We conclude, therefore, from this instance, that Whitney’s Choice of Emblemes was known to the author of the Pericles, and that in this instance he has simply carried out the idea which was there suggested to him.
A slight allusion to this same device of the burning torch is made in 3 Henry VI. (act iii. sc. 2, l. 51, vol. v. p. 281), when Clarence remarks,—
“As red as fire! nay, then her wax must melt;”
but a very distinct one in Hamlet’s words (act iii. sc. 4, l. 82, vol. viii. p. 112),—
“O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
If thou canst mutine in a matron’s bones,
To flaming youth let virtue be as wax
And melt in her own fire; proclaim no shame
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Since frost itself as actively doth burn,