Fit counsellor, and fervant for a prince,

Who by thy wifdom mak'ft a prince thy fervant,
What would'ft thou have me do?

HEL.

With patience bear

Such griefs as you do lay upon yourself.

FER. Thou fpeak'ft like a phyfician, Helicanus;

Who minifter'ft a potion unto me,

That thou would'it tremb.e to receive thyself.
Attend me then: I went to Antioch,

Where, as thou know'ft, againft the face of death,
I fought the purchase of a glorious beauty,
From whence an iffue I might propagate,
Bring arms to princes, and to fubje&ts joys."

5 Where, as thou know'ft, &c.] Malone obferves that whereas is frequently ufed by the old dramatick writers, infead of where, and he is certainly right; but the obfervation is not to the purpose on the prefent occafion; for the word whereas does not really occur in this paffage, which fhould be printed and pointed thus: I went to Antioch,

Where, as thou know', against the face of death,

I fought the purchase of a glorious beauty.

Where is more frequently ufed for whereas, but not in this place.

From whence an issue - ]

M. MASON.

From whence I might propagate an

iffue, that are arms, &c MALONE.

7 From whence an iffue I might propagate,

Bring arms to princes, and to fubjects joys. ] Old copy:

Are arms to princes, and bring joys to subjects.

I once imagined that a line was wanting to complete the sense of this paffage, and that the deficiency might be fupplied as follows: a glorious beauty,

From whence an issue I might propagate;
For royal progeny are general bleflings,
Bring arms to princes, and to fubjects joy.
Her face &c.

Influenced, however, by the subsequent remark of Mr. M. Mafon, I have recovered the fenfe for which he contends, by omitting one word in the corrupted line, and tranfpofing others. STEEVENS.

The meaning of this paffage is clearly this: " From whence I might propagate fuch iffue, as bring additional ftrength to princes,

Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder;
The reft (bark in thine ear,) as black as inceft;
Which by my knowledge found, the finful father
Seem'd not to ftrike, but fmooth: but thou know'ft
this,

'Tis time to fear, when tyrants feem to kifs.
Which fear fo grew in me, I hither fled,

Under the covering of a careful night;

Who feem'd my good protector; and being here,
Bethought me what was paft, what might fucceed.
I knew him tyrannous; and tyrants' fears

Decrease not, but grow fafter than their years:9
And should he doubt it, (as no doubt he doth,2)

and joy to their fubje&s." The expreffion is certainly faulty; but it feems to be the fault of the author, not the printer. I believe it was written as it ftands. M. MASON.

* Seem'd not to flrike, but smooth :] To fmooth formerly fignified to flatter. See note on -fmooth every paffiou," in King Lear,

Ad II. fc. ii. MALONE.

To fmooth in this place means to ftroke. In the fame fenfe we hould underftand the word in Milton's Comus, v. 251:

9

"Smoothing the raven down

"Of darkness, till it fmil'd."

They say in fome counties smooth-inftead of stroke, the cat.

than their years: ] Old copy-the years.

HOLT WHITE. Their fufpicions

outgrow their years; a circumfiance fufliciently natural to veteran tylants. The correction is mine. STEEVENS.

2

And fhould he doubt it, (as no doubt he doth, )] The quarto 1609, reads,

And fhould he doo't, as no doubt he doth

from which the reading of the text has been formed. The repetition is much in our author's manner, and the following words, to lop that doubt, render this emendation almoft certain. MALONE.

Here is an apparent corruption. I fhould not hesitate to readdoubt on't-or, doubt it. To doubt is to remain in fufpenfe or uncertainty.Should he be in doubt that I fhall keep this fecret, (as there is no doubt but he is,) why, to" lop that doubi," i. e. to get

That I fhould open to the liftening air,
How many worthy princes' bloods were shed,
To keep his bed of blacknefs unlaid ope,-

To lop that doubt, he'll fill this land with arms,
And make pretence of wrong that I have done him;
When all, for mine, if I may call't offence,

Muft feel war's blow, who fpares not innocence:
Which love to all (of which thyfelf art one,
Who now reprov'ft me for it)

HEL.

Alas, fir!

