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twg_000000029000 | women may be with me, for you see My plight requires it. Do not weep, good fools; There is no cause: when you shall know your mistress Has deservd prison, then abound in tears As I come out: this action I now go on Is for my better grace. Adieu, my lord: I never wishd to see you sorry; now | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029001 | I trust I shall. My women, come; you have leave. LEONTES. Go, do our bidding. Hence! [_Exeunt Queen and Ladies with Guards._] FIRST LORD. Beseech your highness, call the queen again. ANTIGONUS. Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justice Prove violence, in the which three great ones suffer, Yourself, your queen, your son. FIRST LORD. For her, my | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029002 | lord, I dare my life lay down, and will dot, sir, Please you to accept it, that the queen is spotless I th eyes of heaven and to youI mean In this which you accuse her. ANTIGONUS. If it prove Shes otherwise, Ill keep my stables where I lodge my wife; Ill go in couples with her; Than when I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029003 | feel and see her no further trust her. For every inch of woman in the world, Ay, every dram of womans flesh, is false, If she be. LEONTES. Hold your peaces. FIRST LORD. Good my lord, ANTIGONUS. It is for you we speak, not for ourselves: You are abusd, and by some putter-on That will be damnd fort: would I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029004 | knew the villain, I would land-damn him. Be she honour-flawd, I have three daughters; the eldest is eleven; The second and the third, nine and some five; If this prove true, theyll pay fort. By mine honour, Ill geld em all; fourteen they shall not see, To bring false generations: they are co-heirs, And I had rather glib myself than | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029005 | they Should not produce fair issue. LEONTES. Cease; no more. You smell this business with a sense as cold As is a dead mans nose: but I do seet and feelt, As you feel doing thus; and see withal The instruments that feel. ANTIGONUS. If it be so, We need no grave to bury honesty. Theres not a grain of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029006 | it the face to sweeten Of the whole dungy earth. LEONTES. What! Lack I credit? FIRST LORD. 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 blamd fort how you might. LEONTES. Why, what need we Commune with you of this, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029007 | but rather follow Our forceful instigation? Our prerogative Calls not your counsels, but our natural goodness Imparts this; which, if you, or stupified Or seeming so in skill, cannot or will not Relish a truth, like us, inform yourselves We need no more of your advice: the matter, The loss, the gain, the ordring ont, is all Properly ours. ANTIGONUS. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029008 | And I wish, my liege, You had only in your silent judgement tried it, Without more overture. LEONTES. How could that be? Either thou art most ignorant by age, Or thou wert born a fool. Camillos flight, Added to their familiarity, (Which was as gross as ever touchd conjecture, That lackd sight only, nought for approbation But only seeing, all | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029009 | other circumstances Made up to th deed) 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 dispatchd in post To sacred Delphos, to Apollos temple, Cleomenes and Dion, whom you know Of stuffd sufficiency: now from the oracle They will bring all, whose spiritual | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029010 | counsel had, Shall stop or spur me. Have I done well? FIRST LORD. Well done, my lord. LEONTES. 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 th truth. So have we thought it good | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029011 | From our free person she should be confind, Lest that the treachery of the two fled hence Be left her to perform. Come, follow us; We are to speak in public; for this business Will raise us all. ANTIGONUS. [_Aside._] To laughter, as I take it, If the good truth were known. [_Exeunt._] SCENE II. The same. The outer Room | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029012 | of a Prison. Enter Paulina, a Gentleman and Attendants. PAULINA. The keeper of the prison, call to him; Let him have knowledge who I am. [_Exit the Gentleman._] Good lady! No court in Europe is too good for thee; What dost thou then in prison? Enter Gentleman with the Gaoler. Now, good sir, You know me, do you not? GAOLER. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029013 | For a worthy lady And one who much I honour. PAULINA. Pray you then, Conduct me to the queen. GAOLER. I may not, madam. To the contrary I have express commandment. PAULINA. Heres ado, to lock up honesty and honour from Th access of gentle visitors! Ist lawful, pray you, To see her women? any of them? Emilia? GAOLER. So | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029014 | please you, madam, To put apart these your attendants, I Shall bring Emilia forth. PAULINA. I pray now, call her. Withdraw yourselves. [_Exeunt Gentleman and Attendants._] GAOLER. And, madam, I must be present at your conference. PAULINA. Well, bet so, prithee. [_Exit Gaoler._] Heres such ado to make no stain a stain As passes colouring. Re-enter Gaoler with Emilia. Dear | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029015 | gentlewoman, How fares our gracious lady? EMILIA. 