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 teen' 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 first,
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 ftate grew ftranger, being tranfported,
And rapt in fecret studies. Thy false 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

7-teen-is forrow, grief, trouble. So, in Romeo and Juliet: to my teen be it fpoken." STEEVENS.

8

whom to advance, and whom-] The old copy has who in both places. Corrected by the editor of the fecond folio.

MALONE.

To trash for over-topping;] To trafb, as Dr. Warburton obferves, is to cut away the fuperfluities. This word I have met with in

The creatures that were mine; I fay, or chang'd them,

books containing directions for gardeners, published in the time of queen Elizabeth.

The present explanation may be countenanced by the following paffage in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. X. ch. 57:

"Who fuffreth none by might, by wealth or blood to overtopp, "Himself gives all preferment, and whom lifteth him doth lop.” Again in our author's K. Richard II:

"Go thou, and, like an executioner,

"Cut off the heads of too-faft-growing sprays

"That look too lofty in our commonwealth."

Mr. Warton's note, however, on

trafb for his quick

hunting," in the fecond act of Othello, leaves my interpretation of this paffage fomewhat difputable.

Mr. M. Mafon obferves that to trash for overtopping, may mean to lop them, because they did overtop, or in order to prevent them from overtopping. So Lucetta, in the second scene of The Twe Gentlemen of Verona, says

"I was taken up for laying them down,

"Yet here they fhall not lie, for catching cold." That is, left they should catch cold. See Mr. M. Mason's note on this paffage.

In another place (a note on Othello) Mr. M. Mason obferves that Shakspeare had probably in view, when he wrote the paffage before us," the manner in which Tarquin conveyed to Sextus his advice to deftroy the principal citizens of Gabii, by striking off, in the prefence of his meffengers, the heads of all the tallest poppies, as he walked with them in his garden." STEEVENS.

I think this phrafe means- "to correct for too much haughtiness or overbearing." It is used by sportsmen in the North when they correct a dog for misbehaviour in purfuing the game. This explanation is warranted by the following paffage in Othello, A&t II. fc. i:

"If this poor trash of Venice, whom I tra
"For his quick hunting."

It was not till after I had made this remark, that I faw Mr. Warton's note on the above lines in Othello, which corroborates it.

DOUCE.

A trap is a term ftill in ufe among hunters, to denote a piece of leather, couples, or any other weight fastened 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 hunts too quick. C.

Or elfe new form'd them: having both the key"
Of officer and office, set all hearts3

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

And fuck'd my verdure out on't. Thou attend'st

not:

I pray thee, mark me. ♦

MIRA.

O good Sir, I do.

PRO. I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedi

cates

To clofeness, and the bettering of my mind
With that, which, but by being fo retir'd,
O'er-priz'd all popular rate, in my falfe brother
Awak'd an evil nature: and my truft,

Like a good parent, did beget of him

A falfhood, in its contrary as great

As my trust was; which had, indeed, no limit,
A confidence fans bound. He being thus lorded,
Not only with what my revenue yielded,

both the key] This is meant of a key for tuning the harpfichord, fpinnet, or virginal; we call it now a tuning hammer. SIR J. HAWKINS.

3 Of officer and office, fet all hearts-] The old copy reads"all hearts th' fate," but redundantly in regard to metre, and unneceffarily refpecting fenfe; for what hearts, except fuch as were i'th' ftate, could Alonso incline to his purposes?

I have followed the advice of Mr. Ritfon, who judiciously proposes to omit the words now ejected from the text. STEEVENS.

4 I pray thee, mark me.] In the old copy, these words are the beginning of Profpero's next fpeech; but, for the restoration of metre, I have changed their place. STEEVENS.

5 I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicate-] The old copy has-" dedicated;" but we fhould read, as in the prefent text, dedicate." Thus in Measure for Measure:

16

"Prayers from fafting maids, whofe minds are dedicate

"To nothing temporal." RITSON.

Like a good parent, &c.] Alluding to the obfervation, that a father above the common rate of men has commonly a fon below it. Heroum filii noxa. JOHNSON.

VOL. III.

C

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 fubftitution,"
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

play'd

part he 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) 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 most ignoble stooping.

like one,

Who having, unto truth, by telling of it,
Made fuch a finner of his memory,

To credit his own lie.] There is, perhaps, no correlative, to which the word it can with grammatical propriety belong. Lie, however, feems to have been the correlative to which the poet meant to refer, however ungrammatically.

The old copy reads" into truth." The neceffary correction was made by Dr. Warburton. STEEVENS.

"He was the duke; out of the fubftitution,] The old copy reads→→→ "He was indeed the duke." I have omitted the word indeed, for the fake of metre. The reader fhould place his emphafis on-was. STEEVENS.

(So dry he was for fway)] i. e. So thirty. The expreffion, I am told, is not uncommon in the midland counties. Thus inLeicester's Commonwealth: "againft the defignments of the hafty Erle who thirfteth a kingdome with great intemperance." Again, in Troilus and Creffida: His ambition is dry." STEEVENS

MIRA.

O the heavens!

PRO. Mark his condition, and the event; then

tell me,

If this might be a brother.

MIRA.

I should fin

To think but nobly of my grandmother: x Good wombs have borne bad fons.

PRO.

Now the condition.

This king of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's fuit;
Which was, that he in lieu o' the premises,-
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 purpose, did Antonio open
The gates of Milan; and, i' the dead of darkness,
The minifters for the purpose hurried thence
Me, and thy crying self.

MIRA.

Alack, for pity! I, not rememb'ring how I cried out then, Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint,*

9 To think but nobly-] But, in this place, fignifies otherwife than.

STEEVENS. -in lieu o' the premises, &c.] In lieu of, means here, in confideration of; an unusual acceptation of the word. So, in Fletcher's Prophetess, the chorus, fpeaking of Drufilla, fays

"But takes their oaths, in lieu of her affiftance, "That they shall not prefume to touch their lives." M. MASON. 3-cried out-] Perhaps we should read-cried on't. STEEVENS. 4-a hint,] Hint is fuggeftion. So, in the beginning speech of the fecond act: