If you, born in these latter times,
When wit's more ripe, accept my rhymes,
And that to hear an old man sing,
May to your wishes pleasure bring,
I life would wish, and that I might
Waste it for you, like taper-light.-
This city then, Antioch the great
Built up for his chiefest seat;"

oned; being dead, in its present form, to all purposes of the stage, and of no very promising life in the closet.

The purpose is to make men glorious,

Et bonum quo antiquius eo melius.] The original saying is— Bonum quo communius, eo melius.

As I suppose these lines, with their context, to have originally stood as follows, I have so given them:

And lords and ladies, of their lives
Have read it as restoratives:
'Purpose to make men glorious;

Et quo antiquius, eo melius.

This innovation may seem to introduce obscurity; but in huddling words on each other, without their necessary articles and prepositions, the chief skill of our present imitator of antiquated rhyme appears to have consisted.

Again, old copy:

"This Antioch then, Antiochus the great

"Built up; this city, for his chiefest seat.'

I suppose the original lines were these, and as such have printed

them:

"This city then, Antioch the great

"Built up for his chiefest seat."

Another redundant line offers itself in the same chorus:

"Bad child, worse father! to entice his own-"

which I also give as I conceive it to have originally stood, thus : "Bad father! to entice his own

The words omitted are of little consequence, and the artificial comparison between the guilt of the parent and the child, has no resemblance to the simplicity of Gower's narratives. The lady's frailty is sufficiently stigmatized in the ensuing lines. See my further sentiments concerning the irregularities of Shakspeare's metre, in a note on The Tempest, Vol. IV. p. 72, n. 2; and again in Vol. X. 193, n. 1. STEEVENS.

7

- for his chiefest seat;]

So, in Twine's translation:

The fairest in all Syria;

(I tell you what mine authors say :)
This king unto him took a pheere,9
Who died and left a female heir,
So buxom, blithe, and full of face,'
As heaven had lent her all his grace;
With whom the father liking took,
And her to incest did provoke:
Bad father! to entice his own
To evil, should be done by none.
By custom, what they did begin,2
Was, with long use, account no sin.3

"The most famous and mighty King Antiochus, which builded the goodlie city of Antiochia in Syria, and called it after his owne name, as the chiefest seat of all his dominions."

STEEVENS.

8 (I tell you what mine authors say:)] This is added in imitation of Gower's manner, and that of Chaucer, Lydgate, &c. who often thus refer to the original of their tales.These choruses resemble Gower in few other particulars. STEEVENS.

9

unto him took a pheere,] This word, which is frequently used by our old poets, signifies a mate or companion. The old copies have-peer. For the emendation I am answerable. Throughout this piece, the poet, though he has not closely copied the language of Gower's poem, has endeavoured to give his speeches somewhat of an antique air. MALONe.

See Vol. XXI. p. 86, n. 1. STEEvens.

'full of face,] i. e. completely, exuberantly beautiful. A full fortune, in Othello, means a complete, a large one. See also Vol. XV. p. 397, n. 1. Malone.

2 By custom, what they did begin,] All the copies read, unintelligibly,-But custom &c. MALONE.

3

account no sin.] Account for accounted. So, in King John, waft for wafted:

*Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er.”

STEEVENS.

Again, in Gascoigne's Complaint of Philomene, 1575: "And by the lawde of his pretence

"His lewdness was acquit."

The old copies read account'd. For the correction I am answerable.

MALONE.

The beauty of this sinful dame
Made many princes thither frame,*
To seek her as a bed-fellow,

In marriage-pleasures play-fellow:
Which to prevent, he made a law,
(To keep her still, and men in awe,5)
That whoso ask'd her for his wife,
His riddle told not, lost his life:
So for her many a wight did die,
As yon grim looks do testify."

thither frame,] i. e. shape or direct their course thither.

MALONE.

(To keep her still, and men in awe,)] The meaning, I think, is not to keep her and men in awe, but to keep her still to himself, and to deter others from demanding her in marriage.

MALONE.

Mr. Malone has properly interpreted this passage. So, in Twine's translation: " which false resemblance of hateful marriage, to the intent that he might alwaies enjoy, he invented &c. to drive away all suitors that should resort unto her, by propounding" &c. See also p. 176, n. 8. STEEVENS.

6

many a wight-] The quarto, 1609, reads-many of wight. Corrected in the folio. MALONE.

Perhaps the correction is erroneous, and we should read, nearer to the traces of the old copy,

So for her many of might did die,

die,.

i. e. many men of might. Thus, afterwards:

"Yon sometime famous princes," &c.

The win the quarto 1609, might be only an m reversed.

STEEVENS.

7 As yon grim looks do testify.] Gower must be supposed here to point to the heads of those unfortunate wights, which, he tells us, in his poem, were fixed on the gate of the palace at Antioch :

"The fader, whan he understood

"That thei his doughter thus besought,
"With all his wit he cast and sought
"Howe that he mighte fynde a lette;
“And such a statute then he sette,
"And in this wise his lawe taxeth,
"That what man his doughter axeth,

8

What now ensues, to the judgment of your

eye

I give, my cause who best can justify." [Exit.

"But if he couth his question
"Assoyle upon suggestion,

"Of certeyn thinges that befell,

"The which he wolde unto him tell,
"He shulde in certeyn lese his hede:
"And thus there were many dede,
"Her heades stonding on the gate;
"Till at last, long and late,

"For lack of answere in this wise
"The remenant, that wexen wyse,

"Eschewden to make assaie." MALONE.

As yon grim looks do testify.] This is an indication to me of the use of scenery in our ancient theatres. I suppose the audience were here entertained with a view of a kind of Temple Bar at Antioch.

8

STEEVENs.

• What now ensues,] The folio-What ensues. The original copy has What now ensues.

9

MALONE.

my cause who best can justify.] i. e. which (the judgment of your eye) best can justify, i. e. prove its resemblance to the ordinary course of nature. So, afterwards:

"When thou shalt kneel, and justify in knowledge,-.' But as no other of the four next choruses concludes with a heroick couplet, unless through interpolation, I suspect that the two lines before us originally stood thus:

"What now ensues,

"I give to the judgment of your eye,
"My cause who best can justify."

In another of Gower's monologues there is an avowed hemistich: "And yet he rides it out. Now please you wit

"The epitaph is for Marina writ

"By wicked Dionyza."

See Act IV. sc. iv.

STEEVENS.

SCENE I.

Antioch. A Room in the Palace.

Enter ANTIOCHUS, PERICLES, and Attendants.

ANT. Young prince of Tyre,' you have at large

receiv'd

The danger of the task

you

undertake.

PER. I have, Antiochus, and with a soul Embolden'd with the glory of her praise, Think death no hazard, in this enterprize.

[Musick.

ANT. Bring in our daughter, clothed like a

bride,2

For the embracements even of Jove himself;
At whose conception, (till Lucina reign'd,)

1

Young prince of Tyre,] It does not appear in the present drama, that the father of Pericles is living. By prince, therefore, throughout this play, we are to understand prince regnant. See Act II. sc. iv. and the epitaph in Act III. sc. iii. In the Gesta Romanorum, Apollonius is king of Tyre; and Appolyn, in Copland's translation from the French, has the same title. Our author, in calling Pericles a prince seems to have followed Gower. Malone.

In Twine's translation he is repeatedly called "Prince of Tyrus." STEEVENS.

* Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride,] All the copies read:

Musick, bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride-. The metre proves decisively that the word musick was a marginal direction, inserted in the text by the mistake of the transcriber or printer. MALONE.

VOL. XXI.

M