Let Pericles believe his daughter's dead,
And bear his courses to be ordered

By lady Fortune; while our scene must play
His daughter's woe and heavy well-a-day,
In her unholy service. Paitence then,
And think you now are all in Mitylen.

[Exit.

SCENE V.

Mitylene. A Street before the Brothel.

Enter from the brothel, two Gentlemen.

1 Gent. Did you ever hear the like?

2 Gent. No; nor never shall do in such a place as this, she being once gone.

1 Gent. But to have divinity preached there! did you ever dream of such a thing?

2 Gent. No, no. Come, I am for no more bawdy-houses. Shall we go hear the vestals sing?

1 Gent. I'll do any thing now that is virtuous; but I am out of the road of rutting for ever.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

The Same. A Room in the Brothel.

Enter Pander, Bawd, and BoULT.

Pand. Well, I had rather than twice the worth of her, she had ne'er come here.

Bawd. Fie, fie upon her! she is able to freeze the god Priapus, and undo a whole generation: we must either get her ravished, or be rid of her. When she should do for clients her fitment, and do me the kindness of our profession, she has me her quirks, her reasons, her master reasons, her prayers, her knees, that she would make a puritan of the devil, if he should cheapen a kiss of her.

Boult. Faith, I must ravish her, or she'll disfurnish us of all our cavaliers, and make all our swearers priests.

Pand. Now, the pox upon her green-sickness for me! Bawd. 'Faith, there's no way to be rid on't, but by the way to the pox. Here comes the lord Lysimachus, disguised. Boult. We should have both lord and lown, if the peevish baggage would but give way to customers.

Enter LYSIMACHUS.

Lys. How now! How a dozen of virginities?
Bawd. Now, the gods to-bless your honour!

Boult. I am glad to see your honour in good health.

Lys. You may so; 'tis the better for you that your resorters stand upon sound legs. How now, wholesome iniquity '! have you that a man may deal withal, and defy the surgeon? Baud. We have here one, sir, if she would-but there never came her like in Mitylene.

Lys. If she'd do the deeds of darkness, thou wouldst say. Bawd. Your honour knows what 'tis to say, well enough. Lys. Well; call forth, call forth.

Boult. For flesh and blood, sír, white and red, you shall see a rose; and she were a rose indeed, if she had butLys. What, pr'ythee?

Boult. Oh, sir! I can be modest.

Lys. That dignifies the renown of a bawd, no less than it gives a good report to a number of the chaste'.

Enter MARINA.

Bawd. Here comes that which grows to the stalk ;—never plucked yet, I can assure you.-Is she not a fair creature? Lys. Faith, she would serve after a long voyage at sea. Well, there's for you: leave us.

3

wholesome INIQUITY!] "Iniquity" is misprinted impunity in every old copy after the first. The printer of the 4to, 1619, possibly thought "iniquity" a misprint, and himself misprinted impunity for impurity.

If she'd do the DEEDS of darkness,] The Rev. Mr. Dyce is very emphatic in favour of "the deed of darkness," and he may be right; but "the deeds of darkness" is perfectly clear, and not so decidedly wrong, that we can venture to discard the evidence of every early copy.

a good report to a number oF THE chaste.] Commentators have halted here, because the old editions have a number to be chaste:" read "a number of the chaste," and the difficulty is at an end: Lysimachus says that modesty dignifies a bawd, as well as gives a good report to a number who have preserved their chastity. We print "of the" for to be,- easily misheard.

Bawd. I beseech your honour, give me leave: a word, and

I'll have done presently.

Lys. I beseech you, do.

man.

Bawd. First, I would have you note, this is an honourable [TO MARINA. Mar. I desire to find him so, that I may worthily note him. Bawd. Next, he's the governor of this country, and a man whom I am bound to.

Mar. If he govern the country, you are bound to him indeed; but how honourable he is in that, I know not.

Bawd. 'Pray you, without any more virginal fencing, will you use him kindly? He will line your apron with gold. Mar. What he will do graciously, I will thankfully receive. Lys. Have you done?

Bawd. My lord, she's not paced yet; you must take some pains to work her to your manage.-Come, we will leave his honour and her together. Go thy ways".

[Exeunt Bawd, Pander, and Boult. Lys. Now, pretty one, how long have you been at this trade? Mar. What trade, sir?

Lys. Why, I cannot name but I shall offend.

Mar. I cannot be offended with my trade. Please you to name it.

Lys. How long have you been of this profession?

Mar. Ever since I can remember.

Lys. Did you go to it so young? Were you a gamester at five, or at seven ?

Mar. Earlier too, sir, if now I be one.

Lys. Why, the house you dwell in proclaims you to be a creature of sale.

