Cer.

I will, my lord: Beseech you, first go with me to my house, Where shall be shown you all was found with her;

How she came placed here in the temple,
No needful thing omitted.

Per. Pure Dian! bless thee for thy vision,
I will offer night oblations to thee. Thaisa,
This prince, the fair-betrothed of your daughter,
Shall marry her at Pentapolis. And now,
This ornament,

Makes me look dismal, will I clip to form;
And what this fourteen years no razor touch'd,
To grace thy marriage-day, I'll beautify.

Thai. Lord Cerimon hath letters of good credit; Sir, my father's dead.

Per. Heavens, make a star of him! Yet there, my queen,

36

Gow. In Antioch, and his daughter, you have
heard

Of monstrous lust the due and just reward:
In Pericles, his queen, and daughter, seen,
Although assail'd with fortune fierce and keen.
Virtue preserv'd from fell destruction's blast,
Led on by heaven, and crown'd with joy at last.
In Helicanus may you well descry
A figure of truth, of faith, and loyalty:
In reverend Cerimon there well appears,
The worth that learned charity aye wears.
For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame
Had spread their cursed deed, the honour'd

name

Of Pericles, to rage the city turn;
That him and his they in his palace burn.
The gods for murder seemed so content
To punish them, although not done, but meant.
So on your patience evermore attending,
New joy wait on you! Here our play has
ending.

661

ACT I.

and holy ALES"-Every old copy, quarto and folio, has "holy-days;" but as the speech was no doubt meant to rhyme, we adopt Dr. Farmer's amendment. By "holy ales," what were called church ales were meant. Rural festivals, at which, in "merry old England," there was huge consumption of ale, were called thus. There were not only "church-ales," on high religious festivalsthere were Bride-ales, Clerk-ales, Scot-ales, and others; among them Give-ales, apparently answering to our American "giving bee."

"The PURPOSE is"-In the old copies it stands, "The purchase is;" and it may possibly be right, taking purchase in the sense of prize or reward.

"-took a FEERE"-i. e. A mate, or wife. The word also occurs in TITUS ANDRONICUS.

"As yond' grim looks do testify." Referring to the heads of the unsuccessful suitors, exhibited to the audience over the gates of the palace at Antioch. That such was the case we have the evidence of the novel, founded upon the play, published under the title of "The Painfull Adventures of Pericles, Prince of Tyre," (1608,) where the heading of the first chapter ends thus:-" placing their heads on the top of his castle gate, whereby to astonish all others that came to attempt the like."

SCENE I.

"-this fair Hesperides"-The "Hesperides," in classical mythology, were the daughters of Hesperus, the owners of the dragon-guarded garden containing the golden apples. But the garden being called "the garden of the Hesperides," either from error or carelessness, was itself sometimes called, by the older English poets, "the Hesperides." Thus, in LOVE'S LABOUR'S

LOST, we have, "Hercules still climbing trees in the Hesperides."

"Yond' sometime famous princes"-Referring to the heads of the unsuccessful suitors above the palace gates. "For death remember'd should be like a mirror, Who tells us, life's but breath," etc.

Barry Cornwall ("Life of Ben Jonson") has pointed out, with admirable taste and discrimination, one of the frequent peculiarities of Shakespeare's manner, which is strongly exemplified in the above line. It is one of those peculiarities which, although they may, now and then, be found in other authors, do not mark and distinguish their style and mode of thought:-"The most subtle and profound reflections frequently enrich, and are involved in the dialogue, without impeding it. In other authors, they are not cast out in the same profusion, nor in the same mode. They constitute indeed, with them, independent speeches, or they are reserved for the conclusion of a speech, or to point it after the fashion of an epigram. Shakespeare throws out his wisdom with a careless hand, without stopping to make it conspicuous or effective. The thoughts which occur in his works-oftentimes within the limits of a mere parenthesis-would form a renown for another author. As in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, where Antony speaks of our slippery people

(Whose love is never linked to the deserver
Till his deserts be past) begin to throw, etc.
And in TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, when Ulysses says:-
Right and wrong

(Between whose endless jars Justice resides)
Should lose their names.

"Of all, 'SAY'D YET"-So every old copy, which it is needless to alter to "In all save that," as was done by Malone, and commonly followed. Percy explains the meaning, "Of all essay'd yet."

SCENE II.

