LEONTES, King of Sicilia.

Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 2.
Act V. sc. 1; sc. 3.
MAMILLIUS, Son to Leontes.
Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1.

CAMILLO, a Sicilian lord.

Appears, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 3.

ANTIGONUS, a Sicilian lord.

Appears, Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 3.

CLEOMENES, a Sicilian lord.
Appears, Act III. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act V. sc. 1.
DION, a Sicilian lord.

Appears, Act III. sc. 1 sc. 2. Act V. sc. 1.
A Sicilian Lord.

Appears, Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 2.

ROGERO, a Sicilian gentleman.
Appears, Act V. sc. 1.

An Attendant on the young Prince Mamillius.
Appears, Act II. sc. 3.

Officers of a Court of Judicature.
Appear, Act III. sc. 2.

POLIXENES, King of Bohemia.

Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 3.
FLORIZEL, Son to Polixenes.

Appears, Act IV. sc. 3. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 3.
ARCHIDAMUS, a Bohemian lord.
Appears, Act I. sc. 1.

A Mariner.

Appears, Act III. sc. 3.

Gaoler.

Appears, Act II. sc. 2.

An old Shepherd, reputed father of Perdita.
Appears, Act III. sc. 3. Act IV. sc. 3. Act V. sc. 2.
Clown, son to the old Shepherd.

Appears, Act III. sc. 3. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act V. sc. &.
AUTOLYCUS, a rogue.

Appears, Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 2.

Time, as Chorus.

Appears, Act IV.

HERMIONE, Queen to Leontes.

Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1. Act III. sc. 2. Act V. sc. 2 PERDITA, daughter to Leontes and Hermione. Appears, Act IV. sc. 3. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 3.

PAULINA, wife to Antigonus.

Appears, Act II. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 2. Act IV. sc. 1.
Act V. sc. 3.

EMILIA, a lady attending on the Queen.
Appears, Act II. sc. 2.

Two Ladies attending on the Queen.

Appear, Act II. sc. 1.
MOPSA, a shepherdess.
Appears, Act IV. sc. 3.
DORCAS, a shepherdess.

Appears, Act IV. sc. 3.

Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Satyrs for a Dance, Shepherd, Shepherdesses, Guards, &c.

Cam. You pay a great deal too dear for what's given freely.

Arch. Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me, and as mine honesty puts it to utterance.

of their society, their encounters, though not personal, have been royally attorneyed, with interchange of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seemed to be together, though absent; shook hands, as over a vast; and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. The Heavens continue their loves!

Arch. I think there is not in the world either malice fort of your young prince Mamillius; it is a gentleman or matter to alter it. You have an unspeakable comof the greatest promise that ever came into my note.

Cam. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: It is a gallant child; one that, indeed, physics the subject, makes old hearts fresh; they that went on crutches ere he was born, desire yet their life to see him

a man.

bemia. They were trained together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection which cannot choose but branch now. Since their more mature dignities, and royal necessities, made separation

CAMILLO, and Attendants.

Pol. Nine changes of the wat'ry star have been The shepherd's note, since we have left our throne Vast probably has the meaning of great space.

Her. To tell he longs to see his son, were strong: But let him say so then, and let him go;

But let him swear so, and he shall not stay,
We'll thwack him hence with distaffs.-
Yet of your royal presence [to POLIX.] I 'll adventure
The borrow of a week. When at Bohemia
You take my lord, I'll give him my commission,
To let him there a month, behind the gest
Prefix'd for 's parting: yet, good deed,d Leontes,
I love thee not a jar o' the clock behind
What lady she her lord.-You 'll stay?
Pol.

Her. Nay, but you will? Pol.

Her. Verily!

No, madam. I may not, verily.

You put me off with limber vows: But I,

Though you would seek to unsphere the stars with oaths,
Should yet say, "Sir, no going." Verily,
You shall not go; a lady's verily is

As potent as a lord's. Will you go yet?

Force me to keep you as a prisoner,

Not like a guest; so you shall pay your fees,

When you depart, and save your thanks. How say you?
My prisoner? or my guest? by your dread verily,
One of them you shall be.
Pol.

