ESCA. "Twas very ftrange. HEL. And yet but juft; for though This king were great, his greatnefs was no guard To bar heaven's fhaft, but fin had his reward. ESCA. 'Tis very true. Enter Three Lords. 1 LORD. See, not a man in private conference, Or council, has refpect with him but he. 2 LORD. It shall no longer grieve without re proof. 3 LORD. And curs'd be he that will not fecond it. 1 LORD. Follow me then: Lord Helicane, a word. HEL. With me? and welcome: Happy day, my lords. 1 LORD. Know, that our griefs are rifen to the top, And now at length they overflow their banks. HEL. Your griefs, for what? wrong not the prince you love. 1 LORD. Wrong not yourself then, noble Heli cane; But if the prince do live, let us falute him, If in his grave he reft, we'll find him there; • See, not a man &c.] To what this charge of partiality was defigned to conduct, we do not learn; for it appears to have no influence over the reft of the dialogue. STEEVENS. And be refolv'd, he lives to govern us,7 Or dead, gives caufe to mourn his funeral, 8 2 LORD. Whofe death's, indeed, the ftrongest in our cenfure :9 And knowing this kingdom, if without a head,' (Like goodly buildings left without a roof,2) Will foon to ruin fall, your noble self, That best know'ft how to rule, and how to reign, We thus fubmit unto,—our fovereign. 'And be refolv'd, he lives to govern us,] Refolv'd is satisfied, free from doubt. So, in a fubfequent scene: Refolve your angry father, if my tongue," &c. MALONE. * And leaves us-] The quarto, 1609, reads-And leave us, which cannot be right. MALOne. 9 Whofe death's, indeed, the ftrongeft in our cenfure:] i. e. the most probable in our opinion. Cenfure is thus used in King Richard III: "To give your cenfures in this weighty business." STEEVENS. The old copies read-whofe death indeed, &c. MALONE. And knowing this kingdom, if without a head,] They did not know that the kingdom had abfolutely loft its governor; for in the very preceding line this Lord obferves that it was only more probable that he was dead, than living. I therefore read, with a very flight change,-if without a head. The old copy, for if, has-is. In the next line but one, by supplying the word will, which I suppose was omitted by the careleffness of the compofitor, the sense and metre are both reftored. The paffage as it ftands in the old copy, is not, by any mode of construction, reducible to grammar. MALONE. 2 (Like goodly buildings left without a roof)] The fame thought occurs in King Henry IV. Part II: leaves his part-created coft "A naked fubject to the weeping clouds, VOL. XXI. R STEEVENS. ALL. Live, noble Helicane! HEL. Try honour's canfe;3 forbear your fuffrages: Where's hourly trouble, for a minute's ease.4 3 Try honour's caufe ;] Perhaps we should read: Take I your wish, I leap into the feas, Where's hourly trouble, &c.] Thus the old copy. STEEVENS. It must be acknowledged that a line in Hamlet, "Or to take arms against a fea of troubles," as well as the rhyme, adds fome fupport to this reading: yet I have no doubt that the poet wrote: I leap into the seat, So, in Macbeth: I have no fpur "To prick the fides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'er-leaps itfelf," &c. On thip-board the pain and pleasure may be in the proportion here ftated; but the troubles of him who plunges into the fea, (unless he happens to be an expert fwimmer) are seldom of an hour's duration. MALONE. Where's hourly trouble, for a minute's eafe.] So, in King Richard III: "And each hour's joy wreck'd with a week of teen." MALONE. The expreffion is figurative, and by the words-I leap into the feas, &c. I believe the speaker only means-I embark too haftily on an expedition in which ease is difproportioned to labour. 5 To forbear &c.] Old copy: STEEVENS. To forbear the abfence of your king. Some word being omitted in this line, I read: To forbear choice i'the abfence of your king. STEEVENS. Go fearch like noblemen, like noble fubjects, You fhall like diamonds fit about his crown." 1 LORD. To wifdom he's a fool that will not yield; And, fince lord Helicane enjoineth us, We with our travels will endeavour it." HEL. Then you love us, we you, and we'll clasp hands; When peers thus knit, a kingdom ever stands. [Exeunt. and win unto return, You Shall like diamonds fit about his crown.] As these are the concluding lines of a fpeech, perhaps they were meant to rhyme. We might therefore read: and win unto renown. i. e. if you prevail on him to quit his present obfcure retreat, and be reconciled to glory, you fhall be acknowledged as the brightest ornaments of his throne. STEEVENS. 7 We with our travels will endeavour it.] Old copy: We with our travels will endeavour. Endeavour what? I fuppofe, to find out Pericles. I have therefore added the fyllable which appeared wanting both to metre and fenfe. STEEVENS. The author might have intended an abrupt fentence. MALONE. I would readily concur with the opinion of Mr. Malone, had paffion, inftead of calm refolution, dictated the words of the fpeaker. STEEVENS. SCENE V. Pentapolis. A Room in the Palace. Enter SIMONIDES, reading a Letter, the Knights meet him. 1 KNIGHT. Good morrow to the good Simonides. That for this twelvemonth, she'll not undertake Her reason to herself is only known, Which from herself by no means can I get. 2 KNIGHT. May we not get access to her, my my lord? SIM. 'Faith, by no means; fhe hath fo ftrictly tied her To her chamber, that it is impoffible. One twelve moons more fhe'll wear Diana's livery; • In The Hiftorie of King Appolyn of Thyre, "two kynges fones" pay their court to the daughter of Archystrates, (the Simonides of the prefent play). He fends two rolls of paper to her, containing their names, &c. and defires her to choose which fhe will marry. She writes him a letter (in answer), of which Appolyn is the bearer,-that the will have the man" which hath paffed the daungerous undes and perylles of the fea-all other to refufe." The fame circumftance is mentioned by Gower, who has introduced three fuitors instead of two, in which our author has followed him. MALONE. In Twine's tranflation, these fuitors are also three in number; -Ardonius, Munditius, and Carnillus. STEEVENS. |
