Than you are mad; which is enough, I'll warrant,
As this world goes, to pass for honest.

LEO. Traitors!

Will you not push her out? give her the bastard:
Thou, dotard, that art woman-tyr'd, unroofted
By thy dame Partlet here, -take up the bastard;
Take't up, I fay; give't to thy croan.
PAU. For ever

Unvenerable be thy hands, if thou

Tak'ft up the princess, by that forced baseness
Which he has put upon't!

LEO. He dreads his wife.

PAU. So, I would, you did; then, 'twere past all doubt, You'd call your children yours.

LEO. A neft of traitors!

ANT. I am none, by this good light.

PAU. Nor I; nor any,

But one, that's here; and that's himfelf: for he

The facred honour of himself, his queen's,

His hopeful fon's, this babe's, betrays to flander,

Whose fting is sharper than the fword's; and will not (For, as the cafe now ftands, it is a curse

He cannot be compell'd to't) once remove

The root of his opinion, which is rotten,
As ever oak, or stone, was found.

LEO. A callat,

Of boundless tongue; who late hath beat her husband,
And now baits me! This brat is none of mine;
It is the iffue of Polixenes:

Hence with it; and, together with the dam,
Commit them to the fire.

And, might we lay the old proverb to your charge,
So like you, 'tis the worse. Behold, my lords;
Although the print be little, the whole matter
And copy of the father eye, nose, lip,

The trick of's frown, his forehead; nay, the vallies,
The pretty dimples, of his chin, and cheek;
The mold and frame of hand, nail, finger:
very
And, thou, good goddefs nature, which haft made it
So like to him that got it, if thou haft

The ordering of the mind too, 'mongst all colours
No yellow in't; left fhe fufpect, as he does,
Her children not her husband's !

LEO. A grofs hag!

And, lozel, thou art worthy to be hang'd,

That wilt not ftay her tongue.

ANT. Hang all the husbands

That cannot do that feat, you'll leave yourself
Hardly one fubject.

LEO. Once more, take her hence.

PAU. A most unworthy and unnatural lord

Can do no more.

LEO. I'll ha' thee burnt.

PAU. I care not:

It is an heretick, that makes the fire;

Not she, which burns in't. I'll not call you tyrant;

But this moft cruel usage

of

your queen

(Not able to produce more accusation

Than your own weak-hing'd fancy) fomething favours Of tyranny, and will ignoble make you,

Yea, fcandalous to the world.

LEO. On your allegiance,

Out of the chamber with her. Were I a tyrant,

Where were her life? fhe durft not call me fa,
If she did know me one. Away with her.

PAU. I pray you, do not push me; I'll be gone. Look to your babe, my lord; 'tis yours: Jove fend her A better guiding spirit! What need these hands? You, that are thus fo tender o'er his follies,

Will never do him good, not one of you.

So, fo:- Farewel; we are gone.

[Exit PAULINA. LEO. Thou, traitor, haft fet on thy wife to this. My child? away with't!—even thou, that hast A heart fo tender o'er it, take it hence,

And fee it inftantly confum'd with fire;

Even thou, and none but thou. Take it up ftraight:
Within this hour bring me word 'tis done,
(And by good teftimony) or I'll feize thy life,
With what thou elfe call'ft thine: If thou refuse,
And wilt encounter with my wrath, say fo;
The bastard brains with these my proper hands
Shall I dash out. Go, take it to the fire;
For thou fett'ft on thy wife.

ANT. I did not, fir:

These lords, my noble fellows, if they please,
Can clear me in't.

1. L. We can; my royal liege,

He is not guilty of her coming hither.

LEO. You're lyars all.

1. L. 'Befeech your highness, give us better credit:

We have always truly ferv'd you; and beseech,
So to esteem of us: And on our knees we beg,

(As recompence of our dear fervices,

Paft, and to come) that you do change this purpose; Which being fo horrible, fo bloody, muft

Lead on to fome foul iffue: We all kneel.

LEO. I am a feather for each wind that blows:
Shall I live on, to see this bastard kneel

And call me father? better burn it now,
Than curfe it then. But, be it; let it live.
It shall not neither: You, fir, come you hither;
You, that have been fo tenderly officious,
With lady Margery, your midwife, there,
To fave this baftard's life,for 'tis a bastard,
So fure as this beard's grey, what will
To fave this brat's life.

ANT. Any thing, my lord,

That my ability may undergo,

you

And nobleness impose: at leaft, thus much;
I'll pawn the little blood which I have left,
To fave the innocent: any thing poffible.

adventure,

LEO. It fhall be poffible: Swear by this † fword, Thou wilt perform my bidding.

ANT. I will, my lord.

LEO. Mark, and perform it, (fee'ft thou ?) for the fail Of any point in't fhall not only be

Death to thyfelf, but to thy lewd-tongu'd wife;
Whom, for this time, we pardon. We enjoin thee,
As thou art liegeman to us, that thou carry
This female bastard hence; and that thou bear it
To fome remote and desart place, quite out
Of our dominions; and that there thou leave it,
Without more mercy, to it's own protection,
And favour of the climate: As by strange fortune
It came to us, I do in justice charge thee,
On thy foul's peril, and thy body's torture,
That thou commend it ftrangely to fome place,

Where chance may nurse, or end it: Take it up.
ANT. I fwear to do this; though a present death
Had been more merciful. Come on, poor babe :
Some powerful fpirit inftruct the kites, and ravens,
To be thy nurses! wolves, and bears, they fay,
(Cafting their favagenefs afide) have done
Like offices of pity. - Sir, be profperous
In more than this deed does require ! and bleffing,
Against this cruelty, fight on thy fide,

Poor thing, condemn'd to lofs! [Exit, with the Child LEO. No, I'll not rear

Another's iffue.

2. A. 'Please your highness, pofts,

From those you fent to the oracle, are come

An hour fince: Cleomenes, and Dion,

Being well arriv'd from Delphos, are both landed,
Hafting to the court.

1. L. So please you, fir, their speed

Hath been beyond account.

LEO. Twenty three days

They have been abfent: 'Tis good speed; foretells,
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 the hath
Been publickly accus'd, fo fhall she have
A juft and open trial. While fhe lives,
My heart will be a burthen to me. Leave me ;
And think upon my bidding.

[Exeunt.

ACT III.