Never did thought of mine levy offence;
Nor never did my actions yet commence
A deed might gain her love, or your displeasure.
Sim. Traitor, thou liest.

Per.

Sim.

Traitor!

Ay, traitor, sir. Per. Even in his throat, (unless it be the king,) That calls me traitor, I return the lie.

Sim. Now, by the gods, I do applaud his courage. [Aside. Per. My actions are as noble as my thoughts, That never relish'd of a base descent.

I came unto your court, for honour's cause,
And not to be a rebel to her state;

And he that otherwise accounts of me,
This sword shall prove he's honour's enemy.
Sim. No!-

Here comes my daughter, she can witness it.

Enter THAISA.

Per. Then, as you are as virtuous as fair,
Resolve your angry father, if my tongue
Did e'er solicit, or my hand subscribe
To any syllable that made love to you?
Thai. Why, sir, say if you had,

Who takes offence at that would make me glad?
Sim. Yea, mistress, are you so peremptory?—
I am glad of it with all my heart. [Aside.] I'll tame

you;

I'll bring you in subjection.

Will you, not having my consent, bestow
Your love and your affections on a stranger?
(Who, for aught I know to the contrary,
Or think, may be as great in blood as I.)

[Aside.

Hear therefore, mistress; frame your will to mine,—

And you, sir, hear you.-Either be rul'd by me,

Or I will make you-man and wife.

Nay, come; your hands and lips must seal it too.And being join'd, I'll thus your hopes destroy;And for a further grief,-God give you joy!

What, are you both pleas'd?

Thai.

Yes, if you love me, sir.

Per. Even as my life, my blood that fosters it.
Sim. What, are you both agreed?

Both.

Yes, 'please your majesty.

Sim. It pleaseth me so well, I'll see you wed; Then, with what haste you can, get you to bed.' [Exeunt.

1

ACT III.

Enter Gower.

Gow. Now sleep yslaked hath the rout;
No din but snores, the house about,
Made louder by the o'er-fed breast
Of this most pompous marriage feast.
The cat, with eyne of burning coal,
Now couches 'fore the mouse's hole;
And crickets sing at th' oven's mouth,
As the blither for their drouth.
Hymen hath brought the bride to bed,
Where, by the loss of maidenhead,
A babe is moulded;-Be attent,
And time that is so briefly spent,

get you to bed.] I cannot dismiss the foregoing scene, till I have expressed the most supreme contempt of it. Such another gross, nonsensical dialogue, would be sought for in vain among the earliest and rudest efforts of the British theatre. It is impossible not to wish that the Knights had horsewhipped Simonides, and that Pericles had kicked him off the stage. STEEVENS.

With your fine fancies quaintly eche;2

What's dumb in show, I'll plain with speech.

Dumb show.

Enter PERICLES and SIMONIDES at one door, with Attendants; a Messenger meets them, kneels, and gives PERICLES a Letter. PERICLES shows it to SIMONIDES; the Lords kneel to the former.3 Then enter THAISA with child, and LYCHORIDA. SIMONIDES shows his Daughter the Letter; she rejoices: she and PERICLES take leave of her Father, and depart. Then SIMONIDES, &c. retire.

3

5

Gow. By many a dearn and painful perch,*
Of Pericles the careful search
By the four opposing coignes,
Which the world together joins,
Is made, with all due diligence,

6

That horse, and sail, and high expence,
Can stead the quest. At last from Tyre
(Fame answering the most strong inquire,)
To the court of king Simonides

Are letters brought the tenour these:
Antiochus and his daughter's dead;
The men of Tyrus, on the head

2 With your fine fancies quaintly eche;] i. e. eke out. the Lords kneel to the former.] The Lords kneel to Pericles, because they are now, for the first time, informed by this letter, that he is king of Tyre. By the death of Antiochus and his daughter, Pericles has also succeeded to the throne of Antioch, in consequence of having rightly interpreted the riddle proposed to him.

4

By many a dearn and painful perch, &c.] Dearn signifies lonely, solitary. A perch is a measure of five yards and a half.

5

By the four opposing coignes,] By the four opposite cornerstones that unite and bind together the great fabrick of the world. 6 Can stead the quest.] i. e. help, befriend, or assist the search.

Of Helicanus would set on

The crown of Tyre, but he will none:
The mutiny there he hastes t'appease;
Says to them, if king Pericles

Come not, in twice six moons, home,
He obedient to their doom,

Will take the crown.

The sum of this,

Brought hither to Pentapolis,

Y-ravished the regions round,

And every one with claps, 'gan sound,
Our heir apparent is a king:

Who dream'd, who thought of such a thing?
Brief, he must hence depart to Tyre:
His queen with child makes her desire
(Which who shall cross?) along to go;
(Omit we all their dole and woe ;)
Lychorida, her nurse, she takes,
And so to sea. Their vessel shakes
On Neptune's billow; half the flood
Hath their keel cut; but fortune's mood
Varies again; the grizzled north
Disgorges such a tempest forth
That, as a duck for life that dives
So up and down the poor ship drives,
The lady shrieks, and, well-a-near!"
Doth fall in travail with her fear:
And what ensues in this fell storm,
Shall, for itself, itself perform.
I nill relate, action may
Conveniently the rest convey:

7 half the flood

Hath their keel cut;] They have made half their voyage favourable wind.

with a

8 — well-a-near!] This exclamation is equivalent to well-aday, and is still used in Yorkshire.

I nill relate;] The further consequences of this storm I shall not describe.

Which might not what by me is told.'
In your imagination hold

This stage, the ship, upon whose deck
The sea-tost prince appears to speak. [Exit.

SCENE I.

Enter PERICLES, on a Ship at Sea.

Per. Thou God of this great vast, rebuke these

surges,

Which wash both heaven and hell; and thou, that

hast

Upon the winds command, bind them in brass, Having call'd them from the deep! O still thy deaf'ning,

Thy dreadful thunders; gently quench thy nimble, Sulphureous flashes!-O how, Lychorida,

How does my queen?-Thou storm, thou! venomously

Wilt thou spit all thyself?-The seaman's whistle
Is as a whisper in the ears of death,
Unheard.-Lychorida!-Lucina, O

Divinest patroness, and midwife, gentle
To those that cry by night, convey thy deity
Aboard our dancing boat; make swift the pangs
Of my queen's travails!-Now, Lychorida-

'Which might not what by me is told.] i. e. which might not conveniently convey what by me is told, &c. What ensues may conveniently be exhibited in action; but action could not well have displayed all the events that I have now related.

In your imagination hold

This stage, the ship, upon whose deck

The sea-tost, &c.] It is clear from these lines, that when the play was originally performed, no attempt was made to exhibit either a sea or a ship. The ensuing scene and some others must have suffered considerably in the representation, from the poverty of the stage-apparatus in the time of our author.