PER. I will believe you by the fyllable 3

Of what you shall deliver. Yet, give me leave: How came you in these parts? where were you bred?

MAR. The king, my father, did in Tharfus leave

me;

Till cruel Cleon, with his wicked wife,

Did feek to murder me: and having woo'd
A villain to attempt it, who having drawn,4

The falfe prints in this play are fo numerous, that the greatest latitude must be allowed to conjecture. MALONE.

3 I will believe you by the fyllable every word you fay. So, in Macbeth':

i, e. I will believe

"To the laft Syllable of recorded time.”

Again, in All's well that ends well:

"To the utmost fyllable of your worthinefs."

STEEVENS.

who having drawn,] Mr. Malone fuppofes the old copy meant to read-Whom having drawn, &c. STEEVENS.

This mode of phrafeology, though now obfolete, was common in Shakspeare's time. So, in The Tempest:

"Some food we had, and fome fresh water, that
"A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

"Out of his charity, (who being then appointed
"Mafter of this defign,) did give us," &c.

Again, in The Winter's Tale:

66

This your fon-in-law,

"And fon unto the king, (whom heavens directing,)
"Is troth-plight to your daughter."

See alfo Vol. XVI. p. 148, n. 2.

When the former edition of this play was printed, I imagined the original copy printed in 1609, read-who having drawn to do't, not observing the mark of abbreviation over the letter o (who) which shows the word intended was whom. MALONE.

I have now two copies of this quarto 1609 before me, and neither of them exhibits the mark on which Mr. Malone's fuppofition is founded. I conclude therefore that this token of abbreviation was an accidental blot in the copy which that gentleman confulted.

Old copy-having drawn to do't. I read:

A crew of pirates came and refcued me;"
Brought me to Mitylene. But, now good fir,
Whither will you have me? Why do you weep? It
may be,

You think me an impoftor; no, good faith;
I am the daughter to king Pericles,

If good king Pericles be.

PER. HO, Helicanus!

HEL.

Calls my gracious lord?

PER. Thou art a grave and noble counfellor,
Moft wife in general: Tell me, if thou canft,
What this maid is, or what is like to be,
That thus hath made me weep?"

HEL.

I know not; but

Here is the regent, fir, of Mitylene,
Speaks nobly of her.

Lys.

She would never tell

Her parentage; being demanded that,
She would fit ftill and weep.

PER. O Helicanus, ftrike me, honour'd fir
Give me a gafh, put me to prefent pain;
Left this great fea of joys rufhing upon me,

O'erbear the fhores of my mortality,

And drown me with their sweetness,5 0, come

hither,

A villain to attempt it, who, having drawn,

A crew of pirates, &c.

The words to do'tare injurious to the measure, and unne ceffary to the fenfe, which is complete without them. So, in Romeo and Juliet:

"What! art thou drawn among thefe heartless hinds ?" Again, in King Henry V:

"O, well a day, if he be not drawn now!"

STEEVENS.

5 And drown me with their sweetnefs.] We meet a kindred thought in The Merchant of Venice:

Thou that beget'st him that did thee beget;
Thou that waft born at fea, buried at Tharfus,
And found at fea again!-O Helicanus,

Down on thy knees, thank the holy gods, as loud
As thunder threatens us: This is Marina.—
What was thy mother's name? tell me but that,
For truth can never be confirm'd enough,

Though doubts did ever fleep."

MAR.

What is

your title?

First, fir, I pray,

PER. I am Pericles of Tyre: but tell me now (As in the reft thou hast been godlike perfect,) My drown'd queen's name, thou art the heir of kingdoms,

And another life to Pericles thy father."

"O love, be moderate, allay thy ecftafy,
"In measure rain thy joy, fcant this excess,
"I feel too much thy bleffing; make it less,
"For fear I furfeit." MALONE.

Though doubts did ever fleep.] i. e. in plain language, though nothing ever happened to awake a fcruple or doubt concerning your veracity. STEEVENS.

