Believe things certain. Welcome, my friends all: Under the hatches; the master and the boat- [Aside to Seb. and Ant.] But you, my brace of 13. On the bat's back I do fly after summer, merrily. There has been much commentatorial disquisition as to whether Ariel could "fly after summer on a bat's back," when it is well known that the bat is torpid in the winter! But to us it seems that "summer" here is an embodiment of that luxurious twilight heat after which the bat himself seems to be eagerly flitting, as he swiftly circles round and round of a warm evening. 14. Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. That this is not mere poetic imagery on Shakespeare's part, there is confirmation pointed out by Holt White in "Virgil," and by Singer in Fairfax's "Tasso," book iv., stanza 18 : put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes;" and, "I go, I go, look how I go; swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow," where the words seem to dart out with the speed and light leaps of Robin Goodfellow himself. Even in such minute points as this, how eminently characteristic Shakespeare is. Examine severally Ariel's, Puck's, and an ordinary mortal's mode of describing a rapid rider; where Travers, in the opening of " 2 Henry IV." says, "He seem'd in running to devour the way." 16. Whe'r. An old abbreviated form of "whether." 17. Some enchanted trifle. "Trifle" was sometimes used by writers of Shakespeare's time for phantasm, or illusion. 18. Taste some subtilties. "Subtilties" was a name formerly given to certain dishes of quaint device, when our ancestors took delight in dragons, castles, and trees formed of sugar. Curious confectionery, and whimsical shapes in cookery, were a feature at great feasts; and we hear of "the red herring o' horseback," where the likeness of a rider galloping through a green field was My dukedom of thee," which, perforce, I know Alon. If thou be'st Prospero, Give us particulars of thy preservation; Been justled from your senses, know for certain, How thou hast met us here, who three hours Upon this shore, where you were wreck'd, was since Were wreck'd upon this shore; where I have lost How sharp the point of this remembrance is!— My dear son Ferdinand. Pros. Pros. I rather think, landed, To be the Lord on't. No more yet of this; Not a relation for a breakfast, nor Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir; You have not sought her help; of whose soft At least bring forth a wonder, to content ye represented in salad. Prospero figuratively uses the word "subtilties for the strange magical devices of which he has given them a taste," or specimen. 19 Require my dukedom of thee. Prospero here demands from Antonio the usurped Duchy of Milan, which his treachery had made feudatory to the crown of Naples; and which Alonso promises to release from all claim of sovereignty on his part, in the previous words, "Thy dukedom I resign." 20. I am woe for't. An old form of our present phrase, "I am sorry for it." 21. The dear loss. Shakespeare here uses "dear" in its comSee Note 13, bined senses of dearly prized and direly felt. Act ii. "Admire" was formerly used to ex22. So much admire. press simply wonder, without its additional modern sense of wondering with approval. A pertinent example of this is cited by Dean Trench in his valuable little book, "A Select Glossary of English Words," &c., from Jeremy Taylor: "In man there is nothing admirable but his ignorance and weakness." 23. That very duke which was thrust forth. used for "who." "Which" As much as me my dukedom. The entrance of the Cell opens, and discovers Mir. Sweet lord, you play me false. I would not for the world. No, my dear'st love, Gon. Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue Should become kings of Naples? Oh! rejoice Beyond a common joy, and set it down With gold on lasting pillars: In one voyage Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis; And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife Where he himself was lost; Prospero, his dukedom In a poor isle; and all of us, ourselves When no man was his own.27 Alon. [to Fer, and Mir.] Give me your hands: Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart That doth not wish you joy! Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news? Boats. The best news is, that we have safely found Our king and company: the next, our ship— Which, but three glasses since, we gave out split Is tight and yare, and bravely rigg'd, as when Ari. [Aside to Pros.] Sir, all this service Have I done since I went. Pros. [Aside to Ari.] My tricksy spirit! Alon. These are not natural events; they strengthen 27. When no man was his own. When no man was rightly himself, or had possession of his senses. In this speech, be it noted, is an instance of Shakespeare's way of making one word do multiplied service in a continuous sentence: "found" before a wife," is also understood before "his dukedom," and before "ourselves." 28. Three glasses since. Here again Shakespeare marks the time of his drama; as also in Alonso's twice mentioning "three hours" in the course of this scene. It has been observed that the unity of time is most rigidly observed in this play; and that from the very particular care he has taken to point out the circumstance, it would seem as if the poet wished to show the strict observers of the unities, that he could conform to established laws and rules as closely as the most pedantic among playwrights, when he chose, and when it suited his own dramatic purpose. 29. are. Here used for ready, prepared. 30. Conduct. Not unfrequently used by Shakespeare for "conductor." 31. Your mind with beating on, &c. "Beating" has been From strange to stranger.-Say, how came you hither? Boats. If I did think, sir, I were well awake, I'd strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep, And-how we know not-all clapp'd under hatches, Where, but even now, with strange and several noises Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains, Ari. [Aside to Pros.] Was't well done? Alon. This is as strange a maze as e'er men Do not infest your mind with beating on t Set Caliban and his companions free; There are yet missing of your company illustrated by citing the modern vulgarism, “still hammering at it;" but Shakespeare has before in this play associated the word with the "mind." Both here and in the previous passage, "A turn or two I'll walk, to still my beating mind," he seems to indicate (with his usual force of condensed epithet) that dull, throbbing action of a perplexed mind familiar to those who have been oppressed by troublous thought. 32. Which to you shall seem probable. This, taken in connection with the context to which it is parenthetical, appears to mean, 'I will alone and simply explain to you-which explanation shall then seem probable to you-these occurrences which now seem strange.' Shakespeare often uses "single" in the sense of "simple," "plain." In an early speech of Ferdinand's (Act i. sc. ii.) it is so used, where he replies (to Prospero's inquiry-"What wert thou, if the King of Naples heard thee?"), "A single thing, as I am now," &c. He means that if his father still lived to hear him speak, he is but a simple individual; whereas, if his father be dead, he himself would then be King of Naples. 33. One of them is a plain fish; that is, plainly, or evidently, a fish. We find that Caliban strikes those who see him at first sight as being wonderfully like a fish. Vide Trinculo's commencing speech, Act ii., s. 2. 34. True. Sometimes used for honest. "Badges" is in allusion to the "trumpery" they have stolen, and now wear. 35. A witch; and one so strong, &c. 'Strong" was a commonly-applied term to wretched old women when witchcraft was believed in. And it was supposed that one of the privileges of witches was to be able to pull down the moon by enchant ment. 36. Deal in her command, without her power. Shakespeare sometimes uses "without" in the sense of “beyond;" therefore Pros. You'd be king of the isle, sirrah? Ste. I should have been a sore one, then. Alon. This is a strange thing as e'er" I looked upon. [Pointing to Caliban. Pros. He is as disproportion'd in his manners, As in his shape.-Go, sirrah, to my cell; Take with you your companions: as you look To have my pardon, trim it handsomely. Cal. Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter, And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass And worship this dull fool! To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest Of these our dear-beloved solemnis'd; the meaning of this line seems to be 'deal in the moon's command, or influences, beyond her (the moon's) own power to use it unswayed by witchcraft.' "Gilded" was 37. Grand liquor that hath gilded them. an old cant term for being drunk; and there is moreover an allusion to the alchymist's elixir, which was a preparation of gold. 38. In this pickle. "Pickle," in the question here, is used in the sense of "mess;" in the answer, in the sense of brine, or preserving meat from being fly-blown. 39. This is a strange thing as e'es, &c. An old form of the phrase we at present use:-"This is as strange a thing as e'er," &c. |