The Winter's Tale (8 page)

PAULINA
    
From
⁵⁶
all dishonesty he can. In this,
       Unless he take the course that you have done —
    
Commit
⁵⁸
me for committing honour — trust it,
       He shall not rule me.

ANTIGONUS
    
La you now
⁶⁰
, you hear.
       When she will take the rein, I let her run.
       But she'll not stumble.

PAULINA
     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
⁶⁷
. I say, I come
       From your good queen.

LEONTES
     Good
queen
⁷⁰
?

PAULINA
     Good queen, my lord, good queen. I say good queen,
       And would
by combat make her good
⁷²
, so were I
       A man,
the worst
⁷³
about you.

LEONTES
     Force her hence.
To Lords

PAULINA
     Let him that
makes but trifles
⁷⁵
of his eyes
       First
hand
⁷⁶
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 —
       Here 'tis — commends it to your blessing.

Lays down the baby with a box and bundle

LEONTES
    
Out!
⁸⁰
       A
mankind
⁸¹
witch! Hence with her, out o'door.
       A most
intelligencing bawd
⁸²
!

PAULINA
     Not so.
       I am as
ignorant
⁸⁴
in that as you
       In so
entitling
⁸⁵
me, and no less honest
       Than you are mad, which is enough, I'll
warrant
⁸⁶
,
       As this world goes, to pass for honest.

LEONTES
     Traitors!
To Lords
       Will you not push her out?— Give her the bastard.
To Antigonus
       Thou
dotard
⁹⁰
, thou art
woman-tired
,
unroosted
       By thy dame
Partlet
⁹¹
here. Take up the bastard,
       Take't up, I say: give't to thy
crone
⁹²
.

PAULINA
     Forever
To Antigonus
      
Unvenerable
⁹⁴
be thy hands, if thou
       Tak'st up the princess
by that forcèd baseness
       Which he has put upon't
⁹⁵
!

LEONTES
     He
dreads
⁹⁷
his wife.

PAULINA
     So I would you did. Then 'twere past all doubt
       You'd call your children yours.

LEONTES
     A nest of traitors!

ANTIGONUS
     I am none, by this good light.

PAULINA
     Nor I, nor any
       But one that's here, and that's himself, for he
       The sacred honour of himself, his queen's,
       His hopeful son's, his babe's, betrays to slander,
       Whose sting is sharper than the sword's; and will not —
       For,
as the case now stands, it is a curse
       He cannot be compelled to't — once remove
       The root of his opinion
¹⁰⁷
, which is rotten
       As ever oak or stone was sound.

LEONTES
     A
callat
¹¹¹
       Of boundless tongue, who late hath beat her husband
       And now
baits
¹¹³
me! This brat is none of mine.
       It is the issue of Polixenes.
       Hence with it, and together with the
dam
¹¹⁵
       Commit them to the fire!

PAULINA
     It is yours.
       And, might we
lay th'old proverb to your charge
¹¹⁸
,
       So like you,
'Tis the worse
¹¹⁹
. Behold, my lords,
       Although the
print
¹²⁰
be little, the whole
matter
       And copy of the father: eye, nose, lip,
       The
trick
¹²²
of's frown, his forehead,
nay
, the
valley
,
       The pretty dimples of his chin and cheek, his smiles,
       The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger.
       And thou, good goddess Nature, which hast made it
       So like to him that
got
¹²⁶
it, if thou hast
       The
ordering of the mind
¹²⁷
too, 'mongst all colours
      
No yellow
¹²⁸
in't, lest she suspect, as he does,
       Her children not her husband's!

LEONTES
     A gross
hag
¹³⁰
.
       And,
lozel
¹³¹
, thou art worthy to be hanged,
To Antigonus
       That wilt not
stay her tongue
¹³²
.

ANTIGONUS
     Hang all the husbands
       That cannot do that feat, you'll leave yourself
       Hardly one subject.

LEONTES
     Once more, take her hence.

PAULINA
     A most unworthy and unnatural lord
       Can do no more.

LEONTES
     I'll ha' thee burnt.

PAULINA
     I care not:
      
It is an heretic that makes the fire,
       Not she which burns in't
¹⁴¹
. I'll not call you tyrant.
       But this most cruel usage of your queen —
       Not able to produce more accusation
       Than your own
weak-hinged fancy
¹⁴⁵
— something
savours
       Of tyranny and will ignoble make you,
       Yea, scandalous to the world.

LEONTES
     On your allegiance,
To Antigonus
       Out of the chamber with her! Were I a tyrant,
      
Where were her life?
¹⁵⁰
She durst not call me so,

    If she did know me one. Away with her!

