[_Ari._ My master through his art foresees the danger,
That you, his friend, are in; and sends me forth
(For else his project dies) to keep them living]
[i.e. Alonzo and Antonio; for it was on their lives that his project
depended. Yet the Oxford Editor alters _them_ to _you_, because
in the verse before, it is said--_you his friend_; as if, because
Ariel was _sent forth_ to _save his friend_, he could not have another
purpose in sending him, _viz_. to _save his project_ too. W.]
I think Dr. Warburton and the Oxford Editor both mistaken.
The sense of the passage, as it now stands, is this: He sees
_your_ danger, and will therefore save _them_. Dr. Warburton has
mistaken Antonio for Gonzalo. Ariel would certainly not tell
Gonzalo, that his master saved him only for his project. He
speaks to himself as he approaches,
_My master through his art foresees the danger
That_ these _his friends are in_.
_These_ written with a _y_, according to the old practice, did not
much differ from _you_.
II.i.308 (47,2) [Why are you drawn?] Having your swords drawn. So
in _Romeo and Juliet_:
"What art thou _drawn_ among these heartless hinds?"
II.ii.12 (48,3) [sometime am I All wound with adders] Enwrapped by
adders _wound_ or twisted about me.
II.ii.32 (49,5) [make a man] That is, make a man's fortune. So in
_Midsummer Night's Dream_--"we are all _made men_."
II.ii.176 (54,5) [I'll get thee Young scamels from the rock] This
word has puzzled the commentators: Dr. Warburton reads _shamois_.
Mr. Theobald would read any thing rather than _scamels_. Mr.
Holt, who wrote notes upon this play, observes, that limpets are
in some places called _scams_, therefore I have suffered _scamels_
to stand.
III.i.48 (58,8) [Of every creature's best] Alluding to the picture
of Venus by Apelles.
III.ii.71 (62,5) [What a py'd ninny's this?] This line should certainly
be given to Stephano. _Py'd ninny_ alludes to the striped
coat worn by fools, of which Caliban could have no knowledge.
Trinculo had before been reprimanded and threatened by Stephano
for giving Caliban the lie, he is now supposed to repeat his
offence. Upon which Stephano cries out,
_What a py'd ninny's this? Thou scurvy patch_!--
Caliban, now seeing his master in the mood that he wished, instigates
him to vengeance:
_I do beseech thy greatness, give him blows_.
III.iii.48 (67,2) [Each putter out on five for one] This passage
alluding to a forgotten custom is very obscure: the _putter out_
must be a traveller, else how could he give this account? the
_five for one_ is money to be received by him at his return, Mr.
Theobald has well illustrated this passage by a quotation from
Jonson.
III.iii.82 (69,3) [clear life] Pure, blameless, innocent.