Camillo, this great sir will yet stay longer.

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

Leon.

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

Leon.

Cam.

Didst note it?

215

Didst perceive it?

[Aside] They're here with me already; whispering, rounding

"Sicilia is a so-forth: 'tis far gone,

When I shall gust it last.-How came 't, Camillo,

That he did stay?

At the good queen's entreaty.

Was this taken

Leon. At the queen's be 't: "good" should be pertinent;
But, so it is, it is not.

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
Of head-piece extraordinary? lower messes
Perchance are to this business purblind? say.

213. his] the Hanmer. 217. [Aside] Hanmer.

214. still] ever, always.
214. came home] failed to hold.
216. material] urgent.

220

225

215. petitions; made] petitions made; Pope.

217. They're here with me already] The significance of this phrase was first indicated by Staunton, who explained that, in using these words, the king meant "The people are already mocking me with this opprobrious gesture the cuckold's emblem-with their fingers." Furness, in support of Staunton's interpretation, aptly quotes the words of Faunio to his master at the end of the fourth Act of Chapman's May Day: "As often as he turnes his backe to me, I shall be here V with him, that's certaine," where the symbol V represents the actor's fingers in making the symbol of the two horns of the cuckold. Furness also observes that in Hogarth's picture, “The Idle Apprentice," there is a representation of this gesture.

217. rounding] The meaning of this now obsolete word is almost identical with that of the preceding word,

"whispering"; it may be rendered, "whispering with an air of mystery," thus preserving the idea of mystery which was early associated with the word "rune," from which the verb "to round" (properly roun, rown, from O.E. runian) is derived.

218. so-forth] Used, like the words et cetera in Romeo and Juliet, II. i. 38, to avoid using an opprobrious word. 219. gust] taste.

222. so it is] as it happens.
222. taken] perceived.

224. For thy conceit is soaking] Your intelligence is receptive, and takes in more than average brains.

66

225. common blocks] Leontes' language is highly metaphorical, and the allusion in "soaking,' draw in" and "common blocks" is to the absorbent quality of the wooden hat-blocks on which the crown of a hat is formed.

226. severals] individuals.

227. lower messes] those who sit on the lower seats at table; compare the phrase, "to sit below the salt-cellar."

Cam. Business, my lord? I think most understand

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

Leon.

Cam.

Satisfy!

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
Thy penitent reform'd: but we have been
Deceived in thy integrity, deceived
In that which seems so.

Be it forbid, my lord!
Leon. To bide upon 't, thou art not honest; or,
If thou inclinest that way, thou art a coward,
Which hoxes honesty behind, restraining

Cam.

235

240

From course required; or else thou must be counted 245
A servant grafted in my serious trust

And therein negligent; or else a fool

That seest a game play'd home, the rich stake drawn,
And takest it all for jest.

My gracious lord,
I may be negligent, foolish and fearful;
In every one of these no man is free,
But that his negligence, his folly, fear,
Among the infinite doings of the world,

250

230-1. Leon. Ha! Cam. Stays here longer. Leon. Ay] Leon. Ha? stays here longer. Ay Hanmer. 230. Stays] Bohemia stays, Capell.

236.

nearest things to] Ff; things nearest to, Pope. as well] with all Hanmer ; as well as, Capell. 238. I from thee departed] I, from thee departed, Ff. See note infra. 244. hoxes] hockles, Hanmer. 253. Among] F 1; Amongst Ff doings] F 1; doing Ff 2, 3, 4.

2, 3, 4.

Sometime puts forth. In your affairs, my lord,
If ever I were wilful-negligent,

It was my folly; if industriously

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,
Whereof the execution did cry out

255

260

Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear
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,

265

'Tis none of mine.

Leon.

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
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,

270

To have nor eyes, nor ears, nor thought, then say
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.
Cam. I would not be a stander-by to hear

275

280

Leon.

My sovereign mistress clouded so, without
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.

Is whispering nothing?

254. forth. In] Theobald; forth in F. my lord] Theobald; (my lord) Ff. 261. non-performance] now-performance, Heath. 272. think] think it Theobald, etc. 276. hobby-horse] Rowe (2); holy-horse Ff.

