Mar. Pr'ythee, tell me one thing first.
Boult. Come now, your one thing 14.

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 damn'd door-keeper to every coystrel 15!
That hither comes inquiring for his tib;

To the cholerick fisting of each rogue thy ear
Is liable; thy very food is such

As hath been belch'd on by infected lungs 16.

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 speak, would own a name too dear 17,

14 So in King Henry IV. Part II.:

'P. Hen. Shall I tell thee one thing, Poins?

Poins. Go to, I stand the push of your one thing.'

15 A coystrel is a low mean person. See vol. i. p. 303, note 3. Tib was a common name for a strumpet.

They wondred much at Tom, but at Tib more;
Faith (quoth the vicker) 'tis an exlent w-.'

Nosce Te, by Richard Turner, 1607.

16 Steevens observes that Marina, who is designed for a character of juvenile innocence, appears much too knowing in the impurities of a brothel; nor are her expressions more chastised than her ideas.

17 That is, a baboon would think his tribe dishonoured by such a profession. Jago says, 'Ere I would drown myself, &c. VOL. IX.

H H

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.

ACT V.

Enter GOWER.

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:

I would change my humanity with a baboon.' In this speech
Steevens has made some trifling regulations to improve the

metre.

Deep clerks she dumbs1, and with her neeld com

poses

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

That even her art sisters the natural roses:

Her inkle3 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 cursed 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 winds, he is arriv'd
Here where his daughter dwells; and on this coast
Suppose him now at anchor. The city striv'd
God Neptune's annual feast to keep: from whence
Lysimachus our Tyrian ship espies,

His banners sable, trimm'd with rich expense;
And to him in his barge with fervour hies.

1 The following passage from A Midsummer Night's Dream is adduced only on account of the similarity of expression, the sentiments being very different. Theseus confounds those who address him, by his superior dignity; Marina silences the learned persons, with whom she converses, by her literary superiority. 'Where I have come great clerks have purposed

To greet me with premeditated welcomes;
Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,
Make periods in the midst of sentences,
Throttle their practis'd accents in their fears,
And in conclusion dumbly have broke off,

Not paying me a welcome.'

We have the verb to dumb again in Antony and Cleopatra:that what I would have spoke

Was beastly dumb by him.'

See vol. vii. p. 405, note 7.

2 Needle. See p. 323, note 5, [Act iv. Chorus].

3 Inkle appears to have been a particular kind of silk thread or worsted used in embroidery. The reader will correct the note in vol. iv. p. 81; where it is explained, 'a kind of tape.' Rider translates inkle by filum textile.

4 Steevens thinks that we should read, 'The city's hiv'd,' i. e. the citizens are collected like bees in a hive. We have the verb in The Merchant of Venice:- Drones hive not with me.'

A

In your supposing once more put your sight5;
Of heavy Pericles think this the bark:
Where, what is done in action, more, if might,
Shall be discover'd; please you, sit, and hark.

SCENE I.

[Exit.

On board PERICLES' Ship, off Mitylene. A close Pavilion on deck, with a Curtain before it; PERICLES within it, reclined 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 HELI

CANUS.

Tyr. Sail. Where's the Lord Helicanus? he can
resolve you.
[To the Sailor of Mitylene.

O 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 gentlemen.
Tyr. Sail. Ho, gentlemen! my lord calls.

Enter Two Gentlemen.

1 Gent. Doth your lordship call? Hel. Gentlemen,

5 Once more put your sight under the guidance of your imagination. Suppose you see what we cannot exhibit to you; think this stage the bark of the melancholy Pericles.'

6 Where all that may be displayed in action shall be exhibited; and more should be shown, if our stage would permit.' The poet seems to be aware of the difficulty of representing the ensuing scene. Some modern editions read, 'more of might;' which, if there was authority for it, should seem to mean more of greater consequence.'

There is some of worth would come aboard; I pray

you,

To greet them fairly.

[The Gentlemen and the Two Sailors descend, and go on board the Barge.

Enter, from thence LYSIMACHUS and Lords; the Tyrian Gentlemen, and the Two Sailors.

Tyr. Sail. Sir,

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 before.
Hel. Sir,

Our vessel is of Tyre, in it the king:

A man, who for this three months hath not spoken To any one, nor taken sustenance,

But to prorogue1 his grief.

Lys. Upon what ground is his distemperature?
Hel. Sir, it would be too tedious to repeat;

But the main grief of all springs from the loss
Of a beloved daughter and a wife.

Lys. May we not see him, then?

Hel.

You may indeed, sir, But bootless is your sight; he will not speak

To any.

1 To lengthen or prolong his grief. Prorogued is used in

Romeo and Juliet for delayed:

'My life were better ended by their hate
Than death prorogued wanting of thy love.'