Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

falsehood, which is below your character, and, consequently injurious to your honour.

STEEVENS.

Id 1. 73. He's gentle, and not fearful.] Fearful signifies both terrible and timorous. In this place it may mean timorous; or it may signify formidable, as in K. Hen. IV:

"A mighty and a fearful head they are." and then the meaning of the passage is obvious. One of the original meanings, if not the sole meaning, of the word gentle is, noble, highminded: and to this day a Scotch woman in the situation of the young lady in The Tempest, would express herself nearly in the same terms.-Don't provoke him; for being gentle, that is, high-spirited, he won't tamely bear an insult.

Id. l. 78. come from thy ward:] Desist from

any hope of awing me by that posture of de-
fence. JOHNSON.

Id. c. 2, l. 20. My spirits, as in a dream,
are all bound up.] Alluding to a common sen-
sation in dreams; when we struggle, but can-
not run, strike, &c. WARBURTON.
Id. l. 23. are but light to me.] This passage,
as it stands at present, with all allowance for
poetical licence, cannot be reconciled to gram-
mar. I suspect that our author wrote-

66

were but light to me," in the sense ofwould be.-In the preceding line the old copy reads "nor this man's" threats. The emendation was made by Mr. Steevens. MALONE.

ACT II.

SCENE 1.

nified juicy, succulent. Spencer, in his Shep-
heard's Calender, (Feb.) applies the epi-
thet lusty to green.

Id. 1. 20. With an eye of green in't.] An eye is
a small shade of colour.
Claribel-] This name is probably
Id. l. 35. ·
taken from bl. 1. History of George Lord
Faukonbridge. CLARIBEL is there the con-
cubine of king Richard I. and the mother
of lord Falconbridge.

Id.

Widow Dido!] The name of a
1. 43.
widow brings to their minds their own ship-
wreck, which they consider as having made
many widows in Naples. JOHNSON.

Id. l. 51. — the miraculous harp.] Alluding to
the wonders of Amphion's music. STEEVENS.
Id. 1. 72. The stomach of my sense:] By sense,
is meant both reason and natural affection.
Mr. M. Mason, however, supposes sense, in
this place, means feeling. STEEVENS.
Id. c. 2.1. 18. Weigh'd,] Weigh'd means del-
berated.
Id. 1. 22. Than we bring men to comfort them:]
It does not clearly appear whether the king
and these lords thought the ship lost. This
passage seems to imply, that they were them-
selves confident of returning, but imagined
part of the fleet destroyed. Why, indeed,
should Sebastian plot against his brother in
the following scene, unless he knew how to
find the kingdom which he was to inherit.

JOHNSON.

Id. 1. 42. Mr. Malone reads thus:
"Letters should not be known: riches, po-
verty,

Id. l. 47. Our hint of woe-] Hint is that which recalls to the memory; or here it may Id. mean-circumstance.

Id. l. 49. The masters of some merchant, &c.] Thus the old copy. If the passage be not corrupt (as I suspect it is), we must suppose that by masters our author means the owners of a merchant ship, or the officers_to_whom the navigation of it had been trusted. I suppose, however, that our author wrote

"The mistress of some merchant," &c. Mistress was anciently spelt-maistresse or maistres. Hence, perhaps, arose the present typographical error. STEEVENS.

Id. 1. 50. Have just our theme of woe: but for

the miracle. The words-of woe, appear to me as an idle interpolation. STEEVENS. Id. l. 56. The visitor-] Why Dr. Warburton should change visitor to 'viser, for adviser, I cannot discover. Gonzalo gives not only advice but comfort, and is therefore properly called the visitor, like others who visit the sick or distressed to give them consolation. In some of the Protestant churches there is a kind of officers termed consolators for the sick. JOHNSON.

