Pro. By what? by any other house, or perfon?
Of any thing the image tell me, that
Hath kept with thy remembrance.

Mira.

And rather like a dream, than an affurance

'Tis far off;

That my remembrance warrants: Had I not
Four or five women once, that tended me?

Pro. Thou had'ft, and more, Miranda: But how is it,
That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou elfe
In the dark backward and abyfm of time ?3

If thou remember'ft aught, ere thou cam ft here,
How thou cam'ft here, thou may'ft.

Mira.

But that I do not.

Pro. Twelve years fince, Miranda, twelve years fince, Thy father was the duke of Milan, and

A prince of power.

Mira.

Sir, are not you my father?

Pro. Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and

She faid-thou waft my daughter; and thy father
Was duke of Milan; and his only heir

A princess;-no worse issued.4

Mira.

O the heavens!

What foul play had we, that we came from thence?
Or bleffed was't, we did?

Pro.

Both, both, my girl:

By foul play, as thou fay'ft, were we heav'd thence;
But bleffedly holp hither.

Mira.

O, my
heart bleeds
To think o' the teens that I have turn'd you to,
Which is from my remembrance! Please you, further.
Pro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Antonio,-
I pray thee, mark me,—that a brother should
Be fo perfidious !-he whom, next thyself,
Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put
The manage of my ftate; as, at that time,
Through all the figniories it was the firft,

3

abyfm of time?] i. e. abyfs. STEVENS. 4 Ifjued.] i. e. defcended. STEEVENS.

teen -] is forrow, grief, trouble. STEEVENS.

And

And Profpero the prime duke; being fo reputed
In dignity, and, for the liberal arts,
Without a parallel; thofe being all my ftudy,
The government I caft upon my brother,

And to my state grew ftranger, being transported,
And rapt in fecret ftudies. Thy falfe uncle-
Doft thou attend me ?

Mira.

Sir, moft heedfully.

Pro. Being once perfected how to grant fuits,
How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom
To trash for over-topping ; new created

The creatures that were mine; I fay, or chang'd them
Or elfe new form'd them: having both the key7

Of officer and office, fet all hearts

To what tune pleased his ear; that now he was
The ivy, which had hid my princely trunk,

And fuck'd my verdure out on't.-Thou attend 'ft not:
I pray thee, mark me.

Mira.

O good Sir, I do.

Pro. I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicate
To clofenefs, and the bettering of my mind
With that, which, but by being fo retir'd,
O'er-priz'd all popular rate, in my false brother
Awak'd an evil nature and my truft,
Like a good parent,& did beget of him

B 6

A falfhood,

To trap for over-topping;] To trafb, as Dr. Warburton obferves, is to cut away the fuperfluities. This word I have met with in books containing directions for gardeners, published in the time of queen Elizabeth. STEEVENS.

I think this phrafe means" to correct for too much haughtiness or overbearing." It is ufed by fportfmen in the North when they correct a dog for misbehaviour in purfuing the game. DoucE.

A traf is a term ftill in ufe among hunters, to denote a piece of leather, couples, or any other weight faftened round the neck of a dog, when his fpeed is fuperior to the rest of the pack; i. e. when he over-tops them, when he bunts too quick. C. 7- -both the key. -] This is meant of a key for tuning the harpficord, fpinnet, or virginal; we call it now a tuning hammer.. SIR J. HAWKINS. 8 Like a good parent, &c.] Alluding to the obfervation, that a father above the common rate of men has commonly a fon below it. JOHNSON.

A falfhood, in its contrary as great

As my truft was; which had, indeed, no limit,
A confidence fans bound. He being thus lorded,
Not only with what my revenue yielded,
But what my power might else exact,—like one,
Who having, unto truth, by telling of it,
Made fuch a finner of his memory,
To credit his own lie,—he did believe
He was the duke; out of the substitution,
And executing the outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative,-Hence his ambition
Growing, Doft hear?

Mira.

Your tale, fir, would cure deafnefs.
Pro. To have no fcreen between this part he play'd
And him he play'd it for, he needs will be
Abfolute Milan: Me, poor man!-my library
Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable: confederates

(So dry he was for fway 9) with the king of Naples,
To give him annual tribute, do him homage;
Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend

The dukedom, yet unbow'd, (alas, poor Milan !)
To moft ignoble Atooping.

