Texts:Shakespeare/cw162339: Difference between revisions

<h2>THE WINTER'S TALE</h2>

<h3>Contents</h3>

<p>

Sicilia. An Antechamber in Leontes' Palace.<br/>

The same. A Room of State in the Palace.<br/>

<br/>

Sicilia. A Room in the Palace.<br/>

The same. The outer Room of a Prison.<br/>

The same. A Room in the Palace.<br/>

<br/>

Sicilia. A Street in some Town.<br/>

The same. A Court of Justice.<br/>

Bohemia. A desert Country near the Sea.<br/>

<br/>

Prologue.<br/>

Bohemia. A Room in the palace of Polixenes.<br/>

The same. A Road near the Shepherd's cottage.<br/>

The same. A Shepherd's Cottage.<br/>

<br/>

Sicilia. A Room in the palace of Leontes.<br/>

The same. Before the Palace.<br/>

The same. A Room in Paulina's house.<br/>

</p>

<p>

LEONTES, King of Sicilia<br/>

MAMILLIUS, his son<br/>

CAMILLO, Sicilian Lord<br/>

ANTIGONUS, Sicilian Lord<br/>

CLEOMENES, Sicilian Lord<br/>

DION, Sicilian Lord<br/>

POLIXENES, King of Bohemia<br/>

FLORIZEL, his son<br/>

ARCHIDAMUS, a Bohemian Lord<br/>

An Old Shepherd, reputed father of Perdita<br/>

CLOWN, his son<br/>

AUTOLYCUS, a rogue<br/>

A Mariner<br/>

A Gaoler<br/>

Servant to the Old Shepherd<br/>

Other Sicilian Lords<br/>

Sicilian Gentlemen<br/>

Officers of a Court of Judicature

</p>

<p>HERMIONE, Queen to Leontes<br/>

PERDITA, daughter to Leontes and Hermione<br/>

PAULINA, wife to Antigonus<br/>

EMILIA, a lady attending on the Queen<br/>

MOPSA, shepherdess<br/>

DORCAS, shepherdess<br/>

Other Ladies, attending on the Queen

</p>

<p>Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Satyrs for a Dance; Shepherds, Shepherdesses,

</p>

<p>TIME, as Chorus

</p>

<h4><b>Scene: Sometimes in Sicilia; sometimes in Bohemia.</b></h4>

<h3 id="sceneI_391"> <b>ACT I</b></h3>

<p class="scenedesc"> Enter <span class="charname">Camillo</span> and <span

class="charname">Archidamus</span>.</p>

<p>ARCHIDAMUS.<br/>

If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my

services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference

betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia.

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

I think this coming summer the King of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the

visitation which he justly owes him.

</p>

<p>ARCHIDAMUS.<br/>

Wherein our entertainment shall shame us; we will be justified in our loves.

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

</p>

<p>ARCHIDAMUS.<br/>

Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge. We cannot with such

sleepy drinks, that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience, may,

though they cannot praise us, as little accuse us.

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

You pay a great deal too dear for what's given freely.

<p>ARCHIDAMUS.<br/>

Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me and as mine honesty puts

it to utterance.

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to Bohemia. They were trained together in

their childhoods, and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection which

cannot choose but branch now. Since their more mature dignities and royal

necessities made separation of their society, their encounters, though not

personal, have been royally attorneyed with interchange of gifts, letters,

loving embassies, that they have seemed to be together, though absent; shook

hands, as over a vast; and embraced as it were from the ends of opposed winds.

The heavens continue their loves!

</p>

<p>ARCHIDAMUS.<br/>

I think there is not in the world either malice or matter to alter it. You have

an unspeakable comfort of your young Prince Mamillius. It is a gentleman of the

greatest promise that ever came into my note.

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

I very well agree with you in the hopes of him. It is a gallant child; one that

indeed physics the subject, makes old hearts fresh. They that went on crutches

ere he was born desire yet their life to see him a man.

</p>

<p>ARCHIDAMUS.<br/>

Would they else be content to die?

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

Yes, if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live.

</p>

<p>ARCHIDAMUS.<br/>

If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one.

</p>

<p class="scenedesc"> Enter <span class="charname">Leontes, Polixenes,

Hermione, Mamillius, Camillo</span> and Attendants.</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

Nine changes of the watery star hath been<br/>

The shepherd's note since we have left our throne<br/>

Without a burden. Time as long again<br/>

Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks;<br/>

And yet we should, for perpetuity,<br/>

Go hence in debt: and therefore, like a cipher,<br/>

Yet standing in rich place, I multiply<br/>

That go before it.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Stay your thanks a while,<br/>

And pay them when you part.