P. 8. c. 1. l. 3. — you've pay'd] The meaning is this: Antonio lays a wager with Sebastian, that Adrian would crow before Gonzalo, and the wager was a laughter. Adrian speaks first, so Antonio is the winner. Sebastian laughs at what Adrian had said, and Antonio immediately acknowledges that by his laughing he has paid the bet.

Id. 1. 9. and delicate temperance,] or temperature.

Id. 1. 10. Temperance was a delicate wench]

In the puritanical times it was usual to christen children from the titles of religious and moral virtues.

Id. 1. 18. How lush, &c.] Lush here signifies rank; but it appears to have sometimes sig

And use of service, none; contract, succession,

Born, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none;"&c. 1. 52. The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.] All this dialogue is a fine satire on the Utopian treatises vernment, and the impracticable inconsistent schemes therein recommended. WARBURTON,

-09

There is something so strikingly applicable to modern times in this text and note, that the Editor could not persuade himself to omit the latter, although necessary in other res pects. C.

Id. 1. 55. any engine,] any instrument of war, or military machine.

ld. l. 57. all foizon,] Foison, or foises, signifies plenty, ubertas: and sometimes moisture, or juice of grass.

Id. l. 80. Enter Ariel, &c. playing solemn mysic.] This stage-direction does not mean to tell us that Ariel himself was the fidicen; but that solemn music attended his appearance, or was an accompaniment to his entry. STEE

VENS.

P. 9, c. 1, l. 48. I am more serious than my custom: you

Must be so too, if heed me; which to do, Trebles thee o'er.] The meaning of this passage seems to be-You must put on more than your usual seriousness, if you are disposed to pay a proper attention to my proposal; which attention if you bestow, it wil in the end make you thrice what you are. Sebastian is already brother to the throne; but, being made a king by Antonio's contri vance, would be (according to our author's idea of greatness) thrice the man he was be fore. In this sense he would be trebled o'er. MALONE.

Id. 1. 57. If you but knew, how you the purpose cherish,

Whiles thus you mock it! how, in stripping it,

You more invest it!] A judicious critic, in

The Edinburgh Magazine, for Nov., 1786. offers the following illustration of this obscure passage. "Sebastian introduces the simile of water. It is taken up by Antonio, who says he will teach his stagnant water to flow. -It has already learned to ebb,' says Sebastian. To which Antonio replies, 0, if you but know how much even that metaphor which you use in jest, encourages to the design which I hint at; how, in stripping the words of their common meaning, and using them figuratively, you adapt them to your own siteation!" STEEVENS. P. 9, c. 1, l. 65. this lord of weak remembrance. This lord, who being now in his dotage, has outlived his faculty of remembering; and who, once laid in the ground, shall be as little remembered himself, as he can now remember other things. JOHNSON.

14.1.70. Mr. Malone reads,

(For he's a spirit of persuasion, only

Professes to persuade);-] It is an entangled sentence of which the meaning may be either, that he alone, who is a spirit of persuasion, professes to persuade the king; or that, He only professes to persuade, that is, without being so persuaded himself he makes a show of persuading the king. JOHNSON. 14 1.76. — a wink beyond.] That this is the utmost extent of the prospect of ambition, the point where the eye can pass no farther, and where objects lose their distinctness, so that what is there discovered is faint, obscure, and doubtful. JOHNSON.

la c. 2,1.3. beyond man's life;] i. e. at a greater distance than the life of man is long enough to reach. STEEVENS.

she that from Naples

Id 1.4. Can have no note, &c.] Note is notice, or information.

Shakspeare's great ignorance of geography is not more conspicuous in any instance than in this, where he supposes Tunis and Naples to have been at such an immeasurable distance from each other.

1.1.6. she, from whom-] i. e. in coming

from whom.

Id. 1.7.

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.

14.48. And, by that, destin'd-] It is a common plea of wickedness to call temptation destiny. JOHNSON. Mr. Malone reads destiny. Id. 1. 10. In yours and my discharge.] i. e. depends on what you and I are to perform. Id. I. 24. A chough- Is a bird of the jack-daw

kind.

