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Profeffes to perfuade) the king, his fon's alive;
Tis as impoffible that he's undrown'd,
As he, that fleeps here, fwims.

Seb. I have no hope

That he's undrown'd.

Ant. O, out of that no hope,

What great hope have you! no hope, that way, is Another way so high an hope, that even

Ambition cannot pierce + a wink beyond,

But doubts discovery there. Will you grant, with me, That Ferdinand is drown'd?

Seb. He's gone.

Ant. Then, tell me,

Who's the next heir of Naples?

Seb. Claribel.

Ant. She that is queen of Tunis; fhe that dwells Ten leagues beyond man's life; ' fhe that from Naples Can have no note, unless the fun were poft, (The man i' the moon's too flow) till new-born chins Be rough and razorable; fhe, from whom

The meaning may be-He is a mere rhetorician, one who profefles the art of perfuafion, and nothing elfe; i. e. he profeffes to perfuade another to believe that of which he himself is not convinced he is content to be plaufible, and has no further aim. The construction from which I draw this fenfe, is undoubtedly harth; but in a writer like Shakespeare, all that is perplexed and irregular is not to be regarded as a corruption of the text.

STEEVENS.

a wink beyond,] That this is the utmost extent of the profpect of ambition, the point where the eye can pass no farther, and where objects lofe their distinctnefs, fo that what is there difcovered, is faint, obfcure, and doubtful. JOHNSON. 5fhe that from Naples

Can have no note, &c.] Shakespeare's great ignorance of geography is not more confpicuous in any inftance than in this, where he fuppofes Tunis and Naples to have been at fuch an immeasurable distance from each other. He may however be countenanced by Apollonius Rhodius, who fays, that both the Rhone and Po meet in one, and discharge themselves into the gulph of Venice; and by Efchylus, who has placed the river Eridanus in Spain. STEEVENS.

We

We were all fea-fwallow'd, though fome caft again;
And, by that destiny 7, to perform an act,
Whereof what's paft is prologue; what to come,
In yours, and my discharge.

Seb. What ftuff is this?How fay you?

'Tis true, my brother's daughter's queen of Tunis; So is the heir of Naples; 'twixt which regions There is some space.

Ant. A fpace, whofe every cubit

Seems to cry out, How fhall that Claribel

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Meafure us back to Naples? Keep in Tunis,
And let Sebaftian wake!-Say, this were death
That now hath feiz'd them; why, they were no worfe
Than now they are: There be, that can rule Naples,
As well as he that fleeps; lords, that can prate

Thefe lines ftand in the old edition thus:
though fome caft again;

And, by that deftiny, to perform an act,
Whereof what's paft is prologue; what to come,
In your and my difcharge.

The reading in the latter editions is without authority. The old text may very well ftand, except that in the last line in should be is, and perhaps we might better fay-and that by deftiny. It being a common plea of wickedness to call temptation destiny.

JOHNSON.

It should be remembered, that caft is here used in the fame fense as in Macbeth, act II. fc. iii. " -though he took my

"legs from me, I made a shift to caft him." The modern editors published,

Is yours and my difcharge.

I think we may safely retain the old reading in the laft hemistich.

what is yet to come,

In yours and my difcharge.

i... Depends on what you and I are to perform. STEEVENS.

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deftiny.] I fhould prefer deftin'd. MUSGRAVE.

-Keep in Tunis.] There is in this passage a propriety

loft, which a flight alteration will restore:

-Sleep in Tunis,

And let Sebaftian wake! JOHNSON.

The old reading is fufficiently explicable. Claribel, (fays he) keep where thou art, and allow Sebaftian time to awaken thofe fenfes, by the help of which he may perceive the advantage which now prefents itself, STEEVENS,

As amply, and unneceffarily,

As this Gonzalo; I myself could make

A chough of as deep chat. O, that you bore
The mind that I do! what a fleep were this

For your advancement? Do you understand me?
Seb. Methinks, I do.

Ant. And how does your content
Tender your own good fortune?

Seb. I remember,

You did fupplant your brother Profpero.
Ant. True:

And, look, how well my garments fit upon me;
Much feater than before: My brother's fervants
Were then my fellows, now they are my men.
Seb. But, for your confcience-

Ant. Ay, fir; where lies that? if it were a kybe, 'Twould put me to my flipper; But I feel not This deity in my bofom: twenty consciences, That ftand 'twixt me and Milan, candy'd be they, ' And melt, e'er they moleft. Here lies your brother, No better than the earth he lies upon,

If he were that which now he's like, that's dead';

? A chough is a bird of the jack-daw kind. STEEVENS. And melt e'er they moleft.] I had rather read,

Would melt e'er they moleft.

i. e. Twenty confciences, fuch as ftand between me and my hopes, though they were congealed, would melt before they could moleft one, or prevent the execution of my purposes. JOHNSON.

