Note 268:A — Chapter IX
Reading edition
As this is the only scene in the play which disgusts from its total dereliction of nature, a result at once decisive as to Shakspeare having no property in it; and as the mere omission of a few lines, not a word being either added or altered, will be sufficient to render the whole probable and inoffensive, I cannot avoid wishing that such curtailment might be adopted in every future edition.
SCENE V.
Pentapolis. A Room in the Palace.
Enter Simonides and the Knights: Simonides reading a letter.
Knights. May we not get access to her, my lord? Sim. 'Faith, by no means; it is impossible. Knights. Though loath to bid farewell, we take our leaves. (Exeunt. Sim. So— They're well dispatch'd; now to my daughter's letter: She tells me here, she'll wed the stranger knight; Well, I commend her choice; And will no longer have it be delay'd. Soft, here he comes:—I must dissemble it.
Enter Pericles.
Per. All fortune to the good Simonides! Sim. To you as much, sir! I am beholden to you, For your sweet musick this last night: my ears, I do protest, were never better fed With such delightful pleasing harmony. Per. It is your grace's pleasure to commend; Not my desert. Sim.. Sir, you are musick's master. Per. The worst of all her scholars, my good lord. Sim. Let me ask one thing. What do you think, sir, of My daughter? Per. As of a most virtuous princess. Sim. And she is fair too, is she not? Per. As a fair day in summer; wondrous fair. Sim. My daughter, sir, thinks very well of you; Ay, so well, that——peruse this writing, sir. Per. What's here! A letter, that she loves the knight of Tyre? 'Tis the king's subtilty, to have my life. (Aside. O, seek not to intrap, my gracious lord, A stranger and distressed gentleman, That never aim'd so high, to love your daughter, But bent all offices to honour her. Sim. Thou hast bewitch'd my daughter, and thou art A traitor. Per. By the gods, I have not, sir. Never did thought of mine levy offence; Nor never did my actions yet commence A deed might gain her love, or your displeasure. My actions are as noble as my thoughts, That never relish'd of a base descent. I came unto your court, for honour's cause, And not to be a rebel to her state; And he that otherwise accounts of me, This sword shall prove he's honour's enemy. Sim. Now, by the gods, I do applaud his courage. (Aside. Here comes my daughter, she can witness it.
Enter Thaisa.
Yea, mistress, are you so perémptory? (Addressing his daughter. Will you, not having my consent, bestow Your love and your affections on a stranger?— Hear, therefore, mistress; frame your will to mine,— And you, sir, hear you.—Either be rul'd by me, Or I will make you—man and wife.— And for a further grief,—God give you joy! What, are you both agreed? Thais. Yes, if you love me, sir. (Addressing Pericles. Per. Even as my life, my blood that fosters it. (Exeunt.
Thus contracted, the scene would no longer excite the "supreme contempt" which Mr. Steevens expresses for it, adding in reference to its original state, "such another gross, nonsensical dialogue, would be sought for in vain among the earliest and rudest efforts of the British theatre. It is impossible not to wish that the Knights had horse-whipped Simonides, and that Pericles had kicked him off the stage."