Innogen's Bedchamber; in one Part of it a Trunk.
 INNOGEN in bed reading; A LADY attending.

Innogen	Who's there? My woman Helen?

Lady											Please you, madam.

Innogen	What hour is it?

Lady							Almost midnight, madam.

Innogen	I have read three hours, then; mine eyes are weak.
	Fold down the leaf where I have left. To bed.
	Take not away the taper, leave it burning;
	And if thou canst awake by four o'th' clock,
	I prithee call me. Sleep hath seized me wholly.
													[Exit LADY.
	To your protection I commend me, gods.
	From fairies and the tempters of the night
	Guard me, beseech ye.
													[Sleeps.
                      IACHIMO comes from the trunk.

Iachimo	The crickets sing, and man's o'erlaboured sense
	Repairs itself by rest. Our Tarquin thus
	Did softly press the rushes ere he wakened
	The chastity he wounded. Cytherea,
	How bravely thou becomest thy bed! Fresh lily,
	And whiter than the sheets! That I might touch;
	But kiss one kiss! Rubies unparagoned,
	How dearly they do't! 'Tis her breathing that
	Perfumes the chamber thus. The flame o'th' taper
	Bows toward her and would under-peep her lids
	To see th' enclosd lights, now canopied
	Under these windows, white and azure laced
	With blue of heaven's own tinct. But my design.
	To note the chamber; I will write all down.
	Such and such pictures; there the window; such
	Th' adornment of her bed, the arras, figures,
	Why, such and such; and the contents o'th' story.
	Ah, but some natural notes about her body
	Above ten thousand meaner moveables
	Would testify t' enrich mine inventory.
	O sleep, thou ape of death, lie dull upon her;
	And be her sense but as a monument
	Thus in a chapel lying! - Come off, come off.
									[Taking the bracelet from her arm.
	As slippery as the Gordian knot was hard!
	'Tis mine; and this will witness outwardly,
	As strongly as the conscience does within,
	To th' madding of her lord. On her left breast
	A mole, cinque-spotted like the crimson drops
	I'th' bottom of a cowslip. Here's a voucher,
	Stronger than ever law could make. This secret
	Will force him think I have picked the lock and ta'en
	The treasure of her honour. No more. To what end?
	Why should I write this down that's riveted,
	Screwed to my memory? She hath been reading late
	The tale of Tereus; here the leaf's turned down
	Where Philomel gave up. I have enough.
	To th' trunk again, and shut the spring of it.
	Swift, swift, you dragons of the night, that dawning
	May bare the raven's eye! I lodge in fear;
	Though this a heavenly angel, hell is here.
													[Clock strikes.
	One, two, three. Time, time!
													[Exit into the trunk.
