<?xml version="1.0"?>
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<PLAY>
<TITLE>The Winter's Tale</TITLE>

<FM>
<P>ASCII text placed in the public domain by Moby Lexical Tools, 1992.</P>
<P>SGML markup by Jon Bosak, 1992-1994.</P>
<P>XML version by Jon Bosak, 1996-1999.</P>
<P>The XML markup in this version is Copyright &#169; 1999 Jon Bosak.
This work may freely be distributed on condition that it not be
modified or altered in any way.</P>
</FM>

<PERSONAE>
<TITLE>Dramatis Personae</TITLE>

<PERSONA>LEONTES, king of Sicilia.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>MAMILLIUS, young prince of Sicilia.</PERSONA>

<PGROUP>
<PERSONA>CAMILLO</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>ANTIGONUS</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>CLEOMENES</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>DION</PERSONA>
<GRPDESCR>Four Lords of Sicilia.</GRPDESCR>
</PGROUP>

<PERSONA>POLIXENES, King of Bohemia.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>FLORIZEL, Prince of Bohemia.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>ARCHIDAMUS, a Lord of Bohemia.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Old Shepherd, reputed father of Perdita. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Clown, his son.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>AUTOLYCUS, a rogue.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>A Mariner. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>A Gaoler.  </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>HERMIONE, queen to Leontes.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>PERDITA, daughter to Leontes and Hermione.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>PAULINA, wife to Antigonus.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>EMILIA, a lady attending on Hermione</PERSONA>

<PGROUP>
<PERSONA>MOPSA</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>DORCAS</PERSONA>
<GRPDESCR>Shepherdesses.</GRPDESCR>
</PGROUP>

<PERSONA>Other Lords and Gentlemen, Ladies, Officers, and Servants, Shepherds, and Shepherdesses.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Time, as Chorus.</PERSONA>
</PERSONAE>

<SCNDESCR>SCENE  Sicilia, and Bohemia.</SCNDESCR>

<PLAYSUBT>THE WINTER'S TALE</PLAYSUBT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT I</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  Antechamber in LEONTES' palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHIDAMUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on</LINE>
<LINE>the like occasion whereon my services are now on</LINE>
<LINE>foot, you shall see, as I have said, great</LINE>
<LINE>difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I think, this coming summer, the King of Sicilia</LINE>
<LINE>means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHIDAMUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Wherein our entertainment shall shame us we will be</LINE>
<LINE>justified in our loves; for indeed--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Beseech you,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHIDAMUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge:</LINE>
<LINE>we cannot with such magnificence--in so rare--I know</LINE>
<LINE>not what to say. We will give you sleepy drinks,</LINE>
<LINE>that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience,</LINE>
<LINE>may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuse</LINE>
<LINE>us.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You pay a great deal too dear for what's given freely.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHIDAMUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me</LINE>
<LINE>and as mine honesty puts it to utterance.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to Bohemia.</LINE>
<LINE>They were trained together in their childhoods; and</LINE>
<LINE>there rooted betwixt them then such an affection,</LINE>
<LINE>which cannot choose but branch now. Since their</LINE>
<LINE>more mature dignities and royal necessities made</LINE>
<LINE>separation of their society, their encounters,</LINE>
<LINE>though not personal, have been royally attorneyed</LINE>
<LINE>with interchange of gifts, letters, loving</LINE>
<LINE>embassies; that they have seemed to be together,</LINE>
<LINE>though absent, shook hands, as over a vast, and</LINE>
<LINE>embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed</LINE>
<LINE>winds. The heavens continue their loves!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHIDAMUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I think there is not in the world either malice or</LINE>
<LINE>matter to alter it. You have an unspeakable</LINE>
<LINE>comfort of your young prince Mamillius: it is a</LINE>
<LINE>gentleman of the greatest promise that ever came</LINE>
<LINE>into my note.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: it</LINE>
<LINE>is a gallant child; one that indeed physics the</LINE>
<LINE>subject, makes old hearts fresh: they that went on</LINE>
<LINE>crutches ere he was born desire yet their life to</LINE>
<LINE>see him a man.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHIDAMUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Would they else be content to die?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should</LINE>
<LINE>desire to live.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHIDAMUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If the king had no son, they would desire to live</LINE>
<LINE>on crutches till he had one.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  A room of state in the same.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter LEONTES, HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS,
POLIXENES, CAMILLO, and Attendants</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nine changes of the watery star hath been</LINE>
<LINE>The shepherd's note since we have left our throne</LINE>
<LINE>Without a burthen: time as long again</LINE>
<LINE>Would be find up, my brother, with our thanks;</LINE>
<LINE>And yet we should, for perpetuity,</LINE>
<LINE>Go hence in debt: and therefore, like a cipher,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet standing in rich place, I multiply</LINE>
<LINE>With one 'We thank you' many thousands moe</LINE>
<LINE>That go before it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Stay your thanks a while;</LINE>
<LINE>And pay them when you part.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, that's to-morrow.</LINE>
<LINE>I am question'd by my fears, of what may chance</LINE>
<LINE>Or breed upon our absence; that may blow</LINE>
<LINE>No sneaping winds at home, to make us say</LINE>
<LINE>'This is put forth too truly:' besides, I have stay'd</LINE>
<LINE>To tire your royalty.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We are tougher, brother,</LINE>
<LINE>Than you can put us to't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No longer stay.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>One seven-night longer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Very sooth, to-morrow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We'll part the time between's then; and in that</LINE>
<LINE>I'll no gainsaying.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Press me not, beseech you, so.</LINE>
<LINE>There is no tongue that moves, none, none i' the world,</LINE>
<LINE>So soon as yours could win me: so it should now,</LINE>
<LINE>Were there necessity in your request, although</LINE>
<LINE>'Twere needful I denied it. My affairs</LINE>
<LINE>Do even drag me homeward: which to hinder</LINE>
<LINE>Were in your love a whip to me; my stay</LINE>
<LINE>To you a charge and trouble: to save both,</LINE>
<LINE>Farewell, our brother.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Tongue-tied, our queen?</LINE>
<LINE>speak you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I had thought, sir, to have held my peace until</LINE>
<LINE>You have drawn oaths from him not to stay. You, sir,</LINE>
<LINE>Charge him too coldly. Tell him, you are sure</LINE>
<LINE>All in Bohemia's well; this satisfaction</LINE>
<LINE>The by-gone day proclaim'd: say this to him,</LINE>
<LINE>He's beat from his best ward.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well said, Hermione.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To tell, he longs to see his son, were strong:</LINE>
<LINE>But let him say so then, and let him go;</LINE>
<LINE>But let him swear so, and he shall not stay,</LINE>
<LINE>We'll thwack him hence with distaffs.</LINE>
<LINE>Yet of your royal presence I'll adventure</LINE>
<LINE>The borrow of a week. When at Bohemia</LINE>
<LINE>You take my lord, I'll give him my commission</LINE>
<LINE>To let him there a month behind the gest</LINE>
<LINE>Prefix'd for's parting: yet, good deed, Leontes,</LINE>
<LINE>I love thee not a jar o' the clock behind</LINE>
<LINE>What lady-she her lord. You'll stay?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, madam.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, but you will?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I may not, verily.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Verily!</LINE>
<LINE>You put me off with limber vows; but I,</LINE>
<LINE>Though you would seek to unsphere the</LINE>
<LINE>stars with oaths,</LINE>
<LINE>Should yet say 'Sir, no going.' Verily,</LINE>
<LINE>You shall not go: a lady's 'Verily' 's</LINE>
<LINE>As potent as a lord's. Will you go yet?</LINE>
<LINE>Force me to keep you as a prisoner,</LINE>
<LINE>Not like a guest; so you shall pay your fees</LINE>
<LINE>When you depart, and save your thanks. How say you?</LINE>
<LINE>My prisoner? or my guest? by your dread 'Verily,'</LINE>
<LINE>One of them you shall be.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your guest, then, madam:</LINE>
<LINE>To be your prisoner should import offending;</LINE>
<LINE>Which is for me less easy to commit</LINE>
<LINE>Than you to punish.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not your gaoler, then,</LINE>
<LINE>But your kind hostess. Come, I'll question you</LINE>
<LINE>Of my lord's tricks and yours when you were boys:</LINE>
<LINE>You were pretty lordings then?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We were, fair queen,</LINE>
<LINE>Two lads that thought there was no more behind</LINE>
<LINE>But such a day to-morrow as to-day,</LINE>
<LINE>And to be boy eternal.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Was not my lord</LINE>
<LINE>The verier wag o' the two?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i' the sun,</LINE>
<LINE>And bleat the one at the other: what we changed</LINE>
<LINE>Was innocence for innocence; we knew not</LINE>
<LINE>The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream'd</LINE>
<LINE>That any did. Had we pursued that life,</LINE>
<LINE>And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd</LINE>
<LINE>With stronger blood, we should have answer'd heaven</LINE>
<LINE>Boldly 'not guilty;' the imposition clear'd</LINE>
<LINE>Hereditary ours.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By this we gather</LINE>
<LINE>You have tripp'd since.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O my most sacred lady!</LINE>
<LINE>Temptations have since then been born to's; for</LINE>
<LINE>In those unfledged days was my wife a girl;</LINE>
<LINE>Your precious self had then not cross'd the eyes</LINE>
<LINE>Of my young play-fellow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

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

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is he won yet?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He'll stay my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>At my request he would not.</LINE>
<LINE>Hermione, my dearest, thou never spokest</LINE>
<LINE>To better purpose.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Never?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Never, but once.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What! have I twice said well? when was't before?</LINE>
<LINE>I prithee tell me; cram's with praise, and make's</LINE>
<LINE>As fat as tame things: one good deed dying tongueless</LINE>
<LINE>Slaughters a thousand waiting upon that.</LINE>
<LINE>Our praises are our wages: you may ride's</LINE>
<LINE>With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs ere</LINE>
<LINE>With spur we beat an acre. But to the goal:</LINE>
<LINE>My last good deed was to entreat his stay:</LINE>
<LINE>What was my first? it has an elder sister,</LINE>
<LINE>Or I mistake you: O, would her name were Grace!</LINE>
<LINE>But once before I spoke to the purpose: when?</LINE>
<LINE>Nay, let me have't; I long.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, that was when</LINE>
<LINE>Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to death,</LINE>
<LINE>Ere I could make thee open thy white hand</LINE>
<LINE>And clap thyself my love: then didst thou utter</LINE>
<LINE>'I am yours for ever.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis grace indeed.</LINE>
<LINE>Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose twice:</LINE>
<LINE>The one for ever earn'd a royal husband;</LINE>
<LINE>The other for some while a friend.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR> Too hot, too hot!</LINE>
<LINE>To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods.</LINE>
<LINE>I have tremor cordis on me: my heart dances;</LINE>
<LINE>But not for joy; not joy. This entertainment</LINE>
<LINE>May a free face put on, derive a liberty</LINE>
<LINE>From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom,</LINE>
<LINE>And well become the agent; 't may, I grant;</LINE>
<LINE>But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,</LINE>
<LINE>As now they are, and making practised smiles,</LINE>
<LINE>As in a looking-glass, and then to sigh, as 'twere</LINE>
<LINE>The mort o' the deer; O, that is entertainment</LINE>
<LINE>My bosom likes not, nor my brows! Mamillius,</LINE>
<LINE>Art thou my boy?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MAMILLIUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, my good lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I' fecks!</LINE>
<LINE>Why, that's my bawcock. What, hast</LINE>
<LINE>smutch'd thy nose?</LINE>
<LINE>They say it is a copy out of mine. Come, captain,</LINE>
<LINE>We must be neat; not neat, but cleanly, captain:</LINE>
<LINE>And yet the steer, the heifer and the calf</LINE>
<LINE>Are all call'd neat.--Still virginalling</LINE>
<LINE>Upon his palm!--How now, you wanton calf!</LINE>
<LINE>Art thou my calf?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MAMILLIUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yes, if you will, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou want'st a rough pash and the shoots that I have,</LINE>
<LINE>To be full like me: yet they say we are</LINE>
<LINE>Almost as like as eggs; women say so,</LINE>
<LINE>That will say anything but were they false</LINE>
<LINE>As o'er-dyed blacks, as wind, as waters, false</LINE>
<LINE>As dice are to be wish'd by one that fixes</LINE>
<LINE>No bourn 'twixt his and mine, yet were it true</LINE>
<LINE>To say this boy were like me. Come, sir page,</LINE>
<LINE>Look on me with your welkin eye: sweet villain!</LINE>
<LINE>Most dear'st! my collop! Can thy dam?--may't be?--</LINE>
<LINE>Affection! thy intention stabs the centre:</LINE>
<LINE>Thou dost make possible things not so held,</LINE>
<LINE>Communicatest with dreams;--how can this be?--</LINE>
<LINE>With what's unreal thou coactive art,</LINE>
<LINE>And fellow'st nothing: then 'tis very credent</LINE>
<LINE>Thou mayst co-join with something; and thou dost,</LINE>
<LINE>And that beyond commission, and I find it,</LINE>
<LINE>And that to the infection of my brains</LINE>
<LINE>And hardening of my brows.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What means Sicilia?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He something seems unsettled.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How, my lord!</LINE>
<LINE>What cheer? how is't with you, best brother?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You look as if you held a brow of much distraction</LINE>
<LINE>Are you moved, my lord?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, in good earnest.</LINE>
<LINE>How sometimes nature will betray its folly,</LINE>
<LINE>Its tenderness, and make itself a pastime</LINE>
<LINE>To harder bosoms! Looking on the lines</LINE>
<LINE>Of my boy's face, methoughts I did recoil</LINE>
<LINE>Twenty-three years, and saw myself unbreech'd,</LINE>
<LINE>In my green velvet coat, my dagger muzzled,</LINE>
<LINE>Lest it should bite its master, and so prove,</LINE>
<LINE>As ornaments oft do, too dangerous:</LINE>
<LINE>How like, methought, I then was to this kernel,</LINE>
<LINE>This squash, this gentleman. Mine honest friend,</LINE>
<LINE>Will you take eggs for money?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MAMILLIUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, my lord, I'll fight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You will! why, happy man be's dole! My brother,</LINE>
<LINE>Are you so fond of your young prince as we</LINE>
<LINE>Do seem to be of ours?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If at home, sir,</LINE>
<LINE>He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter,</LINE>
<LINE>Now my sworn friend and then mine enemy,</LINE>
<LINE>My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all:</LINE>
<LINE>He makes a July's day short as December,</LINE>
<LINE>And with his varying childness cures in me</LINE>
<LINE>Thoughts that would thick my blood.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So stands this squire</LINE>
<LINE>Officed with me: we two will walk, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>And leave you to your graver steps. Hermione,</LINE>
<LINE>How thou lovest us, show in our brother's welcome;</LINE>
<LINE>Let what is dear in Sicily be cheap:</LINE>
<LINE>Next to thyself and my young rover, he's</LINE>
<LINE>Apparent to my heart.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If you would seek us,</LINE>
<LINE>We are yours i' the garden: shall's attend you there?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To your own bents dispose you: you'll be found,</LINE>
<LINE>Be you beneath the sky.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>I am angling now,</LINE>
<LINE>Though you perceive me not how I give line.</LINE>
<LINE>Go to, go to!</LINE>
<LINE>How she holds up the neb, the bill to him!</LINE>
<LINE>And arms her with the boldness of a wife</LINE>
<LINE>To her allowing husband!</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt POLIXENES, HERMIONE, and Attendants</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Gone already!</LINE>
<LINE>Inch-thick, knee-deep, o'er head and</LINE>
<LINE>ears a fork'd one!</LINE>
<LINE>Go, play, boy, play: thy mother plays, and I</LINE>
<LINE>Play too, but so disgraced a part, whose issue</LINE>
<LINE>Will hiss me to my grave: contempt and clamour</LINE>
<LINE>Will be my knell. Go, play, boy, play.</LINE>
<LINE>There have been,</LINE>
<LINE>Or I am much deceived, cuckolds ere now;</LINE>
<LINE>And many a man there is, even at this present,</LINE>
<LINE>Now while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm,</LINE>
<LINE>That little thinks she has been sluiced in's absence</LINE>
<LINE>And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour, by</LINE>
<LINE>Sir Smile, his neighbour: nay, there's comfort in't</LINE>
<LINE>Whiles other men have gates and those gates open'd,</LINE>
<LINE>As mine, against their will. Should all despair</LINE>
<LINE>That have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind</LINE>
<LINE>Would hang themselves. Physic for't there is none;</LINE>
<LINE>It is a bawdy planet, that will strike</LINE>
<LINE>Where 'tis predominant; and 'tis powerful, think it,</LINE>
<LINE>From east, west, north and south: be it concluded,</LINE>
<LINE>No barricado for a belly; know't;</LINE>
<LINE>It will let in and out the enemy</LINE>
<LINE>With bag and baggage: many thousand on's</LINE>
<LINE>Have the disease, and feel't not. How now, boy!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MAMILLIUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am like you, they say.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why that's some comfort. What, Camillo there?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, my good lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go play, Mamillius; thou'rt an honest man.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit MAMILLIUS</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Camillo, this great sir will yet stay longer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You had much ado to make his anchor hold:</LINE>
<LINE>When you cast out, it still came home.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Didst note it?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He would not stay at your petitions: made</LINE>
<LINE>His business more material.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Didst perceive it?</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>They're here with me already, whispering, rounding</LINE>
<LINE>'Sicilia is a so-forth:' 'tis far gone,</LINE>
<LINE>When I shall gust it last. How came't, Camillo,</LINE>
<LINE>That he did stay?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>At the good queen's entreaty.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>At the queen's be't: 'good' should be pertinent</LINE>
<LINE>But, so it is, it is not. Was this taken</LINE>
<LINE>By any understanding pate but thine?</LINE>
<LINE>For thy conceit is soaking, will draw in</LINE>
<LINE>More than the common blocks: not noted, is't,</LINE>
<LINE>But of the finer natures? by some severals</LINE>
<LINE>Of head-piece extraordinary? lower messes</LINE>
<LINE>Perchance are to this business purblind? say.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Business, my lord! I think most understand</LINE>
<LINE>Bohemia stays here longer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Stays here longer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, but why?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To satisfy your highness and the entreaties</LINE>
<LINE>Of our most gracious mistress.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Satisfy!</LINE>
<LINE>The entreaties of your mistress! satisfy!</LINE>
<LINE>Let that suffice. I have trusted thee, Camillo,</LINE>
<LINE>With all the nearest things to my heart, as well</LINE>
<LINE>My chamber-councils, wherein, priest-like, thou</LINE>
<LINE>Hast cleansed my bosom, I from thee departed</LINE>
<LINE>Thy penitent reform'd: but we have been</LINE>
<LINE>Deceived in thy integrity, deceived</LINE>
<LINE>In that which seems so.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be it forbid, my lord!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To bide upon't, thou art not honest, or,</LINE>
<LINE>If thou inclinest that way, thou art a coward,</LINE>
<LINE>Which hoxes honesty behind, restraining</LINE>
<LINE>From course required; or else thou must be counted</LINE>
<LINE>A servant grafted in my serious trust</LINE>
<LINE>And therein negligent; or else a fool</LINE>
<LINE>That seest a game play'd home, the rich stake drawn,</LINE>
<LINE>And takest it all for jest.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My gracious lord,</LINE>
<LINE>I may be negligent, foolish and fearful;</LINE>
<LINE>In every one of these no man is free,</LINE>
<LINE>But that his negligence, his folly, fear,</LINE>
<LINE>Among the infinite doings of the world,</LINE>
<LINE>Sometime puts forth. In your affairs, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>If ever I were wilful-negligent,</LINE>
<LINE>It was my folly; if industriously</LINE>
<LINE>I play'd the fool, it was my negligence,</LINE>
<LINE>Not weighing well the end; if ever fearful</LINE>
<LINE>To do a thing, where I the issue doubted,</LINE>
<LINE>Where of the execution did cry out</LINE>
<LINE>Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear</LINE>
<LINE>Which oft infects the wisest: these, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Are such allow'd infirmities that honesty</LINE>
<LINE>Is never free of. But, beseech your grace,</LINE>
<LINE>Be plainer with me; let me know my trespass</LINE>
<LINE>By its own visage: if I then deny it,</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis none of mine.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha' not you seen, Camillo,--</LINE>
<LINE>But that's past doubt, you have, or your eye-glass</LINE>
<LINE>Is thicker than a cuckold's horn,--or heard,--</LINE>
<LINE>For to a vision so apparent rumour</LINE>
<LINE>Cannot be mute,--or thought,--for cogitation</LINE>
<LINE>Resides not in that man that does not think,--</LINE>
<LINE>My wife is slippery? If thou wilt confess,</LINE>
<LINE>Or else be impudently negative,</LINE>
<LINE>To have nor eyes nor ears nor thought, then say</LINE>
<LINE>My wife's a hobby-horse, deserves a name</LINE>
<LINE>As rank as any flax-wench that puts to</LINE>
<LINE>Before her troth-plight: say't and justify't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would not be a stander-by to hear</LINE>
<LINE>My sovereign mistress clouded so, without</LINE>
<LINE>My present vengeance taken: 'shrew my heart,</LINE>
<LINE>You never spoke what did become you less</LINE>
<LINE>Than this; which to reiterate were sin</LINE>
<LINE>As deep as that, though true.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is whispering nothing?</LINE>
<LINE>Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses?</LINE>
<LINE>Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career</LINE>
<LINE>Of laughing with a sigh?--a note infallible</LINE>
<LINE>Of breaking honesty--horsing foot on foot?</LINE>
<LINE>Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift?</LINE>
<LINE>Hours, minutes? noon, midnight? and all eyes</LINE>
<LINE>Blind with the pin and web but theirs, theirs only,</LINE>
<LINE>That would unseen be wicked? is this nothing?</LINE>
<LINE>Why, then the world and all that's in't is nothing;</LINE>
<LINE>The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing;</LINE>
<LINE>My wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings,</LINE>
<LINE>If this be nothing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good my lord, be cured</LINE>
<LINE>Of this diseased opinion, and betimes;</LINE>
<LINE>For 'tis most dangerous.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Say it be, 'tis true.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, no, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is; you lie, you lie:</LINE>
<LINE>I say thou liest, Camillo, and I hate thee,</LINE>
<LINE>Pronounce thee a gross lout, a mindless slave,</LINE>
<LINE>Or else a hovering temporizer, that</LINE>
<LINE>Canst with thine eyes at once see good and evil,</LINE>
<LINE>Inclining to them both: were my wife's liver</LINE>
<LINE>Infected as her life, she would not live</LINE>
<LINE>The running of one glass.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who does infect her?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, he that wears her like a medal, hanging</LINE>
<LINE>About his neck, Bohemia: who, if I</LINE>
<LINE>Had servants true about me, that bare eyes</LINE>
<LINE>To see alike mine honour as their profits,</LINE>
<LINE>Their own particular thrifts, they would do that</LINE>
<LINE>Which should undo more doing: ay, and thou,</LINE>
<LINE>His cupbearer,--whom I from meaner form</LINE>
<LINE>Have benched and reared to worship, who mayst see</LINE>
<LINE>Plainly as heaven sees earth and earth sees heaven,</LINE>
<LINE>How I am galled,--mightst bespice a cup,</LINE>
<LINE>To give mine enemy a lasting wink;</LINE>
<LINE>Which draught to me were cordial.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>I could do this, and that with no rash potion,</LINE>
<LINE>But with a lingering dram that should not work</LINE>
<LINE>Maliciously like poison: but I cannot</LINE>
<LINE>Believe this crack to be in my dread mistress,</LINE>
<LINE>So sovereignly being honourable.</LINE>
<LINE>I have loved thee,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

