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 horfes

And gracious be the iffue.

SCENE II.

Reprefents a Court of Justice.

[Exeunt.

Leontes, Lords and Officers, appear properly feated.

THIS

Leo. HIS feffion, (to our great grief, we pronounce,)

Ev'n pushes 'gainst our heart. The party try'd,
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 so openly
Proceed in juftice, which fhall have due course,
Even to the guilt, or the purgation.
-Produce the prisoner.

Offi. It is his Highness' pleasure, that the Queen Appear in perfon here in court.-Silence!

Hermione is brought in, guarded; Paulina, and Ladies, attending.

Leo. Read the indictment.

Offi. Hermione, Queen to the worthy Leontes, King of Sicilia, thou art here accufed and arraigned of high treafon, 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

2

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 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 myfelf; it shall scarce boot me
To fay, Not guilty: mine integrity 3,
Being counted falfhood, fhall, as I exprefs it,
Be fo received. But thus-If powers divine
Behold our human actions, as they do,

I doubt not then, but innocence shall make
False accufation blush, and tyranny
Tremble at patience.
-You, my Lord, best know,
Who leaft will feem to do fo, my past life
Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true,
As I am now unhappy; which is more
Than history can pattern, tho' 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 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 fpare: for honour,
'Tis a derivative from me to mine,

And only that I ftand for. I appeal

To your own confcience, Sir, before Polixenes
Came to your court, how I was in your grace,

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pretence Is, in this place, taken for a fcheme laid, a defign formed; to pretend means to defign, in the Gent. of Verona. 3 Mine integrity, &c.] That is, my virtue being accounted wickedness, my affertion of it

will pafs but for a lie. Falfhood means both treachery and lie.

4 For life I prize it, &c.] Life is to me now only grief, and as fuch only is confidered by me, I would therefore willingĺy difmifs it.

T 2

How

How merited to be fo; fince he came,

With what encounter fo uncurrent l 5

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

Leo. I ne'er heard yet,

That any of those bolder vices wanted
Lefs impudence to gain-fay what they did,
Than to perform it first.

Her. That's true enough;

Tho' 'tis a faying, Sir, not due to me.

Leo. You will not own it.

Her. More than mistress of,

What comes to me in name of fault, I must not
At all acknowledge. For Polixenes,
With whom I am accus'd, I do confess,
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 fuch,
So and no other, as yourself commanded :

Than to perform it firft.] It is apparent that according to the proper, at least according to the prefent ufe of words, les fhould be more, or wanted fhould be bad. But Shakespeare is very uncertain in his ufe of negatives. It may be neceffary once to observe, that in our language two negatives did not originally affirm, but ftrengthen the negation. This mode of fpeech was in time changed; but as the change was made in oppofition to long cuf tom, it proceeded gradually, and uniformity was not obtained but through an intermediate confufion.

Which not to have done, I think, had been in me Both disobedience and ingratitude

To you, and towards your friend; whofe love had fpoke,

Even fince it could fpeak, from an infant, freely,
That it was yours. Now for Confpiracy,

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

Is, that Camillo was an honeft man;

And why he left your Court, the Gods themselves (Wotting no more than I) are ignorant.

Leo. You knew of his departure, as you know
What you have underta'en to do in's abfence.
Her. Sir,

You speak a language that I understand not;
My life ftands in the level of your dreams 7,
Which I'll lay down.

Leo. Your Actions are my dreams;

You had a Bastard by Polixenes,

And I but dream'd it.-As you were past all shame *; (Those of your fact are fo) fo paft all truth;

Which to deny, concerns more than avails: for as

Thy brat hath been caft out, like to itself,
No father owning it, (which is, indeed,
More criminal in thee than it) fo thou

Shalt feel our juftice; in whofe eafieft paffage
Look for no less than death..

Her. Sir, fpare your threats;

The bug, which you would fright me with, I feek:

To me can life be no commodity.

The crown and comfort of my life, your Favour,
I do give loft; for I do feel it gone,

But know not how it went. My fecond joy,
The first-fruits of my body, from his prefence
I'm barr'd like one infectious. My third comfort,
Starr'd most unluckily, is from

my breast,
The innocent milk in its moft innocent mouth,
Hal'd out to murder; myself on every post
Proclaim'd a ftrumpet, with immodeft hatred,
The child-bed privilege deny'd, 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 bleffings I have here alive,
That I should fear to die? therefore proceed
But yet hear this; mistake me not;no life,
I prize it not a straw-but for mine honour,
Which I would free, if I fhall be condemn'd
Upon furmifes, (all proofs fleeping else,
But what our jealoufies awake) I tell you,
'Tis Rigour, and not Law. Your Honours all,
I do refer me to the Oracle

Apollo be my judge.

SCENE III.

Enter Dion and Cleomines.

Lord. This your request

Is altogether juft; therefore bring forth,
And in Apollo's name, his Oracle.

Her. The Emperor of Ruffa was my father.

I have got ftrength of limit.] I know not well how ftrength of limit can mean ftrength to pass the limits of the childbed chamber,

which yet it must mean in this place, unlefs we read in a more eafy phrafe, ftrength of limb. And now, &c.

Oh,