The Winter's Tale (6 page)

POLIXENES
     I do believe thee:
       I saw his heart in's face. Give me thy hand.
       Be
pilot
⁵¹⁵
to me and
thy
places
shall
       Still neighbour mine. My ships are ready and
       My people did expect my
hence departure
⁵¹⁷
       Two days ago. This jealousy
       Is for a precious creature: as she's rare,
       Must it be great, and as his person's mighty,
       Must it be violent, and as he does conceive
       He is dishonoured by a man which ever
      
Professed
⁵²³
to him, why, his revenges must
       In that be made more bitter. Fear o'ershades me.
      
Good expedition
⁵²⁵
be my friend, and comfort
       The gracious queen, part of his
theme
⁵²⁶
, but nothing
       Of his
ill-ta'en
⁵²⁷
suspicion. Come, Camillo.
       I will respect thee as a father if
       Thou bear'st my life off hence. Let us
avoid
⁵²⁹
.

CAMILLO
     It is in mine authority to command
       The keys of all the posterns. Please your highness
       To take the urgent hour. Come, sir, away.
Exeunt

Enter Hermione, Mamillius, Ladies

HERMIONE
     Take the boy to you. He so troubles me,
       'Tis past enduring.

FIRST LADY
     Come, my gracious lord,
Takes Mamillius
       Shall I be your playfellow?

MAMILLIUS
     No, I'll
none of
⁵
you.

FIRST LADY
     Why, my sweet lord?

MAMILLIUS
     You'll kiss me hard and speak to me as if
       I were a baby still.— I love you better.
To Second Lady

SECOND LADY
     And why so, my lord?

MAMILLIUS
     Not
for because
¹⁰
       Your brows are blacker — yet black brows, they say,
       Become
so
¹²
me women best, so that there be not
       Too much hair there, but in a semicircle
       Or a half-moon made with a pen.

SECOND LADY
     Who taught
'This
¹⁵
?

MAMILLIUS
     I learned it out of women's faces. Pray now
       What colour are your eyebrows?

FIRST LADY
     Blue, my lord.

MAMILLIUS
     Nay, that's a mock. I have seen a lady's nose
       That has been blue, but not her eyebrows.

FIRST LADY
     Hark ye.
       The queen your mother
rounds apace
²²
. We shall
       Present our services to a fine new prince
       One of these days, and then you'd
wanton with us
²⁴
,
       If we would have you.

SECOND LADY
     She is spread of late
       Into a
goodly bulk. Good time encounter her!
²⁷

HERMIONE
     What wisdom stirs amongst you? Come, sir, now
       I am
for
²⁹
you again. Pray you sit by us,
       And tell's a tale.

MAMILLIUS
     Merry or
sad
³¹
shall't be?

HERMIONE
     As merry as you will.

MAMILLIUS
     A sad tale's best for winter. I have one
       Of
sprites
³⁴
and goblins.

HERMIONE
     Let's have that, good sir.
       Come on, sit down. Come on, and do your best
       To fright me with your sprites. You're powerful at it.

MAMILLIUS
     There was a man—

HERMIONE
     Nay, come, sit down, then on.

MAMILLIUS
     Dwelt by a churchyard — I will tell it softly.
Sits
      
Yond crickets
⁴¹
shall not hear it.

HERMIONE
     Come on, then, and give't me in mine ear.
They talk apart

[
Enter Leontes, Antigonus, Lords and others
]

LEONTES
     Was he met there? His train? Camillo with him?

A LORD
     Behind the
tuft
⁴⁴
of pines I met them. Never
       Saw I men
scour
⁴⁵
so on their way: I eyed them
      
Even
⁴⁶
to their ships.

LEONTES
     How blest am I
       In my
just censure
⁴⁸
, in my true opinion!
       Alack, for lesser knowledge! How accursed
      
In being so blest! There may be in the cup
       A spider
steeped
⁵¹
, and one may drink, depart,
      And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge
       Is not infected
⁵⁰
: but if one present
       Th'abhorred ingredient to his eye, make known
       How he hath drunk, he cracks his
gorge
⁵⁵
, his sides,
       With violent
hefts
⁵⁶
.
I have drunk
, and seen the spider.
       Camillo was his help in this, his
pander
⁵⁷
.
       There is a plot against my life, my crown.
       All's true that is
mistrusted
⁵⁹
. That
false
villain
       Whom I employed was pre-employed by him.
       He has discovered my design, and I
       Remain a
pinched
⁶²
thing; yea, a very
trick
       For them to play at will. How came the posterns
       So easily open?

A LORD
     By his great authority,
       Which often hath no less prevailed than so
       On your command.

LEONTES
     I know't too well.—
       Give me the boy. I am glad you did not
nurse
⁶⁹
him.
To Hermione
       Though he does bear some signs of me, yet you
       Have too much blood in him.

HERMIONE
     What is this?
Sport?
⁷²

LEONTES
     Bear the boy hence. He shall not come
To a Lord or Lady
           about her.

    Away with him, and let her
sport
⁷⁴
herself
       With that she's big with,— for 'tis Polixenes
To Hermione
       Has made thee swell thus.