46- why should this CHANGE of thoughts"-So every old copy: every modern one, without necessity, alters change" to charge. "Change" for charge, and vice versa, was a common misprint. But Pericles, after commanding that none should" disturb him," asks why this change in his spirits should do so. Two lines lower, as, of the old copies, was altered to is, by Malone. might, by a mere transposition of two letters, read, Be my, etc., for By me," and attain an easier sense than the editors have yet given:

46

We

why should this change of thoughts, The sad companion, dull-eyed melancholy, Be my so us'd a guest, is not an hour, etc. "OSTENT of war"-The old copies have "stint of war," retained in some editions, and explained by Knight-"Stint is synonymous with stop, in old writers." "Ostent" is an ingenious correction, and probably the true reading, as it agrees with the context, "will look so huge." It is besides a frequent old poetic phrase. Thus, in Decker's "Entertainment to James I." (1604:)

And why you bear alone th' ostent of warre. Again, in Chapman's translation of Homer's Batracho muomachia:

Both heralds bearing the ostents of war.

"Are arms to princes"— Which are arms, etc., is here understood.

"--but SMOOTH"-To "smooth" is to sooth, or coax. Thus in RICHARD III. :

Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive, and cog. So, in TITUS ANDRONICUS:

Yield to his honour, smooth, and speak him fair. The verb to smooth is frequently used in this sense by our older writers; for instance, by Stubbes, in his "Anatomie of Abuses," (1583:)-"If you will learn to deride, scoffe, mock, and flowt, to flatter and smooth,"

“— he was a wise fellow"-Stevens has told us who this wise fellow was, from the following passage in Barnabie Riche's "Souldier's Wishe to Briton's Welfare, or Captaine Skill and Captaine Pill," (1604, p. 27 :)—“I will therefore commende the poet Phillipides, who being demaunded by King Lisimachus, what favour he might doe unto him for that he loved him, made this answere to the king-That your majesty would never impart unto me any of your secrets."

SCENE IV.

"and SEEN with mischief's eyes"-Thus in the old copies. Malone proposed unseen, and Stevens prints "wistful eyes," instead of "mischief's;" but Dionyza means to say, that here their griefs are but felt and seen with mischief's eyes-eyes of discontent and suffering; but if topped with other tales-that is, cut down by the comparison-like groves they will rise higher, be more unbearable.

'-dames so JETTED"-i. e. So strutted.

"Thou speak'st like HIM's"-i. e. Like him who is; an elliptical expression, misprinted hymnes in all the old copies.

"if he on peace CONSIST"-i. e. If he stand on peace; a Latinisin.

The old copies read:

And these our ships you happily may think
Are like the Trojan horse, was stuffed within
With bloody reines, etc.

The emendation is Stevens's. Mr. Boswell says that the old reading may mean, elliptically, "which was stuffed."

For "bloody veins" the editors have generally given us. bloody views"-a reading at once harsh and unpoetical, and at the same time modern in its use; for views, in this sense, gives not only a very uncouth metsphor, but seems neither in the manner of Shakespeare nor of his age.

But before the statue was gilt it was erected, according to the same authority:

For they were all of him so glad
That they for ever in remembrance
Made a figure in resemblance

Of him, and in a common place
They set it up.

Why not then build,' as well as gild?”—KNIGHT.

"-this 'longs the text"-i. e. (in Gower's elliptical construction,) This belongs to the text. Excuse me from comment upon it; you will see it.

SCENE I.

"—when I saw the porpus"-The playing of por poises round a ship is a prognostic of a violent gale of wind.

661

the FINNY subject of the sea”—Stevens corrected the old copies, which read fenny, to "finny," and rightly. as is shown by the words of the novel founded upon the play: Prince Pericles wondering that from the finny subjects of the sea, these poor country-people learned the infirmities of men."

Does it

"if it be a day fits you, search out of the calendar. and nobody look after it"-This is the reading of the original, and has occasioned some discussion. not mean that the fisherman, laughing at the rarity of being honest, remarks, If it be a day (i. e. a saint's or red-letter day) fits you, search out of (not in) the calendar, and nobody look after it (there, as it would be use less?) Stevens supposes that the dialogue originally ran thus:

Per. Peace be at your labour, honest fishermen; The day is rough and thwarts your occupation.

2 Fish Honest! good fellow, what's that? If it be not a day fits you, scratch it out of the calendar, and nobody will look after it.

— puddings and FLAP-JACKS"—A "flap-jack" was a pancake, or fritter, and it seems to have been made of batter and apple. In some parts of the country it is also still called an apple-jack. (See Holloway's "Provincial Dictionary.")

"-things must be as they may"-"Things must be (says the speaker) as they are appointed to be; and what a man is not sure to compass, he has yet a just right to attempt." The Fisherman may then be supposed to begin a new sentence-" His wife's soul;" but here he is interrupted by his comrades; and it would be vain to conjecture the conclusion of his speech.

