The Winter's Tale: ACT I , SCENE II. A room of state in the same.

The Winter's Tale: ACT I


	Introduction

	ACT I

		SCENE I. Antechamber in LEONTES' palace.

		SCENE II. A room of state in the same.

	ACT II

	ACT III

	ACT IV

	ACT V

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SCENE II. A room of state in the same.

Enter LEONTES, HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS, POLIXENES, CAMILLO, and Attendants

POLIXENES

      Nine changes of the watery star hath been
      The shepherd's note since we have left our throne
      Without a burthen: time as long again
      Would be find up, my brother, with our thanks;
5     And yet we should, for perpetuity,
      Go hence in debt: and therefore, like a cipher,
      Yet standing in rich place, I multiply
      With one 'We thank you' many thousands moe
      That go before it.

LEONTES

10 Stay your thanks a while;
And pay them when you part.

POLIXENES

      Sir, that's to-morrow.
      I am question'd by my fears, of what may chance
      Or breed upon our absence; that may blow
15    No sneaping winds at home, to make us say
      'This is put forth too truly:' besides, I have stay'd
      To tire your royalty.

LEONTES

We are tougher, brother,
Than you can put us to't.

POLIXENES

20 No longer stay.

LEONTES

One seven-night longer.

POLIXENES

Very sooth, to-morrow.

LEONTES

We'll part the time between's then; and in that
I'll no gainsaying.

POLIXENES

25    Press me not, beseech you, so.
      There is no tongue that moves, none, none i' the world,
      So soon as yours could win me: so it should now,
      Were there necessity in your request, although
      'Twere needful I denied it. My affairs
30    Do even drag me homeward: which to hinder
      Were in your love a whip to me; my stay
      To you a charge and trouble: to save both,
      Farewell, our brother.

LEONTES

Tongue-tied, our queen?
35 speak you.

HERMIONE

      I had thought, sir, to have held my peace until
      You have drawn oaths from him not to stay. You, sir,
      Charge him too coldly. Tell him, you are sure
      All in Bohemia's well; this satisfaction
40    The by-gone day proclaim'd: say this to him,
      He's beat from his best ward.

LEONTES

Well said, Hermione.

HERMIONE

      To tell, he longs to see his son, were strong:
      But let him say so then, and let him go;
45    But let him swear so, and he shall not stay,
      We'll thwack him hence with distaffs.
      Yet of your royal presence I'll adventure
      The borrow of a week. When at Bohemia
      You take my lord, I'll give him my commission
50    To let him there a month behind the gest
      Prefix'd for's parting: yet, good deed, Leontes,
      I love thee not a jar o' the clock behind
      What lady-she her lord. You'll stay?

POLIXENES

No, madam.

HERMIONE

55 Nay, but you will?

POLIXENES

I may not, verily.

HERMIONE

      Verily!
      You put me off with limber vows; but I,
      Though you would seek to unsphere the
60    stars with oaths,
      Should yet say 'Sir, no going.' Verily,
      You shall not go: a lady's 'Verily' 's
      As potent as a lord's. Will you go yet?
      Force me to keep you as a prisoner,
65    Not like a guest; so you shall pay your fees
      When you depart, and save your thanks. How say you?
      My prisoner? or my guest? by your dread 'Verily,'
      One of them you shall be.

POLIXENES

      Your guest, then, madam:
70    To be your prisoner should import offending;
      Which is for me less easy to commit
      Than you to punish.

HERMIONE

      Not your gaoler, then,
      But your kind hostess. Come, I'll question you
75    Of my lord's tricks and yours when you were boys:
      You were pretty lordings then?

POLIXENES

      We were, fair queen,
      Two lads that thought there was no more behind
      But such a day to-morrow as to-day,
80    And to be boy eternal.

HERMIONE

Was not my lord
The verier wag o' the two?

POLIXENES

      We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i' the sun,
      And bleat the one at the other: what we changed
85    Was innocence for innocence; we knew not
      The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream'd
      That any did. Had we pursued that life,
      And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd
      With stronger blood, we should have answer'd heaven
90    Boldly 'not guilty;' the imposition clear'd
      Hereditary ours.

HERMIONE

By this we gather
You have tripp'd since.

POLIXENES

      O my most sacred lady!
95    Temptations have since then been born to's; for
      In those unfledged days was my wife a girl;
      Your precious self had then not cross'd the eyes
      Of my young play-fellow.

