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

oned; being dead, in its prefent 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 faying isBonum quo communius, eo melius.

As I fuppofe thefe lines, with their context, to have originally ftood as follows, I have fo given them :

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

Et quo antiquias, eo melius.

This innovation may feern to introduce obfcurity; but in huddling words on each other, without their neceffary articles and prepofitions, the chief fkill of our present imitator of antiquated rhyme appears to have confifted.

Again, old copy:

"This Antioch then, Antiochus the great

"Built up; this city, for his chiefeft feat."

I fuppofe the original lines were these, and as fuch have printed them:

"This city then, Antioch the great

"Built up for his chiefeft feat."

Another redundant line offers itfelf in the fame 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 confequence, and the artificial comparison between the guilt of the parent and the child, has no resemblance to the fimplicity of Gower's narratives. The lady's frailty is fufficiently ftigmatized in the enfuing lines. See my further fentiments concerning the irregularities of Shakfpeare's metre, in a note on The Tempest, Vol. IV. p. 72, n. 2; and again in Vol. X. 193, n. 1.

7 - for his chiefest feat ;]

STEEVENS.

So, in Twine's tranflation :

The fairest in all Syria;

(I tell you what mine authors fay:8)
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, fhould be done by none.
By custom, what they did begin,"
Was, with long use, account no fin.3

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

STEEVENS.

8 (I tell you what mine authors fay :)] 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 chorufes resemble Gower in few other particulars. STEEVENS.

9 - unto him took a pheere,] This word, which is frequently used by our old poets, fignifies 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 fpeeches fomewhat of an antique air. MALONE.

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

I

See

-full of face,] i. e. completely, exuberantly beautiful. A full fortune, in Othello, means a complete, a large one. alfo Vol. XV. p. 397, n. 1. MALONE.

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

3 account no fin.] 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."

For the correction I am an

The old copies read account'd.

fwerable.

MALONE.

The beauty of this finful dame
Made many princes thither frame,4
To feek her as a bed-fellow,

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

6

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

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

Mr. Malone has properly interpreted this paffage. So, in 'Twine's tranflation: << -which falfe refemblance of hateful marriage, to the intent that he might alwaies enjoy, he invented &c. to drive away all fuitors that should refort unto her, by pro

pounding" &c. See alfo 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,-.

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

"Yon fometime famous princes," &c.

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

7

STEEVENS.

As yon grim looks do teftify.] Gower must be supposed here to point to the heads of thofe 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 befought,
"With all his wit he caft and sought
"Howe that he mighte fynde a lette;
"And fuch a ftatute then he fette,
"And in this wife his lawe taxeth,

What now enfues, to the judgment of your eye

I give, my caufe who beft can juftify.9 [Exit.

"But if he couth his question
"Affoyle upon fuggeftion,.

"Of certeyn thinges that befell,
"The which he wolde unto him tell,
"He fhulde in certeyn lese his hede:
"And thus there were many dede,
"Her heades fionding on the gate;
"Till at laft, long and late,

"For lack of anfwere in this wife
"The remenant, that wexen wyfe,

"Efchewden to make affaie." MALONE.

As yon grim looks do teftify.] This is an indication to me of the ufe of fcenery in our ancient theatres. I fuppofe the audience were here entertained with a view of a kind of Temple Bar at Antioch. STEEVENS.

8 What now enjues,] The folio-What enfues. The original copy has What now enfues. MALONE.

my cause who beft can justify.] i. e. which (the judg ment of your eye) beft can justify, i. e. prove its resemblance to the ordinary courfe of nature. So, afterwards:

"When thou shalt kneel, and justify in knowledge,-." But as no other of the four next chorufes concludes with a he roick couplet, unless through interpolation, I fufpect that the two lines before us originally ftood thus:

"What now enfues,

"I give to the judgment of your eye,

My caufe who beft can juftify."

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 A& IV, fc. 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 foul Embolden'd with the glory of her praise, Think death no hazard, in this enterprize.

[Mufick.

·ANT. Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride,* 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 prefent drama, that the father of Pericles is living. By prince, therefore, throughout this play, we are to understand prince regnant. See Act II. fc. iv. and the epitaph in A&t III. fc. iii. In the Gefta Romanorum, Apollonius is king of Tyre; and Appolyn, in Copland's tranflation from the French, has the fame title. Our author, in calling Pericles a prince feems to have followed Gower. MALONE.

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

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

Mufick, bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride. The metre proves decifively that the word mufick was a margi nal direction, inferted in the text by the mistake of the tranfcriber or printer. MALONE.