Hush, gentle neighbours; Lend me your hands: to the next chamber bear her.4 Get linen; now this matter must be look'd to, For her relapse is mortal. Come, come, come; And Æsculapius guide us ! [Exeunt, carrying THAISA away. "And first hir eyen up the cafte, " And whan she more of strength caught, "She spake, and faid, where am I? * Hush, gentle neighbours ; - to the next chamber bear her.) Thus, in Twine's tranflation: And when he had so saide, he tooke the body reverently in his armes, and bare it unto his owne chamber," &c. STEEVENS. So, in King Henry IV. Part II : " I pray you, take me up, and bear me hence "Will whisper musick to my wearied spirit." MALONE. 1 } 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 CLE. Your shafts of fortune, though they hurt you mortally,5 Yet glance full wand'ringly on us.6 5though they hurt you mortally,) First quarto-haunt. The folios and the modern editions read-hate. MALONE. • Your shafts of fortune, though they hurt you mortally, Your thakes of fortune, though they haunt you mortally, I read, (as in the text) : Your shafts of fortune, though they hurt you mortally, Thus, Tully, in one of his Familiar Epistles : "- omnibus telis fortunæ proposita sit vita nostra." Again, Shakspeare, in his Othello: -The shot of accident, or dart of chance-." Again, in Hamlet : "The flings and arrows of outrageous fortune." Again, in The Merry Wives of Windfor: " I am glad, though you have ta'en a special stand to strike at me, that your arrow hath glanced." The sense of the passage should seem to be as follows. All the malice of fortune is not confined to yourself. Though her DION. 1 O your sweet queen! That the strict fates had pleas'd you had brought her hither, To have bless'd mine eyes ! PER. We cannot but obey The powers above us. Could I rage and roar CLE. arrows strike deeply at you, yet wandering from their mark, they sometimes glance on us; as at present, when the uncertain ftate of Tyre deprives us of your company at Tharfus. STEEVENS. 7 Manner'd as she is born.] So, in Cymbeline: " and he is one "The trueft manner'd, such a holy witch, * Fear not, my lord: &c.] Old copies : Fear not my lord, but think Your grace, &c. STEEVENS. I suspect the poet wrote: Fear not my lord, but that I have removed the difficulty by omiting the words-but think, which are unneceffary to the sense, and spoil the measure. STEEVENS.. Should therein make me vile,] The modern editions have neglect. But the reading of the old copy is right. The word is used by Shakspeare in Troilus and Creffida : By you reliev'd, would force me to my duty: The gods revenge it upon me and mine, To the end of generation! PER. I believe you; Your honour and your goodness teach me credit, By bright Diana, whom we honour all, Though I show will in't.3 So I take my leave. I "And this neglection of degree it is my nature need a spur,] So, in Macbeth: "To prick the fides of my intent." STEEVENS. 2 Your honour and your goodness teach me credit,] Old copies -teach me to it, a weak reading, if not apparently corrupt. For the infertion of its present substitute I am answerable. I once thought we should read-witch me to it, a phrafe familiar enough to Shakspeare. Mr. M. Mason is satisfied with the old reading; but thinks "the expreffion would be improved by leaving out the participle to, which hurts the sense, without improving the metre." Then, says he, the line will run thus:. Your honour and your goodness teach me it, STEEVENS. 3 Though I show will in't:] The meaning may be-" Though I appear wilful and perverse by such conduct." We might read: Though I show ill in't. MALONE. - Till she be married, madam, By bright Diana, whom we honour all, Unscissar'd shall this hair of mine remain, Though I show will in't.] Old copy: Unfifter'd shall this heir of mine &c. But a more obvious and certain instance of corruption perhaps is not discoverable throughout our whole play. I read, as in the text; for so is the present circumstance recited in Act V. and in consequence of the oath expreffed at the present moment: Good madam, make me blessed in your care DION. I have one myself, Madam, my thanks and prayers. And now, " This ornament, that makes me look so dismal, So also, in Twine's tranflation: - and he sware a folemn oath, that he would not poule his head, clip his beard, &c. untill he had married his daughter at ripe yeares." Without the present emendation therefore, Pericles must appear to have behaved unaccountably; as the binding power of a romantick oath could alone have been the motive of his long perfistence in so strange a neglect of his perfon. The words unscissar'd and hair, were easily mistaken forunsister'd and heir; as the manuscript might have been indistinet, or the compofitor inattentive. The verb-to scissar [i. e. to cut with scissars] is found in The Two Noble Kinsmen, by Fletcher : My poor chin too, for 'tis not scissar'd just "To such a favourite's glass." I once ftrove to explain the original line as follows : i. e. till the be married, I swear by Diana, (though I may show [will, i. e.] obstinacy in keeping such an oath,) this heir of mine fhall have none who can call her fister; i, e, I will not marry, and so have a chance of other children before she is disposed of. -Obstinacy was anciently called wilfulness. But it is scarce possible that unfister'd should be the true reading; for if Pericles had taken another wife, after his daughter's marriage, could he have been sure of progeny to fifter his first child? or what wilfulness would he have shown, had he continued a fingle man? To persist in wearing a squalid head of hair and beard, was indeed an obstinate peculiarity, though not without a parallel; for both Francis I. and our Henry VIII. reciprocally fwore that their beards thould grow untouched till their proposed interview had taken place. STEEVENS. 4 |