Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

ALON. Irreparable is the lofs; and patience Says, it is pall her cure.

[blocks in formation]

You have not fought her help; of whofe foft grace,
For the like lofs, I have her fovereign aid,
And reft myself content.

[blocks in formation]

PRO. As great to me, as late; and, portable" To make the dear lofs, have I means much weaker Than you may call to comfort you; for I Have loft my daughter.

ALON.

A daughter?

O heavens! that they were living both in Naples, The king and queen there! that they were, I wish Myfelf were mudded in that oozy bed

Where my fon lies. When did you lofe your daughter?

PRO. In this laft tempeft. I perceive, these lords At this encounter do fo much admire,

That they devour their reafon; and fcarce think Their eyes do offices of truth, their words

Are natural breath: but, howfoc'er you have

So, in the play of The Four Ps, 1569:

"But be ye fure I would be woe

"That you should chance to begyle me fo." STEEVENS. 6 As great to Nil, as late ;) My lofs is a great as yours, and has as lately happened to me. JOHNSON.

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

Are natural breath :) An anonymous correfpondent thinks that their is a corruption, and that we fhould read these words. His conje&ure appears not improbable. The lords had no doubt concerning themfelves. Their doubts related only to Profpero, whom they at firft apprehend to be fome "inchanted trife to abufe

Been julled from your fenfes, know for certain,
That I am Profpero, and that very duke
Which was thruft forth of Milan;

ftrangely

who moft

Upon this fhore, where you were wreck'd, was landed,

To be the lord on't. No more yet of this;
For 'tis a chronicle of day by day,

Not a relation for a breakfaft, nor

Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, fir;
This cell's my court: here have I fcw attendants,
And fubje&is none abroad: pray you, look in.
My dukedom fince you have given me again,
1 will requite you with as good a thing;
At leaft, bring forth a wonder, to content ye,
As much as me my dukedom.

The entrance of the cell opens, and difcovers FERDI-
NAND and MIRAMDA playing at chefs.'

MIRA. Sweet lord, you play me falfe.

FER.

I would not for the world.

No, my deareft love,

2

MIRA. Yes, for a score of kingdoms, you fhould wrangle,

And I would call it fair play.

them." They doubt, fays he, whether what they fee and hear is a mere allusion; whether the perfon they behold is a living mortal, whether the words they hear are fpoken by a human creature.

MALONE.

9 playing at chefs.) Shakspeare might not have ventured to engage his hero and heroine at this game, had he not found Huon de Bordeaux and his Princefs employed in the fame mauner. See the Romance of Huon, &c. chapter 53. edit. 1601: "How King Ivoryn caufed his daughter to play at the cheffe with Fluon." &c.

STEEVENS.

2 Yes, for a score of kingdoms, &c.] I take the fenfe to be only this: Ferdinand would not, he fays, play her falfe for the world: yes,

[blocks in formation]

FER. Though the feas threaten, they are mer

ciful:

I have curs'd them without caufe.

ALON.

[FERD. kneels to ALON. Now all the bleflings

Of a glad father compafs thee about!
Arife, and lay how thou cam'ft here.

MIRA.

O! wonder!

How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has fuch people in't!

PRO.

'Tis new to thee.

ALON. What is this maid, with whom thou waft

at play?

Your eld'nt acquaintance cannot be three hours;
Is fhe the goddess that hath fever'd us,

And brought us thus together?

FER.

Sir, fhe's mortal;

But, by immortal providence, fhe's mine;
I chofe her when I could not afk my father
For his advice; nor thought I had one: fhe

anfwers fhe, I would allow you to do it for fomething less than the world, for twenty kingdoms, and I with you well enough to allow you, after a little wrangle, that your play was fair. So likewife Dr. Grey. JOHNSON.

I would recommend another punctuation, and then the fenfe

would be as follows:

"Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle,
"And I would call it fair play;

becaufe fuch a conteft would be worthy of you.

66

'Tis honour, with most lands to be at odds, "fays Alcibiades, in Timon of Athens. STEEVENS.

Is daughter to this famous duke of Milan,
Of whom fo often I have heard renown,
But never faw before; of whom I have
Receiv'd a fecond life, and fecond father
This lady makes him to me.

ALON.

I am hers:

But O, how oddly will it found, that I
Muft afk my child forgivenefs!

PRO.

There, fir, ftop;

Let us not burden our remembrances'

With a heaviness that's gone.

GON.

I have inly wept,

Or fhould have spoke ere this. Look down, you

gods,

And on this couple drop a blessed crown;

For it is you, that have chalk'd forth the way
Which brought us hither!

ALON.

I say, amen, Gonzalo!

GON. Was-Milan thrust from Milan, that his iffue Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice Beyond a common joy; and fet it down With gold on lafting pillars: In one voyage Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis; And Ferdinand her brother, found a wife, Where he himself was loft; Profpero his dukedom, In a poor ifle; and all of us, ourselves, When no man was his own.*

3 -Our remembrances-] By the mistake of the tranfcriber the word with being placed at the end of this line, Mr. Pope and the fubfequent editors, for the fake of the metre, read-remembrance, The regulation now made renders change unnecessary. MALONE.

4 When no man was his own.] For when perhaps fhould be read→ where. JOHNSON.

When is certainly right; i. e. at a time when no one was in his fenfes. Shakspeare could not have written where, [i. e. in the

ALON.

Give me your hands:

[To FER. and MIR.

Let grief and forrow ftill embrace his heart,
That doth not with you joy!

GON.

Be't fo! Amen!

Re-enter ARIEL, with the Mafter and Boatswain amazedly following.

O look, fir, look, fir, here are more of us.!
I prophefy'd if a gallows were on land,
This fellow could not drown:-Now blafphemy,
That fwear'ft grace o'erboard, not an oath on
flore?

Haft thou no mouth by land: What is the news? BOATS. The best news is, that we have fafely found

Our king, and company: the next, our fhip,-
Which, but three glaffes fince, we gave out split,
Is tight, and yare, and bravely rigg'd, as when
We first put out to sea.

ARI.

Sir, all this fervice

Have I done fince I went.

PRO.

ALON. These are

ftrengthen,

} [Afide.

My trickfy fpirit!

not natural events; they

ifland,] because the mind of Profpero, who lived in it, had not been difordered. It is fill faid, in colloquial language, that a madman is not his own man, i. e. is not mafler of himfelf.

STEEVENS.

My trickfy Spirit!] Is, I believe, my clever, adroit fpirit, Shakspeare ufes the fame word in The Merchant of Venice:

that for a tricky word

"Defy the matter."

So, in the interlude of the Difobedient Child, bl. 1. no date:

66-- -invent and feek out

"To make them go trickfie, gallaunt and cleane."

STEEVENS.

« PreviousContinue »