Did the sea toss upon our shore this chest ; 'Tis of some wreck. Cer. Set 't down, let's look on it. 2 Gent. 'Tis like a coffin, sir. Whate'er it be, It belches upon us.3 2 Gent. 'Tis so, my lord. Cer. How close 'tis caulk'd and bitum'd!-4 Did the sea cast it up? Serv. I never saw so huge a billow, sir, As toss'd it upon shore. Cer. Come, wrench it open; Soft, soft!-it smells most sweetly in my sense. 2 Gent. A delicate odour. Cer. As ever hit my nostril;5 so,-up with it. O you most potent gods! what 's here? a corse! i Gent. Most strange! Cer. Shrouded in cloth of state; balm'd and entreasur'd With bags of spices full! A passport too! Apollo, perfect me i' the characters! [Unfolds a Scroll. 2 If the sea's stomach be o'ercharg'd with gold, &c.] This indelicate allusion has already occurred in the scene between Pericles and the Fishermen, and may also be found in King Richard III: "Whom their o'ercloyed country vomits forth, 3 It is a good constraint of fortune, that Steevens. It belches upon us.] This singular expression is again applied by our author to the sea, in The Tempest: "You are three men of sin, whom destiny '(That hath to instrument this lower world, "And what is in 't,) the never-surfeited sea "Hath caused to belch up!" Malone. 4 How close 'tis caulk'd and bitum'd!] Bottom'd, which is the reading of all the copies, is evidently a corruption. We had before: "Sir, we have a chest beneath the hatches, caulked and bitumed ready." Malone. 5 As ever hit my nostril ;] So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor : 66 -as ever offended nostril." Steevens. 5 Apollo, perfect me i' the characters!] Cerimon, having made physick his peculiar study, would naturally, in any emer Here I give to understand, (If e'er this coffin drive a-land,7) I, king Pericles, have lost This queen, worth all our mundane costs She was the daughter of a king: If thou liv'st, Pericles, thou hast a heart [Reads. That even cracks for woe!-This chanc'd to-night. Cer. Nay, certainly to-night; For look, how fresh she looks!-They were too rough, Fetch hither all the boxes in my closet. gency, invoke Apollo. On the present occasion, however, he addresses him as the patron of learning. Malone. 7 (If e'er this coffin drive a-land,)] This uncommon phrase is repeatedly used in Twine's translation: "Then give thanks unto God, who in my flight hath brought me a-land into your costes." Again: "certaine pyrats which were come a-land." Steevens. 8 mundane - i. e. worldly. Malone. 9 Who finds her, give her burying, She was the daughter of a king:] The author had, perhaps, the sacred writings in his thoughts: "Go see now this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter.” 2 Kings, ix, 36. Malone. The following, in Twine's translation, are the first words of Lucina on her recovery: " touch me not otherwise than thou oughtest to doc, for I am a king's daughter and the wife of a king." Steevens. That even cracks for woe !] So, in Hamlet: "Now cracks a noble heart." Even is the reading of the second quarto. The first has ever. 2 Malone. I have heard] For the insertion of the word-have, which both the metre and the sense require, I am responsible. 3 66 Malone. nine hours lien dead,] So, in the Ixviiith Psalm: "Steevens. PRINCE OF TYRE. By good appliance was recovered. Enter a Servant, with Boxes, Napkins, and Fire. Well said, well said; the fire and the cloths. The rough and woful musick that we have, Cause it to sound, 'beseech you." 209 The vial once more;-How thou stirr'st, thou block?— The musick there. I pray you, give her air: 4 Well said, well said; the fire and the cloths.] So, on a similar occasion, in Othello, Act V, sc. i: O, a chair, a chair! O, that's well said, the chair; "Some good man bear him carefully from hence." Malone. 5 The rough and woful musick that we have. Cause it to sound, 'beseech you.] Paulina in like manner in The Winter's Tale, when she pretends to bring Hermione to life, orders musick to be played, to awake her from her trance. So also, the Physician in King Lear, when the King is about to wake from the sleep he had fallen into, after his frenzy: "Please you draw near ;-Louder the musick there!" Malone. 