7

the heir of kingdoms,

And another life to Pericles thy father.] Mr. Malone reads:
And a mother like to Pericles &c. STEEVENS.

The old copy has

And another like to Pericles thy father.

There can be no doubt that there is here a grofs corruption. The correction which I have made, affords an easy fenfe. The mother of Marina was the heir of kingdoms, and in that respect refembled Pericles.

I believe the fame error has happened in Hamlet, where in A&t V. fc. ii. we find-" Is't not poffible to understand in another tongue?" inftead of which I believe the poet wrote, "Is't poffible not to understand in a mother tongue?”

This error actually happened in the first edition of Sir Francis Bacon's Effay on The Advancement of Learning, B. II. p. 60, 4to, 1605: "—by the art of grammar, whereof the use in ano

MAR. Is it no more to be your daughter, than
To fay, my mother's name was Thaisa ?
Thaifa was my mother, who did end,
The minute I began.8

PER. Now, bleffing on thee, rife; thou art my
child.

Give me fresh garments. Mine own, Helicanus,
(Not dead at Tharfus, as fhe fhould have been,
By favage Cleon,) fhe fhall tell thee all ;9
When thou shalt kneel and juftify in knowledge,
She is thy very princefs.-Who is this?

HEL. Sir, 'tis the governor of Mitylene,

ther tongue is fmall; in a foreign tongue more." In the table of Errata we are defired to read-a mother tongue. MALONE. I think that a flight alteration will reftore the paffage, and read it thus

:

But tell me now

My drown'd queen's name (as in the reft you faid

Thou hast been godlike perfect) thou'rt heir of kingdoms,
And another life to Pericles thy father.

That is, "Do but tell me my drowned queen's name, and thou
wilt prove the heir of kingdoms, and another life to your father
Pericles." This laft amendment is confirmed by what he fays
in the speech preceding, where he expreffes the fame thought:
O come hither,

66

"Thou that beget'ft him that did thee beget."

M. MASON.

I have adopted Mr. M. Mason's very happy emendation, with a fomewhat different arrangement of the lines, and the omiffion of two ufelefs words. STEEVENS.

8 Thaifa was my mother, who did end,

9

The minute I began.] So, in The Winter's Tale :

Lady,

"Dear queen, that ended when I but began,

"Give me that hand of yours to kifs." MALONE.

Mine own, Helicanus, &c,] Perhaps this means, the is mine own daughter, Helicanus, (not murder'd according to the defign of Cleon) fhe (I fay) fhall tell thee all, &c.

STEEVENS.

1

Who, hearing of your melancholy state,
Did come to see you.

PER.

I embrace you, fir.

Give me my robes; I am wild in my beholding. O heavens blefs my girl! But hark, what mufick?

Tell Helicanus, my Marina, tell him '

O'er, point by point, for yet he feems to doubt,3 How fure you are my daughter.-But what mufick? HEL. My lord, I hear none.

PER. None?

The mufick of the fpheres: lift, my Marina.

Lrs. It is not good to crofs him; give him way. PER. Rareft founds!

Do ye not hear?

Lys.

Mufick? My lord, I hear—

PER. Moft heavenly mufick:

It nips me unto lift'ning, and thick flumber

Hangs on mine eye-lids; let me reft.4 [He fleeps.

Tell Helicanus, my Marina, tell him] Thus the earliest quarto. The quarto, 1619, and all the fubfequent editions read; But hark, what mufick's this Helicanus? my

Marina, &c. MALONE.

2 O'er, point by point,] So, in Gower:

"Fro poynt to poynt all the hym tolde
"That the hath long in herte holde,
"And never durft make hir mone

"But only to this lorde allone." MALONE.

3for yet he feems to doubt,] The old copies read-for yet he feems to doat. It was evidently a mifprint. MALONE.

4 Moft heavenly mufick:

It nips me unto liftning, and thick slumber
Hangs &c.] So, in Love's Labour's Loft :

"Makes heaven drowsy with the harmony."