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.

Cer. Whate'er it be,

'Tis wondrous heavy. Wrench it open straight;
If the sea's stomach be o'ercharg'd with gold,
It is a good constraint of fortune, that

It belches upon us.*

2 Gent. 'Tis so, my lord.

Cer. How close 'tis caulk'd and bitum'd !—

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; so,-up with it.

O you most potent god! 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.

Here I give to understand,

(If e'er this coffin drive 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,

The gods requite his charity !

If thou liv'st, Pericles, thou hast a heart

[Reads.

That even cracks for woe !-This chanc'd to-night. 2 Gent. Most likely, sir.

Cer. Nay, certainly to-night;

For look, how fresh she looks!-They were too rough, That threw her in the sea. Make fire within;

Fetch hither all the boxes in my closet.

[4] 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.

Death may usurp on nature many hours,
And yet the fire of life kindle again
The overpressed spirits. I have heard
Of an Egyptian, had nine hours lien dead,
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 music that we have,` Cause it to sound, 'beseech you.5

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 entranc'd
Above five hours. See, how she 'gins to blow
Into life's flower again!

1 Gent. The heavens, sir,

Through you, increase our wonder, and set up
Your fame for ever.

Cer. 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

Appear, to make the world twice rich. O live,

And make us weep to hear your fate, fair creature,

Rare as you seem to be!

Thai. O dear Diana,

[She moves.

Where am I? Where's my lord? What world is this?

2 Gent. Is not this strange?

1 Gent. Most rare.

Cer. Hush, gentle neighbours;

Lend me your hands: to the next chamber bear her.

Get linen; now this matter must be look'd to,

For her relapse is mortal. Come, come, come;
And Esculapius guide us!

[Exeunt, carrying THAISA away.

[5] Paulina in like manner in The Winter's Tale, when she pretends to bring Hermione to life, orders music to be played, to awake her from her 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 music there!"

trance.

[6] So, in The Tempest:

"The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,

"And say what thou seest yond?"

MALONE.

MALONE.

SCENE III.

Tharsus. A Room in CLEON'S House.

Enter PERICLES,

CLEON, DIONYZA, LYCHORIDA, and MARINA.

Per. Most honour'd Cleon, I must needs be gone ;
My twelve months are expir'd, 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!

Cle. Your shafts of fortune, though they hurt you mortally,

Yet glance full wand'ringly on us."

Dion. O your sweet queen!

That the strict fates had pleas'd you had brought her hither,

To have bless'd mine eyes!

Per. We cannot but obey

The powers above us. Could I rage and roar
As doth the sea she lies in, yet the end
Must be as 'tis. My babe Marina (whom
For she was born at sea, I have nam'd so,) here
I charge your charity withal, and leave her
The infant of your care; beseeching you

To give her princely training, that she may be
Manner'd as she is born.

Cle. Fear not, my lord:

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. If neglection
Should therein make me vile, the common body,
By you reliev'd, 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!

Per. I believe you;

Your honour and your goodness teach me credit,
Without your vows. Till she be married, madam,
By bright Diana, whom we honour all,
Unscissar'd shall this hair of mine remain,

[7] The sense of the passage should seem to be as follows.-All the mal ice of fortune is not confined to yourself. Though her arrows strike deeply at you, yet wandering from their mark, they sometimes glance on us; as at present, when the uncertain state of Tyre deprives us of your company at

'Tharsus.

STEEVENS.

Though I show will in't. So I take my leave.
Good madam, make me blessed in your care
In bringing up my child.

Dion. I have one myself,

Who shall not be more dear to my respect,
Than yours, my lord.

Per. Madam, my thanks and prayers.

Cle. We'll bring your grace even to the edge o'the shore ;

9

Then give you up to the mask'd Neptune, and

The gentlest winds of heaven.

Per. I will embrace

Your offer. Come, dear'st madam.--O, no tears,
Lychorida, no tears :

Look to your little mistress, on whose grace

You may depend hereafter.-Come, my lord. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

Ephesus. A Room in CERIMON's House. Enter CERIMON and THAISA.

Cer. Madam, this letter, and some certain jewels,
Lay with you in your coffer: which are now
At your command. Know you the character ?
Thai. It is my lord's.

That I was shipp'd at sea, I well remember,
Even on my yearning time; but whether there
Delivered or no, 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,

And never more have joy.

Cer. Madam, if this you purpose as you speak,

Diana's temple is not distant far,

Where you may 'bide until your date expire."

[8] "Though I appear wilful and perverse by such conduct." MALONE. 19] Insidious waves that wear a treacherous smile:

"Subdola pellacis ridet clementia ponti." Lucretius. STEEV. [1] Until you die. So, in Romeo and Juliet:

"The date is out of such prolixity."

The expression of the text is again used by our author in The Rape of

ucrece:

"An expir'd date, cancell'd, ere well begun."

Again, in Romeo and Juliet:

and expire the term

"Of a despised life."

MALONE.

Moreover, if you please, a niece of mine
Shall there attend you.

Thai. My recompense is thanks, that's all ;
Yet my good will is great, though the gift small.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV.

Enter GOWER.

Gow. Imagine Pericles at Tyre,
Welcom'd to his own desire.
His woful queen leave at Ephess,
To Dian there a votaress.

Now to Marina bend your mind,
Whom our fast growing scene must find
At Tharsus, and by Cleon train'd

In music, letters; who hath gain'd

Of education all the grace,

Which makes her both the heart and place
Of general wonder. 2

But alack!

That monster envy, oft the wrack

Of earned praise, Marina's life

Seeks to take off by treason's knife.

And in this kind hath our Cleon

One daughter, and a wench full grown,
Even ripe for marriage fight ;3 this maid
Hight Philoten: and it is said

For certain in our story, she

Would ever with Marina be :

Be't when she weav'd the sleided silk 4
With fingers, long, small, white as milk;
Or when she would with sharp neeld wound
The cambric, which she made more sound
By hurting it; or when to the lute

[2] Such an education as rendered her the center and situation of general wonder. We still use the heart of oak for the central part of it, and the heart of the land in much such another sense. Shakspeare in Coriolanus says, that one of his ladies is-" the spire and top of praise." STEEVENS.

[3] i. e. the combats of Venus; or night, which needs no explanation. "Let heroes in the dusty field delight,

"Those limbs were fashion'd for a softer fight."
Dryden's version of Ovid's Epistle from Helen to Paris.
STEEVENS.

[4] Sleided silk is untwisted silk, prepared to be used in the weaver's sley or slay.

PERCY.