Mira.

O the heavens !

Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me, If this might be a brother.

Mira.

To think but nobly 2 of my grandmother;

I fhould fin

Now the condition.

Good wombs have borne bad fons.

Pro.

This king of Naples, being an enemy

To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's fuit;

Which was, that he in lieu o' the premises,3

Of

(So dry be was for fway)] i. e. So thirty. The expreffion, I am

told, is not uncommon in the midland counties.

STEEVENS.

2 Tothink but nebly-] But, in this place, fignifies otherwife than.

STEEVENS.

3 —'n lieu o' the premises, &c.] In lieu of, means here, in confideration of; an unusual acceptation of the word. M. MASON.

Of homage, and I know not how much tribute,-
Should prefently extirpate me and mine

Out of the dukedom; and confer fair Milan,
With all the honours, on my brother: Whereon,
A treacherous army levy'd, one midnight
Fated to the purpofe, did Antonio open

The gates of Milan; and, i' the dead of darkness,
The minifters for the purpofe hurried thence
Me, and thy crying felf.

Mira.

Alack, for pity!

I, not rememb'ring how I cried out then,
Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint,4

That wrings mine eyes.s

Pro.

Hear a little further,

And then I'll bring thee to the prefent business

Which now's upon us; without the which, this story

Were moft impertinent.

Mira.

That hour destroy us?

Wherefore did they not

Well demanded, wench;

-Pro.

My tale provokes that queftion. Dear, they durft not; (So dear the love my people bore me) nor fet

A mark fo bloody on the bufinefs;

but

With colours fairer painted their foul ends.
In few they hurried us aboard a bark ;

Bore us fome leagues to fea; where they prepar'd
A rotten carcafe of a boat, not rigg'd,
Nor tackle, fail, nor mast; the very rats
Inftinctively had quit it: there they hoift us,
To cry to the fea that roar'd to us; to figh
To the winds, whofe pity, fighing back again,
Did us but loving wrong.

Mira.

Was I then to you!

Pro.

Alack! what trouble

O! a cherubim

Thou waft, that did preferve me! Thou didst smile,

4

a hint,] Hint is fuggeftion. STEEVENS.

Infused

5 That wrings mine eyes.] i. e. fqueezes the water out of them.

STEEVENS,

Infufed with a fortitude from heaven,

6

When I have deck'd the fea with drops full falt;
Under my burden groan'd; which rais'd in me
An undergoing ftomach,7 to bear up

Against what should enfue.

Mira.

Pro. By Providence divine.

How came we afhore?

Some food we had, and fome fresh water, that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,

Out of his charity, (who being then appointed
Master of this defign,) did give us; with
Rich garments, linens, ftuffs, and neceffaries,
Which fince have fteaded much: fo, of his gentleness,
Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me,

From my own library, with volumes that

I prize above my dukedom.

Mira.

But ever fee that man!

Pro.

'Would I might

Now I arife: 8

Sit

6 -deck'd the fea] To deck the fea, if explained, to honour, adorn, or dignify, is indeed ridiculous, but the original import of the verb deck is, to cover; fo in fome parts they yet say deck the table. This fenfe may be borne, but perhaps the poet wrote fleck'd, which I think is ftill ufed in ruftic language of drops falling upon water. Dr. Warburton reads mock'd; the Oxford edition brack'd. JOHNSON.

To deck, I am told, fignifies in the North, to fprinkle. A correfpondent, who figns himself Eboracenfis, proposes that this contefted word fhould be printed degg'd, which, fays he, fignifies sprinkled, and is in daily ufe in the North of England. When cloaths that have been washed are too much dried, it is neceflary to moisten them before they can be ironed, which is always done by fprinkling; this operation the maidens univerfally call degging. REED.

7 An undergoing ftomach.] Stomach is stubborn resolution.

Now I arife:] Why does Profpero arife? Or, if he does it to ease himfelf by change of pofture, why need he interrupt his narrative to tell his daughter of it? Perhaps thefe words belong to Miranda, and we fhould read:

Mir. Would I might

But ever fee that man!-Now I arife.

Pro. Sit ftill, and hear the last of our fea-forrow:

Profpero, in p. 13. had directed his daughter to fit down, and learn the whole of this hiftory; having previously by fome magical charm difpofed her to fall asleep. He is watching the progrefs of this charm; and in the