Id l. 41. And melt, ere they molest!) I had rather

read

Would 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 pur

poses. JOHNSON.

la l. 46.

143 "he's like, that's dead :"-MALONE. - for aye-] i. e. for ever. 14147. This ancient morsel.] For morsel, Dr. Warburton reads-ancient moral, very elegantly and judiciously; yet I know not whether the author might not write morsel, as we say a piece of a man. JOHNSON. d. 1. 49. — take suggestion,] i. e. Receive any hint of villainy. ld.1.65.—to keep them living.] By them, as the text now stands, Gonzalo and Alonzo must be understood. Dr. Johnson objects very

[ocr errors]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

Id. l. 53. make a man;] That is, make a man's fortune.

Id. l. 67. - his gaberdine:] A gaberdine is properly the coarse frock or outward garment of a peasant, but here means a loose felt cloak. MALONE.

Id. c. 2, l. 5. savages,] salvages was the spelling and pronunciation of the time. Id. l. 25. too much-] Too much means any sum, ever so much. It has, however, been observed, that when the vulgar mean to ask an extravagant price for any thing, they say, with a laugh, I won't make him pay twice for it.

Id. l. 28. I know it by thy trembling;] This tremor is always represented as the effect of being possessed by the devil.

Id. l. 31. cat; Good liquor will make a cat speak.

Id. 1. 39. His forward voice, &c. The person of Fame was anciently described in this manner. Id. l. 43. Amen! Means, stop your draught. Id. 1. 47. I have no long spoon.] Alluding to the proverb, A long spoon to eat with the devil. Id. l. 54. to be the siege of this moon-calf?] Siege signifies stool in every sense of the word, and is here used in the dirtiest, mooncalf is an inanimate shapeless mass, supposed by Pliny to be engendered of woman only.

A

Id. l. 75. Ste. Here; swear then how thou escap'dst. Mr. Ritson proposes to alter this line thus:

P.

Ste. (to Cal.) Here, swear then. (to Trin.) How escap'dst thou?

11, c. 1, l. 4. Hast thou not dropped from

heaven? The new-discovered Indians of the island of St. Salvador asked, whether Columbus and his companions were not come down from heaven?

Id. 1. 8. "And thy dog, and thy bush." MALONE. Id. 1. 12. I afeard of him?-a very weak mon

ster: &c.] It is to be observed, that Trinculo, the speaker, is not charged with being afraid; but it was his consciousness that he was so that drew this brag from him. This is nature. WABRURTON.

Id. 1. 16. "And I will kiss"-MALONE. Id. l. 39. sea-mells- This word has puzzled the commentators: Dr. Warburton reads shamois; Mr. Holt, who wrote notes upon this play, observes, that limpets are in some places called scams. Theobald had very reasonably proposed to read sea-malls or sea-mells. 1. 53. Get a new man.] When Caliban sings this last part of his ditty, he must be supposed to turn his head scornfully toward

Id.

[blocks in formation]

Id. l. 69. I am a fool,

To weep at what I am glad of] This is one of those touches of nature that distinguish Shakspeare from all other writers. It was necessary, in support of the character of Miranda, to make her appear unconscious that excess of sorrow and excess of joy find alike their relief from tears; and as this is the first time that consummate pleasure had made any near approaches to her heart, she calls such a seeming contradictory expression of it, folly. STEEVENS. P. 12. o. 1. 1. 2. your fellow-] i e. companion. Id. 1. 10. - here's my hand.

-

Id.

It should be remembered that Trinculo is no sailor, but a jester; and is so called in the ancient dramatis persone. He therefore wears the party-coloured dress of one of these characters. STEEVENS.

Dr. Johnson observes, that Caliban could have no knowledge of the striped coat usually worn by fools; and would therefore transfer this speech to Stephano. But though Caliban might not know this circumstance, Shakspeare did. Surely he who has given to all countries and all ages the manners of his own, might forget himself here, as well as in other places. MALONE. Remember,

l. 43.

