Leon.

Never, but once.

Her. What have I twice said well? when

was 't before?

I prithee tell me ; cram 's with praise, and make 's
As fat as tame things: one good deed dying

tongueless

Slaughters a thousand waiting upon that.

Our praises are our wages: you may ride's
With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs ere
With spur we heat an acre. But to the goal:

My last good deed was to entreat his stay:
What was my first? it has an elder sister,
Or I mistake you: O, would her name were Grace
But once before I spoke to the purpose: when?
Nay, let me have 't; I long.

Leon.

Why, that was when Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to

death,

Ere I could make thee open thy white hand

And clap thyself my love: then didst thou utter 'I am yours for ever.'

Her.

Tis grace indeed.

Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose

twice:

The one for ever earn'd a royal husband;

The other for some while a friend.

Leon.
[Aside] Too hot, too hot!
To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods.
I have tremor cordis on me: my heart dances;
But not for joy; not joy. This entertainment
May a free face put on, derive a liberty
From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom,

90

100

110

110. tremor cordis, 'trembling of the heart.'

113. fertile bosom, expansive kindness.

And well become the agent; 't may, I grant;
But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,
As now they are, and making practised smiles,
As in a looking-glass, and then to sigh, as 'twere
The mort o' the deer; O, that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows! Mamillius,
Art thou my boy?

Mam.

Leon.

Ay, my good lord.

I' fecks!

Why, that's my bawcock. What, hast smutch'd

thy nose?

They say it is a copy out of mine.

Come, captain,

We must be neat; not neat, but cleanly, captain:

And yet the steer, the heifer and the calf

Are all call'd neat.-Still virginalling

Upon his palm !-How now, you wanton calf!
Art thou my calf?

Mam.

Yes, if you will, my lord.

Leon. Thou want'st a rough pash and the shoots

that I have,

To be full like me: yet they say we are
Almost as like as eggs; women say so,
That will say any thing: but were they false
As o'er-dyed blacks, as wind, as waters, false
As dice are to be wish'd by one that fixes
No bourn 'twixt his and mine, yet were it true
Το
say this boy were like me. Come, sir page,
Look on me with your welkin eye: sweet villain !

118. mort o' the deer, notes of the horn, blown to announce the death of the quarry.

120. I' fecks, a colloquial variation for ' faith.

121. bawcock, a term of endearment, like chuck,' but always masculine (beau coq).

125. neat, i.e. (horned) cattle. ib. virginalling, playing

with the fingers as on
virginals or spinnet.

120

130

the

128. a rough pash, an uneven forehead (ie. with budding horns).

132. o'er-dyed blacks, mourning garments made of old faded stuffs dyed.

136. welkin, blue.

Most dear'st! my collop! Can thy dam ?-may 't

be?

Affection! thy intention stabs the centre :

Thou dost make possible things not so held,
Communicatest with dreams;-how can this be?---
With what's unreal thou coactive art,

And fellow'st nothing: then 'tis very credent
Thou mayst co-join with something; and thou dost,
And that beyond commission, and I find it,

And that to the infection of my brains

And hardening of my brows.

Pol.

What means Sicilia ?

How, my lord!

Her. He something seems unsettled.
Pol.

What cheer? how is 't with you, best brother?

Her.

You look

As if you held a brow of much distraction :
Are you moved, my lord?

Leon.
No, in good earnest
How sometimes nature will betray its folly,
Its tenderness, and make itself a pastime
To harder bosoms! Looking on the lines
Of my boy's face, methoughts I did recoil

137. Most dear'st! my collop! It was a proverbial saying that 'it is a dear collop that is cut out of thy own flesh.'

138. Affection! thy intention stabs the centre, etc. Leontes, momentarily mistrusting his suspicion, as he contemplates his son (May't be?'), suddenly realises the tyranny of emotion ('affection') over insight; and utters the discovery in brief but obscure ejaculations, the general sense of which is as follows: The intensity ('intention') of 'affection' pierces to and masters the

140

150

inmost thoughts of man ('the centre'); makes him believe things he thought impossible; takes part with and persuades him of the reality of dreams and idle fancies; whence (142) it is very credible that it may persuade him of the reality of things which have a basis in reality, even beyond the warrant of that basis.

142. credent, credible.

154. methoughts; an Elizabethan form of methought (which also occurs, e.g. five lines below, on the analogy of methinks).

Twenty-three years, and saw myself unbreech'd,
In my green velvet coat, my dagger muzzled,
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, this gentleman. Mine honest friend, 160 Will you take eggs for money?

Mam. No, my lord, I'll fight.

Leon. You will! why, happy man be's dole !

My brother,

Are you so fond of your young prince as we

Do seem to be of ours?

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

Leon.
So stands this squire
Officed with me: we two will walk, my lord,

And leave you to your graver steps.

Hermione

How thou lovest us, show in our brother's welcome;

Let what is dear in Sicily be cheap :

Next to thyself and my young rover, he's

Apparent to my heart.

Her.

If you would seek us,

We are yours i' the garden: shall's attend you

there?

160. squash, unripe peapod. 161. Will you take eggs for money? A proverb, meaning: 'Will you submit to be paid in eggs instead of coin?'' will you put up with an affront?'

163. happy man be's dole, also a proverb: May it be his

portion to be a 'happy man.

170

170. childness, childish humours.

171. So stands

offic'd,

'Such is Mamillius' office with

me.'

177. Apparent, next heir. 178. shall's, shall we.

Leon. To your own bents dispose you: you'll be found,

Be you beneath the sky. [Aside] I am angling

now,

Though you perceive me not how I give line.
Go to, go to!

How she holds up the neb, the bill to him!
And arms her with the boldness of a wife

To her allowing husband!

[Exeunt Polixenes, Hermione, and

Attendants.

Gone already!

Inch-thick, knee-deep, o'er head and ears a fork'd

one !

Go, play, boy, play: thy mother plays, and I
Play too, but so disgraced a part, whose issue
Will hiss me to my grave: contempt and clamour
Will be my knell. Go, play, boy, play. There
have been,

Or I am much deceived, cuckolds ere now;
And many a man there is, even at this present,
Now while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm,
That little thinks she has been sluiced in 's absence
And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour, by
Sir Smile, his neighbour: nay, there's comfort in 't
Whiles other men have gates and those gates
open'd,

As mine, against their will. Should all despair
That have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind
Would hang themselves. Physic for 't there is

none;

It is a bawdy planet, that will strike

183. neb, bill (lips).

201. It is a bawdy planet, etc., Vice is a sort of planet of un

180

190

200

chastity (cf. a rhyming planet, Much Ado, v. 2. 40), whose influence makes wives unfaithful wherever it prevails.