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similitude quite unintelligible. For what is [having into truth?] or what doth [it] refer to? not to [truth,] because if he told truth he could never credit a lie. And yet there is no other correlative to which [it] can belong.

I read and point it thus:

like one

Who having, UNTO truth, by telling OFT,
Made such a sinner of his memory,

To credit his own lie,

i. e. by often repeating the same story, made his memory such a sinner unto truth, as to give credit to his own lie; a miserable delusion, to which storytellers are frequently subject. The Oxford Editor having, by this correction, been let into the sense of the passage, gives us this sense in his own words: Who loving an untruth, and telling't oft

Makes

WARBURTON.

I agree with Dr. Warburton, that perhaps there is no correlative to which the word it can with grammatical propriety belong, and that unto was the original reading. Lie, however, seems to have been the correlative to which the poet meant to refer, however ungrammatically. STEEVENS.

190. -out of the substitution,] Is the old reading. The modern editors, for the sake of smoother versification, read from substitution. STEEVENS.

200. So dry he was for sway, -] i. e. So thirsty. The expression, I am told, is not uncommon in the midland counties. Thus in Leicester's Commonwealth;

"against

"against the designments of the hasty Erle who thirsteth a kingdome with great intemperance."

STEEVENS.

209. To think, but nobly] But in this place signifies otherwise than.

STEEVENS.

225. cry'd out] Perhaps we should read

cried on't. 226.

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STEEVENS.

-a hint,] Hint is suggestion. So in the be

ginning speech of the second act:

our hint of woe

Is common

STEEVENS.

236. (So dear the love my people bare me) nor set, &c.] There is in this line a redundant syllable. Perhaps nor ought to be omitted, and the passage thus regulated:

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"(So dear the love my people bore me) set "A mark so bloody on the business." MALONE. 252. --deck'd the sea- →] To deck the sea, if explained, to honour, adorn, or dignify, is indeed ridiculous, but the original import of the verb deck is, to cover ; so in some parts they yet say, deck the table. This sense may be borne, but perhaps the poet wrote fleck'd, which I think is still used in rustick language of drops falling upon water. Dr. Warburton reads mock'd; the Oxford edition brack'd.. JOHNSON.

Verstegan, p. 61. speaking of Beer, says, "So the overdecking or covering of beer came to be called berham, and afterwards barme." This very well supports Dr, Johnson's explanation. The following

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passage in Antony and Cleopatra may countenance the verb deck in its common acceptation.

-do not please sharp fate

"To grace it with your sorrows." What is this but decking it with tears?

STEEVENS.

Whether we explain deck'd in the sense of adorning, which seems to be its meaning in the passage produced by Mr. Steevens from Antony and Cleopatra; or whether in the sense of covering; the phrase will be but bald: this however is no argument that Shakspere did not write it. I am nevertheless strongly inclined to conjecture that the right reading is- "dewed the sea with tears." As in Spencer's Faery Queene, B. IV. c. 8.

"Dew'd with her drops of bounty sovereine." And in our author's Macbeth, act v. sc. 2.

"To' dew the sovereign flower, and drown the S. W.

weeds."

To deck, I am told, signifies in the North, to sprinkle; See Ray's Dictionary of North Country Words, v. to deg and to leck; and his Dictionary of South and East Country Words, v. dag. The latter signifies dew upon grass; hence daggle-tailed. MALONE.

A correspondent of Mr. Reed, 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. EDITOR.

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-gravem

STEEVENS.

pride, stubborn resolution. So Horace, " Pelidæ stomachum.”

260. --who being then appointed, &c.] Such is the old reading. We might better read,

-he being, &c.

STEEVENS.

268. Now, I arise:] Why doth Prospero arise ? Or, if he does 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. 9. 1. 108. 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 the story is done. Prospero, surprised 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.

272. princes] In the first edition-princesse ; a reading which the sense of the passage requires to be restored. HENLEY. 282. I find, &c.] The same sentiment is in Julius Cæsar, act iv. sc. 3.

286.

MALONE.

'tis a good dulness,] Dr. Warburton rightly observes, that this sleepiness, which Prospero by his art had brought upon Miranda, and of which he knew not how soon the effect would begin, makes him question her so often whether she is attentive to her story. JOHNSON. 289. 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: " -tell me sweetest,

"What new service now is meetest

“For the satyre; shall I stray

"In the middle ayre, and stay

"The sailing racke, or nimbly take
“Hold by the moone, and gently make
"Suit to the pale queene of night,

"For a beame to give me light?

"Shall I dive into the sea,

"And bring thee coral, making way

"Through the rising waves," &c. HENLEY. Which of these two preceded the other has not been ascertained. The first edition of The Faithful ShepBerdess has no date. It was, however, exhibited before

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