Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Boult. I beseech your honour, one piece for me. Lys. Avaunt, thou damnéd door-keeper? Your house,

But for this virgin doth prop it up, Would sink and overwhelm you all. Away! [Exit. 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. O abominable!

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.

Mar. Hark, hark, you gods!

Bawd. She conjures: away with her. Would she had never come within my doors! Marry hang you! She's born to undo us. Will you not go the way of women-kind? Marry come up, my dish of chastity with rosemary and bays! [Exit. Boult. Come, mistress: come your way with me. Mar. Whither would you have me? Boult. To take from you the jewel you hold so dear.

Mar. Pr'y thee, tell me one thing first.
Boult. Come now, your one thing.

Mar. What canst thou wish thine enemy to be? Boult. Why, I could wish him to be my master, or rather, my mistress.

Mar. Neither of these are yet so bad as thou art, Since they do better thee in their command. Thou hold'st a place for which the pained'st fiend Of hell would not in reputation change; Thou 'rt the damned door-keeper to every coystrel That hither comes inquiring for his tib; To the choleric fisting of each rogue thy ear Is liable; thy very food is such

As hath been belched on by infected lungs.

Boult. What, would you have me go to the wars, would you? where a man may serve seven years for the loss of a leg, and have not money enough in the end to buy him a wooden one.

Mar. Do any thing but this thou doest. Empty Old receptacles, common sewers, of filth; Serve by indenture to the common hangman; Any of these ways are better yet than this: For that which thou professest, a baboon, Could he but speak, would own a name too dear. O that the gods would safely from this place Deliver me! Here, here is gold for thee, If that thy master would gain aught by me, Proclaim that I can sing, weave, sew, and dance, With other virtues which I'll keep from boast; And I will undertake all these to teach. I doubt not but this populous city will Yield many scholars.

Boult. But can you teach all this you speak of?

Mar. Prove that I cannot, take me home again, And prostitute me to the basest groom That doth frequent your house.

Boult. Well, I will see what I can do for thee: if I can place thee I will.

Mar. But amongst honest women?

Boult. 'Faith, my acquaintance lies little amongst them. But since my master and mistress have bought you, there 's no going but by their consent; therefore I will make them acquainted with your purpose, and I doubt not but I shall find them tractable enough. Come, I'll do for thee what I can; come your ways. [Exeunt.

[ocr errors][merged small]

Gow. Marina thus the brothel 'scapes and
chances

Into an honest house, our story says.
She sings like one immortal, and she dances
As goddess-like to her admired lays.

Deep clerks she dumbs; and with her neeld composes

Nature's own shape of bud, bird, branch, or berry,

That even her art sisters the natural roses;
Her inkle, silk, twin with the rubied cherry:
That pupils lacks she none of noble race,
Who pour their bounty on her; and her gain
She gives the curséd bawd. Here we her place;

And to her father turn our thoughts again, Where we left him, on the sea. We there him lost;

Whence, driven before the wind he is arrived Here where his daughter dwells; and on this

coast

Suppose him now at anchor. The city strived
God Neptune's annual feast to keep: from whence
Lysimachus our Tyrian ship espies,

His banners sable, trimmed with rich expense;
And to him in his barge with fervour hies.
In your supposing once more put your sight;
Of heavy Pericles think this the bark:
Where, what is done in action, more, if might,
Shall be discovered; please you, sit, and hark.

[Exit.

SCENE 1.-On board PERICLES' Ship,off Mitylene. A close pavilion on deck, with a curtain before it; PERICLES within it, reclining on a couch. A barge lying beside the Tyrian vessel.

Enter two Sailors, one belonging to the Tyrian vessel, the other to the barge: to them HELICANUS. Tyr. Sail. Where's the Lord Helicanus? he can resolve you. [To the Sailor of Mitylene.

Oh here he is.-
Sir, there's a barge put off from Mitylene;
And in it is Lysimachus the governor,
Who craves to come aboard. What is your will?
Hel. That he have his. Call up some gen-

[blocks in formation]

This is the man that can, in aught you would, Resolve you.

Lys. Hail, reverend sir! The gods preserve you!

Hel. And you, sir, to outlive the age I am, And die as I would do.

Lys.
You wish me well.
Being on shore, honouring of Neptune's triumphs,
Seeing this goodly vessel ride before us

I made to it, to know of whence you are.
Hel. First, sir, what is your place?
Lys. I am governor of this place you lie be-

[blocks in formation]

Till the disaster that, one mortal night,
Drove him to this.

Lys. Sir king, all hail! the gods preserve you! Hail, hail, royal sir!

