The worth that learnèd charity aye wears :

For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame

Had spread their cursed deed, and honour'd name
Of Pericles, to rage the city5 turn,

That him and his they in his palace burn;
The gods for murder seemed so content

To punish them, — although not done, but meant.
So, on your patience evermore attending,

New joy wait on you! Here our play has ending.

5 City as a collective noun, for the aggregate of citizens.

[Exit.

CRITICAL NOTES.

ACT I., Gower.

Page 12. On ember-eves and holy-ales. - The old copies have "holy dayes." Corrected by Farmer.

P. 12. The purchase is to make men glorious. —Steevens substituted purpose for purchase. Perhaps rightly. See foot-note 4.

P. 12. This King unto him took a fere. -The old copies have Peere. No doubt a misprint for Pheere.

P. 12. By custom, what they did begin

Was with long use account no sin. — In the first of these lines, the old copies have "But custom," and, in the second, account'd, accounted, and counted, for account.

ACT I., SCENE 1.

P. 13. Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride,

For the embracements even of Jove himself.—The old copies read "Musicke bring in," &c.; where no doubt a stage-direction crept into the text; Musicke being an order from Antiochus to have the music in readiness. I follow the arrangement of Dyce, who makes the music strike up when the Daughter enters. In the second line, the old copies omit the.

Sorrow were ever razed, and testy wrath
Could never be in her mild company.

-The old copies read "Could never be her mild companion." The correction is Mr. P. A. Daniel's.

P. 14. To compass such a boundless happiness!--The old copies have bondlesse. Corrected by Rowe.

P. 14. For death, like dragons, here affrights thee hard. The old copies have affright instead of affrights. The line is commonly printed, "For death-like dragons here affright thee hard." But what can be the meaning of "death-like dragons"? The correction is Mr. P. A. Daniel's. Walker thinks that affright is "certainly wrong"; and proposes affront. As affront was often used in the sense of confront, I have little doubt that we ought to read affronts.

P. 14. And which, without desert, because thine eye
Presumes to reach, all thy whole heap must die.

- The old copies have "all the whole heap." Corrected by Malone. See foot-note 5.

P. 15. And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist

For going on death's met, whom none resist.-The old copies have net instead of met, which is Mr. P. A. Daniel's correction. See foot-note 6.

P. 15. Thus, ready for the way of life or death,

I wait the sharpest blow. — The old copies read "I wayt the sharpest blow (Antiochus)”; the name having been doubtless meant as a prefix to the next speech. Corrected by Malone.

P. 16. How this may be, and yet in two, &c.—The old copies read "How they may be." The correction is made from Wilkins's novel.

P. 19. Will shun no course to keep them from the light. -- So Malone. The old copies have shew instead of shun.

P. 19. He hath found the meaning, for the which we mean

To have his head.

which we mean," &c. It "found the meaning out."

P. 20.

So Malone. The old copies have "for

has been proposed anonymously to read Rightly, I suspect.

ACT I., SCENE 2.

Why should this charge of thoughts,

The sad companion, dull-eyed melancholy,

Be my so-used a guest, as not an hour, &c. - The old copies have "this change of thoughts," and "By me so usde a guest." The first correction was proposed by Steevens; the other is made by Dyce. See foot-note I.

P. 21. Nor boots it me to say I honour him. The old copies omit him. Supplied by Rowe.

P. 21. And with th' ostent of war will look so huge, &c.—The old copies read "And with the stint of warre." The happy correction is Tyrwhitt's, and is confirmed by the following passage in Dekker's Entertainment to King James I., 1604: "And why you bear alone th' ostent of warre." Again in Chapman's translation of Homer's Batrachomuomachia: "Both heralds bearing the ostents of war."

P. 21. Who am no more but as the tops of trees, &c. - Farmer's correction. The old copies read "Who once no more," &c.

P. 21. The thing the which is flatter'd, but a spark,

To which that blast gives heat, &c. - So Mason. Instead of blast, the old copies have sparke. Doubtless an accidental repetition from the line above.

P. 22. When Signior Sooth here does proclaim a peace, &c.— The old copies omit a. Malone's correction.

P. 22.

And Heaven forbid

That kings should let their ears hear their faults chid! — So Dyce. The old copies have hid instead of chid. See foot-note 5.

P. 22.

With patience bear

Such griefs as you yourself lay on yourself.

The old copies read "To bear with patience," and ". as you yourself do lay upon yourself." The first correction was made by Steevens, who also omits the first yourself.

P. 23. From whence an issue I might propagate,

Are arms to princes, and bring joys to subjects. - Walker conjectures that, between these two lines, a line is lost, somewhat thus: Worthy to heir my throne; for kingly boys," &c. Such may well be the case; for the text of this play is shockingly mutilated in many places. See, however, foot-note 6.

me.

P. 23. Bethought me what was past, &c. -The old copies omit Inserted by Rowe.

Decrease not, but grow faster than their years:

And should he doubt it, -as no doubt he doth, &c. - The old copies have feare instead of fears, and "faster then the yeares." In the third line, also, they have doo't and thinke instead of doubt it. The last correction is Malone's.

P. 24. When all, for mine, if I may call't offence,

Must feel war's blow, &c.

So Malone. The old copies have

P. 24. But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe, &c.—The old copies have "will live" and "we live." I suspect we ought to read sound for round.

ACT I., SCENE 3.

P. 26. With whom each minute threatens life with death. So Mr. P. A. Daniel. The old copies read "threatens life or death."

P. 26. But since he's gone, the King's ears it must please,

He 'scaped the land, to perish at the sea. So Dyce, except that he has Seas instead of sea. The old copies read "the King's Seas must please": &c.

P. 26. We have no reason to inquire of it,

Commended to our master, not to us:

Yet, ere you shall depart, this we desire, &c. -The old copies read "no reason to desire it." Walker thought the first desire should be inquire. And it seems to me that both sense and metre ask that of be inserted.

ACT I., SCENE 4.

P. 26. O my distressèd lord, even such our griefs:
Here they are felt and seen with misery's eyes;

But, like to groves, being lopp'd, they higher rise. — In the first of these lines, the old copies read "such our griefes are." Steevens omits are, which is merely in the way. In the second line, "Here they are but felt and seene with mischiefes eyes." The substitution of misery's for mischief's is Walker's. In the third line, topp'd instead of lopp'd, which the context seems to require. With the old reading, I can get no meaning at all out of the passage.