But only Sycorax my dam, and she;
But she as far surpasseth Sycorax,
As greatest does least.

Ste. Is it so brave a lass?

Cal. Ay, lord; she will become thy bed, I warrant, And bring thee forth brave brood.

Ste. Monster, I will kill this man: his daughter and I will be king and queen; (save our graces!) and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys:-Dost thou like the plot, Trinculo?

Trin. Excellent.

Ste. Give me thy hand; I am sorry I beat thee: but, while thou livest, keep a good tongue in thy head. Cal. Within this half hour will he be asleep; Wilt thou destroy him then?

Ste.

Ay, on mine honour.

Ari. This will I tell my master.

Cal. Thou mak'st me merry: I am full of pleasure; Let us be jocund: Will you troll the catch?

You taught me but while-ere?

Ste. At thy request, monster, I will do reason, any

reason: Come on, Trinculo, let us sing.

[Sings.

Flout 'em, and skout 'em ; and skout 'em, and flout'em;
Thought is free.

Cal. That's not the tune.

[ARIEL plays the tune on a tabor and pipe.

Ste. What is this same?

verse, being too long by a foot, Hanmer judiciously gave it, as it now stands in the text.

By means as innocent, the versification of Shakspeare, has, I hope, in many instances been restored. The temerity of some critics had too long imposed severe restraints on their successors. Steevens.

9 Will you troll the catch-] Ben Jonson uses the word in Every Man in his Humour:

"If he read this with patience, I'll troul ballads."

Again, in the Cobler's Prophecy, 1594:

"A fellow that will troul it off with tongue.

"Faith, you shall hear me troll it, after my fashion."

To troll a catch, I suppose, is to dismiss it trippingly from the tongue. Steevens.

Trin. This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of No-body.1

Ste. If thou beest a man, shew thyself in thy likeness: if thou beest a devil, take't as thou list.

Trin. O, forgive me my sins!

Ste. He that dies, pays all debts: I defy thee:-Mercy upon us!

Cal. Art thou afeard?2

Ste. No, monster, not I.

Cal. Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,

Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.
Sometimes, a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,
That, if I then had wak'd, after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds, methought, would open, and shew riches
Ready to drop upon me; that, when I wak'd,

I cry'd, to dream again.

Ste. This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I shall have my music for nothing.

Cal. When Prospero is destroyed.

Ste. That shall be by and by: I remember the story. Trin. The sound is going away: let's follow it, and after, do our work.

Ste. Lead, monster; we'll follow.-I would, I could see this taborer:3 he lays it on.

1 This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of No-body.] A ridiculous figure, sometimes represented on signs. Westward for Smelts, a book, which our author appears to have read, was printed for John Trundle, in Barbican, at the signe of the No-body.

Malone.

The allusion is here to the print of No-body, as prefixed to the anonymous comedy of " No-body and Some-body;" without date, but printed before the year 1600. Reed.

2

afeard?] Thus the old copy.-To affear is an obsolete verb, with the same meaning as to affray.

So, in the Shipmannes Tale of Chaucer, v. 13,330:

"This wif was not aferde, ne affraide."

Between aferde and affraide, in the time of Chaucer, there might have been some nice distinction, which is at present lost. Steevens.

3 I would I could see this taborer:] Several of the incidents, in this scene, viz.-Ariel's mimickry of Trinculo-the tune played on the tabor, and Caliban's description of the twangling instru

Trin. Wilt come? I'll follow, Stephano. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Another part of the Island.

Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and others.

Gon. By'r lakin, I can go no further, sir; My old bones ache: here's a maze trod, indeed, Through forth-rights, and meanders! by your patience, I needs must rest me.

Alon.

Old lord, I cannot blame thee, Who am, myself, attach'd with weariness, To the dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest. Even here, I will put off my hope, and keep it No longer for my flatterer: he is drown'd, Whom thus we stray to find; and the sea mocks

ment, &c.-might have been borrowed from Marco Paolo, the old Venetian voyager; who in Lib. I. ch. 44, describing the desert of Lop in Asia, says-" Audiuntur ibi voces demonum, &c. voces fingentes eorum quos comitari se putant. Audiuntur interdum in aere concentus musicorum instrumentorum," &c. This passage was rendered accessible to Shakspeare, by an English translation entitled The most noble and famous Trauels of Marcus Paulus, one of the Nobilitie of the State of Venice, &c. bl. 1. 4to. 1579, by John Frampton. You shall heare in the ayre the sound of tabers and other instruments, to put the trauellers in feare, &c. by euill spirites, that make these soundes, and also do call diuerse of the trauellers by their names," &c. ch. 36. p. 32.

