_Passage in "The Tempest," Act I. Sc. 2._--
"The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek,
Dashes the fire out."
"The manuscript corrector of the folio 1632," MR. COLLIER informs us, "has
substituted _heat_ for 'cheek,' which is not an unlikely corruption, a
person writing only by the ear."
I should say very unlikely: but if _heat_ had been actually printed in the
folios, without speculating as to the probability that the press-copy was
written from dictation, I should have had no hesitation in altering it to
_cheek_. To this I should have been directed by a parallel passage in
_Richard II._, Act III. Sc. 3., which has been overlooked by MR. COLLIER:
"Methinks, King Richard and myself should meet
With no less terror _than the elements_
_Of fire and water, when their thundering shock_
_At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven_."
Commentary here is almost useless. Every one who has any capacity for
Shakspearian criticism must feel assured that Shakspeare wrote _cheek_, and
not _heat_.
The passage I have cited from _Richard II._ strongly reminds me of an old
lady whom I met last autumn on a tour through the Lakes of Cumberland, &c.;
and who, during a severe thunderstorm, expressed to me her surprise at the
pertinacity of the lightning, adding, "I should think, Sir, that so much
water in the heavens would have put all the fire out."