With lady Margery, your midwife, there,
To fave this baftard's life:-for 'tis a baftard,

So fure as this beard's grey,-what will you adventure To fave this brat's life?

ANT. Any thing, my lord,

That my ability may undergo,

And noblenefs impofe: at least, thus much;

I'll pawn the little blood which I have left,

To fave the innocent: any thing poffible.

LEON. It shall be poffible: 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 baftard hence; and that thou bear it
To fome remote and defert place, quite out
Of our dominions; and that there thou leave it,
Without more mercy, to its own protection,
And favour of the climate. As by ftrange fortune
It came to us, I do in justice charge thee,—
On thy foul's peril, and thy body's torture,-
That thou commend it ftrangely to fome place,
Where chance may nurse, or end it: Take it up.

ANT. I fwear to do this; though a prefent death
Had been more merciful. Come on, poor babe :
Some powerful fpirit inftruct the kites and ravens,
To be thy nurses! Wolves, and bears, they fay,
Cafting their favagenefs afide, have done
Like offices of pity.-Sir, be profperous

In more than this deed does require! and bleffing,

Against this cruelty, fight on thy fide,
Poor thing, condemn'd to lofs!

LEON. No, I'll not rear

Another's iffue.

[Exit, with the child.

I ATTEND. Please your highness, pofts From those you sent to the oracle, are come

An hour fince: Cleomenes and Dion,

Being well arriv'd from Delphos, are both landed,
Hafting to the court.

I LORD. So please you, fir, their speed
Hath been beyond account.

LEON. Twenty-three days

They have been abfent: 'Tis good speed; foretels,
The great Apollo fuddenly will have

The truth of this appear. Prepare, you lords;
Summon a feffion, that we may arraign
Our most difloyal lady: for, as she hath
Been publickly accus'd, fo fhall she have
A just and open trial. While fhe lives,
My heart will be a burden to me.
And think upon my bidding.

ACT III.

Leave me ;

[Exeunt.

SCENE I. The fame. A Street in fome Town.
Enter CLEOMENES and DION.

CLEO. The climate's delicate; the air most sweet; Fertile the isle; the temple much surpassing

The common praise it bears.

DION. I fhall report,

For moft it caught me, the celestial habits,

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

1

How ceremonious, folemn, and unearthly
It was i'the offering!

CLEO. But, of all, the burst

And the ear-deafening voice o'the oracle,
Kin to Jove's thunder, fo furpris'd my fenfe,
That I was nothing.

DION. If the event o'the journey

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

CLEO. Great Apollo,

Turn all to the best! Thefe 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 Apollo's great divine feal'd up.)

Shall the contents difcover, fomething rare,

Even then will rush to knowledge.-Go, fresh horses ;And gracious be the iffue!

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. The fame. A Court of Justice. LEONTES, LORDS, and OFFICERS, appear properly feated. LEON. This feffions (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 belov'd.-Let us be clear'd

Of being tyrannous, fince we fo openly
Proceed in justice; which shall have due course,
Even to the guilt, or the purgation.

Produce the prifoner.

OFFI. It is his highness' pleasure, that the queen Appear in perfon here in court.-Silence!

VOL. II.

I i

.

HERMIONE is brought in, guarded; PAULINA and Ladies, attending.

LEON. Read the indictment.

OFFI. Hermione, queen to the worthy Leontes, king of Sicilia, thou art here accufed and arraigned of high treason, in committing adultery with Polixenes, king of Bohemia; and confpiring with Camillo to take away the life of our fovereign 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 fubject, didft counsel and aid them, for their better fafety, to fly away by night. HER. Since what I am to say, must be but that Which contradicts my accufation; and

The teftimony on my part, no other

But what comes from myself; it shall scarce boot me To fay, Not guilty: mine integrity,

Being counted falfehood, fhall, as I exprefs it,

Be fo receiv'd.

But thus,-If

But thus,-If powers divine

Behold our human actions, (as they do,)

I doubt not then, but innocence fhall make
Falfe accufation blush, and tyranny

Tremble at patience.-You, my lord, best know,

(Who leaft will feem to do fo,) my paft life
Hath been as continent, as chafte, as true,

As I am now unhappy; which is more
Than history can pattern, though devis'd,
And play'd, to take fpectators: For behold me,—
A fellow of the royal bed, which owe

A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter,
The mother to a hopeful prince,-here ftanding,
Το
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 from me to mine,

And only that I ftand for. I appeal

Το your own confcience, fir, before Polixenes
Came to your court, how I was in your grace,
How merited to be fo; fince he came,

With what encounter fo uncurrent I

Have ftrain'd, to appear thus: if one jot beyond
The bound of honour; or, in act, or will,
That way inclining; harden'd be the hearts
Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin
Cry, Fie upon my grave!

LEON. I ne'er heard yet,

That any of these bolder vices wanted
Lefs impudence to gainfay what they did,
Than to perform it first.

HER. That's true enough;

Though 'tis a faying, fir, not due to me.

LEON. You will not own it.

HER. More than mistress of,

Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not
At all acknowledge. For Polixenes,

(With whom I am accus'd,) I do confefs,

I lov'd him, as in honour he requir'd;
With fuch a kind of love, as might become
A lady like me; with a love, even such,
So, and no other, as yourself commanded :
Which not to have done, I think, had been in me
Both difobedience and ingratitude,

To you,

and toward your friend; whofe love had spoke, Even fince it could speak, from an infant, freely, That it was yours. Now, for conspiracy,

I know not how it tastes; though it be dish'd
For me to try how all I know of it,