That for this twelve month, fhe will 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 get accefs to her, my lord? Sim. "Faith, by no means; the hath fo ftrictly ty'd

her

To her chamber, that it is impoffible.

One twelve moons more fhe'll wear Diana's livery;
This by the eye of Cynthia hath fhe vow'd',
And on her virgin honour will not break.

3 Knight. Loth to bid farewel, we take our leaves.

[Exeunt.
Sim. So,
They're well difpatch'd; now to my daughter's letter:
She tells me here, fhe'll wed the stranger knight,
Or never more to view nor day nor light.

'Tis well, miftrefs, your choice agrees with mine;
I like that well :-nay, how abfolute she's in't,
Not minding whether I diflike or no.

Well, I commend her choice, and will no longer
Have it be delay'd: foft, here he comes ;-I
Muft diffemble it.

Enter Pericles.

Per. All fortune to the good Simonides!

Sim. To you as much! Sir, I am beholden to you,

prefent play). He fends two rolls of paper to her, containing their names, &c. and defires her to choose which she will marry. She writes him a letter (in answer), of which Appolyn is the bearer, -that she will have the man "whiche hath paffed the daungerous undes and perylles of the fea-all other to refufe." The fame circumftance is mentioned by Gower, who has introduced three fuitors instead of two, in which our author has followed him.

MALONE.

This by the eye of Cynthia bath fhe vow'd,] It were to be wished that Simonides (who is reprefented as a blameless character) had hit on fome lefs fhameful expedient for the difmiffion of these wooers. Here he tells them as a folemn truth, what he knows to be a fiction of his own. STEEVENS.

VOL. II.

F

For

•For your sweet mufick this last night*: I do
Proteft, my ears were never better fed
With fuch delightful pleafing harmony.

Per. It is your grace's pleasure to commend;
defert.

Not my

Sim. Sir, you are mufick's master.

Per. The worst of all her scholars, my good lord. Sim. Let me afk you one thing. What do you think

Of my daughter, fir?

Per. A moft virtuous princess.

Sim. And he is fair too, is fhe not?

Per. As a fair day in fummer; wond'rous fair. Sim. My daughter, fir, thinks very well of you; Ay, fo well, that you must be her master, And fhe'll be your scholar; therefore look to it. Per. I am unworthy to be her school-mafter. Sim. She thinks not fo; perufe this writing else.

Sir, I am beholden to you, For your feet mufick, this last night-1 Here alfo our author has followed Gower :

"She, to doone hir faders heft,
"Hir harpe fet, and in the feste
"Upon a chaire, whiche thei fette,
"Hir felfe next to this man she sette.
"With harpe both and eke with mouth
"To him he did all that the couth,

"To make him chere; and ever he figheth,
"And he him afketh howe him liketh.
"Madame, certes well he faied,
"But if ye the measure plaied

"Whiche, if you lift, I fhall you lere,
"It were a glad thing for to here.
"A leve, fir, tho quod fhe,

"Nowe take the harpe, and lete me fee

"Of what measure that ye mene.

"He taketh the harpe, and in his wife

"He tempreth, and of fuch affize

"Synginge he harpeth forth withall,

"That as a voice celeftial

"Hem thought it fowned in her ere,

"As though that it an angell were." MALONE.

Per

Per. What's here!

A letter, that fhe loves the knight of Tyre?
'Tis the king's fubtilty to have my life.
Oh feek not to intrap, my gracious lord,
A ftranger and diftreffed gentleman,

[Afide

That never aim'd so high to love your daughter,
But bent all offices to honour her.

Sim. Thou haft bewitch'd my daughter, and

A villain.

thou art

Per. By the gods I have not;

Never did thought of mine levy offence;

Nor never did my actions yet commence,

A deed might gain her love, or your displeasure,
Sim. Traitor, thou lieft.

Per. Traitor!

Sim. Ay, traitor.

Per. Even in his throat, (unless it be a king) That calls me traitor, I return the lie.

Sim. Now, by the gods, I do applaud his courage.

