He must be told on 't, and he shall: the office
Becomes a woman best; I'll take 't upon me:
If I prove honey-mouth'd, let my tongue blister,
And never to my red-look'd anger be
The trumpet any more.-Pray you, Emilia,
Commend my best obedience to the queen;
If she dares trust me with her little babe,
I'll show 't the king, and undertake to be

Her advocate to the loudest. We do not know
How he may soften at the sight o' the child;
The silence often of pure innocence
Persuades, when speaking fails.

EMIL.

[ship

Most worthy madam, Your honour and your goodness is so evident, That your free undertaking cannot miss A thriving issue: there is no lady living So meet for this great errand. Please your ladyTo visit the next room, I'll presently Acquaint the queen of your most noble offer; Who but to-day hammer'd of this design, But durst not tempt a minister of honour, Lest she should be denied.

PAUL. Tell her, Emilia, I'll use that tongue I have: if wit flow from 't, As boldness from my bosom, let 't not be doubted I shall do good. EMIL. Now be you bless'd for it! I'll to the queen: please you, come something [the babe,

nearer.

GAOL. Madam, if 't please the queen to send I know not what I shall incur to pass it, Having no warrant.

a These dangerous unsafe lunes-] To remedy the apparent tautology in this line, Mr. Collier's annotator would have us read, -still more tautologically,

"These dangerous unsane lunes," &c.

But the old text needs no alteration; "dangerous," like its syno

LEON. Nor night nor day no rest. It is but weakness

To bear the matter thus ;-mere weakness. If
The cause were not in being, part o' the cause,
She the adultress; for the harlot king
Is quite beyond mine arm, out of the blank
And level of my brain, plot-proof; but she
I can hook to me :-say that she were gone,
Given to the fire, a moiety of my rest
Might come to me again.-Who's there?
I ATTEND. [Advancing.]

LEON. How does the boy?

1 ATTEND.

My lord!

He took good rest to-night; 'Tis hop'd his sickness is discharg'd.

LEON.

To see his nobleness!
Conceiving the dishonour of his mother,
He straight declin'd, droop'd, took it deeply;
Fasten'd and fix'd the shame on 't in himself;
Threw off his spirit, his appetite, his sleep,
And downright languish'd.-Leave me solely:-go,
See how he fares. [Exit Attend.]-Fie, fie! no
thought of him ;-

The very thought of my revenges that way
Recoil upon me: in himself too mighty,
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.

"Blank" and "level" are terms in gunnery; the former means mark, the latter range.

I told her so, my lord,

ANT.
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.

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

PAUL. And, I beseech you, 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.

Good my liege, I come,— hear me, who professes

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.

LEON.

Force her hence.

LEON.

PAUL. So I would you did; then 't were 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,
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, 't is the worse.-Behold, my lords,
Although the print be little, the whole matter
And copy of the father,-eye, nose, lip;
The trick of 's 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, losel, thou art worthy to be hang'd,
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 Can do no more.

It is an heretic that makes the fire,
Not she which burns in 't. I'll not call you tyrant;

f

And, might we lay the old proverb to your charge,
So like you, 'tis the worse.-]

Overbury quotes this "old proverb" in his character of "A Sargeant":"The devill cals him his white sonne; he is so like him, that he is the worse for it, and hee lokes after his father."OVERBURY'S Works, Ed. 1616.

glosel, Said to be derived from the Saxon Losian, to lose, and to mean an abandoned, worthless fellow.

A better guiding spirit!-What needs these
You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies,
Will never do him good, not one of you.

:-farewell; we are gone.

So, so:

[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 't is 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; 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.

[credit:

1 LORD. Beseech your highness, give us better 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?
Than curse it then.
It shall not neither.

Better burn it now,
But be it; let it live :-
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 't is a bastard,

So sure as this beard's grey,—what will you ad

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 it 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

So please you, sir, their speed Hath been beyond account.

LEON. Twenty-three days They have been absent: 't is 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.

c-to it own protection-] Although the pronoun "its" occurs more frequently in this piece than in any other of Shakespeare's plays, showing it to have been one of his last works, that now indispensable vocable was still only in its infancy; for in this drama we have "it" in the instance above, and again in Act III. Sc. 2,"The innocent milke in it most innocent mouth." d- commend-] To commend was to commit.