May know, if you remain upon this ifland Mira. No wonder, Sir; Fer. My language! heavens! I am the best of them that speak this speech, Pro. How? the best? What wert thou, if the king of Naples heard thee? Fer. A fingle thing, as I am now, that wonders To hear thee fpeak of Naples. He does hear me; And, that he does, I weep: myfelf am Naples; Who, with mine eyes (ne'er fince at ebb) beheld The king my father wreck'd. Hexameters in our own language are almost forgotten; we will quote therefore this time from Stanyhurst: " "O to thee, fayre virgin, what terme may rightly be fitted? "Thy tongue, thy visage no mortal frayltie refembleth. -No doubt, a goddeffe!" Edit. 1583. FARMER. 3 -certainly, a maid.] Nothing could be more prettily imagined to illustrate the fingularity of her character, than this pleafant mistake. She had been bred up in the rough and plain-dealing documents of moral philofophy, which teaches us the knowledge of ourselves; and was an utter ftranger to the flattery invented by vicious and defigning men to corrupt the other fex. So that it could not enter into her imagination, that complaifance, and a defire of appearing amiable, qualities of humanity which fhe had been inftructed, in her moral leffons, to cultivate, could ever degenerate into fuch excefs, as that any one should be willing to have his fellow-creature believe that he thought her a goddefs, or an immortal. WARBURTON. Dr. Warburton has here found a beauty, which I think the author never intended. Ferdinand afks her not whether the was a created being, a question which, if he meant it, he has ill expreffed, but whether he was unmarried; for after the dialogue which Profpero's interruption produces, he goes on purfuing his former question. O, if a virgin, I'll make you queen of Naples. JOHNSON. Mira. Mira. Alack, for mercy! Fer. Yes, faith, and all his lords: the duke of Milan, 4 And his brave fon, being twain. Pro. The duke of Milan, And his more braver daughter, could 5 controul thee, If now 'twere fit to do't:at the first fight [Afide to Ariel. They have chang'd eyes:-delicate Ariel, I'll fet thee free for this.A word, good Sir, That e'er I figh'd for. Pity move my father Fer. O, if a virgin, And your affection not gone forth, I'll make you Pro. Soft, Sir; one word more. They are both in either's power: but this swift bufinefs I must uneafy make, left too light winning [Afide. Make the prize light.-One word more; I charge. thee, That thou attend me: Fer. No, as I am a man. -thou doft here ufurp Mira. There's nothing ill can dwell in fuch a temple : If the ill fpirit have fo fair an house, Good things will ftrive to dwell with't. 4 And his brave fon, being twain.] This is a flight forgetfulness. Nobody was left in the wreck, yet we find no fuch character as the fon of the duke of Milan. THEOBALD. -controul thee.] Confute thee, unanswerably contradict thee. JOHNSON. 5 Pro. Pro. [To Ferd.] Follow me. [To Mirand.] Speak not you for him; he's a traitor.Come, I'll manacle thy neck and feet together; Sea-water fhalt thou drink; thy food shall be The fresh-brook muscles, wither'd roots, and husks Wherein the acorn cradled: follow. Fer. No; I will resist such entertainment, till Mine enemy has more power. [He draws, and is charm'd from moving. Mira. O dear father, Make not too rafh a trial of him; for He's gentle, and not fearful. Pro. What, I fay, My foot my tutor?-Put thy fword up, traitor; Who mak'it a fhew, but dar'ft not ftrike, thy con science Is fo poffefs'd with guilt: 7 come from thy ward; And make thy weapon drop. Mira. Befeech you, father! Pro. Hence; hang not on my garment. Mira. Sir, have pity; I'll be his furety. Pro. Silence: one word more Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What, An advocate for an impoftor? hush! Thou think'st, there are no more fuch fhapes as he, Having feen but him and Caliban; foolish wench! To the moft of men this is a Caliban, And they to him are angels. He's gentle, and not fearful.] Fearful fignifies both terrible and timorous. In this place it means timorous. She tells her father, that as he is gentle, rough usage is unnecessary, and as he is brave, it may be dangerous. STEEVENS. 7-come from thy ward;] Defift from any hope of awing me by that pofture of defence. JOHNSON. VOL. I. C Mira, Mira. My affections Are then most humble: I have no ambition To fee a goodlier man. Pro. Come on; obey; [To Ferdinand.] 8 Thy nerves are in their infancy again, And have no vigour in them. Fer. So they are: My fpirits, as in a dream, are all bound up. The wreck of all my friends, or this man's threats, Pro. It works :· -come on. [To Ariel.] Thou haft done well, fine Ariel! Follow me. Hark, what thou else shalt do me. Mira. Be of comfort; My father's of a better nature, Sir, Than he appears by speech: this is unwonted, Pro. Thou shalt be as free As mountain winds: but then exactly do Pro. [To Ferdinand.] Come, follow: [To Mir.]} Speak not for him. [Exeunt. Thy nerves are in their infancy again,] So Milton, in his Mafque at Ludlow-Cafile: 66 Thy nerves are all bound up in alabafter." STEEV. ACT ACT II. SCENE I. Another part of the island. Enter Alonfo, Sebaftian, Anthonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, Francifco, and others. BE GONZALO. Efeech you, Sir, be merry: you have cause Is much beyond our lofs: our hint of wce The master of some merchant, and the merchant, Can fpeak like us then wifely, good Sir, weigh 1 2 Alon. Pr'ythee, peace. our hint of woe] Hint is that which recals to the memory. The cause that fills our minds with grief is common. Dr. Warburton reads ftint of woe. JOHNSON. Alon. Pr'ythee, peace.] All that follows from hence to this fpeech of the king's, You cram these words into my ears against The ftomach of my fenfe, feems to Mr. Pope to have been an interpolation by the players. For my part, though I allow the matter of the dialogue to be very poor, I cannot be of opinion that it is interpolated. For fhould we take out this intermediate part, what would become of these words of the king, -Would I had never Married my daughter there! What daughter? and where married? For it is in this intermediate part of the fcene only that we are told the king had a daughter named Claribel, whom he had married into Tunis. 'Tis true, in a fubfequent scene betwixt Anthonio and Sebaftian, we again hear her and Tunis mentioned; but in fuch a manner, that it would be obfcure and unintelligible without this previous information. THEOBALD. |