To the fire i' th' blood: be more abftemious,
Or elfe good night, your vow!

Ferdinand's Answer.

I warrant you, Sir;

The white, cold, virgin-fnow upon my heart
Abates the ardor of my liver.

Prof,

Vanity of human Nature.

Our revels now are ended: thefe our actors

(As I foretold you) were all fpirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air :

And like the baseless fabric of this vifion,
The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The folemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea all who it inherit, fhall diffolve (33):
And, like this infubftantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack (34) behind! We are fuch stuff

I do know,

When the blood burns, how prodigal the foul
Lends the tongue vows, &c.

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,
O'erbears it, and burns on.

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
For breathing in their faces: beat the ground
For kiffing of their feet: yet always bending
Towards their project. Then I beat my tabor;
At which, like unback'd colts, they prickt their ears,
Advanc'd (36) their eye-lids, lifted up their nofes,
As they smelt mufic: fo I charm'd their ears,
That, calf-like, they my lowing follow'd through
Tooth'd briars, sharp furzes, pricking gofs and thorns,
Which enter'd their frail skins: at laft I left 'em

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,
And he was caught as in a gin.
For as he thus was bufy,

A pain he in his head-piece feels,
Against a ftubbed tree he reels,
And up went poor Hobgoblin's heels:
Alas, his brain was dizzy.
At length upon his feet he gets,
Hobgoblin fumes, Hobgoblin frets,
And as again he forward fets,

And through the bushes fcrambles,
A ftump doth hit him in his pace,
Down comes poor Hob upon his face,
And lamentably tore his cafe

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
Nurture can never ftick; on whom my pains,
Humanely taken, are all loft, quite loft;
And as, with age, his body uglier grows,
So his mind cankers.

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;
And the remainder mourning over them,

Brim full of forrow and difmay; but chiefly
Him that you term'd the good old lord Gonzalo,

(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.
Prof. And mine shall.

Haft thou, who art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions, and fhall not myself,

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
The fole drift of my purpose doth extend
Not a frown farther.

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,
Nubilaque induco; ventos abigoque vocoque

D3

Vipereafque

Vipereafque rumpo verbis & carmine fauces;
Vivaque faxa fua convulfaque robora terra,
Et filvas moveo, jubeoque tremefcere montes,
Et mugire folum, manefque exire fepulchris.
Oft by your aid fwift currents I have led
Thro' wand'ring banks back to their fountain-head:
Transform'd the profpect of the briny deep,

Made fleeping billows rave, and raving billows fleep:
Made clouds or fun-fhine; tempefts rife or fall,
And ftubborn lawlefs winds obey my call:
With mutter'd words difarm'd the viper's jaw;
Up by the roots vaft oaks and rocks I'd draw:
Make foreits dance, and trembling mountains come
Like malefactors to receive their doom;

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,
Informs again the dead bones.

And Virgil fpeaking of Rome, as a city, fays, It furrounded

its feven hills with a wall.

Scilicet& rerum facta eft pulcherrima Roma,
Septemque una fibi muro circundedit arces.

Great Reme became the mistress of the world,
And single with her walls feven hills inclos'd.
Trapp, G. 2. at the end.

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