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Line 151 - Commentary Note (CNB) More Information

151 Awake the God of day, and at his warning1.1.152
149 151 152 153 154
1765 john1
john1
151-4 and at . . . confine] Johnson (ed. 1765): “According to the pneumatology of that time, every element was inhabited by its peculiar order of spirits, who had dispositions different, according to their various places of abode. The meaning therefore is, that all spiritis extravagant, wandering out of their element, whether aerial spirits visiting earth, or earthly spirits ranging the air, return to their station, to their proper limits in which they are confined. We might read, —And at his warning / Th’extravagant and erring Spirit hies / To his Confine, whether in sea or air, / Or earth, or fire, And of, &c. But this change, tho’ it would smooth the construction, is not necessary, and being unnecessary, should not be made against authority.
1765 john1 Tmp 1.2.
v1765 Tmp 1.2
151-4 and at . . . confine] Johnson (ed. 1765, 1:17 n. 3) on Tmp. 1.2.? (000) “Dost thou forget From what torment I did free thee?”: “That the Character and Conduct of Prospero may be understood, something must be known of the System of Enchantment, which supplied all the Marvellous found in the Romances of the middle Ages. This System seems to be founded on the Opinion that the fallen Spirits, having different Degrees of Guilt, had different Habitations allotted them at their Expulsion, some being confined in Hell, some (as Hooker, who delivers the Opinion of our Poet’s Age, expresses it) dispersed in air, some on Earth, some in Water, others in Caves, Dens, or Minerals under the Earth. Of these, some were more malignant and mischievous than others. The earthy spirits seem to have been thought the most depraved, and the aerial the least vitiated. Thus Prospero observes of Ariel: ‘—Thou wast a Spirit too delicate To act her earthy and abhorr’d Commands.’ Over these Spirits a Power might be obtained by certain Rites performed or Charms learned. This Power was called The Black Art, or Knowledge of Enchantment. The enchanter being (as King James observes in his Demonology) one who commands the Devil, whereas the Witch serves him. Those who thought best of this Art, the Existence of which was, I am afraid, believed very seriously, held, that certain Sounds and Characters had a physical Power over Spirits, and compelled their Agency; others who condemned the Practice, which in reality was surely never practised, were of Opinion, with more Reason, that the Power of Charms arose only from Compact, and was no more than the Spirits voluntary allowed them for the Seduction of man. The Art was held by all, though not equally criminal, yet unlawful, and therefore Causabon, speaking of one who had Commerce with Spirits, blames him, though he imagines him one of the best Kind who dealt with them by way of Command. Thus Prospero repents of his art in the last scene. . . . —Of these Trifles enough.”
check Tmp. 1.2 for note that is in v1773.
1773 v1773
v1773 = john1 +
151-4 and at . . . confine] Farmer (in Steevens, ed. 1773, 10: Qq4v-Qq5r): “Bourne of Newcastle in his Antiquities of the Common People informs us, ‘it is a receiv’d tradition among the vulgar, that at the time of cock-crowing the midnight spirits forsake these lower regions, and go to their proper places.’”
See n. 154
v1773 Tmp = john1 Tmp.
151-4 and at . . . confine]
Ed. note: The further forture of this note in this family of editions has not been followed.
1778 v1778
v1778 = john1; Farmer
151-4 and at . . . confine]
1784 ays1
ays1 = john1, 1st sentence only, without attribution
151-4 and at . . . confine] Ayscough (ed. 1784): “According to the pneumatology of that time, every element was inhabited by its peculiar order of spirits, who had dispositions different, according to their various places of abode.”
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
151-4 and at . . . confine]
1787 ann
ann = v1785 Johnson and Farmer, including 154
151-4 and at . . . confine]
1790 mal
mal = v1785
151-4 and at . . . confine]
1790- mWesley in v1785
mWesley: john1 +
151-4 and at . . . confine] Wesley (1790-, p. 43): “Reason and sense require this elegant and judicious reading of Johnson. Are not these the best ‘authorities’?”
1793 v1793
v1793 = mal +
151-4 and at . . . confine] Warton (apud ed. 1793) “A Chorus in Andreini’s drama, called Adamo, written in 1613, consists of spirits of fire, air, water, and hell, or subteranneous, being the exiled angels. ‘Choro di Spirit ignei, aeri, acquatici, ed infernali,’ &c. These are the demons to which [Sh.] alludes. These spirits were supposed to control the elements in which they respectively resided; and when formally invoked or commanded by a magicina, to produce tempests, conflagrations, floods, and earthquakes. For thus says The Spanish Mandevile of Miracles, &c. 1600: ‘Those which are in the middle region of the ayre, and those that are under them nearer the earth, are those, which sometimes out of the ordinary operation of nature doe moove the windes with greater fury than they are accustomed; and do, out of season, congeele the cloudes, causing it to thunder, lighten, hayle, and to destroy the grasse, corne, &c. &c. ——Witches and negromancers worke any such like things by the help of those spirit,’ &c. Ibid. Of this schoole therefore was Shakspeare’s Prospero in The Tempest. T. Warton.
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
151-4 and at . . . confine]
BWK: 1st JOHN, then T. Warton, then Farmer here not 154.
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
151-4 and at . . . confine]
1819 cald1
cald1= v1813 (Warton; Farmer)
151-4 and at . . . confine]
See also nn. 149, 154
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
151-4 and at . . . confine]
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1
151-4 and at . . . confine]
1865 hal
hal = John, Warton, Farmer
151-4 and at . . . confine]
1877 v1877
v1877 = john1
151-4 and at . . . confine]
-1885 Chalmers
Chalmers = john without attribution
151-4 and at . . . confine] Chalmers (apud mull , ed. 1885): “According to the pneumatology of the time, every element was inhabited by its peculiar order of spirits, who had dispositions different, according to their various places of abode. The meaning, therefore, is, that all spirits extravagant, wandering out of their element, whether aerial spirits visiting earth, or earthly spirits ranging the air, return to their station, to their proper limits in which they are confined.Chalmers.”
1878 rlf1
rlf1: john; Farmer +
151-4 and at . . . confine] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Milton, Hymn on Nativ. 229-34, etc.”
1903 rlf3
rlf3 = rlf1 minus Farmer
151-4 and at . . . confine]
1934 cam3
cam3 = john; Tmp. 4.1.120 [quotes] , xref 696, Glossary
151-4 and at . . . confine]
1947 cln2
cln2 = john1
151-4 and at . . . confine]
Ed. note: Because the editor credits the source here, he implies that all the instances of uncredited notes should be credited to him.
1982 ard2
ard2: standard + in magenta underlined
151-4 and at . . . confine] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “qaulifying confine [154]. [. . . ] Cf. Il Penseroso, 93-6.