This by the

eye of Cynthia hath she vow'd, And on her virgin honour will not break it.

3 KNIGHT. Though loath to bid farewell, we take our leaves.

SIM. SO

[Exeunt.

They're well despatch'd; now to my daughter's let

ter:

She tells me here, fhe'll wed the stranger knight,
Or never more to view nor day nor light.
Mistress, 'tis well, your choice agrees with mine;
I like that well :-nay, how abfolute she's in't,
Not minding whether I dislike or no !
Well, I commend her choice;

And will no longer have it be delay'd.
Soft, here he comes :-I muft diffemble it.

Enter PERICLES.

PER. All fortune to the good Simonides!

SIM. To you as much, fir! I am beholden to

you,

For your fweet mufick this last night :' my ears,

9 This by the eye of Cynthia hath fhe vow'd,] It were to be wished that Simonides (who is represented as a blameless character) had hit on fome more ingenuous expedient for the difmiflion of these wooers. Here he tells them as a folemn truth, what he knows to be a fiction of his own. STEEVENS.

I am beholden to you,

For your sweet mufick this last night] Here alfo our author has followed Gower :

I do proteft, were never better fed
With fuch delightful pleasing harmony.

PER. It is your grace's pleasure to commend ;. Not my defert.

SIM.

Sir, you are mufick's mafter.

PER. The worst of all her fcholars, my good lord. SIM. Let me afk one thing. What do you think, fir, of

My daughter?

PER.

As of a most virtuous princess. SIM. And fhe is fair too, is the not?

PER. As a fair day in fummer; wond'rous fair. SIM. My daughter, fir, thinks very well of you; Ay, fo well, fir, that you must be her mafter, And fhe'll your scholar be; therefore look to it. PER. Unworthy I to be her fchoolmaster.2 SIM. She thinks not fo; perufe this writing else. PER. What's here!

2

"To make him chere; and ever he figheth,
"And fhe him afketh howe him liketh.

86

Synginge he harpeth forth withall,

"That as a voice celestial

"Hem thought it fowned in her ere,

"As though that it an angell were." MALONE.

-to be her fchoolmaster.] Thus the quarto, 1619. The

firft copy reads for her fchoolmafter. MALONE.

A letter, that fhe loves the knight of Tyre?
'Tis the king's fubtilty, to have my life.
O, feek not to intrap, my gracious lord,3
A ftranger and diftreffed gentleman,

[Afide.

That never aim'd fo high, to love your daughter, But bent all offices to honour her.

SIM. Thou haft bewitch'd my daughter,4 and thou

A villain.

art

PER, By the gods, I have not, fir.
Never did thought of mine levy offence ;
Nor never did my actions yet commence
A deed might gain her love, or your difpleasure.
SIM. Traitor, thou lieft.

PER.

SIM.

Traitor!

Ay, traitor, fir.

PER. Even in his throat, (unless it be the king,5) That calls me traitor, I return the lie.

SIM. Now, by the gods, I do applaud his courage.

[Afide. PER. My actions are as noble as my thoughts, That never relifh'd of a bafe defcent."

3

my gracious lord,] Old copies-me. I am anfwerable for the correction. MALOne.

Thou haft bewitch'd my daughter,] So, Brabantio, addreffing himself to Othello:

3

"Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her."

STEEVENS. the king,] Thus the quarto, 1609. The fecond copy has a king. MALONE.

• That never relifh'd of a base descent.] So, in Hamlet: "That has no relish of falvation in it.”

Again, in Macbeth:

"So well thy words become thee as thy wounds;
"They fmack of honour both." MALONE.

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

And he that otherwife accounts of me,
This fword fhall prove he's honour's enemy.
SIM. NO!-

Here comes my daughter, the can witness it."

Enter THAISA.

PER. Then, as you are as virtuous as fair,
Refolve your angry father, if my tongue
Did e'er folicit, or my hand fubfcribe
To any fyllable that made love to you?

THAI. Why, fir, fay if

you had,

Who takes offence at that would make me glad?

SIM. Yea, miftrefs, are you fo peremptory?— I am glad of it with all my heart. [Afide.] I'll

tame you;

I'll bring you in subjection.

Will you, not having my confent, 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.) [Afide. Hear therefore, miftrefs; frame your will to mine,And you, fir, hear you.-Either be rul'd by me, Ör I will make you-man and wife.

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

Here comes my daughter, he can witness it.] Thus all the copies. Simonides, I think, means to fay-Not a rebel to our ftate!-Here comes my daughter: She can prove, thou art one. Perhaps, however, the author wrote-Now, Here comes, &c.In Othello, we find nearly the fame words:

"Here comes the lady, let her witness it." MAlone.

Yes, if you love me, fir.

What, are you both pleas'd?

ΤΗΛΙ.

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 fo well, I'll fee you wed; Then, with what haste you can, get you to bed.9 [Exeunt.

8 Even as my life, my blood that fofters it.] Even as my life loves my blood that fupports it.-The quarto, 1619, and the subsequent copies, read:

Even as my life, or blood that fofters it.
The reading of the text is found in the first quarto.

MALONE.

I cannot approve of Malone's explanation of this line:-To make a perfon of life, and to fay it loves the blood that fofters it, is an idea to which I cannot reconcile myself.

Pericles means merely to fay, that he loves Thaifa as his life, or as the blood that fupports it; and it is in this fenfe that the editors of the quarto of 1619, and the fubfequent copies, conceived the paffage.-But the infertion of the word or was not neceffary; it was fufficient to point it thus :

Even as my life;-the blood that fofters it.

M. MASON. Will a preceding line (see p. 236) befriend the opinion of either commentator?

Withing it fo much blood unto your life."

In my opinion, however, the fenfe in the text was meant to coincide with that which is fo much better expreffed in Julius Cafar:

9

"As dear to me, as are the ruddy drops
"That vifit my fad heart." STEEVENS.

get you to bed.] I cannot difmifs the foregoing scene, till I have expreffed the moft fupreme contempt of it. Such another grofs, nonfenfical dialogue, would be fought for in vain among the earliest and rudest efforts of the British theatre. It is impoffible not to with that the Knights had horfewhipped Simonides, and that Pericles had kicked him off the stage.

STEEVENS.