he left the stage, and returned without eclat into his native country:-that his monument at Stratford is of copper :-that the courtiers of James I. paid several compliments to him which are still preserved :-that he relieved a widow, who, together with her numerous family, was involved in a ruinous lawsuit :-that his editors have restored many passages in his plays, by the assistance of the manuscripts he left behind him, &c. &c. Let me not, however, forget the justice due to these ingenious Frenchmen, whose skill and fidelity in the execution of their very difficult undertaking, is only exceeded by such a display of candour as would serve to cover the imperfections of much less elegant and judicious writers. STEEVENS. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. P. 29. tragedies to-day, and commedies to-morrow.] Thus, says Downes, the Prompter, p. 22: "The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet was made some time after [1662] into a tragi-comedy, by Mr. James Howard, he preserving Romeo and Juliet alive; so that when the tragedy was revived again, 'twas play'd alternately, tragical one day, and tragi-comical another, for several days together." STEEVENS. P. 31. his comedy to be instinct.] In the rank and order of geniuses it must, I think, be allowed, that the writer of good tragedy is superior. And therefore, I think the opinion, which I am sorry to perceive gains ground, that Shakespeare's cbief and predominant talent lay in comedy, tends to lessen the unrivalled excellence of our divine bard. J. WARTON. P. 33. -with those of turbulence, violence, and adventure.] As a further extenuation of Shakespeare's error, it may be urged that he found the Gothic mythology of Fairies already incorporated with Greek and Roman story, by our early translators, Phær and Golding, who first gave us Virgil and Ovid in an English dress, introduce Fairies almost as often as Nymphs are mentioned in these classic authors. Thus Homer, in his 24th Iliad: "In Sypilusin that place where 'tis said "The goddesse Fairies use to dance about the funeral bed "Of Achelous:-." Neither are our ancient versifiers less culpable on the score of anachronisms. Under their hands the balista becomes a cannon, and other modern instruments are perpetually substituted for such as were the produce of the remotest ages. It may be added, that in Arthur Hall's version of the fourth Iliad, Juno says to Jupiter; -the time will come that Totnam French shall turn." And in the tenth Book we hear of The Bastile," "Lemster wooll," and "The Byble." STEEVENS. P. 35.---unities of time and place.] Mr. Twining, among his judicious remarks on the poetic of Aristotle, observes, that "with respect to the strict unities of time and place, no such rules were imposed on the Greek poets by the critics, or by themselves; nor are imposed on any poet, either by the nature, or the end, of the dramatic imitation itself." Aristotle does not express a single precept concerning unity of place. This supposed restraint originated from the hypercriticism of his French commentators. STEEVENS. P. 37. make the stage a field.] So, in the Epistle Dedicatory to Dryden's Love's Triumphant: "They who will not allow this liberty to a poet, make it a very ridiculous thing, for an audience to suppose themselves sometimes to be in a field, sometimes in a garden, and at other times in a chamber. There are not, indeed, sa many absurdities in their supposition, as in ours; but 'tis an original absurdity for the audience to suppose themselves to be in any other place, than in the very theatre in which they sit; which is neither a chamber, nor garden, nor yet a public place of any business but that of the representation." STEEVENS. 4 P. 47. we make such prose in common conversation.] Thus, also, Dryden, in the Epistle Dedicatory to his Rival Ladies: "Shakespeare who (with some errors not to be avoided in that age, had, undoubtedly, a larger soul of poesie than ever any of our nation) was the first, who, to shun the pains of continual rhyming, invented that kind of writing which we call blank verse, but the French more properly, prose mesurée; into which the English tongue so naturally slides, that in writing prose 'tis hardly to be avoided." STEEVENS. P. 49. printed without correction of the press.] Much deserved censure has been thrown out on the carelessness of our ancient printers, as well as on the wretched transcripts they obtained from contemporary theatres. Yet I cannot help observing that, even at this instant, should any one undertake to publish a play of Shakespeare from pages of no greater fidelity than such as are issued out for the use of performers, the press would teem with as interpolated and inextricable nonsense as it produced above a century