Pro. The fringed curtains of thine eye advance, And fay, what thou seeft yond'. Mira. What is't? a fpirit? Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, fir, Pro. No, wench; it eats, and fleeps, and hath As we have, fuch: This gallant, which thou feest, Was in the wreck; and, but he's fomething ftain'd With grief, that's beauty's canker, thou might'ft call him A goodly perfon: he hath loft his fellows, A thing divine; for nothing natural I ever saw so noble. Pro. It goes on, I fee, As my foul prompts thee [Afide. it-Spirit, fine fpirit, I'll free Within two days for this. Fer. Moft fure, the goddess On whom these airs attend!-Vouchfafe, my prayer 5 The fringed curtains, &c] The fame expreffion occurs in Pericles Prince of Tyre, 1609. -her eyelids "Begin to part their fringes of bright gold." STEEVENS. May • Moft fure, &c.] It feems, that Shakespeare, in The Tempeft, hath been fufpected of tranflating fome expreffions of Virgil;, witness the O Dea certe. I prefume we are here directed to the paffage, where Ferdinand fays of Miranda, after hearing the fongs of Ariel: Moft fure, the goddess On whom thefe airs attend! And fo very Small Latin is fufficient for this formidable tranflation, that if it be thought any honour to our poet, I am loth to deprive him of it; but his honour is not built on fuch a fandy foundation. Let us turn to a real tranflator, and examine whether the idea might not be fully comprehended by an English reader, fuppofing it neceffarily borrowed from Virgil. Hexameters in our own language are almost forgotten; we will quote therefore this time from Stanyhurst: "O to May know, if you remain upon this island; 46 Fer. O to thee, fayre virgin, what terme may rightly be fitted? "Thy tongue, thy vifage no mortal frayltie resembleth. No doubt, a goddeffe!" Edit. 1583. FARMER. -certainly, a maid] Nothing could be more prettily imagined to illustrate the fingularity of her character, than this pleasant mistake. She had been bred up in the rough and plaindealing documents of moral philofophy, which teaches us the knowledge of ourselves; and was an utter ftranger to the flattery invented by vicious and defigning men to corrupt the other sex. So that it could not enter into her imagination, that complaifance, and a defire of appearing amiable, qualities of humanity which she had been inftructed, in her moral leffons, to cultivate, could ever degenerate into fuch excefs, as that any one should be willing to have his fellow-creature believe that he thought her a goddess, or an immortal. WARBURTON. Dr. Warburton has here found a beauty, which I think the author never intended. Ferdinand afks her not whether the was a created being, a question which, if he meant it, he has ill expreffed, but whether he was unmarried; for after the dialogue which Profpero's interruption produces, he goes on pursuing his former question. O, if a virgin, I'll make you queen of Naples. JOHNSON. A paffage in Lilly's Gallathea feems to countenance the present text, "The question among men is common, are you a maide?" -yet I cannot but think, that Dr. Warburton reads very rightly, "If you be made, or no." When we meet with an harsh expreffion in Shakespeare, we are ufually to look for a play upon words. Fletcher clofely imitates the Tempeft in his Sea Voyage: and he introduces Albert in the fame manner to the ladies of his Defert Ifland. "Be not offended, goddeffes, that I fall Shakespeare himself had certainly read, and had probably now in his mind, a paffage in the third book of the Fairy Queen, between Timias and Belphabe, Fer. My language! heavens ! I am the best of them that speak this speech, Pro. How! the best? What wert thou, if the king of Naples heard thee? Fer. A fingle thing, as I am now, that wonders To hear thee speak of Naples: He does hear me ; And, that he does, I weep: myself am Naples; Who with mine eyes, ne'er fince at ebb, beheld The king my father wreck'd. Mira. Alack, for mercy! Fer. Yes, faith, and all his lords; the duke of Milan, And his brave fon, being twain. Pro. The duke of Milan, And his more braver daughter, could controul thee, If now 'twere fit to do't:At the first fight [Afide to Ariel, That e'er I figh'd for: pity move my father "Angel or goddess! do I call thee right ?" "Nor goddess I, nor angel, but the maid "And daughter of a woody nymph," &c. FARMER. And his brave fon, being train.] This is a flight forgetfulnefs. Nobody was left in the wreck, yet we find no fuch character as the son of the duke of Milan. THEOBALD. controul thee.] Confute thee, unanswerably contradict thee. JOHNSON. I fear you have done your felf fome wrong:-] i. e. I fear that, in afferting yourself to be king of Naples, you have uttered a falfhood, which is below your character, and confequently injurious to your honour. So in the Merry Wives of Windfor This is not well, mafter Ford, this wrongs you. STEEVENS. Fer. O, if a virgin, And your affection not gone forth, I'll make you Pro. Soft, fir; one word more.. They are both in either's powers: but this fwift bu finefs I must unealy make, left too light winning [Afide. Make the prize light.-One word more; I charge thee, That thou attend me: thou dost here ufurp From me, the lord on't. Fer. No, as I am a man. Mira. There's nothing ill can dwell in fuch a temple: If the ill fpirit have fo fair an house, Speak not you for him; he's a traitor.-Come, The fresh-brook mufcles, wither'd roots, and husks Fer. No; I will refift fuch entertainment, till Mine enemy has more power. Mira. O dear father, Make not too rafh a trial of him, for * He's gentle, and not fearful. Pro. What, I fay, [He draws, My foot my tutor?-Put thy fword up, traitor; 2 He's gentle, and not fearful.] Fearful fignifies both terrible and timorous. In this place it may mean timorous. She tells her father, that as he is gentle, rough ufage is unneceffary, and as he is brave, it may be dangerous. Fearful, however, may fignity formidable, as in K. Hen. IV. · "A mighty and a fearful head they are ;" and then the meaning of the paffage is obvious. STEEVENS. Who Who mak'st a fhew, but dar'ft not ftrike, thy con science Is fo poffefs'd with guilt: come from thy ward; Mira. Befeech you, father! Pro. Hence; hang not on my garments, I'll be his furety. Pro. Silence: one word more Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee, What, An advocate for an impoftor? huh! Thou think'ft, there are no more fuch fhapes as he, Having feen but him and Caliban; Foolish wench! To the most of men this is a Caliban, And they to him are angels. Mira. My affections Are then moft humble; I have no ambition Pro. Come on; obey: [To Ferdinand.] 4 Thy nerves are in their infancy again, And have no vigour in them. Fer. So they are: My fpirits, as in a dream, are all bound up. The wreck of all my friends, or this man's threats, 3 Pro. It works :--Come on. come from thy ward;] Defift from any hope of awing me by that posture of defence. JOHNSON. Thy nerves are in their infancy again,] So Milton, in his Mafque at Ludlow-Caftle. 66 Thy nerves are all bound up in alabafter." STEEVENS. D 4 [To |