So sovereignly being honourable.

I have lov'd thee,-
LEON.

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,
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?

САМ.

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
The injury of tongues, in courts and kingdoms
Known and allied to yours.

LEON.

Thou dost advise me,

Even so as I mine own course have set down:

I'll give no blemish to her honour, none.

CAM. 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,

Account me not your servant.

This is all:

LEON.
Do 't, and thou hast the one half of my heart;
Do't not, thou splitt'st thine own.

САМ.

I'll do 't, my lord.

LEON. I will seem friendly, as thou hast advis'd me.

CAM. 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,
Who, in rebellion with himself, will have
All that are his so too.-To do this deed,

[Exit.

Promotion follows: If I could find example
Of thousands that had struck anointed kings
And flourish'd after, I'd not do 't: but since

Nor brass, nor stone, nor parchment, bears not one,
Let villainy 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.

Enter POLIXENES.

POL.

This is strange! methinks,

My favour here begins to warp. Not speak —

Good day, Camillo.

CAM.

Hail, most royal sir!

POL. What is the news i' the court?
САМ.

None rare, my lord.
POL. The king hath on him such a countenance
As he had lost some province, and a region
Lov'd as he loves himself: even now I met him
With customary compliment; when he,
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 changes thus his manners.

CAM. I dare not know, my lord.

POL. How! dare not? do not? Do you know, and dare not Be intelligent to me? "T is thereabouts;

For, to yourself, what you do know you must;
And cannot say, you dare not. Good Camillo,
Your chang'd complexions are to me a mirror,
Which shows me mine chang'd too: for I must be
A party in this alteration, finding

Myself thus alter'd with it.

САМ.

There is a sickness

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

POL.

How caught of me?

Make me not sighted like the basilisk:

I have look'd on thousands who have sped the better

Camillo

By my regard, but kill'd none so.
As you are certainly a gentleman; thereto
Clerk-like, experienc'd, which no less adorns
Our gentry, than our parents' noble names,
In whose success we are gentle,—I beseech you,
If you know aught which does behove my knowledge
Thereof to be inform'd, imprison it not

In ignorant concealment.

САМ.

I may not answer.

POL. A sickness caught of me, and yet I well!
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

Is creeping toward me; how far off, how near;
Which way to be prevented, if to be;

If not, how best to bear it.

САМ.

Sir, I will tell you;

Since I am charg'd in honour, and by him

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.

POL.

On, good Camillo.
CAM. I am appointed him to murther you.
POL. By whom, Camillo?

САМ.

POL.

By the king.

For what?

CAM. He thinks, nay, with all confidence, he swears,

As he had seen 't or been an instrument

To vice you to 't,—that you have touch'd his queen
Forbiddenly.

POL. O, then my best blood turn

To an infected jelly; and my name
Be yok'd 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

That e'er was heard, or read!

САМ.

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,
As, or by oath, remove, or counsel, shake
The fabric of his folly; whose foundation
Is pil'd upon his faith, and will continue
The standing of his body.

POL.

How should this grow?

CAM. I know not: but, I am sure, 't is safer to
Avoid what's grown than question how 't is born.
If therefore you dare trust my honesty,-
That lies enclosed in this trunk, which you
Shall bear aong impawn'd,-away to-night.
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;
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 cordemn'd by the king's own mouth, thereon
His execution sworn.

POL.

I do believe thee;

I saw his heat in his face. Give me thy hand:
Be pilot to me, and thy places shall

Still neighbor mine: My ships are ready, and
My people dil expect my hence departure
Two days ag-This jealousy

Is for a precius creature: as she 's rare,
Must it be geat; and, as his person's mighty,
Must it be volent: and as he does conceive
He is dishonour'd by a man which ever
Profess'c to him, why, his revenges must

In that be made more bitter. Fear o'ershades me:
Good expedition be my friend, and comfort

The grcious queen, part of his theme, but nothing
Of hisill-ta'en suspicion! Come, Camillo;

I will respect thee as a father, if

Thou bear'st my life off hence: Let us avoid.
CAM. 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

ACT II.

SCENE I-Sicilia.-The Palace.

Enter HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS, and Ladis.

HER. Take the boy to you: he so troubles m "T is past enduring.

1 LADY.

Come, my gracious lord,

Shall I be your playfellow?

MAM.

No, I'll none of you.

1 LADY. Why, my sweet lord?

MAM. You'll kiss me hard; and speak to me as if

I were a baby still.—I love you better.

2 LADY. And why so, my lord?

Not for becaus

MAM.
Your brows are blacker; yet black brows, they sy,
Become some women best; so that there be not

Too much hair there, but in a semicircle,

Or a half-moon made with a pen.

2 LADY.

Who taught thi?

MAM. I learn'd it out of women's faces: pray iow What colour are your eyebrows?

1 LADY.

Blue, my lord.

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

2 LADY.

Hark ye:

The queen, your mother, rounds apace: we shall
Present our services to a fine new prince,