</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

Sir, that's tomorrow.<br/>

I am question'd by my fears, of what may chance<br/>

Or breed upon our absence; that may blow<br/>

No sneaping winds at home, to make us say<br/>

To tire your royalty.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

We are tougher, brother,<br/>

Than you can put us to 't.

</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

No longer stay.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

One seve'night longer.

</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

Very sooth, tomorrow.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

We'll part the time between 's then: and in that<br/>

I'll no gainsaying.

</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

Press me not, beseech you, so,<br/>

There is no tongue that moves, none, none i' th' world,<br/>

So soon as yours, could win me: so it should now,<br/>

Were there necessity in your request, although<br/>

'Twere needful I denied it. My affairs<br/>

Do even drag me homeward: which to hinder<br/>

Were, in your love a whip to me; my stay<br/>

To you a charge and trouble: to save both,<br/>

Farewell, our brother.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Tongue-tied, our queen? Speak you.

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

I had thought, sir, to have held my peace until<br/>

You had drawn oaths from him not to stay. You, sir,<br/>

Charge him too coldly. Tell him you are sure<br/>

All in Bohemia's well: this satisfaction<br/>

The by-gone day proclaimed. Say this to him,<br/>

He's beat from his best ward.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Well said, Hermione.

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

To tell he longs to see his son were strong.<br/>

But let him say so then, and let him go;<br/>

But let him swear so, and he shall not stay,<br/>

We'll thwack him hence with distaffs.<br/>

[<i>To Polixenes.</i>] Yet of your royal presence I'll adventure<br/>

The borrow of a week. When at Bohemia<br/>

You take my lord, I'll give him my commission<br/>

To let him there a month behind the gest<br/>

I love thee not a jar of th' clock behind<br/>

What lady she her lord. You'll stay?

</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

No, madam.

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

Nay, but you will?

</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

I may not, verily.

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

Verily!<br/>

You put me off with limber vows; but I,<br/>

Though you would seek t' unsphere the stars with oaths,<br/>

You shall not go. A lady's verily is<br/>

As potent as a lord's. Will go yet?<br/>

Force me to keep you as a prisoner,<br/>

Not like a guest: so you shall pay your fees<br/>

When you depart, and save your thanks. How say you?<br/>

One of them you shall be.

</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

Your guest, then, madam.<br/>

To be your prisoner should import offending;<br/>

Which is for me less easy to commit<br/>

Than you to punish.

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

Not your gaoler then,<br/>

But your kind hostess. Come, I'll question you<br/>

Of my lord's tricks and yours when you were boys.<br/>

You were pretty lordings then.

</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

We were, fair queen,<br/>

Two lads that thought there was no more behind<br/>

But such a day tomorrow as today,<br/>

And to be boy eternal.

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

Was not my lord<br/>

The verier wag o' th' two?

</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i' th' sun<br/>

And bleat the one at th' other. What we chang'd<br/>

Was innocence for innocence; we knew not<br/>

The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream'd<br/>

That any did. Had we pursu'd that life,<br/>

And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd<br/>

With stronger blood, we should have answer'd heaven<br/>

Hereditary ours.

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

By this we gather<br/>

You have tripp'd since.

</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

O my most sacred lady,<br/>

Temptations have since then been born to 's! for<br/>

In those unfledg'd days was my wife a girl;<br/>

Your precious self had then not cross'd the eyes<br/>

Of my young play-fellow.

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

Grace to boot!<br/>

Of this make no conclusion, lest you say<br/>

Your queen and I are devils. Yet go on;<br/>

Th' offences we have made you do we'll answer,<br/>

If you first sinn'd with us, and that with us<br/>

You did continue fault, and that you slipp'd not<br/>

With any but with us.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Is he won yet?

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

He'll stay, my lord.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

At my request he would not.<br/>

Hermione, my dearest, thou never spok'st<br/>

To better purpose.

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

Never?

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Never but once.

