Pericles, Prince of Tyre: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare (Cambridge Library Collection - Literary Studies)

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Cambridge Library CoLLeCtion Books of enduring scholarly value

Literary studies This series provides a high-quality selection of early printings of literary works, textual editions, anthologies and literary criticism which are of lasting scholarly interest. Ranging from Old English to Shakespeare to early twentieth-century work from around the world, these books offer a valuable resource for scholars in reception history, textual editing, and literary studies.

Pericles John Dover Wilson’s New Shakespeare, published between 1921 and 1966, became the classic Cambridge edition of Shakespeare’s plays and poems until the 1980s. The series, long since out-of-print, is now reissued. Each work is available both individually and as part of a set, and each contains a lengthy and lively introduction, main text, and substantial notes and glossary printed at the back. The edition, which began with The Tempest and ended with The Sonnets, put into practice the techniques and theories that had evolved under the ‘New Bibliography’. Remarkably by today’s standards, although it took the best part of half a century to produce, the New Shakespeare involved only a small band of editors besides Dover Wilson himself. As the volumes took shape, many of Dover Wilson’s textual methods acquired general acceptance and became an established part of later editorial practice, for example in the Arden and New Cambridge Shakespeares. The reissue of this series in the Cambridge Library Collection complements the other historic editions also now made available.

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Pericles The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare Volume 26 William Shakespeare E di ted by John D over Wilson

C A m B R i D g E U N i V E R Si T y P R E S S Cambridge New york melbourne madrid Cape Town Singapore São Paolo Delhi Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New york www.cambridge.org information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108005982 © in this compilation Cambridge University Press 2009 This edition first published 1956 This digitally printed version 2009 iSBN 978-1-108-00598-2 This book reproduces the text of the original edition. The content and language reflect the beliefs, practices and terminology of their time, and have not been updated.

THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE EDITED FOR THE SYNDICS OF THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY

JOHN DOVER WILSON

PERICLES EDITED BY

J. C. MAXWELL

PERICLES PRINCE OF TYRE

CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS

I969

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521094948 © Cambridge University Press 1956, 2008 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1956 First paperback edition 1969 Re-issued in this digitally printed version 2009 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library ISBN 978-0-521-07550-3 hardback ISBN 978-0-521-09494-8 paperback

CONTENTS P R E F A T O R Y NOTE INTRODUCTION A.

T H E STORY

B.

T H E PROBLEM OF AUTHORSHIP

C.

W H A T SHAKESPEARE MADE OF I T

THE STAGE-HISTORY TO THE READER PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE

PAGE vii ix X xii XXV

xxx xli I

THE COPY FOR PERICLES, PRINCE OF TTRE, 1609 88 NOTES GLOSSARY

98 196

PREFATORY NOTE Pericles, probably only Shakespeare's in part, and surviving in a single text, namely a bad quarto, obscure in origin and evidently much corrupted by unknown agencies of transmission, offers the editor a task of extreme perplexity in return for which he can expect little gratitude. I can assure Mr J. C. Maxwell that in generously undertaking it he has earned the sincere thanks of one man at least. For what follows, apart from the stage-history, he is in fact entirely responsible, my own contribution being limited to suggestions here and there, mostly to the best of my recollection, of minor importance,,

J.D.Wo 1955 Since my first edition, a very thorough one by F. D. Hoeniger has appeared in the Arden Shakespeare (1963). I have introduced a few corrections from it, but must refer readers to it for discussion of difficulties. Mr Hoeniger presents John Day as a possible author of the non-Shakespearian portions. He has also had access to unpublished marginalia by Lewis Theobald, which anticipate many emendations of later scholars. I have also been fortunate enough to be able to consult marginalia by H. H. Vaughan, author of New Readings and New Renderings of Shakespeare's Tragedies (1878—

86), who annotated an interleaved copy of Steevens's

edition of 1793 with a view to publication. Through the generosity of Sir Gyles Isham, these volumes are now in the English Faculty Library, Oxford. I quote the annotations as ' Vaughan MS'. Another smaller, but valuable, edition is that by Ernest Schanzer, Signet Classic Shakespeare (1965).

J. C. M. 1968

INTRODUCTION Pericles is the one play not in the First Folio which is now regularly included in collected editions. It was published six times, with Shakespeare's name on the title-page, between 1609 and 1635, Q 4 (1619) forming part of Jaggard's projected edition of the plays.1 In that edition some attempt was made to improve the text by conjecture. Its next appearance was in the second issue of the Third Folio (1664), along with six completely spurious attributions. It was included in the Fourth Folio and in Rowe's editions, but not in subsequent eighteenth-century collections. A duodecimo edition of 1734* and Lillo's adaptation, Marina (1738), make occasional contributions to the text for which later editors have failed to give them credit, but the first serious attempt to edit the play was made by Malone in his supplement (1780) to Steevens's 1778 edition. Here Pericles appeared in a collected edition for the first time since Rowe, and since Malone's later edition of 1790 it has regularly been included in the canon. The inferiority of much of the play in its present form led some earlier readers, from Dryden onwards,3 to the conclusion that it was one of Shakespeare's earliest works, but it is clear from the style that the indubitably Shakespearian portions are to be linked with the 'Last Plays', and it is now generally agreed 1

See E. K. Chambers, William Shakespeare, i. 133 ff.j W. W. Greg, The Shakespeare First Folio, pp. 11-17. * Based on Rowe, and not (as the Cambridge editors, p. ix, assert) F 4 . H. L. Ford, Shakespeare 1J06-1J40, 1935, p. 119, records a second 1734 ed., issued with a new title-page and dramatis personae in 1735. 3 See E. K. Chambers, William Shakespeare, ii. 251.

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that it cannot have been more than a few years old when it was first published. Beyond this, almost everything is in dispute, and the different aspects of the problems must now be discussed. A. T H E

STORY

The story of Apollonius of Tyre, 1 the ultimate source of the play, can be traced to about the fifth century A.D. The earliest version survives only in Latin, but it is very much in the manner of the later Greek novel, though folk-tale motifs are more than usually prominent. All the extensive discussions of the story and its many versions are over fifty years old. The only one in English, A. H. Smyth's Shakespeare's Pericles and Apollonius of Tyre (Philadelphia, 1898), though praised by Chambers,2 is a rather slovenly piece of work, and even for the specific purposes of the student of Shakespeare, more is to be learned from the two German monographs, S. Singer's Apollonius von Tyrus (Halle, 1895) and E. Klebs's Die Erzahlung von Apollonius aus Tyrus (Berlin, 1899). Klebs's study in particular is exhaustive (532 pp.), and has a good discussion of the relation of Pericles to its immediate sources, though it exaggerates the importance of Twine, as against Gower, for Acts 4 and 5. Some of the contentions in the earlier parts of the book, notably the author's rejection of the usual belief in a lost Greek original, have not been generally accepted.3 To those who are interested in the continued vitality of the story may be recommended an article by 1

Shakespeare may have drawn on it as early as The

Comedy of Errors: see E. K. Chambers, William Shakespeare, i. 3ix. 2 Op. cit. i. 527. 3 See, e.g., F. Garin, Mnemosyne, n.s. XLII (1914), 198212.

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R. M. Dawkins, 'Modern Greek Oral Versions of Apollonios of Tyre'. 1 For the study of Pericles, only two versions of the story are directly relevant: that of John Gower in Book vin of the Confessio Amantis, and Laurence Twine's Patterne of Paynfuli Aduentures, registered in 1576, and surviving in an undated edition and in a reprint of 1607. The use of these two sources is discussed in notes at the head of the commentary on each scene, and here it is enough to say that the dramatist who originally planned the play clearly had both before him throughout, though he generally keeps closer to Gower, to whom he owes most of his proper names. Comparison with the sources is one of the things which make it difficult to believe that the play as we have it represents, however imperfectly, an entirely Shakespearian original. The plotter follows a complicated episodic narrative in a fashion unparalleled in Shakespeare, and makes very little attempt to adapt it to the requirements of drama, though the introduction of Gower reflects a certain sense of the difficulties involved. It might be said that it is only by means of a deliberately naive transcription that this fantastic and often irrational narrative could be put on the stage at all,* but the contrast with Shakespeare's normal methods is none the less striking.3 Not long after he had worked on Pericles, he was again to compose an episodic tragicomedy rich in folk-tale material. But his treatment of his sources in Cymbeline is very different from what we find in Pericles.* Material is brought together from a 1

Modern Language Review, XXXVII (1942), 169-84. Cf. p. xxviii below. 3 Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch made this point forcibly In Shakespeare's Workmanship (1931 ed.), pp. 198-9. 4 For the most recent treatment, see J. M. Nosworthy's Introduction to the Arden edition, 1955. 2

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variety of places, and is thoroughly rehandled. Again, in The Winter's Tale, which like Pericles has a single narrative source,1 there is also a much freer and more imaginative handling of plot-material. If it was Shakespeare who first dramatized the story, all we can say is that he used a method he never used before or after.2 B. T H E PROBLEM OF A U T H O R S H I P

The name of George Wilkins enters into the story of'Pericles in two ways: it is certain that he is the author of a novel published in 1608, The Painfull Aduentures of Pericles Prince of Tyre, which claims on its title-page to be 'The true History of the Play ofPericles, as it was lately presented by the worthy and ancient poet lohn Gozver\ to which the Argument adds that the play was acted by the King's Players; and it has been conjectured that Wilkins was himself part-author of it. It is now agreed by all that the novel is in fact, as it claims, based on a play, though with considerable supplementation from Twine's Patterne of Paynfull Aduentures. The contrary view that the novel was the source of the play, championed by H . Dugdale Sykes,3 is certainly mistaken.4 What is still the subject ofcontroversy is whether 1

Gower and Twine are close enough to each other to justify putting it this way. They are used concurrently in Pericles, but never fused into a more complex whole. % Of other works which may have influenced the play, only two are of sufficient importance to be mentioned here: Sidney's Arcadia and Plautus's Rudens. Affinities between the latter and Pericles were first noted by Malone (1821 Variorum, xxi. 197) and have recently been discussed in detail by Dr Percy Simpson, Studies in Elizabethan Drama (Oxford, 1955), pp. 17-22. Dr Simpson is inclined to credit Shakespeare with a first-hand knowledge of Plautns (p. 1). 3 Sidelights on Shakespeare (1919). 4 See K. Muir, English Studies, XXX (1949), 68.

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the novel is based on the play of which the 1609 quarto gives us a garbled version,1 or on an earlier form of it (an XJi-Pericfes); and whether, in either event, Wilkins had anything to do with the play. The simpler view, and to that extent the more attractive, is that Wilkins's connection with the subject begins and ends with his novel, and that this was based on the same version of the play as the 1609 quarto reports. I think this is probably the right view.* Wilkins does not seem to have been overburdened with modesty or conscience (witness his rifling of Twine's novel), and if he could have laid any claim to authorship of the play, it seems likely that he would have done so. Nor is there any external evidence of an TJr-Perides on the stage. Wilkins's mention of the recent production does not, indeed, preclude the existence of an earlier one, since he would naturally have linked his novel with the recent popular success. But the complete coincidence of characters' names in the play and novel favours the view that he used the play after it had passed through Shakespeare's hands. It is difficult to believe that the name 'Marina' at least, with its resemblance to 'Perdita' and 'Miranda', was not of Shakespeare's invention. Professor Muir, one of the champions of an XJr-Peric/es by Wilkins as the main dramatic source of the novel, admits this, but believes that the latter was contaminated by the final Shakespearian version.3 What are the positive grounds for the more complicated theory that the novel is based on an UrPericles, whether by Wilkins or another? Professor 1 Cf. Note on the Copy, p. 88. s So P. Edwards, Shakespeare Survey, V (1952)7 39; S. Spiker, Studies in Philology, xxx (1933), 551-70 (still the best study of the problem). 3 English Studies, xxx (1949), 75-7.

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Muir, the latest scholar to argue at length for it, takes his stand mainly on two scenes, 4. 6 and 5 . 1 . In the former, play and novel give radically different versions of Lysimachus's motives in coming to the brothel. Wilkins depicts him as being converted from his lascivious intentions, which he urges with promises and threats, by Marina's eloquence; in Pericles, he claims (somewhat abruptly and obscurely) not to have 'brought. . .a corrupted mind' (1. 108), and to have come 'with no ill intent' (1. 111). Assu ling that each version represents a different original, Professor Muir argues that 'it would have been natural for Shakespeare, working on the XJx-Peric/es, to tone down the brutality,1 so as to make Lysimachus a less intolerable husband for the pure Marina'. 3 One may doubt this, remembering that Shakespeare did not consider Angelo an 'intolerable' husband for the (admittedly less pure) Mariana.3 Professor Muir also points out a number of verse fossils in Wilkins's version, and writes, 'if Wilkins in his verse fossils were merely reproducing lines which had been accidentally omitted by the quarto, it is curious that the reporter was so much less accurate in reproducing a popular brothel scene than he was in reproducing the scene of the reunion of Pericles and Manna'. 4 Neither of these arguments seems to me to have much force. The quarto version of Lysimachus's disclaimer of 'ill intent' is dramatically inept. As Edwards notes, the 1

I.e. of his threats 'that he was the Gouernour, whose authoritie could wincke at those blemishes,.. .or his displeasure punish at his owne pleasure' (Painfull Aduentures, 2 ed. Muir, pp. 88-9). English Studies, xxx (1949), 73. 3 Cf. Edwards, Shakespeare Survey, V (1952), 44. 4 English Studies, xxx (1949), 73; in his Introduction to Painfull Aduentures, p. vii, Professor Muir expresses the view that ' the verse preserved by Wilkins is more primitive than the verse of Act 5' of the play.

INTRODUCTION

xv

bawds greet Lysimachus as an old friend, and the 'scene of dissimulation' which the quarto gives us would be 'a silly trick on Lysimachus's part, which hangs loose on the action of the play'.1 And as he goes on to point out, even if we were to accept the quarto version to this extent, we should still have to admit considerable loss in the scene: there has been nothing to justify such words as ' I did not think thou couldst have spoke so well, | Ne'er dreamed thou couldst' (11. 104-5). Yet such eloquence is what Wilkins gives us some trace of. This being so, little importance can be attached to the fact that verse in Q and verse fossils in Wilkins do not coincide. It is never safe to assume that what a reporter omits was not in the play, just because it seems to us that, if it had been there, it ought to have been reported; nor is Wilkins's version so exhaustive as to make it particularly surprising that he omitted the verse that is present in Q. As a main argument for an Ur-PmV/w as Wilkins's source, Professor Muir's seems quite inadequate. The situation in 5. 1 is similar. Here it is claimed that Shakespeare in revision removed the episode in which Pericles 'strucke' Marina 'on the face',2 so that she swooned. This blow is not an addition to the story: it is mentioned in Gower (11. 1693-4), though the face is not specified. The only difference between the two versions is one of degrees of violence. Though Q has no relevant stage-directions, 11. 1 o 1, 129 imply that he has thrust her roughly from him. In Twine, as Professor Muir points out, Apollonius is even more brutal, in that he 'stroke the maiden on the face with his foote, so that she fell to the ground, and the bloud gushed plentifully out of her cheeks' 3 The 1 2 3

Shakespeare Survey, v (1952), 43. Wilkms, Painfull Aduentures, ed. Muir, p. 105. Twine's Patterne in Shakespeare's Library, ed. W. C

Hazlitt, Part I, iv. 311. p.-2

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phrase 'struck on the face' is common to Twine and Wilkins, who is again following Twine almost literally a few lines further on. In view of this, it seems unnecessarily complicated to hold with Professor Muir that 'Wilkins, and doubtless the \Jr-Pericks, are midway between the crudity of Twine and the comparative refinement of Shakespeare.1' It is more likely that the original dramatizer (whether Shakespeare or another) followed Gower, and that Wilkins, conflating the play with Twine, introduces a little more violence, and a swoon, from the latter. Even the blow on the face may have been present in the original text of the play. At 11. 96-7 Marina says, 'But there is something glows upon my cheek, | And whispers in mine ear " G o not till he speak.'" As it stands this scarcely makes sense, and 'glows upon my cheek' may be a misplaced fragment of a reference to the blow. Nowhere else in Wilkins's novel is there anything that positively suggests as its source an XJx-Pericles rather than the play as it was when Q reported it. But this does not mean that we need go to the extreme of denying that there ever was a pre-Shakespearian version of all or part of the play. Pericles as we have it falls into two sharply contrasting parts, of which the first, Acts 1-2, shows few if any signs of Shakespeare's hand, whereas the second, Acts 3—5, certainly goes back to a Shakespearian original. It is at least a possible theory that Shakespeare took up an existing play, left the first two acts untouched or almost untouched, and completely rewrote the second half. The simplest way of disposing of any such theory would be to hold that the whole of Q is based on a Shakespearian original, and that the sharp contrast between the two parts is due entirely to the different methods and capabilities of two different reporters. In 1

English Studies, xxx (1949)? 74.

