daunted Pandosto his courage, so that he was content rather to put up a manifest injurie with peace, than hunt after revenge, dishonor, and losse; determining, since Egistus had escaped scot-free, that Bellaria should pay for all at an unreasonable price." Shakespeare's Library, Part i. p. 14.

7 WHAT noise there, ho?] The first folio reads who: the error was corrected in the second folio.

Leon.

How?

Away with that audacious lady. Antigonus,

I charg'd thee, that she should not come about me:

I knew she would.

Ant.

I told her so, my lord,

On your displeasure's peril, and on mine,
She should not visit you.

Leon.

What! canst not rule her?

Paul. From all dishonesty he can: in this,
(Unless he take the course that you have done,
Commit me for committing honour) trust it,
He shall not rule me.

Ant.

Lo, you now! you hear. When she will take the rein, I let her run; But she'll not stumble.

Paul.

Good my liege, I come,

And, I beseech you, hear me, who professes
Myself your loyal servant, your physician,
Your most obedient counsellor, yet that dares
Less appear so in comforting your evils,
Than such as most seem yours,—I say, I come
From your good queen.

Leon.

Good queen!

Paul. Good queen, my lord, good queen: I say, good

queen;

And would by combat make her good, so were I

A man, the worst about you.

Force her hence.

Leon.
Paul. Let him that makes but trifles of his eyes
First hand me. On mine own accord I'll off,
But first I'll do my errand.-The good queen,

For she is good, hath brought you forth a daughter:
Here 'tis; commends it to your blessing.

8

[Laying down the Child.

in COMFORTING your evils,] Comforting is here used, as Monck Mason observes, in the legal sense of comforting and abetting a person in any criminal action.

Leon.

Out!

A mankind witch! Hence with her, out o' door:
A most intelligencing bawd!

Paul.

I am as ignorant in that, as you

Not so:

In so entitling me, and no less honest

Than you are mad; which is enough, I'll warrant,
As this world goes, to pass for honest.

Leon.

Traitors!

Will you not push her out?
not push her out? Give her the bastard.—
Thou, dotard, [To ANTIGONUS.] thou art woman-tir'd1o,
unroosted

By thy dame Partlet here.-Take up the bastard :
Take't up, I say; give't to thy crone'.

Paul.

Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou

For ever

Tak'st up the princess by that forced baseness

Which he has put upon't!

Leon.

He dreads his wife.

Paul. So I would you did; then, 'twere past all

doubt,

You'd call your children yours.

Leon.

A nest of traitors!

Nor I; nor any,

Ant. I am none, by this good light.
Paul.

But one that's here, and that's himself; for he

The sacred honour of himself, his queen's,

9 A MANKIND witch!] i. e. A masculine witch: "mankind" was frequently used in this sense. In "Coriolanus," A. iv. sc. 2, Sicinius asks Volumnia, "Are you man kind?” meaning, are you of the male sex ?

10

thou art WOMAN-TIR'D,] i. e. in familiar terms, hen-peck'd: "dame Partlet," which Leontes just afterwards mentions, was the proverbial name for a hen. To tire on is to peck at with the beak. In Histriomastix, 1610, sig. F. 3, we find these lines :

"O! how this vulture, vile ambition,

Tires on the heart of greatness, and devours."

:

In "Timon of Athens," A. iii. sc. 6, we read :—" Upon that were my thoughts tiring." The use of the word in that sense is not at all uncommon in our old dramatists.

1thy CRONE.] A" crone is an old woman. VOL. III.

Chaucer employs the word.

H h

His hopeful son's, his babe's, betrays to slander,

Whose sting is sharper than the sword's, and will not
(For, as the case now stands, it is a curse
He cannot be compell'd to't) once remove
The root of his opinion, which is rotten
As ever oak, or stone, was sound.

Leon.

A callat,

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,
Although the print be little, the whole matter
And copy of the father: eye, nose, lip,

The trick of his frown, his forehead; nay, the valley,
The pretty dimples of his chin, and cheek; his smiles;
The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger.—
And, thou, good goddess Nature, which hast made it
So like to him that got it, if thou hast

The ordering of the mind too, 'mongst all colours
No yellow in't; lest she suspect, as he does,

Her children not her husband's.

Leon.

A gross hag!-

And, lozel, thou art worthy to be hang'd3,

2

A CALLAT,

Of boundless tongue,] "Callat" is sometimes spelt callet, and is a very old term of abuse applied to women. It seems originally to have meant merely a low mean woman, and has been derived from calle, which Tyrwhitt tells us is Fr. for "a species of cap,” (Gloss. to Chaucer,) or from calote, which Grey says was a sort of head-dress worn by country girls. Calle, in Spanish, is a street, and in the time of Shakespeare, and much earlier, "callet" was generally used for a lewd woman, a drab. In" Henry the Sixth," Pt. iii. A. ii. sc. 2, we have "shameless callet;" and the word occurs again in a similar sense in "Othello," A. iv. sc. 2.

3 And, LOZEL, thou art worthy to be hang'd,] "Lozel" is a word of the commonest occurrence, in the sense of a worthless and abandoned fellow. "A lozel,” says Verstegan in his "Restitution,” 1605, as quoted by Reed, “is one

That wilt not stay her tongue.

Ant.

Hang all the husbands

That cannot do that feat, you'll leave yourself

Hardly one subject.

Leon.

Once more, take her hence. Paul. A most unworthy and unnatural lord

Not she which burns in't. I'll not call you tyrant;
But this most cruel usage of your queen

(Not able to produce more accusation

Than your own weak hing'd fancy) something savours Of tyranny, and will ignoble make you,

Yea, scandalous to the world.

Leon.

Out of the chamber with her.

On

your allegiance, Were I a tyrant,

Where were her life? she durst not call me so,
If she did know me one. Away with her!

Paul. I pray you, do not push me; I'll be gone. Look to your babe, my lord; 'tis yours: Jove send her A better guiding spirit!-What need these hands?You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies,

Will never do him good, not one of you.

So, so-farewell; we are gone.

[Exit.

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 consum'd with fire:

Even thou, and none but thou. Take it up straight. Within this hour bring me word 'tis 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;

that hath lost, neglected, or cast off his own good and welfare, and who is become lewd, and careless of credit and honesty."