Though I show ill in't. So I take my leave.
Good madam, make me blessed in your care
In bringing up my child.

Dion.

Who shall not be more dear to my respect,

Than your's, my lord.

Per.

I have one myself,

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, and

The gentlest winds of heaven.

Per.

I will embrace

Your offer.-Come, dear'st madam.-Oh! no tears,

Lychorida, no tears:

Look to your little mistress, on whose grace

You may depend hereafter.-Come, my lord.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

Ephesus. A Room in CERIMON's House.

Enter CERIMON and THAISA.

Cer. Madam, this letter, and some certain jewels,
Lay with you in your coffer, which are

At your command. Know you the character?
Thai. It is my lord's.

That I was shipp'd at sea, I well remember,
Even on my eaning time'; but whether there
Delivered or no, by the holy gods,

I cannot rightly say. But since king Pericles,
My wedded lord, I ne'er shall see again,

A vestal livery will I take me to,

And never more have joy.

Cer. Madam, if this you purpose as you speak, Diana's temple is not distant far,

wilfulness in doing so;" but the Rev. Mr. Dyce urges us to print "Though I show ill in't," and as we think he is right, we have altered the text accordingly. 7 Even on my EANING time;] i. e. Just before my time for parturition: so, as Mr. W. Williams of Tiverton reminds me, we have " eaning time" used in the same way in "The Merchant of Venice,” A. i. sc. 3, Vol. ii. p. 279. Some of the old copies have "learning time," and others "yearning time," but "eaning time" seems correct, from the A. S. eanian, parturire.

Where you may abide till your date expire.
Moreover, if you please, a niece of mine
Shall there attend you.

Thai. My recompense is thanks, that's all;

Yet my good will is great, though the gift small.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV.

Enter GoWER.

Gow. Imagine Pericles arriv'd at Tyre,
Welcom❜d and settled to his own desire:
His woful queen we leave at Ephesus,
Unto Diana there a votaress.

Now to Marina bend your mind,

Whom our fast-growing scene must find
At Tharsus, and by Cleon train'd

In music, letters; who hath gain'd
Of education all the grace,

Which makes her both the heart and place
Of general wonder. But alack!

That monster envy, oft the wrack'
Of earned praise, Marina's life
Seeks to take off by treason's knife.
And in this kind hath our Cleon

One daughter, and a wench full grown',

8 Which makes HER both the HEART and place] The old copies read, "Which makes hie (high in the folio, 1664) both the art and place." Might we not read act for "art," a more likely misprint than heart for "art?"

9

- oft the WRACK] This is one of the instances in which it is obviously necessary, for the sake of the rhyme, to adhere to the old spelling, "wrack," instead of wreck, as we should unquestionably otherwise have given it.

1 - a wench full grown,] In all the old editions these lines are thus corruptly represented :

"And in this kind our Cleon hath

One daughter, and a full grown wench."

Steevens restored the intended rhyme. In the next line we substitute "rite" for sight of the early impressions: we formerly preserved sight, on the ground that to say that she was "ripe for the sight of marriage' was very intelligible, though the Rev. Mr. Dyce does "not exactly understand it." At the same time we suggested "rite" (then frequently, if not invariably, spelt right), and that word we have now placed in the text. Mr. Singer takes the same course, but without any notice that it was a reading we had long ago recommended.

Even ripe for marriage rite: this maid
Hight Philoten; and it is said

For certain in our story, she
Would ever with Marina be:

Be't when she weav'd the sleided silk'
With fingers, long, small, white as milk;
Or when she would with sharp needle wound'
The cambric, which she made more sound
By hurting it; or when to the lute
She sung, and made the night-bird mute',
That still records with moan; or when
She would, with rich and constant pen,
Vail to her mistress Dian; still

This Philoten contends in skill
With absolute Marina: so

With the dove of Paphos might the crow
Vie feathers white. Marina gets
All praises, which are paid as debts,
And not as given. This so darks
In Philoten all graceful marks,
That Cleon's wife, with envy rare,
A present murderer does prepare
For good Marina, that her daughter
Might stand peerless by this slaughter.

2 the SLEIDED silk] "Sleided" silk (says Percy) is untwisted silk, prepared to be used in the weaver's sley or slay. The old copies have "they weav'd." Hight Philoten," above, is called, or named Philoten: see Vol. ii. p. 98. 3 - with sharp NEEDLE Wound]

64

Needle" is, of course, here to be pronounced in the time of a monosyllable, as in Vol. ii. p. 224, and Vol. iv. pp. 198. 305. - the night-BIRD mute,] All the old copies read "night-bed." It is somewhat strange that so decided and obvious a corruption was repeated in no fewer than nine separate impressions: it shows the carelessness and thoughtlessness with which reprints of old were made.

