A Hall of State.-A Banquet prepared.

Enter Simonides, Thaifa, Lords, Attendants, and the Knights from tilting.

Sim. Knights,

To fay you are welcome, were fuperfluous.
To place upon the volume of your deeds 3,
As in a title-page, your worth in arms,
Were more than you expect, or more than's fit,
Since every worth in fhew commends itself.
Prepare for mirth, for mirth becomes a feaft":
You are princes, and my guests.

Thai. But you, my knight and guest;
To whom this wreath of victory I give,
And crown you king of this day's happiness.
Per. 'Tis more by fortune, lady, than by merit.
Sim. Call it by what you will, the day is yours;
And here, I hope, is none that envies it.
In framing an artift*, art hath thus decreed,
To make fome good, but others to exceed ;

And you're her labour'd fcholar. Come, queen o'the feafts,

(For, daughter, fo you are,) here take your place: Marthal the reft, as they deferve their grace.

Knights. We are honour'd much by good Si

monides.

To place upon the volume of your deeds,] This is the reading of the folio, 1685.-The quartos, and the folio 1664, read, I place. MALONE.

for mirth becomes a feaft:] Thus the earliest copy. The fecond quarto and all the fubfequent editions read,

for mirth comes at a feast. MALONE. *In framing an artist, -] We might better read;

5

In framing artifts

MALONE.

Come, queen o' the feast,
For, daughter, fo you are, ]

So in the Winter's Tale:

66

"That which you are, mistress o' the fcaft." STEEVENS.

present yourself

E 4

Sim.

Sim. Your prefence glads our days; honour we love, For who hates honour, hates the gods above. Marsh. Sir, yonder is your place.

Per. Some other is more fit.

1 Knight. Contend not, fir; for we are gentlemen, That neither in our hearts, nor outward eyes, Envy the great, nor do the low despise ‘.

Per. You are right courteous knights,

Sim. Sit, fir, fit.

Per. By Jove, I wonder, that is king of thoughts, Thefe cates refift me, fhe not thought upon 7.

That neither in our hearts, nor outward eyes,
Envy the great, nor do the low defpife.]

This is the reading of the quarto 1619.

Thai.

The first quarto reads, "Have neither in our hearts, nor outward eyes, "Envies the great, nor all the low defpife.' MALONE 7 By Jove, I wonder, that is king of thoughts,

Thefe cates refift me, he not thought upon.] All the copies read be not thought upon". -and thefe lines are given to Simonides. In the old plays it is obfervable that declarations of affection, whether difguifed or open, are generally made by both the parties; if the lady utters a tender fentiment, a correfponding fentiment is ufually given to her lover.-Hence I conclude that the author wrote,

She not thought upon;"

and that thefe lines belong to Pericles. If he be right, I would read, "he now thought upon."

The prince recollecting his prefent ftate, and comparing it with that of Simonides, wonders that he can eat. In Gower, where this entertainment is particularly defcribed, it is faid of Appolinus, the Pericles of the prefent play, that

a

"He fette and caft about his eie
"And fawe the lordes in estate,

And with hym felfe were in debate
Thynkende what he had lore,
"And fuch a forowe he toke therefore,
"That he fat ever ftille and thought,
"As he which of no meate rought.'

So in Kynge Appolyn of Thyre, 1510: "

at the last he fate

him down at the table, and without etynge, he behelde the noble company of lordes and grete eftates. Thus as he looked all about, lorde that ferved at the kynge's table fayde unto the kynge, grete Certes fyr, this man wolde gladly your honour, for he dooth not ete, but beholdeth hertely your noble magnyfycence, and is in poynt to weep."

The

Thai. By Juno, that is queen of marriage, All viands that I eat do feem unfavoury,

Wishing him my meat: fure he's a gallant gentle

man.

Sim. He's but a country gentleman; he has
Done no more than other knights have done;
He has broken a ftaff, or fo; fo let it pafs.
Thai. To me he seems like diamond to glafs.
Per. Yon king's to me, like to my father's pic-
ture,

Which tells me, in that glory once he was;
Had princes fit like stars about his throne,
And he the fun, for them to reverence.
None that beheld him, but like leffer lights,
Did vail their crowns to his fupremacy;
Where now his fon's like a glow-worm in the night,

The words refift me, however, do not well correfpond with this idea.-Perhaps they are corrupt. MALONE. ] i. e. go against my stomach.

