line as two speeches, and assigns the latter part, "So, you're paid," to Antonio. Mr. White changes you're paid to you've paid. The correction in the text is Theobald's. See foot-note 5.

P. 42. Alon. Ah! - The original has "Gon." instead of "Alon." The correction is Staunton's; who notes, "this exclamation belongs to Alonso, who is awakened from his trance of grief."

P. 44.

And the fair soul herself

Weigh'd, between loathness and obedience, at

Which end the beam should bow. — The original reads "at Which end o' the beam should bow." Modern editions generally change should to she'd; but it seems to me much better to erase o', and thus make beam the subject of should bow. Pope's correction.

P. 46. Sebas. God save his Majesty!

Anto. Long live Gonzalo! So Walker. The original omits God, which was probably stricken out by the Master of the Revels in obedience to the well-known statute against profanity. In such matters, the Poet's judgment seems preferable to an Act of Parliament. The folio has many instances of such omission, where the quartos which were printed before the passing of the Act in question give the text as Shakespeare undoubtedly wrote it.

P. 47. Will you laugh me asleep? for I am very heavy. Anto. Go sleep, and hear us not. - The original is without There appears no assignable reason of wit why the Poet should have left it out, and all other reasons certainly require it. Keightley's correction.

not.

P. 49. Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond,

But doubt discovery there. - Here Capell substitutes doubts for doubt, but, as it seems to me, without at all relieving the obscurity. Hanmer reads "But drops discovery there." This is more intelligible, but still unsatisfactory. The passage has long been a poser to me, as I have met with no sufficient explanation of it. Possibly we ought to read "Nor aught discover there." See foot-note 42.

P. 50. She that is Queen of Tunis; she that dwells

Ten leagues beyond man's life; she that from Naples
Can have no note, unless the Sun were post,

The Man-i-the-moon's too slow, - till new-born chins

Be rough and razorable: she too for whom

We all were sea-swallow'd, though some cast again;

And, by that destiny, to perform an act, &c. — In the old text, the fifth of these lines stands precisely thus: "Be rough, and Razorable: She that from whom." The modern text is, "Be rough and razorable; she that from whom," or " she from whom," or "she from whom coming." In "She that from whom," that must needs be taken as a relative pronoun, just as it is in the preceding clauses. Now" she that from whom " is not English, and, I am sure, never was; for it is the same as "she who from whom," which is absurd. At one time I thought of reading "She's that from whom," which makes that a demonstrative pronoun, and thus removes the absurdity aforesaid. But it seems to me better to substitute too, and so get rid of that altogether. Nor is the change at all violent. And my theory is, that “she that from " got repeated by a sort of contagion from the third line above. As to the change of from into for, perhaps it is not strictly necessary, as from may possibly yield the same meaning. At all events, for whom legitimately carries the sense of on whose account, or, because of whom. For is often used thus. See foot-note 45.

P. 50.

A space whose every cubit
Seems to cry out, "How shalt thou, Claribel,
Measure us back to Naples? Keep in Tunis,

And let Sebastian wake!"—The original reads "How shall that Claribel Measure," &c. The reading here given is Hanmer's. I am surprised that it has not been more generally accepted; for the continuation of the speech, “Keep in Tunis," &c., is clearly an apostrophe to Claribel, and was no doubt meant to be in the same construction.

Anto. Ay, sir; and where lies that? if'twere a kibe, 'Twould put me to my slipper.— The original is without and in Inserted by Dyce.

the second of these lines.

P. 52.

Here lies your brother,

No better than the earth he lies upon,

If he were that which now he's like; whom I,

With this obedient steel, three inches of it,

Can lay to bed for ever.

In the third of these lines, the original

CRITICAL NOTES.

LIBRARY

UNIVER

upony

has that's dead after "now he's like," and transfers whom to the
beginning of the next line. Steevens made the following just note
the passage: "The words that's dead (as Dr. Farmer observes to me)
are evidently a gloss, or marginal note, which has found its way into
the text. Such a supplement is useless to the speaker's meaning, and
the next verse becomes redundant by its insertion."

1

P. 52. My master through his art foresees the danger That you, his friend, are in; and sends me forth — For else his project dies· to keep thee living. The original reads "to keepe them living." Some editors change project to projects, and thus make an antecedent for them; but Dyce's correction is unquestionably right.

P. 53. Gonza. [Waking.]

Now, good angels

Preserve the King! -[To SEBAS. and ANTO.] Why, how now!·

[TO ALON.] Ho, awake!

OF

[TO SEBAS. and ANTO.] Why are you drawn? wherefore this
ghastly looking?

Alon. [Waking.] What's the matter?· - I here give the arrangement which Dyce adopted and improved from Staunton. The old text makes a strange muddle of the passage, thus:

Gon. Now, good Angels preserve the King.

