Read The Winter's Tale Online

Authors: William Shakespeare

The Winter's Tale (4 page)

HERMIONE
     'Tis grace indeed.—
       Why,
lo
129
you now, I have spoke
to th'purpose
twice:
To Polixenes?
     The one forever earned a royal husband;
       Th'other for some while a
friend
131
.
Takes Polixenes' hand

LEONTES
     Too hot, too hot!
Aside

    To mingle friendship far is
mingling bloods
133
.
       I have
tremor cordis
134
on me: my heart dances,
       But not for joy, not joy. This
entertainment
135
       May a
free
136
face put on, derive a liberty
       From
heartiness
137
, from
bounty
,
fertile bosom
,
       And
well become the agent
138
.
'T
may, I grant.
       But to be
paddling
palms and pinching fingers
139
,

    As now they are, and making
practised
140
smiles,
       As in a looking-glass, and then to sigh, as 'twere
       The
mort
142
o'th'deer — O, that is entertainment
       My bosom likes not, nor my
brows
143
.— Mamillius,
       Art thou my boy?

MAMILLIUS
     Ay, my good lord.

LEONTES
    
I' fecks!
146
       Why, that's my
bawcock
147
. What? Hast
smutched
thy nose?—
       They say it is a copy out of mine.— Come, captain,
Aside?
       We must be
neat
149
; not neat, but cleanly, captain.
       And yet the
steer
150
, the heifer and the calf
       Are all called neat.— Still
virginalling
Aside
      
Upon his palm
151
?— How now, you
wanton
152
calf!
       Art thou my calf?

MAMILLIUS
     Yes, if you will, my lord.

LEONTES
    
Thou want'st
155
a
rough pash
and the
shoots
that I have
       To be
full
156
like me.— Yet they say we are
Aside?
       Almost as like as eggs; women say so,
       That will say anything. But were they false
       As
o'er-dyed blacks
159
, as
wind, as waters
, false
       As dice are to be wished by one that fixes
       No
bourn 'twixt his and mine
161
, yet were it true
       To say this boy were like me.— Come, sir page,
To Mamillius

       Look on me with your
welkin
163
eye. Sweet villain!
       Most dear'st, my
collop
164
!
Can thy dam
, may't be
      
Affection
165
?— Thy
intention
stabs the centre.
Aside?

       Thou dost make possible things
not so held
166
,
       Communicat'st with dreams — how can this be? —
       With what's unreal
thou coactive art
168
,
       And
fellow'st
169
nothing. Then 'tis very
credent
       Thou mayst
co-join
170
with something, and thou dost,
       And that beyond
commission
171
, and I
find
it,
       And that to the infection of my brains
       And
hard'ning of my brows
173
.

POLIXENES
     What means
Sicilia
174
?

HERMIONE
     He
something seems
175
unsettled.

POLIXENES
     How, my lord?

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

HERMIONE
     You look as if you held a brow of much distraction.
       Are you
moved
179
, my lord?

LEONTES
     No, in good earnest.—
       How sometimes nature will betray its folly,
Aside?
       Its tenderness, and
make itself a pastime
       To harder bosoms
182
!— Looking on the lines
       Of my boy's face, methoughts I did recoil
       Twenty-three years, and saw myself
unbreeched
185
,
       In my green velvet coat; my dagger
muzzled
186
,
       Lest it should bite its master, and so prove,
       As ornaments oft do, too dangerous.
       How like, methought, I then was to this kernel,
       This
squash
190
, this gentleman.— Mine honest friend,
To Mamillius
       Will you
take eggs for money
191
?

MAMILLIUS
     No, my lord, I'll fight.

LEONTES
     You will? Why,
happy man be's dole
193
! My brother,
       Are you so fond of your young prince as we
       Do seem to be of ours?

POLIXENES
     If at home, sir,
       He's all my
exercise
197
, my mirth, my matter;
       Now my sworn friend and then mine enemy;
       My
parasite
199
, my soldier, statesman, all.
       He makes a July's day short as December,
       And with his varying
childness
201
cures in me
      
Thoughts that would thick my blood
202
.

LEONTES
     So stands this squire
      
Officed
204
with me. We two will walk, my lord,
       And leave you to your
graver
205
steps.— Hermione,
       How thou lovest us, show in our brother's welcome.
       Let what is
dear
207
in Sicily be
cheap
.
       Next to thyself and my young
rover
208
, he's
      
Apparent
209
to my heart.

HERMIONE
     If you would seek us,
       We are yours i'th'garden:
shall's attend
211
you there?

LEONTES
     To your own
bents
212
dispose you: you'll be
found
,
       Be you beneath the sky.— I am angling now,
Aside

       Though you perceive me not how I give line.
      
