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Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries, Which since have steaded much; so, of his gentle

ness,

Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me,
From my own library, with volumes that

I prize above my dukedom.

MIRA.

But ever see that man!

PRO.

'Would I might

Now I arise :

Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.
Here in this island we arriv'd; and here

Have I, thy school-master, made thee more profit
Than other princes can, that have more time

9

* Now I arise:) Why does Prospero arise? Or, if he does it to ease himself by change of posture, why need he interrupt his narrative to tell his daughter of it? Perhaps these words belong to Miranda, and we should read:

Mir. 'Would I might

But ever see that man!-Now I arise.

Pro. Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. Prospero, in p. 14, had directed his daughter to sit down, and learn the whole of this history; having previously by some magical charm disposed her to fall asleep. He is watching the progress of this charm; and in the mean time tells her a long story, often asking her whether her attention be still awake. The story being ended (as Miranda supposes) with their coming on shore, and partaking of the conveniences provided for them by the loyal humanity of Gonzalo, she therefore first expresses a wish to see the good old man, and then observes that she may now arise, as the story is done. Prospero, surprized that his charm does not yet work, bids her sit still; and then enters on fresh matter to amuse the time, telling her (what she knew before) that he had been her tutor, &c. But soon perceiving her drowsiness coming on, he breaks off abruptly, and leaves her still sitting to her slumbers. BLACKSTONE.

As the words " now I arise"-may signify, "now I rise in my narration,"-" now my story heightens in its consequence," I have left the passage in question undisturbed. We still say, that the interest of a drama rises or declines. STEEVENS.

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princes-] The first folio reads-princesse. HENLEY.

Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.

MIRA. Heavens thank you for't! And now, I

pray you, sir,

(For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason

For raising this sea-storm?

PRO.

Know thus far forth,

By accident most strange, bountiful fortune,
Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore: and by my prescience
I find my zenith doth depend upon

A most auspicious star; whose influence
If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop. -Here cease more questions;
Thou art inclin'd to sleep; 'tis a good dulness,3
And give it way;-I know thou can'st not
[MIRANDA sleeps.

choose.

Come away, servant, come: I am ready now;
Approach, my Ariel; come.

Enter ARIEL.

ARI. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I

come

Now my dear lady,] i. e. now my auspicious mistress.

• I find my zenith doth depend upon

3

A most auspicious star; whose influence

STEEVENS.

If now I court not, but omit, &c.] So, in Julius Cæsar:

"There is a tide in the affairs of men,

" Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

"Omitted, all the voyage of their life

"Is bound in shallows and in miseries."

MALONE.

- 'tis a good dulness,] Dr. Warburton rightly observes, that this sleepiness, which Prospero by his art had brought upon Miranda, and of which he knew not how soon the effect would begin, makes him question her so often whether she is attentive to his story. JOHNSON.

To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,

To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride

On the curl'd clouds; to thy strong bidding, task

Ariel, and all his quality.

PRO.

Hast thou, spirit,

Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee?

ARI. To every article.

I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,

* All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come

To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, &c.] Imitated

by Fletcher in The Faithful Shepherdess:

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- tell me sweetest,

"What new service now is meetest

" For the satyre; shall I stray

" In the middle ayre, and stay

"The sailing racke, or nimbly take
" Hold by the moone, and gently make

"Suit to the pale queene of night,
" For a beame to give thee light?

"Shall I dive into the sea,

" And bring thee coral, making way
"Through the rising waves, &c. HENLEY.

* On the curl'd clouds;] So, in Timon-Crisp heaven.

STEEVENS.

- and all his quality.] i. e. all his confederates, all who are of the same profession. So, in Hamlet:

" Come give us a taste of your quality." See notes on this passage, Act II. sc. ii. STEEVENS.

7 Perform'd to point -] i. e. to the minutest article; a literal translation of the French phrase-a point. So, in the Chances, by Beaumont and Fletcher:

are you all fit?

"To point, sir."

Thus, in Chapman's version of the second book of Homer's

Odyssey, we have

8

66

every due

"Perform'd to full:-." STEEVENS.

- now on the beak,] The beak was a strong pointed body at the head of the ancient gallies; it is used here for the forecastle, or the boltsprit. JOHNSON.

So in Philemon Holland's translation of the 2d chapter of the

Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flam'd amazement: Sometimes, I'd divide,
And burn in many places;' on the top-mast,
The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet, and join: Jove's lightnings, the pre-

cursors

O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary And sight-out-running were not: The fire, and

cracks

Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune Seem'd to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble, Yea, his dread trident shake.3

32d book of Pliny's Natural History:-" our goodly tall and proud ships, so well armed in the beake-head with yron pikes," &C. STEEVENS.

• Now in the waist,] The part between the quarter-deck and the forecastle. JOHNSON.

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And burn in many places;] Perhaps our author, when he wrote these lines, remembered the following passage in Hackluyt's Voyages, 1598: "I do remember that in the great and boysterous storme of this foule weather, in the night there came upon the toppe of our maine yard and maine-mast a certaine little light, much like unto the light of a little candle, which the Spaniards call the Cuerpo Santo. This light continued aboord our ship about three houres, flying from maste to maste, and from top to top; and sometimes it would be in two or three places at once." MALONE.

Burton says, that the Spirits of fire, in form of fire-drakes and blazing stars, " oftentimes sit on ship-masts," &c. Melanch. P. I. § 2. p. 30. edit. 1632. T. WARTON.

2

3

precursors

O' the dreadful thunder-claps,] So, in King Lear:
""Vant couriers of oak-cleaving thunderbolts."

STEEVENS.

Yea, his dread trident shake.] Lest the metre should appear defective, it is necessary to apprize the reader, that in Warwickshire and other midland counties, shake is still pronounced by the common people as if it was written shaake, a dissyllable. FARMER.

PRO.

My brave spirit!

Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil

Would not infect his reason?

ARI.

Not a soul

But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd
Some tricks of desperation: All, but mariners,
Plung'd in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel,
Then all a-fire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring (then like reeds, not hair,)
Was the first man that leap'd; cried, Hell is empty,

And all the devils are here.

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The word shake is so printed in Golding's version of the 9th book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, edit. 1575:

" Hee quaak't and shaak't and looked pale," &c.

STEEVENS.

* But felt a fever of the mad,] If it be at all necessary to explain the meaning, it is this: Not a soul but felt such a fever as madmen feel, when the frantic fit is upon them. STEEVENS.

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- and quit the vessel,] Quit is, I think, here used for quitted. So, in K. Lear:

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- 'Twas he inform'd against him, " And quit the house on purpose, that their punishment "Might have the freer course."

So, in King Henry VI. P. I. lift, for lifted:

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" He ne'er lift up his hand, but conquered." MALONE. sustaining-] i. e. their garments that bore them up and supported them. Thus, in Chapman's translation of the eleventh Iliad:

" Who fell, and crawled upon the earth with his sus

taining palmes."

Again, in K. Lear, Act IV. sc. iv:

" In our sustaining corn."

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