er husband, fearing the king's anger,
endeavoured to prevent her, she laid the babe at its father's feet, and
Paulina made a noble speech to the king in defence of Hermione, and she
reproached him severely for his inhumanity, and implored him to have
mercy on his innocent wife and child. But Paulina's spirited
remonstrances only aggravated Leontes' displeasure, and he ordered her
husband Antigonus to take her from his presence.

When Paulina went away, she left the little baby at its father's feet,
thinking when he was alone with it, he would look upon it, and have pity
on its helpless innocence.

The good Paulina was mistaken: for no sooner was she gone than the
merciless father ordered Antigonus, Paulina's husband, to take the
child, and carry it out to sea, and leave it upon some desert shore to
perish.

Antigonus, unlike the good Camillo, too well obeyed the orders of
Leontes; for he immediately carried the child on ship-board, and put out
to sea, intending to leave it on the first desert coast he could find.

So firmly was the king persuaded of the guilt of Hermione, that he would
not wait for the return of Cleomenes and Dion, whom he had sent to
consult the oracle of Apollo at Delphos; but before the queen was
recovered from her lying-in, and from her grief for the loss of her
precious baby, he had her brought to a public trial before all the lords
and nobles of his court. And when all the great lords, the judges, and
all the nobility of the land were assembled together to try Hermione,
and that unhappy queen was standing as a prisoner before her subjects to
receive their judgment, Cleomenes and Dion entered the assembly, and
presented to the king the answer of the oracle, sealed up; and Leontes
commanded the seal to be broken, and the words of the oracle to be read
aloud, and these were the words:--"_Hermione is innocent, Polixenes
blameless, Camillo a true subject, Leontes a jealous tyrant, and the
king shall live without an heir if that which is lost be not found._"
The king would give no credit to the words of the oracle: he said it was
a falsehood invented by the queen's friends, and he desired the judge to
proceed in the trial of the queen; but while Leontes was speaking, a man
entered and told him that the Prince Mamillius, hearing his mother was
to be tried for her life, struck with grief and shame, had suddenly
died.

Hermione, upon hearing of the death of this dear affectionate child, who
had lost