661

To some of these circumstances Milton also alludes:

calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire,
"And aery tongues, that syllable men's names,
"On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses."

Steevens.

4 Wilt come? I'll follow, Stephano.] The first words are addressed to Caliban, who, vexed at the folly of his new companions idly running after the musick, while they ought only to have attended to the main point, the despatching Prospero, seems for some little time, to have staid behind. Heath.

The words-Wilt come? should be added to Stephano's speech, I'll follow, is Trinculo's answer. Ritson.

5 By'r lakin,] i. e. The diminutive only of our lady, i. e. ladykin. Steevens.

Our frustrate search on land: Well, let him go.
Ant. I am right glad that he's so out of hope.

[Aside to SEB.

Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose
That you resolv'd to effect.

Seb.

Will we take thoroughly.

Ant.

The next advantage

Let it be to-night;

For, now they are oppress'd with travel, they
Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance,
As when they are fresh.

Seb.

I say, to-night: no more.

Solemn and strange musick; and PROSPERO above, invisible. Enter several strange Shapes, bringing in a banquet; they dance about it, with gentle actions of saluta tion; and, inviting the King, &c. to eat, they depart.

Alon. What harmony is this? my good friends, hark! Gon. Marvellous sweet musick!

Alon. Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these?

Seb. A living drollery:7 Now I will believe, That there are unicorns; that, in Arabia

There is one tree, the phoenix' throne; one phoenix

6 Our frustrate search-] Frustrate for frustrated. So, in Chapman's translation of Homer's Hymn to Apollo:

66

some God hath fill'd,

"Our frustrate sails, defeating what we will'd." Steevens. 7 A living drollery:] Shows, called drolleries, were in Shakspeare's time, performed by puppets only. From these our modern drolls, exhibited at fairs, &c. took their name. So in Beaumont and Fletcher's Valentinian:

Steevens.

"I had rather make a drollery till thirty." A living drollery, i. e. a drollery not represented by wooden machines, but by personages who are alive. Malone.

8

one tree, the phoenix' throne;] For this idea, our author might have been indebted to Phil. Holland's Translation of Pliny, B. XIII. chap. 4: "I myself verily have heard straunge things of this kind of tree; and namely, in regard of the bird Phanix, which is supposed to have taken that name of this date tree; [called in Greek, ov]; for it was assured unto me, that the said bird died with that tree, and revived of itselfe, as the tree sprung again." Steevens.

I

At this hour reigning there.

Ant.

I'll believe both;

And what does else want credit, come to me,
And I'll be sworn 'tis true: Travellers ne'er did lie,'
Though fools at home condemn them.

Gon.

If in Naples,

I should report this now, would they believe me?
If I should say, I saw such islanders,1

2

(For, certes, these are people of the island,)

Who, though they are of monstrous shape, yet, note, Their manners are more gentle-kind,3 than of

Our human generation you shall find

Many, nay, almost any.

Pro.

Honest lord,

Thou hast said well; for some of you there, present,

Are worse than devils.

[Aside.

Again, in one of our author's poems, p. 732, edit. 1778: "Let the bird of loudest lay,

"On the sole Arabian tree," &c.

Our poet had probably Lyly's Euphues, and his England, particularly in his thoughts: signat. Q3.-" As there is but one phonix in the world, so is there but one tree in Arabia, wherein she buildeth." See also, Florio's Italian Dictionary, 1598: “ Rasin, a tree in Arabia, whereof there is but one found, and upon it the phoenix sits." Malone.

9 And I'll be sworn 'tis true: Travellers ne'er did lie,] I suppose this redundant line originally stood thus:

"And I'll be sworn to't: Travellers ne'er did lie -." Hanmer reads, as plausibly:

1

"And I'll be sworn 'tis true.

Travellers ne'er lied."

Steevens.

such islanders,] The old copy has islands. The emendation was made by the editor of the second folio. Malone.

2 For, certes, &c.] Certes is an obsolete word, signifying certainly.

So, in Othello:

"I have already chose my officer." Steevens.

3 Their manners are more gentle-kind,] The old copy has"gentle, kind." I read (in conformity to a practice of our author, who delights in such compound epithets, of which the first adjective is to be considered as an adverb,) gentle-kind. Thus, in K. Richard III. we have childish-foolish, senseless-obstinate, and mortal-staring. Steevens.