The access of gentle visitors! Is 't lawful, pray you,
To see her women? any of them? Emilia?

Gaol. So please you, madam,

Paul.

Gaol.

To put apart these your attendants, I
Shall bring Emilia forth.

I pray now, call her.

15

Withdraw yourselves. [Exeunt Gentleman and Attendants.
And, madam,

I must be present at your conference.

Paul. Well, be 't so, prithee.

Here's such ado to make no stain a stain

[Exit Gaoler.

As passes colouring.

Re-enter Gaoler, with EMILIA.

20

Dear gentlewoman,

How fares our gracious lady?
Emil. As well as one so great and so forlorn

May hold together: on her frights and griefs,
Which never tender lady hath borne greater,
She is something before her time deliver'd.
Paul. A boy?

Emil.

Paul.

A daughter; and a goodly babe,
Lusty and like to live: the queen receives
Much comfort in 't; says, "My poor prisoner,
I am innocent as you."

I dare be sworn:

25

These dangerous unsafe lunes i' the king, beshrew them! 30
He must be told on 't, and he shall: the office
Becomes a woman best; I'll take 't upon me:
If I prove honey-mouth'd, let my tongue blister,
And never to my red-look'd anger be
The trumpet any more. Pray you, Emilia,
Commend my best obedience to the queen :
If she dares trust me with her little babe,

madam.

35

11-13. Hanmer ends the lines lawful . . them? a-part Ff 1, 2, 3; a part F 4. 16. [Exeunt . . .] om. Ff. Emilia Ff 2, 3, 4. 31. on 't] of it Pope.

14. apart] 15. pray now] F 1; pray you now Ff:2, 3, 4. 20. Re-enter. .] Capell; om. F 1; Enter 21. our] one F 2. 30. unsafe] unsane Collier MS.

20. passes colouring] "outdoes all the arts of painting" (Herford). 23. on] following on.

30. lunes] fits of lunacy. Compare Troilus and Cressida, 11. iii. 140:

"And underwrite in an observing kind

His humorous predominance; yea, watch

His pettish lunes," etc.

The person referred to here is Achilles.

Emil.

I'll show 't the king and undertake to be

Her advocate to the loud'st. We do not know
How he may soften at the sight o' the child:
The silence often of pure innocence
Persuades when speaking fails.

40

Most worthy madam,

Your honour and your goodness is so evident,

That your free undertaking cannot miss

A thriving issue: there is no lady living

45

So meet for this great errand. Please your ladyship
To visit the next room, I'll presently

Paul.

Emil.

Acquaint the queen of your most noble offer ;
Who but to-day hammer'd of this design,
But durst not tempt a minister of honour,
Lest she should be denied.

Tell her, Emilia,
I'll use that tongue I have: if wit flow from 't
As boldness from my bosom, let 't not be doubted
I shall do good.

Now be you blest for it!

50

I'll to the queen: please you, come something nearer. 55 Gaol. Madam, if 't please the queen to send the babe,

Paul.

I know not what I shall incur to pass it,

Having no warrant.

You need not fear it, sir:
This child was prisoner to the womb, and is
By law and process of great nature thence
Freed and enfranchised; not a party to
The anger of the king, nor guilty of,

If any be, the trespass of the queen.

Gaol. I do believe it.

Paul. Do not you fear: upon mine honour, I

Will stand betwixt you and danger.

60

65

[Exeunt.

53.

49. hammer'd of hammer'd on Hanmer. 51. Lest] Rowe; Least Ff. let 't] Ff 3, 4; le 't Ff 1, 2. 59. This child] The child Rowe. 66. betwixt] 'twixt Pope.

44. free] generous.

47. presently] immediately.

49. hammer'd of] hammered on, kept on urging. Compare Two Gentlemen of Verona, I. iii. 18: "That whereon this month I have been hammering." 50. tempt] solicit.

55. come something nearer] "The only explanation which I can find for

this sentence is that Paulina is not actually inside the prison, but stands without at the gate or entrance, and Emilia asks her to enter or come further within it" (Furness).

57. what I shall . . . pass it] what penalty I shall incur by letting the babe pass.

63. If any be] if there be any guilt.

SCENE III.-A room in Leontes' Palace.
Enter LEONTES, ANTIGONUS, Lords, and Servants.
Leon. Nor night nor day no rest: it is but weakness
To bear the matter thus; mere weakness. If
The cause were not in being,-part o' the cause,
She the adulteress; for the harlot king

Is quite beyond mine arm, out of the blank
And level of my brain, plot-proof; but she
I can hook to me: say that she were gone,
Given to the fire, a moiety of my rest

Might come to me again.

First Serv.

Leon. How does the boy?

First Serv.

Who's there?

My lord!

He took good rest to-night; 'Tis hoped his sickness is discharged.

Leon. To see his nobleness!

Conceiving the dishonour of his mother,

He straight declined, droop'd, took it deeply,
Fasten'd and fix'd the shame on 't in himself,
Threw off his spirit, his appetite, his sleep,

5

ΙΟ

15

And downright languish'd. Leave me solely go,
See how he fares. [Exit Serv.] Fie, fie! no thought of him:
The very thought of my revenges that way

SCENE III.

