Since I am charg'd in honour, and by him
That I think honourable: Therefore, mark my
Which must be even as swiftly follow'd, as

I mean to utter it; or both yourself and me
Cry, loft, and fo good-night.

Pol. On, good Camillo.

Cam. I am appointed Him to murder you3.
Pol. By whom, Camillo ?

Cam. By the king.

Pol. For what?

counfel;

Cam. He thinks, nay, with all confidence he fwears,
As he had seen't, or been an inftrument

To vice you to't,-that you have touch'd his
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 fresheft reputation to

queen

A favour, that may ftrike the dullest noftril
Where I arrive; and my approach be fhun'd,
Nay, hated too, worse than the great'ft infection
That e'er was heard, or read!

Cam. Swear his thought over

By each particular ftar in heaven, and

By all their influences 2, you may as well

8 I am appointed Him to murder you.] i. e. I am the perfon appointed to murder you. STEEVENS.

9 To vice you to't,] i. e. to draw, perfuade you. WARBURTON. The vice is an inftrument well known; its operation is to hold things together. So the bailiff fpeaking of Falstaff: "If be come but within my vice," &c. STEEVENS.

The word beft

his, that did betray the beft!] Perhaps Judas. is fpelt with a capital letter thus, Beft, in the first folio. HENDERSON. 2 Swear his thought over

By each particular far in beaven, &c.] Swear his thought over may perhaps mean, overfwear bis prefent perfuafion, that is, endeavour to overcome his opinion, by fwearing oaths numerous as the ftars. JOHNSON.

Swear his thought over may mean, Though you should endeavour to fwear away his jealousy,-though you should ftrive, by your oaths, to change his prefent thoughts. The vulgar still use a fimilar expreffion: "To fwear a person down." MALONE.

VOL. IV.

L

Forbid

Forbid the fea for to obey the moon,
As or, by oath, remove, or counsel, shake,
The fabrick of his folly; whofe foundation
Is pil'd upon his faith 3, and will continue
The ftanding of his body.

Pol. How fhould this grow?

Cam. I know not: but, I am fure, 'tis fafer to
Avoid what's grown, than question how 'tis born.
If therefore you dare truft my honesty,-
That lies enclosed in this trunk, which you
Shall bear along impawn'd,-away to-night.
Your followers I will whifper to the bufinefs;
And will, by twos, and threes, at feveral posterns,
Clear them o'the city: For myself, I'll put
My fortunes to your service, which are here
By this difcovery loft. Be not uncertain;
For, by the honour of my parents, I

Have utter'd truth: which if you feek to prove,
I dare not stand by; nor fhall you be safer

Than one condemn'd by the king's own mouth, thereon
His execution fworn.

Pol. I do believe thee:

I faw his heart in his face. Give me thy hand;
Be pilot to me, and thy places fhall

Still neighbour mine: My ships are ready, and
My people did expect my hence departure

Two days ago.This jealoufy

Is for a precious creature: as fhe's rare,

Muft it be great; and, as his person's mighty,
Muft it he violent; and as he does conceive

He is dishonour'd by a man which ever

3- whofe foundation

Is pil'd upon bis faith,] This folly which is erected on the foundation of fettled belief. STEEVENS.

4 - and thy places fhall

Still neighbour mine:] Perhaps Shakspeare wrote-And thy paces fhall, &c. Thou shalt be my conductor, and we will both purfue the fame path. The old reading however may mean,-wherever thou art, I will still be near thee.

MALONE.

Profefs'd to him, why, his revenges must

In that be made more bitter. Fear o'er-fhades me:
Good expedition be my friend, and comfort

The gracious queen, part of his theme, but nothing
Of his ill-ta'en fufpicion 5! Come, Camillo;
I will refpect thee as a father, if

Thou bear'ft my life off hence: Let us avoid.

Cam. It is in mine authority, to command
The keys of all the pofterns: Please your highness
To take the urgent hour: come, fir, away.

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I.

The fame.

Enter HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS, and Ladies. Her. Take the boy to you: he so troubles me, 'Tis paft enduring.

I. Lady. Come, my gracious lord, Shall I be your play-fellow ?

Mam. No, I'll none of you.

1. Lady. Why, my fweet lord?

Mam. You'll kiss me hard; and speak to me as if I were a baby ftill.-I love you better.

