Safely in harbour Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd, Pro. Ariel, thy charge Exactly is performed; but there's more work : What is the time o' the day? Ari. Past the mid season. To run upon the sharp wind of the north; The foul witch, Sycorax, who, with age and envy, Pro. Thou hast: where was she born? speak; tell me. Ari. Sir, in Árgier." Pro. O, was she so? I must, Once in a month, recount what thou hast been, Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch, Sycorax, For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible To enter human hearing, from Argier, Thou know'st, was banish'd; for one thing she did, They would not take her life: Is not this true? Ari. Ay, sir. Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child, And here was left by the sailors: Thou, my slave, groans, As fast as mill-wheels strike: Then was this island, (Save for the son that she did litter here, A freckled whelp, hag-born) not honoured with Ari. Yes; Caliban her son. Pro. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban, Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st What torment I did find thee in: thy groans Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts Of ever-angry bears: it was a torment To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax Could not again undo; it was mine art, When I arriv'd, and heard thee, that made gape The pine, and let thee out. Ari. I thank thee, master. Pro. If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters. Ari. Pardon, master: I will be correspondent to command, And do my sprighting gently. Pro. I will discharge thee. Ari. Do so; and after two days That's my noble master! To no sight but thine and mine; invisible the sea over the rugged rocks by which they are surrounded, and which renders access to them so difficult. It was then the current opinion that Bermudas was inhabited by monsters and devils. Setebos, the god of Caliban's dam, was an American devil, worshipped by the giants of Patagonia. 5 i. e. waves, or the sea. Flot, Fr. 6 The old English name of Algiers 7 Behests, commands cramps, Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins4 As thick as honey-combs, each pinch more stinging Cal. Thou strok'dst me, and mad'st much of me; Water with berries in't; and teach me how The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place, and fer tile; Cursed be I that did so!-All the charms Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you! Which first was mine own king: and here you sty 1 i. e. we cannot do without him. The phrase is still common in the midland counties. 2 This is a common expression of impatience. Vide note on King Richard II. Act i. Scene 1. 3 Quaint here means brisk, spruce, dexterous, from the French cointe. 4 Urchins were fairies of a particular class. Hedgehogs were also called urchins; and it is probable that the sprites were so named, because they were of a mischievous kind, the urchin being anciently deemed a very noxious animal. Shakspeare again mentions these fairy beings in the Merry Wives of Windsor. "Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies green and white." In the phrase still current, "a little urchin," the idea of the fairy still remains. natures Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou Who hadst deserv'd more than a prison. Cal. You taught me language; and my profit on't Pro. Cal. No, 'pray thee! I must obey: his art is of such power, Pro. [Ande, 8 So, slave; hence! It sounds no more ;-and sure, it waits upon had different allotments of time suitable to the variety and nature of their agency. 6 Destroy. 7 The word aches is evidently a dissyllable here and in two passages of Timon of Athens. The reader will remember the senseless clamour that was raised against Kemble for his adherence to the text of Shakspeare in thus pronouncing it as the measure requires. "Ake," says Baret in his Alvearie, "is the verb of this substan tive Ache, ch being turned into k." And that ache was pronounced in the same way as the letter h is placed be. yond doubt by the passage in Much Ado about Nothing, in which Margaret asks Beatrice for what she cries Heigh ho, and she answers for an h. i. e. ache. See the Epigram of Heywood adduced in illustration of that passage. This orthography and pronunciation conti5 That vast of night is that space of night. So, innued even to the times of Butler and Swift. It would be easy to produce numerous instances. Hamlet: In the dead waste and middle of the night," nox 8" The giants when they found themselves fettered Pasta, midnight, when all things are quiet and still, roared like bulls, and cried upon Setebos to help them " making the world appear one great uninhabited waste.-Eden's Hist. of Travuyle, 1577. p. 434 In the pneumatology of ancient times visionary beings 9 Still, silent Fer. Most the goddess On whom these airs attend!-Vouchsafe, my prayer May know, if you remain upon this island; And that you will some good instruction give, How I may bear me here; My prime request, Which I do last pronounce, is, O you wonder! If you be maid,2 or no? Mira. No wonder, sir; But, certainly a maid. Fer. Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What! My language! heavens!-Thou think'st there are no more such shapes as he, I am the best of them that speak this speech, Were I but where 'tis spoken. Pro. How! the best? What wert thou, if the king of Naples heard thee? Fer. A single thing, as I am now, that wonders To hear thee speak of Naples: he does hear me ; And, that he does, I weep: myself am Naples; Who with mine eyes, ne'er since at ebb, beheld The king my father wreck'd. Mira. Alack, for mercy! Fer. Yes, faith, and all his lords; the duke of Milan, And his brave son, being twain. The duke of Milan, word. .4 a 1 i. e. owns. To owe was to possess or appertain to, in ancient language. 2 The folio of 1685 reads made, and many of the modern editors have laboured to persuade themselves that it was the true reading. It has been justly observed by M. Mason that the question is "whether our readers will adopt a natural and simple expression, which requires no comment, or one which the ingenuity of many commentators has but imperfectly supported." 3 To control here signifies to confute, to contradict unanswerably. The ancient meaning of control was to check or exhibit a contrary account, from the old French contre-roller. 4" you have done yourself some wrong :" Having seen but him and Caliban: Foolish wench! Mira. Are then most humble; I have no ambition Pro. Fer. So they are: My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up. Pro. It works:-Come on.Thou hast done well, fine Ariel!-Follow me.— [To FERD. and MIRA. Hark, what thou else shalt do me. [To ARIEL. Mira. Be of comfort; that is, spoken a falsehood. Thus in The Merry Wives of Windsor: "This is not well, master Ford, this wrongs you." 5 Fearful was sometimes used in the sense of formidable, terrible, dreadful, like the French epouvantable; as may be seen by consulting Cotgrave or any of our old dictionaries. Shakspeare almost always uses it in this sense. In K. Henry VI. Act iii. Scene 2, "A mighty and a fearful head they are." He has also fearful wars; fearful bravery; &c. &c. The verb to fear is most commonly used for to fright, to terrify, to make afraid. Mr. Gifford remarks, "as a proof how little our old dramatists were understood at the Restoration, that Dryden censures Jonson for an improper use of this word, the sense of which he altogether mistakes.” |