HERMIONE

      Grace to boot!
100   Of this make no conclusion, lest you say
      Your queen and I are devils: yet go on;
      The offences we have made you do we'll answer,
      If you first sinn'd with us and that with us
      You did continue fault and that you slipp'd not
105   With any but with us.

LEONTES

Is he won yet?

HERMIONE

He'll stay my lord.

LEONTES

      At my request he would not.
      Hermione, my dearest, thou never spokest
110   To better purpose.

HERMIONE

Never?

LEONTES

Never, but once.

HERMIONE

      What! have I twice said well? when was't before?
      I prithee tell me; cram's with praise, and make's
115   As fat as tame things: one good deed dying tongueless
      Slaughters a thousand waiting upon that.
      Our praises are our wages: you may ride's
      With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs ere
      With spur we beat an acre. But to the goal:
120   My last good deed was to entreat his stay:
      What was my first? it has an elder sister,
      Or I mistake you: O, would her name were Grace!
      But once before I spoke to the purpose: when?
      Nay, let me have't; I long.

LEONTES

125   Why, that was when
      Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to death,
      Ere I could make thee open thy white hand
      And clap thyself my love: then didst thou utter
      'I am yours for ever.'

HERMIONE

130   'Tis grace indeed.
      Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose twice:
      The one for ever earn'd a royal husband;
      The other for some while a friend.

LEONTES

      (Aside) Too hot, too hot!
135   To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods.
      I have tremor cordis on me: my heart dances;
      But not for joy; not joy. This entertainment
      May a free face put on, derive a liberty
      From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom,
140   And well become the agent; 't may, I grant;
      But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,
      As now they are, and making practised smiles,
      As in a looking-glass, and then to sigh, as 'twere
      The mort o' the deer; O, that is entertainment
145   My bosom likes not, nor my brows! Mamillius,
      Art thou my boy?

MAMILLIUS

Ay, my good lord.

LEONTES

      I' fecks!
      Why, that's my bawcock. What, hast
150   smutch'd thy nose?
      They say it is a copy out of mine. Come, captain,
      We must be neat; not neat, but cleanly, captain:
      And yet the steer, the heifer and the calf
      Are all call'd neat.--Still virginalling
155   Upon his palm!--How now, you wanton calf!
      Art thou my calf?

MAMILLIUS

Yes, if you will, my lord.

LEONTES

      Thou want'st a rough pash and the shoots that I have,
      To be full like me: yet they say we are
160   Almost as like as eggs; women say so,
      That will say anything but were they false
      As o'er-dyed blacks, as wind, as waters, false
      As dice are to be wish'd by one that fixes
      No bourn 'twixt his and mine, yet were it true
165   To say this boy were like me. Come, sir page,
      Look on me with your welkin eye: sweet villain!
      Most dear'st! my collop! Can thy dam?--may't be?--
      Affection! thy intention stabs the centre:
      Thou dost make possible things not so held,
170   Communicatest with dreams;--how can this be?--
      With what's unreal thou coactive art,
      And fellow'st nothing: then 'tis very credent
      Thou mayst co-join with something; and thou dost,
      And that beyond commission, and I find it,
175   And that to the infection of my brains
      And hardening of my brows.

POLIXENES

What means Sicilia?

HERMIONE

He something seems unsettled.

POLIXENES

How, my lord!
180 What cheer? how is't with you, best brother?

HERMIONE

You look as if you held a brow of much distraction
Are you moved, my lord?

LEONTES

      No, in good earnest.
      How sometimes nature will betray its folly,
185   Its tenderness, and make itself a pastime
      To harder bosoms! Looking on the lines
      Of my boy's face, methoughts I did recoil
      Twenty-three years, and saw myself unbreech'd,
      In my green velvet coat, my dagger muzzled,
190   Lest it should bite its master, and so prove,
      As ornaments oft do, too dangerous:
      How like, methought, I then was to this kernel,
      This squash, this gentleman. Mine honest friend,
      Will you take eggs for money?

MAMILLIUS

195 No, my lord, I'll fight.

LEONTES

      You will! why, happy man be's dole! My brother,
      Are you so fond of your young prince as we
      Do seem to be of ours?

POLIXENES

      If at home, sir,
200   He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter,
      Now my sworn friend and then mine enemy,
      My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all:
      He makes a July's day short as December,
      And with his varying childness cures in me
205   Thoughts that would thick my blood.