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

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I must believe you, sir:</LINE>
<LINE>I do; and will fetch off Bohemia for't;</LINE>
<LINE>Provided that, when he's removed, your highness</LINE>
<LINE>Will take again your queen as yours at first,</LINE>
<LINE>Even for your son's sake; and thereby for sealing</LINE>
<LINE>The injury of tongues in courts and kingdoms</LINE>
<LINE>Known and allied to yours.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou dost advise me</LINE>
<LINE>Even so as I mine own course have set down:</LINE>
<LINE>I'll give no blemish to her honour, none.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Go then; and with a countenance as clear</LINE>
<LINE>As friendship wears at feasts, keep with Bohemia</LINE>
<LINE>And with your queen. I am his cupbearer:</LINE>
<LINE>If from me he have wholesome beverage,</LINE>
<LINE>Account me not your servant.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This is all:</LINE>
<LINE>Do't and thou hast the one half of my heart;</LINE>
<LINE>Do't not, thou split'st thine own.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll do't, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will seem friendly, as thou hast advised me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

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

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter POLIXENES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This is strange: methinks</LINE>
<LINE>My favour here begins to warp. Not speak?</LINE>
<LINE>Good day, Camillo.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hail, most royal sir!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What is the news i' the court?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>None rare, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The king hath on him such a countenance</LINE>
<LINE>As he had lost some province and a region</LINE>
<LINE>Loved as he loves himself: even now I met him</LINE>
<LINE>With customary compliment; when he,</LINE>
<LINE>Wafting his eyes to the contrary and falling</LINE>
<LINE>A lip of much contempt, speeds from me and</LINE>
<LINE>So leaves me to consider what is breeding</LINE>
<LINE>That changeth thus his manners.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I dare not know, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How! dare not! do not. Do you know, and dare not?</LINE>
<LINE>Be intelligent to me: 'tis thereabouts;</LINE>
<LINE>For, to yourself, what you do know, you must.</LINE>
<LINE>And cannot say, you dare not. Good Camillo,</LINE>
<LINE>Your changed complexions are to me a mirror</LINE>
<LINE>Which shows me mine changed too; for I must be</LINE>
<LINE>A party in this alteration, finding</LINE>
<LINE>Myself thus alter'd with 't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There is a sickness</LINE>
<LINE>Which puts some of us in distemper, but</LINE>
<LINE>I cannot name the disease; and it is caught</LINE>
<LINE>Of you that yet are well.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How! caught of me!</LINE>
<LINE>Make me not sighted like the basilisk:</LINE>
<LINE>I have look'd on thousands, who have sped the better</LINE>
<LINE>By my regard, but kill'd none so. Camillo,--</LINE>
<LINE>As you are certainly a gentleman, thereto</LINE>
<LINE>Clerk-like experienced, which no less adorns</LINE>
<LINE>Our gentry than our parents' noble names,</LINE>
<LINE>In whose success we are gentle,--I beseech you,</LINE>
<LINE>If you know aught which does behove my knowledge</LINE>
<LINE>Thereof to be inform'd, imprison't not</LINE>
<LINE>In ignorant concealment.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I may not answer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A sickness caught of me, and yet I well!</LINE>
<LINE>I must be answer'd. Dost thou hear, Camillo,</LINE>
<LINE>I conjure thee, by all the parts of man</LINE>
<LINE>Which honour does acknowledge, whereof the least</LINE>
<LINE>Is not this suit of mine, that thou declare</LINE>
<LINE>What incidency thou dost guess of harm</LINE>
<LINE>Is creeping toward me; how far off, how near;</LINE>
<LINE>Which way to be prevented, if to be;</LINE>
<LINE>If not, how best to bear it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, I will tell you;</LINE>
<LINE>Since I am charged in honour and by him</LINE>
<LINE>That I think honourable: therefore mark my counsel,</LINE>
<LINE>Which must be even as swiftly follow'd as</LINE>
<LINE>I mean to utter it, or both yourself and me</LINE>
<LINE>Cry lost, and so good night!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>On, good Camillo.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am appointed him to murder you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By whom, Camillo?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By the king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For what?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He thinks, nay, with all confidence he swears,</LINE>
<LINE>As he had seen't or been an instrument</LINE>
<LINE>To vice you to't, that you have touch'd his queen</LINE>
<LINE>Forbiddenly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, then my best blood turn</LINE>
<LINE>To an infected jelly and my name</LINE>
<LINE>Be yoked with his that did betray the Best!</LINE>
<LINE>Turn then my freshest reputation to</LINE>
<LINE>A savour that may strike the dullest nostril</LINE>
<LINE>Where I arrive, and my approach be shunn'd,</LINE>
<LINE>Nay, hated too, worse than the great'st infection</LINE>
<LINE>That e'er was heard or read!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Swear his thought over</LINE>
<LINE>By each particular star in heaven and</LINE>
<LINE>By all their influences, you may as well</LINE>
<LINE>Forbid the sea for to obey the moon</LINE>
<LINE>As or by oath remove or counsel shake</LINE>
<LINE>The fabric of his folly, whose foundation</LINE>
<LINE>Is piled upon his faith and will continue</LINE>
<LINE>The standing of his body.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How should this grow?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know not: but I am sure 'tis safer to</LINE>
<LINE>Avoid what's grown than question how 'tis born.</LINE>
<LINE>If therefore you dare trust my honesty,</LINE>
<LINE>That lies enclosed in this trunk which you</LINE>
<LINE>Shall bear along impawn'd, away to-night!</LINE>
<LINE>Your followers I will whisper to the business,</LINE>
<LINE>And will by twos and threes at several posterns</LINE>
<LINE>Clear them o' the city. For myself, I'll put</LINE>
<LINE>My fortunes to your service, which are here</LINE>
<LINE>By this discovery lost. Be not uncertain;</LINE>
<LINE>For, by the honour of my parents, I</LINE>
<LINE>Have utter'd truth: which if you seek to prove,</LINE>
<LINE>I dare not stand by; nor shall you be safer</LINE>
<LINE>Than one condemn'd by the king's own mouth, thereon</LINE>
<LINE>His execution sworn.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do believe thee:</LINE>
<LINE>I saw his heart in 's face. Give me thy hand:</LINE>
<LINE>Be pilot to me and thy places shall</LINE>
<LINE>Still neighbour mine. My ships are ready and</LINE>
<LINE>My people did expect my hence departure</LINE>
<LINE>Two days ago. This jealousy</LINE>
<LINE>Is for a precious creature: as she's rare,</LINE>
<LINE>Must it be great, and as his person's mighty,</LINE>
<LINE>Must it be violent, and as he does conceive</LINE>
<LINE>He is dishonour'd by a man which ever</LINE>
<LINE>Profess'd to him, why, his revenges must</LINE>
<LINE>In that be made more bitter. Fear o'ershades me:</LINE>
<LINE>Good expedition be my friend, and comfort</LINE>
<LINE>The gracious queen, part of his theme, but nothing</LINE>
<LINE>Of his ill-ta'en suspicion! Come, Camillo;</LINE>
<LINE>I will respect thee as a father if</LINE>
<LINE>Thou bear'st my life off hence: let us avoid.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is in mine authority to command</LINE>
<LINE>The keys of all the posterns: please your highness</LINE>
<LINE>To take the urgent hour. Come, sir, away.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT II</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  A room in LEONTES' palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS, and Ladies</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Take the boy to you: he so troubles me,</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis past enduring.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lady</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, my gracious lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall I be your playfellow?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MAMILLIUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, I'll none of you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lady</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, my sweet lord?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MAMILLIUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You'll kiss me hard and speak to me as if</LINE>
<LINE>I were a baby still. I love you better.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Lady</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And why so, my lord?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MAMILLIUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not for because</LINE>
<LINE>Your brows are blacker; yet black brows, they say,</LINE>
<LINE>Become some women best, so that there be not</LINE>
<LINE>Too much hair there, but in a semicircle</LINE>
<LINE>Or a half-moon made with a pen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Lady</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who taught you this?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MAMILLIUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I learnt it out of women's faces. Pray now</LINE>
<LINE>What colour are your eyebrows?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lady</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Blue, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MAMILLIUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, that's a mock: I have seen a lady's nose</LINE>
<LINE>That has been blue, but not her eyebrows.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lady</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hark ye;</LINE>
<LINE>The queen your mother rounds apace: we shall</LINE>
<LINE>Present our services to a fine new prince</LINE>
<LINE>One of these days; and then you'ld wanton with us,</LINE>
<LINE>If we would have you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Lady</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She is spread of late</LINE>
<LINE>Into a goodly bulk: good time encounter her!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What wisdom stirs amongst you? Come, sir, now</LINE>
<LINE>I am for you again: pray you, sit by us,</LINE>
<LINE>And tell 's a tale.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MAMILLIUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Merry or sad shall't be?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As merry as you will.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MAMILLIUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A sad tale's best for winter: I have one</LINE>
<LINE>Of sprites and goblins.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let's have that, good sir.</LINE>
<LINE>Come on, sit down: come on, and do your best</LINE>
<LINE>To fright me with your sprites; you're powerful at it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MAMILLIUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There was a man--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, come, sit down; then on.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MAMILLIUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dwelt by a churchyard: I will tell it softly;</LINE>
<LINE>Yond crickets shall not hear it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come on, then,</LINE>
<LINE>And give't me in mine ear.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter LEONTES, with ANTIGONUS, Lords and others</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Was he met there? his train? Camillo with him?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Behind the tuft of pines I met them; never</LINE>
<LINE>Saw I men scour so on their way: I eyed them</LINE>
<LINE>Even to their ships.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How blest am I</LINE>
<LINE>In my just censure, in my true opinion!</LINE>
<LINE>Alack, for lesser knowledge! how accursed</LINE>
<LINE>In being so blest! There may be in the cup</LINE>
<LINE>A spider steep'd, and one may drink, depart,</LINE>
<LINE>And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge</LINE>
<LINE>Is not infected: but if one present</LINE>
<LINE>The abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known</LINE>
<LINE>How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides,</LINE>
<LINE>With violent hefts. I have drunk,</LINE>
<LINE>and seen the spider.</LINE>
<LINE>Camillo was his help in this, his pander:</LINE>
<LINE>There is a plot against my life, my crown;</LINE>
<LINE>All's true that is mistrusted: that false villain</LINE>
<LINE>Whom I employ'd was pre-employ'd by him:</LINE>
<LINE>He has discover'd my design, and I</LINE>
<LINE>Remain a pinch'd thing; yea, a very trick</LINE>
<LINE>For them to play at will. How came the posterns</LINE>
<LINE>So easily open?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By his great authority;</LINE>
<LINE>Which often hath no less prevail'd than so</LINE>
<LINE>On your command.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know't too well.</LINE>
<LINE>Give me the boy: I am glad you did not nurse him:</LINE>
<LINE>Though he does bear some signs of me, yet you</LINE>
<LINE>Have too much blood in him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What is this? sport?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Bear the boy hence; he shall not come about her;</LINE>
<LINE>Away with him! and let her sport herself</LINE>
<LINE>With that she's big with; for 'tis Polixenes</LINE>
<LINE>Has made thee swell thus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But I'ld say he had not,</LINE>
<LINE>And I'll be sworn you would believe my saying,</LINE>
<LINE>Howe'er you lean to the nayward.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You, my lords,</LINE>
<LINE>Look on her, mark her well; be but about</LINE>
<LINE>To say 'she is a goodly lady,' and</LINE>
<LINE>The justice of your bearts will thereto add</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis pity she's not honest, honourable:'</LINE>
<LINE>Praise her but for this her without-door form,</LINE>
<LINE>Which on my faith deserves high speech, and straight</LINE>
<LINE>The shrug, the hum or ha, these petty brands</LINE>
<LINE>That calumny doth use--O, I am out--</LINE>
<LINE>That mercy does, for calumny will sear</LINE>
<LINE>Virtue itself: these shrugs, these hums and ha's,</LINE>
<LINE>When you have said 'she's goodly,' come between</LINE>
<LINE>Ere you can say 'she's honest:' but be 't known,</LINE>
<LINE>From him that has most cause to grieve it should be,</LINE>
<LINE>She's an adulteress.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Should a villain say so,</LINE>
<LINE>The most replenish'd villain in the world,</LINE>
<LINE>He were as much more villain: you, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Do but mistake.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You have mistook, my lady,</LINE>
<LINE>Polixenes for Leontes: O thou thing!</LINE>
<LINE>Which I'll not call a creature of thy place,</LINE>
<LINE>Lest barbarism, making me the precedent,</LINE>
<LINE>Should a like language use to all degrees</LINE>
<LINE>And mannerly distinguishment leave out</LINE>
<LINE>Betwixt the prince and beggar: I have said</LINE>
<LINE>She's an adulteress; I have said with whom:</LINE>
<LINE>More, she's a traitor and Camillo is</LINE>
<LINE>A federary with her, and one that knows</LINE>
<LINE>What she should shame to know herself</LINE>
<LINE>But with her most vile principal, that she's</LINE>
<LINE>A bed-swerver, even as bad as those</LINE>
<LINE>That vulgars give bold'st titles, ay, and privy</LINE>
<LINE>To this their late escape.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, by my life.</LINE>
<LINE>Privy to none of this. How will this grieve you,</LINE>
<LINE>When you shall come to clearer knowledge, that</LINE>
<LINE>You thus have publish'd me! Gentle my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>You scarce can right me throughly then to say</LINE>
<LINE>You did mistake.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No; if I mistake</LINE>
<LINE>In those foundations which I build upon,</LINE>
<LINE>The centre is not big enough to bear</LINE>
<LINE>A school-boy's top. Away with her! to prison!</LINE>
<LINE>He who shall speak for her is afar off guilty</LINE>
<LINE>But that he speaks.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There's some ill planet reigns:</LINE>
<LINE>I must be patient till the heavens look</LINE>
<LINE>With an aspect more favourable. Good my lords,</LINE>
<LINE>I am not prone to weeping, as our sex</LINE>
<LINE>Commonly are; the want of which vain dew</LINE>
<LINE>Perchance shall dry your pities: but I have</LINE>
<LINE>That honourable grief lodged here which burns</LINE>
<LINE>Worse than tears drown: beseech you all, my lords,</LINE>
<LINE>With thoughts so qualified as your charities</LINE>
<LINE>Shall best instruct you, measure me; and so</LINE>
<LINE>The king's will be perform'd!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shall I be heard?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who is't that goes with me? Beseech your highness,</LINE>
<LINE>My women may be with me; for you see</LINE>
<LINE>My plight requires it. Do not weep, good fools;</LINE>
<LINE>There is no cause: when you shall know your mistress</LINE>
<LINE>Has deserved prison, then abound in tears</LINE>
<LINE>As I come out: this action I now go on</LINE>
<LINE>Is for my better grace. Adieu, my lord:</LINE>
<LINE>I never wish'd to see you sorry; now</LINE>
<LINE>I trust I shall. My women, come; you have leave.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go, do our bidding; hence!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit HERMIONE, guarded; with Ladies</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Beseech your highness, call the queen again.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justice</LINE>
<LINE>Prove violence; in the which three great ones suffer,</LINE>
<LINE>Yourself, your queen, your son.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For her, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>I dare my life lay down and will do't, sir,</LINE>
<LINE>Please you to accept it, that the queen is spotless</LINE>
<LINE>I' the eyes of heaven and to you; I mean,</LINE>
<LINE>In this which you accuse her.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If it prove</LINE>
<LINE>She's otherwise, I'll keep my stables where</LINE>
<LINE>I lodge my wife; I'll go in couples with her;</LINE>
<LINE>Than when I feel and see her no farther trust her;</LINE>
<LINE>For every inch of woman in the world,</LINE>
<LINE>Ay, every dram of woman's flesh is false, If she be.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hold your peaces.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good my lord,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is for you we speak, not for ourselves:</LINE>
<LINE>You are abused and by some putter-on</LINE>
<LINE>That will be damn'd for't; would I knew the villain,</LINE>
<LINE>I would land-damn him. Be she honour-flaw'd,</LINE>
<LINE>I have three daughters; the eldest is eleven</LINE>
<LINE>The second and the third, nine, and some five;</LINE>
<LINE>If this prove true, they'll pay for't:</LINE>
<LINE>by mine honour,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll geld 'em all; fourteen they shall not see,</LINE>
<LINE>To bring false generations: they are co-heirs;</LINE>
<LINE>And I had rather glib myself than they</LINE>
<LINE>Should not produce fair issue.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Cease; no more.</LINE>
<LINE>You smell this business with a sense as cold</LINE>
<LINE>As is a dead man's nose: but I do see't and feel't</LINE>
<LINE>As you feel doing thus; and see withal</LINE>
<LINE>The instruments that feel.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If it be so,</LINE>
<LINE>We need no grave to bury honesty:</LINE>
<LINE>There's not a grain of it the face to sweeten</LINE>
<LINE>Of the whole dungy earth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What! lack I credit?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I had rather you did lack than I, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Upon this ground; and more it would content me</LINE>
<LINE>To have her honour true than your suspicion,</LINE>
<LINE>Be blamed for't how you might.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, what need we</LINE>
<LINE>Commune with you of this, but rather follow</LINE>
<LINE>Our forceful instigation? Our prerogative</LINE>
<LINE>Calls not your counsels, but our natural goodness</LINE>
<LINE>Imparts this; which if you, or stupefied</LINE>
<LINE>Or seeming so in skill, cannot or will not</LINE>
<LINE>Relish a truth like us, inform yourselves</LINE>
<LINE>We need no more of your advice: the matter,</LINE>
<LINE>The loss, the gain, the ordering on't, is all</LINE>
<LINE>Properly ours.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And I wish, my liege,</LINE>
<LINE>You had only in your silent judgment tried it,</LINE>
<LINE>Without more overture.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How could that be?</LINE>
<LINE>Either thou art most ignorant by age,</LINE>
<LINE>Or thou wert born a fool. Camillo's flight,</LINE>
<LINE>Added to their familiarity,</LINE>
<LINE>Which was as gross as ever touch'd conjecture,</LINE>
<LINE>That lack'd sight only, nought for approbation</LINE>
<LINE>But only seeing, all other circumstances</LINE>
<LINE>Made up to the deed, doth push on this proceeding:</LINE>
<LINE>Yet, for a greater confirmation,</LINE>
<LINE>For in an act of this importance 'twere</LINE>
<LINE>Most piteous to be wild, I have dispatch'd in post</LINE>
<LINE>To sacred Delphos, to Apollo's temple,</LINE>
<LINE>Cleomenes and Dion, whom you know</LINE>
<LINE>Of stuff'd sufficiency: now from the oracle</LINE>
<LINE>They will bring all; whose spiritual counsel had,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall stop or spur me. Have I done well?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well done, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Though I am satisfied and need no more</LINE>
<LINE>Than what I know, yet shall the oracle</LINE>
<LINE>Give rest to the minds of others, such as he</LINE>
<LINE>Whose ignorant credulity will not</LINE>
<LINE>Come up to the truth. So have we thought it good</LINE>
<LINE>From our free person she should be confined,</LINE>
<LINE>Lest that the treachery of the two fled hence</LINE>
<LINE>Be left her to perform. Come, follow us;</LINE>
<LINE>We are to speak in public; for this business</LINE>
<LINE>Will raise us all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR></LINE>
<LINE>To laughter, as I take it,</LINE>
<LINE>If the good truth were known.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  A prison.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter PAULINA, a Gentleman, and Attendants</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The keeper of the prison, call to him;</LINE>
<LINE>let him have knowledge who I am.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit Gentleman</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Good lady,</LINE>
<LINE>No court in Europe is too good for thee;</LINE>
<LINE>What dost thou then in prison?</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Re-enter Gentleman, with the Gaoler</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Now, good sir,</LINE>
<LINE>You know me, do you not?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Gaoler</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For a worthy lady</LINE>
<LINE>And one whom much I honour.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pray you then,</LINE>
<LINE>Conduct me to the queen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Gaoler</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I may not, madam:</LINE>
<LINE>To the contrary I have express commandment.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here's ado,</LINE>
<LINE>To lock up honesty and honour from</LINE>
<LINE>The access of gentle visitors!</LINE>
<LINE>Is't lawful, pray you,</LINE>
<LINE>To see her women? any of them? Emilia?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Gaoler</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So please you, madam,</LINE>
<LINE>To put apart these your attendants, I</LINE>
<LINE>Shall bring Emilia forth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pray now, call her.</LINE>
<LINE>Withdraw yourselves.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt Gentleman and Attendants</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Gaoler</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And, madam,</LINE>
<LINE>I must be present at your conference.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, be't so, prithee.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit Gaoler</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Here's such ado to make no stain a stain</LINE>
<LINE>As passes colouring.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Re-enter Gaoler, with EMILIA</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Dear gentlewoman,</LINE>
<LINE>How fares our gracious lady?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EMILIA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As well as one so great and so forlorn</LINE>
<LINE>May hold together: on her frights and griefs,</LINE>
<LINE>Which never tender lady hath born greater,</LINE>
<LINE>She is something before her time deliver'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A boy?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EMILIA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A daughter, and a goodly babe,</LINE>
<LINE>Lusty and like to live: the queen receives</LINE>
<LINE>Much comfort in't; says 'My poor prisoner,</LINE>
<LINE>I am innocent as you.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I dare be sworn</LINE>
<LINE>These dangerous unsafe lunes i' the king,</LINE>
<LINE>beshrew them!</LINE>
<LINE>He must be told on't, and he shall: the office</LINE>
<LINE>Becomes a woman best; I'll take't upon me:</LINE>
<LINE>If I prove honey-mouth'd let my tongue blister</LINE>
<LINE>And never to my red-look'd anger be</LINE>
<LINE>The trumpet any more. Pray you, Emilia,</LINE>
<LINE>Commend my best obedience to the queen:</LINE>
<LINE>If she dares trust me with her little babe,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll show't the king and undertake to be</LINE>
<LINE>Her advocate to the loud'st. We do not know</LINE>
<LINE>How he may soften at the sight o' the child:</LINE>
<LINE>The silence often of pure innocence</LINE>
<LINE>Persuades when speaking fails.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

