Am like to do take in your arms this piece Of your dead queen. Per. How, how, Lychorida! Lyc. Patience, good sir; do not assist the storm. Here's all that is left living of your queen, A little daughter: for the sake of it, Be manly, and take comfort. Per. O you gods! Why do you make us love your goodly gifts, And snatch them straight away? We here below Use honour with you. Lyc. Even for this charge. Per. Patience, good sir, Now, mild may be thy life! For a more blustrous birth had never babe : Quiet and gentle thy conditions! for Thou art the rudeliest welcome to this world That ever was prince's child. follows! Thou hast as chiding a nativity 20 30 Happy what As fire, air, water, earth, and heaven can make, With all thou canst find here. Now, the good Throw their best eyes upon 't! 25. may use honour with you, are entitled to enjoy honour on equal terms with you. 29. thy conditions, the circumstances of thy life. 30. In Wilkins' novel; Pericles here addresses his child in the Shakespearean phrase: 'Poor inch of nature' ('thou art as rudely welcome,' etc.). 35. Thy loss is more than can thy portage quit, with all thou canst find here; the child's loss even at the outset is such that all that it inherits by birth falls short of what its birth has cost. This seems to be the clear meaning, irregularly expressed. Enter two Sailors. First Sail. What courage, sir? God save you First Sail. Slack the bolins there! Thou wilt not, wilt thou? Blow, and split thyself. Sec. Sail. But sea-room, an the brine and cloudy billow kiss the moon, I care not. First Sail. Sir, your queen must overboard: the sea works high, the wind is loud, and will not lie till the ship be cleared of the dead. Per. That's your superstition. First Sail. Pardon us, sir; with us at sea it hath been still observed; and we are strong in custom. Therefore briefly yield her; for she must overboard straight. Per. As you think meet. Most wretched queen! Lyc. Here she lies, sir. Per. A terrible childbed hast thou had, my dear; No light, no fire: the unfriendly elements To give thee hallow'd to thy grave, but straight 39. flaw, blast. 53. custom; Boswell's certain correction of Qq Ff 'eastern." The old texts also interpolate the last sentence of the First O Lychorida, 40 50 60 Sailor in Pericles' following speech. 63. aye-remaining lamps, i.e. the ever-burning lamps of a vault. Qq Ff air-remaining. Bid Nestor bring me spices, ink and paper, Sec. Sail. Sir, we have a chest beneath the hatches, caulked and bitumed ready. Per. I thank thee. Mariner, say what coast is this? Sec. Sail. We are near Tarsus. Per. Thither, gentle mariner, Alter thy course for Tyre. When canst thou Sec. Sail. By break of day, if the wind cease. There will I visit Cleon, for the babe Cannot hold out to Tyrus: there I'll leave it [Exeunt. SCENE II. Ephesus. A room in Cerimon's Enter CERIMON, with a Servant, and some Cer. Philemon, ho! Enter PHILEMON. Phil. Doth my lord call? Cer. Get fire and meat for these poor men : 70 80 76. thy course for Tyre, i.e. exact expression, which the thy course which is at present novelist is likely in any case to for Tyre. Wilkins' novel has have preferred. 'from Tyre'; a simpler but less 'T has been a turbulent and stormy night. Serv. I have been in many; but such a night as this, Till now, I ne'er endured. Cer. Your master will be dead ere you return; There's nothing can be minister'd to nature That can recover him. [To Philemon] Give this to the 'pothecary, And tell me how it works. [Exeunt all but Cerimon. Enter two Gentlemen. First Gent. Good morrow. ΤΟ Sec. Gent. Good morrow to your lordship. Cer. Why do you stir so early? First Gent. Sir, Gentlemen, Our lodgings, standing bleak upon the sea, Shook as the earth did quake; The very principals did seem to rend, And all-to topple : pure surprise and fear Made me to quit the house. Sec. Gent. That is the cause we trouble you so early; 'Tis not our husbandry. Cer. O, you say well. First Gent. But I much marvel that your lordship, having Rich tire about you, should at these early hours 'Tis most strange, Nature should be so conversant with pain, 16. principals, main beams. 17. all-to, in pieces. 20. husbandry, zeal for business, of which to be early 20 stirring' was held particularly characteristic. Cf. Hen. V. iv. I. 7; Troil. and Cress. i. 2. 7. 22. tire, (?) furniture. Being thereto not compell'd. Cer. I hold it ever, Virtue and cunning were endowments greater Than nobleness and riches: careless heirs That nature works, and of her cures; which doth A more content in course of true delight Than to be thirsty after tottering honour, To please the fool and death. Sec. Gent. Your honour has through Ephesus Your charity, and hundreds call themselves Your purse, still open, hath built Lord Cerimon Enter two or three Servants with a chest. First Serv. So; lift there. Cer. First Serv. 27. cunning, knowledge. 46. pain, labour. 48. never-———. This reading is found only in Q1, the other What is that? Sir, even now 30 40 old editions substituting ne'er decay. Probably the speech is broken off to emphasise the strangeness of the interruption. |