INTRODUCTION

xvii

his important article in Shakespeare Survey, v (1952), Mr Philip Edwards argues strongly for two reporters as the immediate cause of the apparent disparity, though he does not commit himself to a positive assertion of sole Shakespearian authorship of the original. He presents his arguments ably, but I do not find them convincing. It would prebably be unfair to lay too much stress on the fact that no such sharp contrast of reporting methods (as distinct from mere unevenness in quality) can be found in any other Bad Quarto, since Pericles is on any showing a play with problems of its own which may require solutions not applicable elsewhere. But it is hard to believe that any method of reporting would turn verse which originally resembled that of Acts 3-5 into what we find in Acts 1-2. Some light is thrown by Wilkins's novel on the level of the reporting. The degree of resemblance between it and Q is prima facie evidence about the reliability of the latter. It is true that where they diverge widely it would be rash to pin the blame confidently on one rather than the other, especially as Wilkins's version is so heavily conflated with Twine, but where they closely resemble each other, it is a reasonable inference that they also resemble the original. The one other possibility that has to be borne in mind here is contamination of Q by the printed text of the novel, and I argue in the Note on the Copy1 that the 'bibliographical links' that have been suggested are not strong enough to bear the weight of any such argument. Now in 2. 2 the two texts are fairly close together, and Edwards himself notes that 'in a slow-moving piece of pageantry.. .where there was time for the words spoken on the stage to be imprinted on the memory, the two versions run together almost word for word', 3 but he does not say whether he regards this wording as 1 2 Pp. 92-3 below. P. 40.

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conceivably Shakespearian. Shakespeare's authorship might be defended on the analogy of the Vision in Cymbeline, where also verse is subordinate to spectacle, but even so I find it hard to accept it. In general, Wilkins affords no positive evidence that Q is further from its original in Acts 1-2 than in Acts 3-5. It is worth noting that of the two scenes which, according to Edwards himself, are particularly mangled in Q, one (1. 2) is in the first half and the other (4. 6) in the second half of the play. Edwards, it is true, credits the reporter of Acts 1-2 with 'attempting to cobble together into a metrical pattern the imperfectly remembered verse of another writer... perhaps he wholly rewrites much, preserving only the sense of the original' ;* but one cannot avoid being suspicious when this reporter is endowed with just the qualities he would have had to have, on Edwards's theory, to account for what the Quarto offers. A further disadvantage of the hypothesis that there once existed a wholly Shakespearian Pericles is that it makes the exclusion of the play from the First Folio difficult to understand. The obvious explanation is that the play was not regarded as substantially Shakespeare's,* and it is undesirable to fall back on wholly conjectural copyright difficulties as an ad hoc solution.3 If, then, it is accepted as probable that Shakespeare 1

P. 36. See, e.g., W. W. Greg, The Editorial Problem in Shakespeare, pp. 19-21, which deals with possible parallels: Henry Fill and 1 Henry VI among the plays included in F, and The Ttvo Noble Kinsmen among those omitted. 3 J. G. McManaway, Shakespeare Survey, vi (1953), 165, suggests this as a possibility. W. W. Greg, The Shakespeare First Folio, p. 98, impressed by Edwards's arguments, is rather more favourably disposed than he was before towards the hypothesis that a good text was not available to the Folio editors. 2

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was not the sole author of the play reported in Q, further questions arise, and the claims of Wilkins must again be discussed. If, as I have argued, Wilkins's novel is dependent on the Shakespearian version of the play, and not on an TJr-Pericles, one piece of evidence for supposing him to have had a share in the play is destroyed. The use of a version other than that which was a current stage success would have been such an odd proceeding as to call for a special explanation, and Wilkins's authorship of the XJr-Pericles would have been a plausible one. But if the novel is based on the same original as Q, Wilkins has, at best, no special claim to be considered as originator or part-author of the play. There are, however, specific arguments for his hand in the play which have seemed strong to a number of scholars. They were set out at great length by Dugdale Sykes {Sidelights on Shakespeare), and are summarized by Professor Muir,1 who attaches considerable weight to them, (i) Wilkins frequently omitted the relative pronoun in the nominative case, and this is a characteristic of Pericles, Acts 1-2. (2) There are parallels between Pericles and Wilkins's acknowledged work, notably the reference to the myth that vipers devour their mother {Pericles, 1. 1. 64-5; Miseries of Enforced Marriage? pp. 522, 565); the image in Pericles 1. 2. 30—1, the tops of trees 'Which fence the roots they grow by and defend them, which resembles Miseries, p. 4 8 0 : Men must be like the branch and bark to trees, Which doth defend them from tempestuous rage: 1 English Studies, xxx (1949), 77-8. I summarize Professor Muir's summary a little more, omitting the arguments he regards as unconvincing. * In Hazlitt's Dodsley, ix.

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and the descriptions of famine in Pericles i. 4 and in The Three Miseries of Bariary, D 2T. (3) Wilkins would not have called the novel his 'infant' if the story had been lifted bodily from the play; but he might have done so if the novel was based, not on the Shakespeare Pericles, but on his own \JT-Pericfes.1 The last of these arguments I reject out of hand; I have already said why I think the novel was not based on an Vi-Pericles, and Wilkins's shameless pilfering from Twine makes it most unlikely that he would measure words carefully in making claims for himself; indeed, as I have suggested, one would have expected him to state, and even exaggerate, any claims he had to a share in the play. The other two arguments are also flimsy. For the syntactical trick noted in (1), it is enough to refer to H . D. Gray's count of fifteen instances in Acts 1-2 of Heywood's A Woman Killed with Kindness? The parallels cited under (2) are not striking either. There can have been few writers of the time who were not familiar with the mythical habits of the viper; the two tree images are quite different in their bearing; and the resemblances between the famine descriptions are of the most commonplace kind.3 The case for Wilkins, then, is by no means strong. It is further weakened by W. T . Hastings, who points to Wilkins's reliance on Twine in his novel for the framework of the story, notes that 'details of play, 1

Sykes was anticipated by Delius in this argument. PMLA, XL (1925), 529. 3 One example of what Sykes considers a parallel will suffice: 'the parents "mourning and pining up and down" a

of The Three Miseries ofBarbary are represented by "here a lord and there a lady weeping" in the play' (p. 167). Well might E. H. C. Oliphant take Sykes as an example in his article 'How Not to Play the Game of Parallels' {Journal of English and Germanic Philology, xxviir, 1929).

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dialogue and action come in fragmentary and unconsecutively', and regards it as 'inconceivable that Wilkins should have gone to the trouble of this elaborate adjustment of Twine to the play if the play had been his own composition.'1 I do not think this conclusion is inescapable. It is obviously easier to vamp up a novel from an earlier novel than from a play, and even if Wilkins had written a play on the subject he would very likely not have had a manuscript to hand. None the less, there is much to support Hastings's argument. At the beginning of Act 4, for instance, the play as we have it follows Gower in having Marina brought up from the start in the knowledge that she is only the foster-daughter of Cleon and Dionyza, whereas in Twine she is brought up as their daughter, and only learns the true facts from the dying Lychorida. Wilkins here reverts to Twine's version, and gives the death-bed scene almost verbatim from him. It is difficult to see, if he were the original author of the play, why he should at this point of the novel have shifted from Gower to Twine for a fairly important detail of the plot. He behaves much more like a man who has met the play for the first time on the stage, and is mechanically conflating what he can remember of it with the Twine novel which is open in front of him. Again, if he had ever read Gower, as the original author of Pericles certainly had, he might have been expected to refresh his memory now and then in writing the novel.2 But no link between Gower and Wilkins except through Pericles has been detected.3 Hastings is rather less 1

Shakespeare Association Bulletin, xi (1936), 72. Mr Edwards makes this point in Re'vie'w of English Studies, n.s. VI (1955), 86. 3 See note on 3.4. 7-8. Hoeniger, Arden ed. (1963) thinks 3. 2. 92 provides an example, but here too Wilkins may echo a line lost in the Quarto. [1968.] 8

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happy in his claims that Wilkins has misunderstood the text of the play in some places. Some of his examples are trivial and others quite mistaken, while in others again it is probably Q and not Wilkins that is guilty of misunderstanding. We can now, I suggest, take our leave of Wilkins, and review the conclusions so far arrived at. The play reported by Q is not of single authorship; Shakespeare's hand is present, and predominant, in Acts 3-5, but scarcely if at all detectable in Acts 1-2. How can this have happened? One theoretically possible, but most improbable, solution is Fleay's:1 that Shakespeare 'wrote the story of Marina, in the last three acts, minus the prose scenes and Gower', 2 and left the play unfinished; another hand then completed it. The Apollonius story is a unity, and, as far as plot is concerned, is treated in the same fashion throughout, with the same use of sources. The other alternative theories are revision and collaboration. I doubt whether conclusive arguments can be adduced for deciding between them. The state of the text makes revision particularly difficult to detect, and even with a good text the results of competent revision and those of collaboration are not always easy to distinguish. Acts 1-2, even if they were never of high quality, must have been a good bit more coherent in detail than they have become in Q, and may have been written in tolerably workmanlike verse and prose, by an author with whom Shakespeare would think it worth while to collaborate. But it is probably easier to think of the King's Men coming into possession of a complete play which caught Shakespeare's imagination to the extent of inducing him to rewrite the last three acts while leaving the first two 1

New Shahpere Society's Transactions, 1 (1874), 195—

209.

* Ibid. p. 197.

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more or less as they stood. The way in which Gower and Twine are conjointly used throughout favours the hypothesis that the original version which Shakespeare had before him was a complete play by a single author. This also tells against the hypothesis (improbable in itself) of a fragment completed by Shakespeare.1 There is even a little evidence to suggest that the King's Men might have been favourably disposed towards a play of this kind round about 1607. It would not be fair to dwell too strongly on the popularity in the next few years of Shakespeare's other romances and of Beaumont and Fletcher's tragicomedies,2 which may have created the taste by which they were enjoyed, but the revival, with some additions, of Mucedorus (first published in 1598) is of some significance.3 J. M. Nosworthy4 has recently called attention to this, noting that dramatic romance was a genre in which no really distinguished models were available: 'a tradition that rests on things no better than Mucedorus or Peek's Old Wives Tale scarcely merits the name of tradition'.5 In 1

See also W. T . Hastings, Shakespeare Association Bulletin, xiv (1939), 67-85, for a sensible argument in favour of Shakespeare's revision of a complete play. I am not convinced by Hastings's attempts to specify passages revised by Shakespeare in Acts 1-2. 2 There is probably no longer any need to discuss in detail A. H. Thorndike's claim, in The Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher on Shakespeare, 1901, for Philaster as Shakespeare's main stimulus in the Last Plays. See, most recently, J. M. Nosworthy's Introduction to the Arden Cymbeline, 1955, pp. xxxvii-xl, and H. S. Wilson, 'Philaster and Cymbeline', English Institute Essays 1951. 3 L. Kirschbaum, Modern Language Review, L (1955)? 5, doubts the claim on the 1610 title-page that it was played by the King's Men. 4 Op, cit. in n. 2, pp. xxv, xxx-xxxi, xxxviiL 5 Ibid. p. xxx.

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view of Mr Nosworthy's suggestion that The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune (1582 ?; published 1589), which seems to have had a slight influence on Cymbeline, may have been read by Shakespeare in order to see if it too was suitable for revival,1 one may ask whether the pre-Shakespearian form of Pericles was likewise an Elizabethan play from the early days of dramatic romance or an attempt to resuscitate the genre. On the whole, the latter seems the more likely. Even as it has come down to us, the early part of Pericles is a good way from the consummate ineptitude o£Mucedorusz or Love and Fortune. Moreover, until an earlier date can be discovered for the precise form of the saying quoted in 1. 3. 4-6, Steevens's reference to Barnabe Riche's work of 1604 seems the most probable source; and in general it is undesirable to add unnecessarily to the number of completely unrecorded pre-1600 plays. I have avoided the term XJr-Pericles in this part of the discussion, as it is convenient to confine its use to the theory of an earlier version that actually reached the stage. Apart from this, the play I conceive to have existed is of the same kind as has been attributed to Wilkins by some scholars. If Wilkins is to be rejected, the search for another name is likely to be fruitless, as the state of the text does not lend itself to stylistic arguments. The only known dramatist for whom much of a case has been made out is Thomas Heywood, whose claims were supported by H. D. Gray,3 with some plausibility. Rambling romantic narrative, closely following its sources, is characteristic of Heywood, and 1

Introduction to the Arden Cymbeline, p. xxv. Some allowance must, no doubt, be made for the deplorable transmission of this text. See L. Kirschbaum, s

Modern Language Review, L (1955)? 1-5. 3 PMLA, XL (1925), 507-29; an earlier supporter of this view was D. L. Thomas, Englische Studien, xxxix (1908).

INTRODUCTION

xxv

the use of Gower as presenter recalls that of Homer in the Golden, Silver and Brazen Ages. The case for Heywood is summarily dismissed by the leading authority on that author, Dr A. Melville Clark.1 Even his unargued verdict carries considerable weight, but I am not sure that he has made sufficient allowance for the fact that Q must in any case represent the author's work very imperfectly. Another eminent scholar, Professor T . M. Parrott, is favourably disposed.towards the hypothesis of Heywood's authorship.3 There can be no doubt that Heywood was familiar with Pericles, which he imitates several times in The Captives (1624), but the most striking echo is of a passage which is likely to be entirely Shakespeare's.3 As Heywood was at the time regularly writing for the Queen's Men, with whom he was a sharer, it is not easy to imagine why he should have submitted a play to the King's Men, and then acquiesced in its rewriting by Shakespeare. It seems best to leave the non-Shakespearian hand anonymous. Possibly it is the same that was responsible for the additions to Mucedorus which first appeared in the 161 o Quarto. Act 4, Sc. i is in a style not unlike that of Pericles, Acts 1-2, and 1. 24, 'But care of him, and pittie of your age', recalls Pericles 1. 2. 29, though of course such an echo is no good evidence of common authorship. C.

W H A T SHAKESPEARE M A D E OF I T

If we are to suppose that Shakespeare saw potentialities in a rather crude dramatization of a popular story, 1

Thomas Hejnvood (1931), p. 333.

* Shakespeare Association Bulletin, XXIII (1948), 105-13. Professor Muir, Introduction to Painfull Aduentures, p. xi, suggests that Wilkins and Heywood may have collaborated. 3 4. 6. 121-25 cf. Captives (Malone Society Reprint),

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its influence on the work of his last years as a dramatist becomes singularly interesting. For it is remarkable how many of the themes which are commonly said to link the 'Romances' are present, not only in Pericles as we have it, but in the story on which it is based. Thus we have the literal resurrection of Thaisa, taken up again in the contrived coming to life of Hermione (Shakespeare's addition to his source), and in Imogen's supposed death; the daughter lost and exposed to danger, found again, and instrumental in reuniting her parents and restoring them to happiness; the storm as source of immediate woe and ultimate blessing, as in The Tempest? the wicked foster-mother, corresponding to the wicked step-mother in Cymbeline; the fairy-tale nature of the royal personages in whom the plays centre.* And over and above all this there is a quality about these plays which tempts critics to use the dangerous word 'symbolic'. The literal story is felt to stand for something 'behind' it more than in other plays. Pericles itself stops short of the full development of some of those themes: there is, for instance, reunion, but not expiation or forgiveness. In some ways, the fact that Pericles has no very sharply defined character fits him for being the central figure of a play in which very general aspects of human life are obliquely presented through a fantastic narrative. Pericles' journeyings, more extensive than those of any other Shakespearian hero, can evoke the sense of 1

See G. Wilson Knight's valuable study, The Shake-

spearian Tempest. 1 When Shakespeare brings one of these kings into contact with real historical events in Cymbeline, the result is not too happy, as Lytton Strachey half a century ago eloquently argued in 'Shakespeare's Final Period' (reprinted in Literary Essays, 1948, p. 10), and as J. M. Nosworthy also recognizes (Introduction to Arden ed., p . 1).