Your guest then, madam:
To be your prisoner should import offending;

The construction of this passage is somewhat involved: but the meaning is, O that no sneaping (ruffling) winds at home aay blow, to make us say my presages were too true.

b To let is to hinder; and it is probably here used as a reflective verb-to stay himself.

Gest is literally a lodging; and the houses or towns where a prince had assigned to stop in his progress, aud of which a list was prepared with dates, were so called.

d Good deed-indeed.

e Jar o' the clock-the ticking of the pendulum.

And bleat the one at the other: What we chang'd
Was innocence for innocence; we knew not
The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream'd

That any did: Had we pursued that life,
And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd
With stronger blood, we should have answer'd Heavca
Boldly, "Not guilty;" the imposition clear'd,
Hereditary ours.

Her.
By this we gather,
You have tripp'd since.
Pol.
O my most sacred lady,
Temptations have since then been born to us: for
In those unfledg'd days was my wife a girl;
Your precious self had then not cross'd the eyes
Of my young playfellow.

Her.

Grace to boot! Of this make no conclusion; lest you say Your queen and I are devils: Yet, go on; The offences we have made you do we 'll answer; If you first sinn'd with us, and that with us You did continue fault, and that you slipp'd not With any but with us.

Leon.

Is he won yet?
Her. He'll stay, my lord.
Leon.

At my request, he would not.
Hermione, my dearest, thou never spok'st
To better purpose.

Her.

Leon.

Never?

Never, but once.

Her. What have I twice said well? when was t

before?

I prithee, tell me : Cram us with praise, and make us
As fat as tame things: One good deed dying tongueless
Slaughters a thousand, waiting upon that.

Our praises are our wages: You may ride us,
With one soft kiss, a thousand furlongs, ere
With spur we heat an acre. But to the goal;-
My last good deed was to entreat his stay;
What was my first? it has an elder sister,

Or I mistake you: O, would her name were Grace!
But once before I spoke to the purpose: When?
Nay, let me have 't; I long.

Leon.
Why, that was when
Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to death,
Ere I could make thee open thy white hand,
And clap thyself my love; then didst thou utter,
"I am yours for ever."

Her.

It is Grace, indeed.Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose twice; The one for ever earn'd a royal husband; The other, for some while a friend.

[Giving her hand to POL Leon. Too hot, too hot: [Aside To mingle friendship far, is mingling bloods. I have tremor cordis on me:-my heart dances; But not for joy,-not joy.-This entertainment May a free face put on; derive a liberty From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom, And well become the agent: it may, I grant: But to be paddling palms, and pinching fingers, As now they are; and making practis'd smiles.

с

Leon. Thou want'st a rough pash, and the shoots that I have,

To be full like me: 4-yet, they say we are
Almost as like as eggs; women say so,
That will say anything: But were they false
As o'er-died blacks, as wind, as waters; false
As dice are to be wish'd, by one that fixes

No bourn 'twixt his and mine; yet were it true
To say this boy were like me.-Come, sir page,
Look on me with your welkin eye: Sweet villain!
Most dear'st! my collop!-Can thy dam?-may 't be?
Affection! thy intention & stabs the centre:
Thou dost make possible things not so held,
Communicat'st with dreams;-(How can this be?)-
With what 's unreal thou coactive art,

And fellow'st nothing: Then, 't is very credent,h
Thou mayst co-join with something; and thou dost;
(And that beyond commission; and I find it,)
And that to the infection of my brains,
And hardening of my brows.

Pol.

What means Sicilia?
Her. He something seems unsettled.
Pol.
How! my lord!
Leon. What cheer? how is 't with you, best brother?
Her.
You look

As if you held a brow of much distraction:
Are you mov'd, my lord?
Leon.
No, in good earnest.-
How sometimes nature will betray its folly,
Its tenderness, and make itself a pastime
To harder hosoms! Looking on the lines
Of my boy's face, my thoughts I did recoil
Twenty-three years; and saw myself unbreech'd,
In my green velvet coat; my dagger muzzled,
Lest it should bite its master, and so prove,

As omaments oft do, too dangerous.

How like, methought, I then was to this kernel,
This quash, this gentleman:-Mine honest friend,

Will you

take eggs for money?1

Mam. No, my lord, I 'll fight.