Thefe cates refift me,

STEEVENS.

Wishing him my meat ; I am afraid that a jingle is here intended between meat and mate. The two words were, I believe, in our author's time, generally, and are at this day in Warwickshire, pronounced alike. The addrefs to Juno countenances this fuppofition. MALONE.

Wibing him my meat;] Surely the plain meaning is, that fhe had rather have a husband than a dinner; that the wishes Pericles were in the place of the provifions before her; regarding him (to borrow a phrafe from Romeo) as the deareft morfel of the earth. So in the Two Noble Kinfmen :

"If thou couch

"But one night with her

"Thou shalt remember nothing more, than what
"That banquet bids thee to. STEEVENS.

Where now his fon's like a glow-worm in the night,] The old copies read, Where now his fon, &c, -But this is fcarcely intelligible. The flight change that has been made, affords an eafy fenfe. Where is, I fuppofe, here, as in many other places, used for whereas. The peculiar property of the glow-worm, on which the poet has here employed a line, he has in Hamlet happily defcribed by a fingle word:

"The glow-worm fhews the matin to be near,
"And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire." MALONE.

The

The which hath fire in darkness, none in light;
Whereby I fee that Time's the king of men,
For he's their parent, and he is their grave',
And gives them what he will, not what they crave.
Sim. What, are you merry, knights?

1 Knight. Who can be other in this royal prefence? Sim. Here, with a cup that's ftor'd unto the brim, (As you do love, fill to your mistress' lips,) We drink this health to you.

Knights. We thank your grace.

Sim. Yet paufe a while;

Yon knight, methinks, doth fit too melancholy,
As if the entertainment in our court

Had not a fhew might countervail his worth.
Note it not you, Thaifa?

Thai. What is it

To me, my father?

Sim. O, attend, my daughter;

Princes, in this, fhould live like gods above,

For he's their parent, and he is their grave,] So in Remco and

Juliet:

"The earth that's nature's mother, is her tomb; "What is her burying grave, that is her womb." Milton has the fame thought:

"The womb of nature, and perhaps her grave."

MALONE.

that's flor'd unto the brim,] The old copies read flirr'd.

I do not fee any connection between firring a cup and its brim. Perhaps the poet wrote fluff 'd. The first quarto exhibits the word thus-fur'd; fo that the change is very fmall. Stuff'd unto the brim is fufficiently harfh, but fluff'd is a word which our author frequently ufes.

Mr. Steevens propofes for'd, which, being nearer to the original reading, I have received. MALONE.

that's firr'd unto the brim,] If this be the true reading, it muft mean, that dances to the brim. But I rather think we fhould read-for'd, i e. replenished. So before in this play: "Their tables were ftor'd full."

"Were not this glorious cafket for'd with ill.”

Again:

Again:

"Are for'd with corn

STEEVENS.

Who

Who freely give to every one that comes

To honour them and princes, not doing fo,
Are like to gnats, which make a found, but kill'd
Are wonder'd at *.

Therefore to make his entrance more sweet3,

Here fay, we drink this standing bowl of wine to him.

Thai. Alas, my father, it befits not me Unto a stranger knight to be fo bold; He may my proffer take for an offence, Since men take womens' gifts for impudence. Sim. How do as I bid you, or you'll move me

else.

Thai. Now, by the gods, he could not please me

better.

[Afide. Sim. And further tell him, we defire to know, Of whence he is, his name and parentage *.

Thai. The king my father, fir, hath drunk to you. Per. I thank him.

* Are wonder'd at.] Ought we not rather to read:

No more are wonder'd at.

We wonder for a moment that so small an infect as a gnat should make fo great a found. When its noise ceases, we no longer think of it. So, princes for a while may dazzle us by their splendour; but when dead, if they have not been benefactors to mankind, they are no longer objects of admiration. MALONE.

Therefore to make his entrance now more sweet,] Now was added for the fake of the metre by the editor of the folio in 1664-perhaps unneceffarily. The first quarto reads entraunce. The quarto 1619:

"Therefore to make his enterance more sweet"as the word was fometimes pronounced.- MALONE.

4

Of whence he is, his name and parentage.] So in the Conf. Amant.

And praithe he fhulde his thought leve." MALONE,