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Which gods protect thee from! it may defend thee.
It kept where I kept, I so dearly lov'd it;
Till the rough seas, that spare not any man,
Took it in rage, though calm'd, they give't again :"
I thank thee for't; my shipwreck's now no ill,
Since I have here my father's gift by will.

1 FISH. What mean you, sir?

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PER. To beg of you, kind friends, this coat of

worth,

For it was sometime target to a king;
I know it by this mark. He lov'd me dearly,
And for his sake, I wish the having of it;
And that you'd guide me to your sovereign's court,
Where with't I may appear a gentleman ;
And if that ever my low fortunes better,

I'll pay your bounties; till then, rest your debtor.

• Which gods protect thee from! &c.] The old copies read, unintelligibly:

The which the gods protect thee, fame may defend thee. I am answerable for the correction. The licence taken in omitting the pronoun before have, in a subsequent line of this speech, was formerly not uncommon. See note on the following passage in Othello, Act III. sc. iii:

" Give me a living reason she's disloyal." MALONE. Being certain that the metre throughout this play was once regular, I correct the line in question thus:

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in like necessity,

Which gods protect thee from! it may defend thee.

STEEVENS.

- though calm'd, they give't again:] Old copies:

though calm'd, have given it again. STEEVENS. by will.] Old copy-in his will. For the sake of metre I read by will. So, in As you like it : " By will but a poor thousand crowns." STEEVENS.

9 And if that ever my low fortunes better,] Old copy: And if that ever my low fortune's better,.

We should read" My low fortunes better." Better is in this place a verb, and fortunes the plural number. M. MASON.

1 FISH. Why, wilt thou tourney for the lady? PER. I'll show the virtue I have borne in arms. 1 FISH. Why, do ye take it, and the gods give thee good on't!

2 FISH. Ay, but hark you, my friend; 'twas we that made up this garment through the rough seams of the waters: there are certain condolements, certain vails. I hope, sir, if you thrive, you'll remember from whence you had it.3

PER. Believe't, I will.

Now, by your furtherance, I am cloth'd in steel; And spite of all the rupture of the sea,5

1

Why, do ye take it,] That is, in plainer terms, Why,

take it. STEEVENS.

Ay, but hark you, my friend; &c.] Thus, in Twine's translation: "And in the meane time of this one thing onely doe I putte thee in minde, that when thou shalt be restored to thy former dignity, thou do not despise to thinke on the basenesse of the poore piece of garment." STEEVENS.

3 from whence you had it.] For this correction I am answerable. The old copies read-had them. MALONE.

* Now, by your furtherance, I am cloth'd in steel;] Old copy

only:

By your furtherance, I am cloth'd in steel;

I either read:

By your forbearance I am cloth'd in steel;

i. e. by your forbearance to claim the armour, which being just drawn up in your net, might have been detained as your own property;-or, for the sake of metre also :

Now, by your furtherance, &c. STEEVENS.

$ And spite of all the rupture of the sea, We might read (with Dr. Sewel):

spite of all the rapture of the sea.

That is notwithstanding that the sea hath ravish'd so much from me. So, afterwards:

" Who looking for adventures in the world,

" Was by the rough seas reft of ships and men."

Again, in The Life and Death of Lord Cromwell, 1602:

This jewel holds his biding on my arm;6
Unto thy value will I mount myself
Upon a courser, whose delightful steps
Shall make the gazer joy to see him tread.-
Only, my friend, I yet am unprovided

Of a pair of bases."

"Till envious fortune, and the ravenous sea, " Did robe, disrobe, and spoil us of our own." But the old reading is sufficiently intelligible. MALONE.

We

I am not sure but that the old reading is the true one. still talk of the breaking of the sea, and the breakers. What is the rupture of the sea, but another word for the breaking of it? Rupture means any solution of continuity.

It should not, however, be dissembled, that Chapman, in his version of the Iliad, has several times used the substantive rapture, to express violent seizure, or the act by which any thing is carried forcibly away. So, in the 5th Iliad:

"Brake swift-foot Iris to his aid from all the darts that

hiss'd

"At her quick rapture;-."

