Under my burden groan'd; which rais'd in me Against what should ensue. MIRA. PRO. By Providence divine. How came we ashore ? Some food we had, and some fresh water, that Out of his charity, (who being then appointed signifies dew upon the grass;-hence daggle-tailed. In Cole's Latin Dictionary, 1679, we find," To dag, collutulo, irroro." MALONE. A correspondent, who signs himself Eboracensis, proposes that this contested word should be printed degg'd, which, says he, signifies sprinkled, and is in daily use in the North of England. When clothes that have been washed are too much dried, it is necessary to moisten them before they can be ironed, which is always done by sprinkling; this operation the maidens universally call degging. REED. An undergoing STOMACH.] Stomach is stubborn resolution. So, Horace: " gravem Pelidæ stomachum." STEEVENS. 7 Some food we had, and some fresh water, that A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo, Out of his charity, (WHO being then appointed Master of this design,) did give us ;] Mr. Steevens has suggested, that we might better read-he being then appointed; and so we should certainly now write: but the reading of the old copy is the true one, that mode of phraseology being the idiom of Shakspeare's time. So, in the Winter's Tale : 66 This your son-in-law, "And son unto the king, (whom heavens directing,) Again, in Coriolanus: 66 waving thy hand, "Which, often, thus, correcting thy stout heart, "That will not hold the handling; or, say to them," &c. MALONE. I have left the passage in question as I found it, though with slender reliance on its integrity. What Mr. Malone has styled "the idiom of Shakspeare's time," can scarce deserve so creditable a distinction. It should be re Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries, Which since have steaded much; so, of his gen tleness, Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me, I prize above my dukedom. MIRA. But ever see that man! 'Would I might Now I arise 8 membered that the instances adduced by him in support of his position are not from the early quartos, which he prefers on the score of accuracy, but from the folio 1623, the inaccuracy of which, with equal judgement, he has censured. The genuine idiom of our language, at its different periods, can only be ascertained by reference to contemporary writers whose works were skilfully revised as they passed through the press, and are therefore unsuspected of corruption. A sufficient number of such books are before us. If they supply examples of phraseology resembling that which Mr. Malone would establish, there is an end of controversy between us: Let, however, the disputed phrases be brought to their test before they are admitted; for I utterly refuse to accept the jargon of theatres and the mistakes of printers, as the idiom or grammar of the age in which Shakspeare wrote. Every gross departure from literary rules may be countenanced, if we are permitted to draw examples from vitiated pages; and our readers, as often as they meet with restorations founded on such authorities, may justly exclaim, with Othello,-" Chaos is come again." STEEVENS. Now I arise:] Why does Prospero arise? Or, if he does it to ease himself by change of posture, why need he interrupt his narrative to tell his daughter of it? Perhaps these words belong to Miranda, and we should read: “ Mir. 'Would I might "But ever see that man!-Now I arise. "Pro. Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow." Prospero, in p. 26, had directed his daughter to sit down, and learn the whole of this history; having previously by some magical charm disposed her to fall asleep. He is watching the progress of this charm; and in the mean time tells her a long story, often asking her whether her attention be still awake. The story being ended (as Miranda supposes) with their coming on shore, and partaking of the conveniences provided for them by the loyal humanity of Gonzalo, she therefore first expresses a wish to see the good old man, and then observes that she may now arise, as Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. Have I, thy school-master, made thee more profit MIRA. Heavens thank you for't! And now, I pray you, sir, (For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason For raising this sea-storm? Know thus far forth. PRO. A most auspicious star; whose influence the story is done. Prospero, surprized that his charm does not yet work, bids her sit still; and then enters on fresh matter to amuse the time, telling her (what she knew before) that he had been her tutor, &c. But soon perceiving her drowsiness coming on, he breaks off abruptly, and leaves her still sitting to her slumbers. BLACKSTONE. As the words "now I arise "-may signify, "1 66 66 now I rise in my narration," now my story heightens in its consequence," I have left the passage in question undisturbed. We still say, that the interest of a drama rises or declines. STEEVENS. 9- princes] The first folio reads-princesse. HENLEY. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. Now my dear lady,] i. e. now my auspicious mistress. 2 I find my zenith doth depend upon 3 A most auspicious star; whose influence STEEVENS. If now I court not, but OмIT, &c.] So, in Julius Cæsar : 66 There is a tide in the affairs of man, "Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; "Omitted, all the voyage of their life "Is bound in shallows and in miseries." MALONE. 'tis a good dulness,] Dr. Warburton rightly observes, that this sleepiness, which Prospero by his art had brought upon And give it way;-I know thou can'st not choose.[MIRANDA Sleeps. Come away, servant, come: I am ready now; Approach, my Ariel; come. Enter ARIEL. ARI. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly", To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curl'd clouds; to thy strong bidding, task Ariel, and all his quality". PRO. Hast thou, spirit, Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee? Miranda, and of which he knew not how soon the effect would begin, makes him question her so often whether she is attentive to his story. JOHNSON. 4 All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, &c.] Imitated by Fletcher, in The Faithful Shepherdess : 66 tell me sweetest, "What new service now is meetest "Hold by the moone, and gently make "Suit to the pale queene of night, "For a beame to give thee light? "And bring thee coral, making way 66 Through the rising waves," &c. HENLEY. 5 On the curl'd clouds ;] So, in Timon-Crisp heaven. STEEVENS. 6 and all his QUALITY.] i. e. all his confederates, all who are of the same profession. So, in Hamlet: Come give us a taste of your quality." See vol. vii. p. 293, n. 3. STEEVENS. 7 Perform'd to point] i. e. to the minutest article ; a literal translation of the French phrase-a point. So, in The Chances, by Beaumont and Fletcher: ARI. To every article. I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak, Thus, in Chapman's version of the second book of Homer's Odyssey, we have 8 66 every due "Perform'd to full:"- STEEVENS. now on the BEAK,] The beak was a strong pointed body at the head of the ancient gallies; it is used here for the forecastle, or the boltsprit. JOHNSON. So in Philemon Holland's translation of the 2d chapter of the 32d book of Pliny's Natural History:-" our goodly tall and proud ships, so well armed in the beake-head with yron pikes," &c. STEEVENS. 9 Now in the WAIST,] The part between the quarter-deck and the forecastle. JOHNSON. And burn in many places;] Perhaps our author, when he wrote these lines, remembered the following passage in Hackluyt's Voyages, 1598: "I do remember that in the great and boysterous storme of this foule weather, in the night there came upon the toppe of our maine yard and maine-mast a certaine little light, much like unto the light of a little candle, which the Spaniards call the Cuerpo Santo. This light continued aboord our ship about three houres, flying from maste to maste, and from top to top; and sometimes it would be in two or three places at once." 66 So also De Loier, speaking of "strange sights happening in the seas," Treatise of Spectres, 4to. 1605, p. 67, b: Sometimes they shall see the fire which the saylors call Saint Hermes, to fly uppon their shippe, and to alight upon the toppe of the mast; and sometimes they shall perceive a wind that stirreth such stormes as will run round about their shippe, and play about it in such sort, as by the hurling and beating of the clowdes will rayse uppe a fire that will burne uppe the yardes, the sayles, and the tacklings of the shippe." While the English lay at the Bermudas, in their way to Virginia, [that is, in the year 1609 and part of 1610, when they were shipwrecked there] says Harris from the memoirs of Smith, Norwood and Strachie, "there was an extraordinary halo seen, and the thunder and lightning that followed upon it, was such as almost frighted them out of their wits." MALONE. Burton says, that the Spirits of fire, in form of fire-drakes and |