"The word, LUX TUA VITA MIHI"-"The word" means the mot, or motto. Of old, perhaps, the motto consisted of only one word. These "shreds of literature" might have been picked up out of any heraldic books, common in that age. Douce has traced some of them to the Heroical Devices" of Paradin, "translated into English by P. S." (1591.) The second one, Piu per dulzura que per fuerza, ("more by swiftness than by force,") has the Italian piu (more) instead of the Spanish mas-the rest being Spanish.

SCENE III.

"By Jove, I wonder, that is king of thoughts, These cates resist me, he not thought upon." "This speech is usually assigned to Pericles; and in the second line, under this arrangement, we read, 'she not thought upon.' But, throughout the remainder of the scene, Pericles gives no intimation of a sudden attachment to the Princess. The King, on the contrary, is evidently moved to treat him with marked attention, and to bestow his thoughts upon him almost as exclusively as his daughter. If we leave the old reading, and the old indication of the speaker, Simonides wonders that he cannot eat-these cates resist me'-although he (Pericles) is not thought upon.' This is an attempt to disguise the cause of his solicitude even to himself. It must be observed that the succeeding speeches of Simonides, Thaisa, and Pericles, are all to be received as soliloquies. In the second speech, Simonides continues the idea of 'he not thought upon,' by attempting to depreciate Pericles- He's but a country gentleman."-KNIGHT.

66- - princes, not doing so,

Are like to gnats," etc.

"When kings, like insects, lie dead before us, our admiration is excited by contemplating how, in both instances, the powers of creating bustle were superior to those which either object should seem to have promised. The worthless monarch, and the idle gnat, have only lived to make an empty bluster; and when both alike are dead, we wonder how it happened that they made so much, or that we permitted them to make it: a natural reflection on the death of an unserviceable prince, who, having dispensed no blessings, can hope for no better character."-STEVENS.

"this STANDING-BOWL of wine”—A bowl with a raised stand, or foot, was so called.

"— a soldier's dance"-Malone says, The dance here introduced is thus described in an ancient Dialogue against the Abuse of Dancing,' (black letter, no date :)

There is a dance call'd Choria,
Which joy doth testify;
Another called Pyrricke

Which warlike feats doth try.

For men in armour gestures made,

And leap'd, that so they might,

When need requires, be more prompt In public weal to fight."

SCENE IV.

"the strongest in our CENSURE"-i. e. Opinion. We believe, (says the speaker,) that the probability of the death of Pericles is the strongest. He then proceeds to assume that the kingdom is without a head. So the ancient readings, which we follow.

SCENE V.

"Even as my life, OR blood that fosters it." So in the old copies. Malone and Collier haveEven as my life my blood, etc.

Even as my life loves my blood. The original is clearI love you, even as my life, or as my blood that fosters my life.

ACT III.

"AYE the blither"-The old copies have, "Are the blither," which several editors retain, as an elliptical expression. Stevens changes it to "As the blither." It is strange that no English editor has thought of "aye" for ever a word used by Gower and Shakespeare, and the contemporaries of both. Thus, in the MIDSUMMERNIGHT'S DREAM:

For aye to be in shady cloister 'mured.

Milton, too, has

the Muses who Aye round about Jove's altar sing.

This was spelled, anciently, Aie, and may have been so written here; which made Are an easy misprint for it. Like much other good old poetic English, antiquated at home, Ay, in this sense, is still both colloquial and poetic Scotch. Thus, the "crickets singing at the oven's mouth"

Aye the blither for their drouthis precisely the same idiom with Burns'sAn' ay the ale was growing better

in "Tam O'Shanter."

"-fancies quaintly ECHE"-A form of eke, found in Chaucer and Gower, as well as in later writers-here used for "eke out."

many a DEARN and painful PERCH”—“ Dearn" signifies lonely, solitary. A "perch" is the measure of five yards and a half. "The careful search of Pericles is made by many a dearn and painful perch, by the four opposing corners which join the world together."

"— and WELL-A-NEAR"-An ejaculatory phrase, equivalent to Well-a-day! Alas, alas! still preserved in Yorkshire use, and explained in some of the glossaries of that dialect.

"—in this SELF storm”—i. e. In this same, or selfsame storm. Most modern editors corrupt the ancient text to "fell storm."

"I NILL relate"-i. e. I ne will, or will not relate.

peal to Lucina, not to descend personally, not to lend her aid merely, but to send down her divinity upon them (convey thy deity,')-(he says,) are all characteristic of our greatest of poets, and worthy of him. The scene proceeds, and we hear Pericles mourning over his lost wife, Thaisa, in terms at once homely and beautiful:"

A terrible childbirth, etc., etc.