[
The Lord or Lady exits with Mamillius
]

HERMIONE
     But I'd say he had not;
       And I'll be sworn you would believe my saying,
      
Howe'er you lean to th'nayward
⁷⁹
.

LEONTES
     You, my lords,
       Look on her, mark her well. Be but about
       To say ‘She is a goodly lady', and
       The
justice
⁸³
of your hearts will thereto add
       ‘'Tis pity she's not
honest
⁸⁴
, honourable.'
       Praise her but for this her
without-door
⁸⁵
form,
       Which on my faith deserves high speech, and
straight
⁸⁶
       The shrug, the hum or ha, these petty
brands
⁸⁷
       That
calumny
⁸⁸
doth use — O, I am
out
—
      
That mercy does, for calumny will sear
       Virtue itself
⁸⁹
: these shrugs, these hums and ha's,
       When you have said ‘She's goodly',
come between
⁹¹
       Ere you can say ‘She's honest.' But be't known,
       From him that has most cause to grieve it should be,
       She's an adultress.

HERMIONE
     Should a villain say so —
       The most
replenished
⁹⁶
villain in the world —
      
He were as much more villain
⁹⁷
. You, my lord,
       Do but mistake.

LEONTES
     You have
mistook
⁹⁹
, my lady,
       Polixenes for Leontes. O thou thing,
       Which
I'll not call a creature of thy place
¹⁰¹
,
       Lest barbarism, making me the precedent,
       Should
a like
¹⁰³
language use to all
degrees
       And
mannerly distinguishment
¹⁰⁴
leave out
       Betwixt the prince and beggar. I have said
       She's an adult'ress. I have said with whom.
       More, she's a traitor and Camillo is
       A
federary
¹⁰⁸
with her, and one that knows
       What she should shame to
know
¹⁰⁹
herself
       But with her most vile principal, that she's
       A
bed-swerver
¹¹¹
, even as bad as those
       That
vulgars
¹¹²
give
bold'st titles
; ay, and
privy
       To
this their late escape.

HERMIONE
     No, by my life,
       Privy to none of this. How will this grieve you,
       When you shall come to clearer knowledge, that
       You thus have
published
¹¹⁷
me.
Gentle my
lord,
       You scarce can right me
throughly
¹¹⁸
then
to say
       You did mistake.

LEONTES
     No. If I mistake
       In those foundations which I build upon,
       The
centre
¹²²
is not big enough to bear
       A school-boy's
top
¹²³
. Away with her, to prison!
       He who shall speak for her is
afar off
¹²⁴
guilty
      
But that he speaks
¹²⁵
.

HERMIONE
     There's some
ill
¹²⁶
planet reigns:
       I must be patient till the heavens look
       With an
aspect
¹²⁸
more favourable. Good my lords,
       I am not prone to weeping — as our sex
       Commonly are — the
want
¹³⁰
of which vain dew
      
Perchance shall dry your pities
¹³¹
: but I have
       That honourable grief lodged
here
¹³²
which burns
       Worse than tears drown. Beseech you all, my lords,
       With thoughts so
qualified
¹³⁴
as your
charities
       Shall best instruct you,
measure
¹³⁵
me; and so
       The king's will be performed.

LEONTES
     Shall I be
heard
¹³⁷
?

HERMIONE
     Who is't that goes with me? Beseech your highness
       My women may be with me, for you see
       My
plight
¹⁴⁰
requires it. Do not weep, good fools.
       There is no cause. When you shall know your mistress
       Has deserved prison, then abound in tears
       As I come out; this action I now go on
       Is for my
better grace
¹⁴⁴
.— Adieu, my lord.
To Leontes
       I never wished to see you sorry, now
       I trust I shall.— My women, come, you have
leave
¹⁴⁶
.

LEONTES
     Go, do our bidding. Hence!

[
Exit Hermione, guarded, with Ladies
]

A 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.

A LORD
     For her, my lord,
       I dare my life lay down and will do't, sir,
       Please you t'accept it, that the queen is spotless
       I'th'eyes of heaven and to you — I mean,
       In this which you accuse her.

ANTIGONUS
     If it prove
       She's otherwise, I'll
keep my stables where
       I lodge my wife
¹⁵⁸
, I'll go
in couples
¹⁵⁹
with her,
      
Than when I feel and see her
¹⁶⁰
no further trust her,
       For every inch of woman in the world,
       Ay, every
dram
¹⁶²
of woman's flesh is false,
       If she be.

LEONTES
     Hold your peaces.

A LORD
     Good my lord—

ANTIGONUS
     It is for you we speak, not for ourselves.
       You are abused and by some
putter-on
¹⁶⁷
       That will be damned for't. Would I knew the villain,
       I would
land-damn
¹⁶⁹
him. Be she honour-flawed,
       I have three daughters — the eldest is eleven
       The second and the third, nine, and
some
¹⁷¹
five —
       If this prove true, they'll pay for't. By mine honour,
       I'll
geld
¹⁷³
'em all: fourteen they shall not see,
       To
bring false generations
¹⁷⁴
. They are co-heirs,
       And I had rather
glib
¹⁷⁵
myself than they
       Should not produce
fair issue
¹⁷⁶
.