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SCENE II.

The fame. The outer Room of a Prifon.

Enter PAULINA and Attendants.

PAUL. The keeper of the prifon,-call to him;

[Exit an Attendant. Let him have knowledge who I am.-Good lady! No court in Europe is too good for thee, What doft thou then in prifon?-Now, good fir,

Re-enter Attendant, with the Keeper.

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KEEP. I may not, madam; to the contrary

I have exprefs commandment.

PAUL.

Here's ado,

To lock up honefty and honour from

The accefs of gentle vifitors !-Is it lawful,
Pray you, to see her women? any of them?
Emilia?

KEEP.

So please you, madam, to put

Apart these your attendants, I fhall bring

Emilia forth.

PAUL. I pray you now, call her. Withdraw yourselves.

KEEP.

[Exeunt Attend.

And, madam,

I must be present at your conference.

PAUL. Well, be it fo, pr'ythee. [Exit Keeper. Here's fuch ado to make no ftain a ftain, As paffes colouring.

Re-enter Keeper, with EMILIA.

Dear gentlewoman, how fares our gracious lady!
EMIL. As well as one fo great, and fo forlorn,
May hold together: On her frights, and griefs,
(Which never tender lady hath borne greater,)
She is, fomething before her time, deliver'd.
PAUL. A boy?

EMIL.

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

PAUL.

I dare be fworn :

Thefe dangerous unfafe lunes o'the king!' befhrew

them!

He must be told on't, and he fhall: the office
Becomes a woman beft; I'll take't upon me:
If I prove honey-mouth'd, let my tongue blifter;
And never to my red-look'd anger be

The trumpet any more :-Pray you, Emilia,

3 Thefe dangerous unfafe lunes o' the king!] I have no where, but in our author, obferved this word adopted in our tongue, to fignify, frenzy, lunacy. But it is a mode of expreffion with the French. Il y a de la lune: (i. e. he has got the moon in his head; he is frantick.) Cotgrave. "Lune, folie. Les femmes ont des lunes dans Richelet." THEOBALD.

la tete.

A fimilar expreffion occurs in The Revenger's Tragedy, 1608: "I know 'twas but fome peevith moon in him." Again, in As you like it, A&t III. fc. ii: "At which time would I, being but a moonish youth," &c. STEEVENS.

The old copy has-i'the king. This flight correction was made by Mr. Steevens. MALONE.

Commend best obedience to the queen;

my

If fhe dares truft me with her little babe,

I'll show't the king, and undertake to be
Her advocate to th' loudeft: We do not know
How he may foften at the fight o'the child;
The filence often of pure innocence

Perfuades, when speaking fails.

EMIL.

Most worthy madam,

Your honour, and your goodness, is fo evident,
That your free undertaking cannot mifs

A thriving iffue; there is no lady living,

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

Acquaint the queen of your moft noble offer;
Who, but to-day, hammer'd of this design;
But durft not tempt a minister of honour,
Left fhe fhould be denied.

PAUL.

Tell her, Emilia,

I'll ufe that tongue I have: if wit flow from it,
As boldness from my bofom, let it not be doubted
I fhall do good.

EMIL.

Now be you bleft for it! I'll to the queen: Please you, come fomething

nearer.

KEEP. Madam, if't please the queen to fend the

babe,

I know not what I fhall incur, to pass it,
Having no warrant.

PAUL.

You need not fear it, fir:
The child was prisoner to the womb; and is,
By law and procefs of great nature, thence
Free'd and enfranchis'd: not a party to
The anger of the king; nor guilty of,
If any be, the trefpafs of the queen.

KEEP. I do believe it.

PAUL.

Do not you fear: upon

Mine honour, I will ftand 'twixt you and danger.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

The fame. A Room in the Palace.

Enter LEONTES, ANTIGONUS, Lords, and other Attendants.

LEON. Nor night, nor day, no reft: It is but weakness

To bear the matter thus; mere weakness, if
The cause were not in being;-part o'the cause,
She, the adultrefs;-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 reft
Might come to me again.Who's there?
1. ATTEN.
My lord? [advancing.

LEON. How does the boy?

1. ATTEN.

He took good reft to-night;

'Tis hop'd, his fickness is discharg'd.

out of the blank

And level of my brain,] Beyond the aim of any attempt that I can make against him. Blank and level are terms of archery.

JOHNSON.

Blank and level, mean mark and aim; but they are terms of gunnery, not of archery. Douce.

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"Of a full-charg'd confpiracy." RITSON.

LEON.

His nobleness!

To fee,

Conceiving the dishonour of his mother,

He straight declin'd, droop'd, took it deeply;
Faften'd and fix'd the fhame on't in himself;
Threw off his fpirit, his appetite, his fleep,
And down-right languifh'd.-Leave me folely:" go,
See how he fares. [Exit Attend.]— Fie, fie! no
thought of him ;-

The very thought of my revenges

that way Recoil upon me: in himself too mighty; And in his parties, his alliance,-Let him be, Until a time may ferve: for prefent vengeance, Take it on her. Camillo and Polixenes

Laugh at me; make their paftime at my forrow: They should not laugh, if I could reach them; nor Shall fhe, within my power.

Enter PAULINA, with a Child.

1. LORD.

་.

You must not enter.

PAUL. Nay, rather, good my lords, be fecond to

me:

Fear you his tyrannous paffion more, alas,
Than the queen's life? a gracious innocent foul;
More free, than he is jealous.

5

Leave me folely:

That is, leave me alone, M. MASON.

The very thought of my revenges that
Recoil upon me in himself too mighty;

way

And in his parties, his alliance,] So, in Doraftus and Farwnia: "Pandofto, although he felt that revenge was a spur to warre, and that envy alwayes proffereth fteele, yet he faw Egifthus was not only of great puiffance and proweffe to withstand him, but also had many kings of his alliance to ayd him, if need should serve; for he mar ried the Emperor of Ruffia's daughter." Our author, it is obfervabic, whether from forgetfulness or defign, has made this lady the wife (not of Egifthus, the Polixenes of this play, but) of Leontes.

MALONES

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