ACT III. SCENE I. Before Profpero's Cell. Enter FERDINAND, bearing a log. 4 Fer. There be some sports are painful +; and their labour Delight in them fets offs: fome kinds of baseness The miítress, which I ferve, quickens what's dead, Weeps when the fees me work; and fays, fuch baseness But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours; 4 There be fome Sports are painful; and their labour Molliter aufterum ftudio fallente laborem. We have again the fame thought in Macbeth: STEEVENS. After "and," at the fame time must be understood. Mr. Pope, unneceffarily, reads " But their labour-," which has been followed by the fubfequent editors. MALONE. 5 This my mean task would be] The metre of this line is defective in the old copy, by the words would be being transferred to the next line. Our author and his contemporaries generally use odious as a trifyllable. MALONE. I forget:] Perhaps Ferdinand means to fay-I forget my task; but that is not furprifing, for I am thinking on Miranda, and thefe fweet thoughts &c. He may however mean, that he forgets or thinks little of the bafenefs of bis employment. Whichfoever be the fenfe, And, or For, fhould feem more proper in the next line, than But. MALONE. 7 Moft bufy-lefs, when I do it.] The old copy has-bufy left. Corrected by Mr. Theobald. MALONE. Enter MIRANDA; and PROSPERO at a distance. Mira. Alas, now! pray you, Work not fo hard: I would, the lightning had Fer, O moft dear miftrefs, The fun will fet before I fhall discharge Mira. If you'll fit down, I'll bear your logs the while: Pray, give me that; Fer. No, precious creature: I had rather crack my finews, break my back, While I fit lazy by. Mira. It would become me As well as it does you and I fhould do it With much more eafe; for my good will is to it, And yours it is against 8. Pro. Poor worm! thou art infected; This vifitation fhews it. Mira. You look wearily. Fer. No, noble miftrefs; 'tis frefh morning with me, When you are by at night 9. I do befeech you, (Chiefly, that I might let it in my prayers,) What is your name ? Mira. Miranda :— 8 And -O my father, yours it is against.] Perhaps we should read, And yours is it against. STEEVENS. tis fresh morning with me, When you are by at night.] Tu mihi curarum requies, tu nocte vel atra Lumen Tibul. Lib. iv. El. xiii. MALONE. I have broke your heft to fay fo! Fer. Admir'd Miranda! Indeed, the top of admiration; worth What's dearest to the world! Full many a lady Mira. I do not know One of my fex; no woman's face remember, Fer. I am, in my condition, A prince, Miranda; I do think, a king; (I would, not fo!) and would no more endure This wooden flavery, than I would fuffer The flesh-fly blow my mouth :-Hear my foul speak ;The very inftant that I faw you, did My heart fly to your fervice; there refides, To make me flave to it; and, for your fake, Am I this patient log-man. beft] For bebeft; i. e. command. STEEVENS. 2 Of every creature's beft.] Alluding to the picture of Venus by Apelles. JOHNSON. 3-than I would feffer &c.] The old copy reads-Than to fuffer, The emendation is Mr. Pope's. STEEVENS. Mira. Do you love me? Fer. O heaven, o earth, bear witness to this found, And crown what I profefs with kind event, If I fpeak true; if hollowly, invert What beft is boded me, to mischief! I, Beyond all limit of what else i' the world*, Mira. I am a fools, To weep at what I am glad of. Pro. Fair encounter Of two moft rare affections! Heavens rain grace Fer. Wherefore weep you? Mira. At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer The bigger bulk it fhews. Hence bashful cunning! And prompt me, plain and holy innocence ! If 4-of what elfe i' the world,] i. e. of aught elfe; of whatsoever elfe there is in the world. I once thought that we should read-aught elfe. But the old copy is right. So, in King Henry VI. P. III: "With promife of his fifter, and what else, "To ftrengthen and fupport king Edward's place." 5 I am a fool, MALONE. To weep at what I am glad of.] This is one of those touches of nature that diftinguifh Shakspeare from all other writers. It was necefiary, in fupport of the character of Miranda, to make her appear unconscious that excefs of forrow and excefs of joy find alike their relief from tears; and as this is the first time that confummate pleasure had made any near approaches to her heart, the calls such a seeming contradictory expreffion of it, folly. The fame thought occurs in Romeo and Juliet: "Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring! "Which you, miftaking, offer up to joy." STEEVENS, Si tibi non cordi fuerant connubia nostra, Candida If not, I'll die your maid: to be your fellow Fer. My mistress, dearest, Fer. Ay, with a heart as willing As bondage e'er of freedom: here's my hand. Mira. And mine, with my heart in 't9: And now farewell, Till half an hour hence. Fer. A thousand, thousand! [Exeunt FER. and MIR. Who are furpriz'd with all; but my rejoicing SCENE II. Another part of the island. [Exit. Enter STEPHANO and TRINCULO; CALIBAN following with a bottle. Ste. Tell not me ;-when the butt is out, we will drink Candida permulcens liquidis veftigia lymphis, Catul. 62. MALONE. 8-your fellow,] i. e. companion. STEEVENS. 9 Ferd. bere's my band. Mira. And mine, with my beart in't.] It is ftill cuftomary in the weft of England, when the conditions of a bargain are agreed upon, for the parties to ratify it by joining their hands, and at the fame time for the purchafer to give an earnest. To this practice the poet alludes. So, in the Winter's Tale: "Ere I could make thee open thy white hand, "And clap thyself my love; then didst thou utter "I am your's for ever." Again, in the Two Gent. of Verona : "Pro. Why then we'll make exchange; here, take you this. "Jul. And feal the bargain with a holy kiss. "Pro. Here is my hand for my true conftancy." HENLEY. water |