6 The vial once more ;—How thou stirr’st, thou block 2” The musick there.] The first quarto reads,-the viol once more. The second and the subsequent editions-the vial. If the first be right, Cerimon must be supposed to repeat his orders that they should again sound their rough and woful musick. So, in Twelfth Night : "That strain again!” The word viol has occurred before in this play in the sense of violin. I think, however, the reading of the second quarto is right. Cerimon, in order to revive the Queen, first commands loud musick to be played, and then a second time administers some cordial to her, which we may suppose had been before administered to her when his servants entered with the napkins, &c. See Confessio Amantis, p. 180: 66 this worthie kinges wife "And put a licour in hir mouthe "Which is to few clerkes couthe." Little weight is to be laid on the spelling of the first quarto, for vial was formerly spelt viol. In the quarto edition of King Richard II, 1615: T2 Gentlemen, This queen will live: nature awakes; a warmth Into life's flower again! 1 Gent. The heavens, sir, Through you, increase our wonder, and set up Cer. She is alive; behold, Her eyelids, cases to those heavenly jewels Begin to part their fringes of bright gold;" Appear, to make the world twice rich. O live, "Edward's seven sons whereof thyself art one, Again, in the folio, 1623, ibidem : "One viol full of Edward's sacred blood." Again, in The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet, 1562 : "She poured forth into the vyoll of the fryer 7 "Water - a warmth "" Malone. Breathes out of her;] The old copies read-a warmth breath out of her. The correction was suggested by Mr. Steevens. The second quarto, and the modern editions, read unintelligibly: Nature awakes a warm breath out of her. Malone. 66 In Twine's translation it is to Cerimon's pupil Machaon, and not to Cerimon himself, that the lady is indebted for her recovery: he pulled the clothes from the ladies bosome, and powred foorth the ointment, and bestowing it abroad with his hand perceived some warmth in her breast, and that there was life in her body.-Then went Machaon unto his master Cerimon, and saide: The woman whom thou thinkest to be deade is alive." &c. Steevens. 8 cases to those heavenly jewels-] The same expression occurs in The Winter's Tale: " they seem'd almost, with staring on one another, to tear the cases of their eyes." Malone. Her eyelids, cases to those heavenly jewels -] So, in Sidney's Arcadia, Book III: "Her faire lids, then hiding her fairer eyes, seemed unto him sweet boxes, rich in themselves, but containing in them far richer jewels." Steevens. 9 Begin to part their fringes of bright gold;] So, in The Tem pest: "The fringed curtains of thine eye advance, [She moves. O dear Diana, Rare as you seem to be! Thai. Where am I? Where's my lord? What world is this?1 2 Gent. Is not this strange? Hush, gentle neighbours; Lend me your hands: to the next chamber bear her.2 Get linen; now this matter must be look'd to, For her relapse is mortal. Come, come, come; And Esculapius guide us! [Exeunt, carrying THAI. away. SCENE III. Tharsus. A Room in Cleon's House. Enter PERICLES, CLEON, DIONYZA, LYCHORIDA, and Per. Most honour'd Cleon, I must needs be gone; Take from my heart all thankfulness! The gods Cle. Your shafts of fortune, though they hurt you mortally,3 Yet glance full wand'ringly on us.4 1 What world is this?] So, in the Confessio Amantis : "And first hir eyen up she caste, "And whan she more of strength caught, "Hir armes both forth she straughte; "Helde up hir honde and piteouslie "She spake, and said, where am I? "Where is my lorde? What worlde is this? 2 Hush, gentle neighbours;— to the next chamber bear her.] Thus, in Twine's translation:" And when he had so saide, he tooke the body reverently in his armes, and bare it unto his owne chamber," &c. So, in King Henry IV, Part II: "I pray you, take me up, and bear me hence "Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends, Steevens. "Will whisper musick to my wearied spirit." Malone. 3 though they hurt you mortally,] First quarto-haunt. The folios and the modern editions read-hate. Malone. 4 Your shafts of fortune, though they hurt you mortally, |
