Page 768 - Shakespeare - Vol. 4

But I’d say he had not;
And I’ll be sworn you would believe my saying,
How e’er you lean to th’ nay-ward.

LEONTES
You, my lords,
Look on her, mark her well: be but about [65]

To say ‘she is a goodly lady’, and
The justice of your hearts will thereto add
‘’Tis pity she’s not honest, honourable’;

Praise her but for this her without-door form
(Which on my faith deserves high speech) and straight [70]
The shrug, the hum or ha, these petty brands
That calumny doth use! − O, I am out,
That mercy does; for calumny will sear

Virtue itself! − these shrugs, these hum’s and ha’s,
When you have said ‘she’s goodly’, come between, [75]
Ere you can say ‘she’s honest’: but be’t known,

From him that has most cause to grieve it should be,
She’s an adultress!

HERMIONE
Should a villain say so
(The most replenish’d villain in the world)
He were as much more villain: you, my lord, [80]

Do but mistake.

LEONTES
You have mistook, my lady,
Polixenes for Leontes. O thou thing −
Which I’ll not call a creature of thy place,

Lest barbarism, making me the precedent,
Should a like language use to all degrees, [85]
And mannerly distinguishment leave out
Betwixt the prince and beggar. I have said
She’s an adultress; I have said with whom:

More; she’s a traitor, and Camillo is
A federary with her, and one that knows, [90]