5 VAIL to her mistress Dian;] i. e. Do homage to her mistress, Diana: Malone suggested Wail, but printed " Vail." With reference to the word "records," two lines above, we may observe that it was almost technical for the singing of birds; but when Malone cited Sir Philip Sidney's "Ourania," 4to, 1606, on the point, he was not aware that the initials N. B., upon the title-page, are not those of Nicholas Breton, as he supposed, but of Nicholas Baxter, Backster, or Tergaster, as he calls himself in various places, particularly on Sign. N b, where he also mentions that he had been tutor to Sir Philip Sidney :

"Art thou (quoth he) my tutor, Tergaster?"

is a question he puts into the mouth of his pupil, whom he feigns to see in a vision. Mr. Singer, who copies Malone, of course falls into Malone's mistake: neither of them could have read the poem. We write with Baxter's corrected copy of his own production before us: it is subscribed with his name.

The sooner her vile thoughts to stead,
Lychorida, our nurse, is dead;
And cursed Dionyza hath

The pregnant instrument of wrath

Prest for this blow. The unborn event

I do commend to your content:

Only I carried winged time

Post on the lame feet of my rhyme;

Which never could I so convey,

Unless your thoughts went on my way.

Dionyza doth appear,

With Leonine, a murderer.

[Exit.

SCENE I.

Tharsus. An open Place, near the Sea-shore.

Enter DIONYZA and LEONINE.

Dion. Thy oath remember; thou hast sworn to do't:

"Tis but a blow, which never shall be known.

Thou canst not do a thing i' the world so soon,

To yield thee so much profit. Let not conscience,
Which is but cold, inflaming love in thy bosom,
Inform too nicely'; nor let pity, which

Even women have cast off, melt thee, but be

A soldier to thy purpose.

Leon: I'll do't; but yet she is a goodly creature.

Dion. The fitter, then, the gods should have her. Here She comes weeping for her old nurse's death'.

6 PREST for this blow.] "Prest" is ready; prêt, Fr.: see Vol. ii. p. 272, and Vol. iv. p. 640. "Pregnant," in the preceding line, means prepared, adapted: see Vol. ii. p. 685.

7 INFORM too nicely ;] i. e. Inform thee too scrupulously: it is “Inflame too nicely" in the early impressions; but we stated, in a note to our first edition, that inflame here was probably a misprint for "inform," and we are now so convinced of it, that we place "inform" in our text. For "inflaming love," &c., in the preceding line, we might read "infusing love," &c.

8- for her OLD NURSE's death.] Old copy,

"She comes weeping for her onely mistresse death."

As Marina (says Percy) had been trained in music, letters, &c., and had gained all the graces of education, Lychorida could not have been her only mistress: I would therefore read,

"Here comes she weeping her old nurse's death."

Enter MARINA, with a basket of flowers.

Mar. No, I will rob Tellus of her weed,

To strew thy green with flowers: the yellows, blues,
The purple violets, and marigolds,

Shall, as a carpet, hang upon thy grave,

While summer days do last. Ah me, poor maid!
Born in a tempest, when my mother died,

This world to me is like a lasting storm,
Whirring me from my friends.

Dion. How now, Marina! why do you weep alone 1o
10 ?
How chance my daughter is not with you? Do not
Consume your blood with sorrowing you have
A nurse of me. Lord! how your favour's chang'd
With this unprofitable woe! Come, come;
Give me your flowers, ere the sea mar it.
Walk with Leonine; the air is quick there,
And it pierces and sharpens the stomach. Come,
Leonine; take her by the arm, walk with her.
Mar. No, I pray you;

I'll not bereave you of your servant.

Dion.

Come, come;

I love the king your father, and yourself,
With more than foreign heart. We every day
Expect him here: when he shall come, and find
Our paragon to all reports thus blasted,

He will repent the breadth of his great voyage;
Blame both my lord and me, that we have taken
No care to your best courses.
Go, I pray you;

We adopt the emendation of the sense, but not the improvement of the metre. We are generally disposed to leave Shakespeare's lines to their own vindication, and to the reader's ear.

To strew thy GREEN with flowers:] i. e. Thy green grave: the 4tos. all read "green," and the folio, 1664, grave, which occurs again just below. In the last line of the speech, the folio needlessly substitutes hurrying for "whirring;" but in this change it was preceded by four of the 4tos.

66

10 why do you WEEP alone?] Malone tells us that the earliest copies read keep for "weep." Such is not the case with the 4to, 1609, the property of the Duke of Devonshire, which, like all the subsequent impressions, has "weep alone." Either word may be right; but, from what follows, weep seems preferable, and probably was substituted for keep in the press. In the novel by Wilkins we have no hint that any thing passes between Dionyza and Marina, before the attempt of Leonine to murder the latter.