make him give ground; and it shall be said so again stroke. But art thou not drowned, Stephano? I while Stephano breathes at nostrils. hope, now, thou art not drowned. Is the storm Ste. Prithee, do not turn me about; my stomach is not constant. Cal. [Aside] These be fine things, an if they be not sprites. Cal. Do not torment me, prithee: I'll bring my That's a brave god, and bears celestial liquor : wood home faster. I will kneel to him. Ste. He's in his fit now, and does not talk after the wisest. He shall taste of my bottle: if he have never drunk wine afore, it will go near to remove his fit. If I can recover him, and keep him tame, I will not take too much for him: he shall pay for him that hath him, and that soundly. Cal. Thou dost me yet but little hurt; thou wilt anon, I know it by thy trembling :41 now Prosper works upon thee. Ste. Come on your ways: open your mouth; here is that which will give language to you, cat. Open your mouth: this will shake your shaking, I can tell you, and that soundly: you cannot tell who's your friend; open your chaps again. Trin. I should know that voice: it should bebut he is drowned, and these are devils. Oh ! defend me. Ste. How didst thou'scape? How cam'st thou hither? swear, by this bottle, how thou cam'st hither. I escaped upon a butt of sack, which the sailors heaved overboard, by this bottle! which I made of the bark of a tree, with mine own hands, since I was cast ashore. Cal. I'll swear, upon that bottle, to be thy true subject; for the liquor is no earthly. Ste. Here; swear, then, how thou escapedst. Trin. Swam ashore, man, like a duck: I can swim like a duck, I'll be sworn. Ste. Here, kiss the book. Though thou canst swim like a duck, thou art made like a goose. Trin. O Stephano! hast any more of this? Ste. The whole butt, man: my cellar is in a rock by the sea-side, where my wine is hid. How now, moon-calf! how does thine ague ? Cal. Hast thou not dropp'd from heaven ?45 Ste. Out o' the moon, I do assure thee: I was the man in the moon, when time was. Ste. Four legs, and two voices,-a most delicate monster! His forward voice, now, is to speak well of his friend; his backward voice is to utter foul speeches, and to detract. If all the wine in my bottle will recover him, I will help his ague. Come,-Amen! 42 I will pour some in thy other My mistress show'd me thee, and thy dog, and thy mouth. Trin. Stephano! Ste. Doth thy other mouth call me? Mercy! mercy! This is a devil, and no monster: I will leave him; I have no long spoon.43 Trin. Stephano!-If thou beest Stephano, touch me, and speak to me; for I am Trinculo;-be not afeard, thy good friend Trinculo. Ste. If thou beest Trinculo, come forth. I'll pull thee by the lesser legs: if any be Trinculo's legs, these are they. Thou art very Trinculo, indeed! How cam'st thou to be the siege of this moon-calf? can he vent Trinculos? Cal. I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee: bush.46 Ste. Come, swear to that; kiss the book. I will furnish it anon with new contents. Swear. Trin. By this good light, this is a very shallow monster-I afeard of him?-A very weak monster. The man i' the moon!-A most poor credulous monster!-Well drawn, monster, in good sooth! Cal. I'll show thee every fertile inch o' the island; And I will kiss thy foot. I prithee, be my god. Trin. By this light, a most perfidious and drunken monster: when his god's asleep, he'll rob Trin. I took him to be killed with a thunder- his bottle. mass, mentioned by Pliny, and made the subject of a poem by Drayton. 45. Dropp'd from heaven? It is recorded that the Indians of the Island of St. Salvador, when first discovered, asked Columbus and his companions by signs whether they were not come down from heaven. 46. Thy dog, and thy bush. The man in the moon has been said to be "Cain with his thorn-bush ;" and an Italian once pointed out to the Editors the figure of a dog in the full moon. Cal. I'll kiss thy foot: I'll swear myself thy To clustering filberds, and sometimes I'll get thee subject. Young sea-mells from the rock." Wilt thou go Ste. Come on, then; down, and swear. myself to death at this Trin. I shall laugh puppy-headed monster. A most scurvy monster! I could find in my heart to beat him, Ste. Come, kiss. with me? Ste. I prithee now, lead the way, without any more talking.-Trinculo, the king and all our company else being drowned, we will inherit here.[To Cal.] Here; bear my bottle.-Fellow Trin Trin. But that the poor monster's in drink. An culo, we'll fill him by-and-by again. abominable monster! Cal. I'll show thee the best springs; I'll pluck thee berries; I'll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough. A plague upon the tyrant that I serve! I'll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee, Trin. A most ridiculous monster, to make a Cal. I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts; Cal. sings drunkenly.] Farewell, master; farewell, farewell! Cal. At requiring; Nor scrape trencher, nor wash dish: Has a new master:-Get a new man. Freedom, hey-day! hey-day, freedom! freedom! hey-day, freedom! Ste. Oh, brave monster! Lead the way. [Exeunt. SCENE I.-Before PROSPERO's Cell. ACT III. Fer. There be some sports are painful, and Delight in them sets off: some kinds of baseness 47. Young sea-mells from the rock. In the Folio this word is printed "scamels," and has occasioned endless differences among the commentators; some of whom retain "scamels" in the text, even while owning that they do not comprehend what it means. When we find such obvious misprints (among scores and scores of others) in the Folio, as "Barlet" for "martlet," Paconcies" for "pansies," &c., we need hardly hesitate to suspect a similar error here. We have the expression "haggards of the rock," in "Much Ado," iii. 1, where "haggards' mean untrained hawks; and this brings us to the probability that the word here means some kind of bird. In Chapman's translation of Homer's "Odyssey" (a book most likely well-known to Shakespeare, there is mention of the "sea-mew in her fishing Upon a sore injunction: my sweet mistress Weeps when she sees me work; and says, such baseness Had never like executor. I forget: But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours; Most busy, least when I do it.' Enter MIRANDA; and PROSPERO at a distance, unseen. Mir. flight," and of men "tumbled to sea, like sea-mews swam about;" therefore that was a sea-bird likely to present itself to our poet's mind. The spelling of "scamels" is very near to that of sea-mews, sea-malls, or sea-mells, which are said to be other forms of the same word. In more than one work of authority, young sea-birds have been affirmed to be delicate food. All these arguments appear to us conclusive in favour of the reading here adopted, and which was first proposed by Theobald. 