TRIN. I have been in such a pickle, since I saw you last, that, I fear me, will never out of my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing. SEB. Why, how now, Stephano? STE. O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a cramp." PRO. You'd be king of the ifle, firrah? STE. I should have been a fore one then. 3 ALON. This is as strange a thing as e'er I lock'd on.3 [Pointing to CALIBAN. PRO. He is as disproportion'd in his manners, As in his shape:-Go, firrah, to my cell; Take with you your companions; as you look To have my pardon, trim it handfomely. CAL. Ay, that I will; and I'll be wife hereafter, And feek for grace: What a thrice-double ass Was I, to take this drunkard for a god, And worship this dull fool? 8 -fly-blowing.] This pickle alludes to their plunge into the ftinking pool; pickling preserves meat from fly-blowing. 9 STEEVENS. but a cramp.] i. e. I am all over a cramp. Profpero had ordered Ariel to shorten up their finews with aged cramps. Touch me not alludes to the foreness occafioned by them. In his next speech Stephano confirms this meaning by a quibble on the word fore. STEEVENS. 2 I should have been a fore one then.] The same quibble occurs afterwards in the Second Part of K. Henry VI: "Mafs, 'twill be fore law then, for he was thruft in the mouth with a spear, and 'tis not whole yet." Stephano alfo alludes to the fores about him. STEEVENS. 3 This is as strange a thing as e'er I look'd on.) The old copy, disregarding metre, reads " This is a strange thing as e'er I look'd on." For the repetition of the conjunction-as, &c. I am answerable STEEVENS. 1 ALON. Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it. SEB. Or stole it, rather. [Exeunt CAL. STE. TRIN. PRO. Sir, I invite your highness, and your train, To hear the story of your life, which must PRO. I'll deliver all; I long And promise you calm feas, aufpicious gales, Your royal fleet far off. - My Ariel;-chick, That is thy charge; then to the elements draw near. [Exeunt. 1 Be free, and fare thou well!--[Afide.] Please you, VOL. IV. M EP ILOGU E. SPOKEN BY PROSPERO. NOW my charms are all o'erthrown, And my ending is defpair, 4 3 3 With the help of your good hands.] By your applaufe, by clapping hands. JOHNSON. Noife was fuppofed to diffolve a spell. So twice before in this play: "No tongue; all eyes; be filent." Again:. Liften, but fpeak not to't." 4 And my ending is despair, STEEVENS. Unless I be reliev'd by prayer ;) This alludes to the old stories told of the defpair of necromancers in their last moments, and of the efficacy of the prayers of their friends for them. WARBURTON. Which pierces fo, that it affaults As you from crimes would pardon'd be, Let your indulgence Set me free. $ It is observed of The Tempest, that its plan is regular; this the author of The Revifal thinks, what I think too, an accidental effect of the story, not intended or regarded by our author. But, whatever might be Shakspeare's intention in forming or adopting the plot, he has made it inftrumental to the production of many characters, diverfified with boundless invention, and preferved with profound skill in nature, extenfive knowledge of opinions, and accurate observation of life. In a fingle drama are here exhibited princes, courtiers, and failors, all speaking in their real characters. There is the agency of airy spirits, and of an earthly goblin. The operations of magick, the tumults of a storm, the adventures of a defert ifland, the native effufion of untaught affetion, the punishment of guilt, and the final happiness of the pair for whom our paffions and reason are equally interested. JOHNSON. |