And, by that, destin'd1 to perform an act,
Whereof what's past is prologue; what to come,
In yours and my discharge."

Seb.

What stuff is this?-How say you? 'Tis true, my brother's daughter's queen of Tunis: So is she heir of Naples; 'twixt which regions

There is some space.

Ant. A space whose every cubit Seems to cry out, How shall that Claribel Measure us back to Naples?-Keep in Tunis, And let Sebastian wake!-Say, this were death That now hath seiz'd them; why, they were no

worse

Than now they are: There be, that can rule Naples,
As well as he that sleeps; lords, that can prate
As amply and unnecessarily,

As this Gonzalo; I myself could make
A chough of as deep chat. O, that you bore
The mind that I do! what a sleep were this
For your advancement! Do you understand me?
Seb. Methinks, I do.

True:

You did supplant your brother Prospero.

Ant.
And, look, how well my garments sit upon me;
Much feater than before: My brother's servants
Were then my fellows, now they are my men.
Seb. But, for your conscience-

3 though some cast again;] Cast is here used in the same sense as in Macbeth, Act II. sc. iii: "though he took my legs from me, I made a shift to cast him." STEEVENS.

And, by that, destin'd-] It is a common plea of wickedness to call temptation destiny. JOHNSON.

5 In yours and my discharge.] i. e. depends on what you and I are to perform.

A chough -] Is a bird of the jack-daw kind.

Ant. Ay, sir; where lies that; if it wore a kybe,
"Twould put me to my slipper: But I feel not
This deity in my bosom; twenty consciences,
That stand 'twixt me and Milan, candied be they,
And melt, ere they molest! Here lies your brother,
No better than the earth he lies upon,

If he were that which now he's like: whom I,
With this obedient steel, three inches of it,
Can lay to bed for ever: whiles you, doing thus,
To the perpetual wink for aye might put

9

8

This ancient morsel, this sir Prudence, who
Should not upbraid our course. For all the rest,
They'll take suggestion, as a cat laps milk;'

They'll tell the clock to any business that
We say befits the hour.

Seb.

Thy case, dear friend, Shall be my precedent; as thou got'st Milan,

I'll come by Naples. Draw thy sword: one stroke Shall free thee from the tribute which thou pay'st; And I the king shall love thee.

Ant.

Draw together:

7 And melt, ere they molest!] I had rather readWould melt, ere they molest.

i. e. Twenty consciences, such as stand between me and my hopes, though they were congealed, would melt before they could molest me, or prevent the execution of my purposes. JOHNSON.

Let twenty consciences be first congealed, and then dissolved, ere they molest me, or prevent me from executing my purposes. MALONE.

I would read "Candy'd be they, or melt ;" and the expression then has spirit and propriety. Had I twenty consciences, says Antonio, they might be hot or cold for me; they should not give me the smallest trouble.-Edinburgh Magazine, Nov. 1786.

8

for aye-] i. e. for ever.

STEEVENS.

9 This ancient morsel,] For morsel, Dr. Warburton readsancient moral, very elegantly and judiciously; yet I know not whether the author might not write morsel, as we say a piece of JOHNSON.

a man.

take suggestion,] i. e. Receive any hint of villainy.

And when I rear my hand, do thou the like,

To fall it on Gonzalo.

Seb.

O, but one word.

[They converse apart.

Musick. Re-enter ARIEL, invisible.

Ari. My master through his art foresees the

danger

That these, his friends, are in; and sends me forth, (For else his project dies,) to keep them living.

[Sings in GONZalo's ear.

While you here do snoring lie
Open-ey'd conspiracy

His time doth take:

If of life you keep a care,

Shake off slumber, and beware:
Awake! Awake!

— to keep them living.] By them, as the text now stands, Gonzalo and Alonso must be understood. Dr. Johnson objects very justly to this passage. "As it stands, says he, at present, the sense is this. He sees your danger, and will therefore save them." He therefore would read-" That these his friends are in." The confusion has, I think, arisen from the omission of a single letter. Our author, I believe, wrote

66

and sends me forth,

"For else his project dies, to keep them living." i.e. he has sent me forth, to keep his projects alive, which else would be destroyed by the murder of his friend Gonzalo.

MALONE..

I have received Dr. Johnson's amendment. Ariel, finding that Prospero was equally solicitous for the preservation of Alonso and Gonzalo, very naturally styles them both his friends, without adverting to the guilt of the former. Toward the success of Prospero's design, their lives were alike necessary. Mr. Henley says that, "By them are meant Sebastian and Antonio. The project of Prospero, which depended upon Ariel's keeping them alive, may be seen, Act III. The song of Ariel, however, sufficiently points out which were the immediate objects of his protection. He cannot

Ant. Then let us both be sudden.

Gon. Now good angels preserve the king!

[They awake. Alon. Why, how now, ho! awake! Why are you drawn?3

Wherefore this ghastly looking?

Gon. What's the matter? Seb. Whiles we stood here securing your repose, Even now, we heard a hollow burst of bellowing Like bulls, or rather lions; did it not wake you? It struck mine ear most terribly.

Alon. I heard nothing. Ant. O, 'twas a din to fright a monster's ear; To make an earthquake! sure it was the roar Of a whole herd of lions.

Alon.

Heard you this, Gonzalo? Gon. Upon mine honour, sir, I heard a humming, And that a strange one too, which did awake me: I shak'd you, sir, and cry'd; as mine eyes open'd, I saw their weapons drawn :-there was a noise, That's verity: 'Best stand upon our guard; Or that we quit this place: let's draw our weapons. Alon. Lead off this ground; and let's make further search

For my poor son.

Gon.

Heavens keep him from these beasts!

For he is, sure, i' the island.

Alon.

Lead away.

Ari. Prospero my lord shall know what I have

done:

So, king, go safely on to seek thy son.

[Aside.

[Exeunt.

be supposed to have any reference to what happens in the last

scene of the next act. STEEVENS.

3drawn?] Having your swords drawn.

SCENE II.

Another part of the Island.

Enter CALIBAN, with a burden of wood.
A noise of thunder heard.

Cal. All the infections that the sun sucks up From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make

him

By inch-meal a disease! His spirits hear me,
And yet I needs must curse. But they'll nor pinch,
Fright me with urchin shows, pitch me i' the mire,
Nor lead me, like a fire-brand, in the dark
Out of my way, unless he bid them; but
For every trifle are they set upon me:

Sometimes like apes, that moe1 and chatter at me,
And after, bite me; then like hedge-hogs, which
Lie tumbling in
in my bare-foot
way, and mount
Their pricks at my foot-fall; sometime am I

All wound with adders," who, with cloven tongues, Do hiss me into madness:-Lo! now! lo!

Enter TRINCULO.

Here comes a spirit of his; and to torment me,
For bringing wood in slowly: I'll fall flat;
Perchance, he will not mind me.

Trin. Here's neither bush nor shrub, to bear off any weather at all, and another storm brewing; I hear it sing i' the wind: yond' same black cloud, yond' huge one, looks like a foul bumbard' that

that moe, &c.] i. e. make mouths.

5 Their pricks-] i. e. prickles.

6

7

wound with adders,] wound, or twisted about.

looks like a foul bumbard-] This word means a large vessel for holding drink, as well as the piece of ordnance so called.

VOL. I.

E