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

What! have I twice said well? when was't before?<br/>

I prithee tell me. Cram 's with praise, and make 's<br/>

As fat as tame things: one good deed dying tongueless<br/>

Slaughters a thousand waiting upon that.<br/>

Our praises are our wages. You may ride 's<br/>

With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs ere<br/>

With spur we heat an acre. But to th' goal:<br/>

My last good deed was to entreat his stay.<br/>

What was my first? It has an elder sister,<br/>

Or I mistake you: O, would her name were Grace!<br/>

Nay, let me have't; I long.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Why, that was when<br/>

Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to death,<br/>

Ere I could make thee open thy white hand<br/>

And clap thyself my love; then didst thou utter<br/>

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

'Tis Grace indeed.<br/>

Why, lo you now, I have spoke to th' purpose twice.<br/>

The one for ever earn'd a royal husband;<br/>

Th' other for some while a friend.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

[<i>Aside.</i>] Too hot, too hot!<br/>

To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods.<br/>

I have <i>tremor cordis</i> on me. My heart dances,<br/>

May a free face put on, derive a liberty<br/>

From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom,<br/>

And well become the agent: 't may, I grant:<br/>

But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,<br/>

As now they are, and making practis'd smiles<br/>

As in a looking-glass; and then to sigh, as 'twere<br/>

The mort o' th' deer. O, that is entertainment<br/>

My bosom likes not, nor my brows. Mamillius,<br/>

Art thou my boy?

</p>

<p>MAMILLIUS.<br/>

Ay, my good lord.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

I' fecks!<br/>

Why, that's my bawcock. What! hast smutch'd thy nose?<br/>

They say it is a copy out of mine. Come, captain,<br/>

We must be neat; not neat, but cleanly, captain:<br/>

And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf<br/>

Art thou my calf?

</p>

<p>MAMILLIUS.<br/>

Yes, if you will, my lord.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Thou want'st a rough pash and the shoots that I have<br/>

Almost as like as eggs; women say so,<br/>

That will say anything. But were they false<br/>

As o'er-dy'd blacks, as wind, as waters, false<br/>

As dice are to be wish'd by one that fixes<br/>

No bourn 'twixt his and mine, yet were it true<br/>

To say this boy were like me. Come, sir page,<br/>

Look on me with your welkin eye: sweet villain!<br/>

Affection! thy intention stabs the centre:<br/>

Thou dost make possible things not so held,<br/>

With what's unreal thou coactive art,<br/>

And fellow'st nothing: then 'tis very credent<br/>

Thou may'st co-join with something; and thou dost,<br/>

And that beyond commission, and I find it,<br/>

And that to the infection of my brains<br/>

And hardening of my brows.

</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

What means Sicilia?

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

He something seems unsettled.

</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

How, my lord?<br/>

What cheer? How is't with you, best brother?

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

You look<br/>

As if you held a brow of much distraction:<br/>

Are you mov'd, my lord?

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

No, in good earnest.<br/>

How sometimes nature will betray its folly,<br/>

Its tenderness, and make itself a pastime<br/>

To harder bosoms! Looking on the lines<br/>

Of my boy's face, methoughts I did recoil<br/>

Twenty-three years, and saw myself unbreech'd,<br/>

In my green velvet coat; my dagger muzzled<br/>

Lest it should bite its master, and so prove,<br/>

As ornaments oft do, too dangerous.<br/>

How like, methought, I then was to this kernel,<br/>

This squash, this gentleman. Mine honest friend,<br/>

Will you take eggs for money?

</p>

<p>MAMILLIUS.<br/>

No, my lord, I'll fight.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

You will? Why, happy man be 's dole! My brother,<br/>

Are you so fond of your young prince as we<br/>

Do seem to be of ours?

</p>

<p>POLIXENES.<br/>

If at home, sir,<br/>

He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter:<br/>

Now my sworn friend, and then mine enemy;<br/>

My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all.<br/>

He makes a July's day short as December;<br/>

And with his varying childness cures in me<br/>

Thoughts that would thick my blood.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

So stands this squire<br/>

Offic'd with me. We two will walk, my lord,<br/>

And leave you to your graver steps. Hermione,<br/>

How thou lov'st us show in our brother's welcome;<br/>

Let what is dear in Sicily be cheap:<br/>

Next to thyself and my young rover, he's<br/>

Apparent to my heart.

</p>

<p>HERMIONE.<br/>

If you would seek us,<br/>

We are yours i' the garden. Shall 's attend you there?

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

To your own bents dispose you: you'll be found,<br/>

Be you beneath the sky. [<i>Aside.</i>] I am angling now,<br/>

Though you perceive me not how I give line.<br/>

Go to, go to!<br/>

How she holds up the neb, the bill to him!<br/>

And arms her with the boldness of a wife<br/>

To her allowing husband!

