Pro. By what? by any other house, or person?
Of any thing the image tell me, that
Hath kept with thy remembrance.
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 had'st, and more, Miranda : But how is it, That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time ?? If thou remember’st aught, ere thou cam’st here, How thou cam'st here, thou may’st. Mira.

But that I do not.
Pro. Twelve years since, Miranda, twelve years since, 8
Thy father was the duke of Milan, and
A prince of power.
Mira.

Sir, are not you my father?
Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and
She said—thou wast my daughter; and thy father
Was duke of Milan ; and his only heir
A princess ;-no worse issued.9
Mira.

O, the heavens !
What foul play had we, that we came from thence ?
Or blessed was't, we did?
Pro.

Both, both, my girl :
By foul play, as thou say’st, were we heav'd thence ;
But blessedly holp hither.

8

7

abysm of time?] i. e. Abyss. This method of spelling the word is common to other ancient writers. They took it from the French abysme, now written abime. So, in Heywood's Brazen Age, 1613:

« And chase him from the deep abysms below.” Steevens. 8 Twelve years since, Miranda, twelve years since,] Years, in the first instance, is used as a dissyllable, in the second as a monosyllable. But this is not a license, peculiar to the prosody of Shakspeare. In the second book of Sidney's Arcadia are the following lines, exhibiting the same word, with a similar prosodical variation :

“ And shall she die ? shall cruel fier spill

“ Those beames that set so many hearts on fire ?" Steevens. 9 A princess ;-no worse issued.] The old copy reads " And princess.". For the trivial change in the text I am answerable. Issued is descended. So, in Greene's Card of Fancy, 1608 : “ For I am by birth a gentleman, and issued of such parents,

&c. Steevens.

a

Mira.

O, my heart bleeds To think o' the teen” that I have turn'd you to, Which is from my remembrance! Please you, further.

Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, callid Antonio, I pray thee, mark me, that a brother should Be so perfidious !-he, whom, next thyself, Of all the world I lov’d, and to him put The manage of my state; as, at that time, Through all the signiories it was the first, And Prospero the prime duke; being so reputed In dignity, and, for the liberal arts, Without a parallel; those being all my study, The government I cast upon my brother, And to my state grew stranger, being transported, And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncleDost thou attend me? Mira.

Sir, most heedfully. Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom To trash for over-topping ;5 new created The creatures that were mine; I say, or chang'd them,

3

4

-teen--] is sorrow, grief, trouble. So, in Romeo and Juliet:

to my teen be it spoken.” Steevens.

whom to advance, and whom - ] The old copy has who in both places. Corrected by the editor of the second folio.

Malone. 5 To trash for over-topping ;] To trash, as Dr. Warburton observes, is to cut away the superfluities. This word I have met with in books, containing directions for gardeners, published in the time of queen Elizabeth.

The present explanation may be countenanced by the following passage in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. X. ch. 57 : « Who suffreth none by might, by wealth or blood to over

topp, “ Himself gives all preferment, and whom listeth him doth

op.”
Again, in our author's K. Richard II:

“ Go thou, and, like an executioner,
“ Cut off the heads of too-fast-growing sprays

“ That look too lofty in our commonwealth." Mr. Warton's note, however, on--" trash for his quick hunting,” in the second act of Othello, leaves my interpretation of this passage somewhat disputable.

Mr. M. Mason observes, that to trash for overtopping," may mean to lop them, because they did overtop, or in order to pre

с

Or else new form’d them: having both the key
Of officer and office, set all hearts?
To what tune pleas'd his ear; that now he was
The ivy, which had hid my princely trunk,
And suck'd my verdure out on't. 8 – Thou attend'st not:
I pray thee, mark me.9

vent them from overtopping. So Lucetta, in the second scene of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, says:

“I was taken up for laying them down,

“ Yet here they shall not lie, for catching cold." That is, lest'they should catch cold. See Mr. M. Mason's note on this passage.

In another place (a note on Othello) Mr. M. Mason observes, that Shakspeare had probably in view, when he wrote the passage before us, “the manner in which Tarquin conveyed to Sextus his advice to destroy the principal citizens of Gabii, by striking off, in the presence of his messengers, the heads of all the tallest poppies, as he walked with them in his garden.” Steevens.

I think this phrase means “ to correct for too much haughti. ness or overbearing.” It is used by sportsmen in the North, when they correct a dog for misbehaviour in pursuing the game. This explanation is warranted by the following passage in Othello, Act II. sc. i:

“ If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trash

“ For his quick hunting.” It was not till after I made this remark, that I saw Mr. Warton's note on the above lines in Othello, which corroborates it. Douce.

A trash is a term still in use among hunters, to denote à piece of leather, couples, or any other weight, fastened round the neck of a dog, when his speed is superior to the rest of the pack; i. e. when he over-tops them, when he hunts too quick, C. See Othello, Act II. sc. i. Steevens.

- both the key -] This is meant of a key for tuning the harpsichord, spinnet, or virginal; we call it now a tuning ham

Sir 7. Hawkins. 7 of officer and office, set all hearts -- ] The old copy reads—" all hearts i th' state," but redundantly in regard to metre, and unnecessarily respecting sense; for what hearts, except such as were i'th' state, could Alonso incline to his purposes?

I have followed the advice of Mr. Ritson, who judiciously proposes to omit the words now ejected from the text. Steevens.

8 And suck'd my verdure out on't.] So in Arthur Hall's translation of the first book of Homer, 1581, where Achilles swears by his sceptre: “ Who having lost the sapp of wood, eft greenenesse cannot

drawe.” Steevens. 9 I pray thee, mark me.] In the old copy, these words are the beginning of Prospero's next speech; but, for the restoration of metre, I have changed their place. Steevens.

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mer.

Mira.

O, good sir, I do.
Pro. I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicate?
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
A-wak'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, 3-he did believe

1 I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicate - ] The old copy has—“ dedicated,'' but we should read, as in the present text, “ dedicate.” Thus, in Measure for Measure :

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 noxe. Johnson.

3

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 pas. sage 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 ort telling a lye, was turned by habit almost into the thing he seemed to be; and from a liar to be a believer.” Malone.

a

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 sway5) 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,
If this might be a brother.
Mira.

I should sin
To think but noblyo of my grandmother:
Good wombs have borne bad sons.
Pro.

Now the condition.
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

was.

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

Steevens. 5 (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 kingdom with great intemperance.” Again, in Troilus and Cressida: “ His ambition is dry.” Steevens.

6 To think but nobly -] But, in this place, signifies otherwise than. Steevens.

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. Mascn.

.

7