To run upon the fharp Wind of the North; Ari. I do not, Sir. Pro. Thou ly'ft, malignant thing! haft thou forgot The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy Was grown into a hoop? haft thou forgot her? Ari. No, Sir. Pro. Thou haft: where was the born? speak; tell me. Ari. Sir, in Argier. Pro. Oh, was fhe fo? I must Once in a month recount what thou hast been, Thou know't, was banish'd: for one thing fhe did, Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child, And here was left by th' failors; thou my flave, Into a cloven pine; within which rift A dozen years, within which space she dy'd, And left thee there: where thou didst vent thy groans, As faft as mill-wheels ftrike. Then was this island, Save for the fon that she did litter here, A freckled whelp, hag-born, not honour'd with A human shape. Ari. Yes; Caliban her fon. Pro. Dull thing, I fay fo: he, that Caliban, Whom Whom now I keep in fervice. Thou best know'st, When I arriv'd and heard thee, that made gape Ari. I thank thee, master, Pro. If thou more murmur'ft, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, 'till Thou'ft howl'd away twelve winters. Ari. Pardon, master. I will be correfpondent to command, Pro. Do fo; and after two days Ari. That's my noble master : What fhall I do? fay what? what shall I do? Pro. Go make thyfelf like to a nymph o' th' fea. Be fubject to no fight but mine, invifible To every eye-ball elfe. Go take this shape And hither come in it: go hence with diligence. [Exit Ariel, Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well; Awake Mira. The ftrangeness of your story put Heavinefs in me. Pro. Shake it off: come on; We'll vifit Caliban, my flave, who never Mira. 'Tis a villain, Sir, I do not love to look on + The ftrangeness] Why fhould a wonderful Story produce Sleep? I believe Experience will prove that any violent Agitation of the Mind eafily fubfides in Slumber, efpecially when, as in Profpero's Relation, the laft images are pleafing. We cannot mifs him: he does make our fire, That profit us. What ho! flave! Caliban! Thou earth, thou! fpeak. Cal. [within.] There's wood enough within. thee. Come, thou Tortoife! when?. Enter Ariel like a Water Nymph. Fine apparition! my quaint Ariel, Hark in thine ear. Ari. My lord, it fhall be done. [Exit. Pro. Thou poifonous flave, got by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam, come forth. 5 Cal. As wicked dew, as e'er my mother brush'd With raven's feather from unwholfom fen, Drop Falkland, Lord C. J. Vaughan, and Mr. Selden, concurred in obferving, that Shakespear had not only found out a new character in his Caliban, but had alfo devifed and adapted a new manner of language for that character. What they meant by it, without doubt, was, that Shakespear gave his language a certain grotelque air of the Savage and Antique; which it certainly has. But Dr. Bentley took this, of a new language, literally; for speaking of a phrafe in Milton, which he uppofed altogether abfurd and unmeaning, he fays, Satan had not the privilege as Caliban in Shakefpear, to uje new phrafe and diction unknown Drop on you both! a fouth-weft blow on you, Pro. For this be fure, to night thou fhalt have cramps, As thick as honey-combs, each pinch more ftinging Cal. I muft eat my dinner. This Inland's mine by Sycorax my mother, Which thou tak'it from me. When thou cameft first, Thou ftroak'dft me, and mad'ft much of me; and would't give me Water with berries in't; and teach me how The fresh fprings, brine pits; barren place, and fertile. Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you! Who firft was mine own King; and here you fty me fore their arrival, and could not have invented a language of his own without more understanding than Shakespear has thought it proper to bestow upon him. His diction is indeed fomewhat clouded by the gloominess of his temper and the malignity of his purpofes; but let any other being entertain the fame thoughts, and he will find them cafily iffue in the fame expreffions. As wicked dew] Wicked; So having baneful qualities. Spenfer fays wicked weed, fo, in oppofition, we fay herbs or medicines have virtues. Bacon mentions virtuous Bezcar, and Dryden virtuous herbs. In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me Pro. Thou moft lying flave, Whom ftripes may move, not kindness; I have us'd thee (Filth as thou art) with humane care, and lodg'd thee In mine own cell, 'till thou didst seek to violate The honour of my child. Cal. Oh ho, oh ho!I wou'd it had been done! Thou didst prevent me, I had peopled else This Ifle with Calibans. Pro. Abhorred flave; " 6 Which any print of goodness will not take, Took pains to make thee fpeak, taught thee each hour 6 This fpeech which the former Editions give to Miranda, is verv judicioufly beftowed by Mr. Theobald on Profpero. 7 When thou DIDST not Savage, KNOW thy own meaning, but wouldft gabble like A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes With words to make them known. The benefit which Profpero here upbraids Caliban with hav. ing beltowed, was teaching him language. He fhews the great nefs of this benefit by marking the inconvenience Caliban lay under for want of it. What was the inconvenience? This, that he did not know his own meaning. But fure a brute, to which he is compared, doth know its own meaning, that is, knows what it A thing most brutish.- And when once [show] was cor- |