If thou remember'st aught, ere thou cam'st here, Mira. But that I do not. Pro. Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since, Thy father was the duke of Milan, and A prince of power. Mira. Sir, are not you my father? Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and She said thou wast my daughter; and thy father Was duke of Milan, and his only heir And princess no worse issued'. Mira. O, the heavens! What foul play had we, that we came from thence? Pro. By foul play, as thou say'st, Both, both, my girl: were we heav'd thence; O! my heart bleeds To think o' the teens that I have turn'd you to, Which is from my remembrance. Please you, farther. Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Antonio,— I pray thee, mark me,-that a brother should Be so perfidious!—he whom, next thyself, Without a parallel: those being all my study, And to my state grew stranger, being transported, AND princess, no worse issued.] So all the folios, and although some editors substitute A for "And," no change seems really necessary. The passage quite intelligible as it stands. 8 TEEN-] i. e. grief, trouble. The word occurs also in Vol. v. p. 441 ; Vol. vi. p. 388; and Vol. viii. pp. 397. 551. Dost thou attend me? Mira. Sir, most heedfully. Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them, whom t' advance, and whom To trash for over-topping, new created The creatures that were mine, I say, or chang'd them, Or else new form'd them: having both the key Of officer and office, set all hearts i' the state To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was And suck'd my verdure out on't.-Thou attend'st not. Pro. As my trust was; which had, indeed, no limit, But what my power might else exact,-like one, 9 TO TRASH for overtopping,] The meaning of this passage is evident, but a dispute has arisen respecting the word "trash." Warburton contended that it was used to express the cutting away of superfluities, as of trees that grew too fast, and were therefore "overtopping." On the other hand, there is no doubt that it was a term of the chase, and Shakespeare employs it in Othello, A. ii. sc. 1. in this sense, where it is said that dogs are "trashed" for their "quick hunting." Either will answer the purpose here; but Shakespeare having himself warranted the latter meaning of "trash," we seem bound to adopt that in preference, and to take the sense to be that Antonio knew "whom to advance" and whom to beat back, check, or "trash for overtopping" or outrunning the rest. 10 Who having, UNTO truth, by telling of IT,] The old copies have "into truth," which, by a forced construction, may be right, though it is much more probable that into was misprinted for " unto," which Warburton substituted. The pronoun "it," agrees with "lie," in the next line but one. To credit his own lie,-he did believe He was indeed the duke; out o' the substitution, With all prerogative:-hence his ambition Mira. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. Pro. To have no screen between this part he play'd, And him he play'd it for, he needs will be Absolute Milan. Me, poor man!—my library Was dukedom large enough: of temporal royalties He thinks me now incapable; confederates (So dry he was for sway') with the king of Naples2, To give him annual tribute, do him homage, Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend The dukedom, yet unbow'd, (alas, poor Milan!) To most ignoble stooping. Mira. O the heavens ! Pro. Mark his condition, and th' event; then tell me, If this might be a brother. I should sin Mira. Pro. Now the condition. This king of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit; 2 1 (SO DRY he was for sway)] i. e. So thirsty for government. with THE king of Naples,] The is not in the folios: in the MS. from which the folio, 1623, was printed, it was probably written wi' the for the sake of the measure, and hence the error. The ministers for the purpose hurried thence Mira. Alack, for pity! I, not rememb'ring how I cried out then, That wrings mine eyes to 't3. Pro. Hear a little farther, And then I'll bring thee to the present business Which now's upon 's'; without the which this story My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not, Mira. it is a HINT, Alack what trouble That wrings mine eyes to't.] i. e. It is a suggestion that forces tears from my eyes. 4 Which now's upon's ;] So it stands in all the old copies, for the sake of the metre. "The Tempest" is printed with much accuracy in this respect. * A rotten carcass of a BUTT,] So every ancient edition; but since Rowe's time boat has usually been substituted for "butt." As "butt" is perfectly intelligible, with reference to the sort of vessel, without tackle, sail, or mast, in which Prospero and Miranda were sent to sea, we retain it. Nor tackle, sail, nor mast;] See R. Greene's "Pandosto, the Triumph of Time,” in “Shakespeare's Library," vol. i. p. 18, where he gives an account of the turning adrift of the heroine "in a boat having neither saile, nor rudder to guide it." - HAVE quit it:] Most modern editors have needlessly altered "have quit it" of the folios to "had quit it." VOL. I. C Was I then to you! Pro. O! a cherubim Thou wast, that did preserve me. Thou didst smile, Infused with a fortitude from heaven, When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salts, Against what should ensue. Mira. Pro. By Providence divine. How came we ashore? Some food we had, and some fresh water, that Out of his charity, (who being then appointed From my own library, with volumes that I prize above my dukedom. Mira. But ever see that man! Pro. Would I might Now I arise: Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. you, sir, And now, I pray For still 'tis beating in my mind, your reason Pro. Know thus far forth. When I have DECK'D the sea with drops full salt,] It is questionable whether we ought not to read degg'd for “deck'd," as it stands in the folios. By Holloway's "General Dict. of Provincialisms" it appears that to deg, in the north of England, means to sprinkle; a sense better suited to the line than "deck'd" or adorn'd. "Deg" seems to be derived from the Icelandic word daeg, a shower. |