Be it our wives, our children, or ourselves, The curse of heaven and men succeed their evils! Till when, (the which, I hope, shall ne'er be seen,) Your grace is welcome to our town and us. PER. Which welcome we'll accept; feast here a while, Until our stars that frown, lend us a smile. ACT II. [Exeunt. Enter Gower. Gow. Here have you seen a mighty king His child, I wis, to incest bring; A better prince, and benign lord, That will prove awful both in deed and word2. Till he hath pass'd necessity. I'll show you those in troubles reign, 66 I believe the old reading is the true one. Ingratitude in thought" is 'mental ingratitude.' The governor imprecates vengeance on himself and his people, should any of them harbour even an ungrateful thought in their bosoms respecting Pericles. STEEVENS. No amendment is wanting; the meaning is this:-"May these persons be cursed who shall pay you with unthankfulness, even in thought, though they should be our dearest friends, or even ourselves." M. MASON. A better prince, and benign lord, Prove awful, &c.] i. e. you have seen a better prince, &c. prove awful, &c. The verb in the first line is carried on to the third. Old copy: "That will prove awful both in deed and word." I have omitted the two first words, as the sense proceeds without them, and they render the metre irregular. STEEVENS. 3 I'll show you those, &c.] I will now exhibit to you persons, The good in conversation" (To whom I give my benizon,) 5 Is still at Tharsus, where each man Gild his statue to make it glorious': who, after suffering small and temporary evils, will at length be blessed with happiness.-I suspect our author had here in view the title of the chapter in Gesta Romanorum, in which the story of Apollonius is told; though I will not say in what language he read it. It is this: "De tribulatione temporali quæ in gaudium sempiternum postremo commutabitur." MALONE. 4 The good in CONVERSATION-] Conversation is conduct, behaviour. So, in the Second Epistle of St. Peter, iii. 11: "—to be in all holy conversation and godliness." STEEVENS. 5 The good in conversation (To whom I give my benizon,) Is still at Tharsus, where-] This passage is confusedly expressed. Gower means to say-The good prince (on whom I bestow my best wishes) is still engaged at Tharsus, where every man," &c. STEEVENS. 6 Thinks all is writ he spoken can:] Pays as much respect to whatever Pericles says, as if it were holy writ. "As true as the gospel," is still common language. MALONE. Writ may certainly mean scripture; the holy writings, by way of eminence, being so denominated. We might, however, read— wit, i. e. wisdom. So, Gower, in this story of Prince Appolyn: Though that thou be of littel witte." 66 STEEVENS. 7 GILD his statue to make it glorious:] This circumstance, as well as the foregoing, is found in the Confessio Amantis : 66 Appolinus, whan that he herde "The mischefe, howe the citee ferde, "He yave, and toke of hem right nought. "More joye made than thei hym made; 66 For thei were all of hym so glade, "That thei for ever in remembrance "Made a figure in resemblance Of hym, and in a common place "Thei set it up; so that his face But tidings to the contrary Are brought your eyes; what need speak I? Dumb show. Enter at one door PERICLES, talking with CLEON; all the Train with them. Enter at another door, a Gentleman, with a letter to PERICLES; PERICLES shows the Letter to CLEON; then gives the Messenger a reward, and knights him. Exeunt PERICLES, CLEON, &c. severally. Gow. Good Helicane hath staid at home, From others' labours; for though he strive And, to fulfil his prince' desire, Sends word of all that haps in Tyre: 66 Might every maner man beholde, "So as the citee was beholde : "It was of laton over-gylte; "Thus hath he nought his yefte spilte." All the copies read-Build his statue, &c. MALOne. They also unnecessarily read: "Build his statue to make it glorious." Read-gild. So, in Gower: "It was of laton over-gylte." 8 in remem Again, in Kyng Appolyn of Thyre, 1510: " braunce they made an ymage or statue of clene gold," &c. 8 Mr. Steevens reads: STEEVENS. -. I read "Gild his statue glorious." BosWELL. forth, &c.] Old copy-for though he strive forth; i. e. thoroughly, from beginning to end. So, in Measure for Measure: 66 you, cousin, "Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth, "Do with your injuries as seems you best." STEEVENS. 9 Good Helicane HATH staid at home, And, to fulfil his prince' desire, - SENDS WORD of all that haps in Tyre:] The old copy reads: "Good Helicane that staid at home, "Sav'd one of all," &c. The emendation was suggested by Mr. Steevens. Malone. How Thaliard came full bent with sin, And that in Tharsus was not best 2 By waves from coast to coast is tost; All perishen of man, of pelf, Ne aught escapen but himself; The old copy seems to me to be clearer" Good Helicane, &c. sends word of all." The lines between the first and sixth I read in a parenthesis. BOSWELL. I And HID INTENT, to murder him ;] The first quarto reads: 66 And hid in Tent to murder him." This is only mentioned to show how inaccurately this play was originally printed, and to justify the liberty that has been taken in correcting the preceding passage. The reading of the text is that of the quarto 1619. MALONE. "How Thaliard came full bent with SIN, "And HID intent to murder him." Sin and him cannot be received as rhymes. Perhaps the author wrote, 66 full bent with scheme, "And hid intent," &c. The old reading, in the second line, is certainly the true one. Hid intent is concealed design, such as was that of Thaliard. 2 STEEVENS. -WAS not best] The construction is, And that for him to make his rest longer in Tharsus, was not best; i. e. his best course. MALONE. 3 He KNOWING SO,] i. e. says Mr. Steevens, emendation was made, "he being thus informed." has-" He doing so." MALONE. 66 4- that the SHIP by whom this The old copy Should house him safe, is wreck'd and split;] Ship and split are such defective rhymes, that I suppose our author wrote fleet. Pericles, in the storm, lost his fleet as well as the vessel in which he was himself embarked. STEEVENS. 5 Ne aught ESCAPEN but himself;] [Old copy-escapen'd-] It should be printed either escapen or escaped. Till fortune, tired with doing bad, SCENE I. [Exit. Pentapolis. An open Place by the Sea Side. Enter PERICLES, wet. PER. Yet cease your ire, ye angry stars of heaven! Wind, rain, and thunder, remember, earthly man Alas, the sea hath cast me on the rocks, Wash'd me from shore to shore, and left me breath Nothing to think on, but ensuing death: Our ancestors had a plural number in their tenses which is now lost out of the language; e. g. in the present tense, I escape We escapen But it did not, I believe, extend to the preter-imperfects, otherwise than thus: They didden [for did] escape. PERCY, 6 -to GIVE him glad :] Dr. Percy asks if we should not read to make him glad. Perhaps we should but the language of our fictitious Gower, like that of our Pseudo-Rowley, is so often irreconcileable to the practice of any age, that criticism on such bungling imitations is almost thrown away. STEEVENS. 7-what shall be next, Pardon old Gower; this long's the text.] The meaning of this may be-" "Excuse old Gower from telling you what follows. The very text to it has proved of too considerable length already." STEEVENS. 8 and left ME breath Nothing to think on, &c.] The quarto 1609, reads-and left my breath. I read-and left me breath, that is, left me life, only to aggravate my misfortunes, by enabling me to think on the death that awaits me. MALONE. |