First to possess his books; for without them

He's but a shot, as I am.] In the old romances the sorcerer is always furnished with a book, by reading certain parts of which he is enabled to summon to his aid whatever demons or spirits he has occasion to employ. When he is deprived of his book, his power ceases. Our author might have observed this circum stance much insisted on in the Orlando Innamorato of Boyardo; and also in Harrington's translation of the Orlando Furioso, 1591. Id. 1. 50. "I never saw a woman,"-MALONE. Id. 1. 69. Will you troll the catch-] To trell a catch, is to dismiss it trippingly from the tongue.

Id.

P.

Mira. And mine with my heart in't:] It is still customary in the west of England, Id. when the conditions of a bargain are agreed upon, for the parties to ratify it by joining their hands, and at the same time for the purchaser to give an earnest. HENLEY. Id. 1. 16. So glad of this as they, 1 cannot be,

Who are surpriz'd with all;] The sense might be clearer, were we to make a slight transposition:

"So glad of this as they, who are surpriz'd

With all, I cannot be " Perhaps, however, more consonantly with ancient language, we should join two of the words together, and read

"Who are surpriz'd withal." STEEVENS.

SCENE II.

Id. 1. 25. bear up, and boardem:] A me-
taphor alluding to a chace at sea.
Id. l. 39.
or my standard.

Trin. Your lieutenant, if you list; he's no standard.] Meaning he is so much intoxicated, as not to be able to stand. The quibble between standard, an ensign, and standard, a fruit-tree that grows without support, is evident. STEEVENS.

Id. l. 48. thou deboshed fish thou,] the same as debauched.

Id. l. 63. "to the suit."-MALONE.

Id. l. 68. --a tyrant;] Tyrant is here employed as a trisyllable.

Id. . 2. l. 12. What a pied ninny's this?]

1. 79. This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of No-body.] A ridiculous figure, sometimes represented on signs, but the allusion is here to the print of No-body, prefixed to the anonymous comedy of "No-body and Some-body;" without date, but printed before the year 1600.

13. c. 1. 1.6. — afeard?] To affear is an obsolete verb, with the same meaning as to affray. Between aferde and afraide in the time of Chaucer, there might have been some nice distinction, which is at present lost STEEVENS. 1. 25. Wilt come? I'll follow, Stephano] The first words are addressed to Caliban, who, vexed at the folly of his new companions idy running after the music, while they ought only to have attended to the main point, the dis patching Prospero, seems, for some little time, to have staid behind. HEATH.

The words-Wilt come? should be added to Stephano's speech. I'll follow, is Trincelo's answer. RITSON.

SCENE III.

Id. 1. 29. By'r lakin,] i. e. The diminutive only
of our lady, i. e. ladykin. STEEVENS.
Id. 1. 39. Our frustrate search-] Frustrate
frustrated.

Id. l. 60. A living drollery :] Shows, called drolle

ries, were in Shakspeare's time performed by puppets only. From these our modern drolls, exhibited at fairs, &c. took their name A living drollery, i. e. a drollery not represented by wooden machines, but by personages who are alive.

Id. 1. 62. one tree, the phoenix' throne;} Our poet had probably Lyly's Euphues, and his England, particularly in his thoughts: signat Q. 3.-"As there is but one phoenix in the world, so is there but one tree in Arabis wherein she buildeth." See also, Florio's Italian Dictionary, 1598: "Rasin, a tree in Arabia, whreof there is but one found, and upon it the phoenix sits." MALONE.

Id. 1.71 For, certes, &c.] Certes is an obsolete word, signifying certainly.

