Or cut his wezand with thy knife: Remember, One spirit to command:7 They all do hate him, He has brave utensils, (for so he calls them,) The beauty of his daughter; he himself First to possess his books; for without them He's but a sot, as I am, nor hath not 8 One spirit to command:] Milton, in his Masque at Ludlow Castle, seems to have caught a hint from the foregoing passage: “Oh, ye mistook; ye should have snatch'd his wand, "And bound him fast; without his rod revers'd, "And backward mutters of dissevering power, "We cannot free the lady.". In a former scene, Prospero says: I'll to my book; Steevens. "For yet, ere supper time, must I perform Again, in Act V: "And deeper than did ever plummet sound, In the old romances, the sorcerer is always furnished with a book, by reading certain parts of which, he is enabled to summon to his aid whatever dæmons or spirits he has occasion to employ. When he is deprived of his book, his power ceases. Our author might have observed this circumstance much insisted on, in the Orlando Innamorato, of Boyardo, (of which, as the Rev. Mr. Bowle informs me, the three first Cantos were translated and published in 1598,) and also in Harrington's translation of the Orlando Furioso, 1591. A few lines from the former of these works may prove the best illustration of the passage before us. Angelica, by the aid of Argalia, having bound the enchanter Malagigi: "The damsel searcheth forthwith in his breast, "And there the damned booke she straightway founde, 8 Calls her a non-pareil: I ne'er saw woman,] The old copy reads: "Calls her a non-pareil: I never saw a woman." But this But only Sycorax my dam, and she; Ste. Is it so brave a lass? Cal. Ay, lord; she will become thy bed, I warrant, And bring thee forth brave brood. Ste. Monster, I will kill this man: his daughter and I will be king and queen; (save our graces!) and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys:-Dost thou like the plot, Trinculo? Trin. Excellent. Ste. Give me thy hand; I am sorry I beat thee: but, while thou livest, keep a good tongue in thy head. Cal. Within this half hour will he be asleep; Wilt thou destroy him then? Ste. Ay, on mine honour. Ari. This will I tell my master. Cal. Thou mak'st me merry: I am full of pleasure; Let us be jocund: Will you troll the catch9 You taught me but while-ere? Ste. At thy request, monster, I will do reason, any reason: Come on, Trinculo, let us sing. [Sings. Flout 'em, and skout 'em ; and skout 'em, and flout 'em ; Cal. That's not the tune. [ARIEL plays the tune on a tabor and pipe. Ste. What is this same? verse, being too long by a foot, Hanmer judiciously gave it, as it now stands in the text. By means as innocent, the versification of Shakspeare, has, I hope, in many instances been restored. The temerity of some critics had too long imposed severe restraints on their successors. Steevens. 9 Will you troll the catch-] Ben Jonson uses the word in Every Man in his Humour: "If he read this with patience, I'll troul ballads." Again, in the Cobler's Prophecy, 1594: "A fellow that will troul it off with tongue. Faith, you shall hear me troll it, after my fashion." To troll a catch, I suppose, is to dismiss it trippingly from the tongue. Steevens. Trin. This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of No-body.1 Ste. If thou beest a man, shew thyself in thy likeness: if thou beest a devil, take't as thou list. Trin. O, forgive me my sins! Ste. He that dies, pays all debts: I defy thee:-Mercy upon us! Cal. Art thou afeard?2 Ste. No, monster, not I. Cal., Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not. Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming, I cry'd, to dream again. Ste. This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I shall have my music for nothing. Cal. When Prospero is destroyed. Ste. That shall be by and by: I remember the story. Trin. The sound is going away: let's follow it, and after, do our work. Ste. Lead, monster; we'll follow.-I would, I could see this taborer:3 he lays it on. 1 This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of No-body.] A ridiculous figure, sometimes represented on signs. Westward for Smelts, a book, which our author appears to have read, was printed for John Trundle, in Barbican, at the signe of the No-body. Malone. The allusion is here to the print of No-body, as prefixed to the anonymous comedy of "No-body and Some-body," without date, but printed before the year 1600. Reed. 2 afeard?] Thus the old copy.-To affear is an obsolete verb, with the same meaning as to affray. So, in the Shipmannes Tale of Chaucer, v. 13,330: "This wif was not aferde, ne affraide." Between aferde and affraide, in the time of Chaucer, there might have been some nice distinction, which is at present lost. Steevens. 3 I would I could see this taborer:] Several of the incidents, in this scene, viz.—Ariel's mimickry of Trinculo-the tune played on the tabor, and Caliban's description of the twangling instru 4 Trin. Wilt come? I'll follow, Stephano. [Exeunt. SCENE III. Another part of the Island. Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and others. Gon. By'r lakin,5 I can go no further, sir; My old bones ache: here's a maze trod, indeed, Through forth-rights, and meanders! by your patience, I needs must rest me. Alon. To the dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest. ment, &c.-might have been borrowed from Marco Paolo, the old Venetian voyager; who in Lib. I. ch. 44, describing the desert of Lop in Asia, says-" Audiuntur ibi voces demonum, &c. voces fingentes eorum quos comitari se putant. Audiuntur interdum in aere concentus musicorum instrumentorum," &c. This passage was rendered accessible to Shakspeare, by an English translation entitled The most noble and famous Trauels of Marcus Paulus, one of the Nobilitie of the State of Venice, &c. bl. 1. 4to. 1579, by John Frampton. - You shall heare in the ayre the sound of tabers and other instruments, to put the trauellers in feare, &c. by euill spirites, that make these soundes, and also do call diuerse of the trauellers by their names," &c. ch. 36. p. 32. To some of these circumstances Milton also alludes: 66 calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, Steevens. 4 Wilt come? I'll follow, Stephano.] The first words are addressed to Caliban, who, vexed at the folly of his new companions idly running after the musick, while they ought only to have attended to the main point, the despatching Prospero, seems for some little time, to have staid behind. Heath. The words-Wilt come? should be added to Stephano's speech, I'll follow, is Trinculo's answer. Ritson. 5 By'r lakin,] i. e. The diminutive only of our lady, i. e. ladykin. Steevens. Our frustrate search on land: Well, let him go. [Aside to SEB. Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose Seb. Will we take thoroughly. Ant. The next advantage Let it be to-night; For, now they are oppress'd with travel, they Seb. I say, to-night: no more. Solemn and strange musick; and PROSPERO above, invisible. Enter several strange Shapes, bringing in a banquet; they dance about it, with gentle actions of salutation; and, inviting the King, &c. to eat, they depart. Alon. What harmony is this? my good friends, hark! Gon. Marvellous sweet musick! Alon. Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these? Seb. A living drollery:7 Now I will believe, That there are unicorns; that, in Arabia 8 There is one tree, the phoenix' throne; one phoenix 6 Our frustrate search-] Frustrate for frustrated. So, in Chapman's translation of Homer's Hymn to Apollo: 66 some God hath fill'd, "Our frustrate sails, defeating what we will'd." Steevens. 7 A living drollery:] Shows, called drolleries, were in Shakspeare's time, performed by puppets only. From these our modern drolls, exhibited at fairs, &c. took their name. So in Beaumont and Fletcher's Valentinian: "I had rather make a drollery till thirty." Steevens. A living drollery, i. e. a drollery not represented by wooden machines, but by personages who are alive. Malone. 8 one tree, the phoenix' throne;] For this idea, our author might have been indebted to Phil. Holland's Translation of Pliny, B. XIII. chap. 4: "I myself verily have heard straunge things of this kind of tree; and namely, in regard of the bird Phanix, which is supposed to have taken that name of this date tree; [called in Greek, Poivi]; for it was assured unto me, that the said bird died with that tree, and revived of itselfe, as the tree sprung again." Steevens. I |