That if you now beheld them, your affections Pro. Dost thou think so, spirit ? Ari. Mine would, sir, were I human. Pro. And mine shall. Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling One of their kind, that relish all as sharply, Passion as they, be kindlier mov'd than thou art ? Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick, Yet, with my nobler reason, 'gainst my fury Do I take part. The rarer action is In virtue, than in vengeance: they being penitent, The sole drift of my purpose doth extend Not a frown farther. Go, release them, Ariel. My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore, Ari. I'll fetch them, sir. [Exit. Pro. Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves; I here abjure; and, when I have requir'd 1 By moonshine do the green SOUR ringlets make,] The corr. fo. 1632 has “green sward" for "green sour," with some appearance of fitness; but we adhere to the ancient text as quite as intelligible, and more expressive. Douce was for green sward," but he was a better antiquary than critic. This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff, [Solemn music. Re-enter ARIEL: after him, ALONSO, with a frantic gesture, attended by GONZALO; SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO in like manner, attended by ADRIAN and FRANCISCO: they all enter the circle which PROSPERO had made, and there stand charmed; which PROSPERO observing, speaks. A solemn air, and the best comforter To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains, Now useless, boil'd within thy skull'! There stand, Noble Gonzalo, honourable man, Mine eyes, even sociable to the flow of thine', Fall fellowly drops.-The charm dissolves apace; To him thou follow'st, I will pay thy graces Thy brother was a furtherer in the act;— Thou'rt pinch'd for't now, Sebastian.—Flesh and blood, Expell'd remorse and nature; who, with Sebastian, " Now useless, BOIL'D within thy skull !] The folios all have a misprint here, "boil within thy skull." Farther on in the same speech, the folio, 1623, alone reads "entertain ambition " for "entertain'd ambition." NOBLE Gonzalo, honourable man, "Noble" and "flow" are Mine eyes, even sociable to the FLOW of thine,] from the corr. fo. 1632, and, we may be confident, are restorations of the poet's language. Why was Prospero to call Gonzalo holy, as the epithet stands in the folios: he was "noble " and "honourable," but in no respect holy: the error of show for "flow" is also transparent, and must have been occasioned chiefly by the mistake of the long & for f: Gonzalo was weeping, and the eyes of Prospero, ❝sociable to the flow" of those of Gonzalo, shed companionable tears. and a loyal SIR] In the corr. fo. 1632 "sir" is changed to servant, and that word may have been written with an abbreviation, and therefore mistaken; but as Shakespeare not unfrequently uses "sir" as in the text of the folios, we introduce no change, especially as the sense of the passage is in no respect either altered or strengthened by it. (Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong) Will shortly fill the reasonable shores, That now lie foul and muddy. Not one of them, I will dis-case me, and myself present, [Exit ARIEL. ARIEL re-enters, singing, and helps to attire PROSPERO. Ari. Where the bee sucks, there suck I: In a cowslip's bell I lie; There I couch. When owls do cry, On the bat's back I do fly After summer, merrily : Merrily, merrily, shall I live now, Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. Pro. Why, that's my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee; But yet thou shalt have freedom :—so, so, so.— To the king's ship, invisible as thou art: There shalt thou find the mariners asleep Under the hatches; the master, and the boatswain, And presently, I pr'ythee. Ari. I drink the air before me, and return Or e'er your pulse twice beat. [Exit ARIEL. Gon. All torment, trouble, wonder, and amazement Inhabit here: some heavenly power guide us Out of this fearful country! Pro. Behold, sir king, The wronged duke of Milan, Prospero. 5 There I COUCH.] So the folios, 1623 and 1632: the third folio first substituted crouch. In the original there is no point after "couch;" but it seems necessary, and was inserted by Malone. Modern critics have differed widely as to the proper punctuation, and the Rev. Mr. Dyce, after devoting two entire pages to the matter, adds his own punctuation, which represents Ariel as couching in the cowslip's bell at night, when, in fact, he was on the bat's back, as he himself tells us: he was flying "on the bat's back" at the time "when owls do cry." The wronged duke of Milan, Prospero.] Here the corr. fo. 1632 tells us that For more assurance that a living prince Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body; A hearty welcome. Alon. Whe'r thou beest he, or no, Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me', As late I have been, I not know: thy pulse Beats as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee, Th' affliction of my mind amends, with which, I fear, a madness held me. This must crave (An if this be at all) a most strange story. Thy dukedom I resign; and do entreat Thou pardon me thy wrongs.-But how should Prospero Be living, and be here? Pro. Let me embrace thine age, Gon. Or be not, I'll not swear. Pro. First, noble friend, whose honour cannot Whether this be, You do yet taste Some subtleties o' the isle, that will not let you Believe things certain.-Welcome, my friends all.— [Aside to SEB. and ANT. I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you, I will tell no tales. Seb. [Aside.] The devil speaks in him. No. For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother Prospero was "attired as Duke." He had cast aside his magic robe, and appeared, to his brother and the rest, in his proper character. " Or some enchanted TRIFLE to abuse me,] The corr. fo. 1632 substitutes devil for "trifle," but we hesitate to insert it in our text, because "trifle" in this place may be understood, although it was not unnatural for Alonso to suppose that he might be addressing a fiend, who had assumed the shape and dress of Prospero. The German for devil is teufel, which, properly pronounced, sounds much like "trifle;" but the translation of this line by A. W. Schlegel is this: "Ob ein bezaubert Spielwerk mich zu täuschen." • Thou pardon me THY wrongs.] We have often seen "thy" and my confounded by the old printer, and we can readily believe such was the case here. The old text has been "pardon me my wrongs," but it ought to be, as in the corr. fo. 1632, "pardon me thy wrongs," i. e. the wrongs that I have done to thee. Thy rankest faults'; all of them; and require Alon. If thou beest Prospero, Give us particulars of thy preservation: How thou hast met us here, who three hours since Pro. I am woe for't, sir. Alon. Irreparable is the loss, and patience Says it is past her cure. Pro. I rather think, You have not sought her help; of whose soft grace, And rest myself content. Alon. You the like loss ? Pro. As great to me, as late; and, supportable To make the dear loss, have I means much weaker Than you may call to comfort you, for I. Have lost my daughter. Alon. A daughter? Oh heavens! that they were living both in Naples, Myself were mudded in that oozy bed Where my son lies. When did you lose your daughter? Pro. In this last tempest.-I perceive, these lords At this encounter do so much admire, That they devour their reason, and scarce think Their eyes do offices of truth, their words Are natural breath; but, howsoe'er you have Been justled from your senses, know for certain, That I am Prospero, and that very duke Which was thrust forth of Milan; who most strangely Upon this shore, where you were wreck'd, was landed, For 'tis a chronicle of day by day, Not a relation for a breakfast, nor Befitting this first meeting.-Welcome, sir; This cell's my court: here have I few attendants, • Thy rankest FAULTS;] So the corr. fo. 1632 instead of fault in the singular: what immediately follows shows that the correction is right. |