P. 13, c. 1, l. 73 Their manners are more gentle-
kind, Mr. Malone reads gentle, kind;" but
Steevens considers it as a compound epithet.
Id. l. 79. too much muse,] To muse, in an-
cient language, is to admire, to wonder.
Id. c. 2.1.5. Praise in departing.] i. e. Do not
praise your entertainment too soon, lest you
should have reason to retract your commen-
dation. It is a proverbial saying.

Id. l. 14. that there were mountaineers, &c.]
The inhabitants of the Alps have been long ac-
customed to such excrescences or tumours.
Id. 1. 18 men,

Whose heads stood in their breasts ?] Our author might have had this intelligence from the translation of Pliny, b. v. chap. 8: "The Blemmyi, by report, have no heads, but mouth and eyes both in their breasts." STEEVENS. Id. 1. 19 Each putter-out, &c.] In this age of travelling, it was a practice with those who engaged in long and hazardous expeditions, to place out a sum of money on condition of receiving great interest for it at their return home.

66 on five for one" means on the terms of fire for one. Mr. Malone reads “——of five for one."

14. 1. 22. I will stand to, and feed, &c.] This passage was probably intended to be in a rhyme. 11. 1. 28 and with a quaint device, the banquet vanishes.] Though I will not undertake to prove that all the culinary pantomimes exhibited in France and Italy were known and imitated in this kingdom, I may observe that flying, rising, and descending services were to be found at entertainments given by the Duke of Burgundy, &c. in 1453, and by the grand Duke of Tuscany in 1600, &c. See M. Le Grand d'Aussi's Histoire de la Vie privée des François, vol. iii. p. 294. &c. Examples, therefore, of machinery similar to that of Shakspeare in the present instance, were to be met with, and perhaps had been adopted on the stage, as well as at public festivals here in England. STEEVENS.

14 1. 30. (That hath to instrument this lower world, &c.] i. e. that makes use of this world, and every thing in it, as its instruments w bring about its ends.

14.1. 42. One dowle that's in my plume:] Bailey, in his dictionary, says that dowle is a feather, or rather, the single particles of the down.

[ocr errors]

nocent.

clear life,-] Pure, blameless, in

14 1. 59. is nothing but heart's sorrow, And a clear life ensuing.] that is—a miserable fate which nothing but contrition and amendment of life can avert. MALONE. 14.1.62 with mops and mowes-] To mowe, i. e. to insult, by making mouths, or wry faces. Id 1 66 with good life,] With good life may mean, with exact presentation of their several characters, with observation strange of their particular and distinct parts, or with honest alacrity, or cheerfulness.

Id. L. 68. Their several kinds have done:] i. e. have discharged the several functions allotted to their different natures.

14. 1. 81. bass my trespass.] The deep pipe told it me in a rough bass sound. JOHNSON. P 14. c. 1. l. 3. And with him there lie mudded. But one fiend-] with him, and but, are probably playhouse interpolations.

Id. L. 9. Like poison given, &c.] The natives of Africa have been supposed to be possessed of the secret how to temper poisons with such art as not to operate ull several years after they were administered. 147.12.

this ecstasy-] Ecstasy meant not

|

anciently, as at present, rapturous pleasure but alienation of mind.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

Id. l. 21. - a thread of mine own life.] i. e. a fibre or a part of my own life. Prospero considers himself as the stock or parent-tree, and his daughter as a fibre or portion of himself, and for whose benefit he himself lives. TOLLET.

Id. l. 25. strangely stood the test:] Strangely is used by way of commendation, merveilleusement, to a wonder.

Id. 1. 34. If thou dost break her virgin knot before

All sanctimonious ceremonies, &c.] This is a manifest allusion to the zones of the ancients which were worn as guardians of chastity by marriageable young women. HENLEY. Id. 1. 36. No sweet aspersion] Aspersion is here used in its primitive sense of sprinkling. At present it is expressive only of calumny and detraction. STEEVENS.

1d. l. 52. Fairly spoke;] Fairly is here used as a trisyllable. Id. l. 59. the rabble,] The crew of meaner

spirits.

