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And with your queen: I am his cupbearer;
If from me he have wholesome beverage,
Account me not your fervant.

LEON. This is all:

Do't, and thou haft the one half of my heart;

Do't not, thou split'st thine own.

CAM. I'll do't, my lord.

LEON. I will feem friendly, as thou haft advis'd me. [Exit.

CAM. O miferable lady!But, for me,

What case stand I in? I must be the poisoner

Of good Polixenes: and my ground to do't
Is the obedience to a master; one,

Who, in rebellion with himself, will have
All that are his, fo too. To do this deed,
Promotion follows: If I could find example
Of thousands, that had ftruck anointed kings,
And flourish'd after, I'd not do't: but fince
Nor brafs, nor ftone, nor parchment, bears not one,
Let villainy itself forfwear't. I must

Forfake the court: to do't, or no, is certain

To me a break-neck. Happy ftar, reign now!
Here comes Bohemia.

Enter POLIXENES.

POL. This is strange! methinks,

My favour here begins to warp. Not speak?
Good-day, Camillo.

CAM. Hail, moft royal fir!

POL. What is the news i'the court?

CAM. None rare, my lord.

POL. The king hath on him fuch a countenance,

As he had loft fome province, and a region
Lov'd as he loves himself: even now I met him
With customary compliment; when he,

Wafting his eyes to the contrary, and falling
A lip of much contempt, speeds from me; and
So leaves me, to confider what is breeding,
That changes thus his manners.

CAM. I dare not know, my lord.

[dare not

POL. How! dare not? do not. Do you know, and Be intelligent to me? 'Tis thereabouts; For, to yourself, what you do know, you must; And cannot fay, you dare not. Good Camillo, Your chang'd complexions are to me a mirror, Which shows me mine chang'd too: for I must be A party in this alteration, finding Myfelf thus alter'd with it.

CAM. There is a fickness

Which puts fome of us in diftemper; but
I cannot name the disease; and it is caught
Of you, that yet are well.

POL. How! caught of me?

Make me not fighted like the bafilisk :

I have look'd on thousands, who have sped the better
By my regard, but kill'd none fo. Camillo,-
As you are certainly a gentleman; thereto
Clerklike, experienc'd, which no less adorns
Our gentry, than our parents' noble names,
In whofe fuccefs we are gentle,-I beseech you,
If you know aught which does behove my knowledge
Thereof to be inform'd, imprison it not

In ignorant concealment.

CAM. I may not answer.

POL. A fickness caught of me, and yet I well!
I must be anfwer'd.-Do'ft thou hear, Camillo,
I conjure thee, by all the parts of man,

Which honour does acknowledge,—whereof the least

Is not this fuit of mine, that thou declare
What incidency thou doft guess of harm

Is creeping toward me; how far off, how near;
Which way to be prevented, if to be;
If not, how best to bear it.

CAM. Sir, I'll tell you;

Since I am charg'd in honour, and by him

That I think honourable: Therefore, mark my counsel ; Which must be even as swiftly follow'd, as

I mean to utter it; or both yourself and me

Cry, loft, and fo good-night.

POL. On, good Camillo.

CAM. I am appointed Him to murder you.

POL. By whom, Camillo ?

CAM. By the king.

POL. For what?

CAM. He thinks, nay, with all confidence he fwears,

As he had feen't, or been an inftrument

To vice

to't, that you

Forbiddenly.

you

have touch'd his queen

POL. O, then my best blood turn

To an infected jelly; and my name

Be yok'd with his, that did betray the best!
Turn then my freshest reputation to

A favour, that may ftrike the dullest noftril
Where I arrive; and my approach be shunn'd,
Nay, hated too, worse than the great'ft infection
That e'er was heard, or read!

CAM. Swear his thought over

By each particular star in heaven, and
By all their influences, you may as well
Forbid the fea for to obey the moon,

As or, by oath, remove, or counsel, shake,

The fabrick of his folly; whose foundation
Is pil'd upon his faith, and will continue
The standing of his body.

POL. How fhould this grow?

CAM. I know not: but, I am fure, 'tis fafer to
Avoid what's grown, than question how 'tis born.
If therefore you dare truft my honesty,-
That lies enclosed in this trunk, which you
Shall bear along impawn'd,-away to-night.
Your followers I will whisper to the business;
And will, by twos, and threes, at several posterns,
Clear them o' the city: For myself, I'll put
My fortunes to your service, which are here
By this discovery loft. Be not uncertain;
For, by the honour of my parents, I

Have utter'd truth: which if you seek to prove,
I dare not stand by; nor fhall you be safer

Than one condemn'd by the king's own mouth, thereon
His execution fworn.

POL. I do believe thee:

I saw his heart in his face. Give me thy hand;

Be pilot to me, and thy places shall

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

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

In that be made more bitter. Fear o'erfhades, me:
Good expedition be my friend, and comfort

The gracious queen, part of his theme, but nothing

Of his ill-ta'en fufpicion! Come, Camillo ;
I will refpect thee as a father, if

Thou bear'st my life off hence: Let us avoid.

CAM. It is in mine authority, to command
The keys of all the posterns: Please your highness
To take the urgent hour: come, fir, away.

ACT II.

SCENE I. The fame.

[Exeunt.

Enter HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS, and LADIES.,

HER. Take the boy to you: he fo troubles me, 'Tis paft enduring.

1 LADY. Come, my gracious lord.

Shall I be your play-fellow?

MAM. No, I'll none of you.

1 LADY. Why, my fweet lord?

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MAM. You'll kiss me hard; and fpeak to me as if

I were a baby ftill.-I love you better.

2 LADY. And why fo, my good lord?

MAM. Not for because

Your brows are blacker; yet black brows, they fay,
Become fome women beft; fo that there be not
Too much hair there, but in a femicircle,
Or half-moon made with a pen.

2 LADY. Who taught you this?

MAM. I learn'd it out of women's faces.-Pray now What colour are your eye-brows?

1 LɅDr. Blue, my lord.

MAM. Nay, that's a mock: I have feen a lady's nofe That has been blue, but not her eye-brows.

2 LADY. Hark ye:

The

queen, your mother, rounds apace: we fhall

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