Leon.

Good queen!

Paul. Good queen, my lord, good queen: I say,

good queen;

And would by combat make her good, so were I
A man, the worst' about you.

Leon.

Force her hence.

Paul. Let him, that makes but trifles of his eyes, First hand me: on my own accord, I'll off;

But, first, I'll do my errand.-The good queen-
For she is good-hath brought you forth a daughter;
Here 'tis; commends it to your blessing.

Leon.

[Laying down the Child. Out!

A mankind 2 witch! Hence with her, out o' door!
A most intelligencing bawd!

Paul.

I am as ignorant in that, as you

Not so.

In so entitling me; and no less honest

Than you are mad; which is enough, I'll warrant,
As this world goes, to pass for honest.

Leon.

Traitors!

Will you not push her out? Give her the bastard.Thou dotard [TO ANTIGONUS.] thou art woman-tired,3

unroosted

By thy dame Partlet here.-Take up the bastard;
Take't up, I say; give't to thy crone.*

Paul.

Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou

Forever

Tak'st up the princess, by that forced 5 baseness

Which he has put upon't!

Leon.

1 i. e. the weakest, or least warlike.

He dreads his wife.

2 "A mankind witch." In Junius's Nomenclator, by Abraham Fleming, 1585, Virago is interpreted "A manly woman, or a mankind woman." Johnson asserts that the phrase is still used in the midland counties for a woman violent, ferocious, and mischievous.

3 i. e. hen-pecked. To tire in falconry is to tear with the beak. Partlet is the name of the hen in the old story of Renard the Fox.

4 A crone was originally a toothless old ewe; and thence became a term of contempt for an old woman.

5 Forced is false; uttered with violence to truth. Baseness for bastardy; we still say base born.

Paul. So I would you did; then, 'twere past all doubt,

You'd call

Leon.

your children yours.

A nest of traitors!

Nor I; nor any,

Ant. I am none, by this good light.
Paul.
But one, that's here; and that's himself: for he
The sacred honor of himself, his queen's,

His hopeful son's, his babe's, betrays to slander,
Whose sting is sharper than the sword's; and will not
(For, as the case now stands, it is a curse
He cannot be compelled to't) once remove
The root of his opinion, which is rotten,

As ever oak, or stone, was sound.

Leon.

A callat,1

Of boundless tongue; who late hath beat her husband, And now baits me!-This brat is none of mine;

It is the issue of Polixenes.

Hence with it; and, together with the dam,
Commit them to the fire.

Paul.

It is yours;

And, might we lay the old proverb to your charge,
So like you, 'tis the worse.-Behold, my lords,
Although the print be little, the whole matter
And of the father; eye, nose, lip,

copy

The trick of his frown, his forehead; nay, the valley, The pretty dimples of his chin, and cheek; his smiles; The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger :— And, thou, good goddess nature, which hast made it So like to him that got it, if thou hast

2

The ordering of the mind too, 'mongst all colors
No yellow in't; lest she suspect, as he does,
Her children not her husband's!

Leon.

A gross hag!

And, lozel,3 thou art worthy to be hanged,

That wilt not stay her tongue.

1 A callat is a trull.

2 "No yellow," the color of jealousy.

3 Lozel, a worthless fellow; one lost to all goodness from the Saxon losian, to perish, to be lost. Lorel, losel, losliche, are all of the same family.

It is a heretic that makes the fire,

Not she which burns in't. I'll not call

I care not.

I'll not call you tyrant;

But this most cruel usage of your queen

(Not able to produce more accusation

Than your own weak-hinged fancy) something savors Of tyranny, and will ignoble make you,

Yea, scandalous to the world.

Leon.

On your allegiance,
Were I a tyrant,
Where were her life? She durst not call me so,
If she did know me one. Away with her.

Out of the chamber with her.

Paul. I pray you, do not push me; I'll be gone. Look to your babe, my lord; 'tis yours; Jove send her A better guiding spirit !-What need these hands?— You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies, Will never do him good, not one of you.

So, so.-Farewell; we are gone.

[Exit.

Leon. Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife to this.—

My child? Away with't!-Even thou, that hast
A heart so tender o'er it, take it hence,

And see it instantly consumed with fire;

Even thou, and none but thou. Take it up straight.
Within this hour bring me word, 'tis done,

(And by good testimony,) or I'll seize thy life,
With what thou else call'st thine. If thou refuse,
And wilt encounter with my wrath, say so;
The bastard brains with these my proper hands
Shall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire;

For thou sett'st on thy wife.

Ant.

I did not, sir.

These lords, my noble fellows, if they please,
Can clear me in't.

1 Lord.

We can; my royal liege,

He is not guilty of her coming hither.

Leon. You are liars all.

1 Lord. 'Beseech your highness, give us better credit. We have always truly served you; and beseech So to esteem of us; and on our knees we beg (As recompense of our dear services,

Past, and to come) that you do change this purpose; Which, being so horrible, so bloody, must

Lead on to some foul issue. We all kneel.

Leon. I am a feather for each wind that blows;Shall I live on, to see this bastard kneel And call me father? Better burn it now, Than curse it then. But, be it; let it live.

It shall not neither.-You, sir, come you hither;

[To ANTIGONUS.

You, that have been so tenderly officious
With lady Margery, your midwife, there,

To save this bastard's life,-for 'tis a bastard,

So sure as this beard's gray,'-what will you adventure To save this brat's life?

Ant.

Any thing, my lord,
That my ability may undergo,

And nobleness impose. At least, thus much;
I'll
pawn the little blood which I have left,

To save the innocent: any thing possible.

Leon. It shall be possible. Swear by this sword, Thou wilt perform my bidding.

Ant.

I will, my lord.

Leon. Mark, and perform it; (seest thou?) for the

fail

Of any point in't shall not only be

Death to thyself, but to thy lewd-tongued wife;
Whom, for this time, we pardon. We enjoin thee,
As thou art liegeman to us, that thou carry
This female bastard hence; and that thou bear it

1 Leontes must mean the beard of Antigonus, which he may be supposed to touch. He himself tells us that twenty-three years ago he was unbreeched; of course his age must be under thirty, and his own beard would hardly be gray.

To some remote and desert place quite out
Of our dominions; and that there thou leave it,
Without more mercy, to its own protection,
And favor of the climate. As by strange fortune
It came to us, I do in justice charge thee,-
On thy soul's peril, and thy body's torture,-
That thou commend it strangely to some place,1
Where chance may nurse, or end it. Take it up.

Ant. I swear to do this, though a present death
Had been more merciful.-Come on, poor babe.
Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens
To be thy nurses! Wolves, and bears, they say,
Casting their savageness aside, have done
Like offices of pity.-Sir, be prosperous

In more than this deed doth require! and blessing,
Against this cruelty, fight on thy side,

Poor thing, condemned to loss!3 [Exit, with the Child. No, I'll not rear

Leon.

Another's issue

1 Attend.

Please your highness, posts,

From those you sent to the oracle, are come

An hour since. Cleomenes and Dion,

Being well arrived from Delphos, are both landed,
Hasting to the court.

1 Lord.

So please you, sir, their speed

Twenty-three days

Hath been beyond account.

Leon.

They have been absent. 'Tis good speed; foretells,
The great Apollo suddenly will have
The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords;
Summon a session, that we may arraign
Our most disloyal lady; for, as she hath
Been publicly accused, so shall she have
A just and open trial. While she lives,
My heart will be a burden to me.
And think upon my bidding.

Leave me;

[Exeunt.

1 i. e. commit it to some place as a stranger. To commend is to commit, according to the old dictionaries.