Id. 1. 63. Some vanity of mine art;] i. e. illusion of mine art.

[blocks in formation]

Id. l. 12. thatch'd with stover.] Stover (in Cambridgeshire and other counties) signifies hay made of coarse rank grass, such as even cows will not eat while it is green. Stover is likewise used as thatch for cart-lodges, and other buildings that deserve but rude and cheap coverings.

Id. . 13. Thy banks with peonied and lilied brims,] The old edition reads pioned and twilled brims, which gave rise to Mr. Holt's conjecture, that the poet originally wrote:

"with pioned and tilled brims," Peonied is the emendation of Hanmer, but Mr. Malone adheres to the old edition. Id. l. 15. and thy broom groves,] Broom, in this place, signifies the Spartium scoparium, of which brooms are frequently made. Near Gamlingay, in Cambridgeshire, it grows high enough to conceal the tallest cattle as they pass through it; and in places where it is cultivated, still higher.

Id.

1. 17. Being lass-lorn;] Lass-lorn is forsaken of his mistress.

Id. l. 17. - thy pole-clipt vineyard:] To clip is to twine round or embrace. The poles are clipped or embraced by the vines.

Id.

Id.

1. 31. My bosky acres, &c.] Bosky is woody. Bosky acres are fields divided from each other by hedge-rows. Boscus is middle Latin for wood.

Id. l. 33. to this short-grass'd green?] The old copy reads short-grass'd green. Short graz'd green means grazed so as to be short. 1. 65. Earth's increase, and foison plenty, &c.) Earth's increase, is the produce of the earth: ——foison, plenty, i. e. plenty to the utmost abundance; foison signifying plenty.

P. 15, c. 1, l. 2.". - a wouder'd father,] i. e. able to perform wonders.

Id. 1.9. wand'ring brooks,] The modern edi

tors read-winding brooks. The old copywindring STEEVENS. P. 15, c. 1, l. 11. Leave your crisp channels,] Crisp, i. e. curling, winding. Crisp, however, allude may to the little wave or curl (as it is commonly called) that the gentlest wind occasions on the surface of waters. STEEVENS. Id. 1. 31. This is most strange :] Malone reads: "This is strange :" I have introduced the word-most, on account of the metre, which otherwise is defective.-In the first line of Prospero's next speech there is likewise an omission, but I have not ventured to supply it. STEEVENS.

Id. l. 43. all which it inherit,] i. e. all who possess, who dwell upon it. MALONE. Id. 44. And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,] Faded means here-having vanished; from the Latin, vado. To feel the justice of this comparison, and the propriety of the epithet, the nature of these exhibitions should be remembered. The ancient English pageants were shows exhibited on the reception of a prince, or any other solemnity of a similar kind. They were presented on occasional stages erected in the streets. Originally they appear to have been nothing more than dumb shows; but before the time of our author, they had been enlivened by the introduction of speaking personages, who were characteristically habited. The speeches were sometimes in verse; and as the procession moved forward, the speakers, who constantly bore some allusion to the ceremony, either conversed together in the form of a dialogue, or addressed the noble person whose presence occasioned the celebrity. On these allegorical spectacles very costly ornaments were bestowed.

Id. 1. 45. Leave not a rack behind:] "The winds (says lord Bacon) which move the clouds above, which we call the rack, and are not perceived below, pass without noise." Mr. Steevens would explain the word rack somewhat differently, by calling it the last fleeting vestige of the highest clouds, scarce perceptible on account of their distance and tenuity. What was anciently called the rack, is now termed by sailors-the scud. The word is common to many authors contemporary with Shakspeare. But sir Thomas Hanmer reads tract, for which there are some authorities; and Mr. Malone wrack, a misspelling for wreck; and after producing authorities, says, it has been urged, that "objects which have only a visionary and insubstantial existence, can, when the vision is faded, leave nothing real, and consequently no wreck behind them." But the objection is founded on misapprehension. The words "Leave not a rack (or wreck) behind," relate not to "the baseless fabrick of this vision," but to the final destruction of the world, of which the towers, temples, and palaces, shall (like a vision, or a pageant), be dissolved, and leave no vestige behind.