We are yours i' the garden: Shall 's attend you there? Leon. To your own bents dispose you: you'll be

found,

Be you beneath the sky :-I am angling now,
Though you perceive me not how I give line.
Go to, go to! [Aside. Observing POL. and HERM.
How she holds up the neb, the bill to him!
And arms her with the boldness of a wife
To her allowing husband! Gone already;
Inch-thick, knee-deep, o'er head and ears a fork'd one.
[Exeunt POL., HERM., and Attendants.
Go, play, boy, play;-thy mother plays, and I
Play too; but so disgrac'd a part, whose issue
Will hiss me to my grave; contempt and clamour
Will be my knell.-Go, play, boy, play ;-There have
been,

Or I am much deceiv'd, cuckolds ere now;
And many a man there is, even at this present,
Now, while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm,
That little thinks she has been sluic'd in his absence,
And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour, by
Sir Smile, his neighbour : nay, there 's comfort in 't,
Whiles other men have gates, and those gates open'd,
As mine, against their will: Should all despair
That have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind
Would hang themselves. Physic for 't there 's none;
It is a bawdy planet, that will strike

Where 't is predominant; and 't is powerful, think it,
From east, west, north, and south: Be it concluded,
No barricado for a belly; know it;

It will let in and out the enemy,

With bag and baggage: many thousand of us
Have the disease, and feel 't not.-How now, boy?
Mam. I am like you, they say.

Leon.

What! Camillo, there?

Why, that 's some comfort.

Cam. Ay, my good lord.

Cam. You had much ado to make his anchor hold: When you cast out, it still came home. Leon. Didst note it? Cam. He would not stay at your petitions; made His business more material.

Leon.

Didst perceive it?— They 're here with me already; whispering, rounding, "Sicilia is a-so-forth :" "T is far gone, When I shall gust it last.-How came 't, Camillo? That he did stay?

Cam.

At the good queen's entreaty.
Leon. At the queen's, be 't: good, should be pertinent:
But so it is, it is not. Was this taken
By any understanding pate but thine?
For thy conceit is soaking, will draw in

a Apparent to my heart-next to my heart.
b Rounding-telling secretly.

Be it forbid, my lord!

Cam.
Leon. To bide upon 't;-Thou art not honest: or,
If thou inclin'st that way, thou art a coward;
Which hoxes honesty behind, restraining

From course requir'd: Or else thou must be counted
A servant grafted in my serious trust,
And therein negligent: or else a fool,

That seest a game play'd home, the rich stake drawn,
And tak'st it all for jest.

Cam.
My gracious lord,
I may be negligent, foolish, and fearful;
In every one of these no man is free,
But that nis negligence, his folly, fear,
Among the infinite doings of the world,

Sometimes puts forth: In your affairs, my lord,
If ever I were wilful-negligent,
It was my folly; if industriously
I play'd the fool, it was my negligence,
Not weighing well the end; if ever fearful
To do a thing, where I the issue doubted,
Whereof the execution did cry out
Against the non-performance, 't was a fear
Which oft infects the wisest: these, my lord,
Are such allow'd infirmities, that honesty
Is never free of. But, 'beseech your grace,
Be plainer with me: let me know my trespass
By its own visage: if I then deny it,

"T is none of mine.

Leon. (But that 's past doubt-you have; or your eye-glass Is thicker than a cuckold's horn,) or heard

Have not you seen, Camillo,

(For, to a vision so apparent, rumour

Cannot be mute,) or thought, (for cogitation
Resides not in that man that does not think,)
My wife is slippery? If thou wilt confess,
(Or else be impudently negative,

To have nor eyes, nor ears, nor thought,) then say
My wife's a hobbyhorse; deserves a name
As rank as any flax-wench, that puts to
Before her troth-plight: say it, and justify it.
Cam. I would not be a stander-by, to hear
My sovereign mistress clouded so, without
My present vengeance taken: Shrew my heart
You never spoke what did become you less
Than this; which to reiterate, were sin
As deep as that, though true.

Leon.
Is whispering nothing?
Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career
Of laughter with a sigh? (a note infallible
Of breaking honesty :) horsing foot on foot?
Skulking in comers? wishing clocks more swift?
Hours, minutes? noon, midnight? and all eyes
a Hores. To how is to hamstring-to hough.

