Who having, unto truth, by telling of it, To credit his own lie,-he did believe He was, indeed, the duke; out of the substitution, And executing the outward face of royalty, With all prerogative:-Hence his ambition grow. ing, Doft thou hear? Mira. Your tale, fir, 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 Abfolute Milan: Me, poor man-my library Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties He thinks me now incapable: confederates, 'So dry he was for fway, with the king of Naples To give him annual tribute, do him homage; Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend The dukedom, yet unbów'd (alas, poor Milan !) To moft ignoble ftooping. Mira. O the heavens ! Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me, Oxford Editor having, by this correction, been let into the fenfe of the paffage, gives us this fenfe in his own words : Who loving an untruth, and telling't oft, Makes WARBURTON. I agree with Dr. Warburton, that perhaps there is no correlative to which the word it can with grammatical propriety belong, and that unto was the original reading. Lie, however, feems to have been the correlative to which the poet meant to refer, however ungrammatically. STEEVENS. I would read: 4 out of the fubftitution,] Is the old reading. The modern editors, for the fake of finoother verfification, read-from fubftitution. STEEVENS. 5 So dry he was for fway,] i. e. So thirty. The expreffion, I am told, is not uncommon in the midland counties. STEEVENS. If this might be a brother. Mira. I fhould fin To think but nobly of my grandmother: Pro. Now the condition. This king of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's fuit; The gates of Milan; and, i'the dead of darkness, Mira. Alack, for pity! I, not remembring how I cried out then,7 That wrings mine eyes to't. Pro. Hear a little further, And then I'll bring thee to the present business Which now's upon us; without the which, this flory Were most impertinent. Mira. Wherefore did they not That hour deftroy us? Pro. Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that queftion. Dear, they durft not; (So dear the love my people bore me) nor fet A mark fo bloody on the business; but With colours fairer painted their foul ends. 6 • To think but nolly.] But in this place fignifies otherwife than. STEEVENS. 8 1-cried out.] Perhaps we should read-cried on't. STEEVENS. —a bint. Hint is fuggeftion. So in the beginning fpeech of the fecond act. Is common our hint of woe In few, they hurried us aboard a bark ; Mira. Alack! what trouble Was I then to you! Pro. O a cherubim Thou waft, that did preferve me! Thou didst smile, Infused with a fortitude from heaven, When I have deck'd the fea with drops full falt; Under my burden groan'd; which rais'd in me An undergoing ftomach, to bear up Against what should enfue. Mira. How came we afhore? Pro. By Providence divine. Some food we had, and fome fresh water, that 2 Out of his charity, who being then appointed. 9 --aeck'd the fea--] To deck the fea, if explained, to honour, adorn, or dignify, is indeed ridiculous, but the original import of the verb deck is, to cover; fo in fome parts they yet fay deck the table. This fenfe may be borne, but perhaps the poet wrote fleck'd, which I think is still used in ruftic language of drops falling upon water. Dr Warburton reads mock'd, the Oxford edi tion brack'd. JOHNSON. - Verstegan, p. 61. fpeaking of Beer, fays "So the overdecking "or covering of beer came to be called berham, and afterwards "barme." This very well fupports Dr. Johnson's explanation. The following paffage in Antony and Cleopatra may countenance the verb deck in its common acceptation. 66 do not please fharp fate "To grace it with your forrows." What is this but decking it with tears? STEEVENS. An undergoing ftomach ] Stomach is pride, ftubborn refolution. So Horace, 66 -gravem Pelidæ ftomachum." STEEVENS. 2--who being then appointed, &c] Such is the old reading, We might better read, VOL. I. he being, &c. STEEVENS. Master Master of this defign, did give us; with Rich garments, linens, ftuffs, and neceffaries, Which fince have fteaded much: fo, of his gentle nefs, Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me, Mira. Would I might But ever fee that man! Pro. Now, I arise : Sit ftill, and hear the last of our fea-forrow. Have I, thy fchool mafter, made thee more profit Mira. Heavens thank you for't! And now, I pray you, fir, (For ftill 'tis beating in my mind) your reason For raifing this fea-ftorm? Pro. Know thus far forth. By accident moft ftrange, bountiful fortune, A moft aufpicious ftar; whofe influence 3 Now my dear lady, is, now my aufpicious miftrefs. STEEVENS. 4 'tis a good dulnefs] Dr. Warburton rightly obferves, that this fleepinefs, which Profpero by his art had brought upon Miranda, and of which he knew not how foon the effect would begin, makes him queftion her fo often whether she is attentive to his story. JOHNSON. Enter Enter Ariel. Ari. All hail, great master! grave fir, hail! I come To answer thy beft pleasure; be't to fly, To fwim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curl'd clouds; to thy ftrong bidding, task Ariel, and all his quality. Pro. Haft thou, fpirit, • Perform'd to point the tempeft that I bad thee? I boarded the king's fhip; 7 now on the beak, Pro. My brave fpirit! Who was fo firm, so conftant, that this coil Ari. Not a foul But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd Some On the curl'd clouds.] So in Timon-Crifp heaven. STEEVENS, 6 Perform'd to point -] i. e. to the minutest article. So in the Chances, by Beaum. and Fletcher. 7 1114 are you all fit ? "To point, fir." STEEVENS. ➖➖➖now on the beak,] The beak was a ftrong pointed body at the head of the ancient gallies; it is ufed here for the forecastle, or the bolt-fprit. JOHNSON. Now in the wafte,--] The part between the quarter-deck and the forecastle. JOHNSON. But felt a fever of the mad,--] In all the later editions this is changed to a fever of the mind, without reafon or autho rity, nor is any notice given of an alteration. JOHNSON. |