Most rare. 2 Gent. Is not this strange? 1 Gent. Cer. Hush, gentle neighbours; Lend me your hands: to the next chamber bear her. And Esculapius guide us! Come, come, come; [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 In a litigious peace. You, and your lady, Take from my heart all thankfulness! The gods Make up the rest upon you! Cle. Your shafts of fortune, though they hurt you mortally1, Yet glance full wand'ringly on us. 1 The old copy reads: 'Your shakes of fortune, though they haunt you mortally, Yet glance full wond'ringly,' &c. The folios have though they hate you.' The emendation is by Steevens, who cites the following illustrations :-' Omnibus telis fortuna proposita sit vita nostra.'-Cicero Epist. Fam. The shot of accident or dart of chance.' Othello. The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.' Hamlet. 'I am glad, though you have taken a special stand to strike at me, that your arrow hath glanced.'-Merry Wives of Windsor. The sense of the passage seems to be, 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. Dion. O your sweet queen! That the strict fates had pleas'd you had brought her As doth the sea she lies in, yet the end Cle. Your grace, that fed Fear not, my lord, but think2 my country with your corn (For which the people's prayers still fall upon you), Must in your child be thought on. If neglection Should therein make me vile, the common body, By you reliev'd, would force me to my duty: But if to that my nature need a spur, The gods revenge it upon me and mine, Per. I believe you; Your honour and your goodness teach me credit3, Till she be married, madam, Without your vows. By bright Diana, whom we honour all, Unscissar'd shall this hair of mine remain, 2 i. e. be satisfied that we cannot forget the benefits bestowed on us. you have 3 The old copy reads, teach me to it: the alteration was made by Steevens. 4 i. e. appear wilful, perverse by such conduct. The old copy reads in the preceding line : "Unsister'd shall this heir of mine,' &c. The corruption is obvious, as appears from a subsequent passage: This ornament that makes me, look so dismal 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 5; and Per. I will embrace Your offer. Come, dear'st madam.-O, no tears, Look to your little mistress, on whose grace SCENE IV. [Exeunt. 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 how At your command. Know you the character? That I was shipp'd at sea, I well remember, 5 i. e. Insidious waves that wear a treacherous smile. Lucret. ii. v. 559. 1 The quarto, 1619, and the folio, 1664, which was probably printed from it, both read eaning. The first quarto reads learning. Steevens asserts that eaning is a term only applicable to sheep when they produce their young, and substituted 'yearning, which he interprets her groaning time.' But it should be observed that to ean or yean, in our elder language, as in the Anglo Saxon, signified to bring forth young, without any particular reference to sheep. I have therefore preferred the reading in the text to Steevens's conjecture. Delivered or no, by the holy gods, I cannot rightly say: But since King Pericles, And never more have joy. Cer. Madam, if this you purpose as you speak, Diana's temple is not distant far, Where you may 'bide until your date expire?. Thai. My recompense is thanks, that's all: Yet my good will is great, though the gift small. [Exeunt. ACT IV. Enter GOWER1. Gow. Imagine Pericles arriv'd at Tyre, Now to Marina bend your mind, Whom our fast growing scene must find 2 i. e. until you die. So in Romeo and Juliet:The date is out of such prolixity.' Again, in the same play: and expire the term Of a despised life.' And in the Rape of Lucrece: 'An expir'd date, cancell'd ere well begun.' 1 This chorus, and the two following scenes, in the old editions are printed as part of the third act. 2 The same expression occurs in the chorus to The Winter's Tale: your patience this allowing, I turn my glass, and give my scene such growing As you had slept between.' At Tharsus, and by Cleon train'd Which makes her both the heart and place 3 That monster envy, oft the wrack For certain in our story, she Would ever with Marina be: Be't when she weav'd the sleided silk She sung, and made the night-bird mute, 3 The old copies read: Which makes high both the art and place.' The emendation is by Steevens. We still use the heart of oak for the central part of it, and the heart of the land in much such another sense. Place here signifies residence. So in A Lover's Complaint: 'Love lack'd a dwelling, and made him her place.' 4 Sleided silk' is unwrought silk, prepared for weaving by passing it through the weaver's sley or reed-comb. 5 The old copies read needle, but the metre shows that we should read neeld. The word is thus abbreviated in a subsequent passage in the first quarto. See King John, Act v. Sc. 2, p. 424. 6 To record anciently signified to sing. Thus in Sir Philip Sydney's Ourania, by [Nicholas Breton] 1606 : 'Recording songs unto the Deitie.' The word is still used by bird fanciers. See vol. i. p. 172, note 1. |