Most rare. 2 GENT. Is not this strange? 1 GENT. CER. Hush, gentle neighbours; Lend me your hands: to the next chamber bear ⚫her". Get linen; now this matter must be look'd to, [Exeunt, carrying THAISA away. SCENE III. Tharsus. A Room in CLEON'S House. Enter PERICLES, CLEON, DIONYZA, LYCHORIDA, and MARINA. PER. Most honour'd Cleon, I must needs be gone; My twelve months are expir'd, and Tyrus stands 3— What world is this?] So, in the Confessio Amantis : "And first hir eyen up she caste, "And whan she more of strength caught, "Hir armes both forth she straughte; "Helde up hir honde and piteouslie "She spake, and said, where am I? "Where is my lorde? What worlde is this? Hush, GENTLE neighbours'; -to THE NEXT CHAMBER BEAR HER.] Thus, in Twine's translation:" And when he had so saide, he tooke the body reverently in his armes, and bare it unto his owne chamber," &c. STEEVENS. So, in King Henry IV. Part II.: I pray you, take me up, and bear me hence ̧· "Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends, "Will whisper musick to my wearied spirit." MALONE. Take from my heart all thankfulness! The gods CLE. Your shafts of fortune, though they hurt you mortally 5, Yet glance full wand'ringly on us. DION. O your sweet queen! That the strict fates had pleas'd you had brought her hither, To have bless'd mine eyes! PER. We cannot but obey To give her princely training, that she may be 5 though they HURT you mortally,] First quarto-haunt. The folios and the modern editions read-hate. MALONE. 6 Your SHAFTS of fortune, though they HURT you mortally, Yet glance full wAND RINGLY on us.] Old copy: "Your shakes of fortune, though they haunt you mortally, "Yet glance full wond'ringly on us." I read, (as in the text): "Your shafts of fortune, though they hurt you mortally, Thus, Tully, in one of his Familiar Epistles : 66 omnibus telis fortunæ proposita sit vita nostra." Again, Shakspeare, in his Othello: Again, in Hamlet: "The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." Again, in The Merry Wives of Windsor: "I am glad, though you have ta'en a special stand to strike at me, that your arrow hath glanced." The sense of the passage should seem to be as follows.-All the malice of fortune is not confined to yourself. Though her arrows strike deeply at you, yet wandering from their mark, they sometimes glance on us; as at present, when the uncertain state of Tyre deprives us of your company at Tharsus. STEEVvens. 7. MANNER'D as she is born.] So, in Cymbeline: CLE. The gods revenge it upon me and mine, PER. I believe you; Your honour and your goodness teach me to it", "The truest manner'd, such a holy witch, "That he enchants societies to him." MALONE. Fear not, my lord, BUT THINK Your grace," &c.] I suspect the poet wrote: "Fear not, my lord, but that "Your grace," &c. MALONE. I have removed the difficulty by omitting the words-but think, which are unnecessary to the sense, and spoil the measure. STEEVENS. Think is, be satisfied that we cannot forget your benefits. 9- If NEGLECTION BOSWELL. Should therein make me vile,] The modern editions have neglect. But the reading of the old copy is right. The word is used by Shakspeare in Troilus and Cressida : "And this neglection of degree it is "That by a pace goes backward." MALONE. 1- my nature need a SPUR,] So, in Macbeth: "I have no spur "To prick the sides of my intent." STEEVENS. Your honour and your goodness TEACH ME TO IT,] Old copies-teach me to it, a weak reading, if not apparently corrupt. For the insertion of its present substitute [credit] I am answerable. I once thought we should read-witch me to it, a phrase familiar enough to Shakspeare. Mr. M. Mason is satisfied with the old reading; but thinks "the expression would be improved by leaving out the participle to, which hurts the sense, without improving the metre." Then, says he, the line will run thus: "Your honour and your goodness teach me it." STEEVENS. Without your vows. Till she be married, madam, 3 Though I show WILL in't:] The meaning may be-" Though I appear wilful and perverse by such conduct." MALONE. Till she be married, madam, By bright Diana, whom we honour all, "Unscissar'd shall this hair of mine remain, Though I show will in't." Old copy: 66 ได้ Unsister'd shall this heir of mine," &c. But a more obvious and certain instance of corruption perhaps is not discoverable throughout our whole play. I read, as in the text; for so is the present circumstance recited in Act V. and in consequence of the oath expressed at the present moment: 66 And now, "This ornament, that makes me look so dismal, "And what this fourteen years no razor touch'd, So also, in Twine's translation: 66 and he sware a solemn oath, that he would not poule his head, clip his beard, &c. untill he had married his daughter at ripe yeares." " Without the present emendation therefore, Pericles must appear to have behaved unaccountably; as the binding power of a romantick oath could alone have been the motive of his long persistence in so strange a neglect of his person. The words-unscissar'd and hair, were easily mistaken for- -unsister'd and heir; as the manuscript might have been indistinct, or the compositor inattentive. The verb-to scissar [i. e. to cut with scissars] is found in The Two Noble Kinsmen, by Fletcher: 66 My poor chin too, for 'tis not scissar'd just "To such a favourite's glass." I once strove to explain the original line as follows "Unsister'd shall this heir of mine remain, Though I show will in't:" i. e. till she be married, I swear by Diana, (though I may show [will, i. e.] obstinacy in keeping such an oath,) this heir of mine shall have none who can call her sister; i. e. I will not marry, and so have a chance of other children before she is disposed of.Obstinacy was anciently called wilfulness. But it is scarce possible that unsister'd should be the true reading; for if Pericles had taken another wife, after his daughter's Good madam, make me blessed in your care DION. I have one myself, Who shall not be more dear to my respect, Than yours, my lord. PER. Madam, my thanks and prayers. CLE. We'll bring your grace even to the edge o' the shore; Then give you up to the mask'd Neptune 1, and PER. Your offer. I will embrace Come, dear'st madam.-O, no tears, Lychorida, no tears: Look to your little mistress, on whose grace [Exeunt. marriage, could he have been sure of progeny to sister his first child? or what wilfulness would he have shown, had he continued a single man? To persist in wearing a squalid head of hair and beard, was indeed an obstinate peculiarity, though not without a parallel; for both Francis I. and our Henry VIII. reciprocally" swore that their beards should grow untouched till their proposed interview had taken place. STEEVENS. 4-MASK'D Neptune,] i. e. insidious waves that wear a treacherous smile: Subdola pellacis ridet clementia ponti. Lucretius. This passage in Pericles appears to have been imitated by Fletcher in Rule a Wife, &c. 1640: "I'll bring you on your way "And then deliver you to the blue Neptune." "To a most dangerous sea." MALONE. STEEVENS. Mr. Steevens has quoted the line from Lucretius incorrectly; it should be as follows: Subdola quom ridet placidi pellacia ponti. Lib. ii. v. 559. BOSWELL. |