MAR.

For I was born at sea.

PER.

At sea? thy mother?

MAR. My mother was the daughter of a king; Who died the very minute I was born," As my good nurse Lychorida hath oft Deliver'd weeping.

Call'd Marina,

PER.

O, stop there a little! This is the rarest dream that e'er dull sleep' Did mock sad fools withal: this cannot be. My daughter's buried. [Aside.] Well-where were you bred?

I'll hear you more, to the bottom of your story, And never interrupt you.

MAR. You'll scarce believe me; 'twere best I did give o'er.'

Who died the very minute I was born,] Thus the old copy. Either the construction is-My mother, who died the very minute I was born, was the daughter of a king, or we ought to read:

She died the very minute &c.

otherwise it is the king, not the queen, that died at the instant of Marina's birth. In the old copies these lines are given as prose. STEEvens.

The word very I have inserted to complete the metre.

MALONE.

This is the rarest dream that e'er dull sleep-] The words, This is the rarest dream &c. are not addressed to Marina, but spoken aside. MALONE.

You'll scarce believe me; 'twere best I did give o'er.] All the old copies read-You scorn, believe me, &c. The reply of Pericles induces me to think the author wrote:

You'll scarce believe me; 'twere best &c.

Pericles had expressed no scorn in the preceding speech, but, on the contrary, great complacency and attention. So, also before: Pr'ythee speak: "Falseness cannot come from theeI'll believe thee," &c.

2 B

VOL. XXI.

PER. I will believe you by the syllable3 Of what you shall deliver. Yet, give me leave :How came you in these parts? where were you bred?

MAR. The king, my father, did in Tharsus leave

me;

Till cruel Cleon, with his wicked wife,
Did seek to murder me: and having woo'd
A villain to attempt it, who having drawn,4

The false prints in this play are so numerous, that the greatest latitude must be allowed to conjecture. MALone.

3

I will believe you by the syllable &c.] i. e. I will believe every word you say. So, in Macbeth:

"To the last syllable of recorded time." Again, in All's well that ends well:

"To the utmost syllable of your worthiness."

STEEVENS.

who having drawn,] Mr. Malone supposes the old copy meant to read-Whom having drawn, &c. STEEVENS.

This mode of phraseology, though now obsolete, was common in Shakspeare's time. So, in The Tempest:

"Some food we had, and some fresh water, that
"A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

"Out of his charity, (who being then appointed "Master of this design,) did give us," &c. Again, in The Winter's Tale:

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This your son-in-law,

"And son unto the king, (whom heavens directing,)
"Is troth-plight to your daughter."

See also Vol. XVI. p. 148, n. 2.

When the former edition of this play was printed, I imagined the original copy printed in 1609, read-who having drawn to do't, not observing the mark of abbreviation over the letter o (who) which shows the word intended was whom. MALONE.

I have now two copies of this quarto 1609 before me, and neither of them exhibits the mark on which Mr. Malone's sup position is founded. I conclude therefore that this token of abbreviation was an accidental blot in the copy which that gentle

man consulted.

Old copy-having drawn to do't. I read:

A crew of pirates came and rescued me;
Brought me to Mitylene. But, now good sir,
Whither will you have me? Why do you weep?
It may be,

You think me an impostor; no, good faith;
I am the daughter to king Pericles,
If good king Pericles be.

PER. HO, Helicanus!

HEL.

Calls my gracious lord? PER. Thou art a grave and noble counsellor, Most wise in general: Tell me, if thou canst, What this maid is, or what is like to be, That thus hath made me weep?

HEL. I know not; but Here is the regent, sir, of Mitylene, Speaks nobly of her.

Lys.
She would never tell
Her parentage; being demanded that,
She would sit still and weep.

PER. O Helicanus, strike me, honour'd sir;
Give me a gash, put me to present pain;
Lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me,
O'erbear the shores of my mortality,

And drown me with their sweetness.5 O, come

hither,

A villain to attempt it, who, having drawn,
A crew of pirates, &c.

The words to do't—are injurious to the measure, and unnecessary to the sense, which is complete without them. So, in Romeo and Juliet:

"What! art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?" Again, in King Henry V:

"O, well a day, if he be not drawn now!"

STEEVENS.

• And drown me with their sweetness.] We meet a kindred thought in The Merchant of Venice:

Thou that beget'st him that did thee beget;
Thou that wast born at sea, buried at Tharsus,
And found at sea again!-O Helicanus,

Down on thy knees, thank the holy gods, as loud
As thunder threatens us: This is Marina.-
What was thy mother's name? tell me but that,
For truth can never be confirm'd enough,
Though doubts did ever sleep.

First, sir, I pray,

PER. I am Pericles of Tyre: but tell me now (As in the rest thou hast been godlike perfect,) My drown'd queen's name, thou art the heir of kingdoms,

And another life to Pericles thy father."

MAR.

What is your title?

"O love, be moderate, allay thy ecstasy,
"In measure rain thy joy, scant this excess,
"I feel too much thy blessing; make it less,
"For fear I surfeit." MALONE.

6

Though doubts did ever sleep.] i. e. in plain language, though nothing ever happened to awake a scruple or doubt concerning your veracity. STEEVENs.

7

the heir of kingdoms,

And another life to Pericles thy father.] Mr. Malone reads:
And a mother like to Pericles &c. STEEVENS.

The old copy has

And another like to Pericles thy father.

There can be no doubt that there is here a gross corruption. The correction which I have made, affords an easy sense. The mother of Marina was the heir of kingdoms, and in that respect resembled Pericles.

I believe the same error has happened in Hamlet, where in Act V. sc. ii. we find-" Is't not possible to understand in another tongue?" instead of which I believe the poet wrote, "Is't possible not to understand in a mother tongue?".

This error actually happened in the first edition of Sir Francis Bacon's Essay on The Advancement of Learning, B. II. p. 60, 4to. 1605: "—by the art of grammar, whereof the use in ano

MAR. Is it no more to be your daughter, than To say my mother's name was Thaisa?. Thaisa was my mother, who did end, The minute I began.

8

PER. Now, blessing on thee, rise; thou art my
child.

Give me fresh garments. Mine own, Helicanus,
(Not dead at Tharsus, as she should have been,
By savage Cleon,) she shall tell thee all;"
When thou shalt kneel and justify in knowledge,
She is thy very princess.-Who is this?

HEL. Sir, 'tis the governor of Mitylene,

ther tongue is small; in a foreign tongue more." In the table of Errata we are desired to read-a mother tongue. MALONE.

I think that a slight alteration will restore the passage, and read it thus:

But tell me now

My drown'd queen's name (as in the rest you said
Thou hast been godlike-perfect) thou'rt heir of kingdoms,
And another life to Pericles thy father.

That is, "Do but tell me my drowned queen's name, and thou
wilt
prove the heir of kingdoms, and another life to your father
Pericles."-This last amendment is confirmed by what he says
in the speech preceding, where he expresses the same thought:
O come hither,

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"Thou that beget'st him that did thee beget."

M. MASON.

I have adopted Mr. M. Mason's very happy emendation, with a somewhat different arrangement of the lines, and the omission of two useless words. STEEVENS.

• Thaisa was my mother, who did end,

The minute I began.] So, in The Winter's Tale:

66

Lady,
"Dear queen, that ended when I but began,

"Give me that hand of yours to kiss." MALONE.

9

Mine own, Helicanus, &c.] Perhaps this means, she is mine own daughter, Helicanus, (not murdered according to the design of Cleon) she (I say) shall tell thee all, &c.

STEEVENS,