LEONTES

      So stands this squire
      Officed with me: we two will walk, my lord,
      And leave you to your graver steps. Hermione,
      How thou lovest us, show in our brother's welcome;
210   Let what is dear in Sicily be cheap:
      Next to thyself and my young rover, he's
      Apparent to my heart.

HERMIONE

If you would seek us,
We are yours i' the garden: shall's attend you there?

LEONTES

215 To your own bents dispose you: you'll be found,
Be you beneath the sky.

Aside

      I am angling now,
      Though you perceive me not how I give line.
      Go to, go to!
220   How she holds up the neb, the bill to him!
      And arms her with the boldness of a wife
      To her allowing husband!

Exeunt POLIXENES, HERMIONE, and Attendants

      Gone already!
      Inch-thick, knee-deep, o'er head and
225   ears a fork'd one!
      Go, play, boy, play: thy mother plays, and I
      Play too, but so disgraced a part, whose issue
      Will hiss me to my grave: contempt and clamour
      Will be my knell. Go, play, boy, play.
230   There have been,
      Or I am much deceived, cuckolds ere now;
      And many a man there is, even at this present,
      Now while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm,
      That little thinks she has been sluiced in's absence
235   And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour, by
      Sir Smile, his neighbour: nay, there's comfort in't
      Whiles other men have gates and those gates open'd,
      As mine, against their will. Should all despair
      That have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind
240   Would hang themselves. Physic for't there is none;
      It is a bawdy planet, that will strike
      Where 'tis predominant; and 'tis powerful, think it,
      From east, west, north and south: be it concluded,
      No barricado for a belly; know't;
245   It will let in and out the enemy
      With bag and baggage: many thousand on's
      Have the disease, and feel't not. How now, boy!

MAMILLIUS

I am like you, they say.

LEONTES

Why that's some comfort. What, Camillo there?

CAMILLO

250 Ay, my good lord.

LEONTES

Go play, Mamillius; thou'rt an honest man.

Exit MAMILLIUS

Camillo, this great sir will yet stay longer.

CAMILLO

You had much ado to make his anchor hold:
When you cast out, it still came home.

LEONTES

255 Didst note it?

CAMILLO

He would not stay at your petitions: made
His business more material.

LEONTES

Didst perceive it?

Aside

      They're here with me already, whispering, rounding
260   'Sicilia is a so-forth:' 'tis far gone,
      When I shall gust it last. How came't, Camillo,
      That he did stay?

CAMILLO

At the good queen's entreaty.

LEONTES

      At the queen's be't: 'good' should be pertinent
265   But, so it is, it is not. Was this taken
      By any understanding pate but thine?
      For thy conceit is soaking, will draw in
      More than the common blocks: not noted, is't,
      But of the finer natures? by some severals
270   Of head-piece extraordinary? lower messes
      Perchance are to this business purblind? say.

CAMILLO

Business, my lord! I think most understand
Bohemia stays here longer.

LEONTES

Ha!

CAMILLO

275 Stays here longer.

LEONTES

Ay, but why?

CAMILLO

To satisfy your highness and the entreaties
Of our most gracious mistress.

LEONTES

      Satisfy!
280   The entreaties of your mistress! satisfy!
      Let that suffice. I have trusted thee, Camillo,
      With all the nearest things to my heart, as well
      My chamber-councils, wherein, priest-like, thou
      Hast cleansed my bosom, I from thee departed
285   Thy penitent reform'd: but we have been
      Deceived in thy integrity, deceived
      In that which seems so.

CAMILLO

Be it forbid, my lord!

LEONTES

      To bide upon't, thou art not honest, or,
290   If thou inclinest that way, thou art a coward,
      Which hoxes honesty behind, restraining
      From course required; or else thou must be counted
      A servant grafted in my serious trust
      And therein negligent; or else a fool
295   That seest a game play'd home, the rich stake drawn,
      And takest it all for jest.

CAMILLO

      My gracious lord,
      I may be negligent, foolish and fearful;
      In every one of these no man is free,
300   But that his negligence, his folly, fear,
      Among the infinite doings of the world,
      Sometime puts forth. In your affairs, my lord,
      If ever I were wilful-negligent,
      It was my folly; if industriously
305   I play'd the fool, it was my negligence,
      Not weighing well the end; if ever fearful
      To do a thing, where I the issue doubted,
      Where of the execution did cry out
      Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear
310   Which oft infects the wisest: these, my lord,
      Are such allow'd infirmities that honesty
      Is never free of. But, beseech your grace,
      Be plainer with me; let me know my trespass
      By its own visage: if I then deny it,
315   'Tis none of mine.

