Per. Immortal Dian!
Thai.

Now I know you better.
When we with tears parted Pentapolis,
The king, my father, gave you such a ring.

[Shows a ring. Per. This, this : no more, you gods! your pre

sent kindness. Makes my past miseries sport: You shall do well, That on the touching of her lips I may Melt, and no more be seen. O come, be buried A second time within these arms. Mar.

My heart Leaps to be gone into my mother's bosom.

[Kneels to Thaisa. Per. Look, who kneels here! Flesh of thy flesh,

Thaisa ;
Thy burden at the sea, and call'd Marina,
For she was yielded there.
Thai.

Bless'd and mine own!
Hel. Hail, madam, and my queen!
Thai.

I know you not.
Per. You have heard me say, when I did fly from

Tyre,

The nam'd aber what ubstitute.

I left behind an ancient substitute.
Can you remember what I calld the man?
I have nam’d him oft.
Thai.

'Twas Helicanus then..
Per. Still confirmation:
Embrace him, dear Thaisa ; this is he.
Now do I long to hear how you were found;
How possibly preserv'd; and whom to thank,
Besides the gods, for this great miracle.

Thai. Lord Cerimon, my lord; this man

8 supposed dead,

And drown'd.] Drown'd, in this instance, does not signify suffocated by water, but overwhelmed in it.

Through whom the gods have shown their power ;

that can
From first to last resolve you,
Per.

Reverend sir,
The gods can have no mortal officer
More like a god than you. Will you deliver
How this dead queen re-lives?
Cer.

Į will, my lord,
Beseech you, first go with me to my house, ,
Where shall be shown you all was found with her;
How she came placed here within the temple;
No needful thing omitted,
Per..

Pure Diana! I bless thee for thy vision, and will offer My night oblations to thee. Thaisa, This prince, the fair-betrothedo of your daughter, Shall marry her at Pentapolis, And now, This ornament that makes me look so dismal, Will I, my lov'd Marina, clip to form; And what this fourteen years no razor touch'd, To grace thy marriage-day, I'll beautify.

Thai. Lord Cerimon hath letters of good credit,
Sir, that my father's dead.
Per. Heavens make a star of him? Yet there,

my queen,
We'll celebrate their nuptials, and ourselves
Will in that kingdom spend our following days;
Our son and daughter shall in Tyrus reign.
Lord Cerimon, we do our longing stay,
To hear the rest untold.--Sir, lead the way.

[Exeunt.

- the fair-betrothed — ] i. e. fairly contracted, honourably affianced.

Enter Gower.
Gow. In Antioch," and his daughter, you

have heard
Of monstrous lust the due and just reward :
In Pericles, his queen and daughter, seen
(Although assail'd with fortune fierce and keen,
Virtue preserv'd from fell destruction's blast,
Led on by heaven, and crown'd with joy at laste
In Helicanus may you well descry
A figure of truth, of faith, of loyalty :
In reverend Cerimon there well appears.
The worth that learned charity aye wears.
For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame
Had spread their cursed deed, and honour'd

name
Of Pericles, to rage the city turn;
That him and his they in his palace burn.
The gods for murder seemed so content
To punish them; although not done, but meant,
So on your patience evermore attending,
New joy wait on you! Here our play has
ending

[Exit Gower.

• In Antioch,] i. e. Antiochus.

? To a former edition of this play were subjoined two Dissertations; one written by Mr. Steevens, the other by me. In the latter I urged such arguments as then appeared to me to have weight, to prove that it was the entire work of Shakspeare, and one of his earliest compositions. Mr. Steevens on the other hand maintained, that it was originally the production of some elder playwright, and afterwards improved by our poet, whose hand was acknowledged to be visible in many scenes throughout the play. On a review of the various arguments which each of us produced in favour of his own hypothesis, I am now convinced that the theory of Mr. Steevens was right, and have no difficulty in acknowledging my own to be erroneous.

This play was entered on the Stationers' books, together with Antony and Cleopatra, in the year 1608, by Edward Blount, a bookseller of eminence, and one of the publishers of the first folio

334

PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE.

edition of Shakspeare's works. It was printed with his name in the title-page, in his life-time; but this circumstance proves nothing; because by the knavery of booksellers other pieces were also ascribed to him in his life-time, of which he indubitably wrote not a line. Nor is it necessary to urge in support of its genuineness, that at a subsequent period it was ascribed to him by several dramatick writers. I wish not to rely on any circumstance of that kind; because in all questions of this nature, internal evidence is the best that can be produced, and to every per. son intimately acquainted with our poet's writings, must in the present case be decisive. The congenial sentiments, the numerous expressions bearing a striking similitude to passages in his undisputed plays, some of the incidents, the situation of many of the persons, and in various places the colour of the style, all these combine to set the seal of Shakspeare on the play before us, and furnish us with internal and irresistible proofs, that a considerable portion of this piece, as it now appears, was written by him. The greater part of the last three Acts may, I think, on this ground be safely ascribed to him; and his hand may be traced occasionally in the other two divisions.

To alter, new-model, and improve the imsuccessful dramas of preceding writers, was, I believe, much more common in the time of Shakspeare than is generally supposed. This piece having been thus new-modelled by our poet, and enriched with many happy strokes from his pen, is unquestionably entitled to that place among his works which it has now obtained. MALONE,

KING LE A R.*

VOL. VIII.

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