To the fire i' th' blood: be more abftemious, Ferdinand's Answer. I warrant you, Sir; The white, cold, virgin-fnow upon my heart Prof, Vanity of human Nature. Our revels now are ended: thefe our actors (As I foretold you) were all fpirits, and And like the baseless fabric of this vifion, I do know, When the blood burns, how prodigal the foul And in All's well that ends well, the countefs obferves, Nat'ral rebellion done in the blaze of youth, When oil and fire too ftrong for reafon's force, As (33) Shall diffolve.] "This," fays Upton," is exactly from fcripture," 2 Peter iii. 11, 12. "Seeing then that all these things fhall be diffolved, &c. the heavens being on fire shall be diffolved, and the elements fhall melt with fervent heat." And Ifaiah xxxiv. 4. "And all the hoft of heaven fhall be diffolved." See Obfervations on Shakespear, p. 224. (34) A rack.] i. e. No track or path. See Upton's Obfervations, p. 212. "The winds," fays Lord Bacon, "which move the clouds above, which we call the rack, and are not perceived below, pass without noise." As dreams are made of; and our little life (35) Is rounded with a fleep. Drunkards inchanted by Ariel. Ariel. I told you, Sir, they were red-hot with drinking; So full of valour, that they fmote the air I' th' (35) See Anthony and Cleopatra, A& 4. (36) Advanc'd, &c.] So, a little before, we have, The fringed curtains of thine eye advance. A&t 1. Drayton, in his Court of Fairie, of Hobgoblin caught in a Spell, has thefe lines, But once the circle got within The charms to work do ftraight begin, A pain he in his head-piece feels, And through the bushes fcrambles, Among the briars and brambles. I' th' filthy mantled pool beyond your cell, There dancing up to the chins. Caliban. Prof. A devil, a born devil, on whose nature Light of Foot. Pray (37) you, tread foftly, that the blind mole may not Hear a foot fall. Trin. Conceited Governor. Do, do: we fteal by line and level, and 't like your grace. Ste. I thank thee for that jeft; here's a garment for't: wit shall not go unrewarded, while I am king of this country: Steal by line and level," is an excellent pafs of pate: there's another garment for 't, ACT V. SCENE I. Fine Sentiment, of Humanity on Repentance. Ariel. The king, His brother, and yours, abide all three distracted; Brim full of forrow and difmay; but chiefly (37) Pray, &c.] His -Thou found and firm-fet earth, Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear The very ftones prate of my where-about. Macbeth, A&t 2. Sc. 2. See the whole paffage. His tears run down his beard, like winter drops From eaves of reeds; your charm fo ftrongly works 'em, That if you now beheld them, your affections Would become tender. Prof. Do'st thou think fo, fpirit? Ari. Mine would, Sir, were I human. Haft thou, who art but air, a touch, a feeling One of their kind, that relish all as fharply, Paffion (38) as they, be kindlier mov'd than thou art? Tho' with their high wrongs I am ftruck to th' quick, Yet with my nobler reafon, 'gainst my fury (39) Do I take part; the rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance; they being penitent Fairies and Magic. (40) Ye elves of hills, brooks, ftanding lakes, and groves (38) Paffion] is a verb in S. "I feel every thing with the fame quick fenfibility, and am moved by the fam paffrons as they are." So in the Gentlemen of Verona, Madam, 'twas Ariadne paffioning For Thefeus, &c. Again in his Venus and Adonis, Dumbly the paffions, franticly fhe doateth. (39) See Measure for Measure, A& 2. Sc. 7. &°c, St. (40) S. is in nothing confeffedly more inimitable than in his fairies and magic, of which, this play and the Midfummer Night's Dream are ftriking proofs. How inferior is Ovid to him, when he makes Medea, the most celebrated forcerefs, fpeak thus, Stantia concutio cantu freta, nubila pello, D3 Vipereafque Vipereafque rumpo verbis & carmine fauces; Made fleeping billows rave, and raving billows fleep: Earth groan, and frighted ghosts forfake their tomb. Tate. Viva faxa, & mugire folum, are as ftrong as graves wak'd their fleepers in our author, which every true reader of S. will immediately acknowledge the genuine reading; it is indeed extremely bold, and for that reason, the more likely to be his: yet it may be justified by the usage of other poets, as Theobald has obferved. Beaumont and Fletcher, in their Bonduca, peak of the power of Fame, as waking graves; Wakens the ruin'd monument, and there Where nothing but eternal death and sleep is, And Virgil fpeaking of Rome, as a city, fays, It furrounded its feven hills with a wall. Scilicet& rerum facta eft pulcherrima Roma, Great Reme became the mistress of the world, But the reader will find, in Measure for Measure, an expreffion of S's, equally bold with this in question. See p. 137. and n. 46. The reader is defired to turn back to the 234th page, Midfummer Night's Dream. And |