LEONTES

      Ha' not you seen, Camillo,--
      But that's past doubt, you have, or your eye-glass
      Is thicker than a cuckold's horn,--or heard,--
      For to a vision so apparent rumour
320   Cannot be mute,--or thought,--for cogitation
      Resides not in that man that does not think,--
      My wife is slippery? If thou wilt confess,
      Or else be impudently negative,
      To have nor eyes nor ears nor thought, then say
325   My wife's a hobby-horse, deserves a name
      As rank as any flax-wench that puts to
      Before her troth-plight: say't and justify't.

CAMILLO

      I would not be a stander-by to hear
      My sovereign mistress clouded so, without
330   My present vengeance taken: 'shrew my heart,
      You never spoke what did become you less
      Than this; which to reiterate were sin
      As deep as that, though true.

LEONTES

      Is whispering nothing?
335   Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses?
      Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career
      Of laughing with a sigh?--a note infallible
      Of breaking honesty--horsing foot on foot?
      Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift?
340   Hours, minutes? noon, midnight? and all eyes
      Blind with the pin and web but theirs, theirs only,
      That would unseen be wicked? is this nothing?
      Why, then the world and all that's in't is nothing;
      The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing;
345   My wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings,
      If this be nothing.

CAMILLO

      Good my lord, be cured
      Of this diseased opinion, and betimes;
      For 'tis most dangerous.

LEONTES

350 Say it be, 'tis true.

CAMILLO

No, no, my lord.

LEONTES

      It is; you lie, you lie:
      I say thou liest, Camillo, and I hate thee,
      Pronounce thee a gross lout, a mindless slave,
355   Or else a hovering temporizer, that
      Canst with thine eyes at once see good and evil,
      Inclining to them both: were my wife's liver
      Infected as her life, she would not live
      The running of one glass.

CAMILLO

360 Who does infect her?

LEONTES

      Why, he that wears her like a medal, hanging
      About his neck, Bohemia: who, if I
      Had servants true about me, that bare eyes
      To see alike mine honour as their profits,
365   Their own particular thrifts, they would do that
      Which should undo more doing: ay, and thou,
      His cupbearer,--whom I from meaner form
      Have benched and reared to worship, who mayst see
      Plainly as heaven sees earth and earth sees heaven,
370   How I am galled,--mightst bespice a cup,
      To give mine enemy a lasting wink;
      Which draught to me were cordial.

CAMILLO

      Sir, my lord,
      I could do this, and that with no rash potion,
375   But with a lingering dram that should not work
      Maliciously like poison: but I cannot
      Believe this crack to be in my dread mistress,
      So sovereignly being honourable.
      I have loved thee,--

LEONTES

380   Make that thy question, and go rot!
      Dost think I am so muddy, so unsettled,
      To appoint myself in this vexation, sully
      The purity and whiteness of my sheets,
      Which to preserve is sleep, which being spotted
385   Is goads, thorns, nettles, tails of wasps,
      Give scandal to the blood o' the prince my son,
      Who I do think is mine and love as mine,
      Without ripe moving to't? Would I do this?
      Could man so blench?

CAMILLO

390   I must believe you, sir:
      I do; and will fetch off Bohemia for't;
      Provided that, when he's removed, your highness
      Will take again your queen as yours at first,
      Even for your son's sake; and thereby for sealing
395   The injury of tongues in courts and kingdoms
      Known and allied to yours.

LEONTES

      Thou dost advise me
      Even so as I mine own course have set down:
      I'll give no blemish to her honour, none.

CAMILLO

400   My lord,
      Go then; and with a countenance as clear
      As friendship wears at feasts, keep with Bohemia
      And with your queen. I am his cupbearer:
      If from me he have wholesome beverage,
405   Account me not your servant.

LEONTES

      This is all:
      Do't and thou hast the one half of my heart;
      Do't not, thou split'st thine own.

CAMILLO

I'll do't, my lord.

LEONTES

410 I will seem friendly, as thou hast advised me.

Exit

CAMILLO

      O miserable 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
415   Who in rebellion with himself will have
      All that are his so too. To do this deed,
      Promotion follows. If I could find example
      Of thousands that had struck anointed kings
      And flourish'd after, I'ld not do't; but since
420   Nor brass nor stone nor parchment bears not one,
      Let villany itself forswear't. I must
      Forsake the court: to do't, or no, is certain
      To me a break-neck. Happy star, reign now!
      Here comes Bohemia.

