SCENE II.-The same.-A Court of Justice.

LEONTES, LORDS, and OFFICERS, appear properly

seated.

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 beloved.-Let us be clear'd
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!

HERMIONE is brought in, 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 purtly 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 received. 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

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 devised,
And play'd, to take spectators: for behold me,-

• Equal.

+ Scheme laid.

Treachery.

O, that he were alive, and here beholding
His daughter's trial! That he did but see
The flatness of my misery; yet with eyes
Of pity, not revenge!

Re-enter OFFICERS, with CLEOMENES and DION. Ofi. You here shall swear upon this sword of justice,

That you, Cleomenes and Dion, have

Been both at Delphos; and from thence have brought

This seal'd up oracle, by the hand deliver'd
Of great Apollo's priest; and that, since then,
You have not dared to break the holy seal,
Nor read the secrets in't.

Cleo. Dion. All this we swear.

Leon. Break up the seals, and read.

Offi. [Reads.] Hermione is chaste, Polixenes blameless, Camillo a true subject, Leontes a jealous tyrant, his innocent babe truly begotten; and the king shall live without an heir,if that, which is lost, be not found

Lords. Now blessed be the great Apollo !

Her. Praised!

Leon. Hast thou read truth?

Offi. Ay, my lord; even so

As it is here set down.

Leon. There is no truth at all i' the oracle: The sessions shall proceed; this is mere falsehood.

Enter a SERVANT, hastily.

Serv. My lord the king, the king!

Leon. What is the business?

Serv. O Sir, I shall be hated to report it: The prince your son, with mere conceit and fear Of the queen's speed, is gone.

Leon. How! Gone?

Serv. Is dead.

Leon. Apollo's angry; and the heavens themselves

Do strike at my injustice. [Hermione faints.] How now there?

Paul. This news is mortal to the queen :-Look

down,

And see what death is doing.

Leon. Take her hence:

Her heart is but o'ercharged; she will recover.

Of the event of the queen's trial.

I have too much believed mine own suspicion :'Beseech you, tenderly apply to her

Some remedies for life.-Apollo, pardon.

[Exeunt Paulina and Ladies, with Hermione. My great profaneness 'gainst thine oracle !I'll reconcile me to Polixenes;

New woo my queen; recall the good Camillo;
Whom I proclaim a man of truth, of mercy :
For, being transported by my jealousies
To bloody thoughts and to revenge, I choose
Camillo for the minister, to poison

My friend Polixenes: which had been done,
But that the good mind of Camillo tardied

My swift command, though I with death, and with
Reward, did threaten and encourage him.
Not doing it, and being done: he, most humane,
And fill'd with honour, to my kingly guest
Unclasp'd my practice; quit his fortunes here,
Which you knew great; and to the certain hazard
Of all incertainties himself commended,
No richer than his honour :-How he glisters
Thorough my rust! And how his piety
Does my deeds make the blacker!

Re-enter PAULINA.

Paul. Woe the while!

O, cut my lace; lest my heart, cracking it,
Break too!

1 Lord. What fit is this, good lady?

Paul. What studied torments, tyrant, hast for

me ?

What wheels?

Boiling,

In leads, or oils? What old, or newer torture
Must I receive; whose every word deserves
To taste of thy most worst? Thy tyranny
Together working with thy jealousies,-
Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle
For girls of nine-O, think, what they have done,
And then run mad, indeed; stark mad! For all
Thy by-gone fooleries were but spices of it.
That thou betray'dst Polixenes, 'twas nothing;
That did but shew thee, of a fool, inconstant,
And damnable ungrateful: nor was't much,
Thou wouldst have poison'd good Camillo's honour,
To have him kill a king; poor trespasses,
More monstrous standing by: whereof I reckon

The casting forth to crows thy baby daughter,
To be or none, or little; though a devil
Would have shed water out of fire, ere done't:
Nor is't directly laid to thee, the death

Of the young prince; whose honourable thoughts
(Thoughts high for one so tender,) cleft the heart
That could conceive, a gross and foolish sire
Blemish'd his gracious dam: this is not, no,
Laid to thy answer: But the last,-0, lords,
When I have said, cry, woe !-The queen, the
queen,

The sweetest, dearest, creature's dead; and vengeance for't

Not dropp'd down yet.

1 Lord. The higher powers forbid !

Paul. I say, she's dead; I'll swear't: if word, nor oath,!

Prevail not, go and see: if you can bring
Tincture, or lustre, in her lip, her eye,

Heat outwardly, or breath within, I'll serve you
As I would do the gods.-But, O thou tyrant?
Do not repent these things; for they are heavier
Than all thy woes can stir: therefore betake thee
To nothing but despair. A thousand knees
Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting,
Upon a barren mountain, and still winter
In storm perpetual, could not move the gods
To look that way thou wert.

Leon. Go on, go on:

Thou canst not speak too much; I have deserved All tongues to talk their bitterest.

1 Lord. Say no more;

Howe'er the business goes, you have made fault I' the boldness of your speech.

Paul. I am sorry for❜t;

All faults I make, when I shall come to know them, I do repent:-Alas, I have shew'd too much

The rashness of a woman; he is touch'd

To the noble heart.-What's gone, and what's past help,

Should be past grief: do not receive affliction
At my petition, I beseech you; rather

Let me be punish'd, that have minded you

Of what you should forget. Now, good my liege, Sir, royal Sir, forgive a foolish woman:

The love I bore your queen,-lo, fool again!-]

* i. e. A devil would have shed tears of pity, ere he would have perpetrated such an action.

I'll speak of her no more, nor of your children;
I'll not remember you of my own lord,
Who is lost too: take your patience to you,
And I'll say nothing.

Leon. Thou didst speak but well,

When most the truth: which I receive much better
Than to be pitied of thee. Pr'ythee, bring me
To the dead bodies of my queen, and son:
One grave shall be for both; upon them shall
The causes of their death appear, unto
Our shame perpetual: once a day I'll visit

The chapel where they lie; and tears, shed there,
Shall be my recreation: so long as
Nature will bear up with this exercise,

So long I daily vow to use it. Come,
And lead me to these sorrows.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III-Bohemia-A desert Country near the

Sea.

Enter ANTIGONUS, with the Child; and a MARINER. Ant. Thou art perfect then, our ship hath touch'd upon

The deserts of Bohemia.

Mar. Ay, my lord; and fear

We have landed in ill time: the skies look grimly, And threaten present blusters. In my conscience, The heavens with that we have in hand are angry, And frown upon us.

Ant. Their sacred wills be done!-Go, get aboard; Look to thy bark; I'll not be long, before

I call upon thee.

Mar. Make your best haste; and go not

Too far i' the land: 'tis like to be loud weather; Besides, this place, is famous for the creatures Of prey, that keep upon't.

Ant. Go thou away;

I'll follow instantly.

Mar. I am glad at heart

To be so rid of the business.

Ant. Come, poor babe :

[Exit.

I have heard (but not believed,) the spirits of the

dead

May walk again: if such thing be, thy mother
Appear'd to me last night; for ne'er was dream
So like a waking. To me comes a creature,
Sometimes her head on one side, some another;

Well-assured.