Camillo, this Great Sir will yet stay longer.

Cam.
You had much ado to make his anchor hold;
When you cast out, it still came home.

Leo.
Didst note it?

Cam.
He would not stay at your petitions made;
His business more material.

Leo.
Didst perceive it?
* ^noteThey're here with me already; whisp'ring, rounding:^{8 note}

Cam.
At the good Queen's entreaty.

Leo.
At the Queen's be't; good, should be pertinent;
But so it is, it is not. Was this taken
By any understanding pate but thine?
For thy conceit is soaking, will draw in
More than the common blocks; not noted, is't,
But of the finer natures? by some severals
Of head-piece extraordinary; lower messes,^{9 note}
Perchance, are to this business purblind? say.

Cam.
Business, my Lord? I think, most understand
Bohemia stays here longer.

Leo.
Ha?

Cam.
Stays here longer.

Leo.
Ay, but why?

Cam.
To satisfy your Highness, and th'entreaties
Of our most gracious mistress.

Leo.
Satisfy
Th' entreaties of your mistress?—satisfy?—
Let that suffice. I've trusted thee, Camillo,
With all the things nearest my heart; as well
My chamber-councils, wherein, priest like, thou
Hast cleans'd my bosom: I from thee departed
Thy Penitent reform'd; but we have been
Deceiv'd in thy integrity; deceiv'd
In that, which seems so.

Cam.
Be it forbid, my Lord—

Leo.
To bide upon't;—Thou art not honest; or,
If thou inclin'st that way, thou art a coward;
Which hoxes honesty behind, restraining
From course requir'd: or else thou must be counted
A servant grafted in my serious Trust,
And therein negligent; or else a fool,
That seest a game play'd home, the rich stake drawn,
And tak'st it all for jest.

Cam.
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,
Amongst the infinite doings of the world,
Sometime puts forth. In your affairs, my Lord,
If ever I were wilful negligent,
It was my folly; if industriously
I play'd the fool, it was my negligence,
Not weighing well the end; if ever fearful
To do a thing, where I the issue doubted,
Whereof the execution did cry out^{1 note}

Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear

Which oft infects the wisest: these, my Lord,
Are such allow'd infirmities, that honesty
Is never free of. But, 'beseech your Grace,
Be plainer with me, let me know my trespass
By its own visage; if I then deny it,
'Tis none of mine.

Leo.
Ha'not you seen, Camillo,
(But that's past doubt, you have; or your eye-glass
Is thicker than a cuckold's horn;) or heard,
(For to a vision so apparent, rumour
Cannot be mute;) or thought, (for cogitation
Resides not in that man, that do's not think it;)
My wife is slippery? if thou wilt, confess;
(Or else be impudently negative,
To have nor eyes nor ears, nor thought,) then say,
My wife's a hobby-horse, deserves a name
As rank as any flax-wench, that puts to
Before her troth plight: say't, and justify't.

Cam.
I would not be a stander-by, to hear
My sovereign Mistress clouded so, without
My present vengeance taken; 'shrew my heart,
You never spoke what did become you less
Than this; which to reiterate, were sin
As deep as that, tho' true.^{2 note}

Leo.
Is whispering nothing?
Is leaning cheek to cheek? is * ^notemeeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career
Of laughter with a sigh? (a note infallible
Of breaking honesty:) horsing foot on foot?
Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift?
Hours, minutes? the noon, midnight? and all eyes
Blind with the pin and web, but theirs; theirs only,
That would, unseen, be wicked? is this nothing?
Why, then the world, and all that's in't, is nothing;

The covering sky is nothing, Bohemia nothing;
My wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings,
If this be nothing.

Cam.
Good my Lord, be cur'd
Of this diseas'd Opinion, and betimes;
For 'tis most dangerous.

Leo.
Say it be, 'tis true.

Cam.
No, no, my Lord.

Leo.
It is; you lye, you lye:
I say, thou liest, Camillo, and I hate thee;
Pronounce thee a gross lowt, a mindless slave,
Or else a hovering temporizer, that
Canst with thine eyes at once see good and evil,
Inclining to them both: were my wife's liver
Infected, as her life, she would not live
The running of one glass.

Cam.
Who do's infect her?

Leo.
Why he, that wears her like his medal, hanging
About his neck; Bohemia,—who, if I
Had servants true about me, that bare eyes
To see alike mine honour, as their profits,
Their own particular thrifts, they would do that
Which should undo more Doing: I, and thou
His cup-bearer, (whom I from meaner form
Have bench'd, and rear'd to worship; who may'st see
Plainly, as heav'n sees earth, and earth sees heav'n,
How I am gall'd;) thou might'st be-spice a cup,
To give mine enemy a lasting wink;
Which draught to me were cordial.

Cam.
Sir, my Lord,
I could do this, and that with no rash potion,
But with a lingring dram, that should not work,^{3 note}

Maliciously, like poison. But I cannot^{4 note}

Leo.
I've lov'd thee.—Make't thy Question, and go rot:
Do'st think, I am so muddy, so unsettled,
To appoint myself in this vexation? Sully
The purity and whiteness of my sheets,
(Which to preserve, is sleep; which being spotted,
Is goads, thorns, nettles, tails of wasps:)
Give scandal to the blood o'th' Prince, my son,
Who, I do think, is mine, and love as mine,
Without ripe moving to't? would I do this?

Could man so blench?

Cam.
I must believe you, Sir,
I do, and will fetch off Bohemia for't:
Provided, that, when he's remov'd, your Highness
Will take again your Queen, as yours at first,
Even for your son's sake, and thereby for sealing
The injury of tongues, in Courts and Kingdoms
Known and ally'd to yours.

Leo.
Thou dost advise me,
Even so as I mine own course have set down:
I'll give no blemish to her honour, none.

Cam.
My Lord,
Go then; and with a countenance as clear
As friendship wears at feasts, keep with Bohemia,
And with your Queen: I am his cup-bearer;
If from me he have wholesome beveridge,
Account me not your servant.

Leo.
This is all;
Do't, and thou hast the one half of my heart;
Do't not, thou split'st thine own.

Cam.
I'll do't, my Lord.

Leo.
I will seem friendly, as thou hast advis'd me. [Exit.

Cam.
O miserable lady!—But, for me,
What case stand I in? I must be the poisoner
Of good Polixenes, and my ground to do't
Is the obedience to a master; one,
Who, in rebellion with himself, will have
All that are his, so too.—To do this deed,
Promotion follows. If I could find example
Of thousands, that had struck anointed Kings,
And flourish'd after, I'd not do't: but since
Nor brass, nor stone, nor parchment, bears not one;
Let villany itself forswear't. I must
Forsake the Court; to do't, or no, is certain
To me a break-neck.—Happy star reign now!
Here comes Bohemia.

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