Therefore my son i' the ooze is bedded; and Seb. I'll fight their legions o'er. Ant. 3 [Exit. But one fiend at a time, I'll be thy second. [Exeunt SEB. and ANT. Gon. All three of them are desperate; their great guilt, Like poison given to work a great time after, Now 'gins to bite the spirits:-I do beseech you That are of suppler joints, follow them swiftly, And hinder them from what this ecstacy5 May now provoke them to. Adr. Follow, I pray you. Again, in Davis's Microcosmos, 1605, p. 32: [Exeunt. "He seemed as ravisht with an heavenly noise." Reed. 3 And with him there lie mudded. But one fiend] As these hemistichs, taken together, exceed the proportion of a verse, I cannot help regarding the words -with him, and but, as playhouse interpolations. The Tempest was evidently one of the last works of Shakspeare; and it is therefore natural to suppose, the metre of it must have been exact and regular. Dr. Farmer concurs with me in this supposition. Steevens. 4 Like poison given, &c.] 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. Their drugs were then as certain in their effect, as subtle in their preparation. So, in the celebrated libel called Leicester's Commonwealth: "I heard him once myselfe in publique act at Oxford, and that in presence of my lord of Leicester, maintain that poyson might be so tempered and given, as it should not appear presently, and yet should kill the party afterwards at what time should be appointed." Steevens. 5 this ecstacy-] Ecstacy meant not anciently, as at present, rapturous pleasure, but alienation of mind. So, in Hamlet, Act III. sc. iv: "Nor sense to ecstacy was e'er so thrall'd.” Mr. Locke has not inelegantly styled it dreaming with our eyes open. Steevens. ACT IV.....SCENE I. Before Prospero's Cell. Enter PROSPERO, FERDINAND, and MIRANDA. Pro. If I have too austerely punish'd you, 6 a thread of mine own life,] The old copy reads-third. The word thread was formerly so spelt, as appears from the following passage: 66 Long maist thou live, and when the sisters shall decree Hawkins. See comedy of Mucedorus, 1619, signat. C 3. So, in Lingua, &c. 1607; and I could furnish many more in stances: "For as a subtle spider closely sitting "In center of her web that spreadeth round, The following quotation, however, should seem to place the meaning beyond all dispute. In Acolastus, a comedy, 1540, is this passage: one of worldly shame's children, of his countenance, and THREDE of his body." Steevens. Again, in Tancred and Gismund, a tragedy, 1592, Tancred, speaking of his intention to kill his daughter, says: "Against all law of kinde, to shred in twaine "The golden threede that doth us both maintain." Malone. 7— strangely stood the test:] Strangely is used by way of commendation, merveilleusement, to a wonder; the same is the sense in the foregoing scene. Johnson. 24. the printed folios give a third" of may The Ms. 1632 giver own I ratify this my rich gift. O Ferdinand, For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise, Fer. Against an oracle. I do believe it, Pro. Then, as my gift, and thine own acquisition3 Worthily purchas'd, take my daughter: But 9 If thou dost break her virgin knot, before All sanctimonious ceremonies may Fer. As I hope For quiet days, fair issue, and long life, With such love as 'tis now; the murkiest den, The most opportune place, the strong'st suggestion Mine honour into lust; to take away The edge of that day's celebration, When I shall think, or Phœbus' steeds are founder'd, Or night kept chain'd below.2 i. e. in the last scene of the preceding act: 66- with good life, "And observation strange -" Steevens. Then, as my gift, and thine own acquisition -] My guest, first folio. Rowe first read-gift. Johnson. A similar thought occurs in Antony and Cleopatra: 66 I send him "The greatness he has got." Steevens. 9 - her virgin knot -] The same expression occurs in Pericles Prince of Tyre, 1609: "Untide I still my virgin knot will keepe." Steevens. 1 No sweet aspersion] Aspersion is here used in its primitive sense of sprinkling. At present, it is expressive only of calumny and detraction. Steevens. 2 When I shall think, or Phabus' steeds are founder'd, Or night kept chain'd below.] A similar train of ideas occur in the 23d Book of Homer's Odyssey, thus translated by Chapman : Pro. Fairly spoke:3 Sit then, and talk with her, she is thine own.- Enter ARIEL. Ari. What would my potent master? here I am. Pro. Thou and thy meaner fellows your last service Did worthily perform; and I must use you In such another trick: go, bring the rabble,4 O'er whom I give thee power, here, to this place; Bestow upon the eyes And they expect it from me. Ari. Pro. Ay, with a twink. Presently? Ari. Before you can say, Come, and go, And breathe twice; and cry, so, so; Each one, tripping on his toe,5 Will be here with mop and mowe: Do you love me, master? no. Pro. Dearly, my delicate Ariel: Do not approach, Till thou dost hear me call. Ari. Well I conceive. [Exit. Pro. Look, thou be true; do not give dalliance Fer. she th' extended night Well. "With-held in long date; nor would let the light 3 Fairly spoke:] Fairly is here used as a trisyllable. Steevens. the rabble,] The crew of meaner spirits. Johnson. 4 - 5 Come and go, Each one, tripping on his toe,] So, in Milton's L'Allegro, v. 33: "Come, and trip it as you go "On the light fantastic toe." Steevens. Now come, my Ariel; bring a corollary," A Masque. Enter IRIS. [Soft musick. Iris. Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas pined and filled 6 bring a corollary,] That is, bring more than are sufficient, rather than fail for want of numbers. Corollary means surplus. Corolaire, Fr. See Cotgrave's Dictionary. Steevens. 7 No tongue;] Those who are present at incantations are obliged to be strictly silent, "else," as we are afterwards told, "the spell is marred." Johnson. 8 thatch'd with stover,] Stover (in Cambridgeshire and other counties) signifies hay made of coarse, rank grass, such as even cows will not eat, while it is green. Stover is likewise used as thatch for cart-lodges, and other buildings that deserve but rude and cheap coverings. The word occurs in the 25th Song of Drayton's Polyolbion: "To draw out sedge and reed, for thatch and stover fit." Again, in his Muses' Elyzium: "Their browse and stover, waxing thin and scant." Steevens. 9 Thy banks with peonied, and lilied brims,] The old edition reads pioned and twilled brims, which gave rise to Mr. Holt's conjecture, that the poet originally wrote: with pioned and tilled brims." as in ms. 1632. Peonied is the emendation of Hanmer. Spenser, and the author of Muleasses the Turk, a tragedy, 1610, use pioning for digging. It is not, therefore, difficult to find a meaning for the word, as it stands in the old copy; and remove a letter from twilled, and it leaves us tilled. I am yet, however, in doubt whether we ought not to read lilied brims; for Pliny, B. XXVI. ch. x. mentions the water-lily, as a preserver of chastity; and says, elsewhere, that the Peony medetur Faunorum in Quiete Ludibriis, &c. In a poem, entitled The Herring's Tayle, 4to. 1598, "the mayden piony" is introduced. In the Arraignement of Paris, 1584, are mentioned: "The watry flow'rs and lillies of the banks." In the 20th song of Drayton's Polyolbion, the Naiades are represented as making chaplets, with all the tribe of aquatic flowers; and Mr. Tollet informs me, that Lyte's Herbal says, "onę› kind of peonie is called by some, maiden or virgin peonie." K |