Quiet and gentle thy CONDITIONS!" "Condition," in old English, was applied to temper. Thus, in HENRY V.:-"Our tongue is rough, etc.; my condition is not smooth." "The late Earl of Essex told Queen Elizabeth (says Sir Walter Raleigh) that her conditions were as crooked as her carcase-but it cost him his head."

"That e'er was prince's child"-The novel founded upon the play of PERICLES here employs an expression which (says Collier) is evidently Shakespearian. It gives this part of the speech of Pericles as follows:"Poor inch of nature! (quoth he,) thou art as rudely welcome to the world, as ever princess' babe was, and hast as chiding a nativity, as fire, air, earth and water can afford thee." This quotation shows that Malone (who is followed in nearly all editions) was wrong in altering "welcome" to welcom'd: the novel proves that "welcome" was the Poet's word.

"we are strong in CUSTOM"-The old copies have strong in easterne," which (Malone says) means that there is a strong easterly wind. Knight would read, 'strong astern"-i. e. we are driving strongly astern. Neither of these ideas could well be in the author's thoughts. This edition prefers Boswell's ingenious and most probable supposition, that easterne was a misprint for "custom," as meaning, they say they have always observed it at sea, and that they are strong in their adherence to old usages. He refers to the experience of his own correction of the press, that this is a natural mistake.

"Bring me the satin COFFIN"-" Coffin" and coffer are words of the same original meaning. Subsequently, Cerimon says to Thaisa

Madam, this letter, and some certain jewels,

Lay with you in your coffer.

The Poet, therefore, did not mean that his queen should be laid in this coffin, but that it was the coffer, or chest, containing satins, which Pericles terms the "cloth of state," used for her shroud. (See next scene.)

SCENE II.

"Give this to the 'pothecary"-The precedent words show that the physic cannot be designed for the master of the servants here introduced. Perhaps the circumstance was introduced for no other reason than to mark more strongly the extensive benevolence of Cerimon. It could not be meant for the poor men who have just left the stage, to whom he has ordered kitchen physic.

"The very PRINCIPALS"-i. e. The strongest timbers of a building.

"'Tis not our HUSBANDRY"-" Husbandry" here sig nifies economical prudence. So in HAMLET, (act i. scene 3:)borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry,

And in HENRY V.:

For our bad neighbours make us early stirrers,
Which is both healthful and good husbandry.

"Virtue and CUNNING"-"Cunning" here means knowledge, as in the old English versions of the Psalms, and elsewhere.

“Or tie my treasure up in silken bags,

To please the fool and death."

"Death" and the "Fool" were both personages fami liar to the amusements of the middle ages, and were acted, and painted, and engraved. Stevens mentions an old Flemish print, in which Death was exhibited in the act of plundering a miser of his bags, and the Foul (discriminated by his bauble, etc.) was standing behind and grinning at the process. The "Dance of Death" appears to have been anciently a popular exhibition. A venerable and aged clergyman informed Stevens that he had once been a spectator of it. The dance consisted of Death's contrivances to surprise the Merry Andrew, and of the Merry Andrew's efforts to elude the stratagems of Death, by whom at last he was overpow ered; his finale being attended with such circumstances as mark the exit of the Dragon of Wantley. It should seem that the general idea of this serio-comic pas-dedeux had been borrowed from the ancient "Dance of Machabre," commonly called the "Dance of Death," which appears to have been anciently acted in churches, like the Moralities. The subject was a frequent ornament of cloisters, both here and abroad. The reader will remember the beautiful series of wood-cuts of the "Dance of Death," attributed (though erroneously) to Holbein. Douce describes an exquisite set of initial letters, representing the same subject; in one of which the Fool is engaged in a very stout combat with his adversary, and is actually buffeting him with a bladder filled with peas or pebbles-an instrument used by modern Merry Andrews.

"on my EANING time"-This is the folio reading. and that of one quarto. The others have "learning time," which the editors have amended to "gearning time"-the time of that internal uneasiness preceding labour. But "eaning" is a common old English word. for bringing forth young, usually applied to sheep, but not confined to them. Shylock speaks of "the ewes in eaning time;" but there is no reason or evidence that it was not used for the birth of children.

ACT. IV.

"-ripe for marriage RITE"-The original has sight. which has afforded place for various conjectures and interpretations. The reading here adopted seems the most probably that which the author wrote.

"the SLEIDED silk"-"Sleided" silk (says Percy) is untwisted silk, prepared to be used in the weaver's sley, or slay