MAR.

Well, I will go ;

But yet I have no defire to it.5

DION. Come, come, I know 'tis good for Walk half an hour, Leonine, at the least; Remember what I have faid.

LEON.

you.

I warrant you, madam. DION. I'll leave you, my fweet lady, for a while; Pray you walk foftly, do not heat your blood : What! I must have a care of you.

MAR. When I was born, the wind was north.
LEON.

Was't fo?

MAR. My father, as nurfe faid, did never fear, But cry'd, good feamen! to the failors, galling His kingly hands with hauling of the ropes ;"

Of young and old.”

To referve is here, to guard; to preserve carefully. So, in Shakspeare's 32d Sonnet:

Referve them, for my love, not for their rhymes."

5 Well, I will go ;

MALONE.

But yet I have no defire to it.] So, in The Merchant of Venice:

"I have no mind of feafting forth to-night,
"But I will go." STEEVENS.

"His kingly hands with hauling of the ropes ;] For the infertion of the words with and of I am answerable.

MALONE.

So, in Sidney's Arcadia, Book II: " the princes did in their countenances accufe no point of feare, but encouraging the failors to doe what might be done (putting their hands to every moft paineful office) taught them to promife themselves the beft," &c. STERVENS.

And, clafping to the maft, endur'd a fea

That almost burft the deck," and from the ladder

tackle

Wafh'd off a canvas-climber: Ha! fays one,
Wilt out? and, with a dropping industry,

They fkip from ftem to ftern :9 the boatswain whistles,

That almost burst the deck,] Burst is frequently used by our author in an active fenfe. See Vol. XII. p. 152, n. 5.

8 from the ladder-tackle

MALONE.

Wafh'd off a canvas-climber:] A fhip-boy. So, in King Henry V:

and in them behold

"Upon the hempen-tackle fhip-boys climbing.

I fufpect that a line preceding thefe two, has been loft, which perhaps might have been of this import:

O'er the good ship the foaming billow breaks,

And from the ladder tackle &c. MALONE.

A canvas-climber is one who climbs the maft, to furl, or unfurl, the canvas or fails. STEEVENS.

Malone fufpects that fome line preceding these has been loft, but that I believe is not the cafe, this being merely a continuation of Marina's defcription of the ftorm, which was interrupted by Leonine's asking her, When was that? and by her answer, When I was born, never were waves nor wind more violent. Put this question and the answer in a parenthesis, and the defcription goes on without difficulty:

endur'd a fea

That almoft burft the deck,

And from the ladder-tackle washes off" &c.

M. MASON.

In confequence of Mr. M. Mafon's remark, I have regulated the text anew, and with only the change of a fingle tenfe, (wash'd for washes,) and the omiffion of the ufelefs copulative and. The question of Leonine, and the reply of Marina, which were introduced after the words,

That almost burft the deck,

are juft as proper in their prefent as in their former situation; but do not, as now arranged, interrupt the narrative of Marina.

from stem to ftern:] The old copies read-From ftern

The mafter calls, and trebles their confufion.t

LEON. And when was this?

MAR.

It was when I was born:

Never was waves nor wind more violent.

LEON. Come, fay your prayers fpeedily.
MAR.
What mean you

?

LEON. If you require a little space for prayer,
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.

MAR.

Why, will you

kill me?2

to ftern. But we certainly ought to read-From stem to ftern. So, Dryden :

"Orontes' barque, even in the hero's view,

"From Stem to ftern by waves was overborne.”

A hafty transcriber, or negligent compofitor, might eafily have mistaken the letter m and put rn in its place. MALONE. and trebles their confufion.] So, in King Henry V: "Hear the shrill whistle, which doth order give

"To founds confus'd." MALONE.

2 Leon. Come, say your prayers—. Mar. What mean you?

Leon. If you require a little space for prayer,

I grant it: Pray; be not tedious, &c.

Mar. Why, will you kill me?] So, in Othello:

"Oth. Have you pray'd to night, Desdemona ?—
"If you bethink yourself of any crime
"Unreconcil'd as yet to heaven and grace,
"Solicit for it ftraight.

Def. Alas, my lord, what do you mean by that? "Oth. Well, do it, and be brief.

"Def. Talk you of killing," &c. STEEVENS.

This circumftance is likewife found in the Gefta Romanorum : "Peto domine, says Tharfia, (the Marina of this play) ut fi nulla fpes eft mihi, permittas me deum teftare. Villicus ait, 'teftate; et Deus ipfe fcit quod coactus te interficio.' Illa vero cum effet pofita in oratione, venerunt pyratæ," &c. MALONE. Thus, in Twine's tranflation: "I pray thee, fince there is no

LEON. To fatisfy my lady.

MAR. Why would fhe have me kill'd?
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
To any living creature: believe me, la,
I never kill'd a mouse, nor hurt a fly :
I trod upon a worm against my will,
But I wept for it.3 How have I offended,
Wherein my death might yield her profit, or
My life imply her danger?

LEON.

My commiffion Is not to reason of the deed, but do it.

MAR. You will not do't for all the world, I hope. You are well-favour'd, and your looks foreshow You have a gentle heart. I saw

you lately, When you caught hurt in parting two that fought: Good footh, it show'd well in you; do so now: Your lady feeks my life; come you between, And fave poor me, the weaker.

LEON.

And will despatch.

I am fworn,

hope for me to escape my life, give me licence to fay my prayers before I die. I give thee license, faide the villaine. And I take God to record, that I am constrained to murther thee against my will." STEEVENS.

3 I trod upon a worm against my will,

But I wept for it.] Fenton has transplanted this image into his Mariamne:

when I was a child,

"I kill'd a linnet, but indeed I wept ;
"Heaven vifits not for that."

STEEVENS,

Enter Pirates, whilft MARINA is firuggling.

1 PIRATE. Hold, villain!

[LEONINE runs away.4

2 PIRATE. A prize! a prize!

3 PIRATE. Half-part, mates, half-part. Come, let's have her aboard fuddenly.

[Exeunt Pirates with MARINA.

SCENE II.

The fame.

Re-enter LEONINE.

LEON. These roving thieves ferve the great pirate Valdes ;5

And they have feiz'd Marina. Let her go:

4 Leonine runs away.] So, in Twine's tranflation: "When the villain heard that, he ran away as faft as he could.-Then came the Pyrats and rescued Tharfia, and carried her away to their fhips, and hoifed failes, and departed." STEEVENS.

$ Thefe roving thieves ferve the great pirate Valdes ;] [Old copy-roguing.] The Spanish armada, I believe, furnished our author with this name. Don Pedro de Valdes was an Admiral in that fleet, and had the command of the great galleon of Andalufia. His fhip being disabled, he was taken by Sir Francis Drake, on the twenty-fecond of July, 1588, and fent to Dartmouth. This play therefore, we may conclude, was not written till after that period.-The making one of this Spaniard's anceftors a pirate, was probably relished by the audience in those days. MALONE.

In Robert Greene's Spanish Mafquerado, 1589, the curious reader may find a very particular account of this Valdes, who was commander of the Andalufian troops, and then prifoner in England. STEEVENS.