And, to remember what he does,
Gild his ftatue glorious :7

But tidings to the contrary

Are brought your eyes; what need fpeak I?

Dumb fhow.

Enter at one door PERICLES, talking with CLEON; all the Train with them. Enter at another door, a Gentleman, with a Letter to PERICLES; PERICLES Shows the Letter to CLEON; then gives the Messenger a reward, and knights him. Exeunt PERICLES, CLEON, &c. feverally.

7 Gild his ftatue glorious:] This circumftance, as well as the foregoing, is found in the Confeffio Amantis:

Appolinus, whan that he herde

"The mischefe, howe the citee ferde,
"All freliche of his owne gifte
"His wheate among hem for to shifte,
"The whiche by thip he had brought,
"He yave, and toke of hem right nought.
"But fithen fyrft this worlde began,
"Was never yet to fuche a man
"More joye made than thei hym made
"For thei were all of hym fo glade,
"That thei for ever in remembrance
"Made a figure in resemblance
"Of hym, and in a common place
"Thei fet it up; fo that his face

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Might every maner man beholde, "So as the citee was beholde :

"It was of laton over-gylte;

"Thus hath he nought his yefte fpilte."

All the copies read-Build his ftatue &c. MALONE.

They also unneceffarily read:

Build his ftatue to make it glorious.

Read-gild. So, in Gower:

"It was of laton over-gylte."

Again, in Kyng Appolyn of Thyre, 1510: "

in remem

braunce they made an ymage or ftatue of clene gold," &c.

STEEVENS.

8

Gow. Good Helicane hath ftaid at home,
Not to eat honey, like a drone,

From others' labours; forth he strive
To killen bad, keep good alive;
And, to fulfil his prince' defire,
Sends word of all that haps in Tyre:9
How Thaliard came full bent with fin,
And hid intent, to murder him ;'
And that in Tharfus was not beft *
Longer for him to make his reft:

forth &c.] Oid copy-for though he ftrive. I read forth; i. e. thoroughly, from beginning to end. So, in Meafure for Meafure:

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you, coufin,

"Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth,
“Do with your injuries as feems you best.”

• Good Helicane hath fiaid at home,

And, to fulfil his prince' defire,

STEEVENS,

Sends word of all that haps in Tyre:] The old copy reads:
Good Helicane that stay'd at home,-

Sav'd one of all &c.

The emendation was suggested by Mr. Steevens. MALONE.

1 And hid intent, to murder him ;] The firft quarto reads: And hid in Tent to murder him.

This is only mentioned to fhow how inaccurately this play was originally printed, and to juftify the liberty that has been taken in correcting the preceding paffage. The reading of the text is that of the quarto 1619. MALONE.

How Thaliard came full bent with fin,

And hid intent to murder him.] Sin and him cannot be received as rhymes. Perhaps the author wrote,

-full bent with scheme,

And hid intent, &c.

The old reading, in the second line, is certainly the true one. Hid intent is concealed defign, such as was that of Thaliard. STEEVENS.

2 -was not beft-] The construction is, And that for him to make his reft longer in Tharfus, was not beft; i. e. his beft courfe. MALONE.

He knowing fo,3 put forth to feas,
Where when men been, there's feldom ease;
For now the wind begins to blow;
Thunder above, and deeps below,
Make fuch unquiet, that the fhip
Should house him fafe, is wreck'd and split ;4
And he, good prince, having all lost,
By waves from coast to coaft is toft;
All perishen of man, of pelf,
Ne aught escapen but himself;5
Till fortune, tir'd with doing bad,
Threw him ashore, to give him glad :"

3 He knowing fo, i. e. fays Mr. Steevens, by whom this emendation was made, "he being thus informed." The old copy has-He doing fo. MALONE.

that the fhip

Should houfe him fafe, is wreck'd and split; Ship and Split are fuch defective rhymes, that I fuppofe our author wrote fleet. Pericles, in the ftorm, loft his fleet as well as the veffel in which he was himself embarked. STEEVENS.

