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• The Winter’s Tale: Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Scene I.—: Sicilia. an Antechamber Inleontes’ Palace.
• Scene II.—: The Same. a Room of State In the Palace.
• Act II.
• Scene I.—: Sicilia. a Room In the Palace.
• Scene II.—: The Same. the Outer Room of a Prison.
• Scene III.—: The Same. a Room In the Palace.
• Act III.
• Scene I.—: A Sea-port In Sicilia.
• Scene II.—: Sicilia. a Court of Justice.
• Scene III.—: Bohemia. a Desert Country Near the Sea.
• Act IV.
• Scene I.—: Bohemia. a Room In the Palace Ofpolixenes.
• Scene II.—: The Same. a Road Near the Shepherd’s Cottage.
• Scene III.—: The Same. a Lawn Before the Shepherd’s Cottage.
• Act V.
• Scene I.—: Sicilia. a Room In the Palace Ofleontes.
• Scene II.—: The Same. Before the Palace.
• Scene III.—: The Same. a Chapel Inpaulina’shouse.

Scene I.—

A Sea-port in Sicilia.

EnterCleomenesandDion.

Cleo.

The climate’s delicate, the air most sweet,

Fertile the isle, the temple much surpassing

The common praise it bears.

Dion.

I shall report,

For most it caught me, the celestial habits,—

Methinks I so should term them,—and the reverence

Of the grave wearers. O, the sacrifice!

How ceremonious, solemn, and unearthly

It was i’ the offering!

Cleo.

But of all, the burst

And the ear-deafening voice o’ the oracle,

Kin to Jove’s thunder, so surpris’d my sense,

That I was nothing.

Dion.

If the event o’ the journey

Prove as successful to the queen,—O, be’t so! —

As it hath been to us rare, pleasant, speedy,

The time is worth the use on’t.

Cleo.

Great Apollo

Turn all to the best! These proclamations,

So forcing faults upon Hermione,

I little like.

Dion.

The violent carriage of it

Will clear or end the business: when the oracle,

Thus by Apollo’s great divine seal’d up,

Shall the contents discover, something rare

Even then will rush to knowledge.—Go:—fresh horses!

And gracious be the issue!

[Exeunt.