Dumb fhew,

Enter at one door Pericles talking with Clean; all the train
with them. Enter at another door, a Gentleman, with
a letter to Pericles; Pericles fhews the letter to Cleon
then gives the Messenger a reward, and knights him.
[Exit Pericles at one door, and Cleon at another.

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

From others' labours; for though he strive1
To killen bad, keeps good alive;

And, to fulfil his prince' defire,

Sends word of all that haps in Tyre :

Good Helicane that flaid at home,

Not to eat honey like a drone,

From others' labours; for though be ftrive

To killen bad, keep good alive:

And to fulfil his prince' defire,

Sav'd one of all that haps in Tyre:]

I would read and point the paffage thus:
Good Hellicane, bath stay'd at home,

Not to eat honey like a drone,

From others' labours; for though he strive
To killen bad, keeps good alive,

And to fulfill his prince' defire,

Sends word of all that haps in Tyre, &c,

He who can draw fenfe from the old reading, has a right to reject this emendation. STEEVENS.

3

for though he frive] I am not satisfied with this ex preffion. We might read (with no greater degree of obscurity than occurs in other parts of these choruses)

forethought he ftrive

i.e. he contrives antecedently. He remains not in Tyre as an idle character. His anticipating wifdom provides how to root out vice and cherish virtue.

The word which I would introduce, for want of one more ap pofite, occurs in King John:

"Thou virtuous dauphin, alter not the doom
Forethought by heaven.

STEEVENS,"

How

4

How Thaliard came full bent with fin,
And had intent to murder him ;
And that in Tharfus 'twas not best,
Longer for him to make his reft:
He knowing fo', put forth to feas,
Where when men bin, there's feldom cafe;
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;
And he, good prince, having all lost,
By waves, from coaft to coaft is toft;
All perifhen of man, of pelf,
Ne ought efcapen'd but himself;
Till fortune, tir'd with doing bad,
Threw him afhore to give him glad :
And here he comes; what fhall be next,
Pardon old Gower; thus long's the text. [Exit.

SCENE I.

Pentapolis.

Enter Pericles wet.

Per. Yet cease your ire, ye angry stars of heaven! Wind, rain, and thunder, remember, earthly man

Is

♦ And had intent to murder him;] The first quarto reads, And hid in Tent to murder him. This is only mentioned, to fhew how inaccurately this play was originally printed, and to justify the liberty that has been taken in correcting the preceding paffage. The reading of the text is that of the quarto, 1619. MALONE.

He doing fo,] I would read-He knowing fo-i. e. he being thus informed. STEEVENS.

Yet ceafe your ire, ye angry stars of heaven!

Wind, rain, and thunder, remember earthly man
Is but a fubftance, c.] I would read:

-ye angry fores of heaven,

Wind, rain, and thunder! remember, &c.

So

Is but a fubftance, that muft 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 fhore to fhore, and left me breath 7,
Nothing to think on, but ensuing death:
Let it fuffice the greatnefs of your powers,
To have bereft a prince of all his fortunes;

So Milton, Paradife Loft, b. ii. 1. 175.

46 what if all

"Her fores were open'd, and this firmament
"Of hell fhould spout her cataracts of fire

Again, b. vi. 1. 764.

"His quiver with three-bolted thunder for'd." So Addifon in his Cato:

"Some hidden thunder in the ftores of beaven."

In ftrictness, the old reading wants fomewhat of propriety, because there are no ftars befide thofe of heaven. We fay properly -the fands of the fea, and the fishes of the fea, because there are likewife fands of the earth, and fibes that live in fresh water; but ftars are to be found only in thofe regions of which wind, rain, and thunder are the acknowledged flores. So in King Lear:

"All the flor'd vengeances of heaven fall
"On her ingrateful top! &c.".

and left my breath,

Nothing to think on but enfuing death.]

STEEVENS,

The interpofition of rhime in the middle of this fpeech, and the aukwardness of imputing thought to breath, incline me to believe here is fome corruption. Perhaps the author wrote

left my breaft

Nothing to think on, &c.