INTRODUCTION

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life as a journey, and there is a certain coherence of feeling in his attitude towards it. Three recent critics, D. A. Stauffer,1 J. M. S. Tompkins* and J. F. DanbyS have noted the emphasis on the theme of patience in adversity, and the last has well described how in the certainly Shakespearian portion of the play what has been mere moral precept, 'the cliche of resignation' (p. 92), becomes response to 'a completely given moral occasion' (p. 97). The use of Gower as Chorus, whether it was (as seems more likely) in the original play or was Shakespeare's invention, colours the whole action. Here too we see something on which Shakespeare was to play more subtle variations in subsequent plays. In The Winter's Tale, Time not only appears once as Chorus, but is felt as a presence and a power throughout the culminating scenes. He has, as it were, collaborated with Julio Romano in the supposed statue (5.3. 30-2). In The Tempest, the role of presenter is fused in that of protagonist. But already in the denouement of Pericles the measured ceremonial revelation is a beautiful example of the way in which narrative can be translated into drama, while leaving us still with a sense of the organizing power of the narrator behind what we see on the stage. There is a similar double vision in The Winter's Tale, when we have drama retold in narrative, with explicit comment on its fairy-tale quality—'so like an old tale that the verity of it is in strong suspicion.... Like an old tale still' (5. 2. 28-9, 59). If Pericles is in some ways more Everyman than are any of the other characters in the Last Plays, his kingly character is also more stressed than that of Leontes or Prospero in the more complex fabric of The Winter's 1

Shakespeare's World of Images (1949), p. 271. Review of English Studies-, n.s. in (1952), 322-4. 3 Poets on Fortune's Hill (1952), pp. 85-103. a

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Tale and The Tempest, and it is in keeping with this that the full fairy-tale associations of the word 'queen' should also be exploited through evocative repetition, as Mark Van Doren has pointed out.1 D. G. James has noted the 'recovery of a lost royalty' as one of the recurrent 'myths' of the Last Plays, and he adds that 'it is in Pericles that we have the most perfect representation of the myth of lost and recovered royalty; in none of the three later plays is it set out with the same simplicity and single-mindedness' ? This single-mindedness largely comes from letting the story speak for itself. Having taken over the Apollonius story, and probably the device of its presentation by Gower, Shakespeare has had the tact to realize that the deeper effects that can be achieved through it must of necessity be of a broad and simple kind.3 As a result, there are certain moods in which the finest scenes of Pericles may appeal to us more than anything else in the Last Plays. The Winter's Tale and The Tempest are greatly superior to it as works of art, and at least as far as virtuosity is concerned Cymbeline leaves it far behind. But Pericles is freer than any of them from certain types of tortuousness and over-elaboration that occasionally interfere with our enjoyment of them. The absence of detailed characterization, too, is by no means an unmixed disadvantage in a play of this kind.4 On the side of low comedy, the brothel scenes have qualities that have not always been recognized. It is 1

Shakespeare (1939), pp. 298-9. He draws attention

especially to 3. 1. 7, 18, 20, 47; 3. 2. 98. 2 Scepticism and Poetry (1937), pp. 215, 219. 3 Some minor subtleties have, no doubt, been destroyed by the reporter. 4 Mr J. M. Nosworthy has recently criticized Shakespeare for attempting too much characterization in Cymbeline (Arden ed., 1955, pp. li ff.).

INTRODUCTION

xxix

true, as critics, not without a touch of sentimentality, point out, that their special contribution to the play consists in showing Marina moving unsullied through the lowest depths. But it is also true that the best parts of them are genuinely funny in an unforced way that does not always come easy to Shakespeare at the end of his career. In The Winter's Tale and The Tempest, the comedy sometimes has the air of a deliberately detached inset. It is arguable that what we have in Pericles is not the right sort of comedy for such a play. So Professor Danby, quoting 4. 6. 171-4, suggests that here Boult 'asks an awkward question that cannot be answered out of the Arcadian book and for the moment it seems as if Shakespeare has broken his own wicket. Boult's question is out of place in the plays of the Last Period as it would not be earlier.'1 But the very defects of the play, the willingness to take as it comes what the story (and probably an earlier play) offers, without a consistent attempt to restate everything in the light of a personal vision, leave a place for Boult and his employers. If the view taken here of its genesis is correct, there is much in Pericles that shows us Shakespeare as the shrewd man of the theatre seeing the possibilities of theatrical success in crude material. But his own contribution, even in the imperfect form in which it has come down to us, is of the greatest interest as a turningpoint in his career, and, at its best, irreplaceable for its intrinsic qualities. June 1955 ]. C. M. In revising and correcting, I have profited by F. D. Hoeniger's Arden edition (1963) and E. Schanzer's Signet edition (1965). I take 'Theobald MS.', i.e. unpublished marginalia by Theobald, from Hoeniger; see his p. xii. [1968.] 1 Op. cit. p. 101.

XXX

THE STAGE-HISTORY OF PERICLES Infrequently staged since the Restoration till quite recent times, the play is shown to have been very popular at the outset by the appearance of six Quartos between 1609 and 1635, and much other evidence. On their title-pages the first three Quartos declare it to have 'been diuers and sundry times acted by his Maiesties Seruants, at the Globe on the Banck-side'. Moreover, of a new play we read in Pimlyco or Runne Red-cap, 1609: Amazde I stood, to see a Crowd Of Ciuill Throats stretchd out so lowd;... So that I truly thought all These Came to see Shore or Pericles;

and Ben Jonson's chagrined allusion in his Ode to Himseife, 1629, after the failure of his play, The New Inn— No doubt some mouldy tale Like

Pericles...

May keepe vp the Play-club— also witnesses to the success of the play.1 Of actual performances of a Pericles we have four notices before 1642. The first is of one prior to Q 1. At a trial in Venice of a Venetian ambassador mention was made by one witness of 'a play called Pericles'1 seen by Giorgio Giustinian, the ambassador to England from 5 January 1606 to 23 November 1608, and other 1

See for these poems, Chambers, Wm. Sh. ii. 217, 210; Jonson's was appended to The Neva Inn (1631). 'Shore' = Thomas Heywood's Edward IV (S.R. 1599).

STAGE-HISTORY

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foreign representatives.1 Secondly we learn that a group of country actors, fifteen in number, performed 'Perocles, prince of Tire' and 'Kinge Lere' at Candlemas (2 February), 1610 at Sir John York's mansion, Gowthwaite Hall in Nidderdale. These men, originally collected by a shoemaker of Egton, Christopher Simpson and his brothers, were in 1611 organized as a professional company of travelling players by Sir Richard Cholmeley of Whitby and Roxby. From the evidence of three of them at their subsequent trial before the Star Chamber for sedition in connection with the performance at Christmas 1609 of a play called Saint Christopher, it appears that they used 'printed bookes' for their plays. For Pericles this must have been Q 1 or Q 2 of 1609.3 Next, a letter from Sir Gerrard Herbert to Sir Dudley Carleton, English ambassador at the Hague, tells of a farewell party given at Whitehall to 'Marquise TrenelF [de la Tremoile] on 20 May 1619. After a great banquet and music 'in the Queenes greate chamber' the company went to 'the kinges greate Chamber' to see 'the piay of Pirrocles, Prince of Tyre, which lasted till 2 aclocke'.3 Finally, Sir Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels, notes in his Office book on 10 June 1631 the receipt from ' M r . Benfielde' of £3. 10s., 'taken upon Pericles at the Globe', 'for a gratuity for ther liberty gaind unto them of playinge, upon the cessation of the plague'. Robert Benfield 1

From the Calendar of State Papers relating to Venice, etc., XIV. 600: Chambers, op. cit. ii. 335. 2 See the whole story of the troupe and the trial (Star Chamber Records, 8.19/10) told by C. J. Sisson, in Review of English Studies, xvm, 1942, 135-40. 3 See Gordon Crosse, Notes and ^tieries, 12th Series, Viir. 361 (7 May 1921), and Chambers, op. cit. ii. 346. The letter is in the Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, vol. cix (1619-23), no. 46. p

-3

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PERICLES

joined the King's company between 1615 and 1619; butas there was no serious plague after 1609 until 1625, this Globe production must have been early in Charles I's reign.1 Pericles was the first Shakespearian play presented after 1642. On the eve of the Restoration, John Rhodes, a bookseller and the former wardrobe-keeper at Blackfriars Theatre, got together a group of men, Betterton, then aged about 25, being one, to act plays in the old Cockpit theatre. According to Downes, they proceeded to stage thirteen plays there, Pericles the only Shakespearian one. Betterton was 'highly applauded', for his part in this 'especially'.* In November 1660, Betterton and most of Rhodes's men joined D'Avenant to form the Duke's Company; and to this a royal warrant of 12 December assigned the exclusive acting rights for two months only in 'Persiles prince of Tyre'. 3 No record of an actual performanceby D'Avenant's men is known, but the procuring of this licence almost guarantees one; if so, this must have 1

For the dating of Robert Benfield, see T. W. Baldwin,

The Organization and Personnel of the Shakespearean Company (1927), p. 51, n. 3 c, and G. E. Bentley, The Jacobean and Caroline Stage (1941), p. 375; for the outbreaks of plague, Chambers, op. cit. i. 78. * John Downes, Roscius Anglicanus (1708), Montague Summers' ed. pp. 17-18. Downes, who was prompter and book-keeper of the Duke's company, implies that all this took place soon after General Monk marched into London from Scotland, i.e. March 1660. The performance therefore must have been just before or soon after the landing of Charles II in May. Downes gives Betterton's age as 22; but he was probably born in 1635. 3 The document, from the Lord Chamberlain's Department at the Public Record Office, is printed in Allardyce Nicoll, A History of English Drama, 1660-1900, vol. I (4th ed. 1952), pp. 352-3.

STAGE-HISTORY

xxxiii

been in January or February, 1661, and in Salisbury Court Theatre, Whitefriars, where they performed till they opened the new theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in June. Nearly eighty years passed before the stage used the play again. Then on 1, 4 and 8 August 1738 Covent Garden presented a version of its last two acts in a threeact drama, by George Lillo, once famous for his popular melodrama, George Barnwell, 1731. His Marina resembles a patchwork quilt, portions of Shakespeare, large and small, being tacked together with Lillo's incongruous fustian to form a new pattern. In a Prologue he defended his refurbishing. 'We dare not charge the whole unequal play', he wrote, on Shakespeare; but To glean and clear from chaff his least remains Is just to him and richly worth our pains. Therefore, With humour mix'd in your fore-fathers way We've to a single tale reduc'd our play. The tale begins after Cleon and Dionyza are dead. Philoten, now queen of Tharsus, in place of her mother incites Leonine, here a Lord of Tharsus, to murder Marina, and he consents in order, as an 'Aside' tells us, to gain the throne. Marina is taken by the pirates to a brothel in Ephesus, not Mitylene, and to it Lysimachus, Governor of Ephesus, comes, 'bent to detect and punish'. Tempted at first by her beauty, but overcome by her purity, he rescues her from Boult after closing the brothel and ejecting the Bawd (' Mother Coupler'), and takes her to Diana's temple in Ephesus. In the brothel scenes, though the Pandar's part is divided among the other two managers, little of Shakespeare's seventeenth-century realism is omitted and some new eighteenth-century bawdy is introduced, but the

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additions rather obscure than increase the mingled horror and beauty of Marina in this den of foulness. Meanwhile 'poetic justice' has been dealt out to the would-be murderers after Pericles has come to Tharsus to claim Marina and has departed disconsolate when told she is dead. The queen has poisoned Leonine (when and how is not made clear), but is stabbed by him as he is dying, and the melodramatic scene closes with her moralizing couplet, out of character: The gods are just and strong; And none who scorn their laws e'er prosper long. The denouement has to be protracted to include narration of events omitted from the original Act 3, sc. 1. Thaisa, though she has just seen Pericles restored to her in a dream, dismisses as 'my wild, ungovern'd fancy' his resemblance to her husband when he comes, and is merely puzzled by Marina's 'perfect likeness' to herself; she remains bewildered throughout Marina's narrative to her father. It is difficult to agree with Genest that Lillo's alteration is on the whole a good one; or that its 'great fault' was his omission of Act 4, sc. 3, necessarily precluded by Dionyza's and Cleon's deaths. The play was acted three times, with Stephens playing Pericles, Pinkethman Boult, Adam Hallam Lysimachus, and Stevens Leonine. Mrs Vincent took Marina, Mrs Hamilton Philoten, and Mrs Marshall Thaisa; while the Bawd was assigned to William Hallam.1 Another interval of more than a century preceded the first post-Restoration staging of the original play. 1

The cast is in John Genest, Some Account of the English Stage, 1660-1830 (1832), iii. 561-2; and C. B. Hogan, Shakespeare in the Theatre, iyoi-1800: London, lJOl-50 (1952), p. 375; for comments see Genest, iii. 566-7; cf. also G. C. D. Odell, Shakespeare from Betterton to Irving (1921), i. 257-9, and Hogan, p. 374.

STAGE-HISTORY

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This was Samuel Phelps's production at Sadler's Wells on 14 October 1854, when he played Pericles to Miss Heraud's Marina and Miss Cooper's Thaisa. He spared no cost to make it a magnificent spectacle suitable to the oriental setting of the events. It was a piece of brilliant pageantry with several realistic scenic effects. In Act 3, sc. 1 'the ship tossed vigorously' in the storm; and later Pericles was shown sailing along the coast to the temple in Ephesus by means of a sliding 'painted panorama', while in the sky 'an admirably equipped Diana, with her car in the clouds', directed his course. 'A play more to be seen than heard', said Douglas Jerrold, and Henry Morley in his laudatory review admitted that perhaps it succeeded more as a fine spectacle than 'as a mere acting drama'. Phelps, however, according to Coleman, claimed it as 'his crowning triumph'. John Oxenham and Morley agree that on the side of pure acting he scored his greatest success in the recognition scene, where, Morley adds, he was finely aided by the renderings of his Marina and Thaisa. In his version he omitted Gower, supplying the missing links by allusions in the scenes retained. He ran together to make single scenes Act 1, sec. 2 and 3, Act 2, sec. 3 and 5 and Act 4, sec. 2 and 6. The last of these he rigorously purged of the coarsest touches, leaving, without 'false delicacy', in Morley's words, 'not a syllable at which true delicacy could have conceived offence'.1 1

See Henry Morley, Journal of a London Playgoer (1866), pp. 92-9; W. May Phelps and John ForbesRobertson, Life of Samuel Phelps (1886), pp. 139-47 (where the reviews by Jerrold, Morley and Oxenham are reprinted from the Weekly Daily News, the Examiner and The Times); John Coleman, Memoirs of Phelps (1886), p. 216 and his Players and Playwrights (1888), i. 95, 179; G. C. D . Odell, oj>. cit. ii. 282-5.

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The next Pericles was performed at Stratford on 24, 25 and 28 April 1900 1 by a company sent down from London by Benson, away for the season at the Lyceum. The play was again an adaptation, less radical than Lillo's, written by Phelps's admirer, John Coleman. Omitting all of Gower and most of Act 1 he opened the play with the coming of Pericles to Nineveh (Shakespeare's Tharsus), with food for the starving city. He then mainly followed the original events to the end of Act 3, though 'eradicating the banality' of Act 2, so his programme note claimed. Act 4 he remodelled 'to eliminate the obscenity' of the brothel scenes. The pirates sell Marina as a slave to Lysimachus; she escapes his drunken embraces and thereafter converts him. At the end of the act a funeral pyre is lighted just as Pericles comes to Nineveh to claim Marina, and is told the body is hers. For Act 5, Coleman fell back on Shakespeare. This concoction pleased few, though Clement Scott defended it in the Daily Chronicle of 2 May and Marie Corelli admired it. S. R. Littlewood, in the Morning Leader of 26 April, found Marina's fortunes in Act 4 an exact replica of Mercia's in The Sign of the Cross. The Pericles of the author-producer, too old and ungainly for the part, made the first-night performance a terrible fiasco in the memory thirty years later of Oscar Asche, the Cleon. Harcourt Williams played Helicanus and Matheson Lang Cerimon. Lily Brayton was Thaisa, Frances Wetherall Dionyza, and Nancy Price Diana; while for Marina Lilian Braithwaite, new to the English stage, and some two years the Thaisa's senior, was brought down from 1

Ruth Ellis, The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (1948),

pp. 136-7, lists it as the 1900 Birthday Play; but As You Like It was shown on 23 April; see M. C. Day and J. C. Trewin, The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre ( ) p. 85.

STAGE-HISTORY

xxxvii

London at a few hours' notice, and gave a rendering which foreshadowed future triumphs.1 In the present century several revivals of the genuine Pericles have made up for previous neglect. The first was in 1921, when from 9 to 23 May, on five nights and two afternoons, Robert Atkins produced it at the Old Vic, with Rupert Harvey and Mary Sumner as hero and heroine, he himself speaking for 'ancient Gower' as Chorus. Wilfrid Walter doubled Antiochus and Cerimon; Ernest Meads, Ernest Milton and Francis Langley played Helicanus, Cleon and Lysimachus, Maxwell Wray Leonine, and Andrew Leigh Boult; while Jane Bacon was Thaisa and Florence Saunders made a very convincing villainess of Dionyza. The producer dispensed with the expurgations in the brothel scenes to which Victorian squeamishness had constrained Phelps, but the lustre of Mary Sumner's Marina remained undimmed by the vileness, vindicating at once Shakespeare's art and her own. Rupert Harvey was an admirable Pericles.2 On 14 March 1926, the Fellowship of Players presented the play at the New Scala, with Philip Desborough and Nancy Harker in the leading parts; Terence O'Brien produced it. Tristan Rawson took Helicanus and D. A. Clarke-Smith Cleon; Laura Smithson was the Bawd. Frederick Harker played Cerimon, Hubert Langley doubled Escanes and Lysimachus, and Abraham Sofaer the servants, Philemon and Leonine; while Donald Wolfit had the minor part of the Marshal. In 1929 Nugent Monck produced 1

See for this production M. C: Day and J. C. Trewin,

op. cit. pp. 85-8; Oscar Asche, Oscar Asche: his Life, n.d. [1929], pp._ 88-9. * On this production cf. Archibald Haddon, Green Room Gossip (1922), pp. 60-1, and Gordon Crosse, Fifty Tears of Shakespearean Playgoing (1940), pp. 68-9, 77.

