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The sad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy,
By me so us'd a guest is, not an hour,

In the day's glorious walk, or peaceful night,

The tomb where grief should sleep, can breed me quiet. Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes shun them,

And danger, which I feared, is at Antioch,

Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here;
Yet neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits,
Nor yet the other's distance comfort me.
Then, it is thus: that passions of the mind,
That have their first conception by mis-dread,
Have after-nourishment and life by care;
And what was first but fear what might be done,
Grows elder now, and cares it be not done :
And so with me.-The great Antiochus
('Gainst whom I am too little to contend,
Since he, so great, can make his will his act)
Will think me speaking, though I swear to silence;
Nor boots it me to say, I honour,

If he suspect I may dishonour him:

And what may make him blush in being known,
He'll stop the course by which it might be known.
With hostile forces he'll o'erspread the land,
And with the ostent of war' will look so huge,
Amazement shall drive courage from the state;
Our men be vanquish'd ere they do resist,
And subjects punish'd that ne'er thought offence:
Which care of them, not pity of myself,

6

(Who am no more but as the tops of trees,

Which fence the roots they grow by, and defend them)
Makes both my body pine, and soul to languish,

And punish that before, that he would punish.

1 Lord. Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast.

other, and "our might be mistaken for of (a point in which we agree with Mr. Singer), so as to confuse what was otherwise sufficiently clear: Rowe clumsily made the sense run on, which it certainly does not. In the next line but one Malone altered as to "is," but we might perhaps read,

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4 Since HE, so great,]

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Since he's so great," corruptly in the old copies.

5 And with the OSTENT of war] So amended by Tyrwhitt, from stint of the old copies, and not stent, as Steevens misprinted it: he also quoted several instances of the use of the expression "ostent of war" in writers of the time.

(Who AM no more] The old copies read, "Who once no more." Steevens followed Farmer in the reading of our text.

2 Lord. And keep your mind, till you return to us, Peaceful and comfortable.

Hel. Peace, peace! and give experience tongue. They do abuse the king, that flatter him:

For flattery is the bellows blows up sin;

The thing the which is flatter'd, but a spark,

To which that blast gives heat and stronger glowing';
Whereas reproof, obedient and in order,

Fits kings, as they are men, for they may err:
When signior Sooth, here, does proclaim a peace,
He flatters you, makes war upon your life.
Prince, pardon me, or strike me, if you please;
I cannot be much lower than my knees.

[Kneeling.

Per. All leave us else; but let your cares o'er-look
What shipping, and what lading's in our haven,

And then return to us. [Exeunt Lords.] Helicanus, thou
Hast moved us: what seest thou in our looks?

Hel. An angry brow, dread lord.

Per. If there be such a dart in prince's frowns,

How durst thy tongue move anger to our face?

Hel. How dare the plants look up to heaven, from whence They have their nourishment?

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7 To which that BLAST gives HEAT and stronger glowing;] The old copies read, "To which that spark gives heart and stronger glowing :" modern editors notice one corruption, but do not mention the other. Monck Mason proposed "blast" for spark, and all agree that either that word or some equivalent, breath or wind, is necessary. Malone adopted breath, and Steevens wind. Heart for "Heat was an easy mistake.

How dare the PLANTS look up to heaven,] Malone tells us that the 4to, 1609, has "plants;" no copy of that edition we have seen, reads "plants," but planets: the mistake is evident, and in Malone's copy it must have been corrected while the sheet was going through the press.

9 Sit down; thou art no flatterer:] Malone silently interpolated the repetition of "Sit down" in this line, no doubt for the sake of the measure. The poet perhaps so wrote, but the words added are in no early impression, and we are not in any way authorized to insert them. Wilkins' novel thus speaks of this part of the interview :-"Which chiding of this good old lord the gentle Prince courteously receiving, tooke him into his armes, thankt him that he was no flatterer, and commaunding him to seat himselfe by him, he, from poynt to poynt, related to him all the occurrents past."

I thank thee for it; and heaven forbid,

That kings should let their ears hear their faults hid.
Fit counsellor, and servant for a prince,

Who by thy wisdom mak'st a prince thy servant,

What wouldst thou have me do?

Hel.

To bear with patience

Such griefs as you yourself do lay upon yourself.
Per. Thou speak'st like a physician, Helicanus,
That ministers a potion unto me,

That thou wouldst tremble to receive thyself.
Attend me, then I went to Antioch,

Where, as thou know'st, against the face of death
I sought the purchase of a glorious beauty,
From whence an issue I might propagate,
Are arms to princes, and bring joys to subjects.
Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder;
The rest (hark in thine ear) as black as incest :
Which by my knowledge found, the sinful father
Seem'd not to strike, but smooth; but thou know'st this,
'Tis time to fear, when tyrants seem to kiss.
Which fear so grew in me, I hither fled
Under the covering of a careful night,

Who seem'd my good protector; and being here,
Bethought me what was past, what might succeed.
I knew him tyrannous; and tyrants' fears
Decrease not, but grow faster than the years.
And should he doubt it ", (as.no doubt he doth)
That I should open to the listening air,
How many worthy princes' bloods were shed,
To keep his bed of blackness unlaid ope,

To lop that doubt he'll fill this land with arms,

And make pretence of wrong that I have done him;
When all, for mine, if I may call't, offence,

Must feel war's blow, who spares not innocence:
Which love to all, of which thyself art one,
Who now reprov'st me for it—

Hel.