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

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Tell her, Emilia.</LINE>
<LINE>I'll use that tongue I have: if wit flow from't</LINE>
<LINE>As boldness from my bosom, let 't not be doubted</LINE>
<LINE>I shall do good.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>EMILIA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now be you blest for it!</LINE>
<LINE>I'll to the queen: please you,</LINE>
<LINE>come something nearer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Gaoler</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Madam, if't please the queen to send the babe,</LINE>
<LINE>I know not what I shall incur to pass it,</LINE>
<LINE>Having no warrant.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You need not fear it, sir:</LINE>
<LINE>This child was prisoner to the womb and is</LINE>
<LINE>By law and process of great nature thence</LINE>
<LINE>Freed and enfranchised, not a party to</LINE>
<LINE>The anger of the king nor guilty of,</LINE>
<LINE>If any be, the trespass of the queen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Gaoler</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do believe it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do not you fear: upon mine honour,</LINE>
<LINE>I will stand betwixt you and danger.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  A room in LEONTES' palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter LEONTES, ANTIGONUS, Lords, and Servants</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nor night nor day no rest: it is but weakness</LINE>
<LINE>To bear the matter thus; mere weakness. If</LINE>
<LINE>The cause were not in being,--part o' the cause,</LINE>
<LINE>She the adulteress; for the harlot king</LINE>
<LINE>Is quite beyond mine arm, out of the blank</LINE>
<LINE>And level of my brain, plot-proof; but she</LINE>
<LINE>I can hook to me: say that she were gone,</LINE>
<LINE>Given to the fire, a moiety of my rest</LINE>
<LINE>Might come to me again. Who's there?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How does the boy?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He took good rest to-night;</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis hoped his sickness is discharged.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To see his nobleness!</LINE>
<LINE>Conceiving the dishonour of his mother,</LINE>
<LINE>He straight declined, droop'd, took it deeply,</LINE>
<LINE>Fasten'd and fix'd the shame on't in himself,</LINE>
<LINE>Threw off his spirit, his appetite, his sleep,</LINE>
<LINE>And downright languish'd. Leave me solely: go,</LINE>
<LINE>See how he fares.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit Servant</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Fie, fie! no thought of him:</LINE>
<LINE>The thought of my revenges that way</LINE>
<LINE>Recoil upon me: in himself too mighty,</LINE>
<LINE>And in his parties, his alliance; let him be</LINE>
<LINE>Until a time may serve: for present vengeance,</LINE>
<LINE>Take it on her. Camillo and Polixenes</LINE>
<LINE>Laugh at me, make their pastime at my sorrow:</LINE>
<LINE>They should not laugh if I could reach them, nor</LINE>
<LINE>Shall she within my power.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter PAULINA, with a child</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You must not enter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, rather, good my lords, be second to me:</LINE>
<LINE>Fear you his tyrannous passion more, alas,</LINE>
<LINE>Than the queen's life? a gracious innocent soul,</LINE>
<LINE>More free than he is jealous.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's enough.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Madam, he hath not slept tonight; commanded</LINE>
<LINE>None should come at him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not so hot, good sir:</LINE>
<LINE>I come to bring him sleep. 'Tis such as you,</LINE>
<LINE>That creep like shadows by him and do sigh</LINE>
<LINE>At each his needless heavings, such as you</LINE>
<LINE>Nourish the cause of his awaking: I</LINE>
<LINE>Do come with words as medicinal as true,</LINE>
<LINE>Honest as either, to purge him of that humour</LINE>
<LINE>That presses him from sleep.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What noise there, ho?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No noise, my lord; but needful conference</LINE>
<LINE>About some gossips for your highness.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How!</LINE>
<LINE>Away with that audacious lady! Antigonus,</LINE>
<LINE>I charged thee that she should not come about me:</LINE>
<LINE>I knew she would.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I told her so, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>On your displeasure's peril and on mine,</LINE>
<LINE>She should not visit you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, canst not rule her?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>From all dishonesty he can: in this,</LINE>
<LINE>Unless he take the course that you have done,</LINE>
<LINE>Commit me for committing honour, trust it,</LINE>
<LINE>He shall not rule me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>La you now, you hear:</LINE>
<LINE>When she will take the rein I let her run;</LINE>
<LINE>But she'll not stumble.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good my liege, I come;</LINE>
<LINE>And, I beseech you, hear me, who profess</LINE>
<LINE>Myself your loyal servant, your physician,</LINE>
<LINE>Your most obedient counsellor, yet that dare</LINE>
<LINE>Less appear so in comforting your evils,</LINE>
<LINE>Than such as most seem yours: I say, I come</LINE>
<LINE>From your good queen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good queen!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good queen, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Good queen; I say good queen;</LINE>
<LINE>And would by combat make her good, so were I</LINE>
<LINE>A man, the worst about you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Force her hence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let him that makes but trifles of his eyes</LINE>
<LINE>First hand me: on mine own accord I'll off;</LINE>
<LINE>But first I'll do my errand. The good queen,</LINE>
<LINE>For she is good, hath brought you forth a daughter;</LINE>
<LINE>Here 'tis; commends it to your blessing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Laying down the child</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Out!</LINE>
<LINE>A mankind witch! Hence with her, out o' door:</LINE>
<LINE>A most intelligencing bawd!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not so:</LINE>
<LINE>I am as ignorant in that as you</LINE>
<LINE>In so entitling me, and no less honest</LINE>
<LINE>Than you are mad; which is enough, I'll warrant,</LINE>
<LINE>As this world goes, to pass for honest.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Traitors!</LINE>
<LINE>Will you not push her out? Give her the bastard.</LINE>
<LINE>Thou dotard! thou art woman-tired, unroosted</LINE>
<LINE>By thy dame Partlet here. Take up the bastard;</LINE>
<LINE>Take't up, I say; give't to thy crone.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For ever</LINE>
<LINE>Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou</LINE>
<LINE>Takest up the princess by that forced baseness</LINE>
<LINE>Which he has put upon't!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He dreads his wife.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So I would you did; then 'twere past all doubt</LINE>
<LINE>You'ld call your children yours.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A nest of traitors!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am none, by this good light.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nor I, nor any</LINE>
<LINE>But one that's here, and that's himself, for he</LINE>
<LINE>The sacred honour of himself, his queen's,</LINE>
<LINE>His hopeful son's, his babe's, betrays to slander,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose sting is sharper than the sword's;</LINE>
<LINE>and will not--</LINE>
<LINE>For, as the case now stands, it is a curse</LINE>
<LINE>He cannot be compell'd to't--once remove</LINE>
<LINE>The root of his opinion, which is rotten</LINE>
<LINE>As ever oak or stone was sound.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A callat</LINE>
<LINE>Of boundless tongue, who late hath beat her husband</LINE>
<LINE>And now baits me! This brat is none of mine;</LINE>
<LINE>It is the issue of Polixenes:</LINE>
<LINE>Hence with it, and together with the dam</LINE>
<LINE>Commit them to the fire!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is yours;</LINE>
<LINE>And, might we lay the old proverb to your charge,</LINE>
<LINE>So like you, 'tis the worse. Behold, my lords,</LINE>
<LINE>Although the print be little, the whole matter</LINE>
<LINE>And copy of the father, eye, nose, lip,</LINE>
<LINE>The trick of's frown, his forehead, nay, the valley,</LINE>
<LINE>The pretty dimples of his chin and cheek,</LINE>
<LINE>His smiles,</LINE>
<LINE>The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger:</LINE>
<LINE>And thou, good goddess Nature, which hast made it</LINE>
<LINE>So like to him that got it, if thou hast</LINE>
<LINE>The ordering of the mind too, 'mongst all colours</LINE>
<LINE>No yellow in't, lest she suspect, as he does,</LINE>
<LINE>Her children not her husband's!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A gross hag</LINE>
<LINE>And, lozel, thou art worthy to be hang'd,</LINE>
<LINE>That wilt not stay her tongue.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hang all the husbands</LINE>
<LINE>That cannot do that feat, you'll leave yourself</LINE>
<LINE>Hardly one subject.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Once more, take her hence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A most unworthy and unnatural lord</LINE>
<LINE>Can do no more.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll ha' thee burnt.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I care not:</LINE>
<LINE>It is an heretic that makes the fire,</LINE>
<LINE>Not she which burns in't. I'll not call you tyrant;</LINE>
<LINE>But this most cruel usage of your queen,</LINE>
<LINE>Not able to produce more accusation</LINE>
<LINE>Than your own weak-hinged fancy, something savours</LINE>
<LINE>Of tyranny and will ignoble make you,</LINE>
<LINE>Yea, scandalous to the world.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>On your allegiance,</LINE>
<LINE>Out of the chamber with her! Were I a tyrant,</LINE>
<LINE>Where were her life? she durst not call me so,</LINE>
<LINE>If she did know me one. Away with her!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pray you, do not push me; I'll be gone.</LINE>
<LINE>Look to your babe, my lord; 'tis yours:</LINE>
<LINE>Jove send her</LINE>
<LINE>A better guiding spirit! What needs these hands?</LINE>
<LINE>You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies,</LINE>
<LINE>Will never do him good, not one of you.</LINE>
<LINE>So, so: farewell; we are gone.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this.</LINE>
<LINE>My child? away with't! Even thou, that hast</LINE>
<LINE>A heart so tender o'er it, take it hence</LINE>
<LINE>And see it instantly consumed with fire;</LINE>
<LINE>Even thou and none but thou. Take it up straight:</LINE>
<LINE>Within this hour bring me word 'tis done,</LINE>
<LINE>And by good testimony, or I'll seize thy life,</LINE>
<LINE>With what thou else call'st thine. If thou refuse</LINE>
<LINE>And wilt encounter with my wrath, say so;</LINE>
<LINE>The bastard brains with these my proper hands</LINE>
<LINE>Shall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire;</LINE>
<LINE>For thou set'st on thy wife.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I did not, sir:</LINE>
<LINE>These lords, my noble fellows, if they please,</LINE>
<LINE>Can clear me in't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lords</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We can: my royal liege,</LINE>
<LINE>He is not guilty of her coming hither.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You're liars all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Beseech your highness, give us better credit:</LINE>
<LINE>We have always truly served you, and beseech you</LINE>
<LINE>So to esteem of us, and on our knees we beg,</LINE>
<LINE>As recompense of our dear services</LINE>
<LINE>Past and to come, that you do change this purpose,</LINE>
<LINE>Which being so horrible, so bloody, must</LINE>
<LINE>Lead on to some foul issue: we all kneel.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am a feather for each wind that blows:</LINE>
<LINE>Shall I live on to see this bastard kneel</LINE>
<LINE>And call me father? better burn it now</LINE>
<LINE>Than curse it then. But be it; let it live.</LINE>
<LINE>It shall not neither. You, sir, come you hither;</LINE>
<LINE>You that have been so tenderly officious</LINE>
<LINE>With Lady Margery, your midwife there,</LINE>
<LINE>To save this bastard's life,--for 'tis a bastard,</LINE>
<LINE>So sure as this beard's grey,</LINE>
<LINE>--what will you adventure</LINE>
<LINE>To save this brat's life?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Any thing, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>That my ability may undergo</LINE>
<LINE>And nobleness impose: at least thus much:</LINE>
<LINE>I'll pawn the little blood which I have left</LINE>
<LINE>To save the innocent: any thing possible.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It shall be possible. Swear by this sword</LINE>
<LINE>Thou wilt perform my bidding.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Mark and perform it, see'st thou! for the fail</LINE>
<LINE>Of any point in't shall not only be</LINE>
<LINE>Death to thyself but to thy lewd-tongued wife,</LINE>
<LINE>Whom for this time we pardon. We enjoin thee,</LINE>
<LINE>As thou art liege-man to us, that thou carry</LINE>
<LINE>This female bastard hence and that thou bear it</LINE>
<LINE>To some remote and desert place quite out</LINE>
<LINE>Of our dominions, and that there thou leave it,</LINE>
<LINE>Without more mercy, to its own protection</LINE>
<LINE>And favour of the climate. As by strange fortune</LINE>
<LINE>It came to us, I do in justice charge thee,</LINE>
<LINE>On thy soul's peril and thy body's torture,</LINE>
<LINE>That thou commend it strangely to some place</LINE>
<LINE>Where chance may nurse or end it. Take it up.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I swear to do this, though a present death</LINE>
<LINE>Had been more merciful. Come on, poor babe:</LINE>
<LINE>Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens</LINE>
<LINE>To be thy nurses! Wolves and bears, they say</LINE>
<LINE>Casting their savageness aside have done</LINE>
<LINE>Like offices of pity. Sir, be prosperous</LINE>
<LINE>In more than this deed does require! And blessing</LINE>
<LINE>Against this cruelty fight on thy side,</LINE>
<LINE>Poor thing, condemn'd to loss!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit with the child</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, I'll not rear</LINE>
<LINE>Another's issue.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter a Servant</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Please your highness, posts</LINE>
<LINE>From those you sent to the oracle are come</LINE>
<LINE>An hour since: Cleomenes and Dion,</LINE>
<LINE>Being well arrived from Delphos, are both landed,</LINE>
<LINE>Hasting to the court.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So please you, sir, their speed</LINE>
<LINE>Hath been beyond account.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Twenty-three days</LINE>
<LINE>They have been absent: 'tis good speed; foretells</LINE>
<LINE>The great Apollo suddenly will have</LINE>
<LINE>The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords;</LINE>
<LINE>Summon a session, that we may arraign</LINE>
<LINE>Our most disloyal lady, for, as she hath</LINE>
<LINE>Been publicly accused, so shall she have</LINE>
<LINE>A just and open trial. While she lives</LINE>
<LINE>My heart will be a burthen to me. Leave me,</LINE>
<LINE>And think upon my bidding.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT III</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  A sea-port in Sicilia.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter CLEOMENES and DION</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLEOMENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The climate's delicate, the air most sweet,</LINE>
<LINE>Fertile the isle, the temple much surpassing</LINE>
<LINE>The common praise it bears.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DION</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I shall report,</LINE>
<LINE>For most it caught me, the celestial habits,</LINE>
<LINE>Methinks I so should term them, and the reverence</LINE>
<LINE>Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice!</LINE>
<LINE>How ceremonious, solemn and unearthly</LINE>
<LINE>It was i' the offering!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLEOMENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But of all, the burst</LINE>
<LINE>And the ear-deafening voice o' the oracle,</LINE>
<LINE>Kin to Jove's thunder, so surprised my sense.</LINE>
<LINE>That I was nothing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DION</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If the event o' the journey</LINE>
<LINE>Prove as successful to the queen,--O be't so!--</LINE>
<LINE>As it hath been to us rare, pleasant, speedy,</LINE>
<LINE>The time is worth the use on't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLEOMENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Great Apollo</LINE>
<LINE>Turn all to the best! These proclamations,</LINE>
<LINE>So forcing faults upon Hermione,</LINE>
<LINE>I little like.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DION</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The violent carriage of it</LINE>
<LINE>Will clear or end the business: when the oracle,</LINE>
<LINE>Thus by Apollo's great divine seal'd up,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall the contents discover, something rare</LINE>
<LINE>Even then will rush to knowledge. Go: fresh horses!</LINE>
<LINE>And gracious be the issue!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  A court of Justice.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter LEONTES, Lords, and Officers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This sessions, to our great grief we pronounce,</LINE>
<LINE>Even pushes 'gainst our heart: the party tried</LINE>
<LINE>The daughter of a king, our wife, and one</LINE>
<LINE>Of us too much beloved. Let us be clear'd</LINE>
<LINE>Of being tyrannous, since we so openly</LINE>
<LINE>Proceed in justice, which shall have due course,</LINE>
<LINE>Even to the guilt or the purgation.</LINE>
<LINE>Produce the prisoner.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Officer</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is his highness' pleasure that the queen</LINE>
<LINE>Appear in person here in court. Silence!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter HERMIONE guarded;
PAULINA and Ladies attending</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Read the indictment.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Officer</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Reads</STAGEDIR>            Hermione, queen to the worthy</LINE>
<LINE>Leontes, king of Sicilia, thou art here accused and</LINE>
<LINE>arraigned of high treason, in committing adultery</LINE>
<LINE>with Polixenes, king of Bohemia, and conspiring</LINE>
<LINE>with Camillo to take away the life of our sovereign</LINE>
<LINE>lord the king, thy royal husband: the pretence</LINE>
<LINE>whereof being by circumstances partly laid open,</LINE>
<LINE>thou, Hermione, contrary to the faith and allegiance</LINE>
<LINE>of a true subject, didst counsel and aid them, for</LINE>
<LINE>their better safety, to fly away by night.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Since what I am to say must be but that</LINE>
<LINE>Which contradicts my accusation and</LINE>
<LINE>The testimony on my part no other</LINE>
<LINE>But what comes from myself, it shall scarce boot me</LINE>
<LINE>To say 'not guilty:' mine integrity</LINE>
<LINE>Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it,</LINE>
<LINE>Be so received. But thus: if powers divine</LINE>
<LINE>Behold our human actions, as they do,</LINE>
<LINE>I doubt not then but innocence shall make</LINE>
<LINE>False accusation blush and tyranny</LINE>
<LINE>Tremble at patience. You, my lord, best know,</LINE>
<LINE>Who least will seem to do so, my past life</LINE>
<LINE>Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true,</LINE>
<LINE>As I am now unhappy; which is more</LINE>
<LINE>Than history can pattern, though devised</LINE>
<LINE>And play'd to take spectators. For behold me</LINE>
<LINE>A fellow of the royal bed, which owe</LINE>
<LINE>A moiety of the throne a great king's daughter,</LINE>
<LINE>The mother to a hopeful prince, here standing</LINE>
<LINE>To prate and talk for life and honour 'fore</LINE>
<LINE>Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it</LINE>
<LINE>As I weigh grief, which I would spare: for honour,</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis a derivative from me to mine,</LINE>
<LINE>And only that I stand for. I appeal</LINE>
<LINE>To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes</LINE>
<LINE>Came to your court, how I was in your grace,</LINE>
<LINE>How merited to be so; since he came,</LINE>
<LINE>With what encounter so uncurrent I</LINE>
<LINE>Have strain'd to appear thus: if one jot beyond</LINE>
<LINE>The bound of honour, or in act or will</LINE>
<LINE>That way inclining, harden'd be the hearts</LINE>
<LINE>Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin</LINE>
<LINE>Cry fie upon my grave!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I ne'er heard yet</LINE>
<LINE>That any of these bolder vices wanted</LINE>
<LINE>Less impudence to gainsay what they did</LINE>
<LINE>Than to perform it first.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's true enough;</LINE>
<LINE>Through 'tis a saying, sir, not due to me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You will not own it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>More than mistress of</LINE>
<LINE>Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not</LINE>
<LINE>At all acknowledge. For Polixenes,</LINE>
<LINE>With whom I am accused, I do confess</LINE>
<LINE>I loved him as in honour he required,</LINE>
<LINE>With such a kind of love as might become</LINE>
<LINE>A lady like me, with a love even such,</LINE>
<LINE>So and no other, as yourself commanded:</LINE>
<LINE>Which not to have done I think had been in me</LINE>
<LINE>Both disobedience and ingratitude</LINE>
<LINE>To you and toward your friend, whose love had spoke,</LINE>
<LINE>Even since it could speak, from an infant, freely</LINE>
<LINE>That it was yours. Now, for conspiracy,</LINE>
<LINE>I know not how it tastes; though it be dish'd</LINE>
<LINE>For me to try how: all I know of it</LINE>
<LINE>Is that Camillo was an honest man;</LINE>
<LINE>And why he left your court, the gods themselves,</LINE>
<LINE>Wotting no more than I, are ignorant.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You knew of his departure, as you know</LINE>
<LINE>What you have underta'en to do in's absence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir,</LINE>
<LINE>You speak a language that I understand not:</LINE>
<LINE>My life stands in the level of your dreams,</LINE>
<LINE>Which I'll lay down.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your actions are my dreams;</LINE>
<LINE>You had a bastard by Polixenes,</LINE>
<LINE>And I but dream'd it. As you were past all shame,--</LINE>
<LINE>Those of your fact are so--so past all truth:</LINE>
<LINE>Which to deny concerns more than avails; for as</LINE>
<LINE>Thy brat hath been cast out, like to itself,</LINE>
<LINE>No father owning it,--which is, indeed,</LINE>
<LINE>More criminal in thee than it,--so thou</LINE>
<LINE>Shalt feel our justice, in whose easiest passage</LINE>
<LINE>Look for no less than death.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, spare your threats:</LINE>
<LINE>The bug which you would fright me with I seek.</LINE>
<LINE>To me can life be no commodity:</LINE>
<LINE>The crown and comfort of my life, your favour,</LINE>
<LINE>I do give lost; for I do feel it gone,</LINE>
<LINE>But know not how it went. My second joy</LINE>
<LINE>And first-fruits of my body, from his presence</LINE>
<LINE>I am barr'd, like one infectious. My third comfort</LINE>
<LINE>Starr'd most unluckily, is from my breast,</LINE>
<LINE>The innocent milk in its most innocent mouth,</LINE>
<LINE>Haled out to murder: myself on every post</LINE>
<LINE>Proclaimed a strumpet: with immodest hatred</LINE>
<LINE>The child-bed privilege denied, which 'longs</LINE>
<LINE>To women of all fashion; lastly, hurried</LINE>
<LINE>Here to this place, i' the open air, before</LINE>
<LINE>I have got strength of limit. Now, my liege,</LINE>
<LINE>Tell me what blessings I have here alive,</LINE>
<LINE>That I should fear to die? Therefore proceed.</LINE>
<LINE>But yet hear this: mistake me not; no life,</LINE>
<LINE>I prize it not a straw, but for mine honour,</LINE>
<LINE>Which I would free, if I shall be condemn'd</LINE>
<LINE>Upon surmises, all proofs sleeping else</LINE>
<LINE>But what your jealousies awake, I tell you</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis rigor and not law. Your honours all,</LINE>
<LINE>I do refer me to the oracle:</LINE>
<LINE>Apollo be my judge!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This your request</LINE>
<LINE>Is altogether just: therefore bring forth,</LINE>
<LINE>And in Apollos name, his oracle.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt certain Officers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The Emperor of Russia was my father:</LINE>
<LINE>O that he were alive, and here beholding</LINE>
<LINE>His daughter's trial! that he did but see</LINE>
<LINE>The flatness of my misery, yet with eyes</LINE>
<LINE>Of pity, not revenge!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter Officers, with CLEOMENES and DION</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Officer</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You here shall swear upon this sword of justice,</LINE>
<LINE>That you, Cleomenes and Dion, have</LINE>
<LINE>Been both at Delphos, and from thence have brought</LINE>
<LINE>The seal'd-up oracle, by the hand deliver'd</LINE>