PER. Drew fleep out of mine eyes, blood from my cheeks,

Mulings into my mind, a thousand doubts
How I might flop this tempeft, cre it came;
And finding little comfort to relieve them,
I thought it princely charity to grieve them.*
HEL. Well, my lord, fince you have given me
leave to speak,

Freely I'll speak. Antiochus you fear,
And juflly too, I think, you fear the tyrant,
Who either by publick war, or private treafon,
Will take away your life.

Therefore, my lord, go travel for a while,
Till that his rage and anger be forgot,

Or Deflinies do cut his thread of life.

rid of that painful uncertainty, he will frive to make me appear the agreffor, by attacking me firft as the author of fome fuppofed injury

to bimself. STEEVENS.

who fpares not innocence:] Thus the eldeft quarto. All the other copies read corrupily:

4

who fears not innocence. MALONE.

I thought it princely charity to grieve them.] That is to lament their fate. The eldeft quarto reads to grieve for them.-But a rhyme feems to have been intended. furnished by the third quarto 1630, authority. MALONE.

The reading of the text was which, however, is of ne

Your rule direct to any; if to me,

Day ferves not light more faithful than I'll be.

PER. I do not doubt thy faith;

But should he wrong my liberties in abfence

HEL. We'll mingle bloods together in the earth, From whence we had our being and our birth.

PER. Tyre, I now look from thee then, and to
Tharfus

Intend my travel, where I'll hear from thee;
And by whofe letters I'll difpofe myself.
The care I had and have of fubje&s' good,
On thee I lay, whose wisdom's ftrength can bear
it.5

I'll take thy word for faith, not ask thine oath;
Who fhuns not to break one, will fure crack both :
But in our orbs we'll live fo round and fafe,"

That time of both this truth fhall ne'er convince, Thou show'dst a subject's fhine, I a true prince. [Exeunt.

——whose wisdom's frength can bear it.] Pericles, transferring his authority to Helicanus during his abfence, naturally brings the ift scene of Measure for Measure to our mind.

MALONE.

6 will fure crack both:] Thus the folio. The word fure

is not found in the quarto. MALONE.

7 But in our orbs we'll live fo round and fafe,] The firft quarto reads will live. For the emendation I am aufwerable. The

quarto of 1619 has-we live. The firft copy may have been right, if, as I fufped, the preceding line has been loft. MALONE. But in our orbs we'll live fo round and fafe,] in feipfo totus teres atque rotundus."

Horace.

In our orbs means, in our different spheres. STEEVENS. this truth fhall ne'er convince,] Overcome. See Vol. XI. p. 68, n. 4. MALONE.

9 Thou show'dft a subject's shine, I a true prince.] Shine is by our ancient writers frequently used as a fubftantive. So, in Ghloris

SCENE III.

Tyre. An Ante-chamber in the Palace.

Enter THALIARD..

THAL. So, this is Tyre, and this is the court. Here muft 1 kill king Pericles; and if I do not, I am fure to be hang'd at home: 'tis dangerous.Well, I perceive he was a wife fellow, and had good difcretion, that being bid to ask what he would of the king, defired he might know none of his fecrets.2 Now do I fee he had fome reafon for

or The Complaint of the paffionate defpifed Shepheard, by W. Smith, 1596:

·

"Thou glorious fuone, fom whence my leffer light "The fucftance of his chriftal shine doth borrow." This fentiment is not much unlike that of Falltaff: I hall think the better of myself and thee, during my life; 1 for a valiant lion, and thou for a true prince." MALONE.

That the word shine may be used as a substantive, cannot be doubted whilft we have funshine and moonshine If the prefent reading of this paffage be adopted, the word shine must neceffa ilự be taken in that fenfe; but what the thine of a fubject is, it would be difficult to define. The difficulty is avoited by leaving out a ingle le ter, and reading,

Thou show'dft a subject shine, I a true prince,

In this cafe the word fhine becomes a verb, and the meaning will be: No time (hall be able to difprove this truth, that you have fhewn a fubject in a glorious light, and I a true prince. M. MAson. The fame idea is more clearly expreffed in King Henry VIII. Aa III. fc. ii:

"A loyal and obedient fubject is
"Therein illustrated"

I can neither controvert nor fupport Mr. M. Mafon's position, because I cannot afcertain, if shine be confidered as a ve,b, how the meaning he contends for is deduced from the words before us.

STLEVENS.

I perreive he was a wife fellow, &c.] Who this wife fellow was, may be known from the following paffage in Sarnabie Riche's