A confufed noife within.] Mercy on us! We fplit, we fplit! Farewel, my Wife and Children! Brother, farewel! we fplit, we fplit, we split! Ant. Let's all fink with the King. Seb. Let's take leave of him. [Exit. [Exit. Gonz. Now would I give a thousand furlongs of fea for an acre of barren ground, 2 long heath, brown furze, any thing; the wills above be done, but I would fain die a dry death! SCENE II. [Exit. Changes to a Part of the Inchanted Island near the Cell of Profpero. Enter Profpero and Miranda. 3 F by your art (my dearest father) you Mira. 'IF have Put the wild Waters in this roar, allay them: With those that I faw fuffer: a brave vessel 2 long heath,] This is the common tame for the erica baccifera; which the Oxford Editor not understanding, conjectured that Shakespear wrote, Ling, Heath: But, unluckily, Heath and Ling are but two words for the fame plant. 3 If by your Art, &c.] Nothing was ever better contrived to inform the Audience of the Story than this Scene. It is a converfation that could not have happened before, and could not but happen now. Pro. Pro. Be collected; No more amazement; tell your piteous heart, Mira. O wo the day! Pro. No harm. I have done nothing but in care of thee, Mira. More to know Did never meddle with my thoughts. I fhould inform thee farther. Lend thy hand, comfort. The direful fpectacle of the wreck, which touch'd I have with fuch provifion in mine art So fafely order'd, that there's no foul loft, down; Which thou heard'ft cry, which thou faw'ft fink: fit For thou must now know farther. Mira. You have often Begun to tell me what I am, but ftopt, 4 The very Virtue of compassion in thee,] We must not think that the very Virtue was intended to fhew the degree of her compaffion, but the kind. Compaffion for other's Misfortunes ofteneft arifes from a fenfe or apprehenfion of the like. And then it is Sympathy, not Virtue. Tho' the want of it may be cfteemed vicious as arifing from a degeneracy of Nature, which cannot happen but by our own fault. Now the Compaffion of Miranda, who never ventured to Sea, not being of this kind, Shakespear with great propriety calls it the very Virtue, i. e. the real pure Virtue of Compation. B 4 And And left me to a bootless inquifition; Pro. The hour's now come. The very minute bids thee ope thine ear; I do not think, thou canft; for then thou waft not Mira. Certainly, Sir, I can. Pro. By what? by any other house, or person? Mira. 'Tis far off; And rather like a dream, than an affurance Pro. Thou hadft, and more, Miranda: but how is it, Mira. But that I do not. Pro. 'Tis twelve years fince, Miranda; twelve years fince, Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and A Prince of Pow'r. Mira. Sir, are not you my father? Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and She faid, thou waft my daughter; and thy father Was Duke of Milan, and his only heir A Princefs, no worfe iffu'd. Mira. O the heav'ns! What foul play had we, that we came from thence? Or bleffed was't, we did? Pro. Both, both, my girl: By foul play (as thou fay'ft) were we heav'd thence; But bleffedly help'd hither. Mira. O, my heart bleeds To think o'th' teene that I have turn'd you to, Without a parallel; thofe being all my study :) And to my state grew ftranger; being transported, Mira. Sir, moft heedfully. Pro. Being once perfected how to grant fuits, The creatures, that were mine; I fay, or chang'd 'em, Mira. Good Sir, I do. Pro. I pray thee, mark me then. [not. Thou attend'st I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated 5 To trash] fignifies to cut away the trash or fuperfluities; as, to top, fignifies, to cut off the top. The Oxford Editor alters it to plaf, not confidering that to plab fignifies to bind and complicate branches together, and fo is only used to fignify the dreffing and pleating of an Hedge. Awak'd Awak'd an evil nature; and my trust, As my truft was; which had, indeed, no limit, To credit his own lie, he did believe He was, indeed, the Duke; from fubftitution, With all prerogative. Hence his ambition growing→→ Mira. Your tale, Sir, would cure deafness. Pro. To have no fcreen between this part he plaid, And him he plaid 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) wi' th' King of Naples 6 like one Who having INTO truth by telling of it, Made fuch a Sinner of his memory, To credit his own lie.] The corrupted reading of the Second line has rendered this beautiful Similitude quite unintelligible. For what is [having into truth]? or what doth [it] refer to? not te [truth], because if he told truth he could never credit a lie. And yet there is no other correlative to which [it] can belong. I read and point it thus, like one i.e. by often repeating the fame Story, made his memory fuch a Sinner unto truth as to give credit to his own lie. A miferable delufion to which Story-tellers are frequently fubje&t. The Oxford Editor having, by this Correction, been let into the Senfe of the Paffage, gives us this Senfe in his own Words, Who loving an untruth, and telling't oft, |