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, deliverd. PAULINA. A boy? EMILIA. A daughter; and a goodly babe, Lusty, and like to live: the queen receives Much comfort in t; | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029016 | says My poor prisoner, I am as innocent as you. PAULINA. I dare be sworn. These dangerous unsafe lunes i th king, beshrew them! He must be told ont, and he shall: the office Becomes a woman best. Ill taket upon me. If I prove honey-mouthd, let my tongue blister, And never to my red-lookd anger be The trumpet any | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029017 | more. Pray you, Emilia, Commend my best obedience to the queen. If she dares trust me with her little babe, Ill showt the king, and undertake to be Her advocate to th loudst. We do not know How he may soften at the sight o th child: The silence often of pure innocence Persuades, when speaking fails. EMILIA. Most worthy | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029018 | madam, Your honour and your goodness is so evident, That your free undertaking cannot miss A thriving issue: there is no lady living So meet for this great errand. Please your ladyship To visit the next room, Ill presently Acquaint the queen of your most noble offer, Who but today hammerd of this design, But durst not tempt a minister | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029019 | of honour, Lest she should be denied. PAULINA. Tell her, Emilia, Ill use that tongue I have: if wit flow from t As boldness from my bosom, lett not be doubted I shall do good. EMILIA. Now be you blest for it! Ill to the queen: please you come something nearer. GAOLER. Madam, if t please the queen to send | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029020 | the babe, I know not what I shall incur to pass it, Having no warrant. PAULINA. 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 enfranchisd: not a party to The anger of the king, nor guilty of, If any be, the trespass of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029021 | the queen. GAOLER. I do believe it. PAULINA. Do not you fear: upon mine honour, I Will stand betwixt you and danger. [_Exeunt._] SCENE III. The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter Leontes, Antigonus, Lords and other Attendants. LEONTES. Nor night nor day no rest: it is but weakness To bear the matter thus, mere weakness. If The cause | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029022 | were not in being,part o th cause, She th adultress; for the harlot king Is quite beyond mine arm, out of the blank And level of my brain, plot-proof. But she I can hook to me. Say that she were gone, Given to the fire, a moiety of my rest Might come to me again. Whos there? FIRST ATTENDANT. My | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029023 | lord. LEONTES. How does the boy? FIRST ATTENDANT. He took good rest tonight; Tis hopd his sickness is dischargd. LEONTES. To see his nobleness, Conceiving the dishonour of his mother. He straight declind, droopd, took it deeply, Fastend and fixd the shame ont in himself, Threw off his spirit, his appetite, his sleep, And downright languishd. Leave me solely: go, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029024 | See how he fares. [_Exit First Attendant._] Fie, fie! no thought of him. The very thought of my revenges that way Recoil upon me: in himself too mighty, And in his parties, his alliance. Let him be, Until a time may serve. For present vengeance, Take it on her. Camillo and Polixenes Laugh at me; make their pastime at my | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029025 | sorrow: They should not laugh if I could reach them, nor Shall she, within my power. Enter Paulina carrying a baby, with Antigonus, lords and servants. FIRST LORD. You must not enter. PAULINA. Nay, rather, good my lords, be second to me: Fear you his tyrannous passion more, alas, Than the queens life? a gracious innocent soul, More free than | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029026 | he is jealous. ANTIGONUS. Thats enough. SERVANT. Madam, he hath not slept tonight; commanded None should come at him. PAULINA. Not so hot, good sir; I come to bring him sleep. Tis such as you, That creep like shadows by him, and do sigh At each his needless heavings,such as you Nourish the cause of his awaking. I Do come | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029027 | with words as medcinal as true, Honest as either, to purge him of that humour That presses him from sleep. LEONTES. What noise there, ho? PAULINA. No noise, my lord; but needful conference About some gossips for your highness. LEONTES. How! Away with that audacious lady! Antigonus, I chargd thee that she should not come about me. I knew she | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029028 | would. ANTIGONUS. I told her so, my lord, On your displeasures peril and on mine, She should not visit you. LEONTES. What, canst not rule her? PAULINA. From all dishonesty he can. In this, Unless he take the course that you have done, Commit me for committing honourtrust it, He shall not rule me. ANTIGONUS. La you now, you hear. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029029 | When she will take the rein I let her run; But shell not stumble. PAULINA. Good my liege, I come, And, I beseech you hear me, who professes Myself your loyal servant, your physician, Your most obedient counsellor, yet that dares Less appear so, in comforting your evils, Than such as most seem yoursI say I come From your good | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029030 | queen. LEONTES. Good queen! PAULINA. 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. LEONTES. Force her hence. PAULINA. Let him that makes but trifles of his eyes First hand me: on mine own accord Ill off; But first Ill do my errand. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029031 | The good queen, (For she is good) hath brought you forth a daughter; Here tis; commends it to your blessing. [_Laying down the child._] LEONTES. Out! A mankind witch! Hence with her, out o door: A most intelligencing bawd! PAULINA. Not so. I am as ignorant in that as you In so entitling me; and no less honest Than you | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029032 | are mad; which is enough, Ill warrant, As this world goes, to pass for honest. LEONTES. Traitors! Will you not push her out? [_To Antigonus._] Give her the bastard, Thou dotard! Thou art woman-tird, unroosted By thy Dame Partlet here. Take up the bastard, Taket up, I say; givet to thy crone. PAULINA. For ever Unvenerable be thy hands, if | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029033 | thou Takst up the princess by that forced baseness Which he has put upon t! LEONTES. He dreads his wife. PAULINA. So I would you did; then twere past all doubt Youd call your children yours. LEONTES. A nest of traitors! ANTIGONUS. I am none, by this good light. PAULINA. Nor I; nor any But one thats here, and thats | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029034 | himself. For he The sacred honour of himself, his queens, His hopeful sons, his babes, betrays to slander, Whose sting is sharper than the swords; and will not, (For, as the case now stands, it is a curse He cannot be compelld tot) once remove The root of his opinion, which is rotten As ever oak or stone was sound. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029035 | LEONTES. A callat 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. PAULINA. It is yours; And, might we lay th old proverb to your charge, So like you tis the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029036 | worse. Behold, my lords, Although the print be little, the whole matter And copy of the father: eye, nose, lip, The trick of s 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029037 | to him that got it, if thou hast The ordering of the mind too, mongst all colours No yellow in t, lest she suspect, as he does, Her children not her husbands! LEONTES. A gross hag! And, losel, thou art worthy to be hangd That wilt not stay her tongue. ANTIGONUS. Hang all the husbands That cannot do that feat, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029038 | youll leave yourself Hardly one subject. LEONTES. Once more, take her hence. PAULINA. A most unworthy and unnatural lord Can do no more. LEONTES. Ill have thee burnt. PAULINA. I care not. It is an heretic that makes the fire, Not she which burns in t. Ill not call you tyrant; But this most cruel usage of your queen, Not | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029039 | able to produce more accusation Than your own weak-hingd fancy, something savours Of tyranny, and will ignoble make you, Yea, scandalous to the world. LEONTES. On your allegiance, Out of the chamber with her! Were I a tyrant, Where were her life? She durst not call me so, If she did know me one. Away with her! PAULINA. I pray | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029040 | you, do not push me; Ill be gone. Look to your babe, my lord; tis yours: Jove send her A better guiding spirit! What needs these hands? You that are thus so tender oer his follies, Will never do him good, not one of you. So, so. Farewell; we are gone. [_Exit._] LEONTES. Thou, traitor, hast set on thy wife | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029041 | to this. My child? Away witht. Even thou, that hast A heart so tender oer it, take it hence, And see it instantly consumd 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 Ill seize thy life, With that thou else callst thine. If | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029042 | 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 setst on thy wife. ANTIGONUS. I did not, sir: These lords, my noble fellows, if they please, Can clear me in t. LORDS We can: my royal liege, He is | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029043 | not guilty of her coming hither. LEONTES. Youre liars all. FIRST LORD. Beseech your highness, give us better credit: We have always truly servd 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, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029044 | must Lead on to some foul issue. We all kneel. LEONTES. 