<LINE>Of great Apollo's priest; and that, since then,</LINE>
<LINE>You have not dared to break the holy seal</LINE>
<LINE>Nor read the secrets in't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLEOMENES</SPEAKER>
<SPEAKER>DION</SPEAKER>
<LINE>All this we swear.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Break up the seals and read.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Officer</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Reads</STAGEDIR> Hermione is chaste;</LINE>
<LINE>Polixenes blameless; Camillo a true subject; Leontes</LINE>
<LINE>a jealous tyrant; his innocent babe truly begotten;</LINE>
<LINE>and the king shall live without an heir, if that</LINE>
<LINE>which is lost be not found.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lords</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now blessed be the great Apollo!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Praised!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hast thou read truth?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Officer</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, my lord; even so</LINE>
<LINE>As it is here set down.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There is no truth at all i' the oracle:</LINE>
<LINE>The sessions shall proceed: this is mere falsehood.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter Servant</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord the king, the king!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What is the business?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O sir, I shall be hated to report it!</LINE>
<LINE>The prince your son, with mere conceit and fear</LINE>
<LINE>Of the queen's speed, is gone.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How! gone!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is dead.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Apollo's angry; and the heavens themselves</LINE>
<LINE>Do strike at my injustice.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>HERMIONE swoons</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>How now there!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This news is mortal to the queen: look down</LINE>
<LINE>And see what death is doing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Take her hence:</LINE>
<LINE>Her heart is but o'ercharged; she will recover:</LINE>
<LINE>I have too much believed mine own suspicion:</LINE>
<LINE>Beseech you, tenderly apply to her</LINE>
<LINE>Some remedies for life.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt PAULINA and Ladies, with HERMIONE</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Apollo, pardon</LINE>
<LINE>My great profaneness 'gainst thine oracle!</LINE>
<LINE>I'll reconcile me to Polixenes,</LINE>
<LINE>New woo my queen, recall the good Camillo,</LINE>
<LINE>Whom I proclaim a man of truth, of mercy;</LINE>
<LINE>For, being transported by my jealousies</LINE>
<LINE>To bloody thoughts and to revenge, I chose</LINE>
<LINE>Camillo for the minister to poison</LINE>
<LINE>My friend Polixenes: which had been done,</LINE>
<LINE>But that the good mind of Camillo tardied</LINE>
<LINE>My swift command, though I with death and with</LINE>
<LINE>Reward did threaten and encourage him,</LINE>
<LINE>Not doing 't and being done: he, most humane</LINE>
<LINE>And fill'd with honour, to my kingly guest</LINE>
<LINE>Unclasp'd my practise, quit his fortunes here,</LINE>
<LINE>Which you knew great, and to the hazard</LINE>
<LINE>Of all encertainties himself commended,</LINE>
<LINE>No richer than his honour: how he glisters</LINE>
<LINE>Thorough my rust! and how his pity</LINE>
<LINE>Does my deeds make the blacker!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter PAULINA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Woe the while!</LINE>
<LINE>O, cut my lace, lest my heart, cracking it,</LINE>
<LINE>Break too.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What fit is this, good lady?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me?</LINE>
<LINE>What wheels? racks? fires? what flaying? boiling?</LINE>
<LINE>In leads or oils? what old or newer torture</LINE>
<LINE>Must I receive, whose every word deserves</LINE>
<LINE>To taste of thy most worst? Thy tyranny</LINE>
<LINE>Together working with thy jealousies,</LINE>
<LINE>Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle</LINE>
<LINE>For girls of nine, O, think what they have done</LINE>
<LINE>And then run mad indeed, stark mad! for all</LINE>
<LINE>Thy by-gone fooleries were but spices of it.</LINE>
<LINE>That thou betray'dst Polixenes,'twas nothing;</LINE>
<LINE>That did but show thee, of a fool, inconstant</LINE>
<LINE>And damnable ingrateful: nor was't much,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou wouldst have poison'd good Camillo's honour,</LINE>
<LINE>To have him kill a king: poor trespasses,</LINE>
<LINE>More monstrous standing by: whereof I reckon</LINE>
<LINE>The casting forth to crows thy baby-daughter</LINE>
<LINE>To be or none or little; though a devil</LINE>
<LINE>Would have shed water out of fire ere done't:</LINE>
<LINE>Nor is't directly laid to thee, the death</LINE>
<LINE>Of the young prince, whose honourable thoughts,</LINE>
<LINE>Thoughts high for one so tender, cleft the heart</LINE>
<LINE>That could conceive a gross and foolish sire</LINE>
<LINE>Blemish'd his gracious dam: this is not, no,</LINE>
<LINE>Laid to thy answer: but the last,--O lords,</LINE>
<LINE>When I have said, cry 'woe!' the queen, the queen,</LINE>
<LINE>The sweet'st, dear'st creature's dead,</LINE>
<LINE>and vengeance for't</LINE>
<LINE>Not dropp'd down yet.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The higher powers forbid!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I say she's dead; I'll swear't. If word nor oath</LINE>
<LINE>Prevail not, go and see: if you can bring</LINE>
<LINE>Tincture or lustre in her lip, her eye,</LINE>
<LINE>Heat outwardly or breath within, I'll serve you</LINE>
<LINE>As I would do the gods. But, O thou tyrant!</LINE>
<LINE>Do not repent these things, for they are heavier</LINE>
<LINE>Than all thy woes can stir; therefore betake thee</LINE>
<LINE>To nothing but despair. A thousand knees</LINE>
<LINE>Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting,</LINE>
<LINE>Upon a barren mountain and still winter</LINE>
<LINE>In storm perpetual, could not move the gods</LINE>
<LINE>To look that way thou wert.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go on, go on</LINE>
<LINE>Thou canst not speak too much; I have deserved</LINE>
<LINE>All tongues to talk their bitterest.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Say no more:</LINE>
<LINE>Howe'er the business goes, you have made fault</LINE>
<LINE>I' the boldness of your speech.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am sorry for't:</LINE>
<LINE>All faults I make, when I shall come to know them,</LINE>
<LINE>I do repent. Alas! I have show'd too much</LINE>
<LINE>The rashness of a woman: he is touch'd</LINE>
<LINE>To the noble heart. What's gone and what's past help</LINE>
<LINE>Should be past grief: do not receive affliction</LINE>
<LINE>At my petition; I beseech you, rather</LINE>
<LINE>Let me be punish'd, that have minded you</LINE>
<LINE>Of what you should forget. Now, good my liege</LINE>
<LINE>Sir, royal sir, forgive a foolish woman:</LINE>
<LINE>The love I bore your queen--lo, fool again!--</LINE>
<LINE>I'll speak of her no more, nor of your children;</LINE>
<LINE>I'll not remember you of my own lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Who is lost too: take your patience to you,</LINE>
<LINE>And I'll say nothing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou didst speak but well</LINE>
<LINE>When most the truth; which I receive much better</LINE>
<LINE>Than to be pitied of thee. Prithee, bring me</LINE>
<LINE>To the dead bodies of my queen and son:</LINE>
<LINE>One grave shall be for both: upon them shall</LINE>
<LINE>The causes of their death appear, unto</LINE>
<LINE>Our shame perpetual. Once a day I'll visit</LINE>
<LINE>The chapel where they lie, and tears shed there</LINE>
<LINE>Shall be my recreation: so long as nature</LINE>
<LINE>Will bear up with this exercise, so long</LINE>
<LINE>I daily vow to use it. Come and lead me</LINE>
<LINE>Unto these sorrows.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  Bohemia. A desert country near the sea.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter ANTIGONUS with a Child, and a Mariner</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou art perfect then, our ship hath touch'd upon</LINE>
<LINE>The deserts of Bohemia?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Mariner</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, my lord: and fear</LINE>
<LINE>We have landed in ill time: the skies look grimly</LINE>
<LINE>And threaten present blusters. In my conscience,</LINE>
<LINE>The heavens with that we have in hand are angry</LINE>
<LINE>And frown upon 's.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Their sacred wills be done! Go, get aboard;</LINE>
<LINE>Look to thy bark: I'll not be long before</LINE>
<LINE>I call upon thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Mariner</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Make your best haste, and go not</LINE>
<LINE>Too far i' the land: 'tis like to be loud weather;</LINE>
<LINE>Besides, this place is famous for the creatures</LINE>
<LINE>Of prey that keep upon't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go thou away:</LINE>
<LINE>I'll follow instantly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Mariner</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am glad at heart</LINE>
<LINE>To be so rid o' the business.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANTIGONUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, poor babe:</LINE>
<LINE>I have heard, but not believed,</LINE>
<LINE>the spirits o' the dead</LINE>
<LINE>May walk again: if such thing be, thy mother</LINE>
<LINE>Appear'd to me last night, for ne'er was dream</LINE>
<LINE>So like a waking. To me comes a creature,</LINE>
<LINE>Sometimes her head on one side, some another;</LINE>
<LINE>I never saw a vessel of like sorrow,</LINE>
<LINE>So fill'd and so becoming: in pure white robes,</LINE>
<LINE>Like very sanctity, she did approach</LINE>
<LINE>My cabin where I lay; thrice bow'd before me,</LINE>
<LINE>And gasping to begin some speech, her eyes</LINE>
<LINE>Became two spouts: the fury spent, anon</LINE>
<LINE>Did this break-from her: 'Good Antigonus,</LINE>
<LINE>Since fate, against thy better disposition,</LINE>
<LINE>Hath made thy person for the thrower-out</LINE>
<LINE>Of my poor babe, according to thine oath,</LINE>
<LINE>Places remote enough are in Bohemia,</LINE>
<LINE>There weep and leave it crying; and, for the babe</LINE>
<LINE>Is counted lost for ever, Perdita,</LINE>
<LINE>I prithee, call't. For this ungentle business</LINE>
<LINE>Put on thee by my lord, thou ne'er shalt see</LINE>
<LINE>Thy wife Paulina more.' And so, with shrieks</LINE>
<LINE>She melted into air. Affrighted much,</LINE>
<LINE>I did in time collect myself and thought</LINE>
<LINE>This was so and no slumber. Dreams are toys:</LINE>
<LINE>Yet for this once, yea, superstitiously,</LINE>
<LINE>I will be squared by this. I do believe</LINE>
<LINE>Hermione hath suffer'd death, and that</LINE>
<LINE>Apollo would, this being indeed the issue</LINE>
<LINE>Of King Polixenes, it should here be laid,</LINE>
<LINE>Either for life or death, upon the earth</LINE>
<LINE>Of its right father. Blossom, speed thee well!</LINE>
<LINE>There lie, and there thy character: there these;</LINE>
<LINE>Which may, if fortune please, both breed thee, pretty,</LINE>
<LINE>And still rest thine. The storm begins; poor wretch,</LINE>
<LINE>That for thy mother's fault art thus exposed</LINE>
<LINE>To loss and what may follow! Weep I cannot,</LINE>
<LINE>But my heart bleeds; and most accursed am I</LINE>
<LINE>To be by oath enjoin'd to this. Farewell!</LINE>
<LINE>The day frowns more and more: thou'rt like to have</LINE>
<LINE>A lullaby too rough: I never saw</LINE>
<LINE>The heavens so dim by day. A savage clamour!</LINE>
<LINE>Well may I get aboard! This is the chase:</LINE>
<LINE>I am gone for ever.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit, pursued by a bear</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter a Shepherd</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would there were no age between sixteen and</LINE>
<LINE>three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the</LINE>
<LINE>rest; for there is nothing in the between but</LINE>
<LINE>getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry,</LINE>
<LINE>stealing, fighting--Hark you now! Would any but</LINE>
<LINE>these boiled brains of nineteen and two-and-twenty</LINE>
<LINE>hunt this weather? They have scared away two of my</LINE>
<LINE>best sheep, which I fear the wolf will sooner find</LINE>
<LINE>than the master: if any where I have them, 'tis by</LINE>
<LINE>the seaside, browsing of ivy. Good luck, an't be thy</LINE>
<LINE>will what have we here! Mercy on 's, a barne a very</LINE>
<LINE>pretty barne! A boy or a child, I wonder? A</LINE>
<LINE>pretty one; a very pretty one: sure, some 'scape:</LINE>
<LINE>though I am not bookish, yet I can read</LINE>
<LINE>waiting-gentlewoman in the 'scape. This has been</LINE>
<LINE>some stair-work, some trunk-work, some</LINE>
<LINE>behind-door-work: they were warmer that got this</LINE>
<LINE>than the poor thing is here. I'll take it up for</LINE>
<LINE>pity: yet I'll tarry till my son come; he hallooed</LINE>
<LINE>but even now. Whoa, ho, hoa!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter Clown</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hilloa, loa!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, art so near? If thou'lt see a thing to talk</LINE>
<LINE>on when thou art dead and rotten, come hither. What</LINE>
<LINE>ailest thou, man?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have seen two such sights, by sea and by land!</LINE>
<LINE>but I am not to say it is a sea, for it is now the</LINE>
<LINE>sky: betwixt the firmament and it you cannot thrust</LINE>
<LINE>a bodkin's point.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, boy, how is it?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would you did but see how it chafes, how it rages,</LINE>
<LINE>how it takes up the shore! but that's not the</LINE>
<LINE>point. O, the most piteous cry of the poor souls!</LINE>
<LINE>sometimes to see 'em, and not to see 'em; now the</LINE>
<LINE>ship boring the moon with her main-mast, and anon</LINE>
<LINE>swallowed with yest and froth, as you'ld thrust a</LINE>
<LINE>cork into a hogshead. And then for the</LINE>
<LINE>land-service, to see how the bear tore out his</LINE>
<LINE>shoulder-bone; how he cried to me for help and said</LINE>
<LINE>his name was Antigonus, a nobleman. But to make an</LINE>
<LINE>end of the ship, to see how the sea flap-dragoned</LINE>
<LINE>it: but, first, how the poor souls roared, and the</LINE>
<LINE>sea mocked them; and how the poor gentleman roared</LINE>
<LINE>and the bear mocked him, both roaring louder than</LINE>
<LINE>the sea or weather.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Name of mercy, when was this, boy?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, now: I have not winked since I saw these</LINE>
<LINE>sights: the men are not yet cold under water, nor</LINE>
<LINE>the bear half dined on the gentleman: he's at it</LINE>
<LINE>now.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Would I had been by, to have helped the old man!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would you had been by the ship side, to have</LINE>
<LINE>helped her: there your charity would have lacked footing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Heavy matters! heavy matters! but look thee here,</LINE>
<LINE>boy. Now bless thyself: thou mettest with things</LINE>
<LINE>dying, I with things newborn. Here's a sight for</LINE>
<LINE>thee; look thee, a bearing-cloth for a squire's</LINE>
<LINE>child! look thee here; take up, take up, boy;</LINE>
<LINE>open't. So, let's see: it was told me I should be</LINE>
<LINE>rich by the fairies. This is some changeling:</LINE>
<LINE>open't. What's within, boy?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You're a made old man: if the sins of your youth</LINE>
<LINE>are forgiven you, you're well to live. Gold! all gold!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This is fairy gold, boy, and 'twill prove so: up</LINE>
<LINE>with't, keep it close: home, home, the next way.</LINE>
<LINE>We are lucky, boy; and to be so still requires</LINE>
<LINE>nothing but secrecy. Let my sheep go: come, good</LINE>
<LINE>boy, the next way home.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go you the next way with your findings. I'll go see</LINE>
<LINE>if the bear be gone from the gentleman and how much</LINE>
<LINE>he hath eaten: they are never curst but when they</LINE>
<LINE>are hungry: if there be any of him left, I'll bury</LINE>
<LINE>it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's a good deed. If thou mayest discern by that</LINE>
<LINE>which is left of him what he is, fetch me to the</LINE>
<LINE>sight of him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Marry, will I; and you shall help to put him i' the ground.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis a lucky day, boy, and we'll do good deeds on't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT IV</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter Time, the Chorus</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Time</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I, that please some, try all, both joy and terror</LINE>
<LINE>Of good and bad, that makes and unfolds error,</LINE>
<LINE>Now take upon me, in the name of Time,</LINE>
<LINE>To use my wings. Impute it not a crime</LINE>
<LINE>To me or my swift passage, that I slide</LINE>
<LINE>O'er sixteen years and leave the growth untried</LINE>
<LINE>Of that wide gap, since it is in my power</LINE>
<LINE>To o'erthrow law and in one self-born hour</LINE>
<LINE>To plant and o'erwhelm custom. Let me pass</LINE>
<LINE>The same I am, ere ancient'st order was</LINE>
<LINE>Or what is now received: I witness to</LINE>
<LINE>The times that brought them in; so shall I do</LINE>
<LINE>To the freshest things now reigning and make stale</LINE>
<LINE>The glistering of this present, as my tale</LINE>
<LINE>Now seems to it. Your patience this allowing,</LINE>
<LINE>I turn my glass and give my scene such growing</LINE>
<LINE>As you had slept between: Leontes leaving,</LINE>
<LINE>The effects of his fond jealousies so grieving</LINE>
<LINE>That he shuts up himself, imagine me,</LINE>
<LINE>Gentle spectators, that I now may be</LINE>
<LINE>In fair Bohemia, and remember well,</LINE>
<LINE>I mentioned a son o' the king's, which Florizel</LINE>
<LINE>I now name to you; and with speed so pace</LINE>
<LINE>To speak of Perdita, now grown in grace</LINE>
<LINE>Equal with wondering: what of her ensues</LINE>
<LINE>I list not prophecy; but let Time's news</LINE>
<LINE>Be known when 'tis brought forth.</LINE>
<LINE>A shepherd's daughter,</LINE>
<LINE>And what to her adheres, which follows after,</LINE>
<LINE>Is the argument of Time. Of this allow,</LINE>
<LINE>If ever you have spent time worse ere now;</LINE>
<LINE>If never, yet that Time himself doth say</LINE>
<LINE>He wishes earnestly you never may.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  Bohemia. The palace of POLIXENES.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter POLIXENES and CAMILLO</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pray thee, good Camillo, be no more importunate:</LINE>
<LINE>'tis a sickness denying thee any thing; a death to</LINE>
<LINE>grant this.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is fifteen years since I saw my country: though</LINE>
<LINE>I have for the most part been aired abroad, I</LINE>
<LINE>desire to lay my bones there. Besides, the penitent</LINE>
<LINE>king, my master, hath sent for me; to whose feeling</LINE>
<LINE>sorrows I might be some allay, or I o'erween to</LINE>
<LINE>think so, which is another spur to my departure.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As thou lovest me, Camillo, wipe not out the rest of</LINE>
<LINE>thy services by leaving me now: the need I have of</LINE>
<LINE>thee thine own goodness hath made; better not to</LINE>
<LINE>have had thee than thus to want thee: thou, having</LINE>
<LINE>made me businesses which none without thee can</LINE>
<LINE>sufficiently manage, must either stay to execute</LINE>
<LINE>them thyself or take away with thee the very</LINE>
<LINE>services thou hast done; which if I have not enough</LINE>
<LINE>considered, as too much I cannot, to be more</LINE>
<LINE>thankful to thee shall be my study, and my profit</LINE>
<LINE>therein the heaping friendships. Of that fatal</LINE>
<LINE>country, Sicilia, prithee speak no more; whose very</LINE>
<LINE>naming punishes me with the remembrance of that</LINE>
<LINE>penitent, as thou callest him, and reconciled king,</LINE>
<LINE>my brother; whose loss of his most precious queen</LINE>
<LINE>and children are even now to be afresh lamented.</LINE>
<LINE>Say to me, when sawest thou the Prince Florizel, my</LINE>
<LINE>son? Kings are no less unhappy, their issue not</LINE>
<LINE>being gracious, than they are in losing them when</LINE>
<LINE>they have approved their virtues.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, it is three days since I saw the prince. What</LINE>
<LINE>his happier affairs may be, are to me unknown: but I</LINE>
<LINE>have missingly noted, he is of late much retired</LINE>
<LINE>from court and is less frequent to his princely</LINE>
<LINE>exercises than formerly he hath appeared.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have considered so much, Camillo, and with some</LINE>
<LINE>care; so far that I have eyes under my service which</LINE>
<LINE>look upon his removedness; from whom I have this</LINE>
<LINE>intelligence, that he is seldom from the house of a</LINE>
<LINE>most homely shepherd; a man, they say, that from</LINE>
<LINE>very nothing, and beyond the imagination of his</LINE>
<LINE>neighbours, is grown into an unspeakable estate.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have heard, sir, of such a man, who hath a</LINE>
<LINE>daughter of most rare note: the report of her is</LINE>
<LINE>extended more than can be thought to begin from such a cottage.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's likewise part of my intelligence; but, I</LINE>
<LINE>fear, the angle that plucks our son thither. Thou</LINE>
<LINE>shalt accompany us to the place; where we will, not</LINE>
<LINE>appearing what we are, have some question with the</LINE>
<LINE>shepherd; from whose simplicity I think it not</LINE>
<LINE>uneasy to get the cause of my son's resort thither.</LINE>
<LINE>Prithee, be my present partner in this business, and</LINE>
<LINE>lay aside the thoughts of Sicilia.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I willingly obey your command.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My best Camillo! We must disguise ourselves.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  A road near the Shepherd's cottage.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter AUTOLYCUS, singing</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>When daffodils begin to peer,</LINE>
<LINE>With heigh! the doxy over the dale,</LINE>
<LINE>Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year;</LINE>
<LINE>For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale.</LINE>
<LINE>The white sheet bleaching on the hedge,</LINE>
<LINE>With heigh! the sweet birds, O, how they sing!</LINE>
<LINE>Doth set my pugging tooth on edge;</LINE>
<LINE>For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.</LINE>
<LINE>The lark, that tirra-lyra chants,</LINE>
<LINE>With heigh! with heigh! the thrush and the jay,</LINE>
<LINE>Are summer songs for me and my aunts,</LINE>
<LINE>While we lie tumbling in the hay.</LINE>
<LINE>I have served Prince Florizel and in my time</LINE>
<LINE>wore three-pile; but now I am out of service:</LINE>
<LINE>But shall I go mourn for that, my dear?</LINE>
<LINE>The pale moon shines by night:</LINE>
<LINE>And when I wander here and there,</LINE>
<LINE>I then do most go right.</LINE>
<LINE>If tinkers may have leave to live,</LINE>
<LINE>And bear the sow-skin budget,</LINE>
<LINE>Then my account I well may, give,</LINE>
<LINE>And in the stocks avouch it.</LINE>
<LINE>My traffic is sheets; when the kite builds, look to</LINE>
<LINE>lesser linen. My father named me Autolycus; who</LINE>
<LINE>being, as I am, littered under Mercury, was likewise</LINE>
<LINE>a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles. With die and</LINE>
<LINE>drab I purchased this caparison, and my revenue is</LINE>
<LINE>the silly cheat. Gallows and knock are too powerful</LINE>
<LINE>on the highway: beating and hanging are terrors to</LINE>
<LINE>me: for the life to come, I sleep out the thought</LINE>
<LINE>of it. A prize! a prize!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter Clown</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let me see: every 'leven wether tods; every tod</LINE>
<LINE>yields pound and odd shilling; fifteen hundred</LINE>
<LINE>shorn. what comes the wool to?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR></LINE>
<LINE>If the springe hold, the cock's mine.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot do't without counters. Let me see; what am</LINE>
<LINE>I to buy for our sheep-shearing feast? Three pound</LINE>
<LINE>of sugar, five pound of currants, rice,--what will</LINE>
<LINE>this sister of mine do with rice? But my father</LINE>
<LINE>hath made her mistress of the feast, and she lays it</LINE>
<LINE>on. She hath made me four and twenty nose-gays for</LINE>
<LINE>the shearers, three-man-song-men all, and very good</LINE>
<LINE>ones; but they are most of them means and bases; but</LINE>
<LINE>one puritan amongst them, and he sings psalms to</LINE>
<LINE>horn-pipes. I must have saffron to colour the warden</LINE>
<LINE>pies; mace; dates?--none, that's out of my note;</LINE>
<LINE>nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger, but that I</LINE>
<LINE>may beg; four pound of prunes, and as many of</LINE>
<LINE>raisins o' the sun.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O that ever I was born!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Grovelling on the ground</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I' the name of me--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, help me, help me! pluck but off these rags; and</LINE>