Alon Why how now hoa; awake? why are you drawn?
Wherefore this ghastly looking?

Gon. What's the matter?

P. 53. I saw their weapons drawn: there was a noise,

Instead of verity, the original has verily.

Cor

That's verity.

rected by Pope.

ACT II., SCENE 2.

66

P. 58. Here; swear, man, how thou escapedst.- The old text reads swere then how thou escap'dst." This makes the speech addressed to Caliban, whereas the context clearly requires it to be addressed to Trinculo. Several ways of printing have been proposed, in order to get over the difficulty; but they only remove one difficulty to draw on another. Probably the transcriber or compositor supposed the speech addressed to Caliban, and sophisticated it into logical harmony with that idea, by changing man into then.

P. 60.

And sometimes I'll get thee

Young staniels from the rock. — Instead of staniels, the original has scamels, which has drawn forth a deal of commentary. The correction is Dyce's, from whose remarks on the passage I condense the following: "Here scamels has been explained as the diminutive of scams, and as meaning limpets. But I have little or no doubt that it is a misprint: for who gathers young limpets? and besides, the words from the rock would seem to be equivalent to from the cliffs. Theobald substituted shamois, and also proposed sea-malls or sea-mells, and stannels or staniels. In the first place, staniels comes very near the trace of the old letters. Secondly, staniels accords well with the context, from the rock'; for, as Montagu's Ornithological Dictionary tells us, the Kestrel, Stannel, or Windhover, is one of our most common species of hawks, especially in the more rocky situations and high cliffs on our coasts, where they breed.' Thirdly, in another passage of Shakespeare, where nobody doubts that the genuine reading is staniel, all the old editions exhibit the gross misprint, stallion: 'And with what wing the stallion checks at it!' Twelfth Night, ii. 5.”

P. 60. Nor scrape trencher, nor wash dish. The original has trenchering, "which," says Dyce, "is undoubtedly an error of the transcriber or compositor, occasioned by the preceding words firing and requiring." Pope's correction.

P. 61.

ACT III., SCENE 1.

This my mean task would be

As heavy to me as 'tis odious, but

The mistress, &c.—The original lacks 'tis, which was inserted

by Pope; and rightly, beyond question.

P. 61. But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labour;

Most busy when I do it least.

The original has labours instead of labour, and also reads "Most busie lest, when I doe it." The second folio changes lest to least. But the two forms were often used indifferently, and either form was used in both the senses of our present words lest and least. Modern editions generally print labour instead of labours, so as to harmonize with it in the next line. Few passages in Shakespeare have been more fruitful of comment and controversy than this. The list of changes made or proposed is quite too long for reproduction here. With the old reading it is uncertain what

most busy refers to or is the predicate of; that is to say, whether the meaning be "I being most busy," or "these sweet thoughts being most busy." For the latter sense the best reading I have met with is "most busiest," proposed by Holt White, and adopted by Singer and Grant White. But had this been the Poet's thought he would probably have written "Most busy they, when I do it." Dyce prints, with Theobald, "Most busiless," which, of course, makes the phrase refer to the speaker himself; but the reading is to me quite unsatisfactory. On the whole, it seems much better to connect lest or least with what follows, and not with what precedes. It is worth noting, also, that the old reading throws the ictus on I and it, whereas it ought, evidently, to fall on when and do. Hardly any corruptions are more frequent in Shakespeare than those resulting from misplacement of words, and even of whole lines. Many are the cases where similar transpositions have to be made. In this case we might read "Most busy, least when I do it "; but this gives us a very awkward inversion, and both sense and rhythm come much better by transposing least to the end. But I suspect, after all, that the Poet first wrote most busie, then interlined lest or least as a correction, and that the two got printed together; so that we ought to read "Least busy when I do it." And so Pope reads. Perhaps I ought to add that Mr. A. E. Brae proposes to read “ my labour's most busy hest"; hest being taken in the sense of task or exaction. With this reading, as the proposer observes, "an object is given to the possessive s in labour's, and an antecedent provided for the pronoun it in the last line." But this reading, I think, would make the passage rather too tame. See foot-note 2.

P. 65. So glad of this as they I cannot be,

Who am surprised withal. The old text reads "Who are surprised with all." Theobald changed with all to withal, and rightly, beyond question. The same misprint occurs frequently, as Walker has shown. And so are is, I have no doubt, a misprint for am. Prospero is himself surprised, as indeed he well may be, that his wish has been crowned so far beyond his expectations; and it is most natural that he should be expressing that surprise: but the lovers, I take it, are not at all surprised at what has sprung up in their hearts; it seems to them the most natural thing in the world.