Leon. Why, he that wears her like her medal, hanging About his neck, Bohemia: Who—if I

Had servants true about me, that bare eyes
To see alike mine honour as their profits,
Their own particular thrifts,-they would do that
Which should undo more doing: Ay, and thou,
His cupbearer,-whom I from meaner form
Have bench'd and rear'd to worship; who may'st see
Plainly, as heaven sees earth, and earth sees heaven,
How I am galled,-mightst bespice a cup,
To give mine enemy a lasting wink;
Which draught to me were cordial.

Cam.

Sir, my lord,

I could do this; and that with no rash potion,
But with a ling'ring dram, that should not work
Maliciously like poison: But I cannot
Believe this crack to be in my dread mistress,
So sovereignly being honourable.
I have lov'd thee,-

Leon.
Make that thy question, and go rot'a
Dost think I am so muddy, so unsettled,
To appoint myself in this vexation? sully
The purity and whiteness of my sheets,
Which to preserve is sleep; which being spotted,
Is goads, thorns, nettles, tails of wasps?
Give scandal to the blood o' the prince my son,
Who I do think is mine, and love as mine;
Without ripe moving to 't?-Would I do this?
Could man so blench?

Cam.

I must believe you, sir;

I do; and will fetch off Bohemia for 't:
Provided, that when he 's remov'd, your highness
Will take again your queen, as yours at first;
Even for your son's sake; and, thereby, for sealing
The injury of tongues, in courts and kingdoms
Known and allied to yours.

Leon.

Thou dost advise me,

Cam. O miserable lady!-But, for me, What case stand I in? I must be the poisoner Of good Polixenes: and my ground to do 't Is the obedience to a master; one, Who, in rebellion with himself, will have All that are his so too.-To do this deed, Promotion follows: If I could find example Of thousands that had struck anointed kings And flourish'd after, I'd not do 't: but since Nor brass, nor stone, nor parchment, bears not one, Let villainy itself forswear 't. I must Forsake the court: to do 't, or no, is certain To me a break-neck. Happy star, reign now! Here comes Bohemia.

Hail, most royal sir!

Pol. What is the news i' the court?
Cam.

None rare, my lord.
Pol. The king hath on him such a countenance
As he had lost some province, and a region
Lov'd as he loves himself: even now I met him
With customary compliment; when he,
Wafting his eyes to the contrary, and falling
A lip of much contempt, speeds from me; and
So leaves me, to consider what is breeding
That changes thus his manners.

Cam. I dare not know, my lord.

dare not

I may not answer.

Pol. A sickness caught of me, and yet I well! I must be answer'd.-Dost thou hear, Čamillo ?

I conjure thee, by all the parts of man

Which honour does acknowledge,-whereof the least
Is not this suit of mine,-that thou declare
What incidency thou dost guess of harm

Is creeping toward me; how far off, how near;
Which way to be prevented, if to be;

If not, how best to bear it.
Cam.
Sir, I will tell you;
Since I am charg'd in honour, and by him
That I think honourable: Therefore, mark my counsel;
• Success-succession.

That lies enclosed in this trunk, which you
Shall bear along impawn'd,-away to-night.
Your followers I will whisper to the business:
And will, by twos and threes, at several posterns,
Clear them o' the city: For myself, I'll put
My fortunes to your service, which are here
By this discovery lost. Be not uncertain;
For, by the honour of my parents, I

Have utter'd truth: which, if you seek to prove,
I dare not stand by; nor shall you be safer
Than one condemn'd by the king's own mouth, thereon
His execution sworn.

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

Still neighbour mine: My ships are ready, and
My people did expect my hence departure
Two days ago.-This jealousy

Is for a precious creature: as she 's rare,
Must it be great; and, as his person's mighty,
Must it be violent: and as he does conceive
He is dishonour'd by a man which ever
Profess'd to him, why, his revenges must

In that be made more bitter. Fear o'ershades me:
Good expedition be my friend, and comfort
The gracious queen, part of his theme, but nothing
Of his ill-ta'en suspicion! Come, Camillo;

I will respect thee as a father, if

Thou bear'st my life off hence: Let us avoid.
Cam. It is in mine authority to command
The keys of all the posterns: Please your highness
To take the urgent hour: come, sir, away. [Exeunt.