<LINE>then, death, death!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Alack, poor soul! thou hast need of more rags to lay</LINE>
<LINE>on thee, rather than have these off.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O sir, the loathsomeness of them offends me more</LINE>
<LINE>than the stripes I have received, which are mighty</LINE>
<LINE>ones and millions.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Alas, poor man! a million of beating may come to a</LINE>
<LINE>great matter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am robbed, sir, and beaten; my money and apparel</LINE>
<LINE>ta'en from me, and these detestable things put upon</LINE>
<LINE>me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, by a horseman, or a footman?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A footman, sweet sir, a footman.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Indeed, he should be a footman by the garments he</LINE>
<LINE>has left with thee: if this be a horseman's coat,</LINE>
<LINE>it hath seen very hot service. Lend me thy hand,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll help thee: come, lend me thy hand.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, good sir, tenderly, O!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Alas, poor soul!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, good sir, softly, good sir! I fear, sir, my</LINE>
<LINE>shoulder-blade is out.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now! canst stand?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Picking his pocket</STAGEDIR></LINE>
<LINE>Softly, dear sir; good sir, softly. You ha' done me</LINE>
<LINE>a charitable office.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dost lack any money? I have a little money for thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, good sweet sir; no, I beseech you, sir: I have</LINE>
<LINE>a kinsman not past three quarters of a mile hence,</LINE>
<LINE>unto whom I was going; I shall there have money, or</LINE>
<LINE>any thing I want: offer me no money, I pray you;</LINE>
<LINE>that kills my heart.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What manner of fellow was he that robbed you?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A fellow, sir, that I have known to go about with</LINE>
<LINE>troll-my-dames; I knew him once a servant of the</LINE>
<LINE>prince: I cannot tell, good sir, for which of his</LINE>
<LINE>virtues it was, but he was certainly whipped out of the court.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>His vices, you would say; there's no virtue whipped</LINE>
<LINE>out of the court: they cherish it to make it stay</LINE>
<LINE>there; and yet it will no more but abide.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Vices, I would say, sir. I know this man well: he</LINE>
<LINE>hath been since an ape-bearer; then a</LINE>
<LINE>process-server, a bailiff; then he compassed a</LINE>
<LINE>motion of the Prodigal Son, and married a tinker's</LINE>
<LINE>wife within a mile where my land and living lies;</LINE>
<LINE>and, having flown over many knavish professions, he</LINE>
<LINE>settled only in rogue: some call him Autolycus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Out upon him! prig, for my life, prig: he haunts</LINE>
<LINE>wakes, fairs and bear-baitings.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Very true, sir; he, sir, he; that's the rogue that</LINE>
<LINE>put me into this apparel.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not a more cowardly rogue in all Bohemia: if you had</LINE>
<LINE>but looked big and spit at him, he'ld have run.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I must confess to you, sir, I am no fighter: I am</LINE>
<LINE>false of heart that way; and that he knew, I warrant</LINE>
<LINE>him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How do you now?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet sir, much better than I was; I can stand and</LINE>
<LINE>walk: I will even take my leave of you, and pace</LINE>
<LINE>softly towards my kinsman's.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shall I bring thee on the way?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, good-faced sir; no, sweet sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then fare thee well: I must go buy spices for our</LINE>
<LINE>sheep-shearing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Prosper you, sweet sir!</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit Clown</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Your purse is not hot enough to purchase your spice.</LINE>
<LINE>I'll be with you at your sheep-shearing too: if I</LINE>
<LINE>make not this cheat bring out another and the</LINE>
<LINE>shearers prove sheep, let me be unrolled and my name</LINE>
<LINE>put in the book of virtue!</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Sings</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,</LINE>
<LINE>And merrily hent the stile-a:</LINE>
<LINE>A merry heart goes all the day,</LINE>
<LINE>Your sad tires in a mile-a.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE IV.  The Shepherd's cottage.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter FLORIZEL and PERDITA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>These your unusual weeds to each part of you</LINE>
<LINE>Do give a life: no shepherdess, but Flora</LINE>
<LINE>Peering in April's front. This your sheep-shearing</LINE>
<LINE>Is as a meeting of the petty gods,</LINE>
<LINE>And you the queen on't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, my gracious lord,</LINE>
<LINE>To chide at your extremes it not becomes me:</LINE>
<LINE>O, pardon, that I name them! Your high self,</LINE>
<LINE>The gracious mark o' the land, you have obscured</LINE>
<LINE>With a swain's wearing, and me, poor lowly maid,</LINE>
<LINE>Most goddess-like prank'd up: but that our feasts</LINE>
<LINE>In every mess have folly and the feeders</LINE>
<LINE>Digest it with a custom, I should blush</LINE>
<LINE>To see you so attired, sworn, I think,</LINE>
<LINE>To show myself a glass.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I bless the time</LINE>
<LINE>When my good falcon made her flight across</LINE>
<LINE>Thy father's ground.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now Jove afford you cause!</LINE>
<LINE>To me the difference forges dread; your greatness</LINE>
<LINE>Hath not been used to fear. Even now I tremble</LINE>
<LINE>To think your father, by some accident,</LINE>
<LINE>Should pass this way as you did: O, the Fates!</LINE>
<LINE>How would he look, to see his work so noble</LINE>
<LINE>Vilely bound up? What would he say? Or how</LINE>
<LINE>Should I, in these my borrow'd flaunts, behold</LINE>
<LINE>The sternness of his presence?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Apprehend</LINE>
<LINE>Nothing but jollity. The gods themselves,</LINE>
<LINE>Humbling their deities to love, have taken</LINE>
<LINE>The shapes of beasts upon them: Jupiter</LINE>
<LINE>Became a bull, and bellow'd; the green Neptune</LINE>
<LINE>A ram, and bleated; and the fire-robed god,</LINE>
<LINE>Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain,</LINE>
<LINE>As I seem now. Their transformations</LINE>
<LINE>Were never for a piece of beauty rarer,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor in a way so chaste, since my desires</LINE>
<LINE>Run not before mine honour, nor my lusts</LINE>
<LINE>Burn hotter than my faith.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, but, sir,</LINE>
<LINE>Your resolution cannot hold, when 'tis</LINE>
<LINE>Opposed, as it must be, by the power of the king:</LINE>
<LINE>One of these two must be necessities,</LINE>
<LINE>Which then will speak, that you must</LINE>
<LINE>change this purpose,</LINE>
<LINE>Or I my life.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou dearest Perdita,</LINE>
<LINE>With these forced thoughts, I prithee, darken not</LINE>
<LINE>The mirth o' the feast. Or I'll be thine, my fair,</LINE>
<LINE>Or not my father's. For I cannot be</LINE>
<LINE>Mine own, nor any thing to any, if</LINE>
<LINE>I be not thine. To this I am most constant,</LINE>
<LINE>Though destiny say no. Be merry, gentle;</LINE>
<LINE>Strangle such thoughts as these with any thing</LINE>
<LINE>That you behold the while. Your guests are coming:</LINE>
<LINE>Lift up your countenance, as it were the day</LINE>
<LINE>Of celebration of that nuptial which</LINE>
<LINE>We two have sworn shall come.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O lady Fortune,</LINE>
<LINE>Stand you auspicious!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>See, your guests approach:</LINE>
<LINE>Address yourself to entertain them sprightly,</LINE>
<LINE>And let's be red with mirth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter Shepherd, Clown, MOPSA, DORCAS, and
others, with POLIXENES and CAMILLO disguised</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fie, daughter! when my old wife lived, upon</LINE>
<LINE>This day she was both pantler, butler, cook,</LINE>
<LINE>Both dame and servant; welcomed all, served all;</LINE>
<LINE>Would sing her song and dance her turn; now here,</LINE>
<LINE>At upper end o' the table, now i' the middle;</LINE>
<LINE>On his shoulder, and his; her face o' fire</LINE>
<LINE>With labour and the thing she took to quench it,</LINE>
<LINE>She would to each one sip. You are retired,</LINE>
<LINE>As if you were a feasted one and not</LINE>
<LINE>The hostess of the meeting: pray you, bid</LINE>
<LINE>These unknown friends to's welcome; for it is</LINE>
<LINE>A way to make us better friends, more known.</LINE>
<LINE>Come, quench your blushes and present yourself</LINE>
<LINE>That which you are, mistress o' the feast: come on,</LINE>
<LINE>And bid us welcome to your sheep-shearing,</LINE>
<LINE>As your good flock shall prosper.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>To POLIXENES</STAGEDIR>                  Sir, welcome:</LINE>
<LINE>It is my father's will I should take on me</LINE>
<LINE>The hostess-ship o' the day.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To CAMILLO</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>You're welcome, sir.</LINE>
<LINE>Give me those flowers there, Dorcas. Reverend sirs,</LINE>
<LINE>For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep</LINE>
<LINE>Seeming and savour all the winter long:</LINE>
<LINE>Grace and remembrance be to you both,</LINE>
<LINE>And welcome to our shearing!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shepherdess,</LINE>
<LINE>A fair one are you--well you fit our ages</LINE>
<LINE>With flowers of winter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, the year growing ancient,</LINE>
<LINE>Not yet on summer's death, nor on the birth</LINE>
<LINE>Of trembling winter, the fairest</LINE>
<LINE>flowers o' the season</LINE>
<LINE>Are our carnations and streak'd gillyvors,</LINE>
<LINE>Which some call nature's bastards: of that kind</LINE>
<LINE>Our rustic garden's barren; and I care not</LINE>
<LINE>To get slips of them.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Wherefore, gentle maiden,</LINE>
<LINE>Do you neglect them?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For I have heard it said</LINE>
<LINE>There is an art which in their piedness shares</LINE>
<LINE>With great creating nature.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Say there be;</LINE>
<LINE>Yet nature is made better by no mean</LINE>
<LINE>But nature makes that mean: so, over that art</LINE>
<LINE>Which you say adds to nature, is an art</LINE>
<LINE>That nature makes. You see, sweet maid, we marry</LINE>
<LINE>A gentler scion to the wildest stock,</LINE>
<LINE>And make conceive a bark of baser kind</LINE>
<LINE>By bud of nobler race: this is an art</LINE>
<LINE>Which does mend nature, change it rather, but</LINE>
<LINE>The art itself is nature.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So it is.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then make your garden rich in gillyvors,</LINE>
<LINE>And do not call them bastards.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll not put</LINE>
<LINE>The dibble in earth to set one slip of them;</LINE>
<LINE>No more than were I painted I would wish</LINE>
<LINE>This youth should say 'twere well and only therefore</LINE>
<LINE>Desire to breed by me. Here's flowers for you;</LINE>
<LINE>Hot lavender, mints, savoury, marjoram;</LINE>
<LINE>The marigold, that goes to bed wi' the sun</LINE>
<LINE>And with him rises weeping: these are flowers</LINE>
<LINE>Of middle summer, and I think they are given</LINE>
<LINE>To men of middle age. You're very welcome.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I should leave grazing, were I of your flock,</LINE>
<LINE>And only live by gazing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Out, alas!</LINE>
<LINE>You'd be so lean, that blasts of January</LINE>
<LINE>Would blow you through and through.</LINE>
<LINE>Now, my fair'st friend,</LINE>
<LINE>I would I had some flowers o' the spring that might</LINE>
<LINE>Become your time of day; and yours, and yours,</LINE>
<LINE>That wear upon your virgin branches yet</LINE>
<LINE>Your maidenheads growing: O Proserpina,</LINE>
<LINE>For the flowers now, that frighted thou let'st fall</LINE>
<LINE>From Dis's waggon! daffodils,</LINE>
<LINE>That come before the swallow dares, and take</LINE>
<LINE>The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,</LINE>
<LINE>But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes</LINE>
<LINE>Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses</LINE>
<LINE>That die unmarried, ere they can behold</LINE>
<LINE>Bight Phoebus in his strength--a malady</LINE>
<LINE>Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and</LINE>
<LINE>The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,</LINE>
<LINE>The flower-de-luce being one! O, these I lack,</LINE>
<LINE>To make you garlands of, and my sweet friend,</LINE>
<LINE>To strew him o'er and o'er!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, like a corse?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, like a bank for love to lie and play on;</LINE>
<LINE>Not like a corse; or if, not to be buried,</LINE>
<LINE>But quick and in mine arms. Come, take your flowers:</LINE>
<LINE>Methinks I play as I have seen them do</LINE>
<LINE>In Whitsun pastorals: sure this robe of mine</LINE>
<LINE>Does change my disposition.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What you do</LINE>
<LINE>Still betters what is done. When you speak, sweet.</LINE>
<LINE>I'ld have you do it ever: when you sing,</LINE>
<LINE>I'ld have you buy and sell so, so give alms,</LINE>
<LINE>Pray so; and, for the ordering your affairs,</LINE>
<LINE>To sing them too: when you do dance, I wish you</LINE>
<LINE>A wave o' the sea, that you might ever do</LINE>
<LINE>Nothing but that; move still, still so,</LINE>
<LINE>And own no other function: each your doing,</LINE>
<LINE>So singular in each particular,</LINE>
<LINE>Crowns what you are doing in the present deed,</LINE>
<LINE>That all your acts are queens.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Doricles,</LINE>
<LINE>Your praises are too large: but that your youth,</LINE>
<LINE>And the true blood which peepeth fairly through't,</LINE>
<LINE>Do plainly give you out an unstain'd shepherd,</LINE>
<LINE>With wisdom I might fear, my Doricles,</LINE>
<LINE>You woo'd me the false way.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I think you have</LINE>
<LINE>As little skill to fear as I have purpose</LINE>
<LINE>To put you to't. But come; our dance, I pray:</LINE>
<LINE>Your hand, my Perdita: so turtles pair,</LINE>
<LINE>That never mean to part.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll swear for 'em.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This is the prettiest low-born lass that ever</LINE>
<LINE>Ran on the green-sward: nothing she does or seems</LINE>
<LINE>But smacks of something greater than herself,</LINE>
<LINE>Too noble for this place.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He tells her something</LINE>
<LINE>That makes her blood look out: good sooth, she is</LINE>
<LINE>The queen of curds and cream.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come on, strike up!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DORCAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Mopsa must be your mistress: marry, garlic,</LINE>
<LINE>To mend her kissing with!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOPSA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, in good time!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not a word, a word; we stand upon our manners.</LINE>
<LINE>Come, strike up!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Music. Here a dance of Shepherds and
Shepherdesses</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pray, good shepherd, what fair swain is this</LINE>
<LINE>Which dances with your daughter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They call him Doricles; and boasts himself</LINE>
<LINE>To have a worthy feeding: but I have it</LINE>
<LINE>Upon his own report and I believe it;</LINE>
<LINE>He looks like sooth. He says he loves my daughter:</LINE>
<LINE>I think so too; for never gazed the moon</LINE>
<LINE>Upon the water as he'll stand and read</LINE>
<LINE>As 'twere my daughter's eyes: and, to be plain.</LINE>
<LINE>I think there is not half a kiss to choose</LINE>
<LINE>Who loves another best.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She dances featly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So she does any thing; though I report it,</LINE>
<LINE>That should be silent: if young Doricles</LINE>
<LINE>Do light upon her, she shall bring him that</LINE>
<LINE>Which he not dreams of.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter Servant</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O master, if you did but hear the pedlar at the</LINE>
<LINE>door, you would never dance again after a tabour and</LINE>
<LINE>pipe; no, the bagpipe could not move you: he sings</LINE>
<LINE>several tunes faster than you'll tell money; he</LINE>
<LINE>utters them as he had eaten ballads and all men's</LINE>
<LINE>ears grew to his tunes.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He could never come better; he shall come in. I</LINE>
<LINE>love a ballad but even too well, if it be doleful</LINE>
<LINE>matter merrily set down, or a very pleasant thing</LINE>
<LINE>indeed and sung lamentably.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes; no</LINE>
<LINE>milliner can so fit his customers with gloves: he</LINE>
<LINE>has the prettiest love-songs for maids; so without</LINE>
<LINE>bawdry, which is strange; with such delicate</LINE>
<LINE>burthens of dildos and fadings, 'jump her and thump</LINE>
<LINE>her;' and where some stretch-mouthed rascal would,</LINE>
<LINE>as it were, mean mischief and break a foul gap into</LINE>
<LINE>the matter, he makes the maid to answer 'Whoop, do me</LINE>
<LINE>no harm, good man;' puts him off, slights him, with</LINE>
<LINE>'Whoop, do me no harm, good man.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This is a brave fellow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Believe me, thou talkest of an admirable conceited</LINE>
<LINE>fellow. Has he any unbraided wares?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He hath ribbons of an the colours i' the rainbow;</LINE>
<LINE>points more than all the lawyers in Bohemia can</LINE>
<LINE>learnedly handle, though they come to him by the</LINE>
<LINE>gross: inkles, caddisses, cambrics, lawns: why, he</LINE>
<LINE>sings 'em over as they were gods or goddesses; you</LINE>
<LINE>would think a smock were a she-angel, he so chants</LINE>
<LINE>to the sleeve-hand and the work about the square on't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Prithee bring him in; and let him approach singing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Forewarn him that he use no scurrilous words in 's tunes.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit Servant</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You have of these pedlars, that have more in them</LINE>
<LINE>than you'ld think, sister.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, good brother, or go about to think.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter AUTOLYCUS, singing</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Lawn as white as driven snow;</LINE>
<LINE>Cyprus black as e'er was crow;</LINE>
<LINE>Gloves as sweet as damask roses;</LINE>
<LINE>Masks for faces and for noses;</LINE>
<LINE>Bugle bracelet, necklace amber,</LINE>
<LINE>Perfume for a lady's chamber;</LINE>
<LINE>Golden quoifs and stomachers,</LINE>
<LINE>For my lads to give their dears:</LINE>
<LINE>Pins and poking-sticks of steel,</LINE>
<LINE>What maids lack from head to heel:</LINE>
<LINE>Come buy of me, come; come buy, come buy;</LINE>
<LINE>Buy lads, or else your lasses cry: Come buy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If I were not in love with Mopsa, thou shouldst take</LINE>
<LINE>no money of me; but being enthralled as I am, it</LINE>
<LINE>will also be the bondage of certain ribbons and gloves.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOPSA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I was promised them against the feast; but they come</LINE>
<LINE>not too late now.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DORCAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He hath promised you more than that, or there be liars.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOPSA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He hath paid you all he promised you; may be, he has</LINE>
<LINE>paid you more, which will shame you to give him again.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is there no manners left among maids? will they</LINE>
<LINE>wear their plackets where they should bear their</LINE>
<LINE>faces? Is there not milking-time, when you are</LINE>
<LINE>going to bed, or kiln-hole, to whistle off these</LINE>
<LINE>secrets, but you must be tittle-tattling before all</LINE>
<LINE>our guests? 'tis well they are whispering: clamour</LINE>
<LINE>your tongues, and not a word more.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOPSA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have done. Come, you promised me a tawdry-lace</LINE>
<LINE>and a pair of sweet gloves.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Have I not told thee how I was cozened by the way</LINE>
<LINE>and lost all my money?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And indeed, sir, there are cozeners abroad;</LINE>
<LINE>therefore it behoves men to be wary.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fear not thou, man, thou shalt lose nothing here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I hope so, sir; for I have about me many parcels of charge.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What hast here? ballads?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOPSA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pray now, buy some: I love a ballad in print o'</LINE>
<LINE>life, for then we are sure they are true.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here's one to a very doleful tune, how a usurer's</LINE>
<LINE>wife was brought to bed of twenty money-bags at a</LINE>
<LINE>burthen and how she longed to eat adders' heads and</LINE>
<LINE>toads carbonadoed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOPSA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is it true, think you?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Very true, and but a month old.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DORCAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Bless me from marrying a usurer!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here's the midwife's name to't, one Mistress</LINE>
<LINE>Tale-porter, and five or six honest wives that were</LINE>
<LINE>present. Why should I carry lies abroad?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOPSA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pray you now, buy it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come on, lay it by: and let's first see moe</LINE>
<LINE>ballads; we'll buy the other things anon.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here's another ballad of a fish, that appeared upon</LINE>
<LINE>the coast on Wednesday the four-score of April,</LINE>
<LINE>forty thousand fathom above water, and sung this</LINE>
<LINE>ballad against the hard hearts of maids: it was</LINE>
<LINE>thought she was a woman and was turned into a cold</LINE>
<LINE>fish for she would not exchange flesh with one that</LINE>
<LINE>loved her: the ballad is very pitiful and as true.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DORCAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is it true too, think you?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Five justices' hands at it, and witnesses more than</LINE>
<LINE>my pack will hold.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Lay it by too: another.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This is a merry ballad, but a very pretty one.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOPSA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let's have some merry ones.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, this is a passing merry one and goes to</LINE>
<LINE>the tune of 'Two maids wooing a man:' there's</LINE>
<LINE>scarce a maid westward but she sings it; 'tis in</LINE>
<LINE>request, I can tell you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOPSA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We can both sing it: if thou'lt bear a part, thou</LINE>
<LINE>shalt hear; 'tis in three parts.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DORCAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We had the tune on't a month ago.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I can bear my part; you must know 'tis my</LINE>
<LINE>occupation; have at it with you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>SONG</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Get you hence, for I must go</LINE>
