This by the eye of Cynthia hath she vow'd,9 And on her virgin honour will not break it. 3 KNIGHT. Though loath to bid farewell, we take our leaves. SIM. So [Exeunt. They're well despatch'd; now to my daughter's letter: She tells me here, she'll wed the stranger knight, Or never more to view nor day nor light. Mistress, 'tis well, your choice agrees with mine; I like that well:-nay, how absolute she's in't, Not minding whether I dislike or no! Well, I commend her choice; And will no longer have it be delay'd. Enter PERICLES. PER. All fortune to the good Simonides! SIM. To you as much, sir! I am beholden to you, For your sweet musick this last night:' my ears, 9 This by the eye of Cynthia hath she vow'd,] It were to be wished that Simonides (who is represented as a blameless character) had hit on some more ingenuous expedient for the dismission of these wooers. Here he tells them as a solemn truth, ́ what he knows to be a fiction of his own. STEEVENS. For I am beholden to you, your sweet musick this last night:] Here also our author has followed Gower: "She, to doone hir faders hest, I do protest, were never better fed With such delightful pleasing harmony. PER. It is your grace's pleasure to commend; Not my desert. SIM. Sir, you are musick's master. PER. The worst of all her scholars, my good lord. SIM. Let me ask one thing. think, sir, of My daughter? PER. What do you As of a most virtuous princess. SIM. And she is fair too, is she not? PER. As a fair day in summer; wond'rous fair. SIM. My daughter, sir, thinks very well of you; Ay, so well, sir, that you must be her master, And she'll your scholar be; therefore look to it. PER. Unworthy I to be her schoolmaster.2 SIM. She thinks not so; peruse this writing else. PER. What's here! 2 "To make him chere; and ever he sigheth, "Madame, certes well, he saied; "Nowe take the harpe, and lete me see "He taketh the harpe, and in his wise "He tempreth, and of such assize "Synginge he harpeth forth withall, "Hem thought it sowned in her ere, "As though that it an angell were.' MALONE. to be her schoolmaster.] Thus the quarto, 1619. The first copy reads-for her schoolmaster. MALONE. A letter, that she loves the knight of Tyre? 'Tis the king's subtilty, to have my life. [Aside. O, seek not to intrap, my gracious lord,3 A stranger and distressed gentleman, That never aim'd so high, to love your daughter, But bent all offices to honour her. SIM. Thou hast bewitch'd my daughter, and A villain. PER. thou art By the gods, I have not, sir. Never did thought of mine levy offence; Nor never did my actions yet commence A deed might gain her love, or your displeasure. SIM. Traitor, thou liest. PER. SIM. Traitor! Ay, traitor, sir. PER. Even in his throat, (unless it be the king,5) That calls me traitor, I return the lie. SIM. Now, by the gods, I do applaud his courage. [Aside. PER. My actions are as noble as my thoughts, That never relish'd of a base descent." 3 3 — my gracious lord,] Old copies-me. I am answerable for the correction. MALONE. *Thou hast bewitch'd my daughter,] So, Brabantio, addressing himself to Othello: 5 "Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her." STEEVENS. the king,] Thus the quarto, 1609. The second copy has a king. MALONE. • That never relish'd of a base descent.] So, in Hamlet: "That has no relish of salvation in it.” Again, in Macbeth: "So well thy words become thee as thy wounds; I came unto your court, for honour's cause, And he that otherwise accounts of me, Here comes my daughter, she can witness it.7 Enter THAISA. PER. Then, as you are as virtuous as fair, Who takes offence at that would make me glad? I'll bring you in subjection. Will you, not having my consent, bestow Your love and your affections on a stranger? (Who, for aught I know to the contrary, Or think, may be as great in blood as I.) [Aside. Hear therefore, mistress; frame your will to mine,And you, sir, hear you. Either be rul'd by me, Or I will make you-man and wife. Nay, come; your hands and lips must seal it too.And being join'd, I'll thus your hopes destroy ;And for a further grief,-God give you joy! No! Here comes my daughter, she can witness it.] Thus all the copies. Simonides, I think, means to say-Not a rebel to our state!-Here comes my daughter: she can prove, thou art one. Perhaps, however, the author wrote-Now, Here comes, &c.In Othello, we find nearly the same words: "Here comes the lady, let her witness it." MALONE. What, are you both pleas'd? THAI. I Yes, if you love me, sir. 8 PER. Even as my life, my blood that fosters it. SIM. What, are you both agreed? Вотн. Yes, 'please your majesty. SIM. It pleaseth me so well, I'll see you wed; Then, with what haste you can, get you to bed.9 [Exeunt. life Even as my life, my blood that fosters it.] Even as my loves my blood that supports it. The quarto, 1619, and the subsequent copies, read: Even as my life, or blood that fosters it. MALONE. I cannot approve of Malone's explanation of this line:-To make a person of life, and to say it loves the blood that fosters it, is an idea to which I cannot reconcile myself. Pericles means merely to say, that he loves Thaisa as his life, or as the blood that supports it; and it is in this sense that the editors of the quarto of 1619, and the subsequent copies, conceived the passage. But the insertion of the word or was not necessary; it was sufficient to point it thus: "Even as my life;-the blood that fosters it. M. MASON. Will a preceding line (see p. 236) befriend the opinion of either commentator? "Wishing it so much blood unto your life." In my opinion, however, the sense in the text was meant to coincide with that which is so much better expressed in Julius Cæsar: "As dear to me, as are the ruddy drops "That visit my sad heart." STEEVENS. -get you to bed.] I cannot dismiss the foregoing scene, till I have expressed the most supreme contempt of it. Such another gross, nonsensical dialogue, would be sought for in vain among the earliest and rudest efforts of the British theatre. It is impossible not to wish that the Knights had horsewhipped Simonides, and that Pericles had kicked him off the stage. STEEVENS. |