An hour fince.

Cleomines and Dion

Being well arriv'd from Delphos, are both landed,

Hafting to th' court.

Lord. So please you, Sir, their speed

Hath been beyond account.

Leo. Twenty three days

They have been abfent: this good speed foretels
The great Apollo fuddenly will have

The truth of this appear. Prepare you lords,
Summon a feffion, that we may arraign
Our most disloyal lady; for as she hath
Been publickly accus'd, so shall she have
A just and open tryal. While fhe lives
My heart will be a burthen to me.
And think upon my bidding.

Leave me,

[Exeunt.

T

ACT III. SCENE I

Enter Cleomines and Dion.

CLEOMINES.

HE climate's delicate, the air most sweet,
Fertile the isle, the temple much furpaffing
The common praise it bears.

Dion. I fhall report,

For most it caught me, the celeftial habits,

Methinks I fo fhould term them, and the reverence
Of the grave wearers. O, the facrifice;

How ceremonious, folemn, and unearthly

It was i' th' offering!

Cleo. But of all, the burst

And the ear-deafning voice o' th' oracle,
Kin to Jove's thunder, so surpris'd my sense
That I was nothing.

Dio. If th' event o' th' journey

Prove as successful to the Queen (O be't so)
As it hath been to us, rare, pleasant, speedy;
The time is worth the use on't.

Cleo. Great Apollo,

Turn all to th' beft! thefe proclamations,
So forcing faults upon Hermione,

I little like.

Dio. The violent carriage of it

Will clear, or end the business, when the oracle,
Thus by Apollo's great divine feal'd up,

Shall the contents difcover: fomething rare

Even then will rush to knowledge. Go; fresh horses.
And gracious be the iffue.

SCENE II.

SICILY.

[Exeunt.

Leo.

Enter Leontes, Lords, Officers, Hermione as to her tryal,

TH

with Paulina and ladies.

HIS feffions, to our great grief, we pronounce,
Even pushes 'gainst our heart. The party try'd,

The daughter of a King, our wife, and one
Of us too much belov'd; let us be clear'd
Of being tyrannous, fince we so openly
Proceed in justice, which fhall have due course,
Even to the guilt, or the purgation.

Produce

Produce the prisoner.

Offi. It is his highness' pleasure, that the Queen Appear in perfon here in court.

Leo. Read the indictment.

Silence!

Offi. Hermione, Queen to the worthy Leontes, King of Sicilia, thou art here accused and arraigned of high treason, in committing adultery with Polixenes King of Bohemia,and confpiring with Camillo to take away the life of our foveraign lord the King, thy royal hufband; the pretence whereof being by circumstances partly laid open, thou, Hermione, contrary to the faith and allegiance of a true fubject, didst counsel and aid them, for their better safety, to fly away by night.

Her. Since what I am to say, must be but that Which contradicts my accufation, and

The testimony on my part, no other

But what comes from my self, it shall scarce boot me

To fay, not guilty: mine integrity

Being counted falfhood, fhall, as I express it,

Be fo receiv'd.

But thus, if powers divine

Behold our human actions, as they do,

I doubt not then, but innocence shall make
Falfe accufations blush, and tyranny

Tremble at patience. You, my lord, best know,
Who leaft will seem to do fo, my past life
Hath been as continent, as chaft, as true,
As I am now unhappy; which is more
Than history can pattern, tho' devis'd
And play'd to take spectators. For behold me
A fellow of the royal bed, which owe

A moiety of the throne: a great King's daughter,
The mother to a hopeful prince, here standing
To prate and talk for life and honour, 'fore
Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it

As

As I weigh grief which I would fpare: for honour, 'Tis a derivative from me to mine,

And only that I stand for. I appeal

To your own confcience, Sir, before Polixenes
Came to your court, how I was in your grace,
How merited to be fo; fince he came,
With what encounter fo uncurrant I
Have strain❜d t'appear thus; if one jot beyond
The bounds of honour, or in act or will
That way enclining, hardned be the hearts
Of all that hear me, and my near'st of kin
Cry fie upon my grave.

Leo. I ne'er heard yet

That any of those bolder vices wanted
Lefs impudence to gain-fay what they did
Than to perform it first.

Her. That's true enough,

Tho' 'tis a saying, Sir, not due to me.

Leo. You will not own it.

Her. More than mistress of

What comes to me in name of fault, I must not

At all acknowledge. For Polixenes,

With whom I am accus'd, I do confefs
I lov'd him, as in honour he requir'd;
With fuch a kind of love, as might become

A lady like me; with a love, even fuch,

So and no other, as your felf commanded:

Which not to have done, I think had been in me

Both disobedience and ingratitude

To you, and towards your friends; whose love had spoke,
Even fince it could speak, from an infant, freely,

That it was yours. Now for confpiracy,

I know not how it tastes, tho' it be dish'd

For

For me to try how; all I know of it,

Is, that Camillo was an honeft man;

And why he left your court, the gods themselves,
Wotting no more than I, are ignorant.

Leo. You knew of his departure, as you know
What you have underta'en to do in's absence.
Her. Sir,

You speak a language that I understand not;
My life stands in the level of your dreams,
Which I'll lay down.

Leo. Your actions are my dreams.

You had a bastard by Polixenes,

And I but dream'd it: as you were past all shame,
(Those of your fact are fo) so past all truth;
Which to deny, concerns more than avails: for as
Thy brat hath been cast out, like to it self,
No father owning it, (which is indeed

More criminal in thee

than it) fo thou

Shalt feel our justice, in whose easiest passage
Look for no less than death.

Her. Sir, fpare your threats;

The bug which you would fright me with I seek:
To me can life be no commodity,

The crown and comfort of my life, your favour,
I do give lost, for I do feel it gone,
But know not how it went. My fecond joy,.
The first-fruits of my body, from his presence
I'm barr'd like one infectious.

My third comfort,

Starr'd most unluckily, is from
my breast
(The innocent milk in its most innocent mouth)
Hal'd out to murder; my self on every post
Proclaim'd a ftrumpet; with immodest hatred
The child-bed privilege deny'd which 'longs

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