Id. 1. 58. Thy thoughts I cleave to:] To cleave to, is to unite with closely.

Id. l. 60. to meet with Caliban.] To meet with is to counteract; to play stratagem against stratagem.

Id. l. 74. pricking goss,] I know not how Shakspeare distinguished goss from furze; for what he calls furze is called goss or gorse in the midland counties. STEEVENS.

By the latter, Shakspeare means the low sort of gorse that only grows upon wet ground, and which is well described by the name of whims in Markham's Farewell to Husbandry. It has prickles like those of a rose-tree or a gooseberry. TOLLET.

Id. c. 2, 1. 4. For stale to catch these thieves.] Stale is a word in fowling, and is used to mean a bait or decoy to catch birds. STEEVENS. Id. 1.7. Nurture can never stick;] Nurture is education.

Id. 1. 8. —— all, all lost,] The first of these words was probably introduced by the carelessness of the transcriber or compositor. We might safely read-are all lost. MALONE. Id. 1. 9. And as, with age, his body uglier grows,

Id.

Id.

Id.

So his mind cankers:] Shakspeare, when he wrote this description, perhaps recollected what his patron's most intimate friend, the great lord Essex, in an hour of discontent, said of queen Elizabeth:-"that she grew old, and cankered, and that her mind was become as crooked as her carcase:"-a speech, which, according to sir Walter Raleigh, cost him his head, and which, we may therefore suppose, was at that time much talked of. This play being written in the time of king James, these obnoxious words might be safely repeated. MALONE.

1. 16.—the blind mole may not

Hear a foot fall: This quality of hearing, which the mole is supposed to possess in so high a degree, is mentioned in Euphues, 4to. 1581, p. 64: "Doth not the lion for strength, the turtle for love, the ant for labour, excel man? Doth not the eagle see clearer, the vulture smell better, the moale heare lightlier?"

l. 21. —— has done little better than played the Jack with us.] i. e. he has played Jack with a lantern; has led us about like an ignis fatuus, by which travellers are decoyed into the mire.

1. 46. Trin. O king Stephano! O peer! 0 worthy Stephano! look, what a wardrobe here is for thee!] An allusion to an old celebrated ballad, which begins thus: "King Stephan was a worthy peer"—; and cele brates that king's parsimony with regard to his wardrobe.

1d. l. 48. we know what belongs to a frippery: A frippery was a shop where old clothes were sold. Fripperie, Fr. The person who kept one of these shops was called a fripper. Strype, in his life of Stowe, says, that these frippers lived in Birchin-lane and Cornhill.

Id. 1. 53. "Let it alone,”—MALONE. Id. l. 59. - under the line:] An allusion to what often happens to people who pass the line. The violent fevers which they contract in that hot climate, make them lose their hair. Id. 1.68.-——put some lime, &c.] That is, bird-lime. Id. 1. 71. to barnacles, or to apes-] Skinner

says, barnacle is Anser Scoticus. The barnacle is a kind of shell-fish growing on the bottoms of ships, and which was anciently sup posed, when broken off, to become one of these geese.

Id. 1.72 With foreheads villainous low.] Low foreheads were anciently reckoned among deformities.

Id. 1. 78. A noise of Hunters heard.] Shakspeare might have had in view Arthur's Chase, which many believe to be in France, and think that it is a kennel of black dogs followed by unknown huntsmen with an exceeding great sound of horns, as if it was a very hunting of some wild beast.

ACT V.

SCENE I.

P. 16, c. 1, l. 20. —— and time

Goes upright with his carriage.] Alluding

« AnteriorContinuar »