1. Most busy, least when I do it. This passage appears in the Folio:-" Most busie lest, when I doe it ;" and has been variously altered, Pope reading, 'Least busy when I do it ;' As well as it does you: and I should do it With much more ease; for my good will is to it, And yours it is against. One of my sex; no woman's face remember, Any companion in the world but you; Nor can imagination form a shape, Besides yourself, to like of. But I prattle Something too wildly, and my father's precepts I therein do forget. Fer. I am, in my condition, A prince, Miranda; I do think, a king; (I would, not so!) and would no more endure This wooden slavery, than to suffer The flesh-fly blow my mouth. Hear my soul speak: The very instant that I saw you, did My heart fly to your service; there resides, Pros. [Aside.] Poor worm! thou art infected; To make me slave to it; and for your sake, This visitation shows it. Mir. Miranda.-Oh, my father! I have broke your hest to say so. Mir. I do not know Theobald, Most busyless when I do it ;' Mr. Holt White, 'Most busiest when I do it ;' Mr. Collier's MS. Corrector, 'Most busy, blest when I do it ;' and Mr. Staunton printing, 'Most busy felt, when I do it,' while suggesting, 'Most busy still, when I do it.' The reading we have adopted is from the 2nd Folio of 1632, and we take its meaning to be (in Shakespeare's elliptical style of sometimes making "it" refer to a plural noun): These sweet thoughts refresh my labours, and make me most busy when I least work.' 2. Pray, set it down. The "it" in this sentence affords an instance of Shakespeare's way of making that word refer back to something named plurally. Here "it" means one of those "logs" mentioned in the previous line. Am I this patient log-man. Fer. Oh, heaven! oh, earth! bear witness to this sound, And crown what I profess with kind event, If I speak true; if hollowly, invert I am a fool Fair encounter Fer. Wherefore weep you? Mir. At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer The bigger bulk it shows. Hence, bashful cunning! 3. Top of admiration. In his use of so small and insignificant a word as "top," we have an instance of Shakespeare's way of giving dignity to slight and familiar expressions. "Top" here, and elsewhere in his plays, has the force of highest point, crowning pre-eminence. It is worthy of remark, too, how characteristic the entire speech is of Ferdinand, with his fervid imagination and generous promptitude of belief in good; forming an admirable counterpart to Miranda's artless warmth of impulse. 4. Ow'd. See Note 63, Act i. 5. What else. For whatever else. 6. Your fellow. Your equal, your chosen companion. Ste. SCENE II.-Another part of the Island. Enter CALIBAN (with a bottle), STEPHANO, and TRINCULO. Ste. Tell not me:-when the butt is out, we will drink water; not a drop before: therefore bear up, and board 'em.—Servant-monster, drink to me. Trin. 'Servant-monster?' the folly of this island! They say, there's but five upon this isle: we are three of them; if the other two be brained like us, the state totters. Ste. Drink, servant-monster, when I bid thee: thy eyes are almost set in thy head. Trin. Where should they be set else? he were a brave monster indeed, if they were set in his tail. Ste. My man-monster hath drowned his tongue in sack; for my part, the sea cannot drown me; I swam, ere I could recover the shore, fiveand-thirty leagues, off and on, by this light. Thou shalt be my lieutenant, monster, or my standard. Trin. Your lieutenant, if you list; he's no standard. Ste. We'll not run, Monsieur Monster. Moon-calf, speak once in thy life, if thou beest a good moon-calf. Cal. How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe. I'll not serve him, he is not valiant. Trin. Thou liest, most ignorant monster: I am in case to justle a constable. Why, thou deboshed 10 fish, thou, was there ever man a coward, that hath drunk so much sack as I to-day? Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie, being but half a fish, and half a monster? Cal. Lo, how he mocks me! wilt thou let him, my lord? Trin. 'Lord,' quoth he! That a monster should be such a natural! Cal. Lo, lo, again! bite him to death, I prithee. Ste. Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head: if you prove a mutineer, the next tree.—The poor monster's my subject, and he shall not suffer indignity. Cal. I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleased to hearken once again to the suit I made to thee? Ste. Marry, will I kneel and repeat it; I will stand, and so shall Trinculo. Cal. I say, by sorcery he got this isle; Trin. Nor go neither: but you'll lie, like dogs; But this thing dare not,— and yet say nothing neither. 7. Whether you will or no. This was formerly in use (and is so still, with those who write a slipshod style) for the more correct "whether you will or not." 8. Here's my hand. Shakespeare alludes to the old custom of ratifying a contract by clasping hands; but with what poet's and lover's gusto has he done so here ! 9. Standard. This word was used for a standard-bearer, as Ste. That's most certain. well as for the ensign he bore. There is a play on the word here, alluding to the " poor monster's being too much intoxicated to stand upright. 10. Deboshed. Debauched, degraded, corrupted by intemperance. There is much humour in Trinculo's twitting Caliban with being overcome by drink, while himself boasting of being valorous by its means. |