Go to
215
, go to!
       How she holds up the
neb, the bill
216
to him!
       And
arms her with the boldness of a wife
       To her allowing husband
217
!

[
Exeunt Polixenes, Hermione and Attendants
]

                                                Gone already?

       Inch-thick, knee-deep, o'er head and ears a
forked
219
one!—
       Go, play, boy, play. Thy mother
plays
220
, and I
       Play too, but
so disgraced a part
221
, whose
issue
       Will
hiss
222
me to my grave. Contempt and clamour
       Will be my
knell
223
. Go play, boy, play.—
There have
been,
       Or I am much deceived,
cuckolds
224
ere now.
       And many a man there is, even at this present,
       Now while I speak this, holds his wife by th'arm,
       That little thinks she has been
sluiced
227
in's absence
       And his
pond
228
fished
by his next neighbour, by
       Sir Smile, his neighbour. Nay, there's comfort in't
       Whiles other men have
gates
230
and those gates opened,
       As mine, against their will. Should all despair
       That have
revolted
232
wives, the tenth of mankind
       Would hang themselves.
Physic
233
for't there's none:
       It is a
bawdy
234
planet, that will
strike
     Where 'tis
predominant
235
; and 'tis powerful, think it,
       From east, west, north and south. Be it concluded,
       No
barricado for a belly
237
. Know't,
       It will let in and out the enemy
       With
bag and baggage
239
. Many thousand
on's
       Have the disease, and feel't not.— How now, boy?

MAMILLIUS
     I am like you, they say.

LEONTES
     Why that's some comfort. What, Camillo there?

CAMILLO
     Ay, my good lord.
Comes forward

LEONTES
     Go play, Mamillius, thou'rt an honest man.—

[
Exit Mamillius
]
       Camillo, this great sir will yet stay longer.

CAMILLO
     You had much
ado
246
to make
his anchor hold
:
       When you cast out, it
still came home
247
.

LEONTES
     Didst note it?

CAMILLO
     He would not stay at your
petitions
249
, made
       His business more
material
250
.

LEONTES
     Didst perceive it?—
      
They're here with me already
252
, whisp'ring,
rounding
Aside
       ‘Sicilia is a
so-forth
253
.'
'Tis far gone
       When I shall
gust
254
it last.— How came't, Camillo,
To Camillo
       That he did stay?

CAMILLO
     At the good queen's entreaty.

LEONTES
     At the queen's be't. ‘Good' should be
pertinent
257
,
       But
so it is
258
, it is not. Was this
taken
       By any understanding
pate
259
but thine?
       For thy
conceit is soaking
260
, will draw in
       More than the common
blocks
261
. Not noted, is't,
      
But of
262
the finer natures? By some
severals
     Of
head-piece
263
extraordinary?
Lower messes
       Perchance are to this
business
264
purblind
? Say.

CAMILLO
     Business, my lord? I think most understand
       Bohemia stays here longer.

LEONTES
     Ha?

CAMILLO
     Stays here longer.

LEONTES
     Ay, but why?

CAMILLO
     To satisfy your highness and the entreaties
       Of our most gracious mistress.

LEONTES
    
Satisfy
272
?
       Th'entreaties of your mistress? Satisfy?
       Let that suffice. I have trusted thee, Camillo,
       With all the nearest things to my heart, as
well
275
       My
chamber-councils
276
, wherein, priest-like, thou
       Hast
cleansed my bosom
277
, I from thee departed
       Thy penitent reformed. But
we
278
have been
       Deceived in thy integrity, deceived
       In that which seems so.

CAMILLO
     Be it forbid, my lord!

LEONTES
     To
bide
282
upon't, thou art not honest: or,
       If thou inclin'st that way, thou art a coward,
       Which
hoxes
284
honesty behind, restraining
       From course required: or else thou must be
counted
285
       A servant
grafted
286
in my serious trust
       And therein negligent: or else a fool
       That see'st a
game
288
played
home
, the rich
stake drawn
,
       And tak'st it all for jest.

CAMILLO
     My gracious lord,
       I may be negligent, foolish and fearful.
       In every one of these no man is free,
     But that his negligence, his folly, fear,
       Among the infinite doings of the world,
       Sometime puts forth. In your affairs, my lord,
       If ever I were
wilful-negligent
296
,
       It was my folly: if industriously
       I played the fool, it was my negligence,
       Not
weighing
299
well the end: if ever fearful
       To do a thing, where I the
issue
300
doubted,
      
Whereof the execution did cry out
       Against the non-performance
301
, 'twas a fear
       Which oft infects the wisest. These, my lord,
       Are such allowed infirmities that honesty
       Is never free of. But, beseech your grace,
       Be plainer with me. Let me know my
trespass
306
       By its own
visage
307
; if I then deny it,
       'Tis none of mine.

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