It was 273. slippery] unstable. Compare "All women are slippery" (Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, 6th ed. p.

254. puts forth] appears. Theobald who first placed a full-stop after "forth." The Ff carry the sense on to the end of the line.

256. industriously] deliberately. 268. eye-glass] the crystalline lens of the eye. 270. For to apparent] For in cases which are open to everybody Ito

598).

277. flax-wench] female flax-worker. 281. present] instant.

284. that] i.e. the sin of which she is accused.

see.

Cam.

Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career
Of laughter with a sigh?-a note infallible
Of breaking honesty ;-horsing foot on foot?
Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift?
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;

285

290

My wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings, 295
If this be nothing.

Good my lord, be cured

Of this diseased opinion, and betimes;

Pronounce thee a gross lout, a mindless slave,
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

305

The running of one glass.

Cam.

Who does infect her?

Leon. Why, he that wears her like her 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,
Their own particular thrifts, they would do that
Which should undo more doing: ay, and thou,

285. [meeting] F 4; meating Ff 1-3; meting Thirlby.
the noon Ff 2, 3, 4. 304. wife's] Rowe; wives Ff.
medull Ff 1, 2, 3; medul F 4; a medal Collier MS.
bear F 4. 312. ay] Capell; I Ff.

286. career] free course properly an equestrian metaphor-a short gallop at full speed.

288. horsing foot on foot] setting one foot on another.

291. pin and web] the disease of cataract. Compare King Lear, III. iv. 120: "He gives the web and the pin, squints the eye, and makes the harelip."

302. hovering] wavering.

310

290. noon] FI; 307. medal] Rowe; 309. bare] Ff 1, 2, 3;

306. glass] hour-glass. 307. her medal] a medal of her. Compare Henry VIII. 11. ii. 32:— "A loss of her

That like a jewel has hung twenty years

About his neck."

311. thrifts] gains. Compare Merchant of Venice, 1. iii. 51: "my wellwon thrift."

Cam.

Leon.

His cupbearer,-whom I from meaner form

Have bench'd and rear'd to worship, who mayst see
Plainly as heaven sees earth and earth sees heaven, 315
How I am gall'd,-mightst bespice a cup,

To give mine enemy a lasting wink;

Which draught to me were cordial.

Sir, my lord,

320

I could do this, and that with no rash potion,
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,

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

Without ripe moving to 't?
Could man so blench?

love as mine,
Would I do this?

316. mightst] F 1; thou mightst Ff 2, 3, 4.

325

330

318. Sir] Sure Collier MS. 321. Maliciously, like] Maliciously, like a F 4. 324. I have loved thee] Theobald, Warburton and Johnson assign these words to Leontes, and make them a part of the speech which follows. In the Long MS. it stands: Leon. Have I lov'd thee? Make that vexation; sully] vexation? sully Ff. and tails Hanmer. 329. wasps ;]

rot!

324. go rot] go do 't Heath. 329. thorns. tails] and thorns. wasps? or would I Capell.

314. bench'd] given a seat, a sure place, to.

317. To give .. wink] to close my enemy's eyes in death. Compare The Tempest, II. i. 285: "To the perpetual wink for aye might put this ancient morsel."

323. So... honourable] who is so supremely honourable.

324. Make that . . . question] The words are somewhat obscure, but it is probable that the word "that" refers back to "this crack in my dread mistress."

326. To appoint myself] To understand the meaning of these words, we must bear in mind that the words "without ripe moving to 't" (v. 332) must be taken with them. I think Leontes means, Do you think I am in

326.

such a state of confusion as to make up my mind about this vexatious matter without sufficient reason? With this reflexive use of the verb "to appoint in the sense of "to resolve, to make up one's mind," compare More, Richard III.: "If you appoint your selfe to tary here," and Crowley's Waie to Wealth: "Apointe thy selfe therefore to beare it.""

333. blench] It is possible that this word is used in the sense of "to start aside,"" swerve"; compare Measure for Measure, IV. v. 5: 66 Though sometimes you do blench from this to that." But the New Eng. Dict. quotes uses of the word down to 1400 in the sense of "deceive," cheat," and it may be that Leontes means, "Could man so deceive himself? "