<LINE>Where it fits not you to know.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DORCAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Whither?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOPSA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, whither?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DORCAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Whither?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOPSA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It becomes thy oath full well,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou to me thy secrets tell.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DORCAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Me too, let me go thither.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOPSA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Or thou goest to the orange or mill.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DORCAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If to either, thou dost ill.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Neither.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DORCAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, neither?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Neither.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DORCAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou hast sworn my love to be.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOPSA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou hast sworn it more to me:</LINE>
<LINE>Then whither goest? say, whither?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We'll have this song out anon by ourselves: my</LINE>
<LINE>father and the gentlemen are in sad talk, and we'll</LINE>
<LINE>not trouble them. Come, bring away thy pack after</LINE>
<LINE>me. Wenches, I'll buy for you both. Pedlar, let's</LINE>
<LINE>have the first choice. Follow me, girls.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit with DORCAS and MOPSA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And you shall pay well for 'em.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Follows singing</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Will you buy any tape,</LINE>
<LINE>Or lace for your cape,</LINE>
<LINE>My dainty duck, my dear-a?</LINE>
<LINE>Any silk, any thread,</LINE>
<LINE>Any toys for your head,</LINE>
<LINE>Of the new'st and finest, finest wear-a?</LINE>
<LINE>Come to the pedlar;</LINE>
<LINE>Money's a medler.</LINE>
<LINE>That doth utter all men's ware-a.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Re-enter Servant</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Master, there is three carters, three shepherds,</LINE>
<LINE>three neat-herds, three swine-herds, that have made</LINE>
<LINE>themselves all men of hair, they call themselves</LINE>
<LINE>Saltiers, and they have a dance which the wenches</LINE>
<LINE>say is a gallimaufry of gambols, because they are</LINE>
<LINE>not in't; but they themselves are o' the mind, if it</LINE>
<LINE>be not too rough for some that know little but</LINE>
<LINE>bowling, it will please plentifully.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away! we'll none on 't: here has been too much</LINE>
<LINE>homely foolery already. I know, sir, we weary you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You weary those that refresh us: pray, let's see</LINE>
<LINE>these four threes of herdsmen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>One three of them, by their own report, sir, hath</LINE>
<LINE>danced before the king; and not the worst of the</LINE>
<LINE>three but jumps twelve foot and a half by the squier.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Leave your prating: since these good men are</LINE>
<LINE>pleased, let them come in; but quickly now.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, they stay at door, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Here a dance of twelve Satyrs</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, father, you'll know more of that hereafter.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To CAMILLO</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Is it not too far gone? 'Tis time to part them.</LINE>
<LINE>He's simple and tells much.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To FLORIZEL</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>How now, fair shepherd!</LINE>
<LINE>Your heart is full of something that does take</LINE>
<LINE>Your mind from feasting. Sooth, when I was young</LINE>
<LINE>And handed love as you do, I was wont</LINE>
<LINE>To load my she with knacks: I would have ransack'd</LINE>
<LINE>The pedlar's silken treasury and have pour'd it</LINE>
<LINE>To her acceptance; you have let him go</LINE>
<LINE>And nothing marted with him. If your lass</LINE>
<LINE>Interpretation should abuse and call this</LINE>
<LINE>Your lack of love or bounty, you were straited</LINE>
<LINE>For a reply, at least if you make a care</LINE>
<LINE>Of happy holding her.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Old sir, I know</LINE>
<LINE>She prizes not such trifles as these are:</LINE>
<LINE>The gifts she looks from me are pack'd and lock'd</LINE>
<LINE>Up in my heart; which I have given already,</LINE>
<LINE>But not deliver'd. O, hear me breathe my life</LINE>
<LINE>Before this ancient sir, who, it should seem,</LINE>
<LINE>Hath sometime loved! I take thy hand, this hand,</LINE>
<LINE>As soft as dove's down and as white as it,</LINE>
<LINE>Or Ethiopian's tooth, or the fann'd</LINE>
<LINE>snow that's bolted</LINE>
<LINE>By the northern blasts twice o'er.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What follows this?</LINE>
<LINE>How prettily the young swain seems to wash</LINE>
<LINE>The hand was fair before! I have put you out:</LINE>
<LINE>But to your protestation; let me hear</LINE>
<LINE>What you profess.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do, and be witness to 't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And this my neighbour too?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And he, and more</LINE>
<LINE>Than he, and men, the earth, the heavens, and all:</LINE>
<LINE>That, were I crown'd the most imperial monarch,</LINE>
<LINE>Thereof most worthy, were I the fairest youth</LINE>
<LINE>That ever made eye swerve, had force and knowledge</LINE>
<LINE>More than was ever man's, I would not prize them</LINE>
<LINE>Without her love; for her employ them all;</LINE>
<LINE>Commend them and condemn them to her service</LINE>
<LINE>Or to their own perdition.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fairly offer'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This shows a sound affection.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But, my daughter,</LINE>
<LINE>Say you the like to him?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot speak</LINE>
<LINE>So well, nothing so well; no, nor mean better:</LINE>
<LINE>By the pattern of mine own thoughts I cut out</LINE>
<LINE>The purity of his.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Take hands, a bargain!</LINE>
<LINE>And, friends unknown, you shall bear witness to 't:</LINE>
<LINE>I give my daughter to him, and will make</LINE>
<LINE>Her portion equal his.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, that must be</LINE>
<LINE>I' the virtue of your daughter: one being dead,</LINE>
<LINE>I shall have more than you can dream of yet;</LINE>
<LINE>Enough then for your wonder. But, come on,</LINE>
<LINE>Contract us 'fore these witnesses.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, your hand;</LINE>
<LINE>And, daughter, yours.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Soft, swain, awhile, beseech you;</LINE>
<LINE>Have you a father?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have: but what of him?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Knows he of this?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He neither does nor shall.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Methinks a father</LINE>
<LINE>Is at the nuptial of his son a guest</LINE>
<LINE>That best becomes the table. Pray you once more,</LINE>
<LINE>Is not your father grown incapable</LINE>
<LINE>Of reasonable affairs? is he not stupid</LINE>
<LINE>With age and altering rheums? can he speak? hear?</LINE>
<LINE>Know man from man? dispute his own estate?</LINE>
<LINE>Lies he not bed-rid? and again does nothing</LINE>
<LINE>But what he did being childish?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, good sir;</LINE>
<LINE>He has his health and ampler strength indeed</LINE>
<LINE>Than most have of his age.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By my white beard,</LINE>
<LINE>You offer him, if this be so, a wrong</LINE>
<LINE>Something unfilial: reason my son</LINE>
<LINE>Should choose himself a wife, but as good reason</LINE>
<LINE>The father, all whose joy is nothing else</LINE>
<LINE>But fair posterity, should hold some counsel</LINE>
<LINE>In such a business.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I yield all this;</LINE>
<LINE>But for some other reasons, my grave sir,</LINE>
<LINE>Which 'tis not fit you know, I not acquaint</LINE>
<LINE>My father of this business.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let him know't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He shall not.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Prithee, let him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, he must not.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let him, my son: he shall not need to grieve</LINE>
<LINE>At knowing of thy choice.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, come, he must not.</LINE>
<LINE>Mark our contract.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Mark your divorce, young sir,</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Discovering himself</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Whom son I dare not call; thou art too base</LINE>
<LINE>To be acknowledged: thou a sceptre's heir,</LINE>
<LINE>That thus affect'st a sheep-hook! Thou old traitor,</LINE>
<LINE>I am sorry that by hanging thee I can</LINE>
<LINE>But shorten thy life one week. And thou, fresh piece</LINE>
<LINE>Of excellent witchcraft, who of force must know</LINE>
<LINE>The royal fool thou copest with,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, my heart!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll have thy beauty scratch'd with briers, and made</LINE>
<LINE>More homely than thy state. For thee, fond boy,</LINE>
<LINE>If I may ever know thou dost but sigh</LINE>
<LINE>That thou no more shalt see this knack, as never</LINE>
<LINE>I mean thou shalt, we'll bar thee from succession;</LINE>
<LINE>Not hold thee of our blood, no, not our kin,</LINE>
<LINE>Far than Deucalion off: mark thou my words:</LINE>
<LINE>Follow us to the court. Thou churl, for this time,</LINE>
<LINE>Though full of our displeasure, yet we free thee</LINE>
<LINE>From the dead blow of it. And you, enchantment.--</LINE>
<LINE>Worthy enough a herdsman: yea, him too,</LINE>
<LINE>That makes himself, but for our honour therein,</LINE>
<LINE>Unworthy thee,--if ever henceforth thou</LINE>
<LINE>These rural latches to his entrance open,</LINE>
<LINE>Or hoop his body more with thy embraces,</LINE>
<LINE>I will devise a death as cruel for thee</LINE>
<LINE>As thou art tender to't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Even here undone!</LINE>
<LINE>I was not much afeard; for once or twice</LINE>
<LINE>I was about to speak and tell him plainly,</LINE>
<LINE>The selfsame sun that shines upon his court</LINE>
<LINE>Hides not his visage from our cottage but</LINE>
<LINE>Looks on alike. Will't please you, sir, be gone?</LINE>
<LINE>I told you what would come of this: beseech you,</LINE>
<LINE>Of your own state take care: this dream of mine,--</LINE>
<LINE>Being now awake, I'll queen it no inch farther,</LINE>
<LINE>But milk my ewes and weep.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, how now, father!</LINE>
<LINE>Speak ere thou diest.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot speak, nor think</LINE>
<LINE>Nor dare to know that which I know. O sir!</LINE>
<LINE>You have undone a man of fourscore three,</LINE>
<LINE>That thought to fill his grave in quiet, yea,</LINE>
<LINE>To die upon the bed my father died,</LINE>
<LINE>To lie close by his honest bones: but now</LINE>
<LINE>Some hangman must put on my shroud and lay me</LINE>
<LINE>Where no priest shovels in dust. O cursed wretch,</LINE>
<LINE>That knew'st this was the prince,</LINE>
<LINE>and wouldst adventure</LINE>
<LINE>To mingle faith with him! Undone! undone!</LINE>
<LINE>If I might die within this hour, I have lived</LINE>
<LINE>To die when I desire.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why look you so upon me?</LINE>
<LINE>I am but sorry, not afeard; delay'd,</LINE>
<LINE>But nothing alter'd: what I was, I am;</LINE>
<LINE>More straining on for plucking back, not following</LINE>
<LINE>My leash unwillingly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Gracious my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>You know your father's temper: at this time</LINE>
<LINE>He will allow no speech, which I do guess</LINE>
<LINE>You do not purpose to him; and as hardly</LINE>
<LINE>Will he endure your sight as yet, I fear:</LINE>
<LINE>Then, till the fury of his highness settle,</LINE>
<LINE>Come not before him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I not purpose it.</LINE>
<LINE>I think, Camillo?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Even he, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How often have I told you 'twould be thus!</LINE>
<LINE>How often said, my dignity would last</LINE>
<LINE>But till 'twere known!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It cannot fail but by</LINE>
<LINE>The violation of my faith; and then</LINE>
<LINE>Let nature crush the sides o' the earth together</LINE>
<LINE>And mar the seeds within! Lift up thy looks:</LINE>
<LINE>From my succession wipe me, father; I</LINE>
<LINE>Am heir to my affection.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be advised.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am, and by my fancy: if my reason</LINE>
<LINE>Will thereto be obedient, I have reason;</LINE>
<LINE>If not, my senses, better pleased with madness,</LINE>
<LINE>Do bid it welcome.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This is desperate, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So call it: but it does fulfil my vow;</LINE>
<LINE>I needs must think it honesty. Camillo,</LINE>
<LINE>Not for Bohemia, nor the pomp that may</LINE>
<LINE>Be thereat glean'd, for all the sun sees or</LINE>
<LINE>The close earth wombs or the profound sea hides</LINE>
<LINE>In unknown fathoms, will I break my oath</LINE>
<LINE>To this my fair beloved: therefore, I pray you,</LINE>
<LINE>As you have ever been my father's honour'd friend,</LINE>
<LINE>When he shall miss me,--as, in faith, I mean not</LINE>
<LINE>To see him any more,--cast your good counsels</LINE>
<LINE>Upon his passion; let myself and fortune</LINE>
<LINE>Tug for the time to come. This you may know</LINE>
<LINE>And so deliver, I am put to sea</LINE>
<LINE>With her whom here I cannot hold on shore;</LINE>
<LINE>And most opportune to our need I have</LINE>
<LINE>A vessel rides fast by, but not prepared</LINE>
<LINE>For this design. What course I mean to hold</LINE>
<LINE>Shall nothing benefit your knowledge, nor</LINE>
<LINE>Concern me the reporting.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O my lord!</LINE>
<LINE>I would your spirit were easier for advice,</LINE>
<LINE>Or stronger for your need.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hark, Perdita</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Drawing her aside</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>I'll hear you by and by.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He's irremoveable,</LINE>
<LINE>Resolved for flight. Now were I happy, if</LINE>
<LINE>His going I could frame to serve my turn,</LINE>
<LINE>Save him from danger, do him love and honour,</LINE>
<LINE>Purchase the sight again of dear Sicilia</LINE>
<LINE>And that unhappy king, my master, whom</LINE>
<LINE>I so much thirst to see.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, good Camillo;</LINE>
<LINE>I am so fraught with curious business that</LINE>
<LINE>I leave out ceremony.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, I think</LINE>
<LINE>You have heard of my poor services, i' the love</LINE>
<LINE>That I have borne your father?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Very nobly</LINE>
<LINE>Have you deserved: it is my father's music</LINE>
<LINE>To speak your deeds, not little of his care</LINE>
<LINE>To have them recompensed as thought on.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>If you may please to think I love the king</LINE>
<LINE>And through him what is nearest to him, which is</LINE>
<LINE>Your gracious self, embrace but my direction:</LINE>
<LINE>If your more ponderous and settled project</LINE>
<LINE>May suffer alteration, on mine honour,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll point you where you shall have such receiving</LINE>
<LINE>As shall become your highness; where you may</LINE>
<LINE>Enjoy your mistress, from the whom, I see,</LINE>
<LINE>There's no disjunction to be made, but by--</LINE>
<LINE>As heavens forefend!--your ruin; marry her,</LINE>
<LINE>And, with my best endeavours in your absence,</LINE>
<LINE>Your discontenting father strive to qualify</LINE>
<LINE>And bring him up to liking.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How, Camillo,</LINE>
<LINE>May this, almost a miracle, be done?</LINE>
<LINE>That I may call thee something more than man</LINE>
<LINE>And after that trust to thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Have you thought on</LINE>
<LINE>A place whereto you'll go?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not any yet:</LINE>
<LINE>But as the unthought-on accident is guilty</LINE>
<LINE>To what we wildly do, so we profess</LINE>
<LINE>Ourselves to be the slaves of chance and flies</LINE>
<LINE>Of every wind that blows.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then list to me:</LINE>
<LINE>This follows, if you will not change your purpose</LINE>
<LINE>But undergo this flight, make for Sicilia,</LINE>
<LINE>And there present yourself and your fair princess,</LINE>
<LINE>For so I see she must be, 'fore Leontes:</LINE>
<LINE>She shall be habited as it becomes</LINE>
<LINE>The partner of your bed. Methinks I see</LINE>
<LINE>Leontes opening his free arms and weeping</LINE>
<LINE>His welcomes forth; asks thee the son forgiveness,</LINE>
<LINE>As 'twere i' the father's person; kisses the hands</LINE>
<LINE>Of your fresh princess; o'er and o'er divides him</LINE>
<LINE>'Twixt his unkindness and his kindness; the one</LINE>
<LINE>He chides to hell and bids the other grow</LINE>
<LINE>Faster than thought or time.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Worthy Camillo,</LINE>
<LINE>What colour for my visitation shall I</LINE>
<LINE>Hold up before him?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sent by the king your father</LINE>
<LINE>To greet him and to give him comforts. Sir,</LINE>
<LINE>The manner of your bearing towards him, with</LINE>
<LINE>What you as from your father shall deliver,</LINE>
<LINE>Things known betwixt us three, I'll write you down:</LINE>
<LINE>The which shall point you forth at every sitting</LINE>
<LINE>What you must say; that he shall not perceive</LINE>
<LINE>But that you have your father's bosom there</LINE>
<LINE>And speak his very heart.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am bound to you:</LINE>
<LINE>There is some sap in this.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A cause more promising</LINE>
<LINE>Than a wild dedication of yourselves</LINE>
<LINE>To unpath'd waters, undream'd shores, most certain</LINE>
<LINE>To miseries enough; no hope to help you,</LINE>
<LINE>But as you shake off one to take another;</LINE>
<LINE>Nothing so certain as your anchors, who</LINE>
<LINE>Do their best office, if they can but stay you</LINE>
<LINE>Where you'll be loath to be: besides you know</LINE>
<LINE>Prosperity's the very bond of love,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose fresh complexion and whose heart together</LINE>
<LINE>Affliction alters.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>One of these is true:</LINE>
<LINE>I think affliction may subdue the cheek,</LINE>
<LINE>But not take in the mind.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, say you so?</LINE>
<LINE>There shall not at your father's house these</LINE>
<LINE>seven years</LINE>
<LINE>Be born another such.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My good Camillo,</LINE>
<LINE>She is as forward of her breeding as</LINE>
<LINE>She is i' the rear our birth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot say 'tis pity</LINE>
<LINE>She lacks instructions, for she seems a mistress</LINE>
<LINE>To most that teach.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your pardon, sir; for this</LINE>
<LINE>I'll blush you thanks.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My prettiest Perdita!</LINE>
<LINE>But O, the thorns we stand upon! Camillo,</LINE>
<LINE>Preserver of my father, now of me,</LINE>
<LINE>The medicine of our house, how shall we do?</LINE>
<LINE>We are not furnish'd like Bohemia's son,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor shall appear in Sicilia.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Fear none of this: I think you know my fortunes</LINE>
<LINE>Do all lie there: it shall be so my care</LINE>
<LINE>To have you royally appointed as if</LINE>
<LINE>The scene you play were mine. For instance, sir,</LINE>
<LINE>That you may know you shall not want, one word.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>They talk aside</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Re-enter AUTOLYCUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha, ha! what a fool Honesty is! and Trust, his</LINE>
<LINE>sworn brother, a very simple gentleman! I have sold</LINE>
<LINE>all my trumpery; not a counterfeit stone, not a</LINE>
<LINE>ribbon, glass, pomander, brooch, table-book, ballad,</LINE>
<LINE>knife, tape, glove, shoe-tie, bracelet, horn-ring,</LINE>
<LINE>to keep my pack from fasting: they throng who</LINE>
<LINE>should buy first, as if my trinkets had been</LINE>
<LINE>hallowed and brought a benediction to the buyer:</LINE>
<LINE>by which means I saw whose purse was best in</LINE>
<LINE>picture; and what I saw, to my good use I</LINE>
<LINE>remembered. My clown, who wants but something to</LINE>
<LINE>be a reasonable man, grew so in love with the</LINE>
<LINE>wenches' song, that he would not stir his pettitoes</LINE>
<LINE>till he had both tune and words; which so drew the</LINE>
<LINE>rest of the herd to me that all their other senses</LINE>
<LINE>stuck in ears: you might have pinched a placket, it</LINE>
<LINE>was senseless; 'twas nothing to geld a codpiece of a</LINE>
<LINE>purse; I could have filed keys off that hung in</LINE>
<LINE>chains: no hearing, no feeling, but my sir's song,</LINE>
<LINE>and admiring the nothing of it. So that in this</LINE>
<LINE>time of lethargy I picked and cut most of their</LINE>
<LINE>festival purses; and had not the old man come in</LINE>
<LINE>with a whoo-bub against his daughter and the king's</LINE>
<LINE>son and scared my choughs from the chaff, I had not</LINE>
<LINE>left a purse alive in the whole army.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>CAMILLO, FLORIZEL, and PERDITA come forward</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, but my letters, by this means being there</LINE>
<LINE>So soon as you arrive, shall clear that doubt.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And those that you'll procure from King Leontes--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shall satisfy your father.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Happy be you!</LINE>
<LINE>All that you speak shows fair.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who have we here?</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Seeing AUTOLYCUS</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>We'll make an instrument of this, omit</LINE>
<LINE>Nothing may give us aid.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If they have overheard me now, why, hanging.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now, good fellow! why shakest thou so? Fear</LINE>
<LINE>not, man; here's no harm intended to thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am a poor fellow, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, be so still; here's nobody will steal that from</LINE>
<LINE>thee: yet for the outside of thy poverty we must</LINE>
<LINE>make an exchange; therefore discase thee instantly,</LINE>
<LINE>--thou must think there's a necessity in't,--and</LINE>
<LINE>change garments with this gentleman: though the</LINE>
<LINE>pennyworth on his side be the worst, yet hold thee,</LINE>
<LINE>there's some boot.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am a poor fellow, sir.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>I know ye well enough.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, prithee, dispatch: the gentleman is half</LINE>
<LINE>flayed already.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Are you in earnest, sir?</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>I smell the trick on't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dispatch, I prithee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Indeed, I have had earnest: but I cannot with</LINE>
<LINE>conscience take it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Unbuckle, unbuckle.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>FLORIZEL and AUTOLYCUS exchange garments</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Fortunate mistress,--let my prophecy</LINE>
<LINE>Come home to ye!--you must retire yourself</LINE>
<LINE>Into some covert: take your sweetheart's hat</LINE>
<LINE>And pluck it o'er your brows, muffle your face,</LINE>
<LINE>Dismantle you, and, as you can, disliken</LINE>
<LINE>The truth of your own seeming; that you may--</LINE>
<LINE>For I do fear eyes over--to shipboard</LINE>
<LINE>Get undescried.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I see the play so lies</LINE>
<LINE>That I must bear a part.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No remedy.</LINE>
<LINE>Have you done there?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Should I now meet my father,</LINE>
<LINE>He would not call me son.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, you shall have no hat.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Giving it to PERDITA</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Come, lady, come. Farewell, my friend.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Adieu, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Perdita, what have we twain forgot!</LINE>
<LINE>Pray you, a word.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>  What I do next, shall be to tell the king</LINE>
<LINE>Of this escape and whither they are bound;</LINE>