Hel. It is vain; he will not speak to you.

1st Lord. Sir, we have a maid in Mitylene, I durst wager

Would win some words of him.

Lys. 'Tis well bethought.

She, questionless, with her sweet harmony
And other choice attractions, would allure
And make a battery through his deafened parts,
Which now are midway stopped:

She, all as happy as of all the fairest,
Is, with her fellow maidens, now within
The leafy shelter that abuts against
The island's side.

[He whispers one of the attendant Lords. Exit Lord, in the barge of LYSIMACHUS. Hel. Sure, all's effectless; yet nothing we'll

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

My lord, that ne'er before invited eyes,
But have been gazed on, comet-like: she speaks,
My lord, that may be hath endured a grief
Might equal yours, if both were justly weighed.
Though wayward fortune did malign my state,
My derivation was from ancestors

Who stood equivalent with mighty kings:
But time hath rooted out my parentage,
And to the world and awkward casualties
Bound me in servitude.-I will desist;
But there is something glows upon my cheek,
And whispers in mine ear, "Go not till he
speak."
[Aside.
Per. My fortunes-parentage-good parent-

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Mar. My mother was the daughter of a king; Who died the very minute I was born, As my good nurse Lychorida hath oft Delivered weeping.

Per. O, stop there a little !— This is the rarest dream that e'er dull sleep Did mock sad fools withal: this cannot be. My daughter's buried. [Aside.]-Well: where were you bred?

I'll hear you more, to the bottom of your story, And never interrupt you.

Mar. You'll scarce believe me; 't were best I did give o'er.

Per. I will believe you by the syllable Of what you shall deliver. Yet, give me leave:How came you in these parts? where were you bred?

Mar. The king, my father, did in Tharsus leave me ;

Till cruel Cleon with his wicked wife
Did seek to murder me: and having wooed
A villain to attempt it, who having drawn,
A crew of pirates came and rescued me;
Brought me to Mitylene. But now, good sir,
Whither will you have me? Why do you weep?

It may be

[blocks in formation]

Lys.

She would never tell Her parentage; being demanded that She would sit still and weep.

Per. O Helicanus, strike me, honoured sir; Give me a gash, put me to present pain; Lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me, O'erbear the shores of my mortality,

And drown me with their sweetness.-0 come hither,

Thou that beget'st him that did thee beget;
Thou that wast born at sea, buried at Tharsus,
And found at sea again!-O Helicanus,
Down on thy knees, thank the holy gods as loud
As thunder threatens us: this is Marina!-
What was thy mother's name? tell me but that,
For truth can never be confirmed enough,
Though doubts did ever sleep.
Mar. First, sir, I pray,
What is your title?

Per. I am Pericles of Tyre; but tell me now (As in the rest thou hast been godlike perfect) My drowned queen's name, thou art the heir of kingdoms,

And another life to Pericles thy father.

Mar. Is it no more to be your daughter, than To say my mother's name was Thaisa? Thaisa was my mother, who did end The minute I began.

Per. Now, blessing on thee, rise; thou art my child.

Give me fresh garments. Mine own Helicanus
(Not dead at Tharsus, as she should have been
By savage Cleon), she shall tell thee all;
When thou shalt kneel and justify in knowledge
She is thy very princess.-Who is this?

Hel. Sir, 'tis the governor of Mitylene,
Who, hearing of your melancholy state,
Did come to see you.

[blocks in formation]

If this but answer to my just belief,
I'll well remember you.

[Exeunt LYSIMACHUS, HELICANUS, MA-
RINA, and attendant Lady.

SCENE II.-The same.

PERICLES on the deck asleep: DIANA appearing to him as in a vision.

Dia. My temple stands in Ephesus: hie thee thither,

And do upon mine altar sacrifice.

There, when my maiden priests are met together
Before the people all,

Reveal how thou at sea didst lose thy wife:
To mourn thy crosses, with thy daughter's, call,
And give them repetition to the life.
Perform my bidding, or thou liv'st in woe:
Do 't and be happy, by my silver bow,
Awake, and tell thy dream. [DIANA disappears.
Per. Celestial Dian, goddess argentine,

I will obey thee!--Helicanus!

Enter LYSIMACHUS, HELICANUS, and MARINA. Hel. Sir.

Per. My purpose was for Tharsus, there to strike The inhospitable Cleon; but I am For other service first: toward Ephesus Turn our blown sails; eftsoons I'll tell thee why.— [TO HELICANUS. Shall we refresh us, sir, upon your shore, And give you gold for such provision As our intents will need?

Lys. With all my heart, sir; and when you come ashore

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
« ZurückWeiter »