2. Lady. And why fo, my lord?

Mam. Not for because

Your brows are blacker; yet black brows, they say,

Good expedition be my friend, and comfort

The gracious queen, part of his theme, but nothing

Of bis ill-ta'en fufpicion !] Comfort is, I apprehend, here ufed as a verb. Good expedition befriend me, by removing me from a place of danger, and comfort the innocent queen, by removing the object of her husband's jealoufy ;-the queen, who is the fubject of his converfation, but without reafon the object of his fufpicion!-We meet with a similar phrafcology in Twelfth Night: "Do me this courteous office, as to know of the knight, what my offence to him is; it is fomething of my negligence, nothing of my purpose." Dr. Warburton reads the gracious queen's; i. e. "be expedition my friend, and comfort the queen's friend;" and Dr. Johnson thinks his emendation juft. MALONE.

L 2

Become

Become fome women beft; fo that there be not
Too much hair there, but in a femicircle,
Or a half-moon made with a pen.

2. Lady. Who taught you this?

Mam. I learn'd it out of women's faces.-Pray now What colour are your eye-brows?

1. Lady. Blue, my lord.

Mam. Nay, that's a mock: I have seen a lady's nofe That has been blue, but not her eye-brows.

2. Lady. Hark ye:

The queen, your mother, rounds apace: we shall
Prefent our services to a fine new prince,

One of these days; and then you'd wanton with us,
If we would have you.

1. Lady. She is fpread of late

Into a goodly bulk; Good time encounter her!

Her. What wifdom ftirs amongst you? Come, fir, now I am for you again: Pray you, fit by us,

And tell us a tale.

Mam. Merry, or fad, fhall it be?
Her. As merry as you will.

Mam. A fad tale's best for winter 7:

I have one of fprights and goblins.

Her. Let's have that, good fir:

Come on, fit down :-Come on, and do your best
To fright me with your fprights; you're powerful at it.
Mam. There was a man,-

Her. Nay, come, fit down; then on.

Mam. Dwelt by a church-yard ;-I will tell it softly; Yon crickets fhall not hear it.

Her. Come on then,

And give't me in mine ear.

6 Who taught you this ?] You, which is not in the old copy, was added by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

1 A fad tale's best for winter:] Hence, I fuppofe, the title of the play. TYRWHITT.

This fuppofition may be countenanced by our author's 98th Sonnet: "Yet not the lays of birds, &c.

"Could make me any fummer's story tell." STEEVENS.

Enter

Enter LEONTES, ANTIGONUs, Lords, and Others. Leon. Was he met there? his train? Camillo with him? 1. Lord. Behind the tuft of pines I met them; never Saw I men fcour fo on their way: I ey'd them Even to their fhips.

Leon. How blest am I

In my juft cenfure? in my true opinion?—
Alack, for leffer knowledge!-How accurs'd,
In being fo bleft!-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 prefent

The abhor'd ingredient to his eye, make known
How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his fides,
With violent hefts 2: I have drunk, and feen the spider.
Camillo was his help in this, his pander:-
There is a plot against my life, my crown;
All's true, that is miftrufted :-that falfe villain,
Whom I employ'd, was pre-employ'd by him:
He hath discover'd my defign, and I
Remain a pinch'd thing3; yea, a very trick

For

8 In my juft cenfure ?] Cenfure, in the time of our author, was generally ufed, (as in this inftance,) for judgment, opinion. So, Sir Walter Raleigh, in his commendatory verfes prefixed to Gascoigne's Steel Glaffe, 1576:

"Wherefore, to write my cenfure of this book-." MALONE. Alack, for leffer knowledge!- That is, O that my knowledge were lefs. JOHNSON.

1 A Spider freep'd,] This was a notion generally prevalent in our author's time. So, in Holland's Leaguer, a pamphlet published in 1632: like the spider, which turneth all things to poifon which it tafteth." MALONE.

That fpiders were efteemed venomous appears by the evidence of a perfon who was examined in Sir T. Overbury's affair. "The Countefie wifhed me to get the ftrongest poison that I could, &c. Accordingly I bought feven great spiders, and cantharides." HENDERSON.

2-violent hefts:] Hefts are heavings, what is heaved up. STEEVENS.

3 He bath difcover'd my defign, and I

Remain a pinch'd thing;] The fenfe, I think, is, He hath now difcovered my fign, and I am treated as a mere child's baby, a thing

L 3

pinched