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condemned the practice, which in reality was surely never practised, were of opinion, with more reason, that the power of charms arose only from compact, and was no more than the spirits voluntarily allowed them for the seduction of man. The art was held by all, though not equally criminal, yet unlawful, and therefore Casaubon, speaking of one who had commerce with spirits, blames him, though he imagines him one of the best kind, who dealt with them by way of command. Thus Prospero repents of his art in the last scene. The spirits were always considered as in some measure enslaved to the enchanter, at least for a time, and as serving with unwillingness; therefore Ariel so often begs for liberty; and Caliban observes, that the spirits serve Prospero with no good will, but hate him rootedly.-Of these trifles enough.

JOHNSON.

14-in Argier.] Algiers was anciently spelt Argier by our English authors.

15 urchins-] i. e. hedge-hogs.

16 Abhorred slave ;] This speech, which the old copy gives to Miranda, is very judiciously bestowed by Theobald on Prospero.

JOHNSON.

It was sir William Davenant and Dryden who first restored this speech to Prospero, not Mr. Theobald. 17-the red plague-] The red plague is the old appellation of the Erysipelas or St. Anthony's fire.

18 That the earth owes :] To owe, in this place, as well as many others, signifies to possess, to own.

19 And his brave son, being twain.] This is a slight

forgetfulness. Nobody was lost in the wreck, yet we find no such character as the son of the duke of Milan.

THEOBALD.

ACT II.

20 Alonzo. Pr'ythee, peace.] All that follows from hence to this speech of the king

You ram these words into my ears, against

The stomach of my sense,

seems 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 should 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 scene only that we are told the king had a daughter named Claribel, whom he had married into Tunis. 'Tis true, in a subsequent scene betwixt Antonio and Sebastian, we again hear her and Tunis mentioned; but in such a manner, that it would be obscure and unintelligible without this previous information.

THEOBALD.

21 The visitor-] Why Dr. Warburton should change visitor to 'riser for adviser I cannot discover. Gonzalo gives not only advice but comfort, and is therefore properly called The Visitor, like others who visit

the sick or distressed to give them consolation. In some of the Protestant churches there is a kind of officers termed consolators for the sick. JOHNSON. 2-the miraculous harp.] Amphion's lyre.

23 The stomach of my sense:] i. e. you make me hear these words although my sense or feeling as a father revolts at them.

24 —all foizon,] Foyson or Foyzon signifies plenty.

EDWARDS.

25 I am more serious-to- -trebles thee o'er] i. e. if you attend to my advice, you will become three times as great as you are at present.

26-she that from Naples

Can have no note-] Shakspeare's great ignorance of geography is not more conspicuous in any instance than in this, where he supposes Tunis and Naples to have been at such an immeasurable distance from each other. STEEVENS.

27 This ancient morsel,] For morsel, Dr. Warburton reads ancient moral, very elegantly and judiciously; yet I know not whether the author might not write morsel, as we say a piece of a man.

JOHNSON.

29-that moe-] quasi that mouth, or make mouths. 29-gaberdine;] A gaberdine is properly the coarse frock or outward garment of a peasant.

STEEVENS.

90 I know it by thy trembling;] Tremor, wildness, and convulsive affections, were felt by those possessed of demons.

31to be the siege of this moon-calf?] Siege signifies

stool in this place, the filthy meaning is sufficiently apparent.

32 I afeard of him? &c.] It is to be observed, that Trinculo the speaker is not charged with being afraid; but it was his consciousness that he was so, which drew this brag from him. This is nature.

WARBURTON.

ACT III.

33 -but their labour

Delight in them sets off:-] Though we endure pain to compass our ends, yet the pleasure we expect makes the labour appear trifling.

34 Of every creature's best.] Alluding to the picture of Venus by Apelles.

[blocks in formation]

JOHNSON.

To weep at what I am glad of―] This is one of those touches of nature that distinguish Shakspeare from all other writers. It was necessary, in support of the character of Miranda, to make her appear unconscious that excess of sorrow and excess of joy find alike their relief from tears; and as this is the first time that consummate pleasure had made any near approaches to her heart, she calls such a seeming contradiction of it, folly.

STEEVENS.

36 Dew-lapp'd like bulls-] The inhabitants of the Alps are known to be subject to such swellings. Whose heads stood in their breasts. See Pliny, Book v. chap. 8.

37 Each putter-out, &c.] " In this age of travelling it was customary for those who engaged in long expeditions to place out a sum of money on condition of receiving great interest at their return home." So Puntarvolo in Ben Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour: "I do intend, this year of jubilee coming on, to travel; and (because I will not altogether go upon expence) I am determined to put some five thousand pound, to be paid me five for one, upon the return of my wife, myself, and my dog, from the Turk's court in Constantinople."

THEOBALD AND STEEVENS.

38 -dowle-] i. e. a feather, or the down of a feather. 39-clear life-] Pure, blameless, innocent.

JOHNSON.

40-base my trespass.] The deep pipe told it me in a rough bass sound.

JOHNSON.

41 Like poison given to work a great time after.] The natives of Africa have been supposed to be possessed of the secret how to temper poisons with such art, as not to operate till several years after they were administered.

STEEVENS.

ACT IV.

42

43

--

the rabble,] The crew of meaner spirits.

JOHNSON.

pole-clipt vineyard;] To clip is to twine round or

embrace.

44 —bosky-] i. e. woody.

STEEVENS.

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