Mar. Do you know this house to be a place of such resort, and will come into it? I hear say, you are of honourable parts, and are the governor of this place.

Lys. Why, hath your principal made known unto I am?

Mar. Who is my principal ?

you

who

Go thy ways.] These words, addressed probably to the Pander (or possibly to Marina, as a sort of instruction not to be too backward), are only in the 4to, 1609: some modern editors have assigned them to Lysimachus, without any information as to the change made in the distribution. They may belong to Lysimachus, but we prefer adherence to the old copies, when a change is not required by the sense. In the very next scene Boult uses the expression, "Come your ways," several times over, and we have already had it from the same vulgar lips on p. 443.

Lys. Why, your herb-woman; she that sets seed and roots of shame and iniquity. Oh! you have heard something of my power, and so stand aloof for more serious wooing; but I protest to thee, pretty one, my authority shall not see thee, or else, look friendly upon thee. Come, bring me to some private place: come, come.

Mar. If you were born to honour, show it now;

put upon you, make the judgment good

That thought you worthy of it'.

Lys. How's this? how's this?-Some more ;-be sage"
Mar. For me,

That am a maid, though most ungentle fortune

Hath plac'd me in this sty, where, since I came,
Diseases have been sold dearer than physic,—

Oh, that the gods

Would set me free from this unhallow'd place,
Though they did change me to the meanest bird
That flies i' the purer air!

Lys.

I did not think

Thou couldst have spoke so well; ne'er dream'd thou

couldst.

Had I brought hither a corrupted mind,

Thy speech had alter'd it. Hold, here's gold for thee:

Persever in that clear way thou goest, and

The gods strengthen thee!

Mar. The gods preserve you!

Lys.

For me, be you thoughten'

That I came with no ill intent; for to me
The very doors and windows savour vilely.

7 That thought you worthy of it.] For an eloquent enlargement of this speech, as contained in the novel founded upon the play by Wilkins, see our Introduction. It is not necessary to repeat the passage here, but we may reiterate our conviction that it represents what Shakespeare originally wrote, and what was originally performed at the Globe Theatre, when "Pericles was first brought out there.

8 Some more; - BE SAGE.] So always printed, and Malone supposes this to be said "with a sneer." We may more readily believe that "be sage was misheard for beseech, and that Lysimachus, beginning to repent, entreats Marina to continue what she was saying-" Some more, beseech."

9 Hath plac'd me in this sty,] Modern editors, without information that they have done so, have re-written this passage as follows:

"Hath plac'd me here within this loathsome sty."

Lower down, they inserted good before "gods." This is most unwarrantably misrepresenting the ancient text.

are not in

1 For me, BE YOU THOUGHTEN] The words "be you thoughten the folio, 1664, which reads, " For my part, I came with no ill intent," &c.

Farewell. Thou art a piece of virtue', and

I doubt not but thy training hath been noble.
Hold, here's more gold for thee.

A curse upon him, die he like a thief,

That robs thee of thy goodness! If thou dost hear
From me, it shall be for thy good.

Enter BOULT.

Boult. I beseech your honour, one piece for me.

Lys. Avaunt, thou damned door-keeper! Your house,
But for this virgin that doth prop it, would
Sink, and overwhelm you. Away!

[Exit LYSIMACHUS.

Boult. How's this? We must take another course with you. If your peevish chastity, which is not worth a breakfast in the cheapest country under the cope, shall undo a whole household, let me be gelded like a spaniel. Come your ways. Mar. Whither would you have me?

Boult. I must have your maidenhead taken off, or the common hangman shall execute it. Come your way. We'll have no more gentlemen driven away. Come your ways, I say.

Re-enter Bawd.

Bawd. How now! what's the matter?

Boult. Worse and worse, mistress: she has here spoken holy words to the lord Lysimachus.

Bawd. Oh, abominable!

4

Boult. She makes our profession as it were to stink afore the face of the gods.

Bawd. Marry, hang her up for ever!

Boult. The nobleman would have dealt with her like a nobleman, and she sent him away as cold as a snow-ball; saying his prayers, too.

Bawd. Boult, take her away; use her at thy pleasure: crack the glass of her virginity, and make the rest malleable. Boult. An if she were a thornier piece of ground than she is, she shall be ploughed.

2 Thou art a piece of virtue,] This expression has already occurred twice, viz. in "The Tempest," A. i. sc. 2, and in "Antony and Cleopatra," A. iii. sc. 2.

3

the COPE,] i. e. Under the cope or covering of heaven. See "Cymbeline," A. i. sc. 7, p. 278. Chapman has "cope of heaven," and Milton "cope of hell.” SHE makes our profession] In all the old copies it is, "He makes,” but clearly a misprint.