ANT. Heaven, that I had thy head 2! he has found the meaning; But I will gloze with him. [Aside.] Young prince of Tyre, Though by the tenour of our strict edíct1, 5 Your exposition misinterpreting 3, We might proceed to cancel of your days; which, by pointing out the course he is pursuing, enable the vermin-hunter to catch him. STEEVENS. 2 Heaven, that I had thy head!] The speaker may either mean to say, "O, that I had thy ingenuity! or, “O, that I had thy head, sever'd from thy body!" The latter, I believe, is the meaning. MALONE. 3 But I will gloze with him.] So, Gower: "With slie wordes and with felle "He sayth: My sonne I shall thee telle, 66 Though that thou be of littel witte," &c. MALONE. 4 — OUR strict edíct,] The old copy has-your strict edict. Corrected in the folio. MALONE. 5 Your exposition misinterpreting,] Your exposition of the riddle being a mistaken one; not interpreting it rightly. MALONE. to CANCEL of your days;] The quarto, 1609, reads-to counsel of your days; which may mean, to deliberate how long you shall be permitted to live.' But I believe that counsel was merely an error of the press, which the editor of the folio, 1664, corrected by reading-to cancel off your days. The substitution of off for of is unnecessary; for cancel may have been used as a substantive. "We might proceed to the cancellation or destruction of your life." Shakspeare uses the participle cancell'd in the sense required here, in his Rape of Lucrece, 1594 : "An expir'd date, cancell'd ere well begun." The following lines in King Richard III. likewise confirm the reading that has been chosen: 66 Cancel his bond of life, dear God, I pray, "That I may live to say, the dog is dead." MALONE. To omit the article was formerly a practice not uncommon. So, in Titus Andronicus: " Ascend, fair queen, Pantheon," i. e. the Pantheon. STEEVENS. Again, in King Lear: Hot questrists after him, met him at gate." MALONE. As your fair self, doth tune us otherwise; [Exeunt ANTIOCHUS, his Daughter, and PER. How courtesy would seem to cover sin! Then were it certain, you were not so bad, 7 FORTY days longer we do respite you ;] In The Gesta Romanorum, Confessio Amantis, and The History of King Appolyn, thirty days only are allowed for the solution of this question. It is difficult to account for this minute variation, but by supposing that our author copied some translation of the Gesta Romanorum hitherto undiscovered. MALONE. It is thirty days in Twine's translation. Forty, as I have observed in a note on some other play (I forget which) was the familiar term when the number to be mentioned was not of arithmetical importance. STEEVENS. Mr. Steevens's note may be found in vol. ix. p. 421. BOSWELL. your entertain shall BE, 8 As doth befit our honour, and your WORTH.] I have no doubt but that these two lines were intended to rhyme together in our author's copy, where originally they might have stood thus: 66 your entertain shall be, "As doth befit our honour, your degree." Or, "As doth our honour fit and your degree." So, in King Richard III. Act III. Sc. VII.: "Best fitteth my degree, and your condition." 9 WHERE now you're both a father and a son.] place, has the power of whereas. So, in The Two Verona : STEEVENS. Where, in this Gentlemen of age "And where I thought the remnant of mine By your untimely claspings with your child, By the defiling of her parent's bed; And both like serpents are, who though they feed On sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed. One sin, I know, another doth provoke; Murder's as near to lust, as flame to smoke. Ay, and the targets, to put off the shame: Then, lest my life be cropp'd to keep you clear 2, Where (and with the same meaning) occurs again in Act II. Sc. III. of this play: "Where now his son's a glow-worm," &c. I for wisdom sees, those men Blush not in actions blacker than the night, STEEVENS. Will SHUN NO course to keep them from the light.] All the old copies read-will shew, but shew is evidently a corruption. The word that I have ventured to insert in the text, in its place, was suggested by these lines in a subsequent scene, which appear to me strongly to support this emendation: "And what may make him blush in being known, "He'll stop the course by which it might be known." We might read 'schew for eschew, if there were any instance of such an abbreviation being used. : The expression is here, as in many places in this play, elliptical for wisdom sees, that those who do not blush to commit actions blacker than the night, will not shun any course in order to preserve them from being made publick.' MALONE. 2- to keep you clear,] To prevent any suspicion from falling on you. So, in Macbeth: 66 66 always thought, that I Require a clearness." MALONE. Re-enter ANTIOCHUS. ANT. He hath found the meaning3, for the which we mean To have his head. He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy, In such a loathed manner: And therefore instantly this prince must die; THAL. Enter THALIARDa. Doth your highness call? ANT. Thaliard, you're of our chamber 5, and our mind 6 Partakes her private actions to your secresy: him; It fits thee not to ask the reason why, Because we bid it. Say, is it done?? 3 He hath found the meaning,] So, in Twine's book: Apollonius prince of Tyre hath found out the solution of my question; wherefore take shipping," &c. STEEVENS. 4 Thaliard.] This name is somewhat corrupted from Thaliarch, i. e. Thaliarchus, as it stands in Twine's translation. STEEVENS. Thaliard, you're of our chamber, &c.] So, in Twine's translation: "Thaliarchus, the only faithfull and trustie minister of my secrets," &c. The rest of the scene is formed on the same original. STEEvens. 5 PARTAKES her private actions-] Our author in the Winter's Tale uses the word partake in an active sense, for participate: 7 66 66 your exultation Partake to every one." MALOne. Say, is it done?] We might point differently: "Because we bid it, say is it done? MALONE. THAL. Tis done. My lord, Enter a Messenger. ANT. Enough. Let your breath cool yourself, telling your haste &. MESS. My lord, prince Pericles is fled. 9 [Exit Messenger. ANT. As thou Wilt live, fly after: and, as an arrow, shot From a well-experienc'd archer, hits the mark His eye doth level at, so ne'er return, Unless thou say, Prince Pericles is dead. THAL. My lord, if I Can get him once within my pistol's length, [Exit. [Exit. ANT. Thaliard, adieu! till Pericles be dead, My heart can lend no succour to my head'. 8 LEST your breath, &c.] Old copy: "Let your breath cool yourself, telling your haste." This passage is little better than nonsense, as it stands, and evidently requires amendment.-The words are addressed, not to the Messenger, but to Thaliard, who has told the King that he may consider Pericles as already dead; to which the King replies "Enough ; "Lest your breath cool yourself, telling you haste." That is, Say no more of it, lest your breath, in describing your alacrity, should cool your ardour.' The words let and lest might easily have been confounded. M. MASON. The words are evidently addressed to the Messenger, and are much in the style of many other passages in Shakspeare, where those who come in to report intelligence are generally represented as entering hastily. MALONE. 9 and, As-] Thus the folio. The quarto reads—and like an arrow. MALONE. 1 My heart can lend no succour to my head.] So, the King in Hamlet: |