Leon. Go, do our bidding; hence.

[Exit HERMIONE, followed by EMILIA, LAMIA, HERO, OFFICERS and GUARDS. Pho. 'Beseech your highness, call the queen again. Ant. For her, my lord,

I dare my life lay down, and will do't, sir,

Please you to accept it, that the queen is spotless.
Leon. Hold your peaces.

Ant. It is for you we speak, not for ourselves;
You are abus'd, and by some putter-on
That will be damn'd for't;

Be she honour-flaw'd,

I have three daughters; the eldest is eleven;
The second and the third, nine-and some five;
If this prove true, they'll pay for't; by mine honour,
Fourteen they shall not see,

To bring false generations.

Leon. Cease; no more:

You smell this business with a sense as cold

As is a dead man's nose; but I do see't,

And feel't, as you feel doing thus ;-[Striking his Hands together.]—and see

Withal the instruments that feel.

Ant. If it be so,

We need no grave to bury honesty ;

There's not a grain of it, the face to sweeten

Of the whole dungy earth.

Leon. What! lack I credit?

Ant. I had rather you did lack, than I, my lord, Upon this ground and more it would content me To have her honour true, than your suspicion Be blam'd for't how you might.

Leon. Either thou art most ignorant by age,
Or thou wert born a fool. Camillo's flight,
Added to their familiarity,

Which was as gross as ever touch'd conjecture,
Doth push on this proceeding:

Yet, for a greater confirmation,

(For, in an act of this importance, 'twere
Most piteous to be wild,) I have despatch'd
To sacred Delphos, to Apollo's temple,
Cleomenes and Dion, whom you know

Of stuff'd sufficiency: Now, from the oracle
They will bring all; whose spiritual counsel had,
Shall stop or spur me.
Have I done well?

Pho. Well done, my lord.

Leon. Though I am satisfied, and need no more Than what I know, yet shall the oracle

Give rest to the minds of others; such as he,

Whose ignorant credulity will not

Come up to the truth: So have we thought it good,
From our free person she should be confin'd;
Lest that the treachery of the two, fled hence,
Be left her to perform. Come, follow us.
Ant. Yet, hear me, gracious sovereign,-

Leon. We need no more of your advice: the matter, The loss, the gain, the ordering on't, is all

Properly ours: we'll spare your wisdom, sir.

[Exeunt LEONTES and PHOCION.

Ant. And I wish, my liege,

You had only in your silent judgment tried it-
Without more overture.

[Exit.

SCENE II.

A Prison.

Enter PAULINA and two GENTLEMEN.

Paul. The keeper of the prison,-call to him;

Let him have knowledge who I am.—

[Exit GENTLEMAN.

Good lady!

No court in Europe is too good for thee;
What dost thou then in prison?

Enter GENTLEMAN, with the Keeper.

Now, good sir,

You know me-do you not?

Keep. For a worthy lady,

And one whom much I honour.

Paul. 'Pray you then, Conduct me to the queen.

Keep. I may not, madam; to the contrary I have express commandment.

Paul. Here's ado,

To lock up honesty and honour from

The access of gentle visitors!-Is it lawful,
'Pray you, to see her women? any of them?
Emilia ?

Keep. So please you, madam, to put
Apart these your attendants, I shall bring
Emilia forth.

Paul. I pray you now call her.

Withdraw yourselves. [Exeunt the Two GENTLEMEN. Keep. And, madam,

I must be present at your conference.

Paul. Well, be it so, 'pr'ythee.

[Exit KEEPER.

Here's such ado to make no stain a stain,

As passes colouring.

Enter the KEEPER and EMILIA.

Dear gentlewoman, how fares our gracious lady?
Emil. As well as one so great, and so forlorn,
May hold together: On her frights and griefs,
Which never tender lady hath borne greater),
She is, something before her time, deliver❜d.
Paul. A boy?

Emil. A daughter; and a goodly babe,
Lusty, and like to live: the queen receives

Much comfort in't: says, "My poor prisoner,

I am innocent as you."

Paul. I dare be sworn:

These dangerous unsafe lunes o'the king! beshrew them!

He must be told on't-and he shall: the office
Becomes a woman best; I'll take't upon me:
If I prove honey-mouth'd, let my tongue blister.
Pray you, Emilia,

Commend my best obedience to the

queen;
If she dares trust me with her little babe,
I'll show't the king, and undertake to be
Her advocate to the loudest: We do not know
How he may soften at the sight o'the child;
The silence often of pure innocence
Persuades, when speaking fails.

Emil. Most worthy madam,

Your honour, and your goodness, is so evident,
That your free undertaking cannot miss
A thriving issue.

Please your ladyship

To visit the next room, I'll presently

Acquaint the queen of your most noble offer;
Who, but to-day, hammer'd of this design;
But durst not tempt a minister of honour,
Lest she should be denied.

Keep. Madam, if't please the queen to send the babe,

I know not what I shall incur, to pass it,
Having no warrant.

Paul. You need not fear it, sir:

This child was prisoner to the womb; and is,
By law and process of great nature, thence
Freed and enfranchis'd; not a party to
The anger of the king; nor guilty of,
If any be, the trespass of the queen:
Do not you fear, upon mine honour, I
Will stand 'twixt you and danger.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

A Square before the Palace.

Enter CLEOMENES and DION, attended.

Dion. The climate's delicate; the air most sweet; Fertile the soil; the temple much surpassing

The common praise it bears.

Cleo. I shall report,

For most it caught me, the celestial habits,

(Methinks I so should term them), and the reverence Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice!

How ceremonious, solemn, and unearthly

It was i'the offering!

Dion. But, of all, the burst

And the ear-deafening voice o'the oracle,
Kin to Jove's thunder, so surpris'd my sense,

That I was nothing.

Cleo. If the event o'the journey

Prove as successful to the queen,-O, be't so!
As it hath been to us rare, pleasant, speedy,
The time is worth the use on't.

Dion. Great Apollo,

Turn all to the best!-These proclamations,
So forcing faults upon Hermione,

I little like.

Cleo. The violent carriage of it

Will clear, or end, the business: When the oracle,

Thus by Apollo's great Divine seal'd up,

Shall the contents discover, something rare,

Even then will rush to knowledge,―

And gracious be the issue.

[Exeunt.