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the play with the 'Norwich Players' in his famous Maddermarket Theatre, the twentieth of the series of Shakespeare plays they had shown there since, in 1921, he converted a derelict building into a theatre of the Elizabethan type, apron stage and all, for their use.1 In February, 1933, the Festival Theatre in Cambridge staged Pericles with Godfrey Ren ton and Vivienne Bennett in the principal parts; Noel Iliff was producer while also doubling Helicanus and Cerimon. Then, as war-clouds darkened the summer of 1939, Robert Atkins again produced the play, in the open air in Regent's Park from 20 June onwards, Robert Eddison impersonating the Prince of Tyre to Margaret Vines's Marina, Sylvia Coleridge's Thaisa, and Cathleen Nesbitt's Dionyza. Wilfrid Walter reappeared as Antiochus, but handed over to Earle Gray his 1921 part as Cerimon; Tristan Rawson, W. E. Hollo way and C. B. Ramage took Simonides, Helicanus and Cleon, Peter Bennett and Harold Scott the Pandar and Boult. Pollie Emery was the Bawd. Ballets directed by Wendy Toye diversified the action with dances of folk in hungry Tharsus, knights at Pentapolis, and even of the stormy waves in Act 3, sc. 1; yet another opened the play to represent the worship of Diana.8 In 1947 Stratford atoned for its sad lapse in 1900 by a revival of the true play produced by Nugent Monck. He wholly omitted Act 1 and a good many lines in the Gower portions, but cut almost nothing else; and the action moved swiftly to a splendid cjimax in the recognition scene, all within 100 minutes. Paul Scofield and 1

In 1933 they completed, with the Henry VI trilogy, their acting of all the thirty-seven plays. 2 Ivor Brown wrote a favourable notice in the Observer; but disparagement of the play itself dominated the chilly notice in The Times of 21 June. See also Gordon Crosse, oj>. cit. p p . 142-40

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Daphne Slater as the principals received deserved praise from the critics. The 'Special Correspondent' of The Times on 18 August specially commended the way the former seemed to 'alter and mature' with the passing of the years, and Marina's 'freshness and pathos' which 'solved half her problems in the brothel scenes', while J. C. Trewin in the Observer of 17 August hailed Daphne Slater's rendering as 'her best Stratford performance'. Myles Eason played Lysimachus and John Blatchley Boult; the Thaisa and Dionyza were Irene Sutcliffe and Muriel 'Davidson. The play ran from 15 August to 23 September (ten performances). On 2 July 1950, John Harrison produced a Pericles acted by the 'Under Thirty Group' in the Rudolph Steiner Hall, with no significant cuts and without an interval. Paul Scofield and Daphne Slater resumed their Stratford roles, the latter also playing Thaisa till the final act; Beatrix Lehmann was the Bawd. This production 'showed so much creative imagination' that it gave J. C. Trewin his 'most exciting Sunday night'. 1 On 11 March 1952 Robert Atkins produced Act 5 for the students of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the Globe theatre, when it formed part of their annual display. Finally the Birmingham Repertory Theatre staged the whole play, with only minor cuts, for four weeks from 29 June 1954. Douglas Seale directed the production, and occasionally drew on Wilkins's novel, especially in 4. 6, where Lysimachus's admission that he had come to the brothel 'with ill intent' (1. 111) greatly increased the coherence of the scene. Swiftly played before a permanent set, the production well conveyed the fairy-tale nature of the story, and the recognition scene, with Richard Pasco as Pericles and Doreen Aris as Marina, was felt to be extremely moving. 1

J. C. Trewin, The Theatre since 1900 (1951), p. 305.

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In America Mr Gilmor Brown's company (which has now staged all the plays in the canon) presented a Pericles from 29 June to 4 July 1936 at the Pasadena Playhouse, Pasadena, California, as the third of their series of 'Greco-Roman' Shakespeare plays at their midsummer Festival. But an earlier, perhaps the first, staging in U.S.A. was an amateur production on 22 and 23 April 1920, at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, by the women students in a shortened adaptation by Mr S. A. Eliot/ c. B. YOUKG

July 1954 1

Published in Little Theatre Classics, Vol. Ill, ed. S. A. Eliot, Boston, 1922. I owe my knowledge of this production to Mr C. B. Hogan. As F. D. Hoeniger has pointed out in his Arden edition (1963), p. lxiv, n. 3, Chambers in citing the passage about the performance witnessed by the Venetian ambassador mentioned that the wife of the French ambassador, who was also present, is not known to have been in England before April 1607.

xli

TO THE READER The following is a brief description of the punctuation and other typographical devices employed in the text, which have been more fully explained in the Note on Punctuation and the Textual Introduction to be found in the Tempest volume: An obelisk (f) implies corruption or emendation, and suggests a reference to the Notes. A single bracket at the beginning of a speech signifies an 'aside'. Four dots represent & full stop in the original, except when it occurs at the end of a speech, and they mark a long pause. Original colons or semicolons, which denote a somewhat shorter pause, are retained, or represented as three dots when they appear to possess special dramatic significance. Similarly, significant commas have been given as dashes. Round brackets are taken from the original, and mark a significant change of voice; when the original brackets seem to imply little more than the drop in tone accompanying parenthesis, they are conveyed by commas or dashes. Single inverted commas ('') are editorial; double ones (" ") derive from the original, where they are used to draw attention to maxims, quotations, etc. The reference number for the first line is given at the head of each page. Numerals in square brackets are placed at the beginning of the traditional acts and scenes.

PERICLES

The scene: dispersedly in various countries CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY ANTIOCHUS, King of Antioch PERICLES, Prince of Tyre HELICANUS) , , rrrr ESCANES )t™ lords of Tyre SIMONIDES, King of Pentapolis CLEON, Governor of Tharsus LYSIMACHUS, Governor of Myti/ene CERIMON, a lord of Ephesus THALIARD, a lord of Antioch PHILEMON, servant to Cerimon LEONINE, servant to Dionyza

Marshal A Pandar BOULT, his servant The daughter of Antiochus DIONYZA, wife to Cleon THAISA, daughter to Simonides MARINA, daughter to Pericles and LYCHORIDA, nurse to Marina

Thaisa

A Bawd Lords, Knights, Gentlemen, Sailors, Pirates, Fishermen, and Messengers DIANA GOWER,

as Chorus

PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE [i Prologue] Before the palace of Antioch, with heads displayed above the entrance Enter GOWER, as Chorus Gower. To sing a song that old was sung, From ashes ancient Gower is come, Assuming man's infirmities, To glad your ear and please your eyes. It hath been sung at festivals, On ember-eves and holy ales; And lords and ladies in their lives Have read it for restoratives; The purchase is to make men glorious; Et bonum quo antiquius, eo melius. If you, born in these latter times When wit's more ripe, accept my rhymes, And that to hear an old man sing May to your wishes pleasure bring, I life would wish, and that I might Waste it for you like taper-light. This Antioch, then; Antiochus the great Built up this city for his chiefest seat, The fairest in all Syria: I tell you what mine authors say: This king unto him took a fere, Who died and left a female heir, So buxom, blithe and full of face As heaven had lent her all his grace;

10

20

4

PERICLES

i.Prol.25

With whom the father liking took, And her to incest did provoke. Bad child, worse father, to entice his own T o evil should be done by none. But custom what they did begin 30 Made with long use account no sin. The beauty of this sinful dame Made many princes thither frame, T o seek her as a bed-fellow, In marriage-pleasures play-fellow; Which to prevent he made a law, T o keep her still and men in awe, That whoso asked her for his wife, His riddle told not, lost his life. So for her many a wight did die, 40 As yon grim looks do testify. [pointing to the heads What now ensues, to the judgement of your eye I give my cause, who best can justify. [he goes

[1.1.] 'Enter JNTIOCHVS, PRINCE PERICLES and followers'' Antiochus. Young Prince of Tyre, you have at large received The danger of the task you undertake. Pericles. I have, Antiochus, and, with a soul Embold'ned with the glory of her praise, Think death no hazard in this enterprise. Antiochus. Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride, For the embracements even of Jove himself; At whose conception, till Lucina reigned, Nature this dowry gave: to glad her presence,

I.I.IO

PERICLES

The senate-house of planets all did sit, To knit in her their best perfections.

5 10

Music. ''Enter Antiochus' Daughter* Pericles. See where she comes, apparelled like the spring, Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king Of every virtue gives renown to men! Her face the book of praises, where is read Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence Sorrow were ever razed, and testy wrath Could never be her mild companion. You gods that made me man and sway in love, That have inflamed desire in my breast 20 T o taste the fruit of yon celestial tree Or die in the adventure, be my helps, As I am son and servant to your will, To compass such a boundless happiness! Antiochus. Prince Pericles— Pericles. That would be son to great Antiochus. Antiochus. Before thee stands this fair Hesperides, With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touched 5 For death-like dragons here affright thee hard. Her face, like heaven, enticeth thee to view 30 Her countless glory, which desert must gain; And which without desert because thine eye Presumes to reach, all the whole heap must dieo Yon sometimes famous princes, like thyself, Drawn by report, advent'rous by desire, Tell thee, with speechless tongues and semblance pale, That without covering save yon field of stars, Here they stand martyrs, slain in Cupid's wars 5 And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist For going on death's net, whom none resist. 40 p.-4

6

PERICLES

I.I.41

Pericles. Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath taught My frail mortality to know itself, And by those fearful objects to prepare This body, like to them, to what I must; For death remembered should be like a mirror, Who tells us life's but breath, to trust it error. I'll make my will then, and, as sick men do, Who know the world, see heaven, but feeling woe Gripe not at earthly joys as erst they did, 50 So I bequeath a happy peace to you And all good men, as every prince should do; My riches to the earth from whence they came; But my unspotted fire of love to you. [to the princess Thus ready for the way of life or death, I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus. Antiochus. Scorning advice, read the conclusion then: Which read and not expounded, 'tis decreed, As these before thee thou thyself shalt bleed. Daughter. Of all 'sayed yet, mayst thou prove prosperous! 60 Of all 'sayed yet, I wish thee happiness! Pericles. Like a bold champion I assume the lists, Nor ask advice of any other thought But faithfulness and courage. He reads 'the riddle' ' I am no viper, yet I feed On mother's flesh that did me breed. I sought a husband, in which labour I found that kindness from a father. He's father, son, and husband mild; I mother, wife, and yet his child. 70 How this may be, and yet in two, As you will live, resolve it you.' [aside] Sharp physic is the last: but, O you powers

I.I.73

PERICLES

7

That gives heaven countless eyes to view men's acts, Why cloud they not their sights perpetually, If this be true, which makes me pale to read it? Fair glass of light, I loved you, and could still, Were not this glorious casket stored with ill. But I must tell you, now my thoughts revolt; For he's no man on whom perfections wait That, knowing sin within, will touch the gate. 80 You are a fair viol and your sense the strings, Who, fingered to make man his lawful music, Would draw heaven down and all the gods to hearken, But being played upon before your time, Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime. Good sooth, I care not for you. Antiochus. Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life, For that's an article within our law, As dangerous as the rest. Your time's expired: Either expound now or receive your sentence,, 90 Pericles. Great king, Few love to hear the sins they love to act; 'Twould braid yourself too near for me to tell it. Who has a book of all that monarchs do, He's more secure to keep it shut than shown; For vice repeated is like the wand'ring wind, Blows dust in others' eyes, to spread itself; And yet the end of all is bought thus dear, The breath is gone, and the sore eyes see clear To stop the air would hurt them. The blind mole casts 100 Copped hills towards heaven, to tell the earth is thronged By man's oppression; and the poor worm doth die for't. Kings are earth's gods; in vice their law's their will; And if Jove stray, who dares say Jove doth ill? It is enough you know; and it is fit,

8

PERICLES

1.1.106

What being more known grows worse, to smother it. All love the womb that their first being bred, Then give my tongue like leave to love my head. (Antiochus. Heaven, that I had thy head! He has found the meaning' n o Butlwillglozewithhim. [aloud] Young prince of Tyre, Though by the tenour of our strict edict, Your exposition misinterpreting, We might proceed to cancel of your days; Yet hope, succeeding from so fair a tree As your fair self, doth tune us otherwise. Forty days longer we do respite you; If by which time our secret be undone, This mercy shows we'll joy in such a son; And until then your entertain shall be 120 As doth befit our honour and your worth. [all but Pericles go

Pericles. How courtesy would seem to cover sin, When what is done is like an hypocrite, The which is good in nothing but in sight! If it be true that I interpret false, Then were it certain you were not so bad As with foul incest to abuse your soul; Where now you're both a father and a son, By your uncomely claspings with your child, Which pleasures fits a husband, not a father; 130 And she an eater of her mother's flesh, By the defiling of her parents' bed; And both like serpents are, who though they feed On sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed. Antioch, farewell! for wisdom sees, those men Blush not in actions blacker than the night, Will shun no course to keep them from the light. One sin, I know, another doth provoke;

1.1.138

PERICLES

9

Murder's as near to lust as flame to smoke. Poison and treason are the hands of sin, Ay, and the targets, to put. off the shame. 140 Then, lest my life be cropped to keep you clear, By flight I'll shun the danger which I fear. [he goes Re-enter JNTIOCHUS Antiochus. He hath found the meaning, For which we mean to have his head. He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy, Nor tell the world Antiochus doth sin In such a loathed manner; And therefore instantly this prince must die; For by his fall my honour must keep high. Who attends us there? l

£nter

150

THALIARD*

Thaliard. Doth your highness call? Antiochus. Thaliard, you are ofour chamber, Thaliard, And our mind partakes her private actions T o your secrecy; and for your faithfulness We will advance you, Thaliard. Behold, here's poison, and here's gold; We hate the prince of Tyre, and thou must kill him: It fits thee not to ask the reason why; Because we bid it. Say, is it done? Thaliard. My lord, 'tis done. Antiochus. Enough. 160 t

Enter a Messenger*

Let your breath cool yourself, telling your haste. Messenger. My lord, prince Pericles is fled. [he goes Antiochus. As thou wilt live, fly after; and like an arrow shot from a well experienced archer hits the

io

PERICLES

1.1.165

mark his eye doth level at, so thou never return unless thou say 'Prince Pericles is dead.' Thaliard. My lord, if I can get him within my pistol's length, I'll make him sure enough: so, farewell to your highness. 170 Antiochus. Thaliard, adieu! [Thaliard goes] Till Pericles be dead, My heart can lend no succour to my head. [he goes

[ i . 2.]

Tyre. A room in the palace Enter PERICLES

Pericles, [to lords without] Let none disturb us. Why should this change of thoughts, The sad companion, dull-eyed melancholy, Be my so used a guest as not an hour In the day's glorious walk, or peaceful night, The tomb where grief should sleep, can breed me quiet? Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes shun them, And danger, which I feared, is at Antioch, Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here; Yet neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits, 10 Nor yet the other's distance comfort me. Then it is thus: the passions of the mind, That have their first conception by misdread, Have after-nourishment and life by care; And what was first but fear what might be done, Grows elder now and cares it be not done. And so with me: the great Antiochus, 'Gainst whom I am too little to contend,

I.2.I8

PERICLES

ir

Since he's so great can make his will his act, Will think me speaking, though I swear to silence; Nor boots it me to say I honour him, 20 If he suspect I may dishonour him. And what may make him blush in being known, He'll stop the course by which it might be known; With hostile forces he'll o'erspread the land, And with th'ostent of war will look so huge, Amazement shall drive courage from the state, Our men be vanquished ere they do resist, And subjects punished that ne'er thought offence; Which care of them, not pity of myself, Who am no more but as the tops of trees 30 Which fence the roots they grow by and defend them, Makes both my body pine and soul to languish, And punish that before that he would punish. Enter

HELICANUS,

with other Lords

First Lord. Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast! Second Lord. And keep your mind, till you return to us, Peaceful and comfortable! Helicanus. Peace, peace, and give experience tongue. They do abuse the king that flatter him: For flattery is the bellows blows up sin; The thing the which is flattered, but a spark, 40 T o which that blast gives heat and stronger glowing; Whereas reproof, obedient and in order, Fits kings, as they are men, for they may err. When Signior Soothe here does proclaim a peace, He flatters you, makes war upon your life. Prince, pardon me, or strike me, if you please; [kneeling I cannot be much lower than my knees. Pericles. All leave us else; but let your cares o'erlook

T2

PERICLES

1.2.49

What shipping and what lading's in our haven, 50 And then return to us. [the lords go] Helicanus, thou Hast moved us: what seest thou in our looks ? Helicanus. An angry brow, dread lor.d. Pericles. If there be such a dart in princes' frowns, How durst thy tongue move anger to our face ? Helicanus. How dares the plants look up to heaven, From whence they have their nourishment ? Pericles. Thou knowest I have power to take thy life from thee. Helicanus. I have ground the axe myself; Do but you strike the blow. 60 Pericles. Rise, prithee, rise; sit down; thou art no flatterer; I thank thee for't; and heaven forbid That kings should let their ears hear their faults hid! Fit counsellor and servant for a prince, Who by thy wisdom makes a prince thy servant, What wouldst thou have me do ? Helicanus. To bear with patience Such griefs as you do lay upon yourself. Pericles. Thou speak'st like a physician, Helicanus, That ministers a potion unto me That thou wouldst tremble to receive thyself. 70 Attend me then: I went to Antioch, Where as thou know'st against the face of death, I sought the purchase of a glorious beauty, From whence an issue I might propagate, Are arms to princes and bring joys to subjects. Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder; The rest—hark in thine ear—as black as incest; Which by my knowledge found, the sinful father Seemed not to strike, but smooth; but thou know'st this, 'Tis time to fear when tyrants seems to kiss.

i.2.8o

PERICLES

13

Which fear so grew in me, I hither fled, Under the covering of a careful night, Who seemed my good protector; and, being here, Bethought me what was past, what might succeed,, I knew him tyrannous; and tyrants' fears Decrease not, but grow faster than the years; And should he doubt, as 'tis no doubt he doth, That I should open to the list'ning air How many worthy princes' bloods were shed, To keep his bed of blackness un-laid-ope, To lop that doubt, he'll fill this land with arms, And make pretence of wrong that I have done him; When all, for mine, if I may call offence, Must feel war's blow, who spares not innocence: Which love to all, of which thyself art one, Who now reprovedst me for't,— Helicanus. Alas, sir! Pericles. Drew sleep out of mine eyes, blood from my cheeks, Musings into my mind, with thousand doubts How I might stop this tempest ere it came; And finding little comfort to relieve them, I thought it princely charity to grieve them. Helicanus. Well, my lord, since you have given me leave to speak, Freely will I speak. Antiochus you fear, And justly, too, I think you fear the tyrant Who either by public war or private treason Will take away your life. Therefore, my lord, go travel for a while, Till that his rage and anger be forgot, Or till the Destinies do cut his thread of life. Your rule direct to any; if to me, Day serves not light more faithful than I'll be.

