3 FEBRUARY 1877, Page 15

UNCONSCIOUS CEREBRATION.

[TO THB EDITOR OF THE"SPECTATOR."]

&n,—A night or two ago I awoke with the following line dis- tinctly before me, as if I had read it somewhere :—

"Moat busy when least I do."

I wondered what it meant for a moment or two, before I saw that it contained what must be the true reading of the famous passage in the Tempest, which has been the subject of so much con- jecture, and has of late been repeatedly noticed in .Notes and Queries:—

" I forget ; But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours; Most busy, least when I do."

Ferdinand pulls up in his soliloquy, with the reflection that he is forgetting his work. "But these thoughts," he continues, "which occupy my mind, quite refresh my labours, and keep me busiest when I am doing least."

I had been struck with the futility of the suggestions in Notes and Queries, but I had not for a moment tried to hammer out any explanation of my own.—I am, Sir, &c.,