Who having, unto truth, by telling of it,
Made fuch a finner of his memory,

To credit his own lie,- he did believe

He was, indeed, the duke; out of the fubftitution, And executing the outward face of royalty,

With all prerogative:-Hence his ambition grow ing,

Doft thou hear?

Mira. Your tale, fir, would cure deafness.

Pro. To have no fcreen between this part he play'd And him he play'd it for, he needs will be Abfolute Milan: Me, poor man !-my library Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties He thinks me now incapable: confederates,

So dry he was for fway, with the king of Naples To give him annual tribute, do him homage; Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend The dukedom, yet unbow'd (alas, poor Milan!) To most ignoble stooping.

Mira. O the heavens !

Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then tell

me,

Oxford Editor having, by this correction, been let into the sense 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 cor. relative 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:

To credit his own lie-- MUSGRAVE.

-out of the fubftitution,] Is the old reading. The mo dern editors, for the fake of fimoother verfification, read-from fubftitution. STEEVENS.

5 So dry he was for fway,--] i. e. So thirsty. 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:
Good wombs have borne bad fons.

Pro. Now the condition.

This king of Naples, being an enemy

To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's fuit;
Which was, that he in lieu o' the premises,-
Of homage, and I know not how much tribute,-
Should prefently extirpate me and mine

Out of the dukedom; and confer fair Milan,
With all the honours, on my brother: Whereon,
A treacherous army levy'd, one mid-night
Fated to the purpofe, did Anthonio open

The gates of Milan; and, i'the dead of darkness,
The minifters for the purpose hurried thence
Me, and thy crying felf.

Mira. Alack, for pity!

I, not remembring how I cried out then, 7

Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint,

That wrings mine eyes to't.

Pro. Hear a little further,

And then I'll bring thee to the present business Which now's upon us; without the which, this ftory Were most impertinent.

Mira. Wherefore did they not

That hour destroy us?

Pro. Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that question.

not;

Dear, they durft

(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.

To think but nobly.] But in this place fignifies otherwife than. STEEVENS.

1-cried out.] Perhaps we should read-cried on't. STEEVENS, sa bint. Hint is fuggeftion. So in the beginning speech of the fecond act. our bint of woe Is common STEEVENS.

In few, they hurried us aboard a bark;
Bore us fome leagues to fea; where they prepar'd
A rotten carcafs of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, fail, nor maft; the very rats
Inftinctively had quit it: there they hoift us
To cry to the fea that roar'd to us; to figh
To the winds, whofe pity, fighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.

Mira. Alack! what trouble

Was I then to you!

Pro. O a cherubim

Thou waft, that did preferve me! Thou didft fmile, Infused with a fortitude from heaven,

When I have deck'd the fea with drops full falt ; Under my burden groan'd; which rais'd in me An undergoing ftomach, 'to bear up

Against what fhould enfue.

Mira. How came we afhore ?

Pro. By Providence divine.

Some food we had, and fome fresh water, that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

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 fome parts they yet fay deck the table. This fenfe may be borne, but perhaps the poet wrote fleck'd, which I think is still used in ruftic language of drops falling upon water. Dr Warburton reads mock'd, the Oxford edi tion brack'd. JOHNSON.

66

Verstegan, 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 refolution. So Horace, 66 -gravem Pelidæ ftomachum." STREVENS. 2 who being then appointed, &c 1 Such is the old reading. We might better read,

VOL. I.

he being, &c. STEEVENS.
C

Mafter

Master of this design, did give us; with

Rich garments, linens, ftuffs, and neceffaries,

Which fince have steaded much : fo, of his gentle

nefs,

Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnifh'd me,
From my own library, with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.

Mira. Would I might

But ever fee that man!

Pro. Now, I arife :

Sit ftill, and hear the laft of our fea-forrow.
Here in this island we arriv'd; and here

Have I, thy fchool mafter, made thee more profit
Than other princes can, that have more time
For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.

Mira. Heavens thank you for't! And now, I pray you, fir,

(For still 'tis beating in my mind) your reafon For raifing this fea-storm?

Pro. Know thus far forth.

By accident moft ftrange, bountiful fortune,
Now my dear lady', hath mine enemies.
Brought to this fhore: and by my prescience
I find my zenith doth depend upon

A most auspicious ftar; whofe influence
If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes
Will ever after droop.-Here ceafe more queftions;
Thou art inclin'd to fleep; 'tis a good dulnefs,
And give it way I know, thou canst not choose.-
[Miranda fleeps.
Come away, fervant, come: I am ready now;
Approach, my Ariel, come.

3 Now my dear lady, is, now my aufpicious miftrefs. STEEVENS. 4-'tis a 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 so often whether she is attentive to his ftory. JOHNSON.

Enter

Enter Ariel.

Ari. All hail, great mafter! grave fir, hail! I

come

To answer thy beft 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.

8

Pro. Haft thou, fpirit,

Perform'd to point the tempeft that I bad thee?
Ari. To every article.

I boarded the king's fhip; 7 now on the beak,
Now in the wafte, the deck, in every cabin,
I flam'd amazement: Sometimes, I'd divide,
And burn in many places; on the top-maft,
The yards, and bolt-fprit, would I flame diftinctly,
Then meet, and join : Jove's lightnings, the precurfors
O' the dreadful thunder-clap, more momentary
And fight-out-running were not; The fire, and cracks
Of fulphurous roaring, the moft mighty Neptune
Seem'd to befiege, and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident fhake.

Pro. My brave spirit!

Who was fo firm, fo conftant, that this coil
Would not infect his reafon ?

Ari. Not a foul

? But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd

Some

5 On the curl'd clouds.] So in Timon-Crifp heaven. STEEVENS, Perform'd to point--] i. e. to the minutest article.

So in the Chances, by Beaum. and Fletcher.

7

"To point, fir." STEEVENS.

---now on the beak,] The beak was a strong pointed body at the head of the ancient gallies; it is ufcd here for the forecaille, or the bolt-fprit. JoHNSON.

8

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

9. But felt a fever of the mad,] In all the later editions, this is changed to a fever of the mind, without reafon or autho rity, nor is any notice given of an alteration. JOHNSON.