The old copy reads-And melt, which is as intelligible as or which was fubftituted in its place.-Let twenty confciences be firft congealed, and then diffolved, ere, &c. MALONE.

In the later editions, thefe lines are thus arranged:

Ay, fir, where lyes that?

If 'twere a kybe, 'twould put me to my flipper:

But I feel not this deity in my bofom.

Ten confciences, that ftand 'twixt me and Milan,

Candy'd be they, and melt, e'er they moleft!

Here lies your brother

This modern reading was quite arbitrary, as appears by the ne

ceffity of changing twenty to ten.

STEEVENS.

2-that's dead;] i. e. that is, id eft. STEEVENS.

Whom

Whom I with this obedient steel, three inches of it, Can lay to bed for ever: whiles you, doing thus, To the perpetual wink, for ay might put

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+ This ancient morfel, this fir Prudence, who
Should not upbraid our course. For all the reft,
They'll take fuggeftion, as a cat laps milk;
They'll tell the clock to any business that
We fay befits the hour.

Seb. Thy cafe, dear friend,

Shall be my precedent; as thou got'st Milan,
I'll come by Naples. Draw thy fword: one ftroke
Shall free thee from the tribute which thou pay'ft;
And I the king shall love thee.

Ant. Draw together:

And when I rear my hand, do you the like

To fall it on Gonzalo.

Seb. O, but one word.

[They converfe apart.

Enter Ariel, with mufick and fong.

Ari. My mafter through his art forefees the danger, That you, his friend, are in; and fends me forth (For else his project dies) to keep them living.

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[Sings in Gonzalo's ear.

3 -for aye]- -i. e. for ever. So in K. Lear,

66

-I am come

While

"To bid my king and mafter aye good night." STEEVens. 4 This ancient morfel,] For morfel Dr. Warburton reads ancient moral, very elegantly and judicioufly, yet I know not whether the author might not write morfel, as we fay a piece of a man. JOHNSON.

So in Hamlet, What, is Horatio there?

A piece of him.

Again in Meafure for Meafure,

"How doth my dear morfel; thy mistress?" In Coriolanus," Hence you fragments." STEEVENS, So in Ant, and Cleopatra,

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As a morfell cold

"Upon dead Cæfar's trencher." MALONE.

take fuggeftion,-] i. e. Receive any hint of villainy.

JOHNSON,

to keep them living.] i. e. Alonfo and Anthonio; for it was on their lives that his project depended. Yet the Oxford

E 3

Editor

While you here do fnoring lie,
Open-ey'd confpiracy

His time doth take:

If of life you keep a care,

Shake off lumber, and beware:
Awake! awake!

Ant. Then let us both be fudden.

Gon. Now, good angels, preserve the king!

[They wake. Alon. Why, how now, ho! awake? Why are you 7 drawn?

Wherefore this ghastly looking?

Gon. What's the matter?

Seb. Whiles we stood here fecuring your repofe, Even now, we heard a hollow burft of bellowing Like bulls, or rather lions; did it not wake you It ftrook mine ear moft terribly.

Alon. I heard nothing.

Ant. O, 'twas a din to fright a monster's ear; To make an earthquake! fure, it was the roar Of a whole herd of lions.

Alon. Heard you this, Gonzalo?

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Gon. Upon my honour, fir, I heard a humming,

Editor alters them to you, because in the verfe before, it is faid -you his friend; as if, because Ariel was fent forth to fave his friend, he could not have another purpose in fending him, viz. to fave his project too. WARBURTON.

I think Dr. Warburton and the Oxford Editor both mistaken. The fenfe of the paffage, as it now ftands, is this: He fees your danger, and will therefore fave them. Dr. Warburton has mistaken Anthonio for Gonzalo. Ariel would certainly not tell Gonzalo, that his master saved him only for his project. He speaks to him. felf as he approaches,

My mafter through his art forefees the danger

That these his friends are in.

Thefe written with a y, according to the old practice, did not much differ from you. JOHNSON,

7 -drawn?] Having your fwords drawn. So in Romes and Juliet:

"What art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?"

JOHNSON.

And

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