ago. Mr. Colman, who cannot be suspected of ignorance or misrepresentation, in his preface to the last edition of Beaumont and Fletcher, very forcibly styles the prompter's books "the most inaccurate and barbarous of all manuscripts.". And well may they deserve that character: for verse, as I am informed, still continues to be transcribed as prose by a set of mercenaries, who in general have neither the advantage of literature or understanding. Foliis tantum ne carmina manda ne turbata volent ludibria, was the request of Virgil's Hero to the Sybil, and should also be the supplication of every dramatic poet to the agents of a prompter. STEEVENS. P. 63. from the bishop of Aleria.] John Andreas. He was secretary to the Vatican Library during the papacies of Paul II. and Sixtus IV. By the former he was employed to superintend such works as were to be multiplied by the new art of printing, at that time brought into Rome. He published Herodotus, Strabo, Livy, Aulus Gellius, &c. His school-fellow, Cardinal de Cusa, procured him the bishoprie of Accia, a province in Corsica; and Paul II. afterwards appointed him to that of Aleria in the same island, where he died in 1493. STEEVENS. THE TEMPEST. P. 119. Play the men.] i. e. act with spirit, behave like men. So, Chapman's translation of the second Iliad: "Which doing, thou shalt know what souldiers play the men, Again, in scripture, 2 Sam. x. 12: “ Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people." MALONE. P. 120. bring her to try with main course.] Probably from Hackluyt's Voyages, 4598: "And when the barke had way, we cut the hauser, and so gate the sea to out friend, and tried out all that day with our main course.' MALONE. This phrase occurs also in Smith's Sea Grammar, 1627, 4to. under the article, How to handle a ship in a Storme: "Let us lie at Trie with our maine course; that is, to hale the tacke aboord, the sheat close aft, the boling set up, and the helme tied lose aboord." STEEVENS. Ibid. Lay her a-hold, a-hold;] To lay a ship a-hold, is to bring her to lie as near the wind as she can, in order to keep clear of the land, and get her out to sea. STEEVENS. ibid. -set her two courses; off to sea again,] The courses are the main sail and foresail. JOHNSON ibid. merely cheated of our lives] Merely in this place, signifies absolutely; in which sense it is used in Hamlet, Act 1: 66 -Things rank and gross in nature "Possess it merely." STEEVENS. P. 121. full poor cell,] A cell in a great degree of poverty. So, in Antony and Cleopatra: "I am full sorry." STEEVENS. P. 122. ---that there is no soul---] Thus the old editions read: but this is apparently lefective. Mr. Rowe, and after him Dr. Warburton, read---that there is no soul lost, without any notice of the variation. Mr. Theobald substitutes no foil, and Mr. Pope follows him. To come so near the right, and yet to miss it, is unlucky: the author probably wrote no soil, no stain, no spot; for co Ariel tells: "Not a hair perish'd; "On their sustaining garments not a blemish, "But fresher than before." And Gonzalo, "The rarity of it is, that our garments being drenched in the sea, keep notwithstanding their freshness and glosses." Of this emendation I find that the author of notes on The Tempest had a glimpse, but could not keep it. JOHNSON.. Such interruptions are not uncommon to Shakespeare. He sometimes begins a sentence, and, before he concludes it, entirely changes its construction, because another, more forcible, occurs. As this change frequently happens in conversation, it may be suffered to pass uncensured in the language of the stage. STEEVENS. VOL. X. N 2 Who having unto truth by telling of it, Made such a sinner of his memory, To credit his own lief There is, perhaps, no correlative, to which the word it can with grammatical propriety belong. Lie, however, seems to have been the correlative to which the poet meant to refer, however ungrammatically. STEEVENS There is a very singular coincidence between this passage and one in Bacon's History of King Henry VII. [Perkin Warbeck] "did in all things notably acquit him"self; insomuch as it was generally believed, that he was indeed duke Richard. Nay, "himself, with long and continual counterfeiting, and with oft telling a lye, was "turned by habit almost into the thing he seemed to be; and from a liar to be a be"liever." MALONE. P. 125. deck'd the sea,] To deck, I am told, signifies in the North, to sprinkle. See Ray's DICT. of North country words, in verb to deg, and to deck; and his DICT. of South Country words, in verb dag. The latter signifies dew upon the grass;-hence daggle-tailed. MALONE. A correspondent, 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. REED. P. 126. Now I arise] Why does Prospero arise? Or, if he does it to ease himself by change of posture, why need be 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. 