<LINE>Wherein my hope is I shall so prevail</LINE>
<LINE>To force him after: in whose company</LINE>
<LINE>I shall review Sicilia, for whose sight</LINE>
<LINE>I have a woman's longing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fortune speed us!</LINE>
<LINE>Thus we set on, Camillo, to the sea-side.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The swifter speed the better.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt FLORIZEL, PERDITA, and CAMILLO</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I understand the business, I hear it: to have an</LINE>
<LINE>open ear, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, is</LINE>
<LINE>necessary for a cut-purse; a good nose is requisite</LINE>
<LINE>also, to smell out work for the other senses. I see</LINE>
<LINE>this is the time that the unjust man doth thrive.</LINE>
<LINE>What an exchange had this been without boot! What</LINE>
<LINE>a boot is here with this exchange! Sure the gods do</LINE>
<LINE>this year connive at us, and we may do any thing</LINE>
<LINE>extempore. The prince himself is about a piece of</LINE>
<LINE>iniquity, stealing away from his father with his</LINE>
<LINE>clog at his heels: if I thought it were a piece of</LINE>
<LINE>honesty to acquaint the king withal, I would not</LINE>
<LINE>do't: I hold it the more knavery to conceal it;</LINE>
<LINE>and therein am I constant to my profession.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Re-enter Clown and Shepherd</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Aside, aside; here is more matter for a hot brain:</LINE>
<LINE>every lane's end, every shop, church, session,</LINE>
<LINE>hanging, yields a careful man work.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>See, see; what a man you are now!</LINE>
<LINE>There is no other way but to tell the king</LINE>
<LINE>she's a changeling and none of your flesh and blood.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, but hear me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, but hear me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go to, then.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She being none of your flesh and blood, your flesh</LINE>
<LINE>and blood has not offended the king; and so your</LINE>
<LINE>flesh and blood is not to be punished by him. Show</LINE>
<LINE>those things you found about her, those secret</LINE>
<LINE>things, all but what she has with her: this being</LINE>
<LINE>done, let the law go whistle: I warrant you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will tell the king all, every word, yea, and his</LINE>
<LINE>son's pranks too; who, I may say, is no honest man,</LINE>
<LINE>neither to his father nor to me, to go about to make</LINE>
<LINE>me the king's brother-in-law.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Indeed, brother-in-law was the farthest off you</LINE>
<LINE>could have been to him and then your blood had been</LINE>
<LINE>the dearer by I know how much an ounce.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>  Very wisely, puppies!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, let us to the king: there is that in this</LINE>
<LINE>fardel will make him scratch his beard.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>  I know not what impediment this complaint</LINE>
<LINE>may be to the flight of my master.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pray heartily he be at palace.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>  Though I am not naturally honest, I am so</LINE>
<LINE>sometimes by chance: let me pocket up my pedlar's excrement.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Takes off his false beard</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>How now, rustics! whither are you bound?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To the palace, an it like your worship.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your affairs there, what, with whom, the condition</LINE>
<LINE>of that fardel, the place of your dwelling, your</LINE>
<LINE>names, your ages, of what having, breeding, and any</LINE>
<LINE>thing that is fitting to be known, discover.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We are but plain fellows, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A lie; you are rough and hairy. Let me have no</LINE>
<LINE>lying: it becomes none but tradesmen, and they</LINE>
<LINE>often give us soldiers the lie: but we pay them for</LINE>
<LINE>it with stamped coin, not stabbing steel; therefore</LINE>
<LINE>they do not give us the lie.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your worship had like to have given us one, if you</LINE>
<LINE>had not taken yourself with the manner.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Are you a courtier, an't like you, sir?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Whether it like me or no, I am a courtier. Seest</LINE>
<LINE>thou not the air of the court in these enfoldings?</LINE>
<LINE>hath not my gait in it the measure of the court?</LINE>
<LINE>receives not thy nose court-odor from me? reflect I</LINE>
<LINE>not on thy baseness court-contempt? Thinkest thou,</LINE>
<LINE>for that I insinuate, or toaze from thee thy</LINE>
<LINE>business, I am therefore no courtier? I am courtier</LINE>
<LINE>cap-a-pe; and one that will either push on or pluck</LINE>
<LINE>back thy business there: whereupon I command thee to</LINE>
<LINE>open thy affair.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My business, sir, is to the king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What advocate hast thou to him?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know not, an't like you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Advocate's the court-word for a pheasant: say you</LINE>
<LINE>have none.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>None, sir; I have no pheasant, cock nor hen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How blessed are we that are not simple men!</LINE>
<LINE>Yet nature might have made me as these are,</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore I will not disdain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This cannot be but a great courtier.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>His garments are rich, but he wears</LINE>
<LINE>them not handsomely.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He seems to be the more noble in being fantastical:</LINE>
<LINE>a great man, I'll warrant; I know by the picking</LINE>
<LINE>on's teeth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The fardel there? what's i' the fardel?</LINE>
<LINE>Wherefore that box?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, there lies such secrets in this fardel and box,</LINE>
<LINE>which none must know but the king; and which he</LINE>
<LINE>shall know within this hour, if I may come to the</LINE>
<LINE>speech of him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Age, thou hast lost thy labour.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, sir?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The king is not at the palace; he is gone aboard a</LINE>
<LINE>new ship to purge melancholy and air himself: for,</LINE>
<LINE>if thou beest capable of things serious, thou must</LINE>
<LINE>know the king is full of grief.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepard</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So 'tis said, sir; about his son, that should have</LINE>
<LINE>married a shepherd's daughter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If that shepherd be not in hand-fast, let him fly:</LINE>
<LINE>the curses he shall have, the tortures he shall</LINE>
<LINE>feel, will break the back of man, the heart of monster.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Think you so, sir?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not he alone shall suffer what wit can make heavy</LINE>
<LINE>and vengeance bitter; but those that are germane to</LINE>
<LINE>him, though removed fifty times, shall all come</LINE>
<LINE>under the hangman: which though it be great pity,</LINE>
<LINE>yet it is necessary. An old sheep-whistling rogue a</LINE>
<LINE>ram-tender, to offer to have his daughter come into</LINE>
<LINE>grace! Some say he shall be stoned; but that death</LINE>
<LINE>is too soft for him, say I draw our throne into a</LINE>
<LINE>sheep-cote! all deaths are too few, the sharpest too easy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Has the old man e'er a son, sir, do you hear. an't</LINE>
<LINE>like you, sir?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He has a son, who shall be flayed alive; then</LINE>
<LINE>'nointed over with honey, set on the head of a</LINE>
<LINE>wasp's nest; then stand till he be three quarters</LINE>
<LINE>and a dram dead; then recovered again with</LINE>
<LINE>aqua-vitae or some other hot infusion; then, raw as</LINE>
<LINE>he is, and in the hottest day prognostication</LINE>
<LINE>proclaims, shall be be set against a brick-wall, the</LINE>
<LINE>sun looking with a southward eye upon him, where he</LINE>
<LINE>is to behold him with flies blown to death. But what</LINE>
<LINE>talk we of these traitorly rascals, whose miseries</LINE>
<LINE>are to be smiled at, their offences being so</LINE>
<LINE>capital? Tell me, for you seem to be honest plain</LINE>
<LINE>men, what you have to the king: being something</LINE>
<LINE>gently considered, I'll bring you where he is</LINE>
<LINE>aboard, tender your persons to his presence,</LINE>
<LINE>whisper him in your behalfs; and if it be in man</LINE>
<LINE>besides the king to effect your suits, here is man</LINE>
<LINE>shall do it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He seems to be of great authority: close with him,</LINE>
<LINE>give him gold; and though authority be a stubborn</LINE>
<LINE>bear, yet he is oft led by the nose with gold: show</LINE>
<LINE>the inside of your purse to the outside of his hand,</LINE>
<LINE>and no more ado. Remember 'stoned,' and 'flayed alive.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An't please you, sir, to undertake the business for</LINE>
<LINE>us, here is that gold I have: I'll make it as much</LINE>
<LINE>more and leave this young man in pawn till I bring it you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>After I have done what I promised?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, give me the moiety. Are you a party in this business?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In some sort, sir: but though my case be a pitiful</LINE>
<LINE>one, I hope I shall not be flayed out of it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, that's the case of the shepherd's son: hang him,</LINE>
<LINE>he'll be made an example.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Comfort, good comfort! We must to the king and show</LINE>
<LINE>our strange sights: he must know 'tis none of your</LINE>
<LINE>daughter nor my sister; we are gone else. Sir, I</LINE>
<LINE>will give you as much as this old man does when the</LINE>
<LINE>business is performed, and remain, as he says, your</LINE>
<LINE>pawn till it be brought you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will trust you. Walk before toward the sea-side;</LINE>
<LINE>go on the right hand: I will but look upon the</LINE>
<LINE>hedge and follow you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We are blest in this man, as I may say, even blest.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let's before as he bids us: he was provided to do us good.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt Shepherd and Clown</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If I had a mind to be honest, I see Fortune would</LINE>
<LINE>not suffer me: she drops booties in my mouth. I am</LINE>
<LINE>courted now with a double occasion, gold and a means</LINE>
<LINE>to do the prince my master good; which who knows how</LINE>
<LINE>that may turn back to my advancement? I will bring</LINE>
<LINE>these two moles, these blind ones, aboard him: if he</LINE>
<LINE>think it fit to shore them again and that the</LINE>
<LINE>complaint they have to the king concerns him</LINE>
<LINE>nothing, let him call me rogue for being so far</LINE>
<LINE>officious; for I am proof against that title and</LINE>
<LINE>what shame else belongs to't. To him will I present</LINE>
<LINE>them: there may be matter in it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT V</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  A room in LEONTES' palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter LEONTES, CLEOMENES, DION, PAULINA, and Servants</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLEOMENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, you have done enough, and have perform'd</LINE>
<LINE>A saint-like sorrow: no fault could you make,</LINE>
<LINE>Which you have not redeem'd; indeed, paid down</LINE>
<LINE>More penitence than done trespass: at the last,</LINE>
<LINE>Do as the heavens have done, forget your evil;</LINE>
<LINE>With them forgive yourself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Whilst I remember</LINE>
<LINE>Her and her virtues, I cannot forget</LINE>
<LINE>My blemishes in them, and so still think of</LINE>
<LINE>The wrong I did myself; which was so much,</LINE>
<LINE>That heirless it hath made my kingdom and</LINE>
<LINE>Destroy'd the sweet'st companion that e'er man</LINE>
<LINE>Bred his hopes out of.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>True, too true, my lord:</LINE>
<LINE>If, one by one, you wedded all the world,</LINE>
<LINE>Or from the all that are took something good,</LINE>
<LINE>To make a perfect woman, she you kill'd</LINE>
<LINE>Would be unparallel'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I think so. Kill'd!</LINE>
<LINE>She I kill'd! I did so: but thou strikest me</LINE>
<LINE>Sorely, to say I did; it is as bitter</LINE>
<LINE>Upon thy tongue as in my thought: now, good now,</LINE>
<LINE>Say so but seldom.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLEOMENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not at all, good lady:</LINE>
<LINE>You might have spoken a thousand things that would</LINE>
<LINE>Have done the time more benefit and graced</LINE>
<LINE>Your kindness better.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are one of those</LINE>
<LINE>Would have him wed again.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DION</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If you would not so,</LINE>
<LINE>You pity not the state, nor the remembrance</LINE>
<LINE>Of his most sovereign name; consider little</LINE>
<LINE>What dangers, by his highness' fail of issue,</LINE>
<LINE>May drop upon his kingdom and devour</LINE>
<LINE>Incertain lookers on. What were more holy</LINE>
<LINE>Than to rejoice the former queen is well?</LINE>
<LINE>What holier than, for royalty's repair,</LINE>
<LINE>For present comfort and for future good,</LINE>
<LINE>To bless the bed of majesty again</LINE>
<LINE>With a sweet fellow to't?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There is none worthy,</LINE>
<LINE>Respecting her that's gone. Besides, the gods</LINE>
<LINE>Will have fulfill'd their secret purposes;</LINE>
<LINE>For has not the divine Apollo said,</LINE>
<LINE>Is't not the tenor of his oracle,</LINE>
<LINE>That King Leontes shall not have an heir</LINE>
<LINE>Till his lost child be found? which that it shall,</LINE>
<LINE>Is all as monstrous to our human reason</LINE>
<LINE>As my Antigonus to break his grave</LINE>
<LINE>And come again to me; who, on my life,</LINE>
<LINE>Did perish with the infant. 'Tis your counsel</LINE>
<LINE>My lord should to the heavens be contrary,</LINE>
<LINE>Oppose against their wills.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To LEONTES</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Care not for issue;</LINE>
<LINE>The crown will find an heir: great Alexander</LINE>
<LINE>Left his to the worthiest; so his successor</LINE>
<LINE>Was like to be the best.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good Paulina,</LINE>
<LINE>Who hast the memory of Hermione,</LINE>
<LINE>I know, in honour, O, that ever I</LINE>
<LINE>Had squared me to thy counsel! then, even now,</LINE>
<LINE>I might have look'd upon my queen's full eyes,</LINE>
<LINE>Have taken treasure from her lips--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And left them</LINE>
<LINE>More rich for what they yielded.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou speak'st truth.</LINE>
<LINE>No more such wives; therefore, no wife: one worse,</LINE>
<LINE>And better used, would make her sainted spirit</LINE>
<LINE>Again possess her corpse, and on this stage,</LINE>
<LINE>Where we're offenders now, appear soul-vex'd,</LINE>
<LINE>And begin, 'Why to me?'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Had she such power,</LINE>
<LINE>She had just cause.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She had; and would incense me</LINE>
<LINE>To murder her I married.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I should so.</LINE>
<LINE>Were I the ghost that walk'd, I'ld bid you mark</LINE>
<LINE>Her eye, and tell me for what dull part in't</LINE>
<LINE>You chose her; then I'ld shriek, that even your ears</LINE>
<LINE>Should rift to hear me; and the words that follow'd</LINE>
<LINE>Should be 'Remember mine.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Stars, stars,</LINE>
<LINE>And all eyes else dead coals! Fear thou no wife;</LINE>
<LINE>I'll have no wife, Paulina.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will you swear</LINE>
<LINE>Never to marry but by my free leave?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Never, Paulina; so be blest my spirit!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then, good my lords, bear witness to his oath.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLEOMENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You tempt him over-much.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Unless another,</LINE>
<LINE>As like Hermione as is her picture,</LINE>
<LINE>Affront his eye.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLEOMENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good madam,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have done.</LINE>
<LINE>Yet, if my lord will marry,--if you will, sir,</LINE>
<LINE>No remedy, but you will,--give me the office</LINE>
<LINE>To choose you a queen: she shall not be so young</LINE>
<LINE>As was your former; but she shall be such</LINE>
<LINE>As, walk'd your first queen's ghost,</LINE>
<LINE>it should take joy</LINE>
<LINE>To see her in your arms.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My true Paulina,</LINE>
<LINE>We shall not marry till thou bid'st us.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That</LINE>
<LINE>Shall be when your first queen's again in breath;</LINE>
<LINE>Never till then.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter a Gentleman</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>One that gives out himself Prince Florizel,</LINE>
<LINE>Son of Polixenes, with his princess, she</LINE>
<LINE>The fairest I have yet beheld, desires access</LINE>
<LINE>To your high presence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What with him? he comes not</LINE>
<LINE>Like to his father's greatness: his approach,</LINE>
<LINE>So out of circumstance and sudden, tells us</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis not a visitation framed, but forced</LINE>
<LINE>By need and accident. What train?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But few,</LINE>
<LINE>And those but mean.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>His princess, say you, with him?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, the most peerless piece of earth, I think,</LINE>
<LINE>That e'er the sun shone bright on.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Hermione,</LINE>
<LINE>As every present time doth boast itself</LINE>
<LINE>Above a better gone, so must thy grave</LINE>
<LINE>Give way to what's seen now! Sir, you yourself</LINE>
<LINE>Have said and writ so, but your writing now</LINE>
<LINE>Is colder than that theme, 'She had not been,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor was not to be equall'd;'--thus your verse</LINE>
<LINE>Flow'd with her beauty once: 'tis shrewdly ebb'd,</LINE>
<LINE>To say you have seen a better.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pardon, madam:</LINE>
<LINE>The one I have almost forgot,--your pardon,--</LINE>
<LINE>The other, when she has obtain'd your eye,</LINE>
<LINE>Will have your tongue too. This is a creature,</LINE>
<LINE>Would she begin a sect, might quench the zeal</LINE>
<LINE>Of all professors else, make proselytes</LINE>
<LINE>Of who she but bid follow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How! not women?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Women will love her, that she is a woman</LINE>
<LINE>More worth than any man; men, that she is</LINE>
<LINE>The rarest of all women.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go, Cleomenes;</LINE>
<LINE>Yourself, assisted with your honour'd friends,</LINE>
<LINE>Bring them to our embracement. Still, 'tis strange</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt CLEOMENES and others</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>He thus should steal upon us.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Had our prince,</LINE>
<LINE>Jewel of children, seen this hour, he had pair'd</LINE>
<LINE>Well with this lord: there was not full a month</LINE>
<LINE>Between their births.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Prithee, no more; cease; thou know'st</LINE>
<LINE>He dies to me again when talk'd of: sure,</LINE>
<LINE>When I shall see this gentleman, thy speeches</LINE>
<LINE>Will bring me to consider that which may</LINE>
<LINE>Unfurnish me of reason. They are come.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Re-enter CLEOMENES and others, with FLORIZEL and PERDITA</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Your mother was most true to wedlock, prince;</LINE>
<LINE>For she did print your royal father off,</LINE>
<LINE>Conceiving you: were I but twenty-one,</LINE>
<LINE>Your father's image is so hit in you,</LINE>
<LINE>His very air, that I should call you brother,</LINE>
<LINE>As I did him, and speak of something wildly</LINE>
<LINE>By us perform'd before. Most dearly welcome!</LINE>
<LINE>And your fair princess,--goddess!--O, alas!</LINE>
<LINE>I lost a couple, that 'twixt heaven and earth</LINE>
<LINE>Might thus have stood begetting wonder as</LINE>
<LINE>You, gracious couple, do: and then I lost--</LINE>
<LINE>All mine own folly--the society,</LINE>
<LINE>Amity too, of your brave father, whom,</LINE>
<LINE>Though bearing misery, I desire my life</LINE>
<LINE>Once more to look on him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By his command</LINE>
<LINE>Have I here touch'd Sicilia and from him</LINE>
<LINE>Give you all greetings that a king, at friend,</LINE>
<LINE>Can send his brother: and, but infirmity</LINE>
<LINE>Which waits upon worn times hath something seized</LINE>
<LINE>His wish'd ability, he had himself</LINE>
<LINE>The lands and waters 'twixt your throne and his</LINE>
<LINE>Measured to look upon you; whom he loves--</LINE>
<LINE>He bade me say so--more than all the sceptres</LINE>
<LINE>And those that bear them living.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O my brother,</LINE>
<LINE>Good gentleman! the wrongs I have done thee stir</LINE>
<LINE>Afresh within me, and these thy offices,</LINE>
<LINE>So rarely kind, are as interpreters</LINE>
<LINE>Of my behind-hand slackness. Welcome hither,</LINE>
<LINE>As is the spring to the earth. And hath he too</LINE>
<LINE>Exposed this paragon to the fearful usage,</LINE>
<LINE>At least ungentle, of the dreadful Neptune,</LINE>
<LINE>To greet a man not worth her pains, much less</LINE>
<LINE>The adventure of her person?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>She came from Libya.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where the warlike Smalus,</LINE>
<LINE>That noble honour'd lord, is fear'd and loved?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Most royal sir, from thence; from him, whose daughter</LINE>
<LINE>His tears proclaim'd his, parting with her: thence,</LINE>
<LINE>A prosperous south-wind friendly, we have cross'd,</LINE>
<LINE>To execute the charge my father gave me</LINE>
<LINE>For visiting your highness: my best train</LINE>
<LINE>I have from your Sicilian shores dismiss'd;</LINE>
<LINE>Who for Bohemia bend, to signify</LINE>
<LINE>Not only my success in Libya, sir,</LINE>
<LINE>But my arrival and my wife's in safety</LINE>
<LINE>Here where we are.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The blessed gods</LINE>
<LINE>Purge all infection from our air whilst you</LINE>
<LINE>Do climate here! You have a holy father,</LINE>
<LINE>A graceful gentleman; against whose person,</LINE>
<LINE>So sacred as it is, I have done sin:</LINE>
<LINE>For which the heavens, taking angry note,</LINE>
<LINE>Have left me issueless; and your father's blest,</LINE>
<LINE>As he from heaven merits it, with you</LINE>
<LINE>Worthy his goodness. What might I have been,</LINE>
<LINE>Might I a son and daughter now have look'd on,</LINE>
<LINE>Such goodly things as you!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter a Lord</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Most noble sir,</LINE>
<LINE>That which I shall report will bear no credit,</LINE>
<LINE>Were not the proof so nigh. Please you, great sir,</LINE>
<LINE>Bohemia greets you from himself by me;</LINE>
<LINE>Desires you to attach his son, who has--</LINE>
<LINE>His dignity and duty both cast off--</LINE>
<LINE>Fled from his father, from his hopes, and with</LINE>
<LINE>A shepherd's daughter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where's Bohemia? speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here in your city; I now came from him:</LINE>
<LINE>I speak amazedly; and it becomes</LINE>
<LINE>My marvel and my message. To your court</LINE>
<LINE>Whiles he was hastening, in the chase, it seems,</LINE>
<LINE>Of this fair couple, meets he on the way</LINE>
<LINE>The father of this seeming lady and</LINE>
<LINE>Her brother, having both their country quitted</LINE>
<LINE>With this young prince.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Camillo has betray'd me;</LINE>
<LINE>Whose honour and whose honesty till now</LINE>
<LINE>Endured all weathers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Lay't so to his charge:</LINE>
<LINE>He's with the king your father.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who? Camillo?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Camillo, sir; I spake with him; who now</LINE>