Re-enter POLIXENES

POLIXENES

425   This is strange: methinks
      My favour here begins to warp. Not speak?
      Good day, Camillo.

CAMILLO

Hail, most royal sir!

POLIXENES

What is the news i' the court?

CAMILLO

430 None rare, my lord.

POLIXENES

      The king hath on him such a countenance
      As he had lost some province and a region
      Loved as he loves himself: even now I met him
      With customary compliment; when he,
435   Wafting his eyes to the contrary and falling
      A lip of much contempt, speeds from me and
      So leaves me to consider what is breeding
      That changeth thus his manners.

CAMILLO

I dare not know, my lord.

POLIXENES

440   How! dare not! do not. Do you know, and dare not?
      Be intelligent to me: 'tis thereabouts;
      For, to yourself, what you do know, you must.
      And cannot say, you dare not. Good Camillo,
      Your changed complexions are to me a mirror
445   Which shows me mine changed too; for I must be
      A party in this alteration, finding
      Myself thus alter'd with 't.

CAMILLO

      There is a sickness
      Which puts some of us in distemper, but
450   I cannot name the disease; and it is caught
      Of you that yet are well.

POLIXENES

      How! caught of me!
      Make me not sighted like the basilisk:
      I have look'd on thousands, who have sped the better
455   By my regard, but kill'd none so. Camillo,--
      As you are certainly a gentleman, thereto
      Clerk-like experienced, which no less adorns
      Our gentry than our parents' noble names,
      In whose success we are gentle,--I beseech you,
460   If you know aught which does behove my knowledge
      Thereof to be inform'd, imprison't not
      In ignorant concealment.

CAMILLO

I may not answer.

POLIXENES

      A sickness caught of me, and yet I well!
465   I must be answer'd. Dost thou hear, Camillo,
      I conjure thee, by all the parts of man
      Which honour does acknowledge, whereof the least
      Is not this suit of mine, that thou declare
      What incidency thou dost guess of harm
470   Is creeping toward me; how far off, how near;
      Which way to be prevented, if to be;
      If not, how best to bear it.

CAMILLO

      Sir, I will tell you;
      Since I am charged in honour and by him
475   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 lost, and so good night!

POLIXENES

On, good Camillo.

CAMILLO

480 I am appointed him to murder you.

POLIXENES

By whom, Camillo?

CAMILLO

By the king.

POLIXENES

For what?

CAMILLO

      He thinks, nay, with all confidence he swears,
485   As he had seen't or been an instrument
      To vice you to't, that you have touch'd his queen
      Forbiddenly.

POLIXENES

      O, then my best blood turn
      To an infected jelly and my name
490   Be yoked with his that did betray the Best!
      Turn then my freshest reputation to
      A savour that may strike the dullest nostril
      Where I arrive, and my approach be shunn'd,
      Nay, hated too, worse than the great'st infection
495   That e'er was heard or read!

CAMILLO

      Swear his thought over
      By each particular star in heaven and
      By all their influences, you may as well
      Forbid the sea for to obey the moon
500   As or by oath remove or counsel shake
      The fabric of his folly, whose foundation
      Is piled upon his faith and will continue
      The standing of his body.

POLIXENES

How should this grow?

CAMILLO

505   I know not: but I am sure 'tis safer to
      Avoid what's grown than question how 'tis born.
      If therefore you dare trust my honesty,
      That lies enclosed in this trunk which you
      Shall bear along impawn'd, away to-night!
510   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 lost. Be not uncertain;
515   For, by the honour of my parents, I
      Have utter'd truth: which if you seek to prove,
      I dare not stand by; nor shall you be safer
      Than one condemn'd by the king's own mouth, thereon
      His execution sworn.

POLIXENES

520   I do believe thee:
      I saw his heart in 's face. Give me thy hand:
      Be pilot to me and thy places shall
      Still neighbour mine. My ships are ready and
      My people did expect my hence departure
525   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 dishonour'd by a man which ever
530   Profess'd to him, why, his revenges must
      In that be made more bitter. Fear o'ershades me:
      Good expedition be my friend, and comfort
      The gracious queen, part of his theme, but nothing
      Of his ill-ta'en suspicion! Come, Camillo;
535   I will respect thee as a father if
      Thou bear'st my life off hence: let us avoid.

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

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