Lys. Upon what ground is his distemperature? HEL. Sir, it would be too tedious to repeat ?3 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. Lys. Yet, let me obtain my wish. HEL. Behold him, sir: [PERICLES discovered.]* this was a goodly person, Till the disaster, that, one mortal night, 3 Sir, it would be &c.] For the insertion of the supplemental word (Sir) here and in the next speech but one, as well as in the first address of Helicanus to Lysimachus, I am accountable. MALONE. Pericles discovered.] Few of the stage-directions that have been given in this and the preceding Acts, are found in the old copy. In the original representation of this play, Pericles was probably placed in the back part of the stage, concealed by a curtain, which was here drawn open. The ancient narratives represent him as remaining in the cabin of his ship. Thus, in the Confessio Amantis, it is said: "But for all that though hem be lothe, "He [Athenagoras, the governor of Mitylene,] fonde the ladder and downe he goeth "And to him spake." So also, in King Appolyn of Thyre, 1510: "he is here benethe in tenebres and obscurete, and for nothinge that I may doe he wyll not yssue out of the place where he is.”—But as in such a situation Pericles would not be visible to the audience, a different stage-direction is now given. MALONE. Till the disaster, that, one mortal night, Drove him to this.] The copies all read-one mortal wight. The word which I suppose the author to have written, affords an easy sense. Mortal is here used for pernicious, destructive. So, in Macbeth: "Hold fast the mortal sword." MALONE. Lys. Sir, king, all hail! the gods preserve you! Hail, Hail, royal sir! HEL. It is in vain; he will not speak to you. 1 LORD. Sir, we have a maid in Mitylene, I durst wager, Would win some words of him. Lys. 'Tis well bethought. She, questionless, with her sweet harmony And other choice attractions, would allure, And make a battery through his deafen'd parts, Which now are midway stopp'd:" 6 Sir, we have a maid &c.] This circumstance resembles another in All's well that ends well, where Lafeu gives an account of Helena's attractions to the King, before she is introduced to attempt his cure. STEEVENS. 7 And make a battery through his deafen'd parts, Which now are midway stopp'd:] The earliest quarto reads -defend parts. I have no doubt that the poet wrote-through his deafen'd parts,-i. e. ears; which were to be assailed by the melodious voice of Marina. In the old quarto few of the participles have an elision-mark. This kind of phraseology, though it now appears uncouth, was common in our author's time. Thus, in the poem entitled Romeus and Juliet: "Did not thy parts, fordon with pain, languish away and pine?" Again, more appositely, ibidem: Again, in our poet's Venus and Adonis: "Or, were I deaf, thy outward parts would move "Each part in me that were but sensible." Again, in his 69th Sonnet: "Her dainty tender parts 'gan shiver all for dread; ear. "Those parts of thee, that the world's eye doth view," &c. Stopp'd is a word which we frequently find connected with the So, in King Richard II: "Gaunt. My death's sad tale may not undeaf his ear. "York. No; it is stopp'd with other flattering sounds." MALONE, She, all as happy as of all the fairest, [He whispers one of the attendant Lords.— Exit Lord, in the Barge of LYSIMACHUS." Mr. Malone's explanation is fully supported by a line in Antony and Cleopatra: "Make battery to our ears with the loud musick." HOLT WHITE. 8 Perhaps we should read-his deafen'd ports. Thus, in Timon: "Descend, and open your uncharged ports." i. e. gates. Deafen'd ports would mean the oppilated doors of hearing. In King Henry IV. Part II. we have "the gates of breath." STEEVENS. She, all as happy as of all the fairest, Is, with her fellow maidens, now within &c.] Old copy: And, with her fellow-maids, is now upon • Marina might be said to be under the leafy shelter, but I know not how she could be upon it; nor have I a clear idea of a shelter abutting against the side of an island. I would read: is now upon The leafy shelver, that abuts against i. e. the shelving bank near the sea-side, shaded by adjoining trees. It appears from Gower, that the feast of Neptune was celebrated on the strand: "The lordes both and the commune "The high festes of Neptune "Upon the stronde, at rivage, "As it was custome and usage, "Solempneliche thei be sigh." So, before in this scene: 66 Being on shore, honouring of Neptune's triumphs,-." Marina and her fellow-maids, we may suppose, had retired a little way from the croud, and seated themselves under the adjoining trees, to see the triumph. This circumstance was an invention of the poet's. In King Appolyn of Thyre, Tharsye, the Marina of this play, is brought from the bordel where she had HEL. Sure, all's effectless; yet nothing we'll omit That bears recovery's name. But, since your kind ness We have stretch'd thus far, let us beseech you further, That for our gold we may provision have, Lys. O, sir, a courtesy, Which if we should deny, the most just God been placed. In the Confessio Amantis, she is summoned, by order of the governor, from the honest house to which she had retreated. The words with and is, which I have inserted, are not in the old copy. MALONE. If any alteration be thought necessary, I would read: “And is now about the leafy shelter," instead of upon. M. MASON. Mr. M. Mason's alteration cannot be admitted, as the words about and abut would be so near each other as to occasion the most barbarous dissonance.-I have at least printed the passage so as to afford it smoothness, and some apparent meaning. STEEVENS. 9 Exit Lord, in the Barge of Lysimachus.] It may seem strange that a fable should have been chosen to form a drama upon, in which the greater part of the business of the last Act should be transacted at sea; and wherein it should even be necessary to produce two vessels on the scene at the same time. But the customs and exhibitions of the modern stage give this objection to the play before us a greater weight than it really has. It appears, that, when Pericles was originally performed, the thea tres were furnished with no such apparatus as by any stretch of the imagination could be supposed to present either a sea, or a ship; and that the audience were contented to behold vessels sailing in and out of port, in their mind's eye only. This licence being once granted to the poet, the lord, in the instance now before us, walked off the stage, and returned again in a few minutes, leading in Marina, without any sensible impropriety; and the present drama, exhibited before such indulgent spectators, was not more incommodious in the representation than any other would have been. See The Historical Account of the English Stage, Vol. III. MALONE. For every graff would send a caterpillar, Sit, sir, I will recount it ; HEL. Enter, from the Barge, Lord, MARINA, and a young Lady. O, here is Lys. HEL. A gallant lady. Lrs. She's such, that were I well assur'd she came Of gentle kind, and noble stock, I'd wish 1 And so inflict our province.] Thus all the copies. But I do not believe to inflict was ever used by itself in the sense of to punish. The poet probably wrote-And so afflict our province. MALONE. Sit, sir,] Thus the eldest quarto.. The modern editions read -Sir, sir. MALONE. 3 Is't not a goodly presence?] Is she not beautiful in her form? So, in King John: "Lord of thy presence, and no land beside.” All the copies read, I think corruptedly, Is it not a goodly present? MALONE. Mr. Malone's emendation is undoubtedly judicious. So, in Romeo and Juliet: "Show a fair presence, and put off these frowns." STEEVENS. Fair one, all goodness that consists in bounty Expect even here, where is a kingly patient:] The quarto, 1609, reads: |