8, 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. As the words" now I arise"-may signify, "now I rise in my narration,"--"now my story heightens in its consequence," I have left the passage in question undisturbed. We still say, that the interest of a drama rises or declines. STEEVENS. ibid. --and all his quality] 1. e. all his confederates, all who are of the same profession. So, in Hamlet: "Come, give us a taste of your quality." STEEVENS, P. 129. ---in Argier] Argier is the ancient English name for Algiers. STEEVENS, P. 130. The strangeness-] Why should a wonderful story produce sleep? I believe, experience will prove, that any violent agitation of the mind easily subsides in slumber, especially when, as in Prospero's relation, the last images are pleasing. JOHNSON. The poet seems to have been apprehensive that the audience, as well as Miranda, would sleep over this long but necessary tale, and therefore strives to break it. First, by making Prospero divest himself of his magic robe and wand: then by waking her attention no less than six times by verbal interruption: then by varying the action when he rises and bids her continue sitting: and lastly, by carrying on the business. of the fable while Miranda sleeps, by which she is continued on the stage till the poet has occasion for her again. WARNER. P. 135. He's gentle, and not fearful.] "How have your commentators been puzzled by the following expression in The Tempest, "He's gentle, and not fearful;" as if it was a paralogism to say that being gentle, he must of course be courageous> but the truth is, one of the original meanings, if not the sole meaning, of that word was, noble, high minded: and to this day a Scotch woman in the situation of the young lady in The Tempest, would express herself nearly in the same terms.Don't provoke him; for being gentle, that is, high spirited, he won't tamely bear an insult." Smollet's Humphrey Clinker, Vol. II. p. 182. REED. P. 142. Trebles thee o'er.] You must put on more than your usual seriousness, if you are disposed to pay a proper attention to my proposal; which attention if you bestow, it will in the end make you thrice what you are. STEEVENS. Ibid. You more invest it!] A judicious critic in The Edinburgh Magazine for Nov. 1786, offers the following illustration of this obscure passage, “Sebastian introduces the simile of water. It is taken up by Antonio, who says he will teach his stagnant water to flow. -It has already learned to ebb,' says Sebastian. To which Antonio replies, O if you knew how much even that metaphor, which you use in jest, encourages to the design which I hint at; how in stripping the words of their common meaning, and using them figuratively, you adapt them to your own situation!" STEEVENS. P. 146. looks like a foul bumbard.] This term again occurs in The First Part of Henry IV: "that swoln parcel of dropsies, that huge bumbard of sack---" And again, in Henry VIII. "And here you lie baiting of bumbards, when ye should do service." By these several passages, 'tis plain the word meant a large vessel for holding drink, as well as the piece of ordnance so called. THEOBALD. P. 147. his gaberdine ;] A gaberdine is properly the coarse frock or outward garment of a peasant. Spanish Gaberdina, STEEVENS. ibid. if he have never drunk wine afore, it will go near to remove his fit:} This is no impertinent hint to those who indulge themselves in a constant use of wine. When it is necessary for them as a medicine, it produces no effect. STEEVENS. ibid. I will not take too much for him.] Let me take what sum I will, however great, I shall not take too much for him: it is impossible for me to sell him too dear. MALONE. P. 148. to be the siege of this moon-calf?] Siege signifies stool in every sense of the word, and is here used in the dirtiest. A moon-calf is an inanimate shapeless mass, supposed by Pliny to be engendered of woman only. See his Nat. Hist. B. X ch. 64. STEEVENS. P. 150. Young sea-mells.] Sir Joseph Banks informs me, that in Willoughby's, or rather John Ray's Ornithology, p. 34, No. 3, is mentioned the common sea mall, Larus cinereus minor; and that young sea-gulls have been esteemed a delicate food in this country, we learn from Plott, who, in his History of Staffordshire, p. 231, gives an account of the mode of taking a species of gulls called in that country pewits, with a plate annexed, at the end of which he writes, "they being accounted a good dish at the most plentiful tables." To this it may be added, that Sir Robert Sibbald in his Ancient State of the Shire of Fife, mentions amongst fowls which frequent a neighbouring island, several sort of sea-malls, and one in