MAR. Some such thing indeed 2 I said, and said no more but what my thoughts PER. Tell thy story ; If thine consider'd prove the thousandth part smiling Extremity out of act 5. How lost thou them? virgin? What were thy friends? Recount, I do beseech thee; come, sit by me. 2 Some such thing INDEED] For the insertion of the word indeed, I am accountable. MALONE. So, in Macbeth: : Have suffer'd like a girl :] "If trembling I inhibit thee, protest me "The baby of a girl." MALONE. Like PATIENCE, gazing on kings' graves,] So, in Twelfth Night: "She sat like Patience on a monument, Again, in The Rape of Lucrece, 1594 : “Onward to Troy with these blunt swains he goes; 5- and smiling MALONE. EXTREMITY out of act.] By her beauty and patient meekness disarming Calamity, and preventing her from using her uplifted sword. So, in King Henry IV. Part II.: "And hangs resolv'd correction in the arm, "That was uprear'd to execution." Extremity (though not personified as here) is in like manner used in King Lear, for the utmost of human suffering : 66 another, "To amplify too much, would make much more, 6 How lost thou THEM?-Thy name, my most kind virgin? Recount, I do beseech thee; come, sit by me.] All the old copies read: "How lost thou thy name, my most kind virgin, recount," &c But Marina had not said any thing about her name. She had in MAR. My name, sir, is Marina. PER. And thou by some incensed god sent hither MAR. Or here I'll cease. PER. O, I am mock'd, Patience, good sir, Nay, I'll be patient; Thou little know'st how thou dost startle me, To call thyself Marina. MAR. The name Marina, Was given me by one that had some power; My father, and a king. PER. And call'd Marina? MAR. How! a king's daughter? But, not to be a troubler of your peace', I will end here. PER. You said you would believe me ; But are you flesh and blood? Have you a working pulse? and are no fairy? 8 No motion ?-Well; speak on. born? And wherefore call'd Marina ? Where were you deed told the king, that "Time had rooted out her parentage, and to the world and aukward casualties bound her in servitude."Pericles, therefore, naturally asks her, by what accident she had lost her friends; and at the same time desires to know her name. Marina answers his last question first, and then proceeds to tell her history. The insertion of the word them, which I suppose to have been omitted by the negligence of the compositor, renders the whole clear. The metre of the line, which was before defective, and Marina's answer, both support the conjectural reading of the text. MALONE. a TROUBLER of your PEACE,] Thus the earliest quarto. So, in King Richard III.: "And then hurl down their indignation "On thee, the troubler of the poor world's peace." The folios and the modern editions read-a trouble of your peace. MALONE. 8 NO MOTION?] i. e. no puppet dress'd up to deceive me. So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona : MAR. For I was born at sea. PER. Call❜d Marina, At sea? thy mother? MAR. My mother was the daughter of a king; Who died the very minute I was born 9, As my good nurse Lychorida hath oft Deliver'd weeping. PER. O, stop there a little! This is the rarest dream that e'er dull sleep1 My daughter's buried. [Aside.] Well:—where were you bred? "O excellent motion! O exceeding puppet! This passage should be pointed thus: 66 STEEVENS. Have you a working pulse? and are no fairy-motion ? ” That is, "Have you really life in you, or are you merely a puppet formed by enchantment? the work of fairies." The present reading cannot be right, for fairies were supposed to be animated beings, and to have working pulses as well as men. M. MASON. If Mr. M. Mason's punctuation were followed, the line would be too long by a foot. Pericles suggests three images in his question-1. Have you a working pulse? i. e. are you any thing human and really alive? 2. Are you a fairy? 3. Or are you a puppet? STEEVENS. In the old copy this passage is thus exhibited : "But are you flesh and blood? "Have you a working pulse? and are no fairy? 9 Who died the very minute I was born,] Thus the old copy. Either the construction is- My mother, who died the very minute I was born, was the daughter of a king,'-or we ought to read: "She died the very minute," &c. otherwise it is the king, not the queen, that died at the instant of Marina's birth. In the old copies these lines are given as prose. STEEVENS. The word very I have inserted to complete the metre. MALONE. This is the rarest dream that e'er dull sleep-] The words, "This is the rarest dream," &c. are not addressed to Marina, but spoken aside. MALONE. I'll hear you more, to the bottom of your story, MAR. You'll scarce believe me; 'twere best I did give o'er 2. PER. I will believe you by the syllable 3 Of what you shall deliver. Yet, give me leave :How came you in these parts? where were you bred? MAR. The king, my father, did in Tharsus leave me; Till cruel Cleon, with his wicked wife, Did seek to murder me: and having woo'd 4 A villain to attempt it, who having drawn to do't, 2 YOU'LL SCARCE believe me; 'twere best I did give o'er.] All the old copies read—" You scorn, believe me," &c. The reply of Pericles induces me to think the author wrote: "You'll scarce believe me; 'twere best," &c. Pericles had expressed no scorn in the preceding speech; but, on the contrary, great complacency and attention. before: So also, The false prints in this play are so numerous, that the greatest latitude must be allowed to conjecture. MALONE. 3 I will believe you by the SYLLABLE, &c.] i. e. I will believe every word you say. So, in Macbeth : "To the last syllable of recorded time." Again, in All's Well that Ends Well: "To the utmost syllable of your worthiness." STEEVENS. 4 - WHO having drawn-] Mr. Malone supposes the old copy meant to read Whom having drawn," &c. STEEVENS. This mode of phraseology, though now obsolete, was common in Shakspeare's time. So, in The Tempest: "Some food we had, and some fresh water, that "A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo, "Out of his charity, (who being then appointed Again, in The Winter's Tale : "And son unto the king, (whom heavens directing,) See also vol. xiv. p. 135, n. 2. When the former edition of this play was printed, I imagined A crew of pirates came and rescued me; Brought me to Mitylene. But, now good sir, Whither will you have me? Why do you weep? It may be, You think me an impostor; no, good faith; I am the daughter to king Pericles, If good king Pericles be. PER. HO, Helicanus ! HEL. Calls my gracious lord? PER. Thou art a grave and noble counsellor, HEL. Here is the regent, sir, of Mitylene, Speaks nobly of her. Lys. I know not; but She would never tell Her parentage; being demanded that, She would sit still and weep. PER. O Helicanus, strike me, honour'd sir; Give me a gash, put me to present pain; the original copy printed in 1609, read-" who having drawn to do't, not observing the mark of abbreviation over the letter o (who) which shows the word intended was whom. MALONE. I have now two copies of this quarto 1609 before me, and neither of them exhibits the mark on which Mr. Malone's supposition is founded. I conclude therefore that this token of abbreviation was an accidental blot in the copy which that gentleman consulted. Old copy I read : 66 "A villain to attempt it, who, having drawn, 66 A crew of pirates," &c. The words-to do't-are injurious to the measure, and unnecessary to the sense, which is complete without them. So, in Romeo and Juliet: "What! art thou drawn among these heartless hinds? " Again, in King Henry V.: 66 O, well a day, if he be not drawn now!" STEEVENS. Upon an inspection of Mr. Malone's сору, Mr. Steevens appears to be right. BOSWELL. |