Seg. 
     My chamberlain?—­
     And these that follow you?—­

     CHAMB. 
     On you, my Lord,
     Your Highness’ lords in waiting.

     Seg. 
     Lords in waiting. 
     Well, I have now learn’d to repeat, I think,
     If only but by rote—­This is my palace,
     And this my throne—­which unadvised—­And that
     Out of the window there my Capital;
     And all the people moving up and down
     My subjects and my vassals like yourselves,
     My chamberlain—­and lords in waiting—­and
     Clotaldo—­and Clotaldo?—­
     You are an aged, and seem a reverend man—­
     You do not—­though his fellow-officer—­
     You do not mean to mock me?

     CHAMB. 
     Oh, my Lord!

     Seg. 
     Well then—­If no magician, as you say,
     Yet setting me a riddle, that my brain,
     With all its senses whirling, cannot solve,
     Yourself or one of these with you must answer—­
     How I—­that only last night fell asleep
     Not knowing that the very soil of earth
     I lay down—­chain’d—­to sleep upon was Poland—­
     Awake to find myself the Lord of it,
     With Lords, and Generals, and Chamberlains,
     And ev’n my very Gaoler, for my vassals!

     Enter suddenly Clotaldo

     Clotaldo. 
     Stand all aside
     That I may put into his hand the clue
     To lead him out of this amazement.  Sir,
     Vouchsafe your Highness from my bended knee
     Receive my homage first.

     Seg. 
     Clotaldo!  What,
     At last—­his old self—­undisguised where all
     Is masquerade—­to end it!—­You kneeling too! 
     What! have the stars you told me long ago
     Laid that old work upon you, added this,
     That, having chain’d your prisoner so long,
     You loose his body now to slay his wits,
     Dragging him—­how I know not—­whither scarce
     I understand—­dressing him up in all
     This frippery, with your dumb familiars
     Disvizor’d, and their lips unlock’d to lie,
     Calling him Prince and King, and, madman-like,
     Setting a crown of straw upon his head?

     CLO. 
     Would but your Highness, as indeed I now
     Must call you—­and upon his bended knee
     Never bent Subject more devotedly—­
     However all about you, and perhaps
     You to yourself incomprehensiblest,
     But rest in the assurance of your own
     Sane waking senses, by these witnesses
     Attested, till the story of it all,
     Of which I bring a chapter, be reveal’d,
     Assured of all you see and hear as neither
     Madness nor mockery—­

     Seg. 
     What then?