Four or five women once that tended me? But how is it Pros. Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. If thou remember'st aught ere thou camest here, Mira. But that I do not. Pros. Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year 13 since, Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and A prince of power. Mira. Sir, are you not my father? Pros. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and She said thou wast my daughter; and thy father Was Duke of Milan; thou his only heir, A princess, no worse issued. O the Heavens ! What foul play had we, that we came from thence? Or blessed was't we did? Pros. Both, both, my girl: By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heaved thence; But blessedly holp 14 hither. Mira. O, my heart bleeds To think o' the teen 15 that I have turn'd you to, 11 Abysm is an old form of abyss; from the old French abisme. 12 "If thou remember'st aught ere thou camest here, thou mayst also remember how thou camest here." 18 In words denoting time, space, and quantity, the singular form was often used with the plural sense. So we have mile and pound for miles and pounds. In this line, the first year is two syllables, the second one. Often so with various other words, such as hour, fire, &c. 14 Holp or holpen is the old preterite of help; occurring continually in The Psalter, which is an older translation of the Psalms than that in the Bible. 15 Teen is an old word for trouble, anxiety, or sorrow. So in Love's Labours Lost, iv. 3: "Of sighs, of groans, of sorrow, and of teen." Which is from my remembrance! Please you, further. Without a parallel: those being all my study, And to my State grew stranger, being transported Mira. Sir, most heedfully. Pros. Being once perfected how to grant suits, 16 Manage for management or administration. Repeatedly so. 17 Signiory for lordship or principality. Botero, in his Relations of the World, 1630, says, "Milan claims to be the first duchy in Europe." 18 This use of who where present usage requires whom was not ungrammatical in Shakespeare's time. 19 To trash for overtopping is to check the overgrowth, to reduce the exorbitancy. The word seems to have been a hunting-term for checking the speed of hounds when too forward; the trash being a strap or rope fastened to the dog's neck, and dragging on the ground. The sense of clogging or keeping back is the right antithesis to advance. 20" 'The key of officer and office" is the tuning key; as of a piano. 21 That is here equivalent to so that, or insomuch that. Continually so in old poetry, and not seldom in old prose. The ivy which had hid my princely trunk, And suck'd the verdure out on't. Thou attend'st not.22 Pros. I pray thee, mark me. Like a good parent, did beget of him As my trust was; which had indeed no limit, A confidence sans 25 bound. He being thus lorded, But what my power might else exact, 22 The old gentleman thinks his daughter is not attending to his tale, because his own thoughts keep wandering from it; his mind being filled with other things, the tempest he has got up, and the consequences of it. This absence or distraction of mind aptly registers itself in the irregular and broken style of his narrative. 23 This is the exceptive but, as it is called, and has the force of be out, of which it is, indeed, an old contraction. So later in this scene: And, but he's something stain'd with grief," &c.; where but evidently has the force of except that. 24 The meaning seems to be, "Which would have exceeded all popular estimate, but that it withdrew me from my public duties"; as if he were sensible of his error in getting so "rapt in secret studies" as to leave the State a prey to violence and usurpation. 25 Sans is the French equivalent for without. The Poet uses it whenever he wants a monosyllable with that meaning. 26 Shakespeare, in a few instances, has revenue with the accent on the first syllable, as in the vulgar pronunciation of our time. Here the accent is on the second syllable, as it should be. See Hamlet, page 135, note 8. 27 The verb to false was often used for to treat falsely, to falsify, to forge, to lie. So in Cymbeline, ii. 3: "And make Diana's rangers false them Made such a sinner of his memory To credit 28 his own lie, he did believe He was indeed the Duke; out o' the substitution,29 With all prerogative: hence his ambition growing,- Mira. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. So dry he was for sway 33 wi' th' King of Naples Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend The dukedom, yet unbow'd, To most ignoble stooping. alas, poor Milan !· selves." And in The Faerie Queene, ii. 1, 1: “Whom Princes late displeasure left in bands, for falsèd letters." Also in i. 3, 30: "And in his falsèd fancy he her takes to be the fairest wight," &c. And in Drant's Horace: "The taverner that falseth othes, and little reckes to lye."-The pronoun it may refer to truth, or may be used absolutely; probably the former. The Poet has such phrases as to prince it, for to act the prince, and to monster it for to be a monster. And so the word is often used now in all sorts of speech and writing; as to braze it out, and to foot it through. See Critical Notes. 28 "As to credit" is the meaning. The Poet often omits as in such cases. Sometimes he omits both of the correlatives so and as. 29 That is, "in consequence of his being my substitute or deputy." 30 In this place, hear was probably meant as a dissyllable; just as year a little before. So, at all events, the verse requires. 31 This is well explained by Mr. P. A. Daniel: "Prospero was the screen behind which the traitorous Antonio governed the people of Milan; and, to remove this screen between himself and them, he conspired his brother's overthrow." 32" For me" is the meaning. Such ellipses are frequent. 33 So thirsty for power or rule; no uncommon use of dry now. Mira. O the Heavens ! Pros. Mark his condition, and th' event; 34 then tell me, To think but nobly 35 of my grandmother. Pros. Good wombs have borne bad sons. dition: This King of Naples, being an enemy Now the con To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit; The gates of Milan; and, i' the dead of darkness, Me and thy crying self. Mira. Alack, for pity! I, not remembering how I cried on't then, Will cry it o'er again: it is a hint 39 That wrings mine eyes to't. Pros. Hear a little further, 34 Condition is the terms of his compact with the King of Naples; event, the consequences that followed. 35 "But nobly" is otherwise than nobly, of course. 36 In lieu of is in return for, or in consideration of. Shakespeare never uses the phrase in its present meaning, instead of. 37 Presently is immediately or forthwith. A frequent usage. 88 Plot, stratagem, contrivance are old meanings of practice. 39 Hint for cause or theme. A frequent usage. So again in ii. 1: "Our hint of woe is common." |