Boats. Work you, then. Ant. Hang, cur, hang! you whoreson insolent noisemaker, we are less afraid to be drowned than thou art. Gon. I'll.warrant him for drowning; though the ship were no stronger than a nutshell, and as leaky as an unstanched wench. Boats. Lay her a-hold, a-hold! to sea again; lay her off. Set her two courses: off Enter Mariners, wet. Mar. All lost! to prayers, to prayers! all lost! [Exeunt. Gon. The king and prince at prayers! let us assist them, Seb. I am out of patience. Ant. We are merely' cheated of our lives by drunkards.— This wide-chapp'd rascal,—would, thou mightst lie drown ing, The washing of ten tides ! Gon. He'll be hanged yet, Though every drop of water swear against it, And gape at wid'st to glut him. [A confused noise within.] We split, we split!-Farewell, my wife and children!— Ant. Let's all sink with the king. Seb. Let's take leave of him. [Exit. [Exit. Gon. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground; long heath, brown furze, any thing. The wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death. [Exit. SCENE II. The Island: before the Cell of PROSPERO. Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA. Mira. If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. 7 MERELY] i. e. Absolutely: a common mode of using the word of old. The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, With those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel, Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er It should the good ship so have swallow'd, and Pro. Be collected: No more amazement. Tell your piteous heart, Mira. Oh, woe the day! No harm. I have done nothing but in care of thee, (Of thee, my dear one! thee, my daughter!) who Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing Of whence I am; nor that I am more better Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell, Mira. More to know 'Tis time Did never meddle with my thoughts'. Pro. I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand, [Laying down his mantle. Lie there my art.—Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort. The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd The very virtue of compassion in thee, I have with such prevision in mine art' 8 mounting to the welkin's CHEEK,] The corr. fo. 1632 has "cheek" erased in favour of heat; and it is very possible that heat may have been substituted by a performer in the time of the old annotator: we adhere however to the old text, recollecting the expressions "heaven's face," and "welkin's face," in "Love's Labour's Lost," and "cheeks of heaven" in "Richard II." 9 some noble CREATURES in her,] Creature of the old copies is altered to 99 creatures in the corr. fo. 1632, which accords with the emendation made by Theobald. Miranda just afterwards calls them " poor souls," making it almost certain that "creatures" ought to be in the plural. 1 Did never MEDDLE with my thoughts.] i. e. Mingle or mix with my thoughts. When "meddle was to be used as a monosyllable, it was sometimes spelt mell, as in Vol. ii. p. 605. 2 I have with such PREVISION in mine art] There is no doubt that "pre So safely order'd, that there is no soul- Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. Sit down; Mira. You have often Begun to tell me what I am; but stopp'd, And left me to a bootless inquisition, Pro. The very minute bids thee ope The hour's now come, thine ear; Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember [Sitting down. I do not think thou canst, for then thou wast not Mira. Certainly, sir, I can. Pro. By what? by any other house, or person? Mira. "Tis far off; And rather like a dream, than an assurance That my remembrance warrants. Had I not Four or five women once, that tended me? Pro. Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But how is it, If thou remember'st aught, ere thou cam'st here, Mira. But that I do not. Pro. Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since, vision" (misprinted provision in all the folios) was the poet's word, and we meet "hab' ich mit solcher Vorsicht Durch meine Kunst so sicher angeordnet." 3 OUT three years old.] i. e. Three years complete. It is altered to "Quite three years old" in the corr. fo. 1632, but unnecessarily, and probably only the word of a player. The previous stage-direction, "Sitting down," is from the same authority, but it is not said that Miranda sits, and probably she does not. VOL. I. C Mira. Sir, are not you my father? Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and And princess, no worse issued'. Mira. Oh, the heavens! What foul play had we, that we came from thence? Pro. Both, both, my girl: By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heav'd thence ; Mira. Oh! my heart bleeds Which is from my remembrance. Please you, farther. I pray thee, mark me,--that a brother should Without a parallel: those being all my study, And to my state grew stranger, being transported, Mira. Sir, most heedfully. Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them, whom t' advance, and whom To trash for over-topping, new created THOU his only heir And princess, no worse issued.] The text in the folios is "Was duke of Milan, and his only heir," &c. The corr. fo. 1632 has "thou" for and, most fitly; and, as Mr. Singer suggests (while printing "thou," which he says he substituted in 1851), the old printer caught and from the preceding line. Giving Mr. Singer full credit for his assertion, as to his anticipation of the emendation in the corr. fo. 1632 (promulgated in 1853), we are glad to have this involuntary confirmation of what must be the genuine language of Shakespeare. 5 - TEEN] i. e. Grief, trouble. The word occurs also in Vol. iv. p. 308; Vol. v. p. 112, &c., always in the same sense. 6. TO TRASH for over-topping,] The meaning of this passage is evident, but a dispute has arisen respecting the word "trash." Warburton contended that it was used to express the cutting away of superfluities, as of trees that grew too fast, and were therefore" over-topping :" on the other hand, there is no doubt that it was The creatures that were mine, I say, or chang'd them, To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was And suck'd my verdure out on't.—Thou attend'st not. Pro. I pray thee, mark me. A falsehood, in its contrary as great As my trust was; which had, indeed, no limit, But what my power might else exact,-like one, To credit his own lie, he did believe He was indeed the duke; out o' the substitution, With all prerogative: hence his ambition a term of the chase, and Shakespeare employs it in "Othello," Vol. vi. p. 46, in this sense, where it is said that dogs are "trashed" for their "quick hunting." Either will answer the purpose here; but Shakespeare having himself warranted the latter meaning of "trash," we seem bound to adopt that in preference, and to take the sense to be, that Antonio knew "whom to advance" and whom to beat back, check, or "trash for over-topping," or outrunning the rest. 7 He being thus LORDED,] "Lorded" is loaded in the corr. fo. 1632, but "lorded " may perhaps stand without material objection. In "Richard III.," Vol. iv. p. 230, the proper text "load" is lord in every 4to, until it was corrected to "load" in the folio, 1623. 8 Who having TO UNTRUTH, by telling of it,] The old text is, which Warburton thus amended: "Who having unto truth, by telling of it." But how could any man make a "sinner of his memory" by telling truth? Antonio had, as it were, made a "sinner of his memory" by telling "untruth:" he had told it until he believed his own falsehood, and the old annotator on the folio, 1632, instructs us therefore to read, "Who having to untruth, by telling of it, Made such a sinner of his memory, To credit his own lie," which seems to us clearly right, requiring no sophisticated explanation. c 2 |