Again, ibid:

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- and their friend did from his rapture bear."

Again, in the 22d Iliad:

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- And looke how an eagle from her height
"Stoopes to the rapture of a lamb." STEEVENS.

This jewel holds his biding on my arm;] The old copy reads -his building. Biding was, I believe, the poet's word.

MALONE.

This conjecture appears to be just. A similar expression occurs in Othello:

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look, I have a weapon,

"A better never did itself sustain

Upon a soldier's thigh."

i. e. hold its biding, or place, there.

Any ornament of enchased gold was anciently styled a jewel. So, in Markham's Arcadia, 1607: "She gave him a very fine jewel, wherein was set a most rich diamond." STEEVENS.

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- a pair of bases.] Bases appear to have been a kind of loose breeches. Thus, in the first Book of Sidney's Arcadia : "About his middle he had, instead of bases, a long cloake of silke," &c. Again, in the third Book: "His bases (which he ware so long, as they came almost to his ankle,) were embroi

2 FISH. We'll sure provide: thou shalt have my best gown to make thee a pair; and I'll bring thee to the court myself.

PER. Then honour be but a goal to my will; This day I'll rise, or else add ill to ill.

(Exeunt.

dered onely with blacke worms, which seemed to crawle up and downe, as readie alreadie to devour him." - It is clear from these passages, that bases (as if derived from Bas, Fr. a stocking, as I formerly supposed,) cannot mean any kind of defensive covering for the legs.

In this concluding observation the late Captain Grose agreed with me; though at the same time he confessed his inability to determine, with any degree of precision, what bases were.

STEEVENS.

Johnson tells us, in his Dictionary, that bases are part of any ornament that hangs down as housings, and quotes a passage from Sidney's Arcadia: "Phalantus was all in white, having his bases and caparisons embroidered:" -and to confirm this explanation it may be observed, that the [lower] valances of a bed are still called the bases.

In Massinger's Picture, Sophia, speaking of Hilario's disguise, says to Corisca:

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You, minion,

" Had a hand in it too, as it appears,

" Your petticoat serves for bases to this warrior."

M. MASON.

Bases, signified the housings of a horse, and may have been used in that sense here. So, in Fairfax's translation of Tasso's Godfrey of Bulloigne :

"And with his streaming blood his bases dide."

MALONE.

It may be remarked, that Richardson in his notes on Paradise Lost, p. 392, has the following explanation:-" Bases, from Bas, (Fr.) they fall low to the ground; they are also called the housing, from Housse, be-daggled." STEEVENS.

The same.

SCENE II.

A publick Way, or Platform, leading to the Lists. A Pavilion by the side of it, for the reception of the King, Princess, Lords, &c.

Enter SIMONIDES, THAISA, Lords, and Attendants.

SIM. Are the knights ready to begin the triumph ?*

1 LORD. They are, my liege; And stay your coming to present themselves.

SIM. Return them, we are ready; and our daughter,

In honour of whose birth these triumphs are,

• Are the knights ready to begin the triumph] In Gower's Poem, and Kynge Appolyn of Thyre, 1510, certain gymnastick exercises only are performed before the Pentapolitan monarch, antecedent to the marriage of Appollinus, the Pericles of this play. The present tournament, however, as well as the dance in the next scene, seems to have been suggested by a passage of the former writer, who, describing the manner in which the wedding of Appollinus was celebrated, says:

"The knightes that be yonge and proude,
"Thei juste first, and after daunce." MALONE.

A triumph, in the language of Shakspeare's time, signified any publick show, such as a Mask, or Revel, &c. Thus, in King Richard II:

"

- hold those justs and triumphs?"

Again, in King Henry VI:

" With stately triumphs, mirthful comick shows."

STEEVENS.

9 Return them, we are ready;] i. e. return them notice, that we are ready, &c. PERCY.

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