80

90

100

no

H

PERICLES

1.2. HI

Pericles. I do not doubt thy faith; But should he wrong my liberties in my absence? Helicanus. We'll mingle our bloods together in the earth, From whence we had our being and our birth. Pericles. Tyre, I now look from thee then, and to Tharsus Intend my travel, where I'll hear from thee; And by whose letters I'll dispose myself. The care I had and have of subjects' good On thee I lay, whose wisdom's strength can bear it. 120 I'll take thy word for faith, not ask thine oath: Who shuns not to break one will crack them both. But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe, That time of both this truth shall ne'er convince, Thou show'dst a subject's shine, I a true prince'. [they go E1* 3*3 Tyre. An ante-chamber in the palace ''Enter THALIARD solus* Thaliard. So, this is Tyre, and this the court. Here must I kill King Pericles; and if I do it not, I am sure to be hanged at home: 'tis dangerous. Well, I perceive he was a wise fellow and had good discretion, that, being bid to ask what he would of the king, desired he might know none of his secrets: now do I see he had some reason for't; for if a king bid a man be a villain, he's bound by the indenture of his oath to be one. Husht! here comes the lords of Tyre. 1

Enter HELICANUS, ESCANES, with other Lords'

io Helicanus. You shall not need, my fellow peers of Tyre,

i. 3. it

PERICLES

IS

Further to question of your king's departure. His sealed commission left in trust with me Does speak sufficiently he's gone to travel. {Thaliard. How? the king gone? Helicanus. If further yet you will be satisfied, Why, as it were unlicensed of your loves, He would depart, I'll give some light unto you. Being at Antioch— {Thaliard. What from Antioch ? Helicanus. Royal Antiochus—on what cause I know not— Took some displeasure at him; at least he judged so; 20 And doubting lest that he had erred or sinned, To show his sorrow, he'ld correct himself; So puts himself unto the shipman's toil, With whom each minute threatens life or death. {Thaliard. Well, I perceive I shall not be hanged now, although I would; But since he's gone, the king's ears it must please; He scaped the land, to perish at the seas. I'll present myself. Peace to the lords of Tyre! Helicanus. Lord Thaliard from Antiochus is welcome. Thaliard. From him I come 30 With message unto princely Pericles; But since my landing I have understood Your lord has betook himself to unknown travels, My message must return from whence it came. Helicanus. We have no reason to desire it, Commended to our master, not to us; Yet, ere you shall depart, this we desire, As friends to Antioch, we may feast in Tyre, [they go

i6 [1. 4.]

PERICLES

1.4.1

Tharsus. A room in the Governor's house

'Enter CLEON the Governor of Tharsus, with his wife* l DJONTZA and others'* Cleon. My Dionyza, shall we rest us here, And by relating tales of others' griefs, See if 'twill teach us to forget our own? Dionyza. That were to blow at fire in hope to quench it; For who digs hills because they do aspire Throws down one mountain to cast up a higher. O my distressed lord, even such our griefs are; Here they are but felt, and seen with mischief's eyes, But like to groves, being topped, they higher rise. 10 Cleon. O Dionyza, Who wanteth food, and will not say he wants it, Or can conceal his hunger till he famish? "f Our tongues and sorrows to sound deep Our woes into the air; our eyes to weep, Till tongues fetch breath that may proclaim them louder; That, if heaven slumber while their creatures want, They may awake their helps to comfort them. I'll then discourse our woes, felt several years, And wanting breath to speak help me with tears. 20 Dionyza. I'll do my best, sir. Cleon. This Tharsus, o'er which I have the government, A city on whom plenty held full hand, For riches strewed herself even in her streets; Whose towers bore heads so high they kissed the clouds, And strangers ne'er beheld but wond'red at; Whose men and dames so jetted and adorned,

1.4-37

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17

Like one another's glass to trim them by; Their tables were stored full, to glad the sight, And not so much to feed on as delight; All poverty was scorned, and pride so great, 30 The name of help grew odious to repeat. Dionyza. O, 'tis too true. Clean. But see what heaven can do by this our change: Those mouths, who but of late earth, sea and air Were all too little to content and please, Although they gave their creatures in abundance, As houses are defiled for want of use, They are now starved for want of exercise; Those palates who, not yet two summers younger, Must have inventions to delight the taste, 40 Would now be glad of bread, and beg for it; Those mothers who, to nuzzle up their babes, Thought nought too curious, are ready now To eat those little darlings whom they loved. So sharp are hunger's teeth, that man and wife Draw lots who first shall die to lengthen life. Here stands a lord, and there a lady weeping; Here many sink, yet those which see them fall Have scarce strength left to give them burial. Is not this true? 50 Dionyza. Our cheeks and hollow eyes do witness it. Clean. O, let those cities that of plenty's cup And her prosperities so largely taste, With their superfluous riots, hear these tears! The misery of Tharsus may be theirs. 1

Enter a Lord''

Lord. Where's the lord governor? Clean. Here.

18

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1.4.58

Speak out thy sorrows which thou bring'st in haste, For comfort is too far for us to expect. 60 Lord. We have descried, upon our neighbouring shore, A portly sail of ships make hitherward. Cleon. I thought as much. One sorrow never comes but brings an heir, That may succeed as his inheritor; And so in ours: some neighbouring nation, Taking advantage of our misery, Hath stuffed the hollow vessels with their power, To beat us down, the which are down already, And make a conquest of unhappy men, 70 Whereas no glory's got to overcome. Lord. That's the least fear; for, by the semblance Of their white flags displayed, they bring us peace, And come to us as favourers, not as foes. Cleon. Thou speak'st like him's untutored to repeat; Who makes the fairest show means most deceit. But bring they what they will, what need we fear? On ground's the lowest, and we are half way there. Go tell their general we attend him here, To know for what he comes and whence he comes 80 And what he craves. Lord. I go, my lord. [he goes Cleon. Welcome is peace, if he on peace consist; If wars, we are unable to resist. "•Enter PERICLES with Attendants' Pericles. Lord governor, for so we hear you are, Let not our ships and number of our men Be like a beacon fired t'amaze your eyes. We have heard your miseries as far as Tyre, And seen the desolation of your streets; Nor come we to add sorrow to your tears,

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19

But to relieve them of their heavy load; 90 And these our ships, you happily may think Are like the Trojan horse was stuffed within With bloody veins expecting overthrow, Are stored with corn to make your needy bread> And give them life whom hunger starved half dead. All. The gods of Greece protect you! And we'll pray for you. Pericles. Arise, I pray you, rise; We do not look for reverence, but for love And harbourage for ourself, our ships and men. Cleon. The which when any shall not gratify, 100 Or pay you with unthankfulness in thought, Be it our. wives, our children, or ourselves, The curse of heaven and men succeed their evils! Till when,—the which I hope shall ne'er be seen— Your grace is welcome to our town and us. Pericles. Which welcome we'll accept; feast here awhile, Until our stars that frown lend us a smile. [they go

[2 Prologue]

'Enter GOWER'

Gower. Here have you seen a mighty king His child, I wis, to incest bring; A better prince and benign lord Prove awful both in deed and word. Be quiet then as men should be, Till he hath passed necessity. I'll show you those in trouble's reign Losing a mite, a mountain gain. The good in conversation,

so

PERICLES

2. Prol. 10

10 To whom I give my benison, Is still at Tharsus, where each man Thinks all is writ he speken can; And, to remember what he does, Build his statue to make him glorious. But tidings to the contrary Are brought your eyes; what need speak I? 'DUMB SHOW

Enter, at one door, PERICLES, talking with CLEON; all the train with them. Enter, at another door, a Gentleman, with a letter to PERICLES,• PERICLES shows the letter to CLEON, PERICLES gives the Messenger a reward, and knights him. Exit PERICLES at one door, and CLEON at another* Good Helicane, that stayed at home, Not to eat honey like a drone From others' labours; for though he strive 20 To killen bad, keep good alive; And to fulfil his prince' desire, Sends word of all that haps in Tyre: How Thaliard came full bent with sin And had intent to murder him; And that in Tharsus was not best Longer for him to make his rest. He, doing so, put forth to seas, Where when men been, there's seldom ease; For now the wind begins to blow; 30 Thunder above and deeps below Makes such unquiet that the ship Should house him safe is wrecked and split; And he, good prince, having all lost, By waves from coast to coast is tossed. All perishen of man, of pelf,

2.Prol.36

PERICLES

Ne aught escapend but himself; Till fortune, tired with doing bad, Threw him ashore, to give him glad. And here he comes. What shall be next, Pardon old Gower,—this 'longs the text.

[2.1.]

21

\he goes 40

Pentapolis. An open place by the seaside 'Enter PERICLES, we?

Pericles. Yet cease your ire, you angry stars of heaven! Wind, rain, and thunder, remember, earthly man Is but a substance that must yield to you; And I, as fits my nature, do obey you. Alas, the seas hath cast me on the rocks, Washed me from shore to shore, and left me breath Nothing to think on but ensuing death. Let it suffice the greatness of your powers To have bereft a prince of all his fortunes; And having thrown him from your wat'ry grave, Here to have death in peace is all he'll crave. L

Enter three Fishermen'

1 Fisherman. What, ho, Pilch! 2 Fisherman. Ha, come and bring away the nets! I Fisherman. What, Patchbreech, I say! 3 Fisherman. What say you, master ? 1 Fisherman. Look how thou stirrest now! come away, or I'll fetch thee with a wanion. 3 Fisherman. Faith, master, I am thinking of the poor men that were cast away before us even now.

10

22

20

PERICLES

2.1.20

1 Fisherman. Alas, poor souls, it grieved my heart to hear what pitiful cries they made to us to help them, when, well-a-day, we could scarce help ourselves. 3 Fisherman. Nay, master, said not I as much when I saw the porpoise, how he bounced and tumbled? they say they're half fish, half flesh: a plague on them, they ne'er come but I look to be washed. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea. 1 Fisherman. Why, as men do a-land: the great ones eat up the little ones. I can compare our rich misers to 30 nothing so fitly as to a whale; a' plays and tumbles, driving the poor fry before him, and at last devours them all at a mouthful: such whales have I heard on a'th'land, who never leave gaping till they ha' swallowed the whole parish, church, steeple, bells, and all. {Pericles. A pretty moral. 3 Fisherman. But, master, if I had been the sexton, I would have been that day in the belfry. 2 Fisherman. Why, man? 3 Fisherman. Because he should have swallowed me 40 too; and when I had been in his belly, I would have kept such a jangling of the bells, that he should never have left till he cast bells, steeple, church, and parish, up again. But if the good King Simonides were of my mind,— [Pericles. Simonides ? 3 Fisherman. We would purge the land of these drones, that rob the bee of her honey. {Pericles. How from the finny subject of the sea These fishers tell the infirmities of men; 50 And from their wat'ry empire recollect All that may men approve or men detect! Peace be at your labour, honest fishermen. 2 Fisherman. Honest! good fellow, what's that? If it

2.1.54

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23

be a day fits you, search out of the calendar, and nobody look after it. Pericles. May see the sea hath cast upon your coast— 2 Fisherman. What a drunken knave was the sea to cast thee in our way! Pericles. A man whom both the waters and the wind, In that vast tennis-court, hath made the ball 60 For them to play upon, entreats you pity him; He asks of you, that never used to beg. 1 Fisherman. No, friend, cannot you beg? Here's them in our country of Greece gets more with begging than we can do with working. 2 Fisherman. Canst thou catch any fishes then ? Pericles. I never practised it. 2 Fisherman. Nay, then thou wilt starve, sure; for here's nothing to be got now-a-days, unless thou canst fish for't. 70 Pericles. What I have been I have forgot to know} But what I am, want teaches me to think on: A man thronged up with cold; my veins are chill, And have no more of life than may suffice To give my tongue that heat to ask your help; Which if you shall refuse, when I am dead, For that I am a man, pray you see me buried. 1 Fisherman. Die quoth-a? Now gods forbid't, an I have a gown here; come, put it on; keep thee warm. Now, afore me, a handsome fellow! Come, thou shalt 80 go home, and we'll have flesh for holidays, fish for fasting-days, and moreo'er puddings andflapjacks,and thou shalt be welcome. Pericles. I thank you, sir. 2 Fisherman. Hark you, my friend; you said you could not beg. Pericles, I did but crave.

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2 Fisherman. But crave? Then I'll turn craver too, and so I shall 'scape whipping. 90 Pericles. Why, are your beggars whipped then ? 2 Fisherman. O, not all, my friend, not all; for if all your beggars were whipped, I would wish no better office than to be beadle. But, master, I'll go draw up the net. [he goes with 3 Fisherman {Pericles. How well this honest mirth becomes their labour! 1 Fisherman. Hark you, sir, do you know where ye are? Pericles. Not well. 100 1 Fisherman. Why, I'll tell you: this is called Pentapolis, and our king the good Simonides. Pericles. The good Simonides, do you call him ? I Fisherman. Ay, sir; and he deserves so to be called for his peaceable reign and good government. Pericles. He is a happy king, since he gains from his subjects the name of good by his government. How far is his court distant from this shore? 1 Fisherman. Marry, sir, half a day's journey; and I'll tell you, he hath a fair daughter, and to-morrow is n o her birthday; and there are princes and knights come from all parts of the world to joust and tourney for her love. Pericles. Were my fortunes equal to my desires, I could wish to make one there. 1 Fisherman. O, sir, things must be as they may;'and what a man cannot get, he may lawfully deal for his wife's soul. ''Enter the two Fishermen, drawing up a net* 2 Fisherman. Help, master, help! here's a fish hangs in the net, like a poor man's right in the law; 'twill

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hardly come out. Ha! bots on't, 'tis come at last, and 'tis turned to a rusty armour. Pericles. An armour, friends! I pray you, let me see it. Thanks, Fortune, yet, that after all thy crosses. Thou givest me somewhat to repair myself; And though it was mine own, part of my heritage, Which my dead father did bequeath to me, With this strict charge, even as he left his life, 'Keep it, my Pericles; it hath been a shield 'Twixt me and death:'—and pointed to this brace— 'For that it saved me, keep it; in like necessity— The which the gods protect thee from!—may defend thee.' It kept where I kept, I so dearly loved it; Till the rough seas, that spares not any man, Took it in rage, though calmed have given't again; I thank thee for't: my shipwreck now's no ill, Since I have here my father gave in his will. 1 Fisherman. What mean you, sir ? Pericles. To beg of you, kind friends, this coat of worth, For it was sometime target to a king; I know it by this mark. He loved me dearly, And for his sake I wish the having of it; And that you'ld guide me to your sovereign's court, Where with it I may appear a gentleman; And if that ever my low fortunes better, I'll pay your bounties; till then rest your debtor. I Fisherman. Why, wilt thou tourney for the lady? Pericles. I'll show the virtue I have borne in arms. 1 Fisherman. Why, d'ye take it, and the gods give thee good on't! 2 Fisherman. Ay, but hark you, my friend; 'twas we

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that made up this garment through the rough seams of the waters: there are certain condolements, certain vails. I hope, sir, if you thrive, you'll remember from whence you had it. Pericles. Believe't, I will. By your furtherance I am clothed in steel; And spite of all the rapture of the sea This jewel holds his building on my arm. Unto thy value I will mount myself 160 Upon a courser, whose delightful steps Shall make the gazer joy to see him tread. Only, my friends, I yet am unprovided Of a pair of bases. 2 Fisherman. We'll sure provide: thou shalt have my .best gown to make thee a pair; and I'll bring thee to the court myself. Pericles. Then honour be but equal to my will, This day I'll rise, or else add ill to ill. [they go

[2.2.] The same. A public way or platform leading to the lists. A pavilion by the side of it for the reception of the King, Princess, Lords, £sV. Enter SIMONIDES, THAISA, Lords, and Attendants Bimonides. Are the knights ready to begin the triumph? I Lord. They are, my liege, And stay your coming to present themselves. Simonides. Return them, we are ready; and our daughter, In honour of whose birth these triumphs are, Sits here, like Beauty's child, whom Nature gat For men to see and seeing wonder at. \a Lord goes

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Thaisa. It pleaseth you, my royal father, to express My commendations great, whose merit's less. Simonides. It's fit it should be so; for princes are 10 A model which heaven makes like to itself: As jewels lose their glory if neglected, So princes their renowns if not respected. 'Tis now your honour, daughter, to entertain The labour of each knight in his device. Thaisa. Which, to preserve mine honour, I'll perform. ''The first Knight passes bf, and his Squire presents his shield to the Princess Simonides. Who is the first that doth prefer himself? Thaisa. A knight of Sparta, my renowned father; And the device he bears upon his shield Is a black Ethiop reaching at the sun; 20 The word, 'Lux tua vita mihi.' Simonides. He loves you well that holds his life of you. [' The second Knight1 passes Who is the second that presents himself? Thaisa. A prince of Macedon, my royal father; And the device he bears upon his shield Is an armed knight that's conquered by a lady; The motto thus, in Spanish, 'Piu per dolcera que per forca.' [The third Knight passes Simonides. And who the third ? Thaisa. The third of Antioch; And his device, a wreath of chivalry; The word, ' M e pompae provexit apex.' 30 [The fourth Knight passes Simonides. What is the fourth ? Thaisa. A burning torch that's turned upside down; The word, 'Qui me alit, me extinguit.'

