Who having, unto truth, by telling of it, To credit his own lie,-he did believe 4 He was, indeed, the duke; out of the fubftitution, And executing the outward face of royalty,. With all prerogative:-Hence his ambition growing, Doft thou hear? Mira. Your tale, fir, would cure deafnefs. Pro. To have no fcreen between this part he play'd 5 So dry he was for fway, with the king of Naples 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: -like one Who having fin'd to truth, by telling oft To credit his own lie MUSGRAVE. out of the fubftitution,] Is the old reading. The mo dern editors, for the fake of fmoother verfification, read-from substitution. 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 ; Out of the dukedom; and confer fair Milan, The gates of Milan; and, i'the dead of darkness, Mira. Alack, for pity! I, not remembring how I cried out then, 7 Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint, 3 That wrings mine eyes to't. Pro. Hear a little further, And then I'll bring thee to the present bufinefs Which now's upon us; without the which, this flory Were most impertinent. Mira. Wherefore did they not That hour destroy us? Pro. Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that queftion. Dear, they durst not; (So dear the love my people bore me) nor fet A mark fo bloody on the bufinefs; but With colours fairer painted their foul ends. 6 To think but nobly.] But in this place fignifies otherwife than. STEEVENS. ૪ 7-cried out.] Perhaps we should read - cried on't STEEVENS. a bint. Hint is fuggeftion. So in the beginning speech of the fecond act. Is common -our bint of woe STELVENS. In few, they hurried us aboard a bark ; Mira. Alack! what trouble, Was I then to you! Pro. ! a cherubim Thou waft, that did preferve me! Thou didft fmile, When I have deck'd the fea with drops full falt; 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 --deck'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 some parts they yet say deck the table. This fenfe may be borne, but perhaps the poet wrote fleck'd, which I think is ftill ufed in ruftic language of drops falling upon water. Dr Warburton reads mock'd, the Oxford edition brack'd. JOHNSON. Verftegan, 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. Johnfon's explanation. The following paffage in Antony and Cleopatra may countenance the verb deck in its common acceptation. 66 do not please sharp fate "To grace it with your forrows." What is this but decking it with tears? STEEVENS. An undergoing ftomach ] Stomach is pride, fubborn refolu tion. So Horace, --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. Mafter 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 laft 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-storm? Pro. Know thus far forth. By accident most strange, bountiful fortune, 3 Now my dear lady, is, now my aufpicious miftrefs. STEEVENS. 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 question her fo often whether she is attentive to his story. JoHNSON. Enter Enter Ariel. Ari. All hail, great mafter! grave fir, hail! I come To answer thy best 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 spirit! Who was fo firm, fo 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, So in the Chances, by Beaum. and Fletcher. 7 are you all fit? "To point, fir." STEEVENS. ---now on the beak,] The beak was a strong 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 authority, nor is any notice given of an alteration. JOHNSON. |