particular, the katiewake, a fowl of the Larus or mall kind, of the bigness of an ordinary pigeon, which some hold, says he, to be as savoury and as good meat as a partridge is. REED. P. 154. Your lieutenant, if you list; he's no standard.] Meaning, he is so much intoxicated, as not to be able to stand. The quibble between standard, an ensign, and standard, a fruit-tree that grows without support, is evident. STEEVENS. P. 155. Where thou may'st knock a nail into his head.] Perhaps Shakespeare caught this idea from the 4th chapter of Judges, v. 21: "Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, &c. for he was fast asleep," &c. STEEVENS. ibid. What a pied ninny's this?] It should be remembered that Trinculo is no sailor, but a jester; and is so called in the ancient dramatis persona. He therefore wears the party-coloured dress of one of these characters. STEEVENS. P. 158. 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. STEEVENS. P. 159. Each putler-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 expence) 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." STEEVENS. P. 161. a thread of mine own life.] "A thread of mine own life" is a fibre or a part of my own life. Prospero considers himself as the stock or parent-tree, and his daughter as a fibre or portion of himself, and for whose benefit he himself lives. In this sense the word is used in Markham's English Husbandman, edit. 1635, p. 146: "Cut off all the maine rootes, within half a foot of the tree, only the small thriddes or twist rootes you shall not cut at all." TOLLET. P. 165. And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,] Faded means here---having vanished; from the Latin, vado. So, in Hamlet: "It faded on the crowing of the cock." To feel the justice of this comparison, and the propriety of the epithet, the nature of these exhibitions should be remembered. The ancient English pageants were shows exhibited on the reception of a prince, or any other solemnity of a similar kind. They were presented on occasional stages erected in the streets. Originally they appear to have been nothing more than dumb shows; but before the time of our author, they had been enlivened by the introduction of speaking personages, who were characteristically habited. The speeches were sometimes in verse; and as the procession moved forward, the speakers, who constantly bore some allusion to the ceremony, either conversed together in the form of a dialogue, or addressed the noble person whose presence occasioned the celebrity. On these allegorical spectacles very costly ornaments were bestowed. See Fabian, II. 382. Warton's Hist. of Poet. II. 199, 202. The well-known lines before us may receive some illustration from Stowe's account of the pageants exhibited in the year 1604, (not long before this play was written,) on King James, his Queen, &c. passing triumphantly from the Tower to Westminster; on which occasion seven gates or arches were erected in different places through which the procession passed.---Over the first gate "was represented the true likeness of all the notable houses, TOWERS and steeples, within the citie of London."--"The sixt arch or gate of triumph was erected above the Conduit in Fleete-Streete, whereon the GLOBE of the world was seen to move, &c. At Tems ple-bar a seaventh arche or gate was erected, the fore-front whereof was proportioned in every respect like a TEMPLE, being dedicated to Janus, &c.-The citie of Westminster, and Dutchy of Lancaster, at the Strand had erected the invention of a Rainbow, the moone, sunne, and Starres, advanced between two Pyramides," &c. ANNALS, p. 1429, edit. 1605, MALONE. P. 166. So his mind cankers:] Shakespeare, when he wrote this description, perhaps recollected what his patron's most intimate friend the great Lord Essex, in an hour of discontent said of Queen Elizabeth: " that she grew old and canker'd, and that her mind was become as crooked as her carcase :"--a speech, which, according to Sir Walter Raleigh, cost him his head, and which, we may therefore suppose, was at that time much talked of. This play being written in the time of King James, these obnoxious words might be safely repeated. MALONE. TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. P. 207. My staff understands me.] This equivocation, miserable as it is, has been admitted by Milton in his great poem, B. VI: "The terms we sent were terms of weight, JOHNSON. P. 210.---with a cod-piece, &c.] Whoever wishes to be acquainted with this particular, relative to dress, may consult Bulwer's Artificial Changeling, in which such matters are very amply discussed. It is mentioned, however, in Tyro's Roaring Megge, 1598. "Tyro's round breeches have a cliffe behind; "Which for a pin-case antique plowmen wore." |