To revolve any thing in the breaft or bofom is a phrafe fufficiently authorised. So Milton, Par. Loft, b. ix. v. 288.

Thoughts, which how found they harbour in thy breaft ?"
STEEVENS.

and left my breath,] Thus all the copies. I read and left me breath that is, left me life- only to aggravate thy misfortunes, by enabling me to think on the death that awaits me.

This flight change, in, fome meafure, removes the abfurdity that Mr Steevens has juftly remarked in the paffage as it stands in the old copy. The rhime, I believe, was intended; for in many of Shakspeare's plays he feems to have thought rhime an orna ment, whenever it could be commodioufly introduced.

MALONE.

And

And having thrown him from your watry grave,
Here to have death in peace, is all he'll crave.

2 Fib. Ha, come, and bring away the nets. 1 Fih. What, Patch-breech, I fay !

3 Fish. What fay you, mafter?

This scene seems to have been formed on the following lines in the Conf. Amant.

"Thus was the yonge lorde all alone,
"All naked in a poure plite.

"There came a fiber in the weye
"And figh a man there naked ftonde,
"And whan that he hath understonde
"The caufe, he 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 fholde,

And fayth hym that it fhall be yolde

"If ever he gete his state ageyne,
"And praith that he wolde hym feyne,
"If nigh were any towne for hym.
"He fayd ye, Pentapolim,
"Where both kynge and quene dwellen,
"Whan he this tale herde rellen

"He gladdeth hym, and gan befeche,

"That he the wey 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 pelch? Might we not read, What, pilche! — Pilche is a leathern coat. TYRWHITT.

Mr. Tyrwhitt's emendation appears to me very probable. The first fisherman appears to be the mafter, and speaks with authority, and fome degree of contempt, to the third fisherman, who is a fervant. His next fpeech, What, Patch-breech, Ifay! is in the fame ftyle.-The fecond fisherman feems to be a fervant likewise; and after the mafter has called-What, bo, Pilche!-explains what it is he wants-Ha-come and bring away the nets. MALONE.

I Fish.

1 Fish. Look how thou stirreft now: come away, or I'll fetch thee with a wannion '.

3 Fish. 'Faith, mafter, I am thinking of the poor men that were caft away before us, even now.

1 Fish. Alas, poor fouls, it griev'd my heart to hear what pitiful cries they made to us, to help them, when, well-a-day, we could scarce help ourfelves.

3 Fish. Nay, mafter, said not I as much, when I faw the porpus how he bounced and tumbled ? they fay, they are half fish, half flesh; a plague on them, they ne'er come but I look to be wash'd. Mafter, I marvel how the fishes live in the fea.

1 Fish. Why, as men do a-land; the great ones eat up the little ones: I can compare our rich mifers to nothing fo fitly as to a whale; 'a plays and tumbles, driving the poor fry before him 4, and at laft devours them all at a mouthful. Such whales have I heard on a'the land, who never leave gaping, till they've swallow'd the whole parish, church, fteeple, bells and all.

Per. A pretty moral,

with a wannion.] A phrafe of which the meaning is obvious, though I cannot explain the word at the end of it.It is common in many of our old plays. STEEVENS.

2 Alas poor fouls! it griev'd my heart-] So in the Winter's Tale: "O the most pitcous cry of the poor fouls! Sometimes to fee 'em, and not to fee 'em ;-now the fhip boring the moon with her main-maft, and anon fwallowed with yeft and froth, as you'd thrust a cork into a hogfhead. And then for the land-ferviceTo see how the bear tore out his fhoulder-bone; how he cry'd to me for help, &c." MALONE.

when I saw the porpus how he bounc'd and tumbled?] The rifing of porpufes near a vessel at fea, has long been confidered by the fuperftition of failors, as the fore-runner of a storm. So, in the Dutchefs of Malfy, by Webster, 1623: "He lifts up his nofe like a foul porpus before a ftorm." MALONE.

4

fry before him,

T

66

as to a whale-a plays and tumbles, driving the poor -] So in Coriolanus:

like fcaled fculls

"Before the belching whale." STEEVENS.

3 Fish,