And now,

Shall marry her at Pentapolis.

This ornament,

Makes me look dismal, will I clip to form;

And what this fourteen years no razor touch'd,
To grace thy marriage-day, I'll beautify.

Thai. Lord Cerimon hath letters of good credit,

Sir, my father's dead.

Per. Heavens make a star of him! Yet there, my

queen,

We'll celebrate their nuptials, and ourselves

Will in that kingdom spend our following days:
Our son and daughter shall in Tyrus reign.-
Lord Cerimon, we do our longing stay

To hear the rest untold.-Sir, lead 's the way.

Enter GOWER.

[Exeunt.

Gow. In Antiochus, and his daughter, you have heard
Of monstrous lust the due and just reward:
In Pericles, his queen and daughter, seen,
Although assail'd with fortune fierce and keen,
Virtue preserv'd from fell destruction's blast,
Led on by heaven, and crown'd with joy at last.
In Helicanus may you well descry
A figure of truth, of faith, and loyalty.
In reverend Cerimon there well appears
The worth that learned charity aye wears.
For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame

Had spread their cursed deed, the honour'd name

2 Virtue PRESERVED-] All the old copies of this truly noble, but lamentably disfigured Drama, read "Virtue preferr'd."

Of Pericles, to rage the city turn;

That him and his they in his palace burn.

The gods for murder seemed so content3

To punish them, although not done, but meant.

So on your patience evermore attending,

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

3 The gods for murder seemed so CONTENT] So all the editions after the first, which reads to contend for "so content". In the next line, "them" is wanting in the old copies, 4to. and folio; so that the grossest blunders pursue us to the very conclusion.

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

EDITED BY

J. PAYNE COLLIER.

THESEUS, Duke of Athens.

PIRITHOUS, an Athenian General.
ARTESIUS, an Athenian Captain.

PALAMON, Cousins and Nephews to Creon King of Thebes.

ARCITE,

VALERIUS, a Theban Nobleman.

Six Knights.

A Herald.

A Gaoler.

A Wooer to the Gaoler's Daughter.

A Doctor.

Brother to the Gaoler, and his Friends.

Gerrold, a Schoolmaster.

A Gentleman.

HIPPOLYTA, an Amazon, and bride to Theseus.

EMILIA, her Sister.

Three Queens.

The Gaoler's Daughter.

Attendant on Emilia.

Countrymen, Messengers, Hymen, Boy, Executioner, Guard, Attendants, Nymphs, and Country wenches.

SCENE: Athens and its neighbourhood, except in part of the first act, where it is Thebes and its neighbourhood.

This play was not printed until 1634, 4to., when it bore the names of Fletcher and Shakespeare on the title-page, and nearly all critics have admitted that our great dramatist had a hand in it, though they differ as to the portions he contributed. It is not inserted in any of the folios, although the Rev. A. Dyce incautiously states that it is found in those of 1664 and 1685.

THE

TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

Two

PROLOGUE.

NEW plays and maidenheads are near akin;
Much follow'd both, for both much money win,2
If they stand sound and well: and a good play,
Whose modest scenes blush on his marriage-day,
And shake to lose his honour, is like her
That, after holy tie and first night's stir,
Yet still is modesty, and still retains

More of the maid to sight than husband's pains.
We pray our play may be so; for I'm sure

It has a noble breeder and a pure,

A learned; and a poet never went

More famous yet 'twixt Po and silver Trent:
Chaucer, of all admir'd, the story gives;
There constant to eternity it lives.

If we let fall the nobleness of this,

And the first sound this child hear be a hiss,
How will it shake the bones of that good man,
And make him cry from under ground, O, fan

From me the witless chaff of such a writer,

That blasts my bays, and my fam'd works makes lighter
Than Robin Hood! This is the fear we bring;

For, to say truth, it were an endless thing,

2 -for both much money WIN,] For "win" the old copies read gien, and the misprint has been perpetuated in modern copies; so blind and blunt are recent editors.