<LINE>Has these poor men in question. Never saw I</LINE>
<LINE>Wretches so quake: they kneel, they kiss the earth;</LINE>
<LINE>Forswear themselves as often as they speak:</LINE>
<LINE>Bohemia stops his ears, and threatens them</LINE>
<LINE>With divers deaths in death.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O my poor father!</LINE>
<LINE>The heaven sets spies upon us, will not have</LINE>
<LINE>Our contract celebrated.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are married?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We are not, sir, nor are we like to be;</LINE>
<LINE>The stars, I see, will kiss the valleys first:</LINE>
<LINE>The odds for high and low's alike.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Is this the daughter of a king?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She is,</LINE>
<LINE>When once she is my wife.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That 'once' I see by your good father's speed</LINE>
<LINE>Will come on very slowly. I am sorry,</LINE>
<LINE>Most sorry, you have broken from his liking</LINE>
<LINE>Where you were tied in duty, and as sorry</LINE>
<LINE>Your choice is not so rich in worth as beauty,</LINE>
<LINE>That you might well enjoy her.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FLORIZEL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dear, look up:</LINE>
<LINE>Though Fortune, visible an enemy,</LINE>
<LINE>Should chase us with my father, power no jot</LINE>
<LINE>Hath she to change our loves. Beseech you, sir,</LINE>
<LINE>Remember since you owed no more to time</LINE>
<LINE>Than I do now: with thought of such affections,</LINE>
<LINE>Step forth mine advocate; at your request</LINE>
<LINE>My father will grant precious things as trifles.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Would he do so, I'ld beg your precious mistress,</LINE>
<LINE>Which he counts but a trifle.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, my liege,</LINE>
<LINE>Your eye hath too much youth in't: not a month</LINE>
<LINE>'Fore your queen died, she was more worth such gazes</LINE>
<LINE>Than what you look on now.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I thought of her,</LINE>
<LINE>Even in these looks I made.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To FLORIZEL</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>But your petition</LINE>
<LINE>Is yet unanswer'd. I will to your father:</LINE>
<LINE>Your honour not o'erthrown by your desires,</LINE>
<LINE>I am friend to them and you: upon which errand</LINE>
<LINE>I now go toward him; therefore follow me</LINE>
<LINE>And mark what way I make: come, good my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  Before LEONTES' palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter AUTOLYCUS and a Gentleman</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Beseech you, sir, were you present at this relation?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I was by at the opening of the fardel, heard the old</LINE>
<LINE>shepherd deliver the manner how he found it:</LINE>
<LINE>whereupon, after a little amazedness, we were all</LINE>
<LINE>commanded out of the chamber; only this methought I</LINE>
<LINE>heard the shepherd say, he found the child.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would most gladly know the issue of it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I make a broken delivery of the business; but the</LINE>
<LINE>changes I perceived in the king and Camillo were</LINE>
<LINE>very notes of admiration: they seemed almost, with</LINE>
<LINE>staring on one another, to tear the cases of their</LINE>
<LINE>eyes; there was speech in their dumbness, language</LINE>
<LINE>in their very gesture; they looked as they had heard</LINE>
<LINE>of a world ransomed, or one destroyed: a notable</LINE>
<LINE>passion of wonder appeared in them; but the wisest</LINE>
<LINE>beholder, that knew no more but seeing, could not</LINE>
<LINE>say if the importance were joy or sorrow; but in the</LINE>
<LINE>extremity of the one, it must needs be.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter another Gentleman</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Here comes a gentleman that haply knows more.</LINE>
<LINE>The news, Rogero?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nothing but bonfires: the oracle is fulfilled; the</LINE>
<LINE>king's daughter is found: such a deal of wonder is</LINE>
<LINE>broken out within this hour that ballad-makers</LINE>
<LINE>cannot be able to express it.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter a third Gentleman</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Here comes the Lady Paulina's steward: he can</LINE>
<LINE>deliver you more. How goes it now, sir? this news</LINE>
<LINE>which is called true is so like an old tale, that</LINE>
<LINE>the verity of it is in strong suspicion: has the king</LINE>
<LINE>found his heir?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Third Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Most true, if ever truth were pregnant by</LINE>
<LINE>circumstance: that which you hear you'll swear you</LINE>
<LINE>see, there is such unity in the proofs. The mantle</LINE>
<LINE>of Queen Hermione's, her jewel about the neck of it,</LINE>
<LINE>the letters of Antigonus found with it which they</LINE>
<LINE>know to be his character, the majesty of the</LINE>
<LINE>creature in resemblance of the mother, the affection</LINE>
<LINE>of nobleness which nature shows above her breeding,</LINE>
<LINE>and many other evidences proclaim her with all</LINE>
<LINE>certainty to be the king's daughter. Did you see</LINE>
<LINE>the meeting of the two kings?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Third Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then have you lost a sight, which was to be seen,</LINE>
<LINE>cannot be spoken of. There might you have beheld one</LINE>
<LINE>joy crown another, so and in such manner that it</LINE>
<LINE>seemed sorrow wept to take leave of them, for their</LINE>
<LINE>joy waded in tears. There was casting up of eyes,</LINE>
<LINE>holding up of hands, with countenances of such</LINE>
<LINE>distraction that they were to be known by garment,</LINE>
<LINE>not by favour. Our king, being ready to leap out of</LINE>
<LINE>himself for joy of his found daughter, as if that</LINE>
<LINE>joy were now become a loss, cries 'O, thy mother,</LINE>
<LINE>thy mother!' then asks Bohemia forgiveness; then</LINE>
<LINE>embraces his son-in-law; then again worries he his</LINE>
<LINE>daughter with clipping her; now he thanks the old</LINE>
<LINE>shepherd, which stands by like a weather-bitten</LINE>
<LINE>conduit of many kings' reigns. I never heard of such</LINE>
<LINE>another encounter, which lames report to follow it</LINE>
<LINE>and undoes description to do it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that carried</LINE>
<LINE>hence the child?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Third Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Like an old tale still, which will have matter to</LINE>
<LINE>rehearse, though credit be asleep and not an ear</LINE>
<LINE>open. He was torn to pieces with a bear: this</LINE>
<LINE>avouches the shepherd's son; who has not only his</LINE>
<LINE>innocence, which seems much, to justify him, but a</LINE>
<LINE>handkerchief and rings of his that Paulina knows.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What became of his bark and his followers?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Third Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Wrecked the same instant of their master's death and</LINE>
<LINE>in the view of the shepherd: so that all the</LINE>
<LINE>instruments which aided to expose the child were</LINE>
<LINE>even then lost when it was found. But O, the noble</LINE>
<LINE>combat that 'twixt joy and sorrow was fought in</LINE>
<LINE>Paulina! She had one eye declined for the loss of</LINE>
<LINE>her husband, another elevated that the oracle was</LINE>
<LINE>fulfilled: she lifted the princess from the earth,</LINE>
<LINE>and so locks her in embracing, as if she would pin</LINE>
<LINE>her to her heart that she might no more be in danger</LINE>
<LINE>of losing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The dignity of this act was worth the audience of</LINE>
<LINE>kings and princes; for by such was it acted.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Third Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>One of the prettiest touches of all and that which</LINE>
<LINE>angled for mine eyes, caught the water though not</LINE>
<LINE>the fish, was when, at the relation of the queen's</LINE>
<LINE>death, with the manner how she came to't bravely</LINE>
<LINE>confessed and lamented by the king, how</LINE>
<LINE>attentiveness wounded his daughter; till, from one</LINE>
<LINE>sign of dolour to another, she did, with an 'Alas,'</LINE>
<LINE>I would fain say, bleed tears, for I am sure my</LINE>
<LINE>heart wept blood. Who was most marble there changed</LINE>
<LINE>colour; some swooned, all sorrowed: if all the world</LINE>
<LINE>could have seen 't, the woe had been universal.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Are they returned to the court?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Third Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No: the princess hearing of her mother's statue,</LINE>
<LINE>which is in the keeping of Paulina,--a piece many</LINE>
<LINE>years in doing and now newly performed by that rare</LINE>
<LINE>Italian master, Julio Romano, who, had he himself</LINE>
<LINE>eternity and could put breath into his work, would</LINE>
<LINE>beguile Nature of her custom, so perfectly he is her</LINE>
<LINE>ape: he so near to Hermione hath done Hermione that</LINE>
<LINE>they say one would speak to her and stand in hope of</LINE>
<LINE>answer: thither with all greediness of affection</LINE>
<LINE>are they gone, and there they intend to sup.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I thought she had some great matter there in hand;</LINE>
<LINE>for she hath privately twice or thrice a day, ever</LINE>
<LINE>since the death of Hermione, visited that removed</LINE>
<LINE>house. Shall we thither and with our company piece</LINE>
<LINE>the rejoicing?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Gentleman</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who would be thence that has the benefit of access?</LINE>
<LINE>every wink of an eye some new grace will be born:</LINE>
<LINE>our absence makes us unthrifty to our knowledge.</LINE>
<LINE>Let's along.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt Gentlemen</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, had I not the dash of my former life in me,</LINE>
<LINE>would preferment drop on my head. I brought the old</LINE>
<LINE>man and his son aboard the prince: told him I heard</LINE>
<LINE>them talk of a fardel and I know not what: but he</LINE>
<LINE>at that time, overfond of the shepherd's daughter,</LINE>
<LINE>so he then took her to be, who began to be much</LINE>
<LINE>sea-sick, and himself little better, extremity of</LINE>
<LINE>weather continuing, this mystery remained</LINE>
<LINE>undiscovered. But 'tis all one to me; for had I</LINE>
<LINE>been the finder out of this secret, it would not</LINE>
<LINE>have relished among my other discredits.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter Shepherd and Clown</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Here come those I have done good to against my will,</LINE>
<LINE>and already appearing in the blossoms of their fortune.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, boy; I am past moe children, but thy sons and</LINE>
<LINE>daughters will be all gentlemen born.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are well met, sir. You denied to fight with me</LINE>
<LINE>this other day, because I was no gentleman born.</LINE>
<LINE>See you these clothes? say you see them not and</LINE>
<LINE>think me still no gentleman born: you were best say</LINE>
<LINE>these robes are not gentlemen born: give me the</LINE>
<LINE>lie, do, and try whether I am not now a gentleman born.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know you are now, sir, a gentleman born.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, and have been so any time these four hours.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And so have I, boy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So you have: but I was a gentleman born before my</LINE>
<LINE>father; for the king's son took me by the hand, and</LINE>
<LINE>called me brother; and then the two kings called my</LINE>
<LINE>father brother; and then the prince my brother and</LINE>
<LINE>the princess my sister called my father father; and</LINE>
<LINE>so we wept, and there was the first gentleman-like</LINE>
<LINE>tears that ever we shed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We may live, son, to shed many more.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay; or else 'twere hard luck, being in so</LINE>
<LINE>preposterous estate as we are.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I humbly beseech you, sir, to pardon me all the</LINE>
<LINE>faults I have committed to your worship and to give</LINE>
<LINE>me your good report to the prince my master.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Prithee, son, do; for we must be gentle, now we are</LINE>
<LINE>gentlemen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou wilt amend thy life?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, an it like your good worship.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Give me thy hand: I will swear to the prince thou</LINE>
<LINE>art as honest a true fellow as any is in Bohemia.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You may say it, but not swear it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not swear it, now I am a gentleman? Let boors and</LINE>
<LINE>franklins say it, I'll swear it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Shepherd</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How if it be false, son?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If it be ne'er so false, a true gentleman may swear</LINE>
<LINE>it in the behalf of his friend: and I'll swear to</LINE>
<LINE>the prince thou art a tall fellow of thy hands and</LINE>
<LINE>that thou wilt not be drunk; but I know thou art no</LINE>
<LINE>tall fellow of thy hands and that thou wilt be</LINE>
<LINE>drunk: but I'll swear it, and I would thou wouldst</LINE>
<LINE>be a tall fellow of thy hands.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AUTOLYCUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will prove so, sir, to my power.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Clown</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, by any means prove a tall fellow: if I do not</LINE>
<LINE>wonder how thou darest venture to be drunk, not</LINE>
<LINE>being a tall fellow, trust me not. Hark! the kings</LINE>
<LINE>and the princes, our kindred, are going to see the</LINE>
<LINE>queen's picture. Come, follow us: we'll be thy</LINE>
<LINE>good masters.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  A chapel in PAULINA'S house.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, FLORIZEL, PERDITA,
CAMILLO, PAULINA, Lords, and Attendants</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O grave and good Paulina, the great comfort</LINE>
<LINE>That I have had of thee!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, sovereign sir,</LINE>
<LINE>I did not well I meant well. All my services</LINE>
<LINE>You have paid home: but that you have vouchsafed,</LINE>
<LINE>With your crown'd brother and these your contracted</LINE>
<LINE>Heirs of your kingdoms, my poor house to visit,</LINE>
<LINE>It is a surplus of your grace, which never</LINE>
<LINE>My life may last to answer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Paulina,</LINE>
<LINE>We honour you with trouble: but we came</LINE>
<LINE>To see the statue of our queen: your gallery</LINE>
<LINE>Have we pass'd through, not without much content</LINE>
<LINE>In many singularities; but we saw not</LINE>
<LINE>That which my daughter came to look upon,</LINE>
<LINE>The statue of her mother.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As she lived peerless,</LINE>
<LINE>So her dead likeness, I do well believe,</LINE>
<LINE>Excels whatever yet you look'd upon</LINE>
<LINE>Or hand of man hath done; therefore I keep it</LINE>
<LINE>Lonely, apart. But here it is: prepare</LINE>
<LINE>To see the life as lively mock'd as ever</LINE>
<LINE>Still sleep mock'd death: behold, and say 'tis well.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>PAULINA draws a curtain, and discovers HERMIONE
standing like a statue</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>I like your silence, it the more shows off</LINE>
<LINE>Your wonder: but yet speak; first, you, my liege,</LINE>
<LINE>Comes it not something near?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Her natural posture!</LINE>
<LINE>Chide me, dear stone, that I may say indeed</LINE>
<LINE>Thou art Hermione; or rather, thou art she</LINE>
<LINE>In thy not chiding, for she was as tender</LINE>
<LINE>As infancy and grace. But yet, Paulina,</LINE>
<LINE>Hermione was not so much wrinkled, nothing</LINE>
<LINE>So aged as this seems.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, not by much.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So much the more our carver's excellence;</LINE>
<LINE>Which lets go by some sixteen years and makes her</LINE>
<LINE>As she lived now.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As now she might have done,</LINE>
<LINE>So much to my good comfort, as it is</LINE>
<LINE>Now piercing to my soul. O, thus she stood,</LINE>
<LINE>Even with such life of majesty, warm life,</LINE>
<LINE>As now it coldly stands, when first I woo'd her!</LINE>
<LINE>I am ashamed: does not the stone rebuke me</LINE>
<LINE>For being more stone than it? O royal piece,</LINE>
<LINE>There's magic in thy majesty, which has</LINE>
<LINE>My evils conjured to remembrance and</LINE>
<LINE>From thy admiring daughter took the spirits,</LINE>
<LINE>Standing like stone with thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And give me leave,</LINE>
<LINE>And do not say 'tis superstition, that</LINE>
<LINE>I kneel and then implore her blessing. Lady,</LINE>
<LINE>Dear queen, that ended when I but began,</LINE>
<LINE>Give me that hand of yours to kiss.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, patience!</LINE>
<LINE>The statue is but newly fix'd, the colour's Not dry.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, your sorrow was too sore laid on,</LINE>
<LINE>Which sixteen winters cannot blow away,</LINE>
<LINE>So many summers dry; scarce any joy</LINE>
<LINE>Did ever so long live; no sorrow</LINE>
<LINE>But kill'd itself much sooner.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dear my brother,</LINE>
<LINE>Let him that was the cause of this have power</LINE>
<LINE>To take off so much grief from you as he</LINE>
<LINE>Will piece up in himself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Indeed, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>If I had thought the sight of my poor image</LINE>
<LINE>Would thus have wrought you,--for the stone is mine--</LINE>
<LINE>I'ld not have show'd it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do not draw the curtain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No longer shall you gaze on't, lest your fancy</LINE>
<LINE>May think anon it moves.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let be, let be.</LINE>
<LINE>Would I were dead, but that, methinks, already--</LINE>
<LINE>What was he that did make it? See, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Would you not deem it breathed? and that those veins</LINE>
<LINE>Did verily bear blood?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Masterly done:</LINE>
<LINE>The very life seems warm upon her lip.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The fixture of her eye has motion in't,</LINE>
<LINE>As we are mock'd with art.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll draw the curtain:</LINE>
<LINE>My lord's almost so far transported that</LINE>
<LINE>He'll think anon it lives.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O sweet Paulina,</LINE>
<LINE>Make me to think so twenty years together!</LINE>
<LINE>No settled senses of the world can match</LINE>
<LINE>The pleasure of that madness. Let 't alone.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am sorry, sir, I have thus far stirr'd you: but</LINE>
<LINE>I could afflict you farther.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do, Paulina;</LINE>
<LINE>For this affliction has a taste as sweet</LINE>
<LINE>As any cordial comfort. Still, methinks,</LINE>
<LINE>There is an air comes from her: what fine chisel</LINE>
<LINE>Could ever yet cut breath? Let no man mock me,</LINE>
<LINE>For I will kiss her.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good my lord, forbear:</LINE>
<LINE>The ruddiness upon her lip is wet;</LINE>
<LINE>You'll mar it if you kiss it, stain your own</LINE>
<LINE>With oily painting. Shall I draw the curtain?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, not these twenty years.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PERDITA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So long could I</LINE>
<LINE>Stand by, a looker on.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Either forbear,</LINE>
<LINE>Quit presently the chapel, or resolve you</LINE>
<LINE>For more amazement. If you can behold it,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll make the statue move indeed, descend</LINE>
<LINE>And take you by the hand; but then you'll think--</LINE>
<LINE>Which I protest against--I am assisted</LINE>
<LINE>By wicked powers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What you can make her do,</LINE>
<LINE>I am content to look on: what to speak,</LINE>
<LINE>I am content to hear; for 'tis as easy</LINE>
<LINE>To make her speak as move.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is required</LINE>
<LINE>You do awake your faith. Then all stand still;</LINE>
<LINE>On: those that think it is unlawful business</LINE>
<LINE>I am about, let them depart.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Proceed:</LINE>
<LINE>No foot shall stir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Music, awake her; strike!</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Music</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>'Tis time; descend; be stone no more; approach;</LINE>
<LINE>Strike all that look upon with marvel. Come,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll fill your grave up: stir, nay, come away,</LINE>
<LINE>Bequeath to death your numbness, for from him</LINE>
<LINE>Dear life redeems you. You perceive she stirs:</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>HERMIONE comes down</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Start not; her actions shall be holy as</LINE>
<LINE>You hear my spell is lawful: do not shun her</LINE>
<LINE>Until you see her die again; for then</LINE>
<LINE>You kill her double. Nay, present your hand:</LINE>
<LINE>When she was young you woo'd her; now in age</LINE>
<LINE>Is she become the suitor?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, she's warm!</LINE>
<LINE>If this be magic, let it be an art</LINE>
<LINE>Lawful as eating.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She embraces him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CAMILLO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She hangs about his neck:</LINE>
<LINE>If she pertain to life let her speak too.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POLIXENES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, and make't manifest where she has lived,</LINE>
<LINE>Or how stolen from the dead.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That she is living,</LINE>
<LINE>Were it but told you, should be hooted at</LINE>
<LINE>Like an old tale: but it appears she lives,</LINE>
<LINE>Though yet she speak not. Mark a little while.</LINE>
<LINE>Please you to interpose, fair madam: kneel</LINE>
<LINE>And pray your mother's blessing. Turn, good lady;</LINE>
<LINE>Our Perdita is found.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HERMIONE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You gods, look down</LINE>
<LINE>And from your sacred vials pour your graces</LINE>
<LINE>Upon my daughter's head! Tell me, mine own.</LINE>
<LINE>Where hast thou been preserved? where lived? how found</LINE>
<LINE>Thy father's court? for thou shalt hear that I,</LINE>
<LINE>Knowing by Paulina that the oracle</LINE>
<LINE>Gave hope thou wast in being, have preserved</LINE>
<LINE>Myself to see the issue.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PAULINA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There's time enough for that;</LINE>
<LINE>Lest they desire upon this push to trouble</LINE>
<LINE>Your joys with like relation. Go together,</LINE>
<LINE>You precious winners all; your exultation</LINE>
<LINE>Partake to every one. I, an old turtle,</LINE>
<LINE>Will wing me to some wither'd bough and there</LINE>
<LINE>My mate, that's never to be found again,</LINE>
<LINE>Lament till I am lost.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LEONTES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, peace, Paulina!</LINE>
<LINE>Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent,</LINE>
<LINE>As I by thine a wife: this is a match,</LINE>
<LINE>And made between's by vows. Thou hast found mine;</LINE>
<LINE>But how, is to be question'd; for I saw her,</LINE>
<LINE>As I thought, dead, and have in vain said many</LINE>
<LINE>A prayer upon her grave. I'll not seek far--</LINE>
<LINE>For him, I partly know his mind--to find thee</LINE>
<LINE>An honourable husband. Come, Camillo,</LINE>
<LINE>And take her by the hand, whose worth and honesty</LINE>
<LINE>Is richly noted and here justified</LINE>
<LINE>By us, a pair of kings. Let's from this place.</LINE>
<LINE>What! look upon my brother: both your pardons,</LINE>
<LINE>That e'er I put between your holy looks</LINE>
<LINE>My ill suspicion. This is your son-in-law,</LINE>
<LINE>And son unto the king, who, heavens directing,</LINE>
<LINE>Is troth-plight to your daughter. Good Paulina,</LINE>
<LINE>Lead us from hence, where we may leisurely</LINE>
<LINE>Each one demand an answer to his part</LINE>
<LINE>Perform'd in this wide gap of time since first</LINE>
<LINE>We were dissever'd: hastily lead away.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>
</ACT>
</PLAY>
