To closeness, and the bettering of my mind
With that, which, but by being so retir'd,
O'er-priz'd all popular rate, in my false brother
Awak'd an evil nature: and my trust,

Like a good parent,2 did beget of him
A falsehood, in its contrary as great

As my trust was; which had, indeed, no limit,
A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded,
Not only with what my revenue yielded,

But what my power might else exact,—like one,
Who having, unto truth, by telling of it,
Made such a sinner of his memory,

To credit his own lie,-he did believe

"Prayers from fasting maids, whose minds are dedicate "To nothing temporal." RITSON.

Like a good parent, &c.] Alluding to the observation, that a father above the common rate of men has commonly a son below it. Heroum filii noxæ. JOHNSON.

like one,

Who having, unto truth, by telling of it,
Made such a sinner of his memory,

To credit his own lie,] There is, perhaps, no correlative, to which the word it can with grammatical propriety belong. Lie, however, seems to have been the correlative to which the poet meant to refer, however ungrammatically.

The old copy reads" into truth." The necessary correction was made by Dr. Warburton. STEEVENS.

Mr. Steevens justly observes that there is no correlative, &c. This observation has induced me to mend the passage, and to read: Who having unto truth, by telling of't-instead of, of it.

And I am confirmed in this conjecture, by the following passage quoted by Mr. Malone, &c. M. MASON.

There is a very singular coincidence between this passage and one in Bacon's History of King Henry VII. [Perkin Warbeck] "did in all things notably acquit himself; insomuch as it was generally believed, that he was indeed Duke Richard. Nay, himself, with long and continual counterfeiting, and with OFT telle ing a lye, was turned by habit almost into the thing he seemed to be; and from a liar to be a believer." MALONE.

He was the duke; out of the substitution,*
And executing the outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative:-Hence his ambition
Growing,-Dost hear?

MIRA. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. PRO. To have no screen between this part he play'd

And him he play'd it for, he needs will be
Absolute Milan: Me, poor man!-my library
Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable: confederates
(So dry he was for sway3) 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

I should sin

MIRA.
To think but nobly of my grandmother:
Good wombs have borne bad sons.

PRO.

Now the condition.

He was the duke; out of the substitution,] The old copy reads "He was indeed the duke." I have omitted the word indeed, for the sake of metre. The reader should place his emphasis on -was. STEEVENS.

15

(So dry he was for sway)] i. e. So thirsty. The expression, I am told, is not uncommon in the midland counties. Thus, in Leicester's Commonwealth: "against the designments of the hasty Erle who thirsteth a kingdome with great intemperance." Again, in Troilus and Cressida: “ His ambition is dry." STEEVENS. * To think but nobly-] But, in this place, signifies otherwise than. STEEVENS.

This king of Naples, being an enemy

To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit;
Which was, that he in lieu o' the premises,

Of homage, and I know not how much tribute,-
Should presently extirpate me and mine

Out of the dukedom; and confer fair Milan,
With all the honours, on my brother: Whereon,
A treacherous army levied, one midnight
Fated to the purpose, did Antonio open

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

MIRA.

Alack, for pity! I, not remembʼring how I cried out then, Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint,"

That wrings mine eyes.'

1

8

7- in lieu o' the premises, &c.] In lieu of, means here, in consideration of; an unusual acceptation of the word. So, in Fletcher's Prophetess, the chorus, speaking of Drusilla, says:

"But takes their oaths, in lieu of her assistance,

"That they shall not presume to touch their lives."
M. MASON.

- cried out-] Perhaps we should read-cried on't.

STEEVENS.

a hint,] Hint is suggestion. So, in the beginning speech of the second act:

A similar thought occurs in Antony and Cleopatra, Act V. sc. i:

66

-it is a tidings

"To wash the eyes of kings." STEEVENS.

That wrings mine eyes.] i. e. squeezes the water out of them. The old copy reads

"That wrings mine eyes to't."

To what? every reader will ask. I have, therefore, by the advice of Dr. Farmer, omitted these words, which are unnecessary to the metre; hear, at the beginning of the next speech, being used as a dissyllable.

To wring, in the sense I contend for, occurs in the Merry

PRO.

Hear a little further,

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

My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst

not;

(So dear the love my people bore me) nor set
A mark so bloody on the business; but
With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few, they hurried us aboard a bark;
Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepar'd
A rotten carcass of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats
Instinctively had quit it :3 there they hoist us,
To cry to the sea that roar'd to us; to sigh
To the winds, whose pity, sighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.

MIRĂ.

Was I then to you!

PRO.

Alack! what trouble

O! a cherubim

Thou wast, that did preserve me! Thou didst smile, Infused with a fortitude from heaven,

Wives of Windsor, Act I. sc. ii: «his cook, or his laundry, or his washer, and his wringer." STEEVENS.

2

3

of a boat,] The old copy reads of a butt. HENLEY.

It was corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

had quit it:] Old copy-have quit it. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

To cry to the sea that roar'd to us;] This conceit occurs again in the Winter's Tale:-" How the poor souls roar'd, and the sea mock'd them," &c. STEEVENS.

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

Against what should ensue.

MIRA.

How came we ashore?

PRO. By Providence divine.

Some food we had, and some fresh water, that

deck'd the sea-] To deck the sea, if explained, to honour, adorn, or dignify, is indeed ridiculous, but the original import of the verb deck, is to cover; so in some parts they yet say deck the table. This sense may be borne, but perhaps the poet wrote fleck'd, which I think is still used in rustic language of drops falling upon water. Dr. Warburton reads mock'd; the Oxford edition brack'd. JOHNSON.

Verstegan, p. 61. speaking of beer, says "So the overdecking or covering of beer came to be called berham, and afterwards barme." This very well supports Dr. Johnson's explanation. The following passage in Antony and Cleopatra may countenance the verb deck in its common acceptation:

66

do not please sharp fate

"To grace it with your sorrows.”

What is this but decking it with tears?

Again, our author's Caliban says, Act III. sc. ii:

66

He has brave utensils,

"Which, when he has a house, he'll deck withal."

STEEVENS.

To deck, I am told, signifies in the North, to sprinkle. See Ray's DICT. of North Country words, in verb. to deg, and to deck; and his DICT. of South Country words, in verb. dag. The latter signifies dew upon the grass; hence daggle-tailed. In Cole's Latin Dictionary, 1679, we find,-" To dag, collutulo, irroro." MALONE.

A correspondent, who signs himself Eboracensis, proposes that this contested word should be printed degg'd, which, says he, signifies sprinkled, and is in daily use in the North of England. When clothes that have been washed are too much dried, it is necessary to moisten them before they can be ironed, which is always done by sprinkling; this operation the maidens universally call degging. REED.

An undergoing stomach.] Stomach is stubborn resolution. So, Horace: " gravem Pelidæ stomachum." STEEVENS.