</p>

<p class="right"> [<i>Exeunt <span class="charname">Polixenes, Hermione</span>

and Attendants.</i>]</p>

<p>Gone already!<br/>

Go, play, boy, play. Thy mother plays, and I<br/>

Play too; but so disgrac'd a part, whose issue<br/>

Will hiss me to my grave: contempt and clamour<br/>

Will be my knell. Go, play, boy, play. There have been,<br/>

Or I am much deceiv'd, cuckolds ere now;<br/>

And many a man there is, even at this present,<br/>

Now while I speak this, holds his wife by th' arm,<br/>

That little thinks she has been sluic'd in 's absence,<br/>

And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour, by<br/>

Sir Smile, his neighbour. Nay, there's comfort in 't,<br/>

Whiles other men have gates, and those gates open'd,<br/>

As mine, against their will. Should all despair<br/>

That hath revolted wives, the tenth of mankind<br/>

Would hang themselves. Physic for't there's none;<br/>

It is a bawdy planet, that will strike<br/>

Where 'tis predominant; and 'tis powerful, think it,<br/>

From east, west, north, and south. Be it concluded,<br/>

No barricado for a belly. Know't;<br/>

It will let in and out the enemy<br/>

With bag and baggage. Many thousand of us<br/>

</p>

<p>MAMILLIUS.<br/>

I am like you, they say.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Why, that's some comfort.<br/>

What! Camillo there?

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

Ay, my good lord.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Go play, Mamillius; thou'rt an honest man.

</p>

<p>Camillo, this great sir will yet stay longer.

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

You had much ado to make his anchor hold:<br/>

When you cast out, it still came home.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Didst note it?

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

He would not stay at your petitions; made<br/>

His business more material.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Didst perceive it?<br/>

[<i>Aside.</i>] They're here with me already; whisp'ring, rounding,<br/>

That he did stay?

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

At the good queen's entreaty.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

But so it is, it is not. Was this taken<br/>

By any understanding pate but thine?<br/>

For thy conceit is soaking, will draw in<br/>

More than the common blocks. Not noted, is't,<br/>

But of the finer natures? by some severals<br/>

Of head-piece extraordinary? lower messes<br/>

Perchance are to this business purblind? say.

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

Business, my lord? I think most understand<br/>

Bohemia stays here longer.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Ha?

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

Stays here longer.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Ay, but why?

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

To satisfy your highness, and the entreaties<br/>

Of our most gracious mistress.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Satisfy?<br/>

Th' entreaties of your mistress? Satisfy?<br/>

Let that suffice. I have trusted thee, Camillo,<br/>

With all the nearest things to my heart, as well<br/>

My chamber-counsels, wherein, priest-like, thou<br/>

Hast cleans'd my bosom; I from thee departed<br/>

Thy penitent reform'd. But we have been<br/>

Deceiv'd in thy integrity, deceiv'd<br/>

In that which seems so.

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

Be it forbid, my lord!

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

To bide upon't: thou art not honest; or,<br/>

If thou inclin'st that way, thou art a coward,<br/>

Which hoxes honesty behind, restraining<br/>

From course requir'd; or else thou must be counted<br/>

A servant grafted in my serious trust,<br/>

And therein negligent; or else a fool<br/>

That seest a game play'd home, the rich stake drawn,<br/>

And tak'st it all for jest.

</p>

<p>CAMILLO.<br/>

My gracious lord,<br/>

I may be negligent, foolish, and fearful;<br/>

In every one of these no man is free,<br/>

But that his negligence, his folly, fear,<br/>

Among the infinite doings of the world,<br/>

Sometime puts forth. In your affairs, my lord,<br/>

If ever I were wilful-negligent,<br/>

It was my folly; if industriously<br/>

I play'd the fool, it was my negligence,<br/>

Not weighing well the end; if ever fearful<br/>

To do a thing, where I the issue doubted,<br/>

Whereof the execution did cry out<br/>

Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear<br/>

Which oft affects the wisest: these, my lord,<br/>

Are such allow'd infirmities that honesty<br/>

Is never free of. But, beseech your Grace,<br/>

Be plainer with me; let me know my trespass<br/>

By its own visage: if I then deny it,<br/>

'Tis none of mine.

</p>

<p>LEONTES.<br/>

Ha' not you seen, Camillo?<br/>

(But that's past doubt: you have, or your eye-glass<br/>

Is thicker than a cuckold's horn) or heard?<br/>

(For, to a vision so apparent, rumour<br/>

Cannot be mute) or thought? (for cogitation<br/>