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On Neptune's billow; half the flood
Hath their keel cut; but fortune's mood
Varies again; the grizzled north
Disgorges such a tempest forth,
That, as a duck for life that dives,
So up and down the poor ship drives.
The lady shrieks, and, well-a-near! 1
Doth 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.2
In your imagination hold

This stage, the ship,3 upon whose deck
The sea-tost Pericles appears to speak.

[Exit.

SCENE I.

Enter PERICLES, on a ship at sea.

Per. Thou god of this great vast, rebuke these

surges,

1 An exclamation equivalent to well-a-day.

2 "The further consequences of this storm I shall not describe; what ensues may be conveniently exhibited in action; but action could not well have displayed all the events that I have now related."

3 It is clear, from these lines, that when the play was originally performed, no attempt was made to exhibit either a sea or a ship.

4 It should be remembered that Pericles is supposed to speak from the deck. Lychorida, on whom he calls, is supposed to be in the cabin beneath. "This great vast" is "this wide expanse." This speech is exhibited in so strange a form in the old editions, that it is here given to enable the reader to judge in what a corrupt state it has come down to us, and be induced to treat the attempts to restore it to integrity with indulgence:

"The God of this great vast, rebuke these surges,

Which wash both heaven and hell; and thou that hast
Upon the windes commaund, bind them in brasse ;
Having called them from the deepe, o still
Thy deafning dreadful thunders, gently quench
Thy nimble sulphirous flashes, o How Lychorida!
How does my queene? thou storm venemously,

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-
ening,

Thy dreadful thunders; gently quench thy nimble
Sulphureous flashes!-O how, Lychorida,

How does my queen!-Thou storm, thou! venomously1
Wilt thou spit all thyself?-The seaman's whistle
Is as a whisper in the ears of death,
Unheard.-Lychorida !—Lucina, O

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 LYCHORIDA, with an Infant.

Lyc. Here is a thing

Too young for such a place, who if it had
Conceit,2 would die as I am like to do.

Take in your arms this piece of your dead queen.
Per. How! how, Lychorida!

Lyc. Patience, good sir; do not assist the storm. Here's all that is left living of your queen,

A little daughter; for the sake of it,

Be manly, and take comfort.

Wilt thou speat all thyself? the sea-mans whistle

Is as a whisper in the eares of death,

Unheard Lychorida? Lucina oh!

Divinest patrioness and my wife gentle

To those that cry by night, convey thy deitie

Aboard our dauncing boat, make swift the pangues

Of my queenes travayles? now Lychorida ?”

Pericles, having called to Lychorida, without the power to make her hear, on account of the tempest, at last, with frantic peevishness, addresses himself to it:

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Having indulged himself in this question, he grows cooler, and observes that the very boatswain's whistle has no more effect on the sailors than the voices of those who speak to the dead. He then repeats his inquiries of Lychorida, but, receiving no answer, concludes with a prayer for his queen.

1 Maliciously,

2 i. e. "who if it had thought."

Per.

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

Vie1 honor with you.

Lyc.

Even for this charge.

Per.

Patience, good sir,

Now, mild may be thy life!

For a more blusterous birth had never babe.

Quiet and gentle thy conditions! 2

For thou art the rudeliest welcomed to this world,
That e'er was prince's 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 it!

Enter two Sailors.

1 Sail. What courage, sir? God save you. Per. Courage enough. I do not fear the flaw;5 It hath done to me the worst. Yet, for the love Of this poor infant, this fresh-new sea-farer,

I would it would be quiet.

6

1 Sail. Slack the bolins there; thou wilt not, wilt thou? Blow and split thyself.

2 Sail. But sea-room, an the brime and cloudy billow kiss the moon, I care not.

1 Sail. 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.

1 That is, "contend with you in honor." The old copy reads, "Use honor with you."

2 Conditions are qualities, dispositions of mind.

3 i. e. noisy.

4 i. e. thou hast already lost more (by the death of thy mother) than thy safe arrival at the port of life can counterbalance, with all to boot that we can give thee. Portage is here used for conveyance into life.

5 A flaw is a stormy gust of wind.

6 Bolins or bowlines are ropes by which the sails of a ship are governed when the wind is unfavorable. They are slackened when it is high.

Per. That's your superstition.

1 Sail. Pardon us, sir; with us at sea it still hath been observed; and we are strong in custom.1 Therefore briefly yield her; for she must overboard straight. Per. Be it as you think meet.-Most wretched queen!

Lyc. Here she lies, sir.

Per. A terrible child-bed hast thou had, my dear, No light, no fire. The unfriendly elements Forgot thee utterly; nor have I time

2

To give thee hallowed to thy grave, but straight
Must cast thee, scarcely coffined, in the ooze;
Where, for a monument upon thy bones,
And aye-remaining 3 lamps, the belching whale,
And humming water must o'erwhelm thy corpse,
Lying with simple shells. 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.
[Exit LYCHORida.
2 Sail. Sir, we have a chest beneath the hatches,
calked and bitumed ready.

Per. I thank thee. Mariner, say, what coast is this? 2 Sail. We are near Tharsus.

Per. Thither, gentle mariner,

Alter thy course for Tyre.5 When canst thou reach it? 2 Sail. By break of day, if the wind cease. Per. O, make for Tharsus.

1 The old copy reads, "strong in easterne." The emendation is Mr. Boswell's.

2 Old copy," in oare."

3 The old copies erroneously read:—

"The air-remaining lamps."

The emendation is Malone's. Within old monuments and receptacles for the dead, perpetual (i. e. aye-remaining) lamps were supposed to be lighted.

4 The old copies have coffin. Pericles does not mean to bury his queen in this coffer (which was probably one lined with satin), but to take from thence the cloth of state, in which she was afterwards shrouded.

5 "Change thy course, which is now for Tyre, and go to 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;
I'll bring the body presently.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. Ephesus. A Room in Cerimon's

House.

Enter CERIMON, a Servant, and some persons who have been shipwrecked.

Cer. Philemon, ho!

Enter PHILemon.

Phil. Doth my lord call?

Cer. Get fire and meat for these poor men; It has been a turbulent and stormy night.

Serv. I have been in many; but such a night as this, Till now I ne'er endured.

Cer. Your master will be dead ere you return: There's nothing can be ministered to nature,

That can recover him. Give this to the 'pothecary, And tell me how it works.1

1 Gent.

[TO PHILEMON. [Exeunt PHILEMON, Servant, and those who had been shipwrecked.

Enter two Gentlemen.

Good morrow, sir.

Gentlemen,

2 Gent. Good morrow to your lordship.

Cer.

Why do you stir so early?

1 Gent. Sir,

Our lodgings, standing bleak

upon

the sea,

1 The precedent words show that the physic cannot be designed for the master of the servant here introduced. Perhaps the circumstance was introduced for no other reason than to mark more strongly the extensive benevolence of Cerimon.

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