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Simonides. Which shows that beauty hath his power at will, Which can as well inflame as it can kill. [The fifth Knight passes Thaisa. The fifth, an hand environed with clouds, Holding out gold that's by the touchstone tried; The motto thus, 'Sic spectanda fides.' [The sixth Knight, Pericles, passes Simonides. And what's 40 The sixth and last, the which the knight himself With such a graceful courtesy delivered ? Thaisa. He seems to be a stranger; but his present is A withered branch, that's only green at top; The motto, 'In hac spe vivo.' Simonides. A pretty moral; From the dejected state wherein he is, He hopes by you his fortunes yet may flourish. 1 Lord. He had need mean better than his outward show Can any way speak in his just commend; 50 For by his rusty outside he appears To have practised more the whipstock than the lance. 2 Lord. He well may be a stranger, for he comes To an honoured triumph strangely furnished. 3 Lord. And on set purpose let his armour rust Until this day, to scour it in the dust. Simonides. Opinion's but a fool, that makes us scan The outward habit by the inward man. But stay, the knights are coming; we will withdraw Into the gallery. [they go 'Great shouts'1 heard from the lists, and cries of 'The mean knight'

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The same. A hall of state: a banquet prepared

Enter SIMONIDES, THAISA, Lords, Knights, and Attendants, 'from tilting1 Simonides. Knights, To say you're welcome were superfluous. To place upon the volume of your deeds, As in a title-page, your worth in arms, Were more than you expect, or more than's fit, Since every worth in show commends itself. Prepare for mirth, for mirth becomes a feast. You are princes and my guests. Thaisa. But you, my knight and guest; To whom this wreath of victory I give, 10 And crown you king of this day's happiness. Pericles. 'Tis more by fortune, lady, than my merit. Simonides. Call it by what you will, the day is yours; And here, I hope, is none that envies it. In framing artists, art hath thus decreed, To make some good, but others to exceed; And you are her laboured scholar. Come, queen o'th'feast— For, daughter, so you are—here take your place: Marshal the rest as they deserve their grace. Knights. We are honoured much by good Simonides. 20 Simonides. Your presence glads our days: honour we love; For who hates honour hates the gods above. Marshal. Sir, yonder is your place. Pericles.

Some other is more fit.

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2.3.24

I Knight. Contend not, sir; for we are gentlemen. Have neither in our hearts nor outward eyes Envied the great nor shall the low despise. Pericles. You are right courteous knights. Simonides. Sit, sir, sit. [aside] By Jove, I wonder, that is king of thoughts, These cates resist me, he not thought upon. 30 {Thaisa. By Juno, that is queen of marriage, All viands that I eat do seem unsavoury, Wishing him my meat.—Sure he's a gallant gentleman. Simonides. He's but a country gentleman; has done no more Than other knights have done; has broken a staff Or so; so let it pass. {Thaisa. To me he seems like diamond to glass. {Pericles. Yon king's to me like to my father's picture, Which tells me in that glory once he was; Had princes sit, like stars, about his throne, 40 And he the sun, for them to reverence; None that beheld him but, like lesser lights, Did vail their crowns to his supremacy; Where now his son's a glow-worm in the night, The which hath fire in darkness, none in-light: Whereby I see that Time's the king of men; He's both their parent, and he is their grave, And gives them what he will, not what they crave. Simonides. What, are you merry, knights ? Knights. Who can be other in this royal presence ? 50 Simonides. Here, with a cup that's stored unto the brim,— As you do love, fill to your mistress' lips,—• We drink this health to you. Knights. We thank your grace. Simonides, Yet pause awhile:

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Yon knight doth sit too melancholy, As if the entertainment in our court Had not a show might countervail his worth. Note it not you, Thaisa ? Tkaisa. What is't to me, my father ? Simonides. O, attend, my daughter: Princes, in this, should live like gods above, 60 Who freely give to every one that come To honour them; And princes not doing so are like to gnats, Which make a sound, but killed are wond'red at. Therefore to make his entrance more sweet, Here, say we drink this standing-bowl of wine to him. Thaisa. Alas, my father, it befits not me Unto a stranger knight to be so bold: He may my proffer take for an offence, Since men take women's gifts for impudence. 70 Simonides. How? Do as I bid you, or you'll move me else. {Thaisa. Now, by the gods, he could not please me better. Simonides. And furthermore tell him, we desire to know of him, Of whence he is, his name and parentage. Thaisa. The king my father, sir, has drunk to you. Pericles. I thank him. Thaisa. Wishing it so much blood unto your life. Pericles. I thank both him and you, and pledge him freely. Thaisa. And further he desires to know of you 80 Of whence you are, your name and parentage. Pericles. A gentleman of Tyre; my name, Pericles; My education been in arts and arms;

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Who, looking for adventures in the world, Was by the rough seas reft of ships and men, And after shipwreck driven upon this shore. Tkaisa. He thanks your grace; names himself Pericles, A gentleman of Tyre, Who only by misfortune of the seas 90 Bereft of ships and men, cast on this shore. Simonides. Now, by the gods, I pity his misfortune, And will awake him from his melancholy. Come, gentlemen, we sit too long on trifles, And waste the time, which looks for other revels. Even in your armours, as you are addressed, Will well become a soldier's dance. I will not have excuse with saying this: Loud music is too harsh for ladies' heads, Since they love men in arms as well as beds. The Knights 'dance'' 100 So, this was well asked, 'twas so well performed. Come, sir, here's a lady that wants breathing too; And I have heard, you knights of Tyre Are excellent in making ladies trip, And that their measures are as excellent. Pericles. In those that practise them they are, my lord. Simonides. O, that's as much as you would be denied Of your fair courtesy. The Knights and Ladies 'dance* Unclasp, unclasp: Thanks, gentlemen, to all; all have done well, [to Pericles'] But you the best. Pages and lights conduct n o These knights unto their several lodgings! Yours, sir, We have given order should be next our own.

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Pericles. I am at your grace's pleasure. Simonides. Princes, it is too late to talk of love, And that's the mark I know you level at. Therefore each one betake him to his rest; To-morrow all for speeding do their best. [they go

[2. 4.]

Tyre. A room in the Governor's house 'Enter HELICANUS and ESCANES7

Helicanus. No, Escanes, know this of me, Antiochus from incest lived not free; For which, The most high'gods not minding longer to Withhold the vengeance that they had in store, Due to this heinous capital offence, Even, in the height and pride of all his glory, When he was seated in a chariot Of an inestimable value, and His daughter with him, a fire from heaven came, 10 And shrivelled up their bodies, even to loathing; For they so stunk, That all those eyes adored them ere their fall Scorn now their hand should give them burial. Escanes. 'Twas very strange. Helicanus. And yet but justice; for though this king were great, His greatness was no guard to bar heaven's shaft, But sin had his reward. Escanes. 'Tis very true. 'Enter two or three Lords'* I Lord. See, not a man in private conference Or council has respect with him but he.

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2 Lord. It shall no longer grieve without reproof. 3 Lord. And cursed be he that will not second it. 1 Lord. Follow me then. Lord Helicane, a word. Helicanus. With me? and welcome; happy day, my lords. I Lord. Know that our griefs are risen to the top, And now at length they overflow their banks. Helicanus. Your griefs! for what? wrong not the prince you love. 1 Lord. Wrong not yourself, then, noble Helicane; But if the prince do live, let us salute him, 30 Or know what ground's made happy by his breath. If in the world he live, we'll seek him out; If in his grave he rest, we'll find him there; And be resolved he lives to govern us, Or dead, gives cause to mourn his funeral, And leaves us to our free election. 2 Lord. Whose death's indeed the strongest in our censure; And knowing this: kingdoms without a head, Like goodly buildings left without a roof Soon fall to ruin, your noble self, 40 That best know how to rule and how to reign, We thus submit unto—our sovereign. All. Live, noble Helicane! Helicanus. For honour's cause, forbear your suffrages. If that you love Prince Pericles, forbear. Take I your wish, I leap into the seas, Where's hourly trouble for a minute's ease. A twelvemonth longer, let me entreat you To forbear the absence of your king; If in which time expired he not return, 50 I shall with age*d patience bear your yoke. But if I cannot win you to this love,

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Go search like nobles, like noble subjects, And in your search spend your adventurous worth; Whom if you find and win unto return, You shall like diamonds sit about his crown. I Lord. To wisdom he's a fool that will not yield; And since Lord Helicane enjoineth us, We with our travels will endeavour it. Helicanus. Then you love us, we you, and we'll clasp hands: When peers thus knit, a kingdom ever stands, [they go 60

[2.5.]

Pentapolis. A room in the palace

''Enter the King\ SIMONIDES, ' reading of a letter, at one door: the Knights meet him'' x Knight. Good morrow to the good Simonides. Simonides. Knights, from my daughter this I let you know, That for this twelvemonth she'll not undertake A married life. Her reason to herself is only known, Which from her by no means can I get. 2 Knight. May we not have access to her, my lord? Simonides. Faith, by no means; she hath so strictly Tied her to her chamber, that 'tis impossible. One twelve moons more she'll wear Diana's livery; 10 This by the eye of Cynthia hath she vowed, And on her virgin honour will not break it. 3 Knight. Loath to bid farewell, we take our leaves. [the Knights go Simonides. So, They are well dispatched; now to my daughter's letter:

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She tells me here, she'll wed the stranger knight, Or never more to view nor day nor light. } Tis well, mistress; your choice agrees with mine| I like that well; nay, how absolute she's in't, 20 Not minding whether I dislike or no I Well, I do commend her choice; And will no longer have it be delayed. Soft, here he comes: I must dissemble it. 'Enter PERICLES' Pericles. All fortune to the good Simonides! Simonides. To you as much: sir, I am beholding to you For your sweet music this last night. I do Protest my ears were never better fed With such delightful pleasing harmony. Pericles. It is your grace's pleasure to commends 30 Not my desert. Simonides. Sir, you are music's master. Pericles. The worst of all her scholars, my good lord. Simonides. Let me ask you one thing: What do you think of my daughter, sir? Pericles. A most virtuous princess. Simonides. And she is fair too, is she not? Pericles. As a fair day in summer, wondrous fair. Simonides. Sir, my daughter thinks very well of you; Ay, so well, that you must be her master, And she will be your scholar: therefore look to it. 40 Pericles. I am unworthy for her schoolmaster. Simonides. She thinks not so; peruse this writing else. {Pericles. What's here? A letter, that she loves the knight of Tyre! 'Tis the king's subtlety to have my life. [aloud] O, seek not to entrap me, gracious lord,

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A stranger and distressed gentleman, That never aimed so high to love your daughter, But bent all offices to honour her. Simonides. Thou hast bewitched my daughter, and thou art A villain. Pericles. By the gods, I have not. 50 Never did thought of mine levy offence; Nor never did my actions yet commence A deed might gain her love or your displeasure,, Simonides. Traitor, thou liest. Pericles. Traitor! Simonides. Ay, traitor. Pericles. Even in his throat—unless it be the king— That calls me traitor, I return the lie. (Simonides. Now, by the gods, I do applaud his courage. Pericles. My actions are as noble as my thoughts, That never relished of a base descent. I came unto your court for honour's cause, 60 And not to be a rebel to your state; And he that otherwise accounts of me, This sword shall prove he's honour's enemy. Simonides. No? Here comes my daughter, she can witness it. 1

Enter THAIS A'

Pericles. Then, as you are as virtuous as fair, Resolve your angry father, if my tongue Did e'er solicit, or my hand subscribe To any syllable that made love to you. Thaisa. Why, sir, say if you had, who takes offence 70 At that would make me glad ? Simonides. Yea, mistress, are you so peremptory ? P.-6

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['aside'] I am glad on't with all my heart.— I'll tame you; I'll bring you in subjection. Will you, not having my consent, Bestow your love and your affections Upon a stranger? ['aside') who, for aught I know, May be, nor can I think the contrary, As great in blood as I myself. 80 Therefore hear you, mistress; either frame Your will to mine—and you, sir, hear you, Either be ruled by me, or I will make you— Man and wife. Nay, come, your hands and lips must seal it too; And being joined, I'll thus your hopes destroy; And for a further grief,—God give you joy! What, are you both pleased ? Thaisa. Yes, if you love me, sir. Pericles. Even as my life my blood that fosters it. Simonides. What, are you both agreed ? 90 Both. Yes, if't please your majesty. Simonides. It pleaseth me so well, that I will see you wed; And then, with what haste you can, get you to bed. [they go

[3 Prologue]

*Enter GOWER*

Gozoer. Now sleep y-slacked hath the rout; No din but snores the house about, Made louder by the o'er-fed breast Of this most pompous marriage-feast. The cat, with eyne of burning coal, Now couches 'fore the mouse's hole; And crickets at the oven's mouth

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Sing the blither for their drouth. Hymen hath brought the bride to bed, Where by the loss of maidenhead A babe is moulded. Be attent, And time that is so briefly spent With your fine fancies quaintly eche. What's dark in show I'll plain with speech.

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10

DUMB SHOW 1

Enter PERICLES and SIMON IDES at one door, with attendants; a Messenger meets them, kneels, and gives PERICLES a letter; PERICLES shows it SIMONIDES,- the Lords kneel to him. Then enter THAISA with child, with LTCHORIDA, a nurse; the King shozos her the letter; she rejoices; she and PERICLES take leave of her father, and depart"1 with LrcHORWA and their attendants. Then SIMONIDES and the rest go By many a dern and painful perch Of Pericles the careful search, By the four opposing coigns Which the world together joins, Is made with all due diligence That horse and sail and high expense Can stead the quest. At last from. Tyre, Fame answering the most strange inquire, T o th'court of King Simonides Are letters brought, the tenour these: Antiochus and his daughter dead, The men of Tyrus on the head Of Helicanus would set on The crown of Tyre, but he will none. The mutiny he there hastes t'appease; Says to 'em, if King Pericles

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3-Prol.3i

Come not home in twice six moons, He, obedient to their dooms, Will take the crown. The sum of this, Brought hither to Pentapolis, Y-ravished the regions round, And every one with claps can sound, ' Our heir-apparent is a king! Who dreamed, who thought of such a thing?' Brief, he must hence depart to Tyre. 40 His queen with child makes her desire— Which who shall cross ?—along to go. Omit we all their dole and woe. Lychorida, her nurse, she takes, And so to sea; their vessel shakes On Neptune's billow; half the flood Hath their keel cut; but fortune's mood Varies again; the grisled north Disgorges such a tempest forth, That, as a duck for life that dives, 50 So up and down the poor ship drives. The lady shrieks and well-a-near Does fall in travail with her fear; And what ensues in this fell storm Shall for itself itself perform. I nill relate, action may Conveniently the rest convey; Which might not what by me is told. In your imagination hold This stage the ship, upon whose deck 60 The sea-tossed Pericles appears to speak. [he goes

3.i.i [3. 1.]