Alas, sir!

10 And should he DOUBT it,] Malone's judicious emendation of the 4to, 1609, which reads, "And should he doo't:" the folio, 1664, following the later 4tos, prints "And should he think it." Seven lines lower, Malone's copy of the 4to, 1609, differs, by having "spares" for fears of other copies of the same impression. This important correction (like "plants" for planets on the preceding page) must have been made while the edition was being printed, and strongly enforces the fitness of examining different copies of the same edition.

Per. Drew sleep out of mine eyes, blood from my cheeks, Musings into my mind, a thousand doubts How I might stop this tempest ere it came; And finding little comfort to relieve them, I thought it princely charity to grieve them.

Hel. Well, my lord, since you have given me leave to speak,

Freely will I speak. Antiochus you fear,

And justly too, I think, you fear the tyrant,
Who either by public war, or private treason,
Will take away your life.

Therefore, my lord, go travel for a while,
Till that his rage and anger be forgot,

Or till the Destinies do cut his thread of life.

Your rule direct to any; if to me,

Day serves not light more faithful than I'll be.

Per. I do not doubt thy faith;

But should he wrong my liberties in my absence 1?

Hel. We'll mingle our bloods together in the earth,

From whence we had our being and our birth.

Per. Tyre, I now look from thee, then; and to Tharsus
Intend my travel, where I'll hear from thee,
And by whose letters I'll dispose myself.
The care I had, and have, of subjects' good,

On thee I lay, whose wisdom's strength can bear it.
I'll take thy word for faith, not ask thine oath;
Who shuns not to break one, will sure crack both.
But in our orbs we live so round and safe,

That time of both this truth shall ne'er convince3,
Thow show'dst a subject's shine, I a true prince.

[Exeunt.

1 But should he wrong MY liberties in my absence?] Modern editors have made unpardonably free with the verse here, by quietly striking out "my" in the second instance. If they may omit in one place, why not in another? In a line above,

"Or till the Destinies do cut his thread of life,"

why do they not strike out "do," when it injures the measure, as well as weakens the sense? We preserve it as the ancient text. In the line in question, we may be reasonably sure that "my liberties" ought to be "thy liberties;" and in the last line of the scene we might read sign for "shine;" but in neither case have we authority for varying from the 4tos. and folios.

2 will SURE crack both.]

inserted in the folio, 1664.

3

"Sure" is not in any of the 4tos, but was

- this truth shall ne'er CONVINCE,] i. e. Overcome, or conquer. See Vol. ii. p. 174, and Vol. v. pp. 403. 445.

SCENE III.

Tyre. An Ante-chamber in the Palace.

Enter THALIARD.

Thal. So, this is Tyre, and this is the court. Here must I kill king Pericles; and if I do not, I am sure to be hanged at home: 'tis dangerous.-Well, I perceive he was a wise fellow, and had good discretion, that being bid to ask what he would of the king, desired he might know none of his secrets': now do I see he had some reason for it; for if a king bid a man be a villain, he is bound by the indenture of his oath to be one.-Hush! here come the lords of Tyre.

Enter HELICANUS, ESCANES, and other Lords.

Hel. You shall not need, my fellow peers of Tyre,
Farther to question me of your king's departure:
His seal'd commission, left in trust with me,
Doth speak sufficiently, he's gone to travel.
Thal. [Aside.] How! the king gone?
Hel. If farther yet you will be satisfied,
Why, as it were unlicens'd of your loves,
He would depart, I'll give some light unto you.
Being at Antioch-

Thal.

[Aside.] What from Antioch? Hel. Royal Antiochus (on what cause I know not) Took some displeasure at him: at least, he judg'd so;

And doubting lest that he had err'd or sinn'd,

To show his sorrow he'd correct himself;

So puts himself unto the shipman's toil,
With whom each minute threatens life or death.
Thal. [Aside.] Well, I perceive

I shall not be hang'd now, although I would;

4 he might know none of his secrets:] In reference to this saying Steevens cited the following from Barnaby Rich's "Souldiers Wishe to Britain's Welfare," &c. 1604, p. 27: "I will therefore commend the poet Philipides, who, being demaunded by King Lisimachus what favour he might doe unto him, for that he loved him, made this answer to the king-that your majesty would never impart unto me any of your secrets."

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