Emil. Most worthy madam, Your honor, and your goodness, is so evident, That your free undertaking cannot miss A thriving issue; there is no lady living So meet for this great errand. Please your ladyship Acquaint the queen of your most noble offer; Lest she should be denied. Paul. I'll use that tongue I have. Tell her, Emilia, If wit flow from it, As boldness from my bosom, let it not be doubted I shall do good. I'll to the queen. Now be you blest for it! Please you, come something nearer. Keep. Madam, if't please the queen to send the babe, I know not what I shall incur, to pass it, Having no warrant. Paul. You need not fear it, sir. The child was prisoner to the womb; and is, Paul. Do not you fear; upon [Exeunt. Mine honor, I will stand 'twixt you and danger. SCENE III. The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter LEONTES, ANTIGONUS, Lords, and other Attendants. Leon. Nor night, nor day, no rest. It is but weak ness To bear the matter thus; mere weakness, if The cause were not in being;-part o' the cause, 1 She, the adult'ress;-for the harlot king Leon. How does the boy? 1 Attend. My lord! [Advancing. He took good rest to-night; "Tis hoped his sickness is discharged. Leon. His nobleness! Conceiving the dishonor of his mother, To see He straight declined, drooped, took it deeply The very thought of my revenges that way Laugh at me; make their pastime at my sorrow. 1 Lord. Enter PAULINA, with a Child. You must not enter. Paul. Nay, rather, good my lords, be second to me. Fear you his tyrannous passion more, alas, Than the queen's life? a gracious, innocent soul; 3 1 Blank and level mean mark and aim, or direction. They are terms of gunnery. 2 i. e. leave me alone. 3 Free, i. e. as here used, pure, chaste. Ant. That's enough. 1 Attend. Madam, he hath not slept to-night; com manded None should come at him. Paul. I come to bring him sleep. That creep like shadows by Not so hot, good sir; 'Tis such as you,him, and do sigh At each his needless heavings,-such as you Do come with words as med'cinal as true; Leon. What noise there, ho! Paul. No noise, my lord; but needful conference About some gossips for your highness. Leon. How? Away with that audacious lady. Antigonus, charged thee, that she should not come about me; I knew she would. Ant. I told her so, my lord, On your displeasure's peril, and on mine, Leon. What, canst not rule her? Paul. From all dishonesty, he can. In this, (Unless he take the course that you have done, Commit me, for committing honor,) trust it, He shall not rule me. Ant. When she will take the rein, I let her run; Paul. Lo you now; you hear! Good my liege, I come, And, I beseech you, hear me, who profess1 1 The old copy has professes. I come 2 "In comforting your evils." To comfort, in old language, is to and, to encourage. Evils here mean wicked courses. Leon. Good queen ! Paul. Good queen, my lord, good queen: I say, good queen; And would by combat make her good, so were I Leon. Force her hence. Paul. Let him, that makes but trifles of his eyes, First hand me on my own accord, I'll off; But, first, I'll do my errand.—The good queenFor she is good-hath brought you forth a daughter; Here 'tis; commends it to your blessing. Leon. 2 [Laying down the Child. Out! A mankind witch! Hence with her, out o' door! Paul. I am as ignorant in that, as you Not so. In so entitling me; and no less honest Than you are mad; which is enough, I'll warrant, Leon. Traitors! Will you not push her out? Give her the bastard.— Thou dotard To ANTIGONUS.] thou art woman-tired,3 unroosted By thy dame Partlet here.-Take up the bastard; up, I say; give't to thy crone.1 Take't up, Paul. Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou Forever Tak'st up the princess, by that forced 5 baseness Which he has put upon't! Leon. 1 i. e. the weakest, or least warlike. He dreads his wife. 2 "A mankind witch." In Junius's Nomenclator, by Abraham Fleming, 1585, Virago is interpreted "A manly woman, or a mankind woman.” Johnson asserts that the phrase is still used in the midland counties for a woman violent, ferocious, and mischievous. 3 i. e. hen-pecked. To tire in falconry is to tear with the beak. Partlet is the name of the hen in the old story of Renard the Fox. 4 A crone was originally a toothless old ewe; and thence became a term of contempt for an old woman. 5 Forced is false; uttered with violence to truth. Baseness for bastardy; we still say base born. Paul. So I would you did; then, 'twere past all doubt, You'd call Leon. your children yours. A nest of traitors! Nor I; nor any, Ant. I am none, by this good light. His hopeful son's, his babe's, betrays to slander, As ever oak, or stone, was sound. Leon. A callat,1 Of boundless tongue; who late hath beat her husband, And now baits me!-This brat is none of mine; It is the issue of Polixenes. Hence with it; and, together with the dam, Paul. It is yours; And, might we lay the old proverb to your charge, The trick of his frown, his forehead; nay, the valley, The ordering of the mind too, 'mongst all colors Leon. A gross hag! And, lozel,3 thou art worthy to be hanged, That wilt not stay her tongue. 1 A callat is a trull. 2 "No yellow," the color of jealousy. 3 Lozel, a worthless fellow; one lost to all goodness from the Saxon losian, to perish, to be lost. Lorel, losel, losliche, are all of the same family. |