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,5 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. To the dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest. 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 dæmonum, &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. 66 To some of these circumstances Milton also alludes: 66 calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, 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 kin. By'r lakin,] i. e. The diminutive only of our lady, i. e. lady. Our frustrate search on land: Well, let him go. [Aside to SEB. Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose Seb. Will we take thoroughly. Ant. The next advantage Let it be to-night; For, now they are oppress'd with travel, they 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 salutation; 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 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: "I had rather make a drollery till thirty." _Steevens. A living drollery, i. e. a drollery not represented by wooden machines, but by personages who are alive. Malone. a 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, Povi]; 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'll believe both; At this hour reigning there. Ant. And what does else want credit, come to me, Gon. 9 If in Naples, I should report this now, would they believe me? (For, certes,2 these are people of the island,) Who, though they are of monstrous shape, yet, note, Many, nay, almost any. Pro. Honest lord, Thou hast said well; for some of you there, present, Are worse than devils. Again, in one of our author's poems, p. 732, edit. 1778: "Let the bird of loudest lay, "On the sole Arabian tree," &c. [Aside. Our poet had probably Lyly's Euphues, and his England, particularly in his thoughts: signat. Q3.-" As there is but one phanix 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: "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: certes, says he, "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. Alon. I cannot too much muse, Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, expressing (Although they want the use of tongue,) a kind Of excellent dumb discourse. Pro. Praise in departing." [Aside. No matter, since Fran. They vanish'd strangely. Seb. They have left their viands behind; for we have sto machs Will't please you taste of what is here? Alon. Not I. Gon. Faith, sir, you need not fear: When we were boys, Who would believe that there were mountaineers," Dew-lapp'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging at them Wallets of flesh? or that there were such men, Whose heads stood in their breasts?7 which now we find 4 too much muse,] To muse, in ancient language, is to admire, to wonder. So, in Macbeth: "Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends." Steevens. 5 Praise in departing.] i. e. Do not praise your entertainment too soon, lest you should have reason to retract your commendation. It is a proverbial saying. So, in The Two angry Women of Abingdon, 1599: "And so she doth; but praise your luck at parting." Again, in Tom Tyler and his Wife, 1661: "Now praise at thy parting." Stephen Gosson, in his pamphlet entitled, Playes confuted in five Actions, &c. (no date) acknowledges himself to have been the author of a morality called, Praise at Parting. Steevens. 6 that there were mountaineers, &c.] Whoever is curious to know the particulars relative to these mountaineers, may consult Maundeville's Travels, printed in 1503, by Wynken de Worde; but it is yet a known truth that the inhabitants of the Alps have been long accustomed to such excrescences or tumours. 7 Quis tumidum guttur miratur in Alpibus? Steevens. men, Whose heads stood in their breasts?] Our author might have had this intelligence likewise from the translation of Pliny, B. V. chap. 8: "The Blemmyi, by report, have no heads, but mouth and eies both in their breasts." Steevens. Or he might have had it from Hackluyt's Voyages, 1598: "On that branch, which is called Caora, are a nation of people, whose heads appear not above their shoulders. They are reported to have their eyes in their shoulders, and their mouths in the middle of their breasts. Malone. 8 Each putter-out on five for one, will bring us Alon. I will stand to, and feed, 8 Each putter-out, &c.] The ancient custom here alluded to, was this. In this age of travelling, it was a practice with those who engaged in long and hazardous expeditions, to place out a sum of money, on condition of receiving great interest for it, at their return home. So, Puntarvolo, (it is Theobald's quotation,) in Ben Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour: "I do intend, this year of jubilee coming on, to travel; and (because I will not altogether go upon expense) I am determined to put some five thousand pound, to be paid me five for one, upon the return of my wife, myself, and my dog, from the Turk's court in Constantinople." To this instance I may add another from The Ball, a comedy, by Chapman and Shirley, 1639: "I did most politickly disburse my sums, "To have five for one, at my return from Venice." Again, in Amends for Ladies, 1639: "I would I had put out something upon my return; -on five for one" means on the terms of five for one. So, in Barnaby Riche's Faults, and nothing but Faults, 1607; "- those whipsters, that having spent the greatest part of their patrimony in prodigality, will give out the rest of their stocke, to be paid two or three for one, upon their return from Rome." &c. &c. Steevens. Each putter-out on five for one,] The old copy has: 66 of five for one." I believe the words are only transposed, and that the author wrote: "Each putter-out of one for five." So, in The Scourge of Folly, by J. Ďavies, of Hereford, printed about the year 1611: "Sir Solus straight will travel, as they say, "And gives out one for three, when home comes he." It appears from Moryson's ITINERARY, 1617, Part I. p. 198, that "this custom of giving out money upon these adventures was first used in court, and among noblemen;" and that some years before his book was published, "bankerouts, stage-players, and men of base condition, had drawn it into contempt," by undertaking journies merely for gain upon their return. Malone. 9 I will stand to, and feed, Although my last: no matter, since I feel The best is past:] I cannot but think, that this passage was intended to be in a rhyme, and should be printed thus: "I will stand to and feed; although my last, "No matter, since I feel the best is past." M. Mason. |