Page:Tempest (1918) Yale.djvu/97

86 whom.' The sentence would be somewhat clearer if 'that' were dropped.

candied be they. 'Let twenty consciences be first congealed and then dissolved, ere they, etc.' (Malone.)

They'll tell the clock. 'They will say anything that we say,' or, figuratively, 'They will agree that it is any hour of the day which we choose to assert that it is.'

I have no long spoon. 'He that eats with the Devil had need of a long spoon.' (Marlowe, Jew of Malta, Act III.) A common saying.

scamels. No one knows what this word means. Perhaps some kind of bird, as the sea-mew, is meant. But the word may very well have been coined by Shakespeare. The attribution of an exact meaning to it could add nothing to the beauty and suggestiveness of the passage.

Most busy lest, when I do it. As famous a crux as any in Shakespeare. Despite the tortuous nature of the passage, the general meaning is clear: 'I am busiest when I am least [lest] occupied; for when I forget my work, I am busied with sweet thoughts (of Miranda), which refresh me for my toil.' 'Forget' is the antecedent of 'it.'

Prosper on the top. A plain reference to Prospero's entry 'above,' on the upper stage, or balcony.

Praise in departing. This may mean, 'Spare your praise till the end of the performance.'

Dew-lapp'd. This has usually been taken to be a reference to the disease of goitre, which enlarges the neck. The explanation, however, is far from satisfactory.

third. Miranda is one 'third' of Prospero's interest in life. The other two thirds are usually taken to be himself and his dukedom.