ing to which the beauty, the disposition, as well as the fortune of all human beings, was supposed to depend upon the aspect of the stars at the time they were born, not at the time in which they were con ceived. M. MASON.

Perhaps the error lies in the word conception, and instead of it we ought to read concession. The meaning will then be obvious, and especially if we adopt Mr. M. Mason's sense of the preposition till.

This change of a word allows the sense for which Mr. M. Mason contends, and without his strange supposal, that by her conception, was meant her birth. STEEVENS.

P. 5, l. 13. 14. — her thoughts the King

Of every virtue] I cannot help suspecting some deep corruption in the words of Pericles With what propriety can a lady's thoughts be styled the King of every virtue, &c.? Let the reader exert his sagacity on this occasion. STEEVENS.

P. 5, 1. 15. Her face, the book of praises,] In what sense a lady's face can be styled a book of praises (unless by a very forced construction it be understood to mean an aggregate of what is praiseworthy) I profess my inability to understand. STEEVENS.

P.5, 1. 17. 18.

testy wrath

Could never be her mild companion.] This is a bold expression: testy wrath could not well be a mild companion to any one; but by her milde companion, Shakspeare means, the companion of her mildness. M. MASON.

P. 5, 1. 27. Before thee stands this fair Hespe rides,] In the ehu→ meration of the persons prefixed to this dratnay" which was first made by the editor of Shakspeare's plays in 1664, and copied without alteration by Mr.

Rowe, the daughter of Antiochus is, by a'ridiculous mistake, called Hesperides, an error to which this line seems to have given rise. Shakspeare was not quite accurate in his notion of the Hespes rides, but he certainly never intended to give this appellation to the Princess of Antioch; for it ap pears from Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV. scene the last, that he thought Hesperides was the name of the garden in in which the golden apples were kept; in Wow before us: sense the word is certainly used in

the passage

"For valour, is not love a Hercules,

"Still climbing trees in the Hesperides?" In the first quarto edition of this play, this lady is only called Antiochus' daughter. If Shakspeare had wished to have introduced a female name derived from the Hesperides, he has elsewhere shown that he knew how such a name ought to be formed; for in As you like it mention is made of "Hesperia, the Princess' gentlewoman.” MALONE,

་་་་

P. 5. 1. 30. 31. Her face, like heaven, enticeth thee to view

A countless glory,] The countless glory of face, seems a harsh expression; but the poet, probably, was thinking of the stars the countless eyes of heaven, as he calls them in p. 7. MALONE. Old copy - Her countless, &c. I read – 'A countless glory, — -: i. e. her face, like the firmament, invites you to a blaze of beauties too numer In the first book of the Cothere is another glory of

ous to be counted.

the stars." STEEVENS.

rinthians, ch. xv:

P. 5, last 1. And which, without desert, becanse

3.

thine eye 219

Presu

Presumes to reach, all thy whole heap must die. i. e. thy whole mass must be destroyed. There seems to have been an opposition intended. Thy whole heap, thy body, must suffer for the offence of a part, thine eye. The word bulk, like heap in the present passage, was used for body by Shakspeare and his contem poraries. MALONE,

P. 6, 1. 7. 8. And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist, For going on death's net, whom none tesist.] Thus the old copies, and rightly. Mr. Malone would readFrom going, &c. but for going means the same as *for fear of going. It were easy to subjoin a crowd of instances in support of this original reading. STEEVENS.

I would read — in death's net. PERCY.
P. 6, 1. 11. 12.

And by those fearful objects

to prepare!.

This body, like to them, to what I must; ] That is, to prepare this body for that state to which I must come. MALONE. P. 6. l. 15-17. — and as sick men do, Who know the world, see seaven, but feeling

woe,

1

Gripe not at earthly joys, The meaning may be I will act as sick men do; who having had experience of the pleasures of the world, and only a visionary and distant prospect of heaven, have neglected the latter for the former; but at length feeling themselves decaying, grasp no longer at temporal pleasures, but prepare calmly for futurity. MALONE.

Malone has justly explained the meaning of this passage, but he has not shewn how the words, as VOL. XVIII. 15

they stand, will bear that meaning: Some amendment appears to me to be absolutely necessary, and that which I should propose is to read,

Who now in the world see heaven, &c.' That is, who at one time of their lives find heaven in the pleasures of the world, but after having tasted of misfortune, begin to be weaned from the joys of it. Were we to make a further alteration, and read seek heaven, instead of see heaven, the expression would be stronger; but that is not necessary. M. MASON.

P. 6, 1. 29-31. In all, save that, may'st thou prove prosperous! In all, save that, I wish thee happiness!] Old copy:

Of all said yet, may'st thou prove pros

perous!

Of all said yet, I wish thee happiness ! Said is here apparently contracted for assay'd, i. e. tried, attempted. PERCY.

She cannot wish him more prosperous, with respect to the exposition of the riddle, than the other persons who had attempted it before; for as the necessary consequence of his expounding it would be the publication of her own shame, we cannot suppose that she should wish him to succeed in that. The passage is evidently corrupt, and should probably be corrected by reading the lines thus:

1

In all, save that, may'st thou prove

prosperous!

In all, save that, I wish thee happiness!” Her father had just said to Pericles, that his life depended on his expounding the riddle; and the daughter, who feels regard for the Prince, expresses it by deprecating his fate, and wishing him

a

success in every thing except that. She wishes that he may not expound the riddle, but that his failing to do so may be attended with prosperous consequences. When we consider how licentious Shakspeare frequently is in the use of his particles, may not perhaps be thought necessary to change the word of, in the beginning of these lines, for the word in.. There is no great difference in the is so

it

and

the words that and yet have one common abbreviation, viz, yt. M. MASON.

I have inserted Mr. M. Mason's conjecture in the text, as it gives a more reasonable turn to the speech than has hitherto been supplied; and because it is natural to wish that the only words assigned to this lady, might have some apt and determinate meaning. STEEVENS.

P. 7, 1. 10, Sharp physick is the last:] i. e the intimation in the last line of the riddle that his life depends on resolving it; which he properly enough calls sharp physick, or a bitter potion. PERCY. to make man his lawful mu

P. 7,

1. 21.

for man, &c. MALONE.

sick, i. e. to produce

P. 7. 1. 27. is a stroke of nature. The incestuous King cannot bear to see e a rival touch the hand of the woman he loves. STEEVENS.

- touch not, upon thy life,] This

Malefort, in Massinger's Unnatural Combat, expresses the like impatient jealousy, when Beaufort touches his daughter Theocrine, to whom he was betrothed. M. MASON.

P. 8, 1.5. Blows dust - That is, which blows dust, &c. MALONE.

P. 8, 1.6-8.

The blind mole casts