The bastard-brains with these my proper hands
Shall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire,

For thou sett'st on thy wife.

Ant.

I did not, sir:

These lords, my noble fellows, if they please,
Can clear me in't.

1 Lord.

We can my royal liege,

He is not guilty of her coming hither.

Leon. You 're liars all.

1 Lord. Beseech your highness, give us better credit. We have always truly serv'd you, and beseech

So to esteem of us; and on our knees we beg,

(As recompense of our dear services,

Past, and to come) that you do change this purpose;

Which, being so horrible, so bloody, must

Lead on to some foul issue. We all kneel.

Leon. I am a feather for each wind that blows.

Shall I live on, to see this bastard kneel

And call me father? Better burn it now,

Than curse it then.

But, be it; let it live :—

It shall not neither.-You, sir, come you hither;

[To ANTIGONUS.

You, that have been so tenderly officious
With lady Margery, your midwife, there,

To save this bastard's life,-for 'tis a bastard,

So sure as thy beard's grey,-what will you adventure To save this brat's life?

Ant.

Any thing, my lord,
That my ability may undergo,

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,

So sure as THY beard's grey,] The old MS. corrector of Lord Francis Egerton's copy of the folio, 1623, altered "this" into thy, which, probably, was the true reading. Leontes could not, of course, refer to his own beard; and in order to make "this beard" intelligible, he must touch or pluck that of Antigonus.

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-tongued 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! [Exit with the Child.
No; I'll not rear

Leon.

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.

Hath been beyond account.

Leon.

So please you, sir, their speed

Twenty-three days

They have been absent: 'tis good speed, foretels,
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. Leave me,
And think upon my bidding.

[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 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.

5 Fertile THE ISLE,] i. e. The isle of Delphos. Warburton points out a geographical blunder here, inasmuch as the temple of Apollo at Delphi was not in an island, but in Phocis on the continent. This is of course true; but Shakespeare had "isle" from Greene, in whom the error was less excusable, as he was Master of Arts in both Universities. In "Pandosto," Bellaria requests "that it would please his Majestie to send sixe of his noble men, whom he best trusted, to the isle of Delphos, there to inquire of the Oracle of Apollo, whether she had committed adultery with Egistus, or conspired to poyson him with Tranion." Shakespeare's Library, Part i. p. 20.

Dion.

If th' 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.

Great Apollo,

Turn all to the best! 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 pro

nounce)

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
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".

[SILENCE.] The word "Silence" is printed as a stage-direction in the first folio, without any indication of the entrance of the queen, &c. This deficiency the second folio supplied merely by the word "Enter," which follows "Silence." The third and fourth folios adopt the reading of the second. Malone and all

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

Tremble at patience.-You, my lord, best know,

the other modern editors have chosen to take "Silence" as an exclamation of the officer so it might be; but the printer of the folio, 1623, did not so understand it, and the editor of the folio, 1632, when correcting an obvious omission, did not think fit to alter the reading. The word Silence was probably meant to mark the suspense, that ought to be displayed by all upon the stage, on the entrance of Hermione to take her trial.

7 -to fly away by night.] These are nearly Greene's words:-"it was objected against her that she had committed adulterie with Egistus, and conspired with Tranion to poyson Pandosto, her husband; but their pretence being partly spyed, she counselled them to flie away by night for their better safety." Shakespeare's Library, Part i. p. 19. In both Shakespeare and Greene, the word "pretence" is used in the sense of intention; but this was common to many writers of the time.

8 Tremble at patience.] Shakespeare here also adheres pretty closely to the terms of the novel, where Bellaria thus commences her defence :-"If the devine powers bee privy to humane actions, (as no doubt they are,) I hope my patience shall make fortune blushe, and my unspotted life shall staine spightful discredit." Shakespeare's Library, Part i. p. 22.