5 Ne aught efcapen but himself;] [Old copy-efcapen'd-] It fhould be printed either efcapen or escaped.

Our ancestors had a plural number in their tenfes which is now loft out of the language; e. g. in the present tense,

I escape
Thou efcapeft
He escapeth

We efcapen
Ye escapen
They escapen.

But it did not, I believe, extend to the preter-imperfects, other wife than thus: They didden [for did] efcape. PERCY.

I do not believe the text to be corrupt. Our author feems in this inftance to have followed Gower:

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st

and with himfelfe were in debate, Thynkende what he had lore,” &c.

I think I have obferved many other inftances of the fame kind in the Confeffio Amantis. MALONE.

Thinkende is a participle, and therefore inapplicable to the prefent question. STEEVENS.

6

to give him glad:] Dr. Percy afks if we should not read-to make him glad. Perhaps we should but the language

And here he comes: what shall be next,
Pardon old Gower; this long's the text.?

[Exit.

SCENE I.

Pentapolis. An open Place by the Sea Side.

Enter PERICLES, wet.

PER. Yet cease your ire, ye angry ftars of heaven !

Wind, rain, and thunder, remember, earthly man
Is but a fubftance that must yield to you;
And I, as fits my nature, do obey you;
Alas, the fea hath caft me on the rocks,
Wash'd me from shore to fhore, and left me breath
Nothing to think on, but enfuing death :

of our fictitious Gower, like that of our Pfeudo-Rowley, is fo often irreconcileable to the practice of any age, that criticism on such bungling imitations is almost thrown away. STEEVENS.

7 what shall be next,

Pardon old Gower; this long's the text.] The meaning of this may be-Excufe old Gower from telling you what follows. The very text to it has proved of too confiderable length already. STEEVENS.

8 and left me breath

Nothing to think on, &c.] The quarto, 1609, reads-and left my breath. I read-and left me breath, that is, left me life, only to aggravate my misfortunes, by enabling me to think on the death that awaits me. MALONE.

Mr. Malone's correction is certainly proper; and the paffage before us can have no other meaning, than-left me alive only that enfuing death might become the object of my contemplation. So, in the fecond Book of Sidney's Arcadia, where the, fhipwreck of Pyrocles is defcribed: left nothing but defpair of fafetie, and expectation of a loathfome end."

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Let it fuffice the greatness of your powers,
To have bereft a prince of all his fortunes;
And having thrown him from your watry grave,
Here to have death in peace, is all he'll crave.

Enter Three Fishermen.9

1 FISH. What, ho, Pilche!"

Again, in Chapthan's verfion of the fifth Book of Homer's Ody Jey, where the fhipwrecked Ulyffes is defcribed:

Two nights yet and days

"He spent in wrestling with the fable feas:
"In which space often did his heart propofe
"Death to his eyes." STEEVENS.

9 Enter three Fishermen.] This fcene feems to have been formed on the following lines in the Confeffio Amantis : "Thus was the yonge lorde all alone,

"All naked in a poure plite.-
"There came a fisher in the weye,
"And figh a man there naked ftonde,
"And when that he hath understonde
"The cause, be hath of hym great routh;
"And onely of his poure trouth
"Of fuch clothes as he hadde
"With great pitee this lorde he cladde:
"And he hym thonketh as he sholde,
"And fayth hym that it fhall be yolde
"If ever he gete his state ageyne;
"And praith that he would hym fyne,
"If nigh were any towne for hym.
"He fayd, ye, Pentapolim,
"Where both kynge and quene dwellen.
"Whan he this tale herde tellen,

"He gladdeth him, and gan befeche,

"That he the weye hym wolde teche."

Shakspeare delighting to defcribe the manners of fuch people, has introduced three fishermen instead of one, and extended the dialogue to a confiderable length. MALONE.

What, ho, Pilche !] All the old copies read-What to pelche. The latter emendation was made by Mr. Tyrwhitt. For the other I am refponfible. Pilche, as he has obferved, is a leathern VOL. XXI.

P