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. [_To Antigonus._] You, sir, come you hither, You that | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029045 | have been so tenderly officious With Lady Margery, your midwife, there, To save this bastards lifefor tis a bastard, So sure as this beards grey. What will you adventure To save this brats life? ANTIGONUS. Anything, my lord, That my ability may undergo, And nobleness impose: at least thus much: Ill pawn the little blood which I have left To | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029046 | save the innocent. Anything possible. LEONTES. It shall be possible. Swear by this sword Thou wilt perform my bidding. ANTIGONUS. I will, my lord. LEONTES. Mark, and perform it, seest thou? for the fail Of any point int shall not only be Death to thyself, but to thy lewd-tongud wife, Whom for this time we pardon. We enjoin thee, As | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029047 | thou art liegeman to us, that thou carry This female bastard hence, and that thou bear it To some remote and desert place, quite out Of our dominions; and that there thou leave it, Without more mercy, to it own protection And favour of the climate. As by strange fortune It came to us, I do in justice charge thee, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029048 | On thy souls peril and thy bodys torture, That thou commend it strangely to some place Where chance may nurse or end it. Take it up. ANTIGONUS. 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 | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029049 | say, Casting their savageness aside, have done Like offices of pity. Sir, be prosperous In more than this deed does require! And blessing Against this cruelty, fight on thy side, Poor thing, condemnd to loss! [_Exit with the child._] LEONTES. No, Ill not rear Anothers issue. Enter a Servant. SERVANT. Please your highness, posts From those you sent to th | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029050 | oracle are come An hour since: Cleomenes and Dion, Being well arrivd from Delphos, are both landed, Hasting to th court. FIRST LORD. So please you, sir, their speed Hath been beyond account. LEONTES. Twenty-three days They have been absent: tis good speed; foretells The great Apollo suddenly will have The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords; Summon a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029051 | session, that we may arraign Our most disloyal lady; for, as she hath Been publicly accusd, so shall she have A just and open trial. While she lives, My heart will be a burden to me. Leave me, And think upon my bidding. [_Exeunt._] ACT III SCENE I. Sicilia. A Street in some Town. Enter Cleomenes and Dion. CLEOMENES The | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029052 | climates delicate; the air most sweet, Fertile the isle, the temple much surpassing The common praise it bears. DION. 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 th offering! CLEOMENES But of all, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029053 | the burst And the ear-deafning voice o th oracle, Kin to Joves thunder, so surprised my sense That I was nothing. DION. If the event o th journey Prove as successful to the queen,O, bet so! As it hath been to us rare, pleasant, speedy, The time is worth the use ont. CLEOMENES Great Apollo Turn all to th best! | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029054 | These proclamations, So forcing faults upon Hermione, I little like. DION. The violent carriage of it Will clear or end the business: when the oracle, (Thus by Apollos great divine seald up) Shall the contents discover, something rare Even then will rush to knowledge. Go. Fresh horses! And gracious be the issue! [_Exeunt._] SCENE II. The same. A Court of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029055 | Justice. Enter Leontes, Lords and Officers appear, properly seated. LEONTES. This sessions (to our great grief we pronounce) Even pushes gainst our heart: the party tried The daughter of a king, our wife, and one Of us too much belovd. Let us be cleard Of being tyrannous, since we so openly Proceed in justice, which shall have due course, Even | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029056 | to the guilt or the purgation. Produce the prisoner. OFFICER. It is his highness pleasure that the queen Appear in person here in court. Silence! Hermione is brought in guarded; Paulina and Ladies attending. LEONTES. Read the indictment. OFFICER. [_Reads._] Hermione, queen to the worthy Leontes, king of Sicilia, thou art here accused and arraigned of high treason, in committing | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029057 | adultery with Polixenes, king of Bohemia; and conspiring with Camillo to take away the life of our sovereign lord the king, thy royal husband: the pretence whereof being by circumstances partly laid open, thou, Hermione, contrary to the faith and allegiance of a true subject, didst counsel and aid them, for their better safety, to fly away by night. HERMIONE. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029058 | Since what I am to say must be but that Which contradicts my accusation, and The testimony on my part no other But what comes from myself, it shall scarce boot me To say Not guilty. Mine integrity, Being counted falsehood, shall, as I express it, Be so receivd. But thus, if powers divine Behold our human actions, as they | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029059 | do, I doubt not, then, but innocence shall make False accusation blush, and tyranny Tremble at patience. You, my lord, best know, Who least will seem to do so, my past life Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true, As I am now unhappy; which is more Than history can pattern, though devisd And playd to take spectators. For | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029060 | behold me, A fellow of the royal bed, which owe A moiety of the throne, a great kings daughter, The mother to a hopeful prince, here standing To prate and talk for life and honour fore Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it As I weigh grief, which I would spare. For honour, Tis a derivative | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029061 | from me to mine, And only that I stand for. I appeal To your own conscience, sir, before Polixenes Came to your court, how I was in your grace, How merited to be so; since he came, With what encounter so uncurrent I Have straind t appear thus: if one jot beyond The bound of honour, or in act or | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029062 | will That way inclining, hardend be the hearts Of all that hear me, and my nearst of kin Cry fie upon my grave! LEONTES. I neer heard yet That any of these bolder vices wanted Less impudence to gainsay what they did Than to perform it first. HERMIONE. Thats true enough; Though tis a saying, sir, not due to me. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029063 | LEONTES. You will not own it. HERMIONE. More than mistress of Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not At all acknowledge. For Polixenes, With whom I am accusd, I do confess I lovd him as in honour he requird, With such a kind of love as might become A lady like me; with a love even | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029064 | such, So and no other, as yourself commanded: Which not to have done, I think had been in me Both disobedience and ingratitude To you and toward your friend, whose love had spoke, Ever since it could speak, from an infant, freely, That it was yours. Now, for conspiracy, I know not how it tastes, though it be dishd For | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029065 | me to try how: all I know of it Is that Camillo was an honest man; And why he left your court, the gods themselves, Wotting no more than I, are ignorant. LEONTES. You knew of his departure, as you know What you have undertaen to do in s absence. HERMIONE. Sir, You speak a language that I understand not: | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029066 | My life stands in the level of your dreams, Which Ill lay down. LEONTES. Your actions are my dreams. You had a bastard by Polixenes, And I but dreamd it. As you were past all shame (Those of your fact are so) so past all truth, Which to deny concerns more than avails; for as Thy brat hath been cast | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029067 | out, like to itself, No father owning it (which is, indeed, More criminal in thee than it), so thou Shalt feel our justice; in whose easiest passage Look for no less than death. HERMIONE. Sir, spare your threats: The bug which you would fright me with, I seek. To me can life be no commodity. The crown and comfort of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029068 | my life, your favour, I do give lost, for I do feel it gone, But know not how it went. My second joy, And first-fruits of my body, from his presence I am barrd, like one infectious. My third comfort, Starrd most unluckily, is from my breast, (The innocent milk in its most innocent mouth) Hald out to murder; myself | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029069 | on every post Proclaimd a strumpet; with immodest hatred The child-bed privilege denied, which longs To women of all fashion; lastly, hurried Here to this place, i th open air, before I have got strength of limit. Now, my liege, Tell me what blessings I have here alive, That I should fear to die. Therefore proceed. But yet hear this: | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029070 | mistake me not: no life, I prize it not a straw, but for mine honour, Which I would free, if I shall be condemnd Upon surmises, all proofs sleeping else But what your jealousies awake, I tell you Tis rigour, and not law. Your honours all, I do refer me to the oracle: Apollo be my judge! FIRST LORD. This | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029071 | your request Is altogether just: therefore bring forth, And in Apollos name, his oracle: [_Exeunt certain Officers._] HERMIONE. The Emperor of Russia was my father. O that he were alive, and here beholding His daughters trial! that he did but see The flatness of my misery; yet with eyes Of pity, not revenge! Enter Officers with Cleomenes and Dion. OFFICER. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029072 | You here shall swear upon this sword of justice, That you, Cleomenes and Dion, have Been both at Delphos, and from thence have brought This seald-up oracle, by the hand deliverd Of great Apollos priest; and that since then You have not dared to break the holy seal, Nor read the secrets int. CLEOMENES, DION. All this we swear. LEONTES. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029073 | Break up the seals and read. OFFICER. [_Reads._] Hermione is chaste; Polixenes blameless; Camillo a true subject; Leontes a jealous tyrant; his innocent babe truly begotten; and the king shall live without an heir, if that which is lost be not found. LORDS Now blessed be the great Apollo! HERMIONE. Praised! LEONTES. Hast thou read truth? OFFICER. Ay, my lord, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029074 | even so As it is here set down. LEONTES. There is no truth at all i th oracle: The sessions shall proceed: this is mere falsehood. Enter a Servant hastily. SERVANT. My lord the king, the king! LEONTES. What is the business? SERVANT. O sir, I shall be hated to report it. The prince your son, with mere conceit and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029075 | fear Of the queens speed, is gone. LEONTES. How! gone? SERVANT. Is dead. LEONTES. Apollos angry, and the heavens themselves Do strike at my injustice. [_Hermione faints._] How now there? PAULINA. This news is mortal to the queen. Look down And see what death is doing. LEONTES. Take her hence: Her heart is but oerchargd; she will recover. I have | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029076 | too much believd mine own suspicion. Beseech you tenderly apply to her Some remedies for life. [_Exeunt Paulina and Ladies with Hermione._] Apollo, pardon My great profaneness gainst thine oracle! Ill reconcile me to Polixenes, New woo my queen, recall the good Camillo, Whom I proclaim a man of truth, of mercy; For, being transported by my jealousies To bloody | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029077 | thoughts and to revenge, I chose Camillo for the minister to poison My friend Polixenes: which had been done, But that the good mind of Camillo tardied My swift command, though I with death and with Reward did threaten and encourage him, Not doing it and being done. He, most humane And filld with honour, to my kingly guest Unclaspd | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029078 | my practice, quit his fortunes here, Which you knew great, and to the certain hazard Of all incertainties himself commended, No richer than his honour. How he glisters Thorough my rust! And how his piety Does my deeds make the blacker! Enter Paulina. PAULINA. Woe the while! O, cut my lace, lest my heart, cracking it, Break too! FIRST LORD. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029079 | What fit is this, good lady? PAULINA. What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me? What wheels? racks? fires? what flaying? boiling In leads or oils? What old or newer torture Must I receive, whose every word deserves To taste of thy most worst? Thy tyranny, Together working with thy jealousies, Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle For | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029080 | girls of nine. O, think what they have done, And then run mad indeed, stark mad! for all Thy by-gone fooleries were but spices of it. That thou betraydst Polixenes, twas nothing; That did but show thee, of a fool, inconstant And damnable ingrateful; nor wast much Thou wouldst have poisond good Camillos honour, To have him kill a king; | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029081 | poor trespasses, More monstrous standing by: whereof I reckon The casting forth to crows thy baby daughter, To be or none or little, though a devil Would have shed water out of fire ere donet, Nor ist directly laid to thee the death Of the young prince, whose honourable thoughts, Thoughts high for one so tender, cleft the heart That | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029082 | could conceive a gross and foolish sire Blemishd his gracious dam: this is not, no, Laid to thy answer: but the lastO lords, When I have said, cry Woe!the queen, the queen, The sweetst, dearst creatures dead, and vengeance fort Not droppd down yet. FIRST LORD. The higher powers forbid! PAULINA. I say shes dead: Ill sweart. If word nor | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029083 | oath Prevail not, go and see: if you can bring Tincture, or lustre, in her lip, her eye, Heat outwardly or breath within, Ill serve you As I would do the gods. But, O thou tyrant! Do not repent these things, for they are heavier Than all thy woes can stir. Therefore betake thee To nothing but despair. A thousand | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029084 | knees Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting, Upon a barren mountain, and still winter In storm perpetual, could not move the gods To look that way thou wert. LEONTES. Go on, go on: Thou canst not speak too much; I have deservd All tongues to talk their bitterest. FIRST LORD. Say no more: Howeer the business goes, you have made | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029085 | fault I th boldness of your speech. PAULINA. I am sorry for t: All faults I make, when I shall come to know them, I do repent. Alas, I have showd too much The rashness of a woman: he is touchd To th noble heart. Whats gone and whats past help, Should be past grief. Do not receive affliction At | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029086 | my petition; I beseech you, rather Let me be punishd, that have minded you Of what you should forget. Now, good my liege, Sir, royal sir, forgive a foolish woman: The love I bore your queenlo, fool again! Ill speak of her no more, nor of your children. Ill not remember you of my own lord, Who is lost too. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029087 | Take your patience to you, And Ill say nothing. LEONTES. Thou didst speak but well When most the truth, which I receive much better Than to be pitied of thee. Prithee, bring me To the dead bodies of my queen and son: One grave shall be for both. Upon them shall The causes of their death appear, unto Our shame | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029088 | perpetual. Once a day Ill visit The chapel where they lie, and tears shed there Shall be my recreation. So long as nature Will bear up with this exercise, so long I daily vow to use it. Come, and lead me To these sorrows. [_Exeunt._] SCENE III. Bohemia. A desert Country near the Sea. Enter Antigonus with the Child and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029089 | a Mariner. ANTIGONUS. Thou art perfect, then, our ship hath touchd upon The deserts of Bohemia? MARINER. Ay, my lord, and fear We have landed in ill time: the skies look grimly, And threaten present blusters. In my conscience, The heavens with that we have in hand are angry, And frown upon s. ANTIGONUS. Their sacred wills be done! Go, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029090 | get aboard; Look to thy bark: Ill not be long before I call upon thee. MARINER. Make your best haste, and go not Too far i th land: tis like to be loud weather; Besides, this place is famous for the creatures Of prey that keep upon t. ANTIGONUS. Go thou away: Ill follow instantly. MARINER. I am glad at | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029091 | heart To be so rid o th business. [_Exit._] ANTIGONUS. Come, poor babe. I have heard, but not believd, the spirits of the dead May walk again: if such thing be, thy mother Appeard to me last night; for neer was dream So like a waking. To me comes a creature, Sometimes her head on one side, some another. I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029092 | never saw a vessel of like sorrow, So filld and so becoming: in pure white robes, Like very sanctity, she did approach My cabin where I lay: thrice bowd before me, And, gasping to begin some speech, her eyes Became two spouts. The fury spent, anon Did this break from her: Good Antigonus, Since fate, against thy better disposition, Hath | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029093 | made thy person for the thrower-out Of my poor babe, according to thine oath, Places remote enough are in Bohemia, There weep, and leave it crying. And, for the babe Is counted lost for ever, Perdita I prithee callt. For this ungentle business, Put on thee by my lord, thou neer shalt see Thy wife Paulina more. And so, with | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029094 | shrieks, She melted into air. Affrighted much, I did in time collect myself and thought This was so, and no slumber. Dreams are toys, Yet for this once, yea, superstitiously, I will be squard by this. I do believe Hermione hath sufferd death, and that Apollo would, this being indeed the issue Of King Polixenes, it should here be laid, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029095 | Either for life or death, upon the earth Of its right father. Blossom, speed thee well! There lie; and there thy character: there these; [_Laying down the child and a bundle._] Which may if fortune please, both breed thee, pretty, And still rest thine. The storm begins: poor wretch, That for thy mothers fault art thus exposd To loss and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029096 | what may follow! Weep I cannot, But my heart bleeds, and most accursd am I To be by oath enjoind to this. Farewell! The day frowns more and more. Thourt like to have A lullaby too rough. I never saw The heavens so dim by day. A savage clamour! Well may I get aboard! This is the chase: I am | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029097 | gone for ever. [_Exit, pursued by a bear._] Enter an old Shepherd. SHEPHERD. I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fightingHark you now! Would any but these boiled brains of nineteen and two-and-twenty | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029098 | hunt this weather? They have scared away two of my best sheep, which I fear the wolf will sooner find than the master: if anywhere I have them, tis by the sea-side, browsing of ivy. Good luck, an t be thy will, what have we here? [_Taking up the child._] Mercy on s, a bairn! A very pretty bairn! A | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000029099 | boy or a child, I wonder? A pretty one; a very pretty one. Sure, some scape. Though I am not bookish, yet I can read waiting-gentlewoman in the scape. This has been some stair-work, some trunk-work, some behind-door-work. They were warmer that got this than the poor thing is here. Ill take it up for pity: yet Ill tarry till | 60 | gutenberg |
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