PERICLES l

41

Enter PERICLES, a-shipboard"1

Pericles. The god of this great vast, rebuke these surges, Which wash both heaven and hell; and thou that hast Upon the winds command, bind them in brass, Having called them from the deep! O, still Thy deaf'ning dreadful thunders; gently quench Thy nimble sulphurous flashes! O, how, Lychorida, How does my queen? Thou stormest venomously; Wilt thou spit all thyself? The seaman's whistle Is as a whisper in the ears of death, Unheard. Lychorida!—Lucina, O 10 Divinest patroness and midwife gentle To those that cry by night, convey thy deity Aboard our dancing boat; make swift the pangs Of my queen's travails! Now, Lychorida! 'Enter LTCHORIDA', with an Infant Lychorida. Here is a thing too young for such a place, Who, if it had conceit, would die, as I Am like to do; take in your arms this piece Of your dead queen. Pericles. How? how, Lychorida? Lychorida. Patience, good sir; do not assist the storm. Here's all that is left living of your queen, 20 A little daughter: for the sake of it, Be manly, and take comfort. Pericles. O you gods! Why do you make us love your goodly gifts, And snatch them straight away? We here below Recall not what we give, and therein may Use honour with you.

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Lychorida. Patience, good sir, Even for this charge. Pericles. Now, mild may be thy life! For a more blusterous birth had never babe; Quiet and gentle thy conditions! for 30 Thou art the rudeliest welcome to this world That e'er was princess' child. Happy what follows! Thou hast as chiding a nativity As fire, air, water, earth and heaven can make, To herald thee from the womb. Even at the first thy loss is more than can Thy portage quit, with all thou canst find here. Now, the good gods throw their best eyes upon't! ''Enter two Sailors' I Sailor. What courage, sir ? God save you! Pericles. Courage enough: I do not fear the flaw; 40 It hath done to me the worst. Yet, for the love Of this poor infant, this fresh-new seafarer, I would it would be quiet. 1 Sailor. Slack the bolins there! Thou wilt not, wilt thou ? Blow, and split thyself. 2 Sailor. But sea-room, an the brine and cloudy billow kiss the moon, I care not. 1 Sailor. Sir, your queen must overboard; the sea works high, the wind is loud, and will not lie till the ship be cleared of the dead. 50 Pericles. That's your superstition. 1 Sailor. Pardon us, sir; with us at sea it hath been still observed; and we are strong in custom. Therefore briefly yield her; for she must overboard straight. Pericles. As you think meet. Most wretched queen! Lychorida. Here she lies, sir. Pericles. A terrible childbed hast thou had, my dear;

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No light, no fire: th'unfriendly elements Forgot thee utterly; nor have I time To give thee hallowed to thy grave, but straight Must cast thee, scarcely coffined, in the ooze; 60 Where, for a monument upon thy bones, And e'er-remaining lamps, the belching whale And humming water must o'erwhelm thy corpse, Lying with simple shells. O Lychorida, Bid Nestor bring me spices, ink and paper, My casket and my jewels; and bid Nicander Bring me the satin coffer; lay the babe Upon the pillow; hie thee, whiles I say A priestly farewell to her; suddenly, woman. [Lyckorida goes 2 Sailor. Sir, we have a chest beneath the hatches, 70 Caulked and bitumed ready. Pericles. I thank thee. Mariner, say what coast is this ? 2 Sailor. We are near Tharsus. Pericles. Thither, gentle mariner, Alter thy course from Tyre. When canst thou reach it? 2 Sailor. By break of day, if the wind cease. Pericles. O, make for Tharsus! There will I visit Cleon, for the babe Cannot hold out to Tyrus; there I'll leave it At careful nursing. Go thy ways, good mariner: 80 I'll bring the body presently. [they go

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[3. 2.]

3.2.1

Ephesus. A room in Cerimon's house

''Enter Lord CERIMON with a Servant', and persons who have been shipwrecked Cerimon. Philemon, ho! '•Enter PHILEMON* Philemon. Doth my lord call ? Cerimon. Get fire and meat for these poor men: 'T'as been a turbulent and stormy night. Servant. I have been in many; but such a night as this, Till now, I ne'er endured. Cerimon. Your master will be dead ere you return; There's nothing can be minist'red to nature That can recover him. Give this to the pothecafy, 10 And tell me how it works. [all but Cerimon go 'Enter two Gentlemen'' 1 Gentleman. Good morrow. 2 Gentleman. Good morrow to your lordship. Cerimon. Gentlemen, Why do you stir so early? 1 Gentleman. Sir, Our lodgings, standing bleak upon the sea, Shook as the earth did quake; The very principals did seem to rend And all to topple; pure surprise and fear Made me to quit the house. 2 Gentleman. That is the cause we trouble you so early; 20 'Tis not our husbandry. Cerimon. O, you say well. I Gentleman. But I much marvel that your lordship, having

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Rich tire about you, should at these early hours Shake off the golden slumber of repose. 'Tis most strange, Nature should be so conversant with pain, Being thereto not compelled. Cerimon. I held it ever, Virtue and cunning were endowments greater Than nobleness and riches: careless heirs May the two latter darken and expend, But immortality attends the former, 30 Making a man a god. 'Tis known, I ever Have studied physic, through which secret art, By turning o'er authorities, I have, Together with my practice, made familiar To me and to my aid the blest infusions That dwells in vegetives, in metals, stones; And I can speak of the disturbances That nature works, and of her cures; which doth give me A more content in course of true delight Than to be thirsty after tottering honour, 40 Or tie my treasure up in silken bags, To please the fool and death. 2 Gentleman. Your honour has through Ephesus poured forth Your charity, and hundreds call themselves Your creatures, who by you have been restored; And not your knowledge, your personal pain, but even Your purse, still open, hath built Lord Cerimon Such strong renown as time shall never [raze]. ''Enter two or three with a chest* I Servant. So; lift there. Cerimon. What's that? I Servant. Sir,

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Even now did the sea toss up on our shore This chest: 'tis of some wreck. Cerimon. Set't down, let's look upon't. 2 Gentleman. 'Tis like a coffin, sir. Cerimon. Whate'er it be, 'Tis wondrous heavy. Wrench it open straight. If the sea's stomach be o'ercharged with gold, 'Tis a good constraint of fortune it belches upon us. 2 Gentleman. 'Tis so, my lord. 60 Cerimon. How close 'tis caulked and bitumed! Did the sea cast it up ? 1 Servant. I never saw so huge a billow, sir, as tossed it up on shore. Cerimon. Wrench it open: soft! it smells most sweetly in my sense. 2 Gentleman. A delicate odour. Cerimon. As ever hit my nostril. So, up with it. O you most potent gods! what's here ? a corse! 2 Gentleman. Most strange! 70 Cerimon. Shrouded in cloth of state; balmed and en treasured with full bags of spices! A passport too! Apollo, perfect me in the characters! j . , [reads from a scroll m T . J Here 1 give to understand, L If e'er this coffin drives a-land, I, King Pericles, have lost This queen, worth all our mundane cost. Who finds her, give her burying; She was the daughter of a king. Besides this treasure for a fee, 80 The gods requite his charity!' If thou livest, Pericles, thou hast a heart That even cracks for woe! This chanced to-night. 2 Gentleman. Most likely, sir.

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Cerimon. Nay, certainly to-night; For look how fresh she looks! They were too rough. That threw her in the sea. Make a fire within. Fetch hither all my boxes in my closet. Death may usurp on nature many hours, And yet the file of life kindle again The o'erpressed spirits. I heard of an Egyptian That had nine hours lien dead, 90 Who was by good appliance recovered. 'Enter one with napkins and fire* Well said, well said; the fire and cloths. The still and woful music that we have, Cause it to sound, beseech you. The vial once more; how thou stirr'st, thou block! The music there! I pray you, give her air. Gentlemen, This queen will live; nature awakes; a warmth Breathes out of her; she hath not been entranced Above five hours; see how she 'gins to blow 100 Into life's flower again! 1 Gentleman. The heavens, Through you, increase our wonder, and set up Your fame for ever. Cerimon. She is alive; behold, Her eyelids, cases to those heavenly jewels Which Pericles hath lost, begin to part Their fringes of bright gold; the diamonds Of a most praised water doth appear To make the world twice rich. Live, And make us weep to hear your fate, fair creature, Rare as you seem to be. ['she moves' Thaisa. O dear Diana, no Where am I? Where's my lord? What world is this?

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2 Gentleman. Is not this strange \ I Gentleman. Most rare. Cerimon. Hush, my gentle neighbours! Lend me your hands; to the next chamber bear her. Get linen: now this matter must be looked to, For her relapse is mortal. Come, come; And iEsculapius guide us! ^they carry her away*

[3. 3.]

Tharsus. A room In the Governor's house

Enter PERICLES, CLEON, DIONTZA, and LTCHORWA with MARINA in her arms Pericles. Most honoured Cleon, I must needs be gone; My twelve months are expired, and Tyrus stands In a litigious peace. You, and your lady, Take from my heart all thankfulness! The gods Make up the rest upon you! Cleon. Your shafts of fortune, Though they hurt you mortally, yet glance Full woundingly on us. Dionyza. O your sweet queen! That the strict fates had pleased you had brought her hither, T o have blessed mine eyes with her! Pericles. We cannot but obey 10 The powers above us. Could I rage and roar As doth the sea she lies in, yet the end Must be as 'tis. My gentle babe Marina, Whom, for she was born at sea, I have named so, here I charge your charity withal, leaving her

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The infant of your care; beseeching you To give her princely training, that she may Be mannered as she is born. Clean. Fear not, my lord, but think Your grace, that fed my country with your corn, For which the people's prayers still fall upon you, Must in your child be thought on. Ifneglection 20 Should therein make me vile, the common body, By you relieved, would force me to my duty. But if to that my nature need a spur, The gods revenge it upon me and mine, To the end of generation! Pericles. I believe you; Your honour and your goodness teach me to't, Without your vows. Till she be married, madam, By bright Diana, whom we honour all, Unscissored shall this hair of mine remain, Though I show ill in't. So I take my leave. 30 Good madam, make me blessed in your care In bringing up my child. Dionyza. I have one myself, Who shall not be more dear to my respect Than yours, my lord. Pericles. Madam, my thanks and prayers. Cleon. We'll bring your grace e'en to the edge o'th'shore, Then give you up to the masked Neptune and The gentlest winds of heaven. Pericles. I will embrace Your offer. Come, dearest madam. O, no tears, Lychorida, no tears; Look to your little mistress, on whose grace 40 You may depend hereafter. Come, my lord, [they go

5° [3. 4.]

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3.4.1

Ephesus. A room in Cerimon9s house 1

Enter CERIMON and THAIS

A*

Cerimon. Madam, this letter, and some certain jewels, Lay with you in your coffer; which are at your command. Know you the character? Thaisa. It is my lord's. That I was shipped at sea, I well remember, Even on my eaning time; but whether there Delivered, by the holy gods, I cannot rightly say. But since King Pericles, My wedded lord, I ne'er shall see again, A vestal livery will I take me to, 10 And never more have joy. Cerimon. Madam, if this you purpose as ye speak,. Diana's temple is not distant far, Where you may abide till your date expire. Moreover, if you please, a niece of mine Shall there attend you. Thaisa. My recompense is thanks, that's all; Yet my good will is great, though the gift small. [they go

[4 Prologue]

'Enter GOIFER*

Gower. Imagine Pericles arrived at Tyre, Welcomed and settled to his own desire. His woeful queen we leave at Ephesus, Unto-Diana there 's a votaress. Now to Marina bend your mind, Whom our fast-growing scene must find

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At Tharsus, and by Cleon trained In music's letters; who hath gained Of education all the grace, Which makes her both the heart and place Of general wonder. But, alack, That monster envy, oft the wrack Of earned praise, Marina's life Seeks to take off by treason's knife, "I"And in this kind:—our Cleon hath j"One daughter, and a full grown wench, Even ripe for marriage rite; this maid Hight Philoten; and it is said For certain in our story, she Would ever with Marina be; Be't when she weaved the sleided silk With fingers long, small, white as milk; Or when she would with sharp neele wound The cambric, which she made more sound By hurting it; or when to th'lute She sung, and made the night-bird mute, That still records with moan; or when She would with rich and constant pen Vail to her mistress Dian; still This Philoten contends in skill With absolute Marina: so With dove of Paphos might the crow Vie feathers white. Marina gets All praises, which are paid as debts, And not as given. This so darks In Philoten all graceful marks, That Cleon's wife, with envy rare A present murderer does prepare For good Marina, that her daughter Might stand peerless by this slaughter.

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The sooner her vile thoughts to stead, Lychorida, our nurse, is dead; And cursed Dionyza hath The pregnant instrument of wrath Prest for this blow. The unborn event I do commend to your content; Only I carried winged time Post on the lame feet of my rhyme; Which never could I so convey, 50 Unless your thoughts went on my way. Dionyza does appear, With Leonine, a murderer.

[4. 1.]

4.Prol.4i

\he goes

Tharsus. An ofen f lace near the sea-shore '•Enter DIONTZA with LEONINE*

Dionyza. Thy oath remember; thou hast sworn to do't. 'Tis but a blow, which never shall be known. Thou canst not do a thing in the world so soon, T o yield thee so much profit. Let not conscience, •fWhich is but cold, in flaming, thy love bosom, ^"Inflame too nicely; nor let pity, which Even women have cast off, melt thee, but be A soldier to thy purpose. Leonine. I will do't; but yet she is a goodly creature. 10 Dionyza. T h e fitter then the gods should have her. Here she comes weeping for her only mistress' death. Thou art resolved? Leonine, I am resolved.

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'Enter MARINA, with a basket of flowers'* Marina. No, I will rob Tellus of her weed, To strew thy green with flowers; the yellows, blues, The purple violets, and marigolds, Shall, as a carpet, hang upon thy grave, While summer-days doth last. Ay me! poor maid, Born in a tempest when my mother died, This world to me is as a lasting storm, 20 Whirring me from my friends. Dionyza. How now, Marina! why^do you keep alone? How chance my daughter is not with you ? Do not consume your blood with sorrowing: Have you a nurse of me! Lord, how your favour's Changed with this unprofitable woe! Come, give me your flowers, ere the sea mar it. Walk with Leonine; the air is quick there, And it pierces and.sharpens the stomach. Come, Leonine, take her by the arm, walk with her. 30 Marina. No, I pray you; I'll not bereave you of your servant. Dionyza. Come, come; I love the king your father and yourself With more than foreign heart. We every day Expect him here: when he shall come, and find Our paragon to all reports thus blasted, He will repent the breadth of his great voyage; Blame both my lord and me, that we have taken No care to your best courses. Go, I pray you, 40 Walk, and be cheerful once again; resume That excellent complexion, which did steal The eyes of young and old. Care not for me; I can go home alone, p.-7

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Marina. Well, I will go; But yet I have no desire to it. Dionyza. Come, come, I know 'tis good for you. Walk half an hour, Leonine, at the least* Remember what I have said. Leonine. I warrant you, madam. Dionyza. I'll leave you, my sweet lady, for a while. 50 Pray, walk softly, do not heat your blood. What! I must have care of you. Marina. My thanks, sweet madam. [Dionyza goes Is this wind westerly that blows ? Leonine. South-west. Marina. When I was born, the wind was north. Leonine. Was't so ? Marina. My father, as nurse said, did never fear, But cried 'Good seamen!' to the sailors, galling His kingly hands, haling ropes;. And, clasping to the mast, endured a sea That almost burst the deck. Leonine. When was this ? •60 Marina. When I was born. Never was waves nor wind more violent} And from the ladder-tackle washes off A canvas-climber. 'Ha!' says one, 'wolt out?' And with a dropping industry they skip From stem to stern; the boatswain whistles, and The master calls and trebles their confusion. Leonine. Come, say your prayers. Marina. What mean you ? Leonine. If you require a little space for prayer, 70 I grant it. Pray; but be not tedious, For the gods are quick of ear, and I am sworn To do my work with haste.

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Marina. Why will you kill me? Leonine. T o satisfy my lady.. Marina. Why would she have me killed? Now, as I can remember, by my troth, I never did her hurt in all my life. I never spake bad word, nor did ill turn T o any living creature; believe me, la, I never killed a mouse, nor hurt a fly, Nor trod upon a worm against my will, 80 But I wept for't. How have I offended, Wherein my death might yield her any profit, Or my life imply her any danger ? Leonine. My commission Is not to reason of the deed, but do't. Marina. You will not do't for all the world, I hope. You are well-favoured, and your looks foreshow You have a gentle heart. I saw you lately, When you caught hurt in parting two that fought. Good sooth, it showed well in you. Do so now. 9° Your lady seeks my life; come you between, And save poor me, the weaker. Leonine. I am sworn, And will dispatch. [he seizes her 1

Enter Pirates*

{Leonine runs away 1 Pirate. Hold, villain! 2 Pirate. A prize! a prize! 3 Pirate. Half-part, mates, half-part. Come let's have her aboard suddenly. [they carry off Marina Re-enter LEON WE Leonine. These roguing thieves serve the great pirate Valdes; And they have seized Marina. Let her go 5

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100 There's no hope she will return. I'll swear she's dead, And thrown into the sea. But I'll see further. Perhaps they will but please themselves upon her, Not carry her aboard. If she remain, Whom they have ravished must by me be slain. [he goes

[4. 2.]