A room •] Scene changes to the Palace. Theob.

and Servants] om. Ff. 2. weakness. If] Collier. The Ff read weakness, if. 3. being,-] being: Ff. 5. arm] aim Field. 10-II. rest to-night; 'Tis hoped his] rest to-night: 'tis hop'd His Ff; rest To-night, 'tis hop'd his Hanmer. 18. [Exit... ] Theobald.

SCENE III.

4. harlot king] The word "harlot," the ultimate etymology of which is uncertain, is first used in the sense of vagabond, low knave. The earliest record of its use in the sense of an unchaste woman dates from the fifteenth century. In the sense of a vagabond it occurs in the Ancren Riwle (circ. 1225). 5. arm] Field in the Shak. Soc. Papers, iii. 136, declares that arm is a misprint for aim, apparently because of the allusion to the practice of aiming in gunnery, which is implied in the words "blank and "level" which follow. But it is the custom of Shakespeare to pass lightly from one metaphorical expression to another; he does this in fact in this very speech, passing from the levelling of a gun to the grappling of ships in a

naval encounter by means of grapplinghooks.

5-6. blank and level] These are terms of gunnery. The blank is the white spot in the centre of the target, the bull's-eye, and the level is the missile's range. In Hamlet, IV. i. 42: "As level as the cannon to his blank," the two words reappear, but here level is an adverb, meaning with straight aim, directly. With level in the sense of range, compare All's Well that Ends Well, 11. i. 159:

"That proclaim

Myself against the level of mine aim,"

and Sonnet cxvii.: "Within the level of your frown"; see also III. ii. 81 of this play.

18. him] Polixenes.

20

Recoil upon me: in himself too mighty,
And in his parties, his alliance; let him be
Until a time may serve.
Take it on her. Camillo and Polixenes

For present vengeance,

Laugh at me, make their pastime at my sorrow :
They should not laugh if I could reach them, nor
Shall she within my power.

First 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,

Ant.

Than the queen's life? a gracious innocent soul,
More free than he is jealous.

Sec. Serv. Madam, he hath not slept to-night; commanded None should come at him.

Paul.

I come to bring him sleep.

That's enough.

Not so hot, good sir

'Tis such as you,

That creep like shadows by him, and do sigh
At each his needless heavings, such as you
Nourish the cause of his awaking: I

Do come with words as medicinal as true,

Honest as either, to purge him of that humour
That presses him from sleep.

25

30

35

What noise there, ho?

40

Leon.
Paul. No noise, my lord; but needful conference
About some gossips for your highness.

Leon.

Ant.

How!

Away with that audacious lady! Antigonus,
I charged thee that she should not come about me.
I knew she would.

20. Recoil] Recoils Hanmer.

is omitted in Ff 2-4.

I told her so, my lord,

21. alliance ;] alliances,— Capell. This line 26. Enter P. . . . child] Rowe; Enter Paulina Ff. 26. First Lord] Malone; Lord Ff. 31. Sec. Serv.] Ser. Ff. 37. medicinal] med'cinal Capell. 39. What] Ff 2, 3,

20. Recoil] For this use of a plural verb after a subject which is properly singular, see Abbott, § 412.

23. Take it] let me exercise it. 27. be second to] assist.

30. free] innocent. Compare Hamlet, II. ii. 537: "make mad the guilty and appal the free."

41. gossips] sponsors at baptism.

4; Who F i.

Compare Henry VIII. v. v. 13, where the sponsors of the Princess Elizabeth are addressed as "My noble gossips." The line from Midsummer Night's Dream, II. i. 47: "And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl," shows that already in Shakespeare's time the word had advanced to its modern meaning.

On your displeasure's peril and on mine,
She should not visit you.

45

What, canst not rule her?

Leon.

Paul. From all dishonesty he can: in this,
Unless he take the course that you have done,
Commit me for committing honour, trust it,

Ant.

He shall not rule me.

When she will take the
But she'll not stumble.

Paul.

Leon.

Paul.

Good my liege, I come,—
And, I beseech you, hear me, who professes
Myself your loyal servant, your physician,
Your most obedient counsellor, yet that dares
Less appear so in comforting your evils,
Than such as most seem yours;—I say, I come
From your good queen.

Good queen!

Good queen; I say good queen;

55

Good queen, my lord,

And would by combat make her good, so were I 60
A man, the worst about you.

Leon.
Force her hence.
Paul. Let him that makes but trifles of his eyes
First hand me; on mine own accord I'll off;
But first I'll do my errand. The good queen,
For she is good, hath brought you forth a daughter; 65
Here 'tis; commends it to your blessing.

Leon.

[Laying down the child. Out!

A mankind witch! Hence with her, out o' door:

49. trust it] trust me Hanmer. 50. La you] La-you Ff. 51. rein] Rowe; raine Ff. 53. professes] profess Rowe (2), Capell, Rann, Steevens, Dyce, Hudson. 57. seem] seems Pope. 58-9. The Ff arrange these lines thus: Good Queene (my Lord) good Queene, I say good Queene, the second line beginning with I say. 60. good, so] Theobald; good so, Ff. 61. the worst] on th' worst Warburton. 66. [Laying . . .] Rowe; om. Ff.