[Afide
Per. My actions are as noble as my thoughts,
That never relifh'd of a base descent 3.
I came unto your court, for honour's caufe,
And not to be a rebel to her state;

And he that otherwife accounts of me,
This sword fhall prove, he's honour's enemy.
Sim. No!-

Here comes my daughter, fhe can witness it".

3 That never relish'd of a bafe defcent.] So in Hamlet: "That has no relish of falvation in it."

Again, in Macbeth:

4

"So well thy words become thee as thy wounds
"They mack of honour both." MALONE.

;

No, here comes my daughter, he can witness it.] Thus all the copies. Simonides, I think, means to fay--Not a rebel to our fate! Here comes my daughter: She can prove, thou art one. Perhaps, however, the author wrote - Now, Here comes, &c.In Othello we meet nearly the fame words :

"Here comes the lady, let her witness it."

F 2

MALONE.

Enter

Enter Thaifa.

Per. Then, as you are as virtuous as fair,
Refolve your angry father, if my tongue
Did e'er folicit, or my hand fubfcribe
To any fyllable that made love to you?
Thai. Why, fir, say if you had,

Who takes offence at that would make me glad?
Sim. Yea, mistress, are you so peremptory?
I am glad of it with all my heart. [Afide.] I'll tame

you;

I'll bring you in fubjection. Will you,
Not having my confent, beftow your love
And your affections on a stranger? (who
For ought I know, may be, nor can I think
The contrary, as great in blood as I myself). [Afide.
Therefore, hear you, miftrefs; either frame your will
To mine-and you, fir, hear you, either be
Rul'd by me, or I'll make you-man and wife ;
Nay, come, your hands and lips muft feal it too:
And being join'd, I'll thus your hopes deftroy; -
And for a further grief,-God give you joy!-
What, are you both pleas'd?

Thai. Yes, if you love me, fir.

Per. Even as my life, my blood that fosters it ".
Sim. What, are you both agreed?
Both. Yes, if it please your majefty.

Sim. It pleaseth me fo well, that I'll fee you wed; Then, with what hafte you can, get you to bed. [Exeunt.

s Even as my life, my blood that fofters it.] Even as my life loves my blood that fupports it.-The quarto 1619, and the subfequent copies, read

Even as my life or blood that fofters it. MALONE.

АСТ.

Gow. Now fleep yflaked hath the rout";
No din but fnores, the houfe about,
Made louder by the o'er-fed breast 7
Of this most pompous marriage, feast.
The cat with eyne of burning coal,
Now couches from the moufe's hole ;
And crickets fing at the oven's mouth,
As the blither for their drouth 9.

• Now fleep yflaked hath the rout;

No din but fnores about the house,]

8

As Gower's fpeeches are all in rhime, it is clear that the old copy is here corrupt. It first occurred to me that the author might have written,

Now fleep yflaked hath the roufe

i. e. the caroufal. But the mere tranfpofition of the latter part of the second line, renders any farther change unneceffary. Rout is likewife ufed by Gower for a company in the tale of Appolinus, the Pericles of the present play :

Again:

"Upon a tyme with a route

"This lord to play goeth hym out."

"It fell a daie thei riden oute,

"The kinge and queene and all the route."- MALONE. Made louder by the o'er-fed breaft,] The quarto 1619, the folios, and Mr. Rowe, all read, o'er fee beaft. The true reading has been recovered from the first quarto. MALONE.

No din but fnores, the boufe about,

Made louder by the o'er-fed breast,] So Virgil, speaking of Rhamnes who was killed in the midnight expedition of Nifus ́and Euryalus:

Rhamneten aggreditur, qui forte tapetibus altis

"Extructus, toto proflabat pectore fomnum." STEEVENS. from the mouse's hole ;] may perhaps mean-at fome little diftance from the moufe's hole. I believe, however, we ought -'fore the moufe's hole. MALONE.

to read,

And crickets fing at the oven's mouth,

Are the blither for their drouth:]

I fuppofe we should read - as the blither-i. e. as if they were, &c. STEEVENS.

F 3

Hymen