PAULINA
     I pray you do not push me. I'll be gone.
       Look to your babe, my lord, 'tis yours.
Jove
¹⁵³
send her
       A better guiding spirit!
What needs these hands?
¹⁵⁴
      
You
¹⁵⁵
that are thus so tender o'er his follies
       Will never do him good, not one of you.
       So, so. Farewell, we are gone.
Exit

LEONTES
     Thou, traitor, hast
set on
¹⁵⁸
thy wife to this.
To Antigonus
       My child? Away with't! Even thou, that hast
       A heart so tender o'er it, take it hence
       And see it instantly consumed with fire.
       Even thou and none but thou. Take it up
straight
¹⁶²
.
       Within this hour bring me word 'tis done,
       And by good
testimony
¹⁶⁴
, or I'll seize thy life,
       With what thou else call'st thine. If thou refuse
       And wilt encounter with my wrath, say so;
       The bastard brains with these my
proper
¹⁶⁷
hands
       Shall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire,
       For thou set'st on thy wife.

ANTIGONUS
     I did not, sir.
       These lords, my noble fellows, if they please,
       Can clear me in't.

LORDS
     We can. My royal liege,
       He is not guilty of her coming hither.

LEONTES
     You're liars all.

A LORD
     Beseech your highness, give us better
credit
¹⁷⁶
.
       We have always truly served you, and
beseech
¹⁷⁷
'
       So to esteem of us, and on our knees we beg,
       As recompense of our
dear
¹⁷⁹
services
       Past and to come, that you do change this purpose,
     Which being so horrible, so bloody, must
       Lead on to some
foul issue
¹⁸²
. We all kneel.

LEONTES
    
I am a feather for each wind that blows
¹⁸³
.
       Shall I live on to see this bastard kneel
       And call me father? Better burn it now
       Than curse it then. But be it. Let it live.
       It shall not neither.— You, sir, come you hither.
To Antigonus
       You that have been so tenderly officious
       With
Lady Margery
¹⁸⁹
, your midwife there,
       To save this bastard's life — for 'tis a bastard,
       So sure as
this beard's grey
¹⁹¹
— what will you
adventure
       To save this brat's life?

ANTIGONUS
     Anything, my lord,
       That my ability may undergo
       And nobleness impose. At least thus much:
       I'll pawn the little blood which I have left
       To save the innocent. Anything possible.

LEONTES
     It shall be possible. Swear by this sword
Holds out sword
       Thou wilt perform my bidding.

ANTIGONUS
     I will, my lord.

LEONTES
     Mark and perform it, see'st thou! For the fail
       Of any point in't shall not only be
       Death to thyself but to thy
lewd-tongued
²⁰³
wife,
       Whom for this time we pardon. We
enjoin
²⁰⁴
thee,
       As thou art
liege-man
²⁰⁵
to us, that thou carry
       This female bastard hence and that thou bear it
       To some remote and
desert
²⁰⁷
place quite out
       Of our dominions; and that there thou leave it,
       Without more mercy, to
it
²⁰⁹
own protection
       And favour of the climate. As by
strange fortune
²¹⁰
       It came to us, I do in justice charge thee,
       On thy soul's peril and thy body's torture,
       That thou
commend it strangely to some place
²¹³
       Where chance may
nurse or end it
²¹⁴
. Take it up.

ANTIGONUS
     I swear to do this, though a
present
²¹⁵
death
       Had been more merciful. Come on, poor babe.
Takes up baby
       Some powerful spirit instruct the
kites
²¹⁷
and
ravens
       To be thy nurses! Wolves and bears, they say,
       Casting their savageness aside, have done
      
Like
²²⁰
offices of pity. Sir, be prosperous
       In
more
²²¹
than this deed does
require
; — and blessing
       Against this cruelty fight on
thy
²²²
side,
       Poor thing, condemned to loss!
Exit
[
with the baby
]

LEONTES
     No, I'll not rear
       Another's issue.

Enter a Servant

SERVANT
     Please your highness,
posts
²²⁶
       From those you sent to th'oracle are come
       An hour since: Cleomenes and Dion,
       Being well arrived from Delphos, are both landed,
       Hasting to th'court.

FIRST LORD
     So please you, sir, their speed
       Hath been
beyond account
²³²
.

LEONTES
     Twenty-three days
       They have been absent: 'tis good speed, foretells
       The great Apollo
suddenly
²³⁵
will have
       The truth of this appear. Prepare you, lords.
       Summon a
session
²³⁷
, that we may
arraign
       Our most disloyal lady, for, as she hath
       Been publicly accused, so shall she have
       A just and open trial. While she lives
       My heart will be a burden to me. Leave me,
       And think upon my bidding.
Exeunt

Location: on the road

Enter Cleomenes and Dion

CLEOMENES
     The climate's
delicate
¹
, the air most sweet,
       Fertile the isle, the temple much surpassing
       The common praise it bears.