Mytikne. A room in a brothel Enter Pandar, Bawd, and BOULT

Pandar. Boult! Boult. Sir? Pandar. Search the market narrowly; Mytilene is full of gallants. We lost top much money this mart by being too wenchless. Bazod. We were never so much out of creatures. We have but poor three, and they can do no more than they can do; and with continual action are even as good as rotten. 10 Pandar. Therefore let's have fresh ones, whate'er we pay for them., If there be not a conscience to be used in every trade, we shall never prosper. Bawd. Thou sayest true: 'tis not our bringing up of poor bastards—as, I think, I have brought up some eleven— Boult. Ay, to eleven; and brought them down again. But shall I search the market ? Bawd. What else, man ? The stuff we have, a strong wind will blow it to pieces, they are so pitifully sodden. 20 Pandar. Thou sayest true; they're too unwholesome, o' conscience. The poor Transylvanian is dead, that lay with the little baggage.

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Boult. Ay, she quickly pooped him; she made him roast-meat for worms. But I'll go search the market. [he goes

Pandar. Three or four thousand chequins were as pretty a proportion to live quietly, and so give over. Bawd. Why to give over, I pray you ? is it a shame to get when we are old ? Pandar. O, our credit comes not in like the commodity, nor the commodity wages not with the danger: 30 therefore, if in our youths we could pick up some pretty estate, 'twere not amiss to keep our door hatched. Besides, the sore terms we stand upon with the gods will be strong with us for giving o'er. Bawd. Come, other sorts offend as well as we. Pandar. As well as we ? ay, and better too; we offend worse. Neither is our profession any trade; it's no calling. But here comes Boult. Re-enter BOULT, with the Pirates and MAUN A Boult. Come your ways, my masters; you say she's a virgin ? 40 1 Pirate. O, sir, we doubt it not. Boult. Master, I have gone through for this piece you see. If you like her, so; if not, I have lost my earnest. Bawd. Boult, has she any qualities ? Boult. She has a good face, speaks well, and has excellent good clothes; there's no farther necessity of qualities can make her be refused. Bawd. What's her price, Boult? Boult. It cannot be bated one doit of a thousand 50 pieces. Pandar. Well, follow me, my masters, you shall have your money presently. Wife, take her in; instruct her

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what she has to do, that she may not be raw in her entertainment. [Pandar and Pirates go Bawd. Boult, take you the marks of her, the colour of her hair, complexion, height, her age, with warrant of her virginity; and cry ' H e that will give most shall have her first.' Such a maidenhead were no cheap 60 thing, if men were as they have been. Get this done as I command you. Boult. Performance shall follow. [he goes Marina. Alack that Leonine was so slack, so slow! He should have struck, not spoke; or that these pirates, Not enough barbarous, had not o'erboard Thrown me to seek my mother! Baiod. Why lament you, pretty one? Marina. That I am pretty. Bawd. Come, the gods have done their part in you. 70 Marina. I accuse them not. Bawd. You are light into my hands, where you are like to live. Marina. The more my fault, To 'scape his hands where I was like to die. Bawd. Ay, and you shall live in pleasure. Marina. No. Bawd. Yes, indeed shall you, and taste gentlemen of all fashions. You shall fare well; you shall have the difference of all complexions. What do you stop your 80 ears? Marina. Are you a woman ? Bawd. What would you have me be, an I be not a woman ? Marina. An honest woman, or not a woman. Bawd. Marry, whip the gosling: I think I shall have something to do with you. Come, you're a young foolish sapling, and must be bowed as I would have you.

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Marina. The gods defend me! Bawd. If it please the gods to defend you by men, then men must comfort you, men must feed you, men 90 stir you up. Boult's returned. Re-enter BOVLT Now, sir, hast thou cried her through the market? Boult. I have cried.her almost to the number of her hairs; I.have drawn her picture with my voice. Bawd. And I prithee tell me, how dost thou find the inclination of the peuple, especially of the younger sort? Boult. Faith, they listened to me as they would have hearkened to their father's testament. There was a Spaniard's mouth wat'red, and he went to bed to her 100 very description. Bawd. We shall have him here to-morrow with his best ruff on. Boult. To-night, to-night. But, mistress, do you know the French knight that cowers i'the hams? Bawd. Who, Monsieur Veroles ? Boult. Ay, he: he offered to cut a caper at the proclamation; but he made a groan at it, and swore he would see her to-morrow. Bawd. Well, well; as for him, he brought his disease n o hither: here he does but repair it. I know he will come in our shadow, to scatter his crowns in the sun. Boult. Well, if we had of every nation a traveller, we should lodge them with this sign. Bawd. Pray you, come hither awhile. You have fortunes coming upon you. Mark me: you must seem to do that fearfully which you commit willingly, despise profit where you have most gain. To weep that you live as ye do makes pity in your lovers: seldom but that

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220 pity begets you a good opinion, and that opinion a mere profit. Marina. I understand you not. Boult. O, take her home, mistress, take her home; these blushes of hers must be quenched with some present practice. Bawd. Thou sayest true, i'faith, so they must; for your bride goes to that with shame which is her way to go with warrant. Boult. Faith, some do, and some do not. But, mistress, 130 if I have bargained for the joint— Bawd. Thou mayest cut a morsel off the spit. Boult. I may so ? Bawd. Who should deny it? Come, young one, I like the manner of your garments well. Boult. Ay, by my faith, they shall not be changed yet. Bawd. Boult, spend thou that in the town; report what a sojourner we have; you'll lose nothing by custom. When nature framed this piece, she meant thee a good turn; therefore say what a paragon she is, and 140 thou hast the harvest out of thine own report. Boult. I warrant you, mistress, thunder shall not so awake the beds of eels as my giving out her beauty stir up the lewdly inclined. I'll bring home some to-night. Bawd. Come your ways; follow me. Marina. If fires be hot, knives sharp, or waters deep, Untied I still my virgin knot will keep. Diana, aid my purpose! Bawd. What have we to do with Diana? Pray you, will you go with us i

[they go

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[4. 3.]

61

Tharsus. A room in the Governor's house 1

Enter CLEON and DIONTZA*

Dionyza. Why are you foolish? Can it be undone? Cleon. O Dionyza, such a piece of slaughter The sun and moon ne'er looked upon! Dionyza. I think you'll turn a child again. Cleon. Were I chief lord of all this spacious world, I'ld give it to undo the deed. A lady, Much less in blood than virtue, yet a princess To equal any single crown o'th'earth I'th'justice of compare! O villain Leonine! Whom thou hast pois'ned too. 10 If thou hadst drunk to him, 't had been a kindness Becoming well thy fact. What canst thou say When noble Pericles shall demand his child ? Dionyza. That she is dead. Nurses are not the fates. To foster is not ever to preserve. She died at night; I'll say so. Who can cross it? Unless you play the pious innocent, And for an honest attribute cry out ' She died by foul play.' Cleon. O, go to. Well, well. Of all the faults beneath the heavens, the gods 20 Do like this worst. Dionyza. Be one of those that thinks The petty wrens of Tharsus will fly hence And open this to Pericles. I do shame To think of what a noble strain you are And of how coward a spirit. Cleon. To such proceeding Who ever but his approbation added,

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4.3.27

Though not his prime consent, he did not flow From honourable sources. Dionyza. Be it so, then. Yet none does know, but you, how she came dead, 30 Nor none can know, Leonine being gone. She did distain my child, and stood between Her and her fortunes; none would look on her, But cast their gazes on Marina's face; Whilst ours was blurted at, and held a malkin, Not worth the time of day. It pierced me thorough; And though you call my course unnatural, You not your child well loving, yet I find It greets me as an enterprise of kindness Performed to your sole daughter. Cleon. Heavens forgive it! 40 Dionyza. And as for Pericles, what should he say? We wept after her hearse, and yet we mourn. Her monument Is almost finished, and her epitaphs In glitt'ring golden characters express A general praise to her, and care in us At whose expense 'tis done. Cleon. Thou art like the harpy, Which, to betray, dost, with thine angel's face, Seize with thine eagle's talents. Dionyza. Ye're like one that superstitiously 50 Do swear to th'gods that winter kills the flies: But yet I know you'll do as I advise. [they go

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Enter GOWER, Before the monument of Marina at Tharsus

Gozoer. Thus time we waste, and longest leagues make short; Sail seas in cockles, have and wish but for't; Making, to take imagination, From bourn to bourn, region to region. By you being pardoned, we commit no crime T o use one language in each several clime Where our scene seems to live. I do beseech you T o learn of me, who stand i'th'gaps to teach you The stages of our story. Pericles Is now again thwarting the wayward seas, 10 Attended on by many a lord and knight, T o see his daughter, all his life's delight. Old Helicanus goes along. Behind Is left to govern it, you bear in mind, Old Escanes, whom Helicanus late Advanced in time to great and high estate. Well-sailing ships and bounteous winds have brought This king to Tharsus—think his pilot thought; So with his steerage shall your thoughts go on— T o fetch his daughter home, who first is gone. 20 Like motes and shadows see them move awhile; Your ears unto your eyes I'll reconcile. DUMB SHOW 1

Enter PERICLES at one door, with all Ms train; CLEON and DIONTZA at the other. CLEON shorn PERICLES the tomb; whereat PERICLES makes lamentation, puts on sackcloth, and in a mighty passion departs? Then CLEON9 DIONTZA, and the rest go also

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4.4.23

See how belief may suffer by foul show! This borrowed passion stands for true-owed woe; And Pericles, in sorrow all devoured, With sighs shot through and biggest tears o'ershowered, Leaves Tharsus and again embarks. He swears Never to wash his face, nor cut his hairs. He puts on sackcloth, and to sea. He bears 30 A tempest, which his mortal vessel tears, And yet he rides it out. Now please you wit The epitaph is for Marina writ By wicked Dionyza. [reads the Inscription on Marina's monument

*The fairest, sweet'st and best, lies here, Who withered in her spring of year. She was of Tyrus the king's daughter, On whom foul death hath made this slaughter; Marina was she-called; and at her birth, Thetis, being proud, swallowed some part o'th'earth. 40 Therefore the earth, fearing to be o'erflowed, Hath Thetis' birth-child on the heavens bestowed; Wherefore she does, and swears she'll never stint, Make raging battery upon shores of flint.' No visor does become black villainy So well as soft and tender flattery. Let Pericles believe his daughter's dead, And bear his courses to be ordered By Lady Fortune; while our scene must play His daughter's woe and heavy well-a-day 50 In her unholy service. Patience, then, And think you now are all in Mytilen. [he goes

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[4. 5.]

65

Mytilene. A street before the brothel 1

Enter two Gentlemen'' from the brothel

1 Gentleman. Did you ever hear the like ? 2 Gentleman, No, nor never shall do in such a place as this, she being once gone. 1 Gentleman. But to have divinity preached there! did you ever dream of such a thing? 2 Gentleman. No, no. Come, I am for no more bawdy-houses; shall's go hear the vestals sing? 1 Gentleman. I'll do any thing now that is virtuous; but I am out of the road of rutting for ever, [they go

[4. 6.]

The same. A room in the brothel Enter Pandar, Bawd, and BOVVT

Pandar. Well, I had rather than twice the worth of her she had ne'er come here. Bawd. Fie, fie upon her! she's able to freeze the god Priapus, and undo a whole generation. We must either get her ravished or be rid of her. When she should do for clients her fitment and do me the kindness of our profession, she has me her quirks, her reasons, her master-reasons, her prayers, her knees; that she would make a puritan of the devil, if he should cheapen a kiss of her. 10 Boult. Faith, I must ravish her, or she'll disfurnish us of all our cavalleria and make our swearers priests. Pandar. Now, the pox upon her green-sickness for me!

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Bawd. Faith, there's no way to be rid on't but by the way to the pox. Here comes the Lord Lysimachus disguised. Boult. We should have both lord and lown, if the peevish baggage would but give way to customers. 'Enter LrsiMACHus* 20 Lysimachus. How now! How a dozen of virginities? Bawd. Now, the gods to-bless your honour! Boult. I am glad to see your honour in good health. Lysimachus. You may so; 'tis the better for you that your resorters stand upon sound legs. How now, wholesome iniquity, have you that a man may deal withal, and defy the surgeon ? Bawd. We have here one, sir, if she would—but there never came her like in Mytilene. Lysimachus. If she'ld do the deed of darkness, thou 30 wouldst say. Bawd. Your honour knows what 'tis to say well enough. Lysimachus. Well, call forth, call forth. Boult. For flesh and blood, sir, white and red, you shall see a rose; and she were a rose indeed, if she had but— Lysimachus. What, prithee? Boult. O, sir, I can be modest. Lysimachus. That dignifies the renown of a bawd, no 40 less than it gives a good report to a number to be chaste. [Boult goes

Bawd. Here comes that which grows to the stalk; never plucked yet, I can assure you. Re-enter BOULT with MARINA Is she not a fair creature?

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Lysimachus. Faith, she would serve after a long voyage at sea. Well, there's for you: leave us. Bawd. I beseech your honour, give me leave a word, and I'll have done presently. Lysimachus. I beseech you, do. Bawd, [to Marina] First, I would have you note, this is an honourable man. 50 Marina. I desire to find him so, that I may worthily note him. Bawd. Next, he's the governor of this country, and a man whom I am bound to. Marina. If he govern the country, you are bound to him indeed; buthowhonourableheis in that, I know not. Bawd. Pray you, without any more virginal fencing, will you use him kindly ? He will line your apron with gold. Marina. What he will do graciously, I will thankfully 60 receive. Lysimachus. Ha'you done? Bawd. My lord, she's not paced yet; you must take some pains to work her to your manage. Come, we will leave his honour and her together. Go thy ways. [Bawd, Pandar, and Boult depart Lysimachus. Now, pretty one, how long have you been at this trade ? Marina. What trade, sir ? Lysimachus. Why, I cannot name't but I shall offend. Marina. I cannot be offended with my trade. Please 70 you to name it. Lysimachus. How long have you been of this profession ? Marina. E'er since I can remember. Lysimachus. Did you go to't so young ? Were you a gamester at five or at seven ?

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Marina. Earlier too, sir, if now I be one. Lysimachus. Why, the house you dwell in proclaims you to be a creature of sale. 80 Marina. Do you know this house to be a place of such resort, and will come into't? I hear say you're of honourable parts and are the governor of this place. Lysimachus. Why, hath your principal made known unto you who I am ? Marina. Who is my principal? Lysimachus. Why, your herb-woman; she that sets seeds and roots of shame and iniquity. O, you have heard something of my power, and so stand aloof for more serious wooing. But I protest to thee, pretty one, QO my authority shall not see thee, or else look friendly upon thee. Come, bring me to some private place. Come, come. Marina. If you were born to honour, show it now; If put upon you, make the judgement good That thought you worthy of it. Lysimachus. How's this? how's this? Some more; be sage. Marina. For me That am a maid, though most ungentle fortune Have placed me in this sty, where, since I came, Diseases have been sold dearer than physic— 100 That the gods Would set me free from this unhallowed place, Though they did change me to the meanest bird That flies i'th'purer air! Lysimachus. I did not think thou couldst have spoke so well; Ne'er dreamed thou couldst. Had I brought hither a corrupted mind, Thy speech had altered it. Hold, here's gold for thee:

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Persever in that clear way thou goest, And the gods strengthen thee! Marina. The good gods preserve you! Lysimachus. For me, be you thoughten no That I came with no ill intent; for to me The very doors and windows savour vilely. Fare thee well. Thou art a piece of virtue, and I doubt not but thy training hath been noble. Hold, here's more gold for thee. A curse upon him, die he like a thief, That robs thee of thy goodness! If thou dost Hear from me, it shall be for thy good. Re-enter BOULT Boult. I beseech your honour, one piece for me. Lysimachus. Avaunt, thou damned door-keeper! 120 Your house, but for this virgin that doth prop it, Would sink, and overwhelm you. Away! [hegoes Boult. How's this? We must take another course with you. If your peevish chastity, which is not worth a breakfast in the cheapest country under the cope, shall undo a whole household, let me be gelded like a spaniel. Come your ways. Marina. Whither would you have me? Boult. I must have your maidenhead taken off, or the common hangman shall execute it. Come your ways. 130 We'll have no more gentlemen driven away. Come your ways, I say. Re-enter Bawd and Pandar Bawd. How now! what's the matter ? Boult. Worse and worse, mistress; she has here spoken holy words to the Lord Lysimachus. Bawd. O abominable!