Not worth the time of day.3 It pierc'd me thorough; CLE. DION. And as for Pericles, Heavens forgive it! What should he say? We wept after her hearse, Is almost finish'd, and her epitaphs CLE. Not worth the time of day.] A malkin is a coarse wench. A kitchen-malkin is mentioned in Coriolanus. Not worth the time of day, is, not worth a good day, or good morrow; undeferving the most common and ufual falutation. STEEVENS. See Vol. XVI. p. 77, n. 7. MALONE. 4 And though you call my courfe unnatural,] So, in Julius Cæfar: "Our courfe will feem too bloody, Caius Caffius, 5 It greets me, as an enterprize of kindness, MALONE. Perform'd to your fole daughter.] Perhaps it greets me, may mean, it pleafes me; c'eft a mon gré. If greet be used in its ordinary fenfe of faluting or meeting with congratulation, it is furely a very harsh phrafe. There is, however, a paffage in King Henry VIII. which feems to fupport the reading of the text in its ordinary fignification : Would I had no being, "If this falute my blood a jot." MALONE. • Thou art &c.] Old copy: Thou art like the harpy, DION. You are like one, that fuperftitiously. Doth fwear to the gods, that winter kills the flies ;7 But yet I know you'll do as I advise. [Exeunt. Which, to betray, doft, with thine angel's face, There is an aukwardness of conftruction in this paffage, that leads me to think it corrupt. The fenfe defigned feems to have been-Thou refembleft in thy conduct the harpy, which allures with the face of an angel, that it may feize with the talons of an eagle.-Might we read: Thou art like the harpy, Which, to betray, doft wear thine angel's face; Which is here, as in many other places, for who. In King Henry VIII. we meet with a fimilar allufion : "Ye have angels' faces, but Heaven knows your hearts." Again, in Romeo and Juliet: "O ferpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face!" Again, in King John: "Rafh, inconfiderate, fiery voluntaries, "With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' Spleens." MALONE. I have adopted part of Mr. Malone's emendation, changing only a fyllable or two, that the paffage might at least present fome meaning to the reader. STEEVENS. Doth fwear to the gods, that winter kills the flies ;] You resemble him who is angry with heaven, because it does not control the common courfe of nature. Marina, like the flies in winter, was fated to perifh; yet you lament and wonder at her death, as an extraordinary occurrence. MALONE. I doubt whether Malone's explanation be right; the words, fwear to the gods, can hardly imply, to be angry with heaven, though to fwear at the gods might: But if this conjecture be right, we must read fuperciliously, inftead of fuperftitiously; for to arraign the conduct of heaven is the very reverfe of fuperftition. Perhaps the meaning may be-" You are one of those who fuperftitiously appeal to the gods on every trifling and natural event." But whatever may be the meaning, Swear to the gods, is a very aukward expreflion. A paffage fomewhat fimilar occurs in The Fair Maid of the Inn, where Alberto says: Enter GowER, before the Monument of MARINA at Tharfus. Gow. Thus time we wafte, and longeft leagues Sail feas in cockles,8 have, and wifh but for't; "Here we ftudy "The kitchen arts, to fharpen appetite, "Dull'd with abundance; and difpute with heaven, Sail feas in cockles,] We are told by Reginald Scott, in his Discovery of Witchcraft, 1584, that "it was believed that witches could fail in an egg fhell, a cockle, or muscle fhell, through and under tempeftuous feas."-This popular idea was probably in our author's thoughts. MALONE. See Vol. X. p. 31, n. 4. STEEVENS. 9 Making, (to take your imagination,) From bourn to bourn,] Making, if that be the true reading, must be understood to mean-proceeding in our course, from bourn to bourn, &c.—It is still said at sea-the Ship makes much way. I fufpect, however, that the paffage is corrupt. All the copies have our imagination, which is clearly wrong. Perhaps the author wrote-to task your imagination. MALONE. Making, (to take your imagination,) From bourn to bourn, &c.] Making is most certainly the true reading. So, in p. 267: "O make for Tharfus." Making &c. is travelling (with the hope of engaging your attention) from one divifion or boundary of the world to another; i. e. we hope to intereft you by the variety of our scene, and the different countries through which we pursue our story.-We ftill use a phrase exactly correfponding with-take your imagination; i. e." To take one's fancy." STEEVENS. I By you being pardon'd, we commit no crime you, To learn of me, who stand i'the gaps to teach you The ftages of our ftory.' Pericles Is now again thwarting the wayward feas, who ftand i'the gaps to teach you The ftages of our flory. &c.] So, in the Chorus to The Winter's Tale : 66 I flide "O'er fixteen years, and leave the growth untry'd The earliest quarto reads-with gaps; that in 1619-in gaps. The reading that I have fubftituted, is nearer that of the old copy. MALONE. To learn of me who ftand with gaps-] I should rather read -i'the gaps. So, in Antony and Cleopatra: "That I may fleep out this great gap of time I would likewife tranfpofe and correct the following lines thus : To learn of me, who ftand i'the gaps to teach you Is now again thwarting the wayward feas, Attended on by many a lord and knight, To fee his daughter, all his life's delight. your mind, Well-failing Ships and bounteous winds have brought So, with his fteerage, fhall your thoughts go on, 2 thwarting the wayward feas,] So, in King Henry V: and there being feen, "Heave him away upon your winged thoughts, Athwart the feas," (Attended on by many a lord and knight,) Well-failing fhips, and bounteous winds, have brought This king to Tharfus, (think his pilot thought; So with his fteerage fhall your thoughts grow on,) To fetch his daughter home, who first is gone.4 The wayward &c. is the reading of the fecond quarto. The firft has-thy. In the next line but one, the old copies read→ all his lives delight. MALONE. 3 Old Efcanes, whom Helicanus late &c.] In the old copies thefe lines are ftrangely misplaced : "Old Helicanus goes along behind "Is left to governe it, you beare in mind. "Advancde in time to great and hie estate. "Well failing fhips and bounteous winds have bright "This king to Tharfus," &c. The tranfpofition fuggefted by Mr. Steevens, renders the whole paffage perfectly clear. MALONE. 4 (think his pilot thought; So with his fieerage fhall your thoughts grow on,) To fetch his daughter home, who firft is gone.] The old copies read: think this pilot thought, So with his fieerage Shall your thoughts groan, &c. but they are furely corrupt. I read-think his pilot thought; fuppofe that your imagination is his pilot. So, in King Henry V: - 'Tis